“Her beauty was the talk of the valley.It skipped two generations of women in our family, but it sure didn't bypass you, Laila.”

“But Laila has decided that she will not be crippled by resentment. Mariam wouldn’t want it that way. ‘What’s the sense?’ she would say with a smile both innocent and wise. ‘What good is it, Laila jo?’ And so Laila has resigned herself to moving on. For her own sake, for Tariq’s, for her children’s. And for Mariam, who still visits Laila in her dreams, who is never more than a breath or two below her consciousness. Laila has moved on. Because in the end she knows that’s all she can do. That and hope.”

“Oh my God. What in—”I was going to be killed by two generations of beautiful women. While naked.“Mom,” Isabel snapped, interrupting. “Do you mind not staring? It’s totally perv.”

“You'll forgive the flowery talk, won't you? Our family does so love to be told they are beautiful. Vanity is an old and venerable habit.”

“Like most good looking women, she was never sure of her beauty, and had to keep checking on it, to make sure it was still there.”

“...even though she assured me two people could be a family, ours didn't seem complete.”