by BETH KERY
“I’m going with Asher now, Baba. We need to talk, that’s all. There’s no need for you to get so—”
“No,” her father interrupted sternly. He pointed at Asher. “I told you once, years ago, that I’d allow you to go and talk with this man one last time. Never again.”
A shudder of emotion went through her when she saw the coldness in her father’s usually warm, shining eyes. Asher stepped forward and put his arm around her waist. He’d obviously noticed the effect of her father’s words on her. Baba looked down to where Asher touched her, anger and dawning helplessness stiffening his face.
“If you go with him now, Laila, then don’t come back,” her father said.
Icy shivers poured across her arms. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
That it had to happen.
And yet it felt so strangely inevitable, too. Because as much as she loved the man standing in front of her, his hurt eyes filling her vision, it was Asher who was her future. Her family.
“I know I’m making you unhappy. I’m sorry I disappoint you, Baba. More sorry than I can say. I hope in the future that can change. I want to continue to have a relationship with you and Mamma and my family. It won’t be me who prevents that. But I’m going to have to try to live without your acceptance for now, if you won’t accept Asher. If you won’t accept us.”
Her father didn’t reply, and she could tell by his expression and tight mouth he wouldn’t utter another word.
“Please tell Mamma I’ll call and speak to her, if she’ll speak to me. Would you please ask Tahi to bring my things back to Chicago with her?”
Saying it all scraped at her throat, but she couldn’t escape this truth. Her father didn’t respond. It was like he’d turned deaf to her voice. She took Asher’s hand in hers and urged him toward the parked car.
• • •
They rode in silence all the way until they reached the interstate. Even though neither of them spoke, they clasped hands tightly across the console. Laila came out of her trance of dazed misery when she realized Asher had taken I-96 west instead of I-94, which was how they normally would have traveled to Chicago.
“Why are we going this way?” she asked him.
He glanced over at her, his gaze running over her face. Abruptly, he pulled off onto the shoulder of the road. He shoved the gear into park and reached for her. They hugged tightly across the console. At his touch, she convulsed with emotion. He kissed the side of her head and neck passionately.
“You’re so brave. I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” he muttered thickly as he kissed her repeatedly. “I’m so sorry, period. I’m sorry about what I said the other day. The last thing you are is spineless. You’re thoughtful and kind, and you care about the people in your life so much. You show strength and restraint every minute of your life. You were right. I’m the one who is single-minded and selfish.”
“You’re not, Asher. I was so wrong to say that too. I know how hard you try to love your parents. I had no right to criticize you. I’m not the one who had taken the brunt of a lifetime of disapproval from them. I realize you must feel like you have to stand up to them or be bulldozed into submission. You don’t handle them like I would, but that doesn’t mean you’re wrong.” She turned her face, seeking him blindly. Their lips brushed together, and then clung. “Please forgive me,” she whispered fervently a moment later.
“There’s nothing to forgive. I love you for who you are. I get that we’re different. I get that we’re not always going to agree on the right way to handle family.”
A spasm of emotion tightened her face at the mention of family. He cupped her cheek, his thumb caressing her gently.
“It was so courageous of you, baby. Saying what you did. Doing what you did. I know you must have been dying inside. I know how much you adore your father. I’m so sorry. I wish like hell we could be together without hurting anyone.”
She swallowed back the surge of emotion. “I wish that too. But it’s not the hand we were dealt, is it?”
He pressed his forehead to hers and shook it slowly. After a moment, she realized he’d pulled back several inches and was studying her closely.
“What?” she whispered.
“Did you really mean those things that you said to your father?” he asked her gruffly. “That I was your other half? And that you weren’t willing to give me up again?”
She reached, digging her fingers into his thick, soft hair.
“I meant it with every fiber of my being.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Thank God,” he muttered fervently, before his mouth covered hers.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Two hours later they pulled into the idyllic, sleepy little town. Her eyes burned as they drove down Main Street slowly.
“Crescent Bay,” she murmured in wonder. She spied the ice cream parlor where she’d been standing when Asher crossed the street eight years ago. She recalled how everything in her vision had gone blurry and out of focus, save him.
I never stood a chance in this thing. The second he walked into my life, I was ruined for anyone else.
“When is the last time you were here?” Asher asked.
“The summer I met you. We never came back after that. My parents were upset with me, but it was Zara leaving that really seemed to sour everyone on the idea of vacationing here again. Too many memories.”
Asher squeezed her hand as he turned onto Silver Dune Drive.
“Not all of them bad, I hope.”
She shivered as she looked out at the white dunes and glistening blue lake. She recalled sitting on one of those dunes with Asher in the moonlight, feeling so overwhelmed and mortified by her need for him.
“No,” she whispered, squeezing his hand back. “Some of those memories are the best of my life.”
The feeling of poignant nostalgia stayed with her after Asher had parked the car and they made their way down to the beach, hand in hand. The trail to the secret lake was choked with weeds, but they were able to make it out. Part of her was shocked that Asher had driven them here, and that now they hiked toward their special spot. But another part of her felt like something was unwinding in just the way it should, like she walked on a path that was destined. They were meant to be at this place at this moment, as though this were the one location where all the confusion and hurt and uncertainty faded.
They were safe here. Protected, somehow.
“I don’t think there’s been another guardian for the secret lake since we left,” she said wistfully.
“It doesn’t look like it, does it?” Asher said as he moved aside some encroaching stalks of weeds so that she could pass. The path was so overgrown, Laila wondered if the little rocky beach might have altered in their absence. But when they finally cleared the woods and stepped onto the beach, she gasped in wonder.
“It looks exactly the same,” she murmured. She turned to study Asher’s profile. He pointed at the lake.
“That’s where I first saw you,” he said. He glanced over at her, his eyes alight at the memory. “I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I think the same thing, every time I look at you.”
Tears stung her eyes. She went into his arms, squeezing his waist tightly. “I thought the same thing about you, once I got over my shock. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. What they say is true, isn’t it? That love can hit like a thunderbolt sometimes.”
He ran his fingers through her hair. “And you’re as helpless as a baby when it does.” She tilted her head back to see him and he kissed her gently.
“Come sit over here, on the big rock,” he said.
“Okay,” she agreed, a little taken aback by his solemnness.
He took both of her hands and urged her to sit on the rock. He stood before her, his handsome face cast in shadow.
“Do you rememb
er when we made love here once, and the condom broke?” he asked her. She blinked and laughed, surprised by his question.
“Yeah. We were worried I’d be pregnant,” she recalled.
“I never told you, but part of me wished you were.”
The water soughed gently against the beach in the silence that followed.
“I hoped for it too, once. Briefly,” she admitted. “I felt guilty about wishing it, but I did anyway. It would have forced our hand.”
“We would have had no choice but to stay together, given those circumstances. We would have had to be honest about being together. We would have been forced to accept the consequences.”
She nodded, holding her breath as she looked up at him. She’d never seen him so serious.
“The thing is. . . I thought it again, the other day when we made love without protection. Part of me wanted to make a baby with you.”
“You did?” she asked in dawning amazement.
He nodded. “And I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Because I couldn’t figure out why I was fantasizing about it so much, why I was becoming fixated on the idea. And I realized it was the same reason I felt it back here, in Crescent Bay years ago.” He squeezed her hands. “I wanted you to get pregnant. Yes, because there’s some kind of caveman in me that wants to see you growing big with our baby. I want to see that tangible evidence that we’re one . . . that we’re a family.”
“Asher,” she whispered feelingly. He reached up and cradled her jaw in his hand. A pressure swelled in her chest at the love she saw in his eyes at that moment.
“But part of me wanted it too because it would mean no going back. A baby would mean no one or nothing could keep us apart. But what I realized this weekend is that a baby isn’t the point. I mean—it would be great, don’t get me wrong. It’ll be unbelievable if we’re lucky enough to ever have that happen to us,” he assured her. “I just mean that I realized we don’t need an external pressure like that, forcing our hand. What’s required is that we accept how we feel about each other, and what it means. What’s needed is for us to commit to each other, no matter what. I know there are obstacles. But why do I need an excuse, like you being pregnant, to be with you? I love you more than anything, and I want to spend my life with you. That should be more than reason enough for me to at least ask you this.”
She watched, her breath burning in her lungs, as he reached into his breast pocket. She saw the ring box. He opened it. She stared in numb disbelief at the stunningly simple and elegant diamond ring.
“When I saw you that first time standing naked in this lake, it was like I’d stumbled onto something sacred . . . onto a whole different world I hadn’t known existed,” he said. “We used to call this place our world. It was the only place where we could exist together, and no one could pull us apart. It was our secret. But now I want our world to be everywhere. As long as we’re together, I’ll exist in this sacred place, whether we’re in Chicago or London or Casablanca, for all I care. So . . . will you make that place with me, Laila? Will you marry me? Will you be my family?”
She stared up at him, entirely in awe at the vision of the afternoon sun glowing behind him and his shadowed, solemn face as he extended the ring . . . as he risked his heart. Was it possible for a human being to feel this much love and not burst into a million pieces at the strength of it? She recalled looking at him once, years ago, and sensing his focus, the sheer force of him. Yes. With him, they could create a whole new world. With Asher, anything was possible, no matter what the obstacles.
“Yes. I’ll be your wife. I’ll be your family,” she pledged.
He smiled. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. The single, large, round diamond dazzled in the sunlight. Joy swelled in her, fracturing fear and uncertainty. There wasn’t room for them, at that moment. Not in this sacred place. She smiled so widely that tears rained down her cheeks. He lifted her from her sitting position and pulled her against him.
“Then you’ve just made me the happiest man in existence, bar none,” he said, before he pressed his mouth to hers.
• • •
They lay together with their limbs entwined later that night, spent from lovemaking. Asher listened to the sound of his rapid heartbeat slow to a steady throb in his ears. He ran his hand down the length of Laila’s spine, absorbing her delicate shiver.
“Where would you like to live?” he asked her quietly.
She turned her head on the pillow, meeting his stare. “Wherever you are,” she whispered.
He smiled and brushed back a strand of her dark hair from her cheek. It was almost ludicrous, how much he loved her. “Los Angeles? I could get a job there. It would be a good place for you to build your career.”
She pursed her lips as if in thought and shook her head.
“No?” he murmured. “Do you want to stay here in Chicago?”
Again, she shook her head. His smile widened. She clearly had something in mind.
“Where, then? Detroit?”
Her soft hair tickled him as she shook her head again. “No,” she replied hoarsely. “That would be too hard on our marriage, especially at the beginning. I think we should go someplace new. Some place fresh to make our own little world.”
“Such as?”
“Well . . . I would fantasize now and then that you’d ask me to go to London with you.”
His stroking fingers paused. “You want to go to London?”
“If you do.”
“You’re not worried about short-circuiting your career with a move like that?”
“London has a very vibrant entertainment industry,” she reasoned.
“You’re right. It does. And you’re so talented, I know you can make a success of things there. Anywhere. But what about your recording contract?”
“I’ll fly to Los Angeles and do the recording,” she said. “It’ll only be a few weeks. Maybe we can fly back and forth and see each other a few times. I know it’ll be hard, but—”
“No. It’s doable,” he said, coming up onto his elbow. “Okay. London. Let’s do it,” he said gamely after considering for a moment.
“Do you think we’re being foolish and impulsive and idealistic?” she asked him, grinning.
“Definitely,” he replied, wrapping her hand in his. He kissed her knuckle and the ring she wore. “It feels great, doesn’t it?”
She nodded in agreement. He leaned down and kissed her small, Mona Lisa smile.
“Now we just have to decide where to get married,” he said.
“And when.”
“I vote for tomorrow.”
She blinked in surprise when she saw he was serious. “Tomorrow,” she repeated, coming up on her elbow. “How is that possible?”
“We’ll fly to Vegas,” he said, as if the answer was obvious.
“Vegas,” she breathed out. He saw her brow furrow and knew she was trying to imagine it. She gave him a helpless glance.
“Oh, Asher, I can’t. I’m sorry.”
He stiffened. His stomach had felt like it dropped a few inches. “You can’t marry me?”
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she exclaimed. “But Vegas . . .” She noticed his confused expression. “You’ve never attended a Moroccan wedding, have you?”
He shook his head.
“That whole thing that I attended this weekend in Detroit, my cousin Driss and his fiancée’s visit? That’s the beginning of a Moroccan wedding tradition. It starts a whole year before the couple gets married. So much tradition and special food and ritual goes into the whole thing.”
“So . . . you’re saying you want to have a Moroccan wedding?”
“Oh no. That would take too much time, and I think we should get married as soon as possible. Besides, it’s not as if my parents would be willing to give us a traditional wedding.”
&n
bsp; He reached and caressed her cheek, somehow sensing her sadness even though she kept it carefully hidden. She grabbed his hand and smiled.
“If you agree we should get married as soon as possible, what’s the problem with Vegas?”
“Vegas,” she said, cringing slightly. She gave him an apologetic glance and kissed his palm. “It’s so the opposite of what I imagined my wedding would be for my whole life. I don’t even think my parents would consider that a viable marriage. And no,” she said, interrupting when she saw him open his mouth. “What they think doesn’t matter, in this instance. But what I think does. And I can’t help it. It’s part of my upbringing. The idea of getting married in Vegas seems so . . . unofficial, somehow.”
“What do you suggest, then?”
“Well. . . we could get married here in Chicago by a judge.”
He smiled and smoothed his fingers through her hair. “That would satisfy your sense of officialdom?”
“Yeah, it would. And to be honest, I think it would my mom and dad’s too, even if they didn’t like it. The law of the land is binding enough, in the Barek mind.”
He grinned. “I’ll call in the morning about applying for a marriage certificate.”
“I have to get a ticket to London too. And break the news to Rafe, of course. He’s not going to take that well.” She suddenly looked worried. “What am I going to tell Tahi about the condo? We share the mortgage. Oh . . . and what if the waiting period to get married is too long?” She sat up abruptly in bed, pulling the sheet up around her breasts. Asher sat up with her. She glanced over in surprise when he laughed.
“How can you laugh at a moment like this?” she asked, grinning despite her anxiety.
He put his arms around her and gave her a smacking kiss on the mouth. “Because. We can handle whatever comes up. Come on, Laila. Those things are nothing compared to what we’ve been through to get to this point in our life.”