by Emma Easter
Leila could not breathe again. All this while she’d been pretending to be sick, and smug in her belief that she had successfully deceived this man, he had known she wasn’t. And he’d done absolutely nothing about it. He had neither threatened nor tried to make her look like a fool. He had not called her bluff.
She marveled as she said to him, “Why did you call all those doctors to examine me knowing I wasn’t really ill?”
“When you stopped eating, I grew concerned for you. I felt that you would fall really ill, and it would be my fault. I wanted to make sure they were monitoring your health at least.” He stared into her eyes and said, “You were planning to change my Absher account setting, were you not?”
She nodded, knowing he already knew everything.
“And you were not interested in being with me tonight, were you?”
“No,” she said simply. She sat next to him, looked into his eyes and then looked away. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was just desperate. But it’s not right to be forced into a marriage you don’t want to be in.” She did not look at him, afraid of what his reply would be. When he touched her, her muscles tensed up. Would he now insist that she do what she had pretended to come here for? Lord, give me strength, she cried out in her heart.
He gently turned her around to face him and said, “Just like I said before, I don’t believe in being with a woman who doesn’t want to be with me. If you are so desperate to leave that you would come here pretending to want to be with me when I know fully well how afraid you are to spend any time with me, then I think we shouldn’t be married anymore.”
Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at him. “Are you serious?”
He nodded and said, “I am.” Smiling wistfully, he lifted her hands to his lips and kissed first the back of her right hand, and then her left. “It’s a pity, because you’re so beautiful,” he said to her. “However, I’ll do what you want. I’ll let you travel out of the country, back to Mali or wherever it is you want to go. Once I’m able to go back to Mali, we can have the marriage dissolved.”
She felt a mix of emotions waging war in her heart. Joy, relief, sadness, and guilt all fought for her attention. But the most prominent emotions were relief and joy. “Thank you,” she said, and nearly hugged him. She held back at the last minute, instinctively knowing it would not be a good idea. “Thank you,” she said again.
He stood up from the bed and went and got his phone from the table. She watched him typing away on his phone. About a minute later, he came back and sat beside her again. “You have permission to travel anywhere you want to. I’ll also give you five thousand dollars when you leave so you can go wherever you want to and at least have something to start a new life with.”
Her jaw dropped and she gazed at him for a long moment, feeling too overwhelmed to speak. She clearly knew that this was the Lord intervening on her behalf. However, she had not expected this amount of generosity from the man who was beside her. She finally found her voice and said to him, “You are a good man, Dauda.” She wanted to tell him that the other wives, except of course for Rekiya, might be like her, and might not exactly want to be second and third wives either. However, she stopped herself. That would be pushing her luck.
She got up, smiled at him, and began to head toward the door. His voice stopped her before she left the room. She turned around again to face him.
“I will transfer the money into your account tomorrow,” he said to her. “You can leave anytime you want to.”
She nodded, thanked him again, and then walked out of the room. Closing the door behind her, she literally skipped down the hallway, even though it was the middle of the night, and went to her room.
She fell to her knees immediately after she got into her room and then lifted her voice in thanksgiving to the Lord. When she had come here months ago, she’d thought her life was over. Now she knew it was just beginning. The Lord had done a great miracle for her. Now, she could leave this country and never look back. And, she had enough money to search for Malik and also live on for some time until she could find a job for herself. “Thank you, Lord,” she said again.
Finally, she could not contain her joy anymore and got to her feet. She danced around her room and lifted up her voice in songs of praise to the Lord who had delivered her. She didn’t really care if anyone in the house heard her singing. The Lord had answered her prayers, and she would give Him thanks for all He had done.
Chapter Seven
Audrey got out of her car and locked the door. She walked up to the house, unlocked it and stepped in. She collapsed on the sofa and sighed wearily. She had spent all day at the mayor’s office, discussing new and different ideas on how to improve security in Rosefield. Not that Rosefield really needed it. But after that terrorist scare at her and Ken’s wedding, the mayor had been spooked and had asked her as police chief to beef up security in town.
She sat up. Talking about Ken, the door was locked when she came in. That meant he still wasn’t back from the station. He spent a lot of time there whenever they were in Rosefield. She sighed loudly as she thought about him and the state of their relationship. For the past two days, they had barely spoken to each other. She hated that they were always fighting now. It was wrong to go for days without really speaking to each other. She just wanted the fights to end, but it didn’t seem like it was going to end anytime soon. She couldn’t give up the idea of having a baby right now while he couldn’t stomach it. It was her dream to start a family, and she needed to make Ken see that she was getting older and the earlier they tried to get pregnant, the better.
She stood up once again and lifted up her backpack with her. Just as she started to make her way to the bedroom, the front door opened and Ken walked into the house. Their eyes immediately met and Ken gave her a small smile.
It was all she needed. She walked up to him and put her arms around him. Hugging him tightly, she whispered, “I love you, Ken.”
He kissed the top of her head and said, “I love you too, Audrey.” He held her slightly away from him, looked into her eyes and then kissed her forehead. He said, “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” she smiled and hugged him again.
She looked up at him and he brushed his nose against hers. “I hate this,” he said. “We shouldn’t keep fighting. It’s so tiring.”
She nodded and then took his hand. They both sat on the couch and for the first time in almost a week, they held each other tightly, chatting and laughing, simply enjoying each other’s company. After a while, Ken said, “I’m thirsty. I need a drink of water. Do you want me to get you some water or lemonade, Audrey?”
She smiled and nodded. “Water. Thanks.”
He stood up and left the living room and fearful thoughts immediately raced through Audrey’s mind. Without a doubt, she knew this happy time with him was just a short reprieve. Soon, they would be fighting again, because of the same thing—her desire to have a baby now.
He came back to the living room carrying two glasses of water and handed her one. Settling down on the couch beside her, he drew her close once more.
She burrowed her head in his chest and sighed. If only this time didn’t have to end. However, this was the best time to talk to him. She had to bring up the matter that had been causing them to fight all the time. As much as she wanted to avoid conflict, this was too important to sweep under the carpet. He would be angry again, for sure. But they had to talk about it… now. Time was running out for her.
She finally drew back from him, and then smiled slightly. She wove her fingers through his and then said softly, “Ken, we need to talk.”
He frowned. “About what?”
She pressed her lips together and then said, “About having a baby…”
“Audrey, please… not now!”
“I understand everything you said about not wanting a baby right away, but try to see things from my point of view,” she said. “I am in my mid-thirties now, Ken. According to th
e doctor, my eggs are aging rapidly. Soon, I won’t have any good ones left.”
He scowled at her.
She smiled to try to lighten the mood, but he didn’t smile back. “Please, just consider what I am asking, Ken. We need to start trying to have a child now.”
Ken sighed loudly and then looked away from her. She squeezed his hand and he turned to look at her again. “I understand what you’re saying, Audrey,” he said tightly. “But how about we leave off talking about having a baby for now… for about a year or two.”
She snatched her hand from his and groaned. She wanted to scream at him. He wasn’t even listening to everything she was saying about time running out on her. Anger boiled in her stomach and she glared at him. She took a deep breath and pushed it down. Getting angry right now would do no good.
She studied him. He had an unyielding expression on his face. Why couldn’t he just understand that as a woman she knew when her body was ready to conceive, and it was now? She was ready to have a baby now.
Ken put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.
He moaned and then stood up from the couch. “I’m going to the bedroom,” he said.
She covered her face with her hands and said a silent prayer, asking the Lord to touch Ken’s heart and help him fully understand where she was coming from. “Lord,” she prayed, “I hate that we’re always fighting these days, but I just can’t give up on the idea of having a child right now. Please, help Ken see how important this is to me.” She remembered what Trisha told her about not giving up on talking to Ken and trying to get him to see how she felt. She stood up and went into their bedroom. She found Ken standing in front of the closet, putting on an old white T-shirt.
He looked at her as she entered and then quickly looked away again. He said without looking at her, “If you are here to try to get me to change my mind, then I suggest you save it.”
“Ken!” Audrey said exasperatedly. “Why won’t you just understand? Why don’t you get it?”
Ken looked at her and shook his head. “I do get it, Audrey. The thing is, you tend to make rash decisions a lot of the time without thinking it through. I don’t want this to be another one of your rash decisions. As you have said, it’s a very important decision and it should not be made hastily.”
Audrey’s mouth dropped open and she stared at him. She finally said, “How can you say that, Ken? How can you say I tend to make rash decisions? That is untrue and just mean.”
“But it’s true,” Ken said. “You might think you want a baby now until we actually have one. And then you will see how constricting having a child is and come to regret your decision.”
He sat down on the bed and the angry expression on his face changed to one of weariness. He said, “I am just tired of all this, Audrey. You told me to consider what you said about having a child, and I’m asking you right now to also consider what I just said. Think about it for some time and see if this is really what you want. I, for one, know that I am not yet ready to take on the responsibilities of having a newborn. And no, don’t say again that we will have a nanny. Even if we do, I still want to be a hands-on father. That has always been my dream. But right now, things are really hectic at work. And it’s the same for you. Plus, we are continuously traveling back and forth. I don’t see myself being the kind of father I would like to be right now, especially to a newborn baby. I am really sorry.”
She kept staring at him with her mouth open and then she finally nodded. She said, “Do you think I would have brought this up if I had not thought about it for some time? You don’t get to tell me what I am ready to do or not. I told you that I am ready to have a child now, and yet you insist that I’m not. And on top of that, you’re accusing me of making rash decisions without properly thinking about it. That is unfair and totally wrong.”
Ken sighed loudly and shut his eyes, as though he couldn’t bear to look at her any longer. He opened them again and turned to her. “Audrey, I am sick and tired of fighting with you. How about we stop discussing this topic for now… at least until after we get back from vacation. Let’s talk about something else that we can agree on.”
She folded her arms and huffed. “Right now, I don’t think we can agree on anything!”
“Why don’t we talk about where we will spend our vacation?”
For a long moment, Audrey stared at him, refusing to oblige. Why should she put aside a topic that was extremely important to her, and also to him if he were being honest with himself, in order to talk about where they would spend their vacation? She searched his eyes for a few seconds and saw the pain in them. She knew all the arguing they were doing was hurting him much more than she thought. She was terribly hurt by it all, but she had not known how much he hurt because of it as well. Even though she did not understand why he wouldn’t give in to what she wanted, she decided that they did need a break from all the arguing. They needed to discuss something they would at least both agree on.
She finally relented and sat on the bed beside him. “Okay, Ken, so what do you have in mind? Since we can thankfully afford to go anywhere we want to, where would you like us to spend our vacation?”
Ken didn’t say anything for a minute. He finally ran his fingers through his hair and said, “I’m not really sure where I want to go now, but I was thinking we might go to Boise and spend it with my parents.”
Audrey groaned and said, “As much as I like your parents, Ken, spending our work leave with them isn’t exactly my idea of the perfect vacation.” She leaned forward and looked into his eyes. “Come on, Ken. We can do better.”
“Okay then,” he murmured. “Where do you suggest we go?”
She shrugged. “Right now, I’m not exactly sure, but maybe somewhere in Europe.” She thought about telling him she would love to go to Peru to see Sienna and especially the baby, but she changed her mind. He would never agree to spend their vacation there.
“Okay, I like that. But we have to decide where exactly in Europe we want to go. Maybe we could take a cruise?”
She considered what he’d just said. It sounded like a good idea, but she still wasn’t sure. She opened her mouth to tell him what she was thinking, and then looked away from him when her phone rang. She picked it up from the bed and stared at it. “It’s Sienna,” she said to Ken before answering the phone. “Hi, little sis! How are you doing?”
“Audrey, I’m good.” She chuckled. “Apart from the fact that I’ve not slept for several months now, I guess I am fine.”
Audrey laughed and said, “So, baby Ethan is keeping you up at night… or is it your other baby?”
Sienna didn’t say anything for a few seconds and Audrey giggled while she waited for Sienna to get it. Finally, Sienna howled and said, “You are crazy, Audrey! No, Bryan isn’t keeping me up at night. It’s just Ethan. He sleeps all day and then stays awake at night.”
“Well, I guess you can also sleep when Ethan is asleep during the day.”
Sienna sighed. “Except for the fact that I would actually like to work during the day, and sleep at night like normal people do.” There was a short pause and then she said, “Audrey, have you and Ken decided where you would like to spend your vacation?”
Audrey glanced at Ken, who was looking inquisitively at her, and then said, “Ken and I were just discussing it now. We still haven’t really decided yet but we are both thinking of Europe. Maybe a trip around the continent.”
Sienna said, “That sounds really nice. Umm, I was just thinking that you both might want to come to Peru . . . maybe? We would have so much fun together. And I know Ken and Bryan get along really well.”
Audrey sighed. She had just been thinking about Peru before Sienna called. She had wanted to see Sienna since she and Bryan had moved to Peru, and especially after Sienna gave birth to her baby boy. But she knew Ken would not agree to go. She said to Sienna, “I would love to come, especially to see the baby. Just as you said, I know we would have so much fun together, but I don’t think Ke
n will want to spend his vacation in Peru.” Audrey glanced at Ken and then said, “I’ll have to talk to him about it.”
Sienna said, “When is your leave starting?”
“In a few days’ time,” Audrey answered.
“Okay, talk to Ken about it and please let Bryan and I know as soon as you have come to a decision. I would really love to have both of you. And you can also help me with Ethan if you come.”
Audrey laughed. “So, Sienna, that’s why you want me to come to Peru. You just want a free babysitter.”
Sienna chuckled and said, “Maybe. And I know you’ll be a great babysitter.”
Audrey smiled. “I am. Seriously, though, I know we would have loads of fun together and I really miss you. But it all depends on if Ken agrees.”
Ken put his hand on her back and she turned to look at him. He was still staring quizzically at her. She held up her hand to indicate that he should wait and then spoke into the phone again, “Okay, Sienna. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Let me talk to Ken right now. He’s been staring quizzically at me since you called. He is bursting with questions.” Audrey laughed at the look on Ken’s face and then ended the call with Sienna.
“What was that all about?” Ken asked.
Audrey sighed as she looked him in the eye. With all the fighting that had been going on for some time now, they weren’t exactly seeing eye to eye on a number of things. She hoped Ken would not refuse Sienna’s invitation for them to go to Peru. It would be a great way to spend their vacation.
She took his hand and said, “Sienna wants us to go to Peru to spend our vacation with her and Bryan. I personally love the idea. What do you think?” She held her breath as she looked at him, praying he would agree but not holding out much hope. Unfortunately, she had just refused a request by him to spend their vacation with his parents. Would he refuse her request to spend the vacation with her family since she told him she didn’t want to spend it with his?
