I slowly reached for the edge of my veil.
Then Zayd spoke.
“Wait.”
His voice was quiet, but something about it made everyone stop.
I froze.
Zayd slipped his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket.
When he withdrew it, he was holding something small and golden.
An earring.
My earring.
The one I had lost the night before.
I felt the room closing around me.
Zayd placed the earring on the table and looked directly at me.
“A woman left this in my room last night,” he said.
Nobody moved.
My mother glanced at the earring, then at Zayd.
“Oh?”
He nodded slowly.
“The strange thing is that she left before I woke up.”
My mouth went dry.
Then he leaned forward.
“And her voice sounded exactly like Layla’s.”
My father turned toward me.
My mother stopped smiling.
Zayd picked up the earring again and rolled it between his fingers.
