not having a son. More than once, she’d had to pass Isra a look, clearing her throat and signaling her to relax. She wished Isra understood that such comments were normal, that she shouldn’t take everything so personally. But Isra was sensitive, Fareeda thought, shaking her head. Too sensitive. She hadn’t seen enough of the world to be otherwise.
“Thank you for coming,” Umm Ahmed said as she poured Fareeda and Isra cups of chai. Then she served them a purple container of Mackintosh’s chocolates, waiting until each woman had plucked a shiny piece from the box before returning to her seat.
“Thank you.” Umm Ahmed turned to Isra, resting her eyes on her swollen belly. “Inshallah your turn soon, dear.”
Isra nodded, her jaw tightening. Fareeda wished she would say something nice to Umm Ahmed, or to any of the women in the room for that matter. They must all think she was a fool, always so quiet and vacant. Fareeda had wanted a daughter-in-law she could show off to her friends, like a twenty-four-karat gold bangle. Yes, Isra could cook and clean, but the girl knew nothing about entertaining and socializing. She was as dull as dishwater, and there was nothing Fareeda could do about it. She would have to choose more carefully when finding Omar a wife.
“So tell me,” Fareeda said to Umm Ahmed, who sat in the middle of the room. “Ahmed must be so excited to give his parents the first grandson.”
“Oh yes,” Umm Ahmed said, careful not to meet Isra’s eyes. “Alhamdulillah. We’re all very happy.”
“There is no better blessing than a healthy baby boy,” said one of the women. “Of course, we all love our daughters, but nothing compares to having a son.”
“Yes, yes,” Fareeda agreed. She could sense Isra’s eyes on her, but she didn’t want to seem envious by not participating in the conversation. “Adam does everything for us—running the family business, helping with the bills. I don’t know what we would’ve done if he’d been a girl.”
The women nodded. “Especially in this country,” said one of them. “The boys are twice as needed and the girls are twice as hard to raise.”
Fareeda laughed. “Exactly! I only have Sarah, and raising her in this country gives me nightmares. God help any woman who has to raise a daughter in America.”
The women nodded in agreement. Glancing at Isra, whose eyes were locked on Deya’s face, Fareeda felt sorry she had to hear those words. But it was the truth. It was better she learned now, Fareeda thought. Then maybe she wouldn’t think it was just Fareeda who thought this way. It wasn’t just her! Every woman in the room knew this to be true, and not just them, but their parents and their parents’ parents and all the generations before them. Perhaps if Isra realized how important having a son was, she wouldn’t be so sensitive about it.
Umm Ahmed poured the women another round of chai. “Still,” she said, her face hidden behind the steam. “What would we have done without our daughters? Fatima and Hannah do everything for me. I wouldn’t trade them for a thousand sons.”
“Hmm,” Fareeda said, snatching a piece of chocolate from the purple Mackintosh’s container and shoving it into her mouth. She was glad Sarah wasn’t here to hear this.
“So I’m assuming Ahmed named the boy after his father,” Fareeda said.
“Yes,” Umm Ahmed said, placing the teapot on the coffee table and leaning back in her seat. “Noah.”
“So, where is baby Noah?” one of the women asked, looking around the sala. “And where is Ahmed’s wife?”
“Oh, yes,” Fareeda said. “Where is your daughter-in-law?”
Umm Ahmed shifted in her seat. “She’s upstairs, sleeping.”
The women stared at her blankly. Fareeda scoffed. She could see Isra staring at Umm Ahmed, wide-eyed, perhaps wishing that she was her mother-in-law instead.
“Oh, come on,” Umm Ahmed said. “Don’t you remember how it felt staying up with a baby all night? The girl is exhausted.”
“Well, I sure don’t remember sleeping,” Fareeda said. The women chuckled, and Umm Ahmed dug her hands between her thighs.
“All I remember is cooking, cleaning, and picking up after people,” Fareeda said. “And Khaled waiting for me to serve him as soon as he got home.”
It was as if Fareeda’s words had ignited a fire in the room. The women began crackling with conversation, chatting about how exhausted they were, how there was nothing more to their lives than scurrying around the house