Marrying Ameera by Rosanne Hawke Read Free Book Online Page A

she was almost crying.
    ‘So you love him,’ she said.
    ‘What can be done?’ There was hope in my voice, but Mum didn’t share my tone.
    ‘If it’s a question of honour—’
    ‘But I haven’t done anything.’
    ‘I believe you, but in your father’s eyes you’ve dishonoured him. Dishonour sticks like slander. He says it stains like dye, you can never erase it.’ She thought for a second. ‘Sometimes dishonour can be fixed with a marriage.’
    ‘But Tariq’s Christian—that’s why I kept my interest secret.’
    Mum nodded slowly. ‘I know—it’s a problem. I just needed to know what you felt in case your father thinks of it as an option. Though the way he talks about the Yusufs, I doubt it.’
    Mum gave me another long hug then got up to leave. ‘This will calm down, Ameera. I’ll talk to him. But please don’t do anything rash, like going to Maryam’s house. It would increase the shame your father already feels,maybe force him to act more strictly than he normally would. I’m sorry.’
    At the door; she turned and rushed back to hug me again. ‘Oh, Ameera, God loves you so much. He is your true father—He will look after you.’
    She kissed me and left. I sat there after she’d gone, astonished. Mum rarely spoke to us about what she thought of God. I knew Papa wouldn’t agree that God was my father. But what if He were? Could I dare to ask Him to look after me better than my own father?

8
    That night Riaz came to my room with chicken korma. Mum had made it using curry paste from a jar but he’d gone to the Tandoor Kitchen to buy me a garlic naan. He knew how much I loved naan.
    ‘Riaz, you’re an angel. I’m so hungry.’
    He watched me while I fell on the food. ‘Ameera, I’m sorry if giving you Tariq’s phone number caused all this.’
    I swallowed down a mouthful. ‘I could have refused the number or not used it. Besides, it was worth it.’ I looked up at him. He seemed truly concerned. ‘Tariq was never my boyfriend—we only ever talked.’
    ‘I believe you, Ames.’
    That was when it hit me: my ‘friendship’ with Tariq would have to end. Papa would watch me like a falcon forever now.
    ‘I suppose I’ll be lucky if I get to go to uni after this,’ I said.
    Then I saw the look on Riaz’s face. The concern had morphed into sorrow and pity; it made him look older.
    ‘Riaz?’
    He moved to the bed and put an arm around me. ‘Ames, I want you to know how sorry I am.’
    Not sorry enough, I thought. If he was, wouldn’t he have stood with me, taken half the blame? But maybe he didn’t see how having a girlfriend had led him to give me Tariq’s number. Still, it was my choice to use it, and I was proud of that. I couldn’t blame Riaz. Though a little voice whispered that Papa probably wouldn’t be as angry about Riaz having a girlfriend.
    Riaz hadn’t finished. ‘I love you, Ames. And I mean this—if something happens that you don’t like, you call me and I’ll come.’
    I gaped at him, amazed. What did he mean? He couldn’t leave a nightclub on time to drive me home, so why promise something like this? But he was serious. There was a concern in his eyes that I’d rarely seen.
    ‘Is something wrong?’ I asked.
    ‘I hope not. I hope this gets sorted okay.’
    He’d overheard something, I could tell, but he wouldn’t let on. He just held me for an age then left the room, taking my plate with him.
    I didn’t dare ask Papa what was going on. I used to be able to talk to Papa, but he was a different person now. I yearned for the days when we had been close. He’d taught me Urdu and it had transported me into his world. He told me stories, and those stories had taught me everything I needed to know: how to behave, how to treat others, how to obey, and how I would have an arranged marriage. Papa said I was the princess in the stories, that I was as beautiful as the moon.
    I remembered the story of Punnu and Sassi. Sassi was beautiful and the astrologer said at her