“I’m sorry, Mia, I didn’t realize,” Rami said sheepishly. His embarrassment deepened. “I promise that I won’t leave you alone like that again.”
“I wish I could believe you,” Mia said, sighing. “But I mean…” she bit her bottom lip, stroking her abdomen slowly, almost absently. “How can I believe that you could totally change your behavior in a single day?”
“You mean so much to me,” Rami told her, holding Mia’s gaze. “You and the baby both. I can and I will do this for you.” He swallowed, taking a breath to steady himself. Passing out in front of my own front door is a wake-up call no matter what else is going on in my life. I should never have let it get this far. “I wish you had confronted me sooner.” Rami held up one hand to stall Mia’s response as he saw the annoyance on her face. “I know it’s not your job to correct me, or to try and take care of me like that—but this has to have been bothering you for a long time. Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are right now if you hadn’t waited to say something until you were ready to leave me.” Mia pressed her lips together and Rami knew she was pushing down the first, heated thing that rose to her tongue.
“Okay, I can accept that,” she said finally. “But I shouldn’t have to tell you that going out and getting drunk multiple times a week is a freaking terrible idea—especially when your pregnant fiancée is having a difficult time.” She pulled her hand free of his grip and crossed both arms over her chest. “I feel like that’s something that a grown man should be able to figure out on his own, don’t you?”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Rami admitted, feeling his face burn with a blush. “It’s something I should have been able to pull myself out of.” He looked down at his hands. “I can only say that I’m sorry, and that from now on I will absolutely be the man that you need me to be—that our child needs me to be. I just hope that you will give me another chance.”
Silence hung between them for a long moment, and Rami didn’t quite dare to meet his lover’s gaze. As seconds ticked by, and Rami waited for Mia to respond—to give him some indication of whether or not she was going to be able to accept his apology—Rami’s sense of dread increased. She’s going to say she needs time, and then she’s going to leave. And once she leaves, she’s not going to come back.
Rami was about to open his mouth, to try and conjure up the words to explain to Mia how he was feeling, but just as he tried to speak again, his phone buzzed urgently in his pocket. It began playing the ringtone he had assigned to his family, and Rami scrambled to fish the device out. “Sorry about this, please give me just a minute. I haven’t spoken to my family since we last saw my parents, Mia, this could be really important,” Rami said. He glanced at Mia in time to see her nod. The number that flashed across the screen was not, however, his mother’s—or even his father’s. It was his sister’s picture and name that showed. Rami frowned and accepted the call, bringing the phone to his ear. “Karima, what’s going on? It’s kind of a bad time…” He heard his sister gasp for breath.
“It’s Ba…” her voice was punctuated by sobs. “Ba-ba is dead, Rami.” The phone nearly slipped from his fingers and Rami opened his mouth in shock as the words filtered through his startled brain.
“What—what do you mean? What are you saying? Slow down, Karima” He heard his sister take a breath on the other end of the phone line.
“Father died last night,” Karima said, her voice only marginally steadier. “He was coming back to the h-h-house from a dinner with friends and he was...he was…” Karima wailed, “He was hit. His car was hit. The doctors tried to revive him but…” Rami sank back on the couch as his sister descended into tears, losing the ability to form words. Rami stared into space for a long moment, trying to wrap his mind around the news.
“Karima,” Rami said finally, “I’m so sorry. I have to make some arrangements, I’ll call you back as soon as possible.” Karima managed to regain control long enough to agree, and Rami tapped the icon to disconnect the call. He turned towards Mia. “My father died last night,” he said, feeling strangely numb. Mia’s eyes widened and Rami watched as the tears that had been gathering began to spill down her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Rami,” Mia said, reaching for his hands and giving them a gentle squeeze. “I know how it feels to lose a father. I’m so sorry.” Rami nodded, feeling as though his head had somehow become disconnected from his body.
“I’m going to need to go to my family,” Rami said slowly. “I’m the eldest son. I have…I have responsibilities.” Rami stood up unsteadily. “Can we—can we talk more about us in a little bit? I need to make some phone calls.”
“Of course,” Mia said quickly. “You have to take care of your mom and everybody. We can…we can talk later.” Rami nodded and turned to walk to his office, trying to force his brain out of the numb shock that had descended on it so he could begin thinking about everything that he would now need to do.
SIX
Mia watched Rami walk out of the room, wondering if she should follow him. He had seemed unemotional, or numb, on hearing the news about his father. Mia could still hear his voice in her mind. She had no idea what exactly Rami’s sister had said, but his replies to her had been almost eerily calm. When she heard the office door close behind him, Mia sank backwards against the couch cushions, sighing. “Well I can’t just up and leave him now,” she muttered, to no one in particular. Her hand found the curve of her abdomen and Mia closed her eyes, remembering all too vividly how much pain her own father’s passing had brought with it.
Rami had told her more than once that while he had always sought his father’s approval, he had always been distant, barely aware of Rami’s existence on a day-to-day level. “The only times he noticed me were holidays, report cards, and whenever I got into trouble,” Rami had said once. “I think he only remembered my birthday because his secretary reminded him about it. But I have to admit he never failed to get me an amazing present.”
Mia had struggled for months to get her head around Rami’s upbringing, as vastly different from her own as it was. She still couldn’t comprehend how someone’s parents could be so emotionally uninvolved in their child’s life. The Campbells had given Mia so much love, right from her earliest memories of them, and she had been a teenager before she realized that not everyone’s parents were as invested as her mother and father were in her. “And they adopted him,” Mia mused out loud. Why would someone adopt a child if they didn’t desperately want to love the little boy or girl they took on? It didn’t make any sense to Mia at all.
She stood up slowly, feeling the ache in her ankles. In his haste to leave, Rami had abandoned his cup of coffee, and Mia had a feeling that he was definitely going to need it in the course of whatever preparations he would be making in the next few hours. Mia took the mug to the office door and stopped to listen through the solid wood for a moment. She could hear Rami’s voice, quietly giving instructions over the phone. He sounded so patient and calm. It was hard to believe that he was g
iving commands that were to do with the death of one of his parents.
But then, when Dad died, I wasn’t just wallowing around crying, either, Mia remembered. She had done her best to stay strong for her mother. She had helped make the arrangements, helped meet with the