Page 30 of Three Holidays and a Wedding
Farah looked sly. “You, too. I think Saif is finally opening his eyes.”
“What do you mean?” Maryam asked, even as a blush crawled up her neck. Farah was right—her emotions showed too plainly on her face.
“Everyone knows you’ve had a thing for Saif since we were kids. I’m glad he’s finally starting to clue in.” Farah hesitated, as if debating whether to continue. “I get that you might be feeling a bit... unsure of yourself,” she said carefully. “It’s normal, after everything you’ve been through. And if I know your parents, they’re cautioning you to stay away from Saif.” She went on only after Maryam gave a small, embarrassed nod. “If you’ll let an old friend give you some unsolicited advice?Saif is a good guy. Don’t make assumptions, and seize happiness when it’s being offered.”
Maryam blinked at Farah, who was three years younger than she was and yet seemed, in this moment, as wise as Dadu. “Where is all this coming from?”
The look Farah threw her was sympathetic, and made Maryam feel seen in a way she hadn’t in a long time. “You’re not the only brown girl who carries her family’s hopes and burdens, Maryam. It took me a long time to accept that we deserve our happy endings, too, even if they look a little different from what our family imagined for us.”
Before Maryam could respond, Farah squeezed her arm and left, just as Kath, dressed today in sleek gray wool slacks and a black cashmere sweater decorated with embroidered red bells along the collar, walked past, her arms full of clean bedding.
“How’re my favorite Muslims?” she asked. Maryam noticed that Kath pronounced it correctly—Muss-lim, notMuzz-lim—the latter pronunciation that felt like nails on a chalkboard to Maryam.
“We’re great. We used the tablecloths for prayer sheets after we ate our morning meal, hope you don’t mind.”
Kath had been about to bustle off, but she stopped, a look of dismay crossing her face. “We wanted to prepare a special meal for your early-morning breakfast, but we clean forgot! The fasting day ends at sunset, right? Let me ask Deb to rustle up some nibbles and—”
“It’s fine,” Maryam hastened to assure their host. “I ordered from the Hakka restaurant in town.”
“Hav-a-Hakka?” Kath asked.
“No-o,” Maryam said.
“Heavenly Hakka? That one’s a coffee café, too.”
“Hakka Empire, I think.”
“Muriel runs that with her daughter. Good choice. Right, then, for tomorrow’s breakfast, we’ll fix you something.”
“Actually, Miss Kath, with your permission?” Dadu had rejoined the women and now interrupted smoothly. “We would be happy to rustle up our own nibbles,” he said, repeating Kath’s lingo.
“He means, can we use your kitchen?” Maryam said, smiling. The wedding party had already discussed this, in consideration of how busy the innkeepers were. The look of relief on Kath’s face confirmed her suspicions.
“Of course, love, we’ll set you right up. Can’t have my Muslims starve during Ramadan.” She paused. “I mean, starveoutsideof daylight hours.” Laughing at her joke, she hurried on her errand.
“Dadu,” Maryam said, thoughtfully, “have you noticed something strange about Snow Falls?”
“The people are exceptionally kind and also attractive?” Dadu asked. “It must be the good Canadian water.”
Maryam shook her head. “I actually meant... well, the town is surprising, that’s all. Not at all what I expected. I’m going to check on our food delivery—they should be here any minute.”
Outside, Maryam walked around to the side street by the inn’s parking lot—and immediately ran into Anna.
“Anna! I tried looking for you at the airport, but couldn’t find you anywhere!” Maryam said. The smile that sprang toher face, accompanied by the spark of joy at seeing the other woman again, were entirely unexpected.
She took a closer look at Anna’s outfit: a wool hat with not one but two pom-poms, plus a bright green knitted wool sweater featuring a jaunty little elf, worn over her blue cocktail dress. She carried a parka over her arm.
Anna shrugged helplessly. “Lost luggage. Remember?”
Maryam did remember, and shivered in sympathy. It was still snowing, and quite chilly outside. “Your sweater is really nice,” she said, feeling a twinge over Anna’s lack of clothing.
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘tacky.’ But I found it in town, which has so many cute stores and restaurants. I spent hours exploring, and there are so many shops, not just ones that sell Christmas things—Snow Falls has everything. Plus, the most wonderful bakery.” She held up a large box, from which the most delicious, sugary aroma was emanating.
“That smells amazing. How did you know where to go?”
“A new friend showed me around,” Anna said, and got a strange look on her face as if there was something she wanted to tell Maryam. “You can have them after you break your fast—and I’ll consider them a treat for the form of fasting I did today, at your grandfather’s suggestion.”
Maryam wasn’t sure what Anna meant, but was happy to hear Dadu had had a chance to do his favorite thing: give advice to the younger generation. “That was really nice of you,” she said. It was, actually. “Did you say you were fasting today?”
