Page 81 of Sheltering You

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“They’re your grandparents. Didn’t they want to see you?”

“I do not matter.”

Derrick scowled. “Not true, but go on.”

That was the thing about Derrick. He didn’t see Jasmine for who she truly was. After this story, maybe he finally would.

“Baba had no purpose, you understand? No job, no family. He had no reason to leave the house. Some days, I could not coax him out of bed. I could not get him to eat.”

“He was depressed.”

“Yes. I feared he might follow Mama to the grave. And then Uncle Hasan came and saw how he was. He offered for us to go to the compound of his friend, where he was spending much time. He said that we wouldn’t be alone there. I didn’t want to go because of Basma. Baba had forbidden me to leave, but when he was in bed, I would sneak away to her house. We would sit in her courtyard. If Baba called me, I could hear and hurry back as if I had never left. In Basma, I had a friend and companionship. But Baba was fading, and if he died, I didn’t know what would become of me. There was only Hasan, and to live with Hasan alone would be worse than to live with Hasan and Baba, you see? I thought Baba would protect me.”

“You thought he would?” Derrick shot her a look. “What does that mean?”

She was getting there. “This person who owned the compound, he was a friend of Baba’s, and I had met him. He was an old man, even older than Hasan and Baba, as old as my grandfather. His name meant nothing to me. If I had understood… Not that it mattered what I wanted, only that I think I would feel better about what happened.”

She was taking her time telling the story. They weren’t in a hurry, after all. And the longer it took to get to the end, the longer she could put it off.

They’d left the city—whatever city that had been—behind. Aside from the occasional orange lights above the divided highway, there was darkness. She wondered what the countryside was like. Perhaps hilly and beautiful, like Maine and the place they’d just left. But for all she knew, it was barren and ugly. In the darkness, it was impossible to tell. It could be…anything.

That was the problem with darkness. One never knew what lurked until it was too late.

“What happened, Jazz?”

“I didn’t understand what they planned.”

Derrick’s lips pressed together, but he didn’t ask again. She was thankful they were in the car and thankful for the darkness. At least she didn’t have to face him.

“Basma set up the email so we could keep in touch. And then Baba and I moved to the compound. I had imagined a family, you know? Women and children and grandchildren, as our compound had been when I was a girl. But when we arrived, it was only Hasan and Khalid, the man who owned it.”

“Just you and those three men?” Derrick clarified. “But you were related to two of them, and one was an old man, so…”

“Khalid’s wife had been unable to bear children, and he wished for a second wife to give him a child.”

“Oh.” Derrick swallowed. “She died? He was a widower?”

“No. She is alive. She prefers to stay in Tikrit near her family. They have a house there where Khalid spends most of his time. He is only at the compound for planning their…operations, you see? Khalid and Hasan are part of an organization that has people in cities in Europe. Your…person calls them cells.”

“Terror cells,” he clarified.

“Yes. They would make plans at the compound, and then Khalid would return to his wife in Tikrit.”

“Okay.” Derrick drew the word out, clearly confused.

She needed to stop stalling.

“Baba made a deal. Actually, Hasan made it, but Baba went along. Hasan worried for Baba and wanted to bring him to the compound. They are twins, like Leila and me, and they do love one another. I believe Baba is the only one Hasan is capable of loving. Hasan wanted what was best for his brother. I was only…” She swallowed, unsure what to name herself. A pawn? A trinket? She sat up and told herself to tell the story. Give me courage, Lord. This was hard, even harder than she’d imagined. “They decided I would marry Khalid, become his second wife, to provide him with an heir.”

There.

It was done. The words were out and could not be taken back.

Derrick’s jaw tightened. On the steering wheel, his hands clenched, his knuckles turning white.