Veil of Roses (26 page)
Authors: Laura Fitzgerald
I
t is eight months later.
I have flown on an airplane to visit Nadia in San Francisco. Ike would have liked to come, but his coffee shop is scheduled to open next week and he cannot spare the time.
It is windy today, but I don’t mind. I love the feel of the ocean breeze dancing its way through my hair. I am at the ocean with Nadia and her beautiful baby girl. She gurgles and squeals with delight at the world around her. I have never seen a baby so happy. Nadia has named her daughter Maryam, after my sister. My sister is also pregnant now, and she is also having a girl. I made Maryam promise that she will name her baby Hope. For above all else, a Persian girl must have hope.
I am here at the ocean because I have a promise to fulfill for my father, who most likely will never again set foot on this stretch of sand, at this beach he and my mother loved so much.
I hold in my hands the little blue perfume bottle he gave me for my fifth birthday, the one I was disappointed to discover contained not perfume, but rather grains of sand he collected from these very shores. I was so young then. I did not understand what a precious gift it was.
Slowly, deliberately, not rushing this moment, I unscrew the lid of the perfume bottle. After I give it a few shakes, the sand tumbles out, easily catching in the breeze and gently finding its way back to the shore it was taken from so many years ago.
I look out over the ocean with far eyes, and I see my house in Iran. I am outside, looking toward the living room window. My parents stand inside, facing out. They hardly ever go outside anymore. My father has his arm around my mother, and she leans her head on his shoulder. I see that they are sad and happy at the same time, for although it caused them great pain, they made the right choice. They held my sister and me close for as long as they could. And then, when we were ready, they let us go.
Thank you,
Baba Joon.
Thank you,
Maman Joon.
Thank you so very much for giving me this chance to be happy.
I whisper this into the wind, confident my words will find their way home.
About the Author
LAURA FITZGERALD is married to an Iranian-American and divides her time between Arizona and Wisconsin. For more of her writing, visit
www.laurafitzgerald.com
.
VEIL OF ROSES
A Bantam Book / January 2007
Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2007 by Laura Fitzgerald
Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fitzgerald, Laura, 1967–
Veil of roses /Laura Fitzgerald.
p. cm.
1. Iranians—United States—Fiction. 2. Self-actualization (Psychology)—Fiction. 3. Women—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3606.I88V45 2007
813'.6—dc22
2006023617
eISBN: 978-0-553-90337-9
v3.0