After Midnight

9

Winter break was just around the corner, the cool days ready to overpower the warmth that floated in the air. I was at gift shop, looking through the aisles to get the triplets something for their birthday that was a tomorrow.

I had spent a weekend with Harry some days back when my parents had gone abroad for some days. To say I was exhilarated would we the biggest understatement. I had lost any hope of being with him any time soon.

A smile tugs on my lips when I spot brownie mixes to my left, and my mind wanders off to when Harry and I made them together.

He watches me while I pour the mixture into a bowl, and add some water and two eggs.

“What?” I lift a shoulder, raising a sarcastic brow at Harry. “I don’t think I am doing anything alien here.”

He chuckles with midnight laughter. “I know. But it’s peaceful. Watching you bake, I mean.”

Somewhere between a sigh and laugh escapes my lips. I fold in the ingredients gently, ever so often sneaking glances over my husband, who is observing me very carefully with mischief dancing in his eyes.

“Lets play twenty questions,” he says, amused for some reason.

I put on my head protecting gloves and squint my eyes at him. “Lets reduce it to ten. Twenty is too long.”

He smiles. Gosh. That smile is what makes me bear my step-Mum’s face every day. He gets up from the kitchen barstool and walks around the counter towards me in his gray sweatpants and black tee. Dipping his finger in the brown batter, he puts it in his mouth and licks away the yummy mixture.

I scrunch my nose. “There was a spoon. Literally.” I point at the used spoon lying on the counter, and his eyes follow it before resting back on my face.

“OCD much?” he teases. “Relax. My saliva is clean. I brush my teeth.”

“STILL. Go and wash your hands,” I shake my head at his dirty finger.

“NO,” he challenges. I narrow my eyes at him, just when a devilish smirk appears on his face. It takes me a whole second to realize what he is about to do.

“STOPPPPP!”

I charge towards his opposite side, away from him while he chases me, brandishing his dirty finger like it’s a knife. I sprint upstairs and he follows me, as I cry in disbelief and he laughs at my misery.

A baby bumps into me and I come out of my reverie. He falls back on his butt and begins to cry as if someone had taken away his most favorite toy.

“I am so sorry!” I apologize to his mother just when she comes running towards him. She scoots him in her arms and much to my shock, starts laughing. I seem to calm down a little.

“Oh, no, please don’t apologize. It’s his habit to bump into anything and everything,” the woman explains to me, rocking her arms back and forth, in hopes her baby would stop crying. He does, but still tears are gathered in his big round eyes.

My heart melts to see him.

“He is such a cute baby,” I laugh, reaching over and caressing his baby soft cheek stained with tears. The fact that he doesn’t flinch away from me makes my heart do a happy dance.

As the woman leaves, I stare at her disappearing form, dreaming about the time when I used to play with Harry as a child.

My content, however is short lived when my lower abdomen twists with severe pain, so intense that I clutch my arm around my lower body and bend over, wincing.

What the heck?

Another wave of pain washes over me, and this time it takes me to the ground. I fall on the ground, unable to contain in my cry. The woman from before comes rushing back to me, her baby trailing behind her. She yells for help.

And then I am no longer conscious.

Brightness. There’s too much light shining on my eyes. I groan, swallowing what seems like sandpaper in my throat.

Am I in a desert?

“Aabirah, can you hear me?”

Slowly I open my eyes. A strange face is staring down at me with worry some eyes. it doesn’t take me long to notice he is a doctor, and I am definitely in a hospital.

“Yes, I can hear you. What happened?”

He pulls open my eyelids one at a time, shining a flash light in them. “You fainted at a shop. Did you eat anything today? I don’t see any food in your system.”

He pulls back the flash light and I am able to see him clearly now. the guy looks somewhere in his mid twenties to thirties with a light beard and muscular body. He is staring at me with his dark green eyes, and it takes a dumb second to remember he asked me something.

“Oh—um yes, I did. I ate some breakfast. Why? Is everything alright with me?” I ask nervously. I am pretty sure this nervousness is due to him looming over me while I lay on the hospital bed.

Can’t he move away?

“Yes, everything is alright. Your husband was pretty possessive of you to leave you alone with me in this room. I think you’d want to give him the news himself. Might help to cool down his anger.”

I stop breathing.

He detects the change in my demeanor, and smiles broadly. “You’re expecting a baby, Miss Aabirah.”

I should be happy. I am happy, but the sobs that rake through me tell others a completely different story. How—how could this happen? How would I hide this truth from people any longer than for a matter of weeks? Where would I run away to save our lives?

The door bursts open, revealing a pissed off Harry with his jaw set in place. He all but sprints towards me and doesn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around me, not caring the slightest that we have company. He hold me until I stop shaking all over him, and stares at me with big, wide, worried eyes.

“Tell me,” he prompts, his voice a painful whisper. He probably thinks the doctor did something to me, considering the furious glare he just passed to the innocent man.

“It’s not him,” I say. “Its—you’re going to be a Dad.”

I can tell that was the last thing he expected to be heard. I watch as his mouth forms an O, and as he draws back from me as if in shock. Soft fear begins to make home inside my heart. Does he regret it? Does he regret it all? Would he disown me now?

“I am sorry.” I look away just when the tears fill my eyes again. Can I just give an award to this doctor who is not leaving us alone and witnessing this?

“Please leave us alone, doc,” Harry mutters, surprising me with his calmness towards the doctor—who nods his head and exists the room rather grudgingly.

“Are you stupid?” Harry narrows his eyes. “Why in the world would you apologize? God. Sometimes you really don’t make any sense.”

“Are you not angry?” I whisper.

Something between a sigh and growl escapes his lips. He runs a hand through his hair and faces away from me, gripping the edges of the hospital bed so tightly that his knuckles go white. I’ve seen this side of him before—ever. Like he has no idea what to do. I want to lighten the burdens from his shoulders, even if they make me fall to the ground, but I am clueless. I don’t know how things would work out now. I don’t know how we will keep this baby hidden from the monsters who would give him/her a chase.

How do I protect the people I love?

“No. I am not angry.” His gaze cuts to mine, sharp and clear. I suck in a sharp breath. “What I am is amazed. How could—how could you ever think I wouldn’t be happy to hear this? This is the best news—the only happiness we’ve gotten after being together. How could you possibly think I wouldn’t be happy?”

I almost cry from the sudden relief that rolls off of my shoulders in waves. Turns out I suck at expectations. He is right. . .how could I think he wouldn’t be happy? Of course he would be happy. He is delighted. We haven’t seen this kind of happiness in a long time. Life has been a rollercoaster, literally. Perhaps now that this baby would be coming, we could convince my father of our relationship.

“I was confused. All I was thinking was how to hide this baby. They’d eventually know by time when my body starts to change. What would we do?”

He places his comforting hand on mine. “We don’t stress over it right now.” He gives me a heart dropping smile. “Right now, we tell my family and Aaila, and find a way to celebrate this.”

“Okay,” I smile back, at last hopeful for our future together.

Life always took the most unexpected turns at the most unexpected times. We were bound to circumstances, not really having a choice, and leaving everything on Allah SWT, for He knows what’s best for us.

I had always wondered how many obstacles I’d have to face if I wanted to chose love over the norms. Now, I definitely know.

And it’s worth every difficulty.