Come, Fly With Me

ELEVEN

After arriving home from dinner that evening, we sat in the living room with cups of mama's special tea. We were waiting for Maryam Aunty to call. Although she spoke to my mother in the morning, and she was overjoyed, she said she'd call later on to discuss the arrangements for the next few weeks.

As we all laughed at mama and baba's stories from when they were newlyweds, I thought about how much I wished for a relationship like theirs. My mama and baba never actually saw each other until their wedding day, after their nikaah was done. Mama trusted her parents and older brothers, who insisted that he had a tremendous character and a generous heart, and baba had heard endless stories about the wonderful girl who spent every weekend caring for the children at the local orphanage. Both had such strong imaan and knew that if they were meant to be together, then nothing would stand in their way. When they did eventually see each other, they claimed it was love at first sight, for it was each other's characters that they'd already fallen in love with, not their appearance - and neither of them regret never meeting before being married. They saw each other for the very first time as husband and wife, it must have been a beautiful moment, and neither have looked back since. MashaAllah, their relationship was truly one of a kind, it was as strong as it could be and I admired it with all my heart.

Maryam Aunty called soon later and mama put it on loud speaker. It was a long conversation and after 15 minutes of talking she said, 

"okay, all of you are invited to dinner at our place tomorrow, it's my turn to host now in return for all the wonderful evenings you have hosted us. Make sure you all come, Saffa and Sami too. Now, let me talk to my soon to be daughter."

Mama took it off speaker and handed me the phone. I smiled, flattered that she'd referred to me as her daughter already, not even as her daughter-in-law.

"Assalamu alaikum Aunty, how are you?"

"Wa alaikum salaam my dear. I'm beyond fantastic today alhamdulillah, and it's all thanks to you. What about you? You doing okay?"

"Alhamdulillah, it's a lot to take in, but I'm happy with my decision."

"MashaAllah, I am very glad. Listen, Aleena, I wanted to thank you."

"Whatever for, Aunty?"

"This morning when we told Ehsaan the good news, he was overjoyed. There was a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eyes that I haven't seen in a long time."

I blushed, not knowing what to say and glad she couldn't see my red cheeks through the phone.

"I know you guys haven't spent much time together, and you don't know each other very well, but InshaAllah with time you will grow to become the very best of friends."

My blush deepened, "InshaAllah" I managed to whisper, unable to find my voice.

"Now, you've had a long and no doubt emotional day, get some rest and have a nice day at work tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow night for dinner."

"Yes, I look forward to it. Jazakallah Aunty, Allahfiz" I ended the call, mentally thanking Allah for the amazing woman who was already treating me like one of her own.

* * *

We were on our way to Ehsaan's house, they were a quite a distance from where we lived and it was my first time going. Though I still got nervous whenever I met the family, they made me feel at home every time, but this time was worse as I wasn't in the comfort and haven of my own home. The purpose of today's visit was daunting, we were to discuss the arrangements for the festivities and when they would happen.

Both our parent's wanted to give us sufficient time to get to know each other, but at the same time wanted us to keep our relationship as halal as possible by getting the nikaah done soon. Both Ehsaan and I preferred to have the nikaah more intimate with only our close family and friends whilst the wedding reception and walima would be larger events. There would of course be the smaller events that take place too but these would fall into place once the important dates had been set.

"So, do we agree that the nikaah should be around 6 weeks from now? That gives time for our families living abroad to travel here and I think it will also be school holidays at the time, right Aleena?"

"Yes uncle, that's right"

"That should be enough time for us to plan the wedding anyway, there's enough of us girls and ladies to make sure it is all arranged to perfection"

Now Sami spoke up, "Then the reception will be held a week after the nikaah ceremony and walima only a day later?"

"Exactly. Ehsaan, Aleena, are you both okay with that?"

I looked up at him, catching his eye and couldn't help but smile slightly as he smiled at me from across the room. Things were getting really real now, and it felt so strange, but my heart felt at peace so I was happy.

"Yes, papa. That's fine by me." Ehsaan responded to his dad, who looked at me questioningly.

I nodded quickly, "It's fine by me too, uncle."

"Then it is settled. Six weeks on Friday will be the nikaah and you two will be a married couple inshaAllah" he said, earning a bright red blush from me, and a chorus of 'awwws' from Yasmine, Noura and Saffa as Aaminah laughed and Ehsaan playfully hit his little sisters.

inshaAllah.