The Macaron Order

September 1999- Separation, Relocation and Random Acts of Kindness

24 years prior, Dalilah had narrowly escaped being abducted. A few weeks later, she had packed a huge, impractical suitcase she borrowed from her parents, in order to move to the United States. She had finally capitulated and decided to leave her hometown, Boulogne Billancourt, a very urban Parisian suburb, home to the iconic French car, Renault. She lived about an hour away from her parents and a 20 minutes drive from the Eiffel Tower. Until then she loved her life and had no plans to leave the country. She was now heading to Arlington, Virginia, to start a new life. This was a major decision and she struggled to come to terms with it. Taking off on her own was never in the cards, or so she thought. Dalilah was of Muslim faith and family was everything. She already missed her sisters and brother, and her loving parents dearly, but she had to leave her stalker and abductor behind. Dalilah was engaged for 3 years to a man she thought she was in love with. She believed at the time that they were going to start a family and live happily ever after. They were dating for a year before they celebrated their engagement in a proper and official ceremony to which they invited friends and family. Sammy was an attractive man. He was tall and with a natural athletic build, seduction oozing from every part of him. It did not take long for Dalilah to fall for his charm. But once the engagement was sealed, the honeymoon did not last long. Sammy lived in Brittany, a significant distance from Paris. So initially, it was Christmas every time they met. Until they were formally engaged. After the engagement, Dalilah slowly came to the realization that Sammy's beauty was skin deep. In his heart there was greed, envy and dishonesty. He had a desire to get rich quickly, and to achieve that, nothing was off the table. 

It took Dalilah a little while to take her blinders off as she wanted so hard to see the good in him and she struggled to forgive herself for that. She was an educated, modern woman and many thought her to be quite sharp. Yet, she had refused to see the obvious. Her fiancé was from a well-established family in the city of Rennes and spoke like an upper-middle class person, which made it hard to spot him as someone capable of swindling people. His grandfather owned a farm in Normandy. He had put a family member in charge of managing it and lived like a city dweller in the most prosperous neighborhood of the same city. However, when Dalilah visited them in what certainly used to be a mansion, she could not help but notice that their residence was in dire need of renovation. There was water damage in the ceiling and the paint in the walls was a uniform old, dull, yellowish color, peeling in some spots, and in bad need of being updated. The backyard looked like it had seen better days. But the landscaping was barely visible under the invasive weeds. Their driveway was cracked and needed to be repaired. Their money was drying up. Sammy's grandfather could no longer manage his own farm and whoever he was relying on was losing money instead of making it. His daughter, Sammy's mother, had married into one of the most respectable families in Rennes, but her husband had no money of his own. He was an architect and worked for a small local firm which did not pay him enough to have a comfortable lifestyle after paying all his bills. His mother worked for the government and made a small salary which she used for her personal expenses. The saving grace was that they lived in a small, old building that belonged to his grandfather. Having free accommodation allowed them to live decently, despite the relatively limited income.  

Sammy was the first grandchild in the family, and for that he was spoiled rotten by each and everyone. He spent a lot of time at his grandparents' who gave him everything he asked for. He grew up feeling entitled and believing that everything he wanted had to be handed to him on a silver platter. Sammy was still living with his parents, which did not help. this was not unusual in his culture. As a person of Muslim faith and Moroccan heritage, he was expected to stay with them until he got married or moved to another city for his job. He was still in his mid twenties when he showed interest in marriage, which was way too young for his level of maturity. Luckily for him, he had stunning looks and women were drawn to him like  bees to honey.