Elm Creek: A Readymade Family, Volume 1

14

FOURTEEN

The next morning, after Hâroon had returned from Fajr at the masjid and the sun was rising, the doorbell rang. He opened it to find Serenity on the other side with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry to come by so early,” she said. “I thought if I came now, we could avoid any problems if that mob returns to my house later.”

Seeing her point, Hâroon let her in. After showing her where the twins’ bedroom was, their clothes and the diapers for Ibrâhîm, and the kitchen, he got ready to leave for work. Taking a page out of Serenity’s book, he decided to leave early. Hopefully, by the time he returned home at past five, they would be long gone.

By six, he was out on the road. Since he didn’t have to be at work until nine, he took a book to read with him and stopped at a coffeehouse for breakfast. He earned himself more than a few stares as he sat at a table by himself eating and reading, but no one approached or said anything to him.

He finally left at eight to drive to the office, arriving half an hour early. The only one present when he entered the building was Brandon.

“You’re early,” his supervisor commented.

“I thought I’d leave early just in case the media show up again this morning,” Hâroon said.

Brandon nodded. “Good idea. What’s going on over there anyway?”

“The neighbors’ daughter married someone who seems to be in the spotlight,” Hâroon said vaguely.

“That will be a stressful sort of life,” Brandon remarked. “It’s not for the faint of heart. You just have to read any of those gossip magazines to know. The media can be brutal.”

Of course Hâroon avoided looking at gossip magazines with its outpouring of lies and scandal as well as scantily clothed female celebrities, but he knew enough of what they contained. Even if he had no desire to know, Lila, at the times they did talk, was a wealth of information he didn’t wish to hear about.

He nodded his agreement and then excused himself to go to his own desk.

During his lunch break, Hâroon made a call from his desk phone to the house to check on the situation. It was Serenity who answered. “Did that mob come back?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said with a sigh.

He held back a groan. “Let me know when they’re gone.”

“Sure.”

She called him back at around four o’clock to tell him the media had finally left, so he was able to drive home at past five without worrying. When he returned home, he was surprised to find Lila at home. Instead of off gallivanting with the friends he didn’t approve of, she was in the den with Serenity and the children, though she had her nose buried in another of those despicable gossip magazines and wasn’t paying attention to either their neighbor or the children. He also noticed a palpable tension in the room between her and Serenity that worried him.

“Daddy!” Yusrâ cried when she noticed him, jumping to her feet and flying to him. “You’re home!”

He smiled down at her. “How was your day?”

“Fun.” She immediately began to describe her day and all that had happened.

“Hold on a minute, hon,” he said, interrupting her regretfully. If he left her chattering, he didn’t know how long it would take, and he needed to pay Serenity so she could go home. “Let me pay, Miss Serenity and then you can tell me.”