Secret Keeper (20 page)

“And why wouldn’t he take it?” Ma asked. “To think of my Reet getting another chance to go to New York! Why, it’s as if … as if my beloved is making this all happen.”

And for the second time in their lives, the girls watched their mother begin to cry. As Reet and Asha both rushed to her side, their eyes met. “Let it be,” Asha whispered. “Please, Reet.”

“For now,” Reet answered, as she gathered Ma in her arms just as she had on the train.

Ma cried, and cried, and cried, and after a while, Grandmother joined in, and even Uncle wiped away a tear or two. Soon Suma and Sita started sobbing also, even though they had no idea what was going on, and finally Raj led his sisters upstairs.

“So …” When Ma’s sobs had subsided into hiccups, Uncle cleared his throat again. “Should I accept this proposal, Sumitra? What do the rest of you think?”

Auntie nodded with a trace of envy in her face. “I thought that boy didn’t like girls. But he’s the only son, and if the stars point to a better match than with the one in Madras, who am I to say we shouldn’t turn down the first proposal and accept this one?”

“She’ll have good in- laws,” Grandmother said. “I’ve always thought they were fine people.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Ma said, delight all over her face. “Why, she’ll be right next door!”

“Not if she goes to America,” said Auntie.

“But she’ll come home to have her babies, and to visit. Oh, it’s perfect. Thank you, dear ones, thank you!” Ma began to laugh and cry at the same time, and Reet and Asha held her even more tightly.

“This one’s much better than that Ghosh fellow; I wasn’t too sure about him, to tell the truth,” Uncle said.

Asha released her mother and stood up to face her Uncle. “Then why did we accept the proposal?”

“It was a mistake,” Uncle admitted. “I can see it now. Bintu would be delighted with this match. He always loved art; I remember him standing for hours in front of a painting or two at the National Gallery in Delhi when we visited as boys. So it’s a go, then?”

“Wonderful!” crowed Grandmother. “I must thank the gods.” She left immediately for the prayer room.

“I can’t wait to tell my friends,” said Auntie. “They’ll be so jealous. When can we have the formal meeting? I always love seeing a couple’s eyes meet for the first time.”

Reet let go of their mother, too. “May I be excused, Uncle?”

“Certainly, Shona. I know you want to think about this in private. I’m so happy for you. I told you I’d take care of you, didn’t I?”

“You did. Come, Asha. Let’s go.”

Asha followed her sister upstairs, dreading this confrontation even more than she had her conversation with Jay.

“Explain,” Reet commanded as soon as they were in the
bathroom. She turned the water on full force so nobody could overhear them.

“He wants to marry you,” Asha said, glancing quickly at the mirror to see if her secret was revealed in her reflection.

But her sister saw right through her mask of calm control. “No. He wants to marry you. I won’t do it, Asha.”

“It’s too late. You have to. You saw Ma’s face. She cried for the first time, Reet.”

Reet was silent. Then she punched the wall as hard as she could. “Ow!” She bent over her fist, cradling it with the other hand. Asha reached over to help. “Get back,” her sister said. “Don’t touch me. I hate you, Asha Gupta.”

“Don’t say that. This is the perfect solution. And you’re perfect for each other.”

“Don’t lie to me! You adore him, and he must care just as much about you. Why else would he agree to this stupid plan? Oh, how could you do this to me? I thought you loved me.” Reet’s face crumpled. “Get out. Get out of here.” She threw open the door and shoved her sister so hard that Asha almost fell backward into the hall.

Asha banged on the closed door. “I promised Baba I’d take care of you!”

No answer from inside.

“He’ll be a brother to me, Reet. I promise. Didn’t you see the lock I put on the door a couple of weeks ago?”

No answer.

Raj came out of his room. “Shut
up,
Osh. Do you want the entire world to figure out what happened?”

“She hates me, Raj.”

“She’ll get over it.”

“I doubt it.”

“Come in here,” he said, leading the way into his room.

“Did I do the right thing?” she asked, flopping onto the floor in a heap.

“What else could you do? I tried my best to get another proposal for Reet around here, Osh. I even went to that first idiot you trounced on the court and begged him to ask again, but he just laughed. Oh, he enjoyed seeing me grovel after what we put him through.”

“You did that? For us?”

“None of my friends are old enough to get married yet, although four or five of them volunteered for the position. They think your sister’s … well, she’s still pretty enough, even after what she’s been through.”

“I hate that a boy is supposed to be six or seven years older than the girl before they can be matched. Who started that stupid tradition?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, the two of us can’t change some customs no matter how hard we try,” Asha said sadly.

For the first time in their lives, the sisters didn’t speak before they went to sleep. Reet’s body was as stiff as a fence beside Asha’s. Once, Asha tried to touch her sister’s shoulder, but Reet jerked back so harshly that it felt as if Asha’s fingers were covered with splinters.

THIRTY

N
OBODY BUT
R
AJ NOTICED THE COLD WAR BETWEEN THE
Gupta girls. Not only was the house abuzz with the new proposal, but events outside the walls were also changing fast. The prime minister was in trouble, accused of fraud, and Uncle’s radio blared news about the possibility of her being overthrown by the opposition.

Meanwhile, Auntie, Grandmother, and Ma were in a frenzy of preparation for the upcoming visit from the family next door. Three days. Two days. Tomorrow. Asha tried to prepare herself to see Jay through sisterly eyes. Could she do it? She’d have to; she had no choice.

Reet was going through the motions, but the few times Asha caught her sister looking at her, the expression on Reet’s face made Asha’s stomach coil like a snail. What had
she done? Was she making the biggest mistake of her life? Was she going to lose both Jay and Reet forever?

Ma made her wear the green salwar kameez on the day of the meeting, even though Asha resisted. “Why do
I
have to get dressed up, Ma?” she asked.

“This is a special occasion, meeting your Shala for the first time. A brother- in- law and his wife’s sister have a special relationship. You can tease him if you like once they’re married, Tuni. You’ll have a sweet friendship if it goes well; he’s supposed to take care of you always. Until you’re married, that is.”

Asha put the salwar on but left off the ankle bracelets and asked Ma to tie her hair in a short braid instead of leaving it loose. Meanwhile, Reet was wrapping herself in a shimmering blue saree, the same one she’d worn on the train here. Asha noticed that the extra evening meals had brought back enough of her sister’s curves to fill out the blouse decently. How could Jay resist her? But
while Reet looked beautiful on the outside, her eyes were icy.

“When you serve him tea, Shona, don’t look up,” Ma warned. “Wait until somebody urges you to do it. Your auntie will probably be the one. Remember that it isn’t proper for the girl to look first. Let him have his turn, then you’ll get yours.”

“All right, Ma,” Reet answered.

Ma gathered her oldest daughter in her arms and held her close. “Oh, I’m so proud of you, Shona. How happy your baba would have been on this day! He would have made them so welcome, like family right away. I’m counting on you, Asha, to do your part.”

“I’ll try, Ma,” Asha answered.

“Now, cheer up, girls. Why, what’s wrong with the two of you? This is supposed to be a happy day. Shona’s not leaving us yet, and when she does, she’s going just next door. Imagine how nice that will be. The two of you can see each other every day.”

Sita and Suma came dancing in, dressed in identical frilly blue frocks. “They’re here!” they crowed. “Oh, Shonadi, you’re so pretty!”

“Girls, I’m going down,” Ma said. “Come, Asha.”

Jay was wearing the same kurta and pajama he’d worn to Baba’s memorial, and sat stiffly between his parents on the sofa in the living room. All three stood up when Asha and her mother came in.

Asha noticed that his hair was cut shorter than she’d ever seen it. He didn’t look her way.

“Sumitra, Tuni, come say hello to our guests,” Uncle said. He introduced Jay’s parents first. “You already know Mr. and Mrs. Sen, our good neighbors.”

“Namashkar,” his parents said, palms together in greeting.

“Namashkar,” Ma answered.

Asha bent to give them the expected pronam.

“And this is Jay, their only son. He came to the memorial; you might have seen him there.”

Jay gave Ma pronam, still not looking in Asha’s direction at all.

“Sit down, sit down,” Uncle said, gesturing to the sofa again.

They sat. Asha perched beside her mother on the hard couch in the other corner of the room. Auntie, Grand mother, and the little girls came bustling in, and the whole namashkar- pronam routine repeated itself, one generation bowing to the other like marionettes. Asha tried not to notice how Jay moved, and how his fingers looked when he tugged on the twins’ blue hair ribbons, sending them giggling to their father’s knees.

“Bring in the tea, Shona,” Ma called.

Almost immediately, as though she’d been waiting outside the door, Reet carried in the full tray.

“Ohhhhh!” gasped Jay’s mother. “Such a lovely girl. The gods have heard my prayers.”

Reet served Mr. Sen some tea, and then Mrs. Sen. Next the tray was lowered before Jay. Asha couldn’t help watching as Jay gazed at her sister’s downturned face, the way a
prospective bridegroom was supposed to. But he looked away quickly, and his eyes flickered for a split second over to where Asha was sitting. Did anybody else notice?

Apparently nobody had. “Look up, Shona, look up,” Auntie trilled. “Don’t be shy.”

Reet looked up, straight into Jay’s face, and then she, too, turned to look at Asha, much sooner than she should have. This time, everyone noticed that she hadn’t done it right.

Ma tried to cover for her daughter. “It’s hard,” she said. “She’s shy. And she’s so close to her sister, you see.”

“He’s a good boy,” Jay’s mother told Reet, concern in her voice. “He’ll take care of you.”

“The people in Delhi tell me he’s a genius,” Mr. Sen added gruffly. “A genius! Imagine that!”

“Oh, and I’m taking that job in New York,” Jay announced. “That is, if my-my bride approves.” He looked up at Reet.

“She approves,” Reet said.

“Shhh,” Ma hissed. “You’re not supposed to talk, Shona. We’ll discuss this later.”

“But we thought you’d start your married life here,” Grandmother said. “With all of us around you.”

“We can’t,” Jay answered. “The prime minister is thinking of imposing a state of emergency. We need to leave India and move to New York as soon as possible. It might not be possible once the emergency is declared and the country shuts down.”

Uncle cleared his throat. “The boy’s right. It’s coming,
no doubt about that. We may not be able to move or speak freely. Terrible times are ahead.”

“Then we should leave for America right away,” Reet said.

“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” Jay answered.

“But what about a wedding?” Ma asked, looking dazed.

“We can’t wait until the year of mourning is up,” Jay said. “We’ll have to elope. Now.”

“What?”
At least four voices said it at once.

“My dear boy, a couple only elopes if they don’t have their families’ blessings,” Mr. Sen said. “Both of you have that. You don’t need to elope.”

“But if the country’s closing down in a few weeks, I want to leave for New York before then,” Jay said. “I’d like to take my wife with me.”

Asha tried not to react. His cool, matter- of- fact demeanor was cutting her like a knife; each word felt as if she were being stabbed.

“I can’t let my niece leave our home without a wedding,” Uncle said, frowning. “I owe it to my brother.”

“You’re our only son,” Mrs. Sen added. “We have to invite everybody we know to the wedding.”

“Ma, people elope in difficult times,” Jay said. “Our friends and family will understand.”

“Besides, I don’t want a wedding anyway.” It was Reet again, disobeying Ma’s instructions to be quiet. “Not even when the year’s up.”

“But… but…,” Uncle sputtered. “I’ll pay for it, I told you, Shona. Don’t worry about that.”

“What will people say?” Auntie asked.