Elm Creek: A Readymade Family, Volume 1

13

THIRTEEN

The instant Hâroon spotted Moses returning home from work that evening, he collected the children to go pay a visit to their across-the-street neighbors. Of course, Lila had gone out again. But he was done caring or trying to correct her. His priority were the children and making sure they were looked after properly—something which his wife was no longer willing to do, whether she was present in the house or not.

“Where are we going, Daddy?” Yusrâ asked as he led both children out of the house.

“To visit friends,” he told her.

When they reached the door, he let go of Yusrâ’s hand to ring the doorbell but kept a firm grip on Ibrâhîm’s. He heard the shrill cry echo through the house from the other side of the door. Then he heard approaching footsteps that seemed too light to be Moses’.

The door was opened by a blond young woman—Moses’ daughter he’d glimpsed from across the street sometime last year. He was instantly uncomfortable. Under legal age she may be, but she was still a female past puberty, and he avoided interacting with them as much as possible, especially the younger ones. Her stare as she looked him up and down, probably taking in his Islâmic attire, didn’t help his comfort level.

He stepped back to put more space between them. “Is your father available?”

At the same time, Yusrâ, who didn’t have an introverted bone in her body and must have inherited Ya’qoob’s more social personality than his, smiled brightly. “Hi! What’s your name? I’m Yusrâ.”

The girl’s gaze warmed as she looked down at Yusrâ, and she even shook her tiny hand. “I’m Charity.” Her curious gaze moved to Ibrâhîm, who didn’t even notice her and was looking everywhere else as he hummed and rocked in place, and then she looked back at Hâroon. “Come in. My father’s here.”

As she stepped back, holding the door open, he and the twins entered. Then she closed the door, pivoted with a gesture to follow her, and walked away. He followed with the children, keeping a firm grip on Ibrâhîm’s hand, while Yusrâ skipped alongside them.

They were led into the den, where Moses sat with his wife and a young man who looked to be around the same age as Charity with an eerie resemblance to how Hâroon had appeared at that age, down to curly red-orange hair and the leaf-green eyes. Moses and the young man were in the midst of an intense conversation that stopped abruptly when they noticed their visitors.

“Hâroon,” Moses acknowledged with a bright smile. “Nice of you to stop by.”

“Uncle Moses!” Yusrâ, without hesitation, rushed at him. She had a great fondness Moses in a way that reminded Hâroon of his childhood adoration for Arqam.

Chuckling, Moses picked her up and set her on his knee. Then he waved a hand to the furniture. “Join us, Hâroon. Take a seat.”

Hâroon took the remaining armchair—the young man occupied the other—and settled Ibrâhîm on his lap. Charity seated herself on the unoccupied couch, picking up a book that was lying face-down on it and began to read, not giving him a second glance.

Moses gestured to the unnamed young man. “Meet my daughter’s fiancé, Jake.” The note of pride in his voice clearly conveyed how he felt about his future son-in-law.

They were engaged rather young for a non-Muslim couple, but it did happen occasionally. He did wonder what had happened with the man who had been pursuing Moses’ daughter last year. He hadn’t seen him around for a while and Moses hadn’t mentioned him either.

“Jacob Reid,” the boy introduced himself.

Studying the younger image of himself, Hâroon recalled something from his childhood that his mother had said in passing. Don’t we have cousins by the name of Reid?