Rashid smiled at his niece. “It’s because of her name. A ruby is a precious red gemstone. Plus, haven’t you noticed that Ruby Auntie always wears red lipstick?”
Noor nodded. “And she has a red coat.” She turned to Ruby. “I like the name Ruby.”
“My full name is Rubina, but I like Ruby, too.”
“My name means star,” Tara said. “And Noor means light. Mommy picked our names.”
Ruby smiled. “They’re beautiful names. Your mommy picked well.”
After dinner, while the kids were in the bathroom washing their hands and Jasmine was loading the dishwasher, Ruby said thank you again to Rashid. She told him she’d call an Uber and get out of their hair for the night. Rashid shook his head. “Stay,” he said. “After the girls go to bed, we can talk.”
Ruby waved her hand dismissively. “Oh no, it’s not necessary. I feel so much better. You’ve been so great and—”
“You’re not imposing, Ruby. And we both know you needa friend right now.” When Ruby didn’t say anything, Rashid put his hand on her arm, looking at her with those warm, dark eyes. How had she ever thought he was cold and unfeeling? Her entire body flashed to that scorching kiss a few days ago. This man was the furthest thing from cold. And he had the kindest eyes she’d ever seen. “If you don’t want to talk, we can watch a holiday movie. A rom-com, even.”
Ruby raised one brow. “Is Rashid Hakim seriously offering to watch a holiday rom-com with me?”
“Really?” Jasmine asked, coming back onto the dining room. “He wants to watch arom-com? Isn’t this the third sign of the apocalypse?”
Ruby laughed. She liked Jasmine. She liked Rashid. And she liked the twins, too. “Okay, I’ll stay.”
While Jasmine was upstairs putting the girls to bed, Rashid put on a kettle for some tea.
“Orange pekoe or masala chai?” he asked.
“Masala,” Ruby said. When it was ready, they took their mugs to the living room. Ruby sat on the sofa, Rashid on a white armchair opposite her.
“So, what happened?” Rashid asked. “Why did you see your father? I thought you had no relationship with him?”
Ruby let out a slow breath. “I’ve been seeing him occasionally for the last year. I needed his help to get a UK ancestry visa since his mother, my late grandmother, was born there. He agreed to find her birth certificate only if I would see himwhenever he asked before I left.” Ruby paused. “It’s part of the reason I moved back here. He said he wanted to fix our relationship. Now I wonder if the whole thing was a ploy to get my mother’s money.”
Jasmine came into the living room then with her own mug of tea. “The girls were exhausted. I’ll leave you two alone so you can talk,” she said, picking up a book from the coffee table.
Ruby shook her head, patting the empty seat next to her on the sofa. “No, it’s fine. I mean…” She exhaled. “You can stay. We’re just talking about some family issues. I don’t have the best relationship with my father, and he kind of ambushed me today.”
Jasmine shook her head. “Ugh. I’m so sorry. Family stuff is hard—especially this time of the year.” She sat next to Ruby.
While drinking the excellent masala chai, Ruby told Jasmine and Rashid about the money she inherited from her mother. “I didn’t know about it until this law office contacted me a few years ago. Mom set it up so I wouldn’t get the money until ten years after her death. She left a letter saying she wanted me to use the money to make our dream a reality.”
“Oh, wow,” Rashid said. “You didn’t know she’d been saving?”
Ruby shook her head. “No. I did know…” She glanced at the Christmas tree, eyes welling with tears. “I didn’t realize she’d saved that much. She’d been stashing away money so she could leave my father, but then she died before she could use it.”
“Your mother sounds like a special person,” Jasmine said.
“She was.” Ruby sighed. “I don’t even know how my father found out about the money, but for the last year he’s been actinglike he’s a new person. He cooks now, and he took his stepson to visit colleges. But he hasn’t changed at all. Today he said he was going to talk to a lawyer to get his share since I told him I wasn’t going to give him a penny.” Her voice cracked.
Jasmine reached over and squeezed Ruby’s arm a second.
“Oh, Ruby. That sounds awful. Do you think he has a case?” Rashid asked.
Ruby shrugged. “I doubt it. The trust was in my name. But there was one thing he said—that my mothertoldhim to leave. I always thought he left because he couldn’t handle her illness.”
Jasmine smiled small. “I hope she was tired of being around the whiny man-baby while she was sick, so she kicked the fucker to the curb so she could take care of herself instead of him for a change.”
Ruby looked at Jasmine, eyes wide. That was the first time she’d heard Jasmine swear. Actually, that was the first time she’d heard Jasmine say something negative about another person.
“Do you believe him that she asked him to go?” Rashid asked. “Maybe he just didn’t want to look like the bad guy.”
