‘Friend?’ Dania looked confused, until Azam looked at Sonya. Dania followed his gaze, eyes landing on Sonya as well. Her mouth fell open as she gasped.
‘Hello,’ Sonya said, a bit nervous.
Dania rose to her feet on the chair. ‘Friend!’ She climbed onto the table and ran across, jumping. Sonya’s heart lurched and she strode forward just in time to catch the little girl. Dania was slight, but still, Sonya let out an ‘Oof!’ at the weight of her. Sonya hadn’t actually been around children much. None of her brothers were married, despite being older than her.
She’d brought this up when they had all begun planning her wedding.
‘But none ofyouare married,’ she had objected, ‘and you’re all much older than I am.’
‘Yes, butweare princes,’ Irfan had replied, as if she were being silly.
‘And I am a princess!’ she had replied.
‘Exactly,’ Mustafa said, as if that proved the point. She had made an exasperated sound, not understanding.
‘We can take care of ourselves,’ Shahmir explained, voice gentle. ‘You, my dearest, cannot.’
‘You a friend,’ Dania said now, putting both her hands on Sonya’s face and pulling her from the memory. Sonya laughed. Children were so chaotic and surprising.
‘Yes, I am your friend,’ she said. ‘I’m Sonya.’
‘Dania! Sonya, Dania, they sound the same!’ Dania felt around Sonya’s face, pinching her cheeks. Sonya cast a glance at Azam, who was smiling fondly.
‘I think that’s enough, little monkey,’ another voice said, and Sonya turned with Dania still in her arms to see a round woman with short gray hair and a shawl around her shoulders entering the room. As Sonya took in her features—caramel brown eyes and freckles—she noted that the woman didn’t look anything like Azam or Dania.
‘Gramma, I have a new friend!’ Dania jumped out of Sonya’s arms and ran to grab her grandmother’s hand, pulling her along.
‘Who is this?’ the old lady asked Azam.
‘Grandma Kiri, this is Sonya,’ Azam replied. ‘Come, let’s eat this beautiful breakfast Sonya has made us before it gets cold.’
‘Oh, how lovely,’ Kiri said, and they all sat down around the table. Sonya waited for them to take their usual seats before settling into an empty one; the empty seat was across from Azam, next to Kiri.
‘I hope everything came out alright,’ Sonya said, worried now.
‘I’m sure it did,’ Azam replied kindly, dividing the eggs between the plates while Kiri poured the tea.
‘Very hard to ruin breakfast,’ Kiri said with a smile.
‘It’s been some time since we’ve all had breakfast together like this,’ Azam said. ‘Usually, I’m running out.’
‘And I’m left to feed this heathen,’ Kiri said. Her expression wasfond as she regarded Dania, who stabbed her eggs, trying to stack as much onto her fork as possible.
‘It’s nice for everyone to be together,’ Azam said, ‘and lovely to have a new friend join us.’ He smiled warmly at Sonya, then turned to Kiri. ‘Isn’t it, Grandma Kiri?’
‘It is,’ Kiri replied, stirring sugar into her tea. Sonya looked at Kiri closely as they ate, trying to find any trace of Azam or Dania in her but, try as she might, she couldn’t.
Kiri laughed as if she could read Sonya’s mind. ‘I can almost hear you wondering, dear, and no, I’m not their blood grandmother,’ she said.
Sonya’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to stare.’
Azam laughed not unkindly, smearing butter onto a piece of bread.
‘I was a friend of Azam’s grandmother, as well as their neighbor,’ Kiri replied. ‘I saw his mother, Bunto, grow from a babe into a woman, into a wife, into a mother.’
‘When my parents died, Dania was only a year old,’ Azam said. ‘I had to leave school early and work, and Grandma Kiri graciously offered to watch Dania during the day.’
‘Until we realized it would make more sense for me to move in,’ Kiri finished. ‘So I could take care of this little monkey while Azam was at work.’
