Splintered Lives (30 page)

“So we will have to wait until Mark contacts us, is that what you are saying?” Sarah says in an impatient tone of voice.

“Yes love, that’s what I’m saying.”
 
David knows how hard it has been for Sarah, losing Simon and thinking he was dead, then to hear that he may not be dead but be living in another part of the world.
 
He feels the same but he needs to keep

a positive attitude, so that Sarah feels his support.

Anne is home from hospital and her parents can’t wait to visit the young family.
 
They take Charlie and he is so thrilled with the newcomer that nobody can get a look in as he cradles the tiny baby in his arms.

“It’s like when your parents brought you home Anne, I fell in love with you then and I have done the same again.
 
What are you going to call her?

Well granddad we have decided to call her Amy, Mary after her two great- grandmothers.”
 
Anne tells them with a smile at Charlie.

They are all thrilled with their decision and Charlie gives Anne a warm hug.

Dan is pleased that Anne has honoured her grandmothers and picks up his namesake so that the little boy does not feel out of it.
 
The visit is enjoyable and Sarah feels much better for it.
 
David drives them home and Charlie is so enthusiastic about the names given to the baby, they can’t shut him up.

Chapter 43

Sahida

Mark meets Sahida when she has finished her work at the school. She has now changed her scooter for a four- wheel vehicle and she offers him a lift to Pokhara, where she lives in a new apartment by the lake.
 

I’ll make you a meal and by then Simon will be home from work.
 
Mula is on maternity leave because she is very pregnant, but I don’t want to impose on her at home without Simon being there.”
 
Sahida says.

“Great, I’ll love that, I remember the food you and Sarah prepared for our party so I know you can cook.” Mark says with a grin.

“I can’t promise anything special but I have the ingredients for a curry.”
 
She replies hoping that her cooking will please him.

They drive down the mountain and along the side of the lake to an apartment block that looks new.
 
They leave the vehicle and Sahida unlocks a ground floor apartment.
 
She invites him in and he is impressed by the style of the building and the comfort of the furniture.
 
She shows him around when she notes his curiosity and opens the back door where she has made a small garden on her terrace. The back of the apartment looks over the lake and the front over a forest.
 
There is a garden table and chairs as well as a built-in barbeque oven set out on a patio by the back door.
 
The sun is warm and she intends to serve their meal out on her garden terrace.
  
She settles Mark down at the patio table and brings two glasses and a bottle of wine.
 
She pours him a glass and then goes inside to start the evening meal.
 
Mark follows her carrying his glass of wine and says he will help her prepare the curry.
 
Sahida accepts his help and company as she gives him onions and vegetables to prepare.
 
She brings some chicken from out of the fridge she has prepared in strips for the wok.
 
With a good tablespoon of olive oil she heats up the pan and fries the chicken the garlic and spices go in then the onions and peppers. She stirs them frequently whilst Mark chops other vegetables for the salad. The yogurt is added last and the aroma of the curry wafts around them.

 
The table is ready, set with the cloth and the cutlery; the curry is left on a very low light until they have eaten their large crisp popadoms and the various dips Sahida has prepared.

They sit at the table and Mark says as he raises his glass. “Cheers Sahida, I’m so pleased to be here with you, thank you for this feast of a meal.”

“Cheers Mark, I’m glad you found me and here’s to resolving our problem.” Sahida replies, lifting her glass.
                   

When they have eaten their meal and finished the bottle of wine they relax in the evening sunshine and reminisce.
 
Mark looks at Sahida and wonders if she has someone in her life.
 
She was a lovely girl when he first knew her and at that time he thought she was so much older than him but now he sees a lovely woman who is not that much older than him.
 
He tries to work out her age. Sarah was an adult student when she became a teacher but Sahida had only just left college and it was her first year of teaching, he reckons she may be three years his senior but she certainly doesn’t look it.

Their eyes meet across the table and they both feel a connection.
 
Sahida feels shy, she has had boy friends but nobody has been the one.
 
Mark feels bold and flirts with her saying.
 
“May I see you again even after we see Simon so that I can repay the compliment with dinner at the Fishtail Lodge restaurant?
 
I have not felt like this for a long time, I feel the years between have melted away.
 
I was eighteen when we first met and I’m forty-four now and I didn’t think we would ever meet again.”

Sahida smiles and changes the subject.
 
“We should be going to see Simon and Mula, he will be home from work by now and they should have eaten their meal, so come on.”
                                      

They leave the apartment and get into the car, the road is a bit rough as they turn towards the forest and take the road through it to the other side where they find a small but lovely house surrounded by a garden.
 
There is a short drive to the front door.
 
The sound of the car brings Simon out of the house and he beams a smile when he sees Sahida.
 
He looks again and sees a man is with her.

Mark is astonished to see how Simon has grown in the image of Taj and although he has a smile of greeting for him, Mark can see that he is not recognized.

Sahida introduces Mark as an old friend and a nephew of Simon’s mother.

Simon looks confused but he then turns as Mula joins them and they all go into the house.
 
Mark can see that Mula adores Simon but he notices she looks disturbed as she hears the conversation.
 
Mark shakes Simon’s hand and feels the connection they always had but Simon’s eyes show none and Mark feels hurt.

He then turns to Mula and his good humour returns as he takes her hand and with a twinkle in his eyes he kisses her fingers.
 
Simon looks a little annoyed.
 
Mark takes Simon into his arms and gives him a hug.
 
He can’t have this distance between them, as he again encounters only Simon’s natural friendliness but no recognition.
 
He feels frustrated but he tries to hide it.
 
Sahida steps in, asking Mula, about her health and the coming confinement.
 
Simon suggests they go out to the garden and let the women have a chat.
 
He wants to know what’s happening; he needs to question this stranger who seems to know him.

Simon I’m your cousin. Do you not remember me?
 
Asks Mark with a questioning frown on his face.
 
“I met you here in Nepal six or seven years ago and I saw you and your friends off at the airport in Kathmandu when you were about to go to Bristol University to train as a doctor.
 
Do you remember?”

Simon looks uncertain but he does not want to hurt this man who is standing by him in the garden and he smiles and takes Mark’s hand to shake it.
 
Mark wants to give Simon a hug but he feels frustrated because he knows there is no recognition on Simon’s face.

“How is the work out here for a doctor?” Asks Mark trying to have a conversation with his cousin. He wants to break the ice and get some knowledge of Simon’s life.

He is disappointed with the “reunion” and feels he has to have something to tell Sarah, and soon.
 
He promised to let her know as soon as possible how things are here but at the moment he has nothing concrete to tell her.

“It’s good, I love the work but I have not been qualified long because when I came there was no medical school within the University and although my grandfather and aunt trained me at the hospital, it was not possible to get a degree until four years ago.
  
That is when I met Mula, she was a student along with me and we have been married now for one year.
 
Our baby is due to be born in two month’s time and Mula has just started her maternity leave.”

“Do you remember anything of the terrible car crash you had in the French Alps?”

“No, I was told that the rest of my family had perished in the crash and the only other relatives were my grandfather and his family.
 
It was he who came to bring me here.
 
I have no memory of the other family or anything that happened before the crash.
 
I love my life here and I feel that this is my home.”
 
Simon replies.
 

“Have you been told about your mother and all your relatives back in England?” Mark wants to know.

“Sahida is the only one who has told me about her friend Sarah who had taught school with her.
 
She tries to explain how she was, her personality and her warmth, and how she adored my father, who died before I was born.
 
But I have no memory of them and as they died in the car crash I had no connection to them.
 
My grandfather tells me that Taz found my friend and myself stranded in a mountain village where she attended a small clinic there.
 
She brought us back to Kathmandu, where she and my grandfather attended to my friend’s broken bones.
 
It was Festival time and we could not get accommodation in any hostel or hotel so they kindly looked after us, until it was time to leave and go home to England.
 
They recognized me as my father’s child and they have been wonderful.
 
My grandmother taught me the language and some of the culture, she taught me to meditate and I am very close to her and all the family.”
 
Simon tells him.

“You have a family at home Simon. It was not your parents who died in France.
 
It was the family of your friend Jack and your parents were told you were dead.
 
They went to your funeral in France and because of that they did not know that you were still alive.
 
Sarah, your mother and David, the only father you have ever known, retired and for a treat they went on a cruise to the Caribbean and met a boy who was taught by Sahida and Sarah and because you had attended his father, as a doctor, he told Sarah of it saying he thought it was Taj, your birth father because you are so like him to look at.
 
He told her that Sahida had introduced him as Simon, her nephew.
 
That is the reason I am here to find you and let them know that you are well and safe.
 
They would have come themselves but your sister, Anne, has just given birth to your niece and they were needed to help with your little nephew, Dan.
 
I must tell your family in England that you are safe and well and about to become a father.”

“I’m sorry but I have no memory of any of it. No memory of coming here before but I know I must have done because Dr Menon, my grandfather, has told me of that time and Sahida has told me of my English mother but I believed the whole English family was dead.
 
That is what my family here was told by the French Authorities and my grandfather came to the hospital to bring me home.
 
I did not recognize him at my bedside but he said I had a photograph of the two of us together so I believed what he had to tell me.”
 
Simon says.

“There has been a sad misunderstanding, your family here were told that your English family were dead and your English family were told you were dead.” Mark explains.
 
“But you have been living here whilst your mother, father and sister have been grieving for you, what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, you promised to contact them if you found me, didn’t you?” Simon replies.
 
He feels something of a confusion he has felt before but his mind will not clear to let him make sense of it.

“Yes, I promised to let them know as soon as I found you but I will have to find a land line because I can’t get a signal on my mobile here.
 
I know they will be waiting for my phone call, with impatience, because Sarah, and all the family, became frantic when she told them of the story she had heard of you being here, from Raj,

Anne, your sister, has not been told that you may be alive because the baby was due and she was not very well.
  
Because of these circumstances I have come to look for you instead of your parents.” Mark tells him.