MAKESHIFT HUSBAND (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kamal gave Zainab an intense look and was startled to see she looked thinner. Was it possible she'd lost weight in a day or had he not noticed she'd been loosing it.

"Zainab I'm sorry"

"You don't owe me an apology"

"Yes I do." He shook his head when she opened her mouth to protest. "Please give me a chance to say what I want to say."

Kamal gave her a few minutes to see if she would object or not. When she didn't, he took a breath and continued.

"I never meant for us to come to this. I love you, you know I do. There's a lot of things I want to say but right now I can  understand you're angry and hurt. Please don't end us Zainab"

"Are you done?"

No I'm not. Kamal wanted to say but he did not. All the words he had practiced in the car disappeared from his head when he needed them.

Even though he wanted to apologise to Zainab,  he didn't know how to do it.

"Do you love her?"

His head shot up at the question. Did he love Maryam? Sure he had grown to care for her and she had grown on him but was that love?

He wasn't sure himself.

"Ahem" Zainab coughed. "It's fine, I don't want to know again. Kamal I want you to divorce me. When I close my eyes, all I see is you promising me you wouldn't touch her and then learning she's pregnant. I don't really blame you because it's also my fault. If I hadn't pushed you away, then you wouldn't have gone into her arms."

Tears burned the back of her eyes, a heavy lump stuck in her neck.

She didn't want to cry but the tears insisted on having their way.

Zainab felt Kamal wrapping his arms around her and she buried her fingers in his shirt, pulling him closer and taking in his scent.

Kamal felt her relax in his hold and exhaled. She was still angry, but he knew she would calm down.

The sound of the door caused them to break away like two teenagers caught kissing.

Alhaji forced his face to remain expressionless and called Kamal away to prayers. In the masjid, they had a long talk most of which included the older man letting Kamal know he was capable of caring for his daughter and finding her a better husband if he dared to hurt her.

"Zaki koma yau?" Inquired Hajiya bintu as she cooed to her grandson who had woken up and taken a bath.

"Yes mama. I'm going back today"

Husna smiled at her sister, pleased she'd taken her advice to heart on how to handle the other women by pretending they didn't exist.

She too, would return to her home today.

Small groups of dark clouds started to form an alliance and spread over the sky.

Zainab inhale deeply, loving the scent of sand before the rain.

Her heart felt light strangely, the heaviness she'd felt earlier dispersed after her conversation with her father.

It could have been her whose wedding got ruined. It could have been her whose marriage was at stake with a baby on the way.

She could have easily been the other woman but Alhamdulillah, she wasn't.

"It's going to rain" said Kamal, tuning down the volume of the radio and giving her a bright smile.

"I still don't like her nor do I want anything to do with her."

Zainab wasn't lying. True enough, she had accepted that she had a co-wife but to put on smiles and face her, pretending everything was okay?

She wouldn't.

Kamal quietly increased the volume.

He glanced at Zainab through the corner of his eyes and smiled.

Maryam's face popped up in his head and his smile widened.

Turning to Zainab with a teasing gaze, he suggested.

"How about we have another baby?"

"Are you crazy?" She looked mortified.

Kamal pressed his lips hard but he couldn't hold back.

Pearls of laughter sprang free from him and he even hit the steering wheel for good measure.

"You're silly"

Zainab looked away but a grin teased her lips.

Kamal released a breath he had been holding for a while.

The future didn't seem so bleak anymore, things would be fine.

●●●●●●●●●●●●
"Is everything okay?"

Maryam looked up at the voice and smiled at the worried look on her brother's face.

Salman looked away, her smile was too bright. He walked in and sat on the chair close to her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" a small smile tugged at her lips and she placed a palm over her belly. "I'm very fine"

"You know, I've been very worried about you and the whole makeshift thing. I was afraid you might not recover from this blow when the whole thing ends but now I don't have to worry anymore. It's very relieving"

"It's all thanks to Allah. Things kind of worked out for themselves though we're not quite where we want to be"

"You'll be there soon"

"How do you know?" She arched an eyebrow hoping her expression matched how unbelieving she wanted to look.

"You're crazy."

"I'm your future mother. If I have a boy, I'll name him after you so show some respect"

"Yuck...don't change the topic to your pregnancy. I don't want my brain cooking up dirty thoughts of you and my best friend"

The two laughed and heaved a sigh at the same time.

"You know, I wasn't angry at you before. I was more angry at myself for not taking care of you properly. If I had played my path well then maybe some things would have changed.

Maryam nodded.  Some things would have changed but it's fine that they didn't.

A certain young man's smiling face appeared in her mind and she wondered where he was and what he was doing.

Was he fine? Was he okay?

She shook her head. This wasn't her problem to deal with or worry about but she hoped that someday, they would meet on better grounds.

"Thank you Salman "

"You sound so sincere"

"I am"

She took a deep breath and counted 1 to 5 before she released it.

It didn't matter what would come next but right now, she felt content with things. It almost felt like a dream.

Like nothing would go wrong.

Or would it?