Chapter Eight:
A NEW BEGINNING
Years had passed, but some wounds had refused to heal.
Miriam had learned to live with the emptiness left by Sarah's disappearance. She still thought about her every day, but she had stopped asking the same questions aloud because she had realized that nobody had the answers.
Mary had become her closest companion.
She had watched Miriam recover from sickness, watched her cry over her mother and watched her search endlessly for a daughter who seemed to have vanished from the earth. She had also watched something else happen slowly.
Miriam was beginning to live again.
She smiled more often.
She helped around the house.
She prayed.
She even laughed sometimes.
But there was still a part of her that remained locked away.
Mary understood why.
A mother can learn to live without many things, but forgetting a child is not one of them.
One evening, as the two women sat outside Mary's house, Mary noticed that Miriam was unusually quiet.
"Miriam, I want to ask you something."
Miriam looked at her.
"What is it?"
"Have you ever thought about getting married again?"
Miriam looked away.
For a moment, she thought Mary was joking.
"Marriage?"
Mary nodded.
Miriam laughed softly.
"After everything I have been through?"
"Exactly because of everything you have been through."
Miriam became silent.
She had never imagined herself marrying again.
Her first marriage had left scars that still existed, even though the years had passed.
She had once believed that love meant loyalty, patience and sacrifice.
Omar had taught her that sometimes love could also mean losing yourself while trying to keep another person happy.
Mary understood her hesitation.
"I am not telling you to rush into anything," she said. "But you deserve to be happy again."
Miriam looked at her friend.
"Do you know someone?"
Mary smiled.
"There is someone."
Miriam's heart began beating faster.
"Who?"
Mary took a deep breath.
"Ali."
The name meant nothing to Miriam.
She had never met him.
She had only heard about him from Mary.
Mary had been Amina's closest friend. She knew Ali well. She knew his habits, his character and the kind of father he was to Daniel.
She also knew that Ali had been alone for a long time.
After Amina's death, he had refused to think about marriage.
But time had changed him.
Daniel was growing.
Ali was getting older.
And deep inside, he knew that he needed companionship again.
More importantly, Daniel needed someone who could give him the warmth of a mother.
Mary believed Miriam could be that person.
Not because she wanted to replace Amina.
Nobody could.
But because Miriam was gentle, prayerful and naturally caring.
She had spent years putting other people's needs before...