It is ten months later ,Amir and I married at our local mosque, having been counselled by our Imam for three weeks . We waited and got to know each other at work for 8 months , sharing lunch , praying together . We ate out at a fancy restaurant a couple of times , afraid we would be spotted. An illicit unmarried couple. We told our parents when we realised we were actually going to commit Zina if we waited any longer . It was increasingly becoming hard to keep our hands away from each other .

We live in an apartment five minutes away from the hospital paid for by the joint efforts of our parents who also gifted us with a car so we can move around . That’s all we could accept as we want to build our own wealth for our children .

We did accept a huge gift from Amir’s father , fully booked trips to Iran and India . We started in Shiraz , were Amir’s mother was born . It is such a romantic city . We walked the markets and drank a little Shiraz wine- which knocked us off . We had both never tasted alcohol . We probably will never again. Our next stop was the Taj Mahal in India . Amir read an emotional poem to me and I gave him the biggest surprise – I was a few weeks pregnant . He was the happiest man on earth .

*The end *