Page 22 of First Comes Marriage
Zafar spluttered his mouthful of coffee out and both Reshma and her barely-two-feet-tall Romeo looked at him in alarm. He cleared his throat and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. Eyes wide, Reshma handed him a napkin from her lap and, after nodding in thanks, he took it and dabbed his mouth before blurting out, ‘Sorry, mate. She’s already married. To me. You’ll have to find someone else. Reshma’smywife.’ He winked at the child, unable to keep the playful note out of his voice.
Reshma’s eyes were as wide as saucers, but Haroon 2.0 looked ready for a fight. His legs were apart as he stood there, positioning himself closer to Reshma as he faced Zafar and there was a fierce scowl on his face. ‘No, she’s not. Reshma’s going to marry me because I love her and I drew her a picture with her favourite colour.’
Zafar bit the inside of his cheek, not wanting to laugh but finding the child’s argument about why he was the better prospect endearing. If he’d been old enough, Zafar might have had some serious competition. He raised his eyebrow as he regarded his adversary, but before he could say anything, Reshma intervened.
‘Did you have your dinner, Haroon?’
He turned to face Reshma and his expression switched from serious to smitten in a heartbeat as he nodded.
‘Would you like to have some pudding? Let’s go and find your mummy and see if we can get you some pudding. Let’s get you away from the crazy man while we’re at it.’ She mumbled the last bit under her breath, but Zafar caught it as she got up, and after giving Zafar a killer glare, she turned to leave, as her admirer pressed his hand into Reshma’s. He narrowed his eyes at Zafar just before he turned away.
Fatima was making her way back towards them and spotting her son with Reshma, she smiled at him. ‘There you are. I’ve been looking for you. I hope you’re being good and not giving Reshma and Zafar any trouble.’ She gave her son a look that suggested that she knew that the chances of that were fifty-fifty.
‘He’s been the sweetest.’ Reshma gave Zafar a side eye before looking back towards Fatima. ‘Very charming and loving. He’s stolen my heart.’ He was sure that last bit was for his benefit.
‘That’s kind of you to say, Reshma, but I know this rascal well. Come on you. Let’s get you some ice cream so you can really bounce off the walls while I have your father watch over you later.’
She took charge of her son and, after blowing Reshma a kiss, her not-so-secret-admirer left to go and have his ice cream, the lure of the frozen dessert obviously greater than wanting to stay next to the woman he’d professed his love for.
Reshma blew him a kiss back and then turned to face Zafar. He looked up at her innocently, ignoring the feeling that had hit him when she’d kissed her palm and then blown it towards Romeo.
‘All that was missing was for you to beat your chest and roar in his face, though why, I have no idea. He’s four, Zafar. Four.’ Her tone held a mixture of annoyance and confusion.
He ignored the first part of what she’d said, latching onto the last. ‘I know, and check his audacity. Four years old and declaring that he’ll marry you like that. He didn’t even have the decency to go down on one knee, propose and wait for an answer.’ Zafar knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn’t help it.
He stood up, not wanting to be at a disadvantage as Reshma stayed standing. He took half a step towards her and had to dip his head to maintain eye contact. When Reshma wore flats, like she was today, she only reached his shoulder. He took a more well-mannered sip of his coffee this time and she mimicked him with her tea, not once breaking eye contact.
His eyes were drawn to hers, where she’d flicked her eye liner at the ends and her eyelids sparkled. She’d lined her eyes heavily and they looked bigger and brighter than usual. Her nose stud twinkled as she lifted her chin, making him smile. Throughout the day, she’d maintained a fine balance between showing defiance and indifference towards him and he was intrigued at the fiery spirit she was giving him a glimpse of.
‘That’s rich coming from you. From what I remember, you didn’t propose either, forget going down on one knee. Your father finalised everything with my uncle. You didn’t even bother to do it ceremonially. At least Haroon was sweet enough to declare his love and draw me a picture of us. He made the effort to try to write my name on the picture too. No one forced him to.’
‘Touché, Mrs Saeed. Touché.’ She had him there. Romeo had one … no, three up on him. A declarationof love, a picture and her name on the picture. But it was his name attached to hers and suddenly he felt a need to assert it. The reason for which he would sit and ponder on later, because he damned well needed to figure out what was going through his head with regards to Reshma right now. Getting to know her or even romancing her was one thing. Being affected by her so viscerally and feeling possessive was another.
‘It’s Ms Mir actually.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘My name is still Reshma Mir. I never changed it to Saeed. And you know what? I’m glad I didn’t. Why take the name of a man who doesn’t even want to be with me?’ She stretched her lips as though forcing a smile, but he could hear the hurt she was trying to cover up in her voice.
Maybe it was because he had witnessed her distress last night, but he suddenly felt attuned to the underlying pain in her voice. Surely, it hadn’t always been there, had it?
Zafar cleared his throat. ‘I’m not one of those men who needs or expects his wife to change her name and take his unless it’s something she chooses to do and it makes her happy. I’m quite happy for you to call yourself Reshma Mir or Reshma Saeed. It doesn’t change the reality that we are both linked to each other. And as for proposing to you … you’re right. I didn’t. There’s lots I haven’t done and, believe it or not, I acknowledge and accept it. As I said to you last night, I’ve failed you as a husband. But that’s not a trend I intend to keep up. We might not know each other as well as we should, but I reckon you know me well enough to know that I put a lot of effort into succeeding. And when I identify any failures or weaknesses, even my own, I make it my mission to turn themaround until they’re a resounding success, whatever the obstacles. Including four-year-olds who try to win overmywife.’ As he said the words, he felt a strong sense of awareness of how much he meant them.
10
Reshma
Unbidden, a shiver went through Reshma at Zafar’s words. Which was utter craziness. He was just having a Neanderthal moment and she’d do well to remember that.
It had all been bluster because his ego had taken a hit from a little boy who barely reached his knees. A boy who had charmed Reshma from the moment she’d met him. She’d seen it happen before, when a child took to an adult that wasn’t related to them for no explicable reason. It was the first time it had happened to her and she’d found it endearing, sweet. Little Haroon had been nothing but entertaining, giving her unconditional affection at a time when Reshma had desperately needed a distraction.
And she’d needed that distraction because of the man now standing in front of her, looking for all the world as though he had meant every single word he’d just said. And the way he’d just referred to her as his wife – her heart had swooped behind her ribcage like a butterfly suddenly free of its cocoon, the stupid organ that it was. As though the previous forty-eight hours, the past thirteen months, had been completely different and not how she remembered them.
It was all fanciful thinking on her part and just words on his and she’d do well to remember that fact too.
Thankfully, the rest of the evening passed enjoyably, with Reshma moving away from a cockily confident Zafar and spending her time with her cousins. She also managed to get into bed before him, feigning sleep as he noisily pottered about in their room and tried calling out to her. He probably knew she was pretending, but she didn’t care.
The following day, Reshma managed to take time out to focus on her work for a few hours. The website she was working on was coming along nicely and she was on the cusp of securing a new client for a big website upgrade, which had her feeling excited. A feeling she relished after the exhaustion of the last few days. Work was a blessing right now, enabling her to lose herself and forget what was happening around her. She let her creativity take the lead.
