Free Garage Sale Diamonds (Garage Sale Mystery) by Suzi Weinert Page A

cooperation facilitated his courtship. His sharing her passion for Islam further elevated his importance then. With a convert’s zeal, she felt marriage to an authentic Middle-Eastern Muslim showed her new God—and the world—her dedication to Islam.
    Confident of his love at the outset, Zayneb realized after the first months that something was wrong. Not just indifferent toward her, he seemed repelled. Assuming this displeasure her fault, she tried recapturing his love with a tidy home, appealing personality, careful grooming, memorable meals, submissive demeanor and bedroom eagerness. Pregnant by then with their first child, she used every means she could think of to right the marriage. She offered him her entire self and all she owned to underscore her trust in him and commitment to their future. This included agreeing to his repeated request to legally combine their assets, despite her earlier promise to her now-dead parents to keep the inherited house where they lived always in her name—for her protection.
    When attempts to win back his love failed, her new religion reinforced submission. She resigned herself to accept responsibility for the painful consequences of her mistake. This was Allah’s will. She knew not all  marriage commitments worked. Even in America, where people could marry for love rather than family-arranged marriages between virtual strangers, fifty percent ended in divorce. She’d tough it out.
    For years she’d lived with her bad decision, but the night he first beat her, she decided two things: to escape his control and to leave with her children.
    Zayneb knew Mahmud’s stern, strict, quick-tempered and humorless demeanor offended many, like Roshan next door. For years Zayneb excused his traits, hoping he loved her in his own brusque way. She realized every culture included those who were kind or cruel, cheerful or grumpy, polite or rude, thoughtful or opinionated. Islam had no corner on that universality. Marriage everywhere included the luck of the draw.
    She knew her husband adored their younger daughter but had turned stone cold toward Khadija. Zayneb also chafed at her husband’s stinginess and shivered at the cruel streak surfacing more frequently. Now fully recognizing the pathetic quality of her marriage, she’d still walk the path forced by her earlier choice, but she’d begin walking it her way.
    With her house in both their names, under Virginia law he’d get half in a divorce. They couldn’t divide the house, so she’d be forced to sell it to pay his half and leave the familiar neighborhood where she grew up with her family and many friends. At twenty-three, daughter Khadija could fly on her own wings, but not little Safia. Zayneb would need a job to support her. And where to live? Mahmud could pay little alimony or child support. He financed their marriage with salary from his job, and she guessed he hid part of it from her.
    What had she gotten into and how to get out? Besides her consideration of the practical aspects of leaving him, she feared the way his temper flared into violence if he thought she questioned or defied his authority. Many honor cultures punished disrespect by disfigurement or death. This profile fit Mahmud. The public rejection of her divorce filing would embarrass him in front of his friends. Would he, perhaps with their help, hunt her down to exact revenge? Could she and her girls survive these retaliations?
    Should she take Heba with her when she fled? Surprised but not displeased twenty-four years ago when her new husband arrived with a mute servant, Zayneb believed his story of kindly rescuing this poor woman with nowhere else to go. Now the woman was part of Zayneb’s household as well. She’d discovered Heba’s quick intelligence and over the years schooled her in the three R’s—partly to simplify household teamwork and partly from pity for the woman’s hapless plight. Heba’s gratitude for this kindness evolved into grateful loyalty.