Forgiving You (Dublin Sisters #2)

Epilogue

3 years later

The sun was brightly shining up in the cloudless sky. The summer flowers were blooming in colourful hues. In the Siddique household, aroma of barbeque was spreading fast. The flavourful smoke from the coal barbeque stand was visible. Three men hunched over the barbeque grill stand, flipping over the meat and muttering praises.

"This looks good," Usamah lifted the well-done Seekh kebab skewer.

Daud glanced, "Ya looks done."

"Why don't you give that to me?" Salman extended his hand.

Usamah narrowed his eyes "Why? So you can go and feed your wife. That's what you do every time we do barbeque. She gets to taste first before anyone."

Salman took hold of the skewer, "If you are so jealous the next skewer is yours." He didn't wait for Usamah's reply. Instead, he made his way to where his wife and other women of the family were seated.

"He is completely besotted over her." Usamah muttered under his breath looking at his older cousin's retreating back.

"For a happy life, one needs to be besotted with his wife." Daud said wryly and turned the skewers on the barbeque grill.

Usamah shook his head, "You are another one besotted. Besides I don't remember you thanking me for introducing you with the mother of your children."

"Fuck off," Daud snorted, "Why don't you focus on your own marriage? You seem to be interested in other people's wives."

Usamah looked away, his marriage had become a joke. With each passing day, the distance between his wife and him was growing. They were now two strangers living under one roof. He looked over at his wife where all the women were seated. Feeling his eyes on her, Sabah met his eyes. Even from the distance, he could feel the coldness in her gaze. He tore his gaze from her and stared at the food displayed on the barbeque grill.

"Does love last forever?" he pondered out loud.

Unbeknownst of Usamah's inner turmoil, Daud explained and lifted the tandoori chicken leg from the grill with the help of thongs, "It is." He glanced at his parents who were seated on the garden wrought iron chairs, "Look at our parents. They are an example of living together happily for four decades." He looked up from the grill and smirked, "From my own experience, I think love grows with time. You learn to live together and become dependent on each other. It becomes impossible to imagine to live away from the other."

Usamah was quiet as he thought. Recently, he had been missing his bachelor life and most of all his freedom. He wouldn't mind getting a break from marriage.

Perhaps, it wasn't true love at all.

Only time would tell...

Ibrahim sipped his fresh mango milkshake. Summer was mango season especially for south east Asian mangoes which were atrociously expensive in Ireland but the love of mangoes never stopped desi families from purchasing them.

"It's good to have our children and their families together for the barbeque. We hardly get time to spend with everyone." Ibrahim mused.

Muhammed pensively stared at the contents of his mango milkshake glass. He pursed his lips as his thoughts went far away from those around him. Not all of his children were present and that plagued his heart more than he could ever admit.

When Muhammad didn't agree. Ibrahim sighed, "When will you forgive her? She is your daughter," he reminded his younger brother gently.

"She is dead to me." He bit out.