She has been keeping that secret in her heart for years and years, risking her every relationship. She has been accused. She has been hurt. She has been scarred. But she never defends herself because that means she has to reveal her dreaded past. So...
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They say a child is a blessing in his or her parents' life, a gift from God. That's exactly who Zara was for her parents. On the eve of their fourteenth anniversary, they had gotten a call from their case carrier that their adoption case went through and their baby was being flown in from Pakistan, a two months old baby girl.
They had canceled the anniversary party at the last moment as they drove across the town picking up all the stuff the baby would need. From baby clothes to onesies to blankets to infant formula milk, to baby monitor... and even a crib although he had strictly said, he's not letting the baby go anywhere. By the end of the night, the house had turned into a baby proof place with welcome signs.
The next day the sun rose on Khan-Wahab house at the foot of the mountain, Ayla pulled away all the curtains, letting the sun in. The floor to ceiling windows had fairy lights that Zach had hung last night. The corner of the tables in their living room had the baby proof protectors. The welcome sign was hung above the fireplace. There was even a pink wreath hung on the front door, she shook her head and laughed all the not so necessary things her husband had bought.
"I'm so nervous."
He held her hand in his lap, playing with her fingers nervously as they sat on the stairs of front porch. He wore his three-piece suit, black tie, the white shirt was creaseless. She had worn her cream-colored jumpsuit as they waited for the arrival of their baby. The authorities were going to come over for the last time to make sure the baby was going to a safe home. Only if they knew that the safest place for that baby girl was this house, they wouldn't have bothered.
"How are we going to hold her?" She blinked thinking about the tiny baby. "But we got this. We have been going through this process for the past year. We are ready. It's about time." She put her head on his shoulder as they waited for their little girl.
"There is something else I have been thinking about." He was tracing the lines on her palm, nervousness was still present in the slight tremble of his hand. "You know the firm is doing well on its own. You went back to working as well, so I was thinking I want to do something Non-profit. More like pro-bono cases for sexual assault survivors. Their cases are often pushed away or don't even survive in trials most of the time. I can do at least consultations if not the whole case, but I'll try my best."
Ayla blinked at her husband, for a second her hands frozen in his, but she took in a long breath. It was still hard to talk so blatantly about what had happened to her, but she had been better at handling in case it was brought up. Some moments were worse than the other, but for most of her days, she had rewritten her story, reclaimed her relationship with her husband, and found comfort in going to support groups. Surprisingly that had been one of the things that accelerated her healing.
