I stretched and yawned and walked out of Mum’s room.
I was pretty sure I actually stopped breathing when I saw her standing there, hands on her belly near the nurses’ desk. She took a few steps forward and stopped before she reached me.
‘Habibi.’ She smiled.
I swallowed hard and looked at her rounded belly.
‘I came as soon as I heard yesterday, but they told me that it was too late to visit and sent me home.’
I nodded.
Her voice shook. ‘I’m so sorry about the accident. And I’m so very sorry about how I treated you when Mama died.’
‘S’okay,’ I tried to say but it came out in a whisper.
‘No it’s not okay. I have so much to be sorry for. Nick? Are you all right?’
I stood there, trying my best to take it all in. Her, the pregnancy, what she was saying.
‘Nick? Are you all right?’ she repeated. I’d forgotten how she nodded with every question she asked.
I tried to reply. No words came out. So I just held my arms out and when she came in close enough, I wrapped them around her and I let myself go.
She showered me with her Arabic terms of affection that I’d so desperately missed hearing, and she kissed my tears while she cried too. ‘I’m sorry I abandoned you. Forgive me.’
‘Don’t ever leave me again,’ I said when I was finally able to speak.
‘Never, I swear to you. Never.’
I rested my palm on her rounded stomach. Even though I was sure of the answer, I still had to ask. ‘Mine?’
She chuckled through her tears. ‘Who else could she belong to? Of course she’s yours.’
‘She? It’s a girl?’ My voice was raspy. ‘We’re having a baby girl?’
She nodded and I broke down all over again.
‘You’re so young to be pregnant, Anna,’ I said when I was composed. ‘Are you okay about this?’
‘Very okay.’ She smiled. ‘I’ve never been young, anyway. You know that.’
‘But your studies? Your career?’
‘I plan to have it all.’ She held my face in her hands. ‘Don’t worry about me. But what about you? This is a big shock for you.’
‘It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my life,’ I answered, meaning every word.
‘Even after I shunned you? How can you ever forgive me for what I did to you?’
I shook my head. ‘Shhh.’ I didn’t need any apologies. ‘Shhh, Anna, it’s okay.’
She was here. She came back. She was having my baby. Nothing else mattered.
But she insisted, ‘I owe you a long explanation. I thought I was doing the best for you, protecting you by staying away. I wanted you to have—’
‘Another time,’ I interrupted her, my eyes fixated on her mouth. That gorgeous sexy mouth that I’d pined for so many nights on end. ‘Save it for later. There are more important matters to attend to now.’
I actually moaned with relief, the pure relief of having her lips on mine once more when our mouths touched. I had no idea how long we stood there kissing, but neither of us pulled away until one of the nurses at the desk behind us called out, ‘Get a room, Nick Harding!’
‘Let’s go sit.’ I motioned towards the visitor’s lounge.
Time stood still in that lounge, where it was just the two of us pouring out our hearts to one another, listening to each other’s grief at what had happened to our mothers, rejoicing in our baby, planning a new life together.
‘Will you move in with me?’ I held my breath.
‘Of course. But I have Ricky now. Is that okay?’
‘Do you even have to ask?’
‘He’s missed you dearly. But not as much as I have. I ached for you every day.’
‘Same here.’ A thought came to me. ‘Should we get married before the baby arrives? Would that make things easier with your family?’
She patted my thigh. ‘Are you afraid Tante Rosa will chase you up the street with her rolling pin unless you marry me?’
I laughed. ‘I tell you what, your uncle Fariz is no bloody picnic when he’s angry either. I just want to do the right thing by you. I don’t want you to feel embarrassed or ashamed or anything like that. Isn’t it expected in your culture that you’re married before you have kids?’
‘Generally yes, that’s the way it is.’
‘Well, let’s do it, then. I’d marry you today if you want to.’
‘Thank you, Nicholas Harding. And a fine husband you would make too. But I don’t want a rushed marriage. Let’s make our marriage an important decision we come to agree on in our own time, the way it should be.’
I rested my hand on her belly. To my amusement, our baby wriggled and squirmed under my touch. ‘You and me and Ricky and Noor,’ I named our baby girl and looked to Anna for approval.
She gave me a double thumbs up and a smile as fresh tears surfaced in her eyes.
‘Always together,’ I continued. ‘This is it, all right? Promise me, that this is it, Anna. The four of us always together, no matter how hard it gets.’
‘The four of us always together, no matter how hard it gets,’ she promised.
‘Even if the media give us hell?’
‘Even if the media give us hell,’ she repeated.
‘Even if Ricky gets sick again and it affects my career? You won’t pull away to try and “save” me?’
‘Nick,’ she looked into my eyes. ‘This is it. I promise.’
And when she said that, my heart was rested.