“Everywhere! We lived in a motel. And we saw whales!”

“And you swam a lot,” I remind him. “You even jumped off a dock.”

Ammi turns, crosses her arms across her chest. “You have a lot to explain,” she says sternly.

So do you.

After we eat takeout and Kamal goes into the bath, Ammi and I sit down together. When she tried to help Kamal, he told her firmly, “No, Ammi, I can do it on my own!” She watched, amazed, as he shut the bathroom door, later unfolded his pajamas from our luggage, and slid under the covers. “Don’t hold me,” he told her. “I’m a big boy.”

Ammi is different too. No rushing to the next task—laundry, cooking, poring over her real estate books. She sits in the living room, feet curled beneath her. In the dim light I see more lines etched around her eyes, her mouth. There’s a small wobble in her head.

“Why didn’t you tell me about my real father?” I finally ask.

She stares down at her hands, shorn of the rings she likes to wear, making her look even smaller. Everything about her seems stripped down, which makes me less afraid of her. “I could not stay, Rania. He was not a good man.”

“What do you mean?”

“He was petty. Small-minded. Controlling. His family too. They told him to get control of his wife, that I was shaming them. I was dying. Don’t you see? I was never meant for that world. I didn’t fit.” She gives me a weak smile. “Can you imagine? I drive an Uber! Everything about me was wrong. The way I think. The way I speak. Only your abu—”

“He’s not my abu.”

“Yes, he is.” She adds softly, “He was.”

“But why did you keep it from me?”

She hangs her head. “I needed to handle it, Rania. I always handle things. You know that.”

She wraps her hands around mine. “After Naved’s disappearance, I received terrible phone calls warning me not to investigate. One night I was so afraid, I called Salim Uncle. I thought I could trust him. But he betrayed me. He told Fawad.” A chill slices through me.

“I had to flee with you. Your father already thought my life was risky. Once he knew of Naved’s disappearance, of the threats, I would have had no power. They would say I was not a responsible mother. That you didn’t belong with me. He began to harass me. Calling at all hours. Stalking. He had everything on his side. Money. Lawyers. Even my own family, who believed I’d made a mess of things. He would have taken you away from me. He always said I was reckless.” She sighs. “And maybe I was.”