Heart Part 2 Complete Hausa Novel

What had begun to worry Mama about Safiyyah was that, up to that point, Safiyyah had not given birth. She had not even missed her period, let alone shown any sign of pregnancy. As for worldly comfort, she and her husband were living reasonably well, enjoying life as they pleased. She and Zayyan lacked nothing they wanted. But when it came to having children, there was complete silence, as though the matter had been sent away to a distant land. By then, all of Mama’s children had gotten married except Hatoon, and even her wedding date had already been fixed.
Mama lived in Katsina and did not come to Abuja, but whenever Zayyan came before her, she would always bring up Sophie’s childlessness. And whenever she and Safiyyah met, Mama would speak to her, however mildly, about not having children. But Zayyan never cared about Mama’s complaints. In fact, he often forgot entirely about the matter of children because of the many responsibilities on his shoulders.
It got to the point that Safiyyah no longer had any desire for anything that would take her to Katsina. Mama had said her own part, and Zubaidah and the others had also played their part in mocking her. One day, Zubaidah asked her, “So how many times a year do they come and shovel away your food scraps?”
Safiyyah looked at her in confusion and said, “What do you mean?”
Then Zubaidah adjusted herself in her seat with mockery and arrogance, laughed scornfully, and said to her, “Of course I have to ask you that. Because I know that every month you fill the toilet with waste, yet you have failed to keep even one single child. So I keep wondering where all the sacks of food in your house go, since they do not even last a year, if not into the toilet?”
Those words hurt Safiyyah deeply. That very day, she called her father on the phone crying and said, “Malam, please pray for me that Allah grants me children, if it is destined for me.” Those were the words that first made her begin to long for having a child of her own. Before then, she had not really cared.
Malam Usman replied, “I will pray for you, Nana Safiyyah. May Allah bless you with a righteous child. Stop crying, do you hear me? Crying brings nothing and prevents nothing. Whatever happens in a servant’s life is what Allah has already written for them. If having children is good for you, I will ask Him to grant it to you. If it is not good for you, may He give you what is better for you instead.”
And if they happened to come to Abuja for some errand and stayed in her house, then from the day they arrived until the day they left, there would be no peace between her and Mama’s daughters. All she got from them were taunts, harsh words, and indirect jabs spoken calmly. They had stopped calling her “the daughter of the scholar” and now called her only “Barren Lady.”
Sometimes they would say, “The village girl from Dandume has eaten plenty of stew and enjoyed herself well. Yet to this day, there is no child and no grandchild in our house for us even to hope for someone to bear our father’s name.”
Only in the guise of jokes and laughter would they throw painful remarks at her about childbirth, remarks that would trouble her heart for an entire month. She even began tormenting herself with thoughts, wondering what exactly was stopping her from having children. Was she truly barren?
Zayyan never knew about the name Zubaidah called her, because even in jest, he had never paid attention to or been disturbed by the fact that they had not had children yet. No matter how much Mama complained, he would just get up and leave it behind; he never let it settle in his heart or trouble him. Besides, the many things occupying his mind never allowed him to remember that he had no child before him. Likewise, Mama’s complaints never pushed him to discuss childbirth with Safiyyah.
Then came that fateful day when Mama sat him down and said,
“As for Hatoon, her wedding date has been fixed. And I cannot stay alone in this house by myself. There is no son, no grandchild. So you should know where you will get me some little children who will keep me company and ease my loneliness after she leaves.”
Zayyan did not understand what Mama meant, so he said, “Oh, alright then, I will go and bring Baba Ladidi from Rumah for you, so she can continue staying here after the wedding, okay?”
(Her father’s younger sister, the one who had raised her.)
Mama shot him a fierce look and said, “Is Ladidi the ‘little children’ I am talking about?”
Even then, Zayyan still did not understand, until Mama spelled it out for him. She said,