Chapter 4

Where was all the screaming? He had expected to come home to total mayhem, but there was nothing. No shouting, no hysterical wife, no accusing parents. Just the party guests eating and talking and having a good time. Had Amira not come back here after all? But where else could she go?

Oh god, bloody Bushra, what did she want? He pasted a smile to his face as his mother's interfering friend descended upon him.

"Syed, how dreadful. Poor Amira. She must be devastated."

The smile vanished as he stared at her in horror. "What?" Oh god, had Amira told her? No, that was impossible. She was still smiling, in that annoying, condescending way of hers. All false sympathy and secret glee for another's misfortune. No, if she knew the truth, there would be more yelling and arm waving. This had to be about something else, but what?

"Yes, it's terrible. She's very upset."

"You know, my cousin is a plumber. I could give you his number."

A Plumber? What? "Uh, no, that's fine."

"Are you sure? He has very reasonable rates, and he could be here in an hour."

"No, it's fine, thank-you. Everything's under control. I should probably go and, uhm, tell Amira that everything's, uh, fine. You don't happen to know where…?"

"She's in the kitchen with your parents."

Finally, the woman was useful. "Right, thanks, I'll just, uh…" He waved to the closed kitchen door, backing away from her.

Three sets of eyes turned to stare reproachfully at him as he entered, Amira's awash with tears, his parents' full of resentment. He swallowed hard.

"I had to tell her."

"You swore to us that this nonsense was over and done with, now this?"

His father's anger scorched him, filling him with self-loathing. "I had to tell her."

"Well, it's done now." Rubbing his face with his hands, his father looked sadly at Amira. "Right, we all know the situation. We only found out a few days ago, Amira, and we will deal with this. What matters is that you're married and you love each other."

"That's the way it's going to stay. It's in everyone's best interests, including your's." His mother was looking at him, waiting anxiously for his response."

He nodded to her. "I agree. For today at least, we should say nothing. For Amira's sake we should keep up the pretence, and then when everyone's gone, we can talk again properly." Really, what else could they do?

"Just a stay of execution then? I'm so grateful."

She couldn't want to stay in the marriage, not when she knew he was gay, could she? "What, you want twenty more years of this?"

"I just want my husband to love me like a man should love his wife."

Well, duh! "You think I don't want that too?"

"Not enough." Amira's bitterness tore into him, as his father tried to keep calm.

"Okay, can we save tomorrow's arguments for tomorrow? Now for today, we are as we appear. "

Oh god, more lies.

"We hand out food and we give out drinks, and you remember that those people in there wish you nothing but happiness."

Syed nodded unhappily. Oh god, where was Christian? If only he could talk to him, this would all be so much more bearable. But what choice did he have? His father was right. What was done, was done. Now he had to get through it as best he could. The sooner this party was over, the sooner he could see Christian