Ayesha At Last(60)

Ayesha looked over at Khalid, who was staring straight ahead.

“Have you talked to your . . . fiancé yet?” she whispered to Hafsa.

Her cousin looked dismissively at Khalid. “I think he’s shy. Come look at the gold jewellery his mom bought me!” She dragged Ayesha to a large tray holding three gold jewellery sets. “I don’t really like the design, but I can sell them and buy new ones. And look at all the shalwar kameez!” She pointed to five large platters heaped with clothing. “Last year’s fashion, but I can sell them on eBay and buy better ones. I’m the luckiest girl in the world!”

Ayesha looked over at Khalid again. He stared at his hands as the guests piled their plates with biryani, butter chicken and aloo gobi.

A hand wrapped around her waist and squeezed. Samira Aunty’s face was flushed with excitement. “One down, three daughters to go. It is such a relief to have Hafsa settled. You can’t imagine the strain. Khalid is such a handsome man, don’t you think?”

Ayesha glanced over at Khalid, but he was gone. Had he run away?

“Mom has a crush on him,” eleven-year-old Hira said. “She keeps talking about his regal nose.”

The girls giggled, and Ayesha used the opportunity to slip away. She had to find Khalid; she had to explain herself. She had to wipe that blank look from his face.

He was not in the kitchen, or the foyer. She didn’t find him in the living room, dining room, servery or family room. She checked inside the walk-in hall closet, just in case, but he wasn’t there either. A quick peek outside confirmed his car was still parked in the driveway.

“Looking for someone in particular, Ayesha?” Farzana said.

Khalid’s mother was dressed in a peacock-blue shalwar kameez with a black abaya on top like an overcoat. She was wearing a matching blue hijab, her face bare of makeup.

“Assalamu Alaikum, Aunty,” Ayesha said politely. “Would you like tea? I’m making some right now.”

Farzana drew closer to Ayesha, an unkind smile hovering at the edge of her mouth. “I know you went to the caterer’s with my Khalid.”

“How about coffee?” Ayesha asked, backing away.

“I should be thanking you, actually. So should Hafsa.”

Ayesha’s heart started to pound. What was Farzana talking about? “You know how cranky the uncles get without their chai,” Ayesha said, but Farzana grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

“You’re a schoolteacher, but you know nothing about people,” she said.

Ayesha tried to twist out of Farzana’s grip, but the older woman held her fast.

“When Khalid spoke about the teacher who was helping him plan the conference, I knew it was time for him to get married. Before he was duped by a pathetic spinster pretending to be more than she was.” Farzana’s sharp eyes travelled over Ayesha’s tight pink suit.

Ayesha was confused. “You knew he thought I was Hafsa?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Farzana said. “I had no idea about your duplicity. Besides, the rishta to your cousin had already been sent. When your cousin spoke with me on the phone, I realized she would be the perfect daughter-in-law.”

“What about Khalid? Do you think she will be the perfect wife for him?” Ayesha asked, her mind working furiously.

“He doesn’t know what he wants,” Farzana said. “That’s why he has me, to protect him from people who wish to take advantage of his innocence.” She paused, staring at Ayesha. “I think I will take that tea after all. Extra-hot, two sugars, served in a china cup.”

KHALID was in the garage. It was the only quiet place in the house, and he needed to think.

I’m engaged to a stranger. Not the Hafsa I thought I knew, but a child more excited by new toys than by the person in front of her. Hafs-Ayesha was probably laughing at him right now. Awkward, gullible Khalid, too dumb to know when he was being played. He angrily wiped his eyes.

He thought about the casual banter between Hafs-Ayesha and Tarek at the caterer’s. Tarek probably knew all about this farce too; he was probably laughing at him the entire time. He closed his eyes and saw Hafs-Ayesha sitting beside him in Clara’s condo parking lot. He pictured her onstage at Bella’s, reciting her poem—that stupid poem! Then he saw her smile, dark eyes laughing up at him, and he shivered.

Zareena had been a liar too. She had lied about where she was going and who she was with. She had asked Khalid to lie for her again and again. Every time she lied, Khalid felt used, and he promised himself he would stop covering for her. Then every time, he would give in and make new excuses for his sister, the one who knew him best in the world. The only one who had ever had his back.

Until the day Zareena’s lies came crashing down.

He’d lost his only sister because of her lies, and because of his cover-up.

He wasn’t going to fall for another person’s lies, not again. Ayesha couldn’t be trusted. Ayesha could go to hell.

Khalid smelled something burning.

AYESHA needed to leave. Now.

Farzana had known Ayesha was pretending to be Hafsa. She’d known her son thought he was getting engaged to the wrong girl. Ayesha saw through her denials. What kind of mother did that to her own son?

There was no way to fix this. Not here, not now.

She walked straight out of the house without bothering to put her shoes on. She got as far as the sidewalk when Hira caught up with her.