The Engagement - Epilogue

     Months later, a friend came by to pay the boy a visit.  They sat on the stoop of his apartment building, bathing in the sunshine and talking about school and work and vacations and people they both knew.  The friend’s sister had grown up with Aicha and he asked if the boy had heard anything about her.  The mere mention of her name caused a knot to grow in his stomach.  He had not heard one word from her since learning of the engagement, despite several attempts at contact.  The friend smiled knowingly and told him that this was to be expected; no self respecting married woman would keep in contact with former male friends.  He went on to retell the story as he had learned it from his sister.
     The marriage was arranged by the girl’s parents over the course of a few weeks.  A French suitor, the friend of some distant relatives, had inquired about the girl after having seen her picture during a short stay at someone’s house.  A dialogue was begun, offers were made, and the girl was informed only after the negotiations had been finalized.  There was a small ceremony in the south for extended family and a larger, more elaborate ceremony in France thereafter.
     And so it was that Aicha, the girl with the acorn eyes and wild hair, now lived in France, a country she had never visited, married to a man she had never known.