Love and Letters ✔

Chapter 20

Love and Letters

Chapter 20 

It felt like I had merely taken a deep breath and then the wedding was upon me, upon us. I was sitting in my bedroom with Suraya holding my hand as she whispered something to me. "Say that again?" I asked her baffled.

"I said, Is-haaq gave me a letter to give to you before you leave this room. Before the Nikkah is broadcasted." Her tone barely concealed the fact that she was amused with my distracted mood.

"Don't lie to me, Sue," I growled angrily. My nerves were shot. I was dressed in my heavy wedding dress. It was a hand-stitched red bridal lehenga, with thick golden embroidery and a huge dupatta that was yet to be draped over my scarf.

"I'm not." She twisted around me and pulled out a letter from her handbag. It was a lilac envelope. "And this is his rose to you."

I took the rose from her gently and smelled it. It smelled more like Is-haaq's perfume than it did like a rose and I couldn't help the smile on my face. On the front of my envelope, Is-haaq had my name written as well as:

"To my pretty girl,

The last letter to be received with the name Amani Mia."

On the back, Is-haaq had penned words down along the left side only.

"And even though I am unsure

About most things

In life,

I am

Certain that

I love you and

Will continue

To love you

Forever."

With an ease that only came from practice, I slipped my finger under the seal and opened the letter. Immediately, my eyes were drawn to the 'P.S. I LOVE YOU' written in a messy, but familiar handwriting.

The stiff purple paper inside made me smile as I pulled it out. 

"Okay, pretty girl,

We are just hours away from showdown. Are you ready for this? I am! I can't wait. This is all I have been dreaming about for the last four years. The final hurdle towards our eternity. Can you imagine spending our lives here on this fleeting dunya for several moments and then re-uniting for the rest of time in Jannah?

I cannot wait, pretty girl. This is the last step alone.

Then, from here on forth, we will take every step beside one another until we take the first step into Jannah together.

This is my first promise to you: From the moment that you sign your name down on that dotted (I am assuming that it is a dotted line. I really wouldn't know. This is my first Nikkah, you know?) line, it will be my life mission to ensure that we end up in Jannah.

I know, along the way it will be bumpy, and we will want to kill one another, and we will hate each other for a while, but I hope that we will remember why we are together. I hope that in our times of anger that we remember that we are a team and that we are stronger together.

Okay – now, to make you smile.

Let's get married so I don't have to lower my gaze every time you walk past.

Just like my new slippers at the Masjid, you stole my heart and now it's gone forever.

I'll save the rest for when I get to see you.