Chapter 1

August 30, 2000

The van dropped the Williams family off at their front door a little after midnight. After they'd moved all their bags into the foyer the driver left. Narisa slowly walked into the main foyer with her head twisting every which way in wide-eyed wonder at her new home. She was totally mesmerized by the sheer size and, what she considered opulence of her new home, an opulence in size and comfort that Americans seem to ungratefully assume as normal.

After an audible gasp, Narisa thought to herself as she took in what she perceived to be a mansion. Wow! I knew people lived like this, but I never would have thought that I would! Just look at this place: the kitchen looks as big as a small apartment!

Judging from the look on Narisa's face, Josh thought he knew what she was thinking and chuckled because he never really thought much about where and how his family lived, thinking they were just average folks. They weren't poor, but they weren't rich either. Josh's new house, to him, was just an average four-bedroom home with three-and-a-half baths and had a decent-sized yard. Narisa was enthralled with the place and insisted he give her a tour. He showed her the kitchen and breakfast area, the formal living and dining rooms and the library that his parents used as their office. One bedroom was set up as a guest room; the other that shared a buddy bath with Josh's bedroom was going to be his play space. Although not set up yet, he was going to put a large TV with his video station hooked up, some chairs and a desk with his computer for studying. He showed her his parents' master suite then headed downstairs to grab their bags.

Taking their luggage to their room, Josh told Narisa that this was their "bridal suite". She giggled and flopped on the bed. She kicked off her shoes and wiggled her sock-covered toes at him.

"Lick me, husband. Lick stinky toes."

He playfully grabbed her feet and pulled her socks off with his teeth and began her tickle torture. She laughed, squirmed and twisted but she loved it. Out of breath, Josh kissed her tiny feet and pulling her to her feet motioning for her to follow. They headed back downstairs with his parents. There wasn't anything to eat, but they sat at the breakfast bar drinking bottled water and discussed what they'd do the coming weekend.

Marie, Josh's mom, said that the first thing they were going to do the next morning after getting some breakfast was to go grocery shopping. After they'd taken care of restocking the pantry and fridge, she said that depending on what time they finished, maybe they'd ride over to Tyson's Corner and do some school shopping at the mall.

Monday morning, the entire family would have to go the teen's high school, register Narisa and see if would be possible to get her and Josh's schedules somewhat synchronized to better help Narisa get acclimated. Both Marie and Steve, Josh's dad, explained to Narisa that in addition to her studies, she'd have to attend ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes to learn English a couple of nights each week. Between Josh and his parents, they'd help Narisa with her studies and homework. On Tuesday morning at ten, they had an appointment at the courthouse for a conference with Judge Henry Stiles of the Fairfax County Family Court in his chambers to discuss Narisa and Josh's marriage and whether or not it would be necessary to marry again. As a result, the teens would miss the first two days of classes: class-work and homework they'd probably have to make up. Josh thought to himself, Jeez! Already starting off in the hole!

Narisa, although trying to put up a nonchalant front thought to herself, How will I ever do this! How will I ever be able to learn anything when I can't understand what's being taught? My gosh! I won't even be able to read the textbooks!

Wednesday, Steve and Marie would return to work and the teens would be on the school bus and off to school to begin what would become their daily routines. Marie also said she was going to call their new family physician and get Josh an appointment to get his cracked ribs checked. Narisa and Josh didn't really have much to say except to go with the flow. It seemed that the adults had the whole thing worked out and the teens were just following orders.

Josh and Narisa said goodnight to Josh's parents and headed upstairs. Narisa fished out her shower cap from her suitcase and they took a quick shower. Then hopping into bed nude, they snuggled up for their first night in their new home. Although tired, both had a little trouble getting to sleep, probably because of the flight, excitement of the press conference and Narisa's new home environment, but after some reassuring cuddles and kisses, Josh's pretty little pixie spooned up against him and they settled off to sleep.

Josh awoke the next morning to the shower running and feeling a little frisky, hopped out of bed to join his unsuspecting wife. Narisa "Eeek'ed" out in surprise when he slid in behind her and she giggled once her initial shock had passed. He fingered her to quick, although knee-weakening orgasm then washed her hair.

"Mmm. Narisa like! I love you Josh."

"I love you too, Princess. I also love playing with your little honey pot!"

"You bad boy! You just want Narisa suck."

"Guilty as charged."

With an impish grin she attempted to give him a blowjob, but seeing her beautiful lips wrapped around his erection and that blissful feeling ... Well, let's just say it lasted about twenty seconds before he gave her his gift. Hey, what can you say? He's a fourteen-year-old kid.

After toweling off and dressing, Narisa said her morning prayers as Josh dressed. He gave her the usual Vidal Sassoon treatment as he dried her hair along with paying homage to her dainty little feet. Josh thought to himself, I wonder if I now have a foot fetish? After their morning frolic, they went downstairs to greet the parental units.

The family went to IHOP for breakfast and things started to become tense. From Josh's experience, most people are pretty tolerant of other faiths and cultures, but the Muslims he'd had contact with either at school or in other public places were less traditional in their dress than Narisa was. She became a little uncomfortable (from his perspective) with some of the stares she was getting from people seeing her dressed in an abaya and hajib.

As usual, guys don't always read their wives correctly. Narisa, in fact, became very uncomfortable with the stares she was getting and felt like bursting into tears thinking, For the love of Allah, how will I ever survive here? I feel like a freak!

They managed to get through breakfast with words of reassurance from Josh and his parents, but things were more of the same at the grocery store. No one said anything to her or was impolite, but Narisa did get some looks that said she definitely was in a whole different world.

At this point, Narisa did break down and started crying and she felt even more embarrassed and humiliated because people were now staring at her as she cried. She felt so out of place, almost as if she were some sort of alien from another planet. It took several minutes and a lot of reassurance from Marie to calm her down so that they could finish shopping.

On the ride home, Narisa was pretty quiet. She was content to snuggle under Josh's reassuring embrace and be passive. They got home and put the groceries away in subdued silence. Sitting at the breakfast bar, Marie began to talk to Narisa.

Taking her hands gently, she said, "Daughter, I think now is the time to talk about a few things. Before I say anything, tell us exactly what and how you're feeling right now."

Narisa had tears running down her cheeks, but wasn't crying openly. Looking down she said softly, "I will never fit in. People are staring at me like I'm from outer space. What's it going to be like in school? I feel sad, hurt and completely out of place. People don't even know me and they look at me with distrust and fear."

"Narisa? Sweetheart?" her mother-in-law coaxed, trying to get her to look up. "Look at me." (Narisa looked up). "You need to understand human nature a little. No one knows you or the fact that you just arrived from Iran yesterday. People fear and distrust what they don't understand. Although Americans are fairly tolerant of other cultures, they also are puzzled by someone's reluctance to accept some of our culture.

"Take me for example. Here in America or any other western country, I can dress as I am now: in a pair of jeans, a blouse and with my head uncovered or I can dress in an abaya and hajib in Tehran. I am who I am no matter how I dress. My faith in God isn't changed nor is the love I have for my husband or son. The person I see as myself isn't altered or changed and neither is how I act simply because I dress a certain way. The Bible tells us to respect and accept the customs of others. Accepting a dress code of a different culture has no bearing whatsoever on who I am or what my beliefs are. It just means that I have a different understanding of other people's customs and culture.

"I'd like you to think about that for a moment. If you were to wear a pair of jeans and a blouse, a dress or even a skirt and maybe a headscarf, would you feel that your faith in Allah is polluted or sinful?"

Narisa just shrugged,

"You cannot, and I mean cannot, change what people think of you regardless of what you wear to a certain degree. If you dress like a prostitute, people will probably assume you are one, but we're talking of normal, conservative dress. There's no law in America that requires you to hide yourself from the world to prove that you love God. In fact, the government doesn't tell its citizens how to dress. Here, people's faith is a private thing and not questioned by people, nor does the government try to control what people think when they see how someone is dressed. That doesn't mean that there aren't people who dress to outwardly show their faith. There are Muslim women that wear some sort of head covering, and some do wear a hajib along with western dress. Then again, some Muslim women don't wear a head covering at all. Some Catholic nuns still wear a traditional habit. People are generally more accepting when they see that you are somewhat accepting of the culture in which you live.