After The Honeymoon

24. You Know Who You Are

"Now you're lifting me up instead of holding me down/stealing my heart instead of stealing my crown." — "Butterflies" by Kacey Musgraves 

7:00 am

Noor

"Mamaa...no...no...pweezzz." 

Ayah clung to her car seat as Salman tried to unbuckle her.

"Ayah, baby, come on, let's not do this drama again. All your little friends are in there." Salman tried to calm down our toddler as we stood outside the new daycare, she had just started to attend three days ago.

I reached my hand out to the backseat and wiped away my daughter's tears. "It's ok Ayah. It's popsicle day today remember. And look tiggy wants to go in and meet Miss Karen and all your friends."

"Nooo. I want go with Mama." She pouted and looked at me with her big, brown puppy eyes. A look that always pulled at my maternal strings. And now that I was 9 months pregnant with our second one, the tears in my daughter's eyes were getting to be too much for my motherly heart.

"Tell her to stop looking at me like that, otherwise I'm quitting work and becoming a stay-at-home mom," I told Salman, inadvertently pouting myself.

His gaze shifted between us. "The two of you look exactly the same right now. Which one of my beautiful girls am I supposed to listen to?" he chuckled. 

Salman

Noor and Ayah were carbon copies of each other in not just their looks but also their mannerisms. Most of the time it was hilarious, but sometimes they were double the trouble because both had learnt I gave in immediately when that lower lip stuck out and those pretty eyes looked at me with an unwavering gaze.

I carried Ayah into the daycare, ignoring her loud protests, which abruptly stopped the second we stepped into Ms. Karen's toddler playgroup room and a little blonde boy came running up to my daughter.

"Ayah, look. This my truck." He held up a bright red fire truck.

Ayah stuck her head out from behind my legs and held out her own stuffed toy. "This my tiggy."

The little boy held out his hand and gave my daughter a grin. "Let go play Ayah."

Before I knew it Ayah was holding his hand and skipping away from me, as if I didn't even exist. That was the moment I felt my first twinge of panic. An unwanted future flashed before my eyes.

How the heck was I going to keep boys away from my baby girl?

I had a hard enough time keeping men away from her mother. But Noor was shy and had fallen in love with me a long time before she actually realized it. Ayah, on the other hand was anything but shy, at least as a toddler, and I could absolutely see my rebellious nature in her. Even at three she was already a pro at pushing boundaries and keeping me on my toes. 

Sighing, I turned around. She clearly had no more interest in me. 

Back in the car Noor was dabbing her wet eyes. "Hey, come on," I rubbed her arm gently. "You know Ayah is just a drama queen. She was totally fine when I took her in."

"I know." Noor sniffed and gave me a half smile. "I just didn't think she would cry so much. Did you hand her over to Ms. Karen?"

"Nopes, I left her in the hands of a little blonde boy who wouldn't stop hitting on her. And I've decided she's getting married at 18 as soon as she finishes high school."

Noor chuckled. "A 3-year-old was hitting on your daughter, and you've planned her wedding 15 years in advance?"

"Hmm," I frowned. "Fine, she can finish college first. But if a guy even looks at her wrong, he will have hell to pay for," I told her, and was dead serious about it. I didn't take being a girl-dad lightly.