A Family Affair by Fern Michaels Page A

girl secrets I told you about. Girl secrets are not to be shared. Agreed?”
    “You have my word. Tell me this. Will it pay to have the rattletrap fixed?”
    “Lord, Soraya, I have no idea. If it’s in the junkyard, that has to mean something serious is wrong with it. Maybe it even needs a new engine. That could run into some serious money. I’ll know more when Zack calls me. He did say that Toby knew how to work on cars. I don’t even know who Toby is.”
    “Tobias Little. He was number seven on the list of names. I remember Malik telling me that he worked on all the guys’ cars at one time or another. He said he liked to tinker with cars. If I remember correctly, Tobias lives in California. Does that help?” Soraya asked anxiously.
    “If that’s where the junkyard is, and he cuts us a deal on labor and parts, it will work.”
    “I will cross my fingers that it all works out for you. So what are we going to do today?”
    “Sadie said she is coming by for you at eleven. She said you agreed to babysit her little girl for a few hours. After that, we have to get ready to go to work. I’m going to finish packing up my personal things and moving them to the attic and basement. My friend who is taking over the town house has her own things. I’m just going to be doing boring stuff. Some online banking and a trip to the post office.
    “Soraya, do you know anything about American lawyers and how they work with the emirates? Does Malik deal with them, or is it the council who does that?”
    “All the time. We have hosted many dinners for American lawyers. They handle the private-sector business for the emirates. All the sheiks and emirs deal with them. I did hear Malik say once that those men are getting rich off the emirates, but that is all I know. Why are you asking me this?”
    Trish waited a few moments before she spoke. “Can you handle another girl secret?”
    “I absolutely can,” Soraya said, jumping on the bed and sitting Indian style. “Tell me.”
    “You won’t speak of this to your brother?”
    “I can keep a secret, Trish. I will not speak to my brother of what you confide in me.”
    Trish set her coffee cup down on the nightstand and told her about her sister and what she’d said the night before. “My sister is struggling to survive, and her ex-husband is getting rich, supposedly from dealings in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. I want to find out how all that works. Jeff, my former brother-in-law, doesn’t know that I’m marrying Malik. I want to keep it that way. He’s already enticed my niece away from my sister with promises of money and all that goes with it.”
    “That is so terrible. When I was your niece’s age, I would have done anything to have a mother who cared about me. My father used to make up stories about what my mother would have done had she lived to see me grow up. At the time, I didn’t know that the stories were made up. He would have tears in his eyes, so perhaps that’s why I thought they were true. He told me my mother would sing me lullabies as I fell asleep, that she would shower me with kisses all day long, that she would dress me like a princess. He said she would never be far from my side, and always, always, she would smile when she looked at me. That she would hold my hand tight in hers.
    “I loved those stories. To this day, I still think of them as I fall asleep. How wonderful to have someone you love wrap you in their arms, then look in your eyes and tell you how much they love you. I feel sad for your niece because I know from what you say, her father or the new wife will not do this for her. I hope she realizes her mistake before it is too late. But my father also told me that a mother’s love never wavers no matter what goes awry. Was it like that with your mother, Trish?”
    Trish felt her throat close up. She struggled to clear it. “Pretty much just as you describe it. For my sister, too, and I know she thinks of our parents every day, just as I do.