All For What!

55

In approximately two and a half hour,  they arrived at their destination. Sa'eed honked the horn and within a short period of time, the gatekeeper opened the gate and he drove in. Parking the car inside the house, Maryam averted her gaze to Manal and noticed she was deeply asleep. She sighed in relief — now it would be way easier for Sa'eed to leave. She really needed that time away from him. She wanted to get away from her problems even for a little while. She prayed to Allah to make it easy for her — staying away from her husband in that manner wasn't going to be easy for either of them.

She alighted the car and Sa'eed did the same soon after. He helped her carry the bags from the trunk and Maryam carried Manal in her arms as they walked into the house.

Maryam's gaze darted to every nook and corner of the house she grew up in. It wasn't very big and elegant, but she indeed had a memorable childhood there. Ever since she got married to Sa'eed, she hadn't really had the chance to visit the family that raised her — if she could remember vividly, it wasn't more than twenty times, but she had made sure not to sever the ties of kinship as it was one of the major sins mentioned. She was nine was she was brought to live there, but the memories were still fresh in her head.

Walking into the parlor, the first person she saw was the woman she had come to accept as her mother. "Ummi." She dropped Manal on the couch beside her and ran to hug her. She indisputably missed her a lot. She thought she was okay as long as she spoke to her daily, but she was woefully mistaken, seeing her was much more better.

Mrs. Hauwa was astonished by the unexpected visit — her facial expression said it all.

Sa'eed move forward and greeted her so cheerfully that no one would be able to guess why they decided to go there all of a sudden — he had always had so much for respect for her.

"What do I owe this unexpected visit?" She asked, exhilaratingly. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming, Maryam? I would have prepared something special for the three of you."

"There, you have your answer." She replied. "I didn't tell you we were coming because I don't want you to stress yourself unnecessarily. Is dad around?"

"No. He just stepped out not long ago." She replied. 

"I can't wait to see him. It's been so long. I bet he is already using a walking stick." She grinned.

Mrs. Hauwa as well as Sa'eed burst into laughter. "No. He is still as fit as he was ten years back." She replied.

"That's what you will say." She chuckled.

"Uhm." Sa'eed cleared his voice. "It seems I won't be able to see abba today. Please extend my greetings to him."

"Of course you will. He will definitely come home before evening."

"The problem is that he is leaving right now." Maryam answered on his behalf.

"What? Why? You don't want to stay here because my house isn't big enough for you, right? Don't worry about that, we have a guest room." She stated, ludicrously.

"Haba! I would have loved to stay, ummi, but I really need to go back today."

"Yes." Maryam added. "He has things to do back in Abuja. He cannot stay tonight."

"Alright then. I will extend your greetings to him."

"Thank you. How's Sumaiya?" He inquired.

Sumaiya — Maryam suddenly remembered her cousin. They hadn't really been close while growing up for she always thought she was snatching her parents from her — which was not true at all. In fact, she never complained whenever she would do something wrong and put the blame on her, making Mrs. Hauwa reprimand her so bad or even hit her with a cane that she would spend the rest of the day sulking — Mrs Hauwa was indeed very stern with them. They, especially Maryam was very scared of her as a kid.