That evening Sohrab decided to save his sister no matter what. What ever it took, she needed to be rescued from her demented mind, and from the wicked husband whose father had found her in a hurry to get rid of her so he can have a peaceful second marriage, she needed saving. After what Neda had told him since yesterday about her short life with Mansour, even the very privet ones, his anger had reached a boiling point; it was beyond and above everything that he had known in his life. When they got home, the first thing he did was to let his father know how he really thought about him.
The two men, father and son, had a real fight and argument for the first time. They did not let anything untold. The women in the house all left the room. Neda cried her heart out. Mother kept saying that her life and her daughter's life were similar; something Neda did not want to hear then. It was only Sima, father's second wife, who stayed calm and tried to take care of Neda's emotional heart ache and physical need. She was finally able to take Neda to her girlhood's room which had remained untouched and put her in bed. Sima stayed in bed with her and allowed her to cry herself to sleep. That entire night, Sima slept with her in the same bed. Neda's mother never knew how to show real affection the way Sima was showing to Neda at this horrible moment. A friendship began and emerged that evening.
In the morning, Neda opened her eyes in the crack of dawn to find that Sima was still there next to her. She did not move. She did not want to wake her up. Sima, father's second wife was the reason that her father practically had gotten rid of her, had given her into a disastrous marriage. Now, she had done more for her in one night than her own mother could have done. Neda moved closer to Sima until she was near enough to put her arm around Sima's neck and to rest her head on her shoulder. She lay this way completely still for a moment. Sima woke up but she did not move. She could feel Neda's trembling. The shaking of this unfortunate girl expressed everything that she was not able to say. However Sima said in her speaking mind: "It is because of me that her life is ruined."
Neda got up gently from bed so as not to disturb Sima. She sat again on the bed, hanging her legs on the narrow space between the bed and the window and looked at the yard, at the bench under the great cherry tree. Because of the cold weather of Tehran, the tree had lost all its leaves. She looked at the bench eagerly and recalled the night of her wedding when she had sat there with her gown on, hugging her knees and crying. How did she know then that she had made a mistake? She recalled her brother, Mansour and Maryan, her cousin. Suddenly she felt a cold rush of tremor in her body. She had made sure yesterday when Sohrab had packed her clothes in the garbage bags, not to forget her grandma's shawl. She wrapped the shawl around herself. Sima had made sure the night before to unpack her garbage bags of clothes and to put the shawl on the iron, gold color stand at the top of the bed.Only Seven months had passed from that event. Now she was back to her real house, to her real home, but she was not real anymore. She was a different person. She was soon to be a divorced woman while being pregnant and sick. "What will all the family, who were in the wedding say?" She answered her own question: "I really don't care!" How seven short months had changed her life? She had married at the end of April, just two days after she had finished school; and now almost the end of October, she was back home, her home.
When she turned around to pick up her shawl, she had seen Sima sitting in bed. She looked tired like someone that had gone through a horrible hardship.
"Oh, I'm sorry that I woke you up!" Neda said.
"No sweet heart, you didn't. I had a hard time to sleep. I didn't want to leave you alone last night. You know Jalal and Sohrab's fighting and ..."
"I've noticed. I've never imagined you'll be so nice. Forgive me for not giving you the chance." Neda moved around to be face to face and close to Sima.
"I'm the one that needs forgiveness. it's because of me that you're in this situation." Sima spoke honestly.
"What do you mean?" Neda asked her step mother with surprise.
"Never mind that!"
"Oh, come on Sima. Now that you made me curious, you must tell me."
"Do you promise that you don't tell anyone?"
Neda drew a sign of promise on her heart and said that she would never say a word to anyone.
To Be Continued
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