Wed First, Love Later

Amani sat in the loft listening to the echo of the news channel that her husband Shaan was watching downstairs. She did not want to be in the same room as him as he always kept the volume at an almost deafening level. Besides, it was his day off and he was so happy to be sitting on the couch with his remote control in hand. He seldom watched television because of his grueling work schedule. Shaan was a long haul truck driver. He owned his own equipment and worked himself to the bone everyday till Saturday. This occupation he chose not out of passion but out of the moral obligation he had inherited by marriage and the birth of his two children. It was a physically taxing job that paid extremely well. Shaan raked in a six figure income every year. This worked to the advantage of his family. The kids had a stay at home mother at their disposal. They lived in a quiet middle-class suburban neighborhood and the kids attended good schools. Amani had no financial worries for once. Those days of penny pinching had subsided but Amani always held on to her memories of how this success was achieved. Being a stay at home mother Amani had plenty of time to think. She glanced outside of the window of the loft trying to distract herself from thoughts of the past, but the pouring rain and the sound of thunder only refreshed her memories taking her back to the day that Kyra was born. There was quite a thunderstorm that evening in December of 1993.

Eight hours of excruciating labor pains and bouts of profanity directed towards mom finally came to an end as Dr. Carrie delivered a six pound baby girl. Officially a grandmother, she stood next to the bedside waiting to hold her first grandchild. After dressing the child and affixing a bright green satin bow on the very bald head, the nurse laid the child on top of Amani's chest. Exhausted from the whole experience, Amani could only peer drowsily at the child. Grandma immediately swooped her into her arms and gleamed with joy. The child would not receive a name until the following day as it is tradition in Indian culture to seek the first letter of a childs name from the temple priest. The family then chooses a name that begins with the chosen letter.  ...................there is more to this story, to be continued.......