Darya watched Mina fidget at lunch later that day. They were hosting the meal for their relatives, and Darya noticed Mina smile far too widely at people she didn’t remember. Watched her tune out and stand mesmerized in front of Aunt Firoozeh. Darya sighed. So much of youth was attractive, agreeable, and made her long for it once it was gone. She saw Mina flip her hair and giggle at nothing for no good reason. But then again, much of the time, the young were so damn annoying. Darya poured herself another glass of tea. Mina was exhibiting all the signs of young love: the spaciness, the giggling, the la-la-land expressions. Let her live, she told herself. Let Mina have this. To taste what I myself have had. Isn’t that what Darya had told her daughter? To have a fraction of what I had in this life. And to think Mina seemed smitten with Mr. Dashti’s younger brother! How Darya had missed Ramin in her U.S. research was beyond her. Her sources had kept the younger brother all to themselves and shoved the older one on her.
But now that Mina was finally falling for someone halfway decent and feeling so happy, Darya felt as if she didn’t want her daughter to slip away. Didn’t want to let her go. After all those spreadsheets and all those calculations, she suddenly didn’t want to lose her.
“When can I see him?” Mina asked after the last of the lunch guests had left. “We’re always so scheduled here!”
“My God, Mina, you just saw him this morning.”
“I know, but the next few days are all booked up. When can I just have some free time?”
“We are here to see family. That’s why we came. To see family in Tehran and, later, to sightsee in the other cities. We can’t just . . .”
“I get it,” Mina said.
Darya sighed. “Let me see what I can do. Maybe we can carve out some time and invite him over to tea . . .”
“Can I see him alone?”
“Alone where? Any place you meet him would be filled with relatives who either live there or come to visit you. There is no ‘alone’ here.” Darya sniffed. “Not to mention that it would be inappropriate.”
“Can we go out alone?”
“It’s risky here, Mina. Nikki told me the guards have started a new round of crackdowns to rein in ‘immoral’ behavior. They’re out on the streets in full force these days. They’re even stopping opposite sex couples and asking them to produce a marriage certificate! You could get fined or even arrested if you’re out together.”
“We can’t just walk in a park?”
“No, it’s risky right now. Not to mention that we are booked solid.”
It was true, they were snatched up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner by relatives who wanted to host them, feed them, see them again. The relatives spoiled them with fried eggplant and tomato khoresh, rice with fresh sabzi and fish, lasagna with béchamel sauce, fancy salads, and the very best kabobs. For dessert there was saffron rice pudding, rosewater ice cream, all sorts of cakes and pastries, and homemade apple pies. The relatives had spent their toman on the biggest and best fruit for them, kneaded dough and fried meat cutlets, dusted living rooms and beat Persian rugs for their arrival. Darya knew how much they were going out of their way for them and appreciated it. From the looks of it, Mina certainly appreciated it too, or at least the food. Every time Darya looked at her, Mina was eating. Rice dripping with butter, rice holding lima beans tight within it, rice with rich, fragrant hot khoresh.
“We’re fattening up,” Darya said. “All this food!”
“Can we just have one unscheduled morning?”
Darya sighed. “Fine. Monday morning after breakfast and before lunch at Aunt Nikki’s.”
Mina ran to the phone.
“There’s no guarantee he’ll be available!” Darya called out. “He’s here to see his grandmother, remember?”
Mina came back a few minutes later, her cheeks flushed red. “He said yes. He can slip out on Monday at ten thirty, after an early breakfast with his grandmother and a few of her friends and before lunch at his father’s oldest brother’s house. He said to meet at the People’s Park, by a big tree near the main gate.”
“Okay, then.” Darya felt her stomach sink. The crackdowns were getting worse each day. She didn’t want Mina to risk it. But Mina looked so happy. Didn’t her daughter deserve to experience a little old-fashioned courtship in this land? Why did the authorities have to make that so difficult? Why did they have to sap the joy out of everything? “I know the spot well,” Darya said. She had spent her youth at that park. It was one of her favorite places in the whole city. “I can tell you how to get there, but you must be careful. You’ll have to pretend you’re a brother and sister going for a walk. No contact, absolutely no touching.”
“I understand.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just the way it is. These are the rules and we have to abide by them. I don’t want you raising suspicion. Remember, what is done cannot be undone.”
ON THE MORNING THAT MINA was to meet Ramin at the People’s Park, Darya watched her daughter try on several different outfits, even though whatever she wore would be covered by her roopoosh. She watched Mina style her hair carefully, the same hair that would soon be covered by a headdress. Mina insisted on wearing a green headscarf, she wanted some color around her face. There was a different energy about her; she seemed excited but strangely composed. Darya felt again the bittersweet knowledge that her daughter was beginning a new stage and that each new stage brought a greater distance from her. She closed her eyes and prayed to any God that Mina would remain safe. She’d wanted something like this for Mina, hadn’t she? She was happy for her, of course she was happy.
Have fun, she said. Be careful, she said. Say hello to Ramin from us. Watch out for the Revolutionary Guards.