Broken Harmony

by Brenda Barrett

  He glanced at Dawn sheepishly. "Sorry you had to witness that."

  Dawn shook her head. "It's fine. So you wanted us to discuss your image."

  "I can't think about that now," Boris said. "I am slightly upset at my brother's attitude. I mean, how can he know about the moral clause and still be cavorting with that woman?"

  "I would think that that would be a good thing for you," Dawn suggested softly. Her appetite had fled and she looked at the food, her mind torn between listening to Boris and his obvious jealousy of Aaron and thinking about her zero percent prospects of being with him.

  Life was so unfair, especially when the man you wanted was with somebody else. She wanted to call it a night right now and run after Aaron but what would that accomplish except that she would be making a fool of herself in front of Aaron and his married lover?

  "You are right," Boris was caressing her arm but she hadn't even felt it. He was murmuring. "You know, when Aaron makes such a fool of himself I should be happy. When I am president of the Palm Tree Group, I will enjoy firing him, though I would have to convince the board to side with me."

  Dawn looked at his hand as it rhythmically caressed hers. She forced herself not to pull hers away. For the first time she began to see Boris in a different light. He might be devious, underhanded, and sneaky but if that moral clause stood this sleaze could be the president of the Palm group of companies.

  He was not so bad when you thought about it. With proper training she could make him into Aaron. He could be kind caring and maybe one day she would look at him and find that she had transferred her love to him instead.

  Her heartbeat increased at the prospect. If she played her cards right she could be a member of the Lee family without working too hard. Boris was obviously ripe for the picking. She was the perfect wife, if only Aaron had taken notice. She watched Boris's long tapered fingers as they trailed up her arms slowly. She was seriously thinking of switching her allegiance.

  Chapter Ten

  Aaron drove home with Alka. He turned on the car radio because he didn't want to talk. She was silent as well, glancing at him occasionally, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. He had made up his mind that he was going to live in the moment as she had asked him to do. He was going to forget that she would leave and that she had another life far away from here. They should have been together. They should be married. She should be his girl. He would indulge in the fantasy for the next couple of days.

  When he drove up to the house he got out of the car and opened her door. He stayed close to her and watched as she slid out close to him.

  "If this was any other night and you were free, I would ask you to marry me," he said huskily, staring at her, his brown eyes liquid with repressed passion.

  Alka swallowed. "I would if I could."

  Aaron drew her closer to him. "Alka, I don't want to be hurt."

  "I know." Alka hugged him back. "Me neither."

  He walked into the house, with her snugly by his side, and stepped into his room. Alka stopped and stood transfixed in the doorway as he walked ahead to the middle of the room.

  She stared at him, hardly believing that they were together. Her conscience seared her. Are we doing the right thing?

  She had said she wanted this. She had dreamt about it but she would be taking their relationship to another level. Aaron said he didn't want to be hurt; neither did she, but nothing was guaranteed in this life and she had the niggling sensation that she might never see him again after this trip. She wondered if this was her only chance to experience intimacy with the man she loved.

  Aaron stood there, a question in his eyes. He slowly unbuttoned his silk shirt. Alka took a deep breath and stepped closer to him, slowly removing her dress.

  *****

  Aaron stepped into his office at noon the next day. He had left Alka in bed, still sleeping after their torrid night together.

  Corvette frowned at him, a disapproving lilt to her mouth. "You have stacks of messages, several of them from your father. Apparently there is a management crisis brewing at one of the hotels in Turks and Caicos."

  Aaron sighed. "Okay."

  "Midday, though!" Corvette raised her eyebrows. "I have never seen you come in so late, and without calling."

  Aaron grinned. "Stop fishing."

  "I can't help it." Corvette walked behind him into the office. "You look happy and relaxed and totally different. Give me a hint."

  "Her name starts with A," Aaron said, sitting at his desk.

  Corvette grimaced. "I was totally afraid of that. Anyway, it's your life." She raised her brow. "You were hurt before when she left, just remember."

  "I don't want to remember," Aaron said, picking up the phone. "I am taking the next two weeks off."

  Corvette's mouth hung open. "Say what? This is the worst possible time to do so, Aaron. Besides, this will give Boris ammunition against you."

  "I don't care." Aaron shrugged. "For once, I am going to forget about work and everyday responsibilities and just live. Isn't that what most people call a vacation?"

  "You take a vacation with her now and the board will vote against you, Aaron. Think. This company should not be run by Boris Lee Junior. He is an idiot!"

  "Thank you, Corvette," Boris said from the door. "When I am president, I am going to remember that you said that."

  Corvette snorted. "If you become president. Next time I'll lock the door when I am in a private meeting with my boss. Eavesdropper."

  Boris snorted when she passed. "How long before Corvette retires again? Isn't she long past that age?"

  "What do you want?" Aaron asked, frowning.

  "Your job, the presidency, to be my father's favorite son." Boris grinned. "By the way, last night was great; we should do it again."

  Aaron growled, "Not on your life."

  Boris raised a brow. "What is this I hear about you going on vacation?"

  "None of your business," Aaron said smartly. "If you will excuse me." He got up. "I have a crisis to take care of."

  Boris moved out of his way and said slyly, "You know, you should have spent your youth learning the way women work. Look at you now, all flustered and tied up with this slip of a girl. I tell you, she will bring you down and I'll be here to watch."

  "Pleasant viewing," Aaron threw over his shoulder as he headed for his father's office, but he wasn't feeling as blasé as he appeared to his brother.

  He had repeatedly thought the same thing last night. He shouldn't have started this affair with Alka. It probably would lead to his downfall but like Samson, she was his Delilah and even knowing that, there was nothing that he was willing to do to stop it.

  *****

  Aaron drove home slowly. The issue they were having in Turks and Caicos had to be dealt with by him personally. His father had insisted that he go there for a week to sort out the management issues. That would be seven days away from Alka. It would cut into the time he had left with her. The thought made him queasy. This crisis couldn't have come at a worse time. He didn't want to be away from her now.

  He made up his mind that she would have to come with him. When he walked into the house he found her in the kitchen with Maisie. She was explaining to Maisie how to make a spicy dahl recipe. Maisie was listening with rapt attention and he didn't want to interrupt them. He waited until Maisie headed into the pantry before he spoke.

  "Hey," he said warmly. She had her hair in a ponytail and she was wearing one of his shirts. She looked sweet and innocent. Well, not anymore; he had seen to that last night and earlier this morning. They had had a fantastic time. He refused to dredge up any images that were on the forefront of his mind. He would examine them one by one later, much later. Maybe when she left him again.

  "Hey," Alka smiled shyly. Memories of the night before danced in her eyes.

  Aaron inhaled shakily. "Pack your things; we are going to Turks and Caicos."

  "Are you serious?" Alka followed him outside into the living room.

  "Yup
," Aaron drew her to him and kissed her gently. "We leave in four hours."

  "About last night," Alka said hesitantly.

  "No postmortems." Aaron touched her lips. "No conversation. When this is over," he inhaled roughly. "No regrets."

  Alka nodded reluctantly. "Live in the moment."

  "Yes." Aaron inclined his head. "Having second thoughts about this?"

  "No," Alka said hesitantly, "not at all."

  Aaron headed for his office. "I need to get some things done before we depart. By the way," he snapped his fingers, "the cleaning service said your parents' house has a leak and the place is a mess. I will have it looked at."

  Alka shrugged. "Are you sure you want to take that on?"

  "Sure." Aaron nodded. "One day in the future you might come back here again."

  Alka's breath hitched. "If you get married and have a family I will not come back. No thanks. I'll stay in India and rot first."

  Aaron looked at her sadly. "It's bound to happen one day. I am not going to be a bachelor forever."

  "And then I will be truly alone," Alka said sitting in the settee, curling her legs underneath her.

  Aaron stilled. "Alka..."

  "No," Alka forced a smile to her face. "I am just being slightly morose. Give me a moment; I'll be okay again." She got up. "You know what? I'll call Farrah. We are due a chat."

  She hurried off to his room, slamming the door behind her. He flinched. They were both in way over their heads.

  *****

  "Tell me about India," Aaron said softly. They were swinging in a hammock tied under a trellis outside his private villa two days after they arrived in Turks and Caicos.

  The villa was located in Grace Bay, Provideciales and they were outside in the picturesque backyard, waiting for the sunset. There was a light drizzle and the afternoon was semi-overcast but the clouds were slowly moving away.

  "What do you want to know?" Alka asked huskily.

  "Tell me about your life there." Aaron hugged her closer. "I am in the process of storing everything to memory. Maybe one day I'll come look you up."

  Alka rose up on her arms and looked him in the eyes. "You would do that?"

  Aaron sighed. "I don't know. From what I hear, Indian men are big on family honor. Rajiv and his clan might hunt me down and lynch me in the town square or something."

  "Ha," Alka said. "First of all, Mumbai is a city. There is no town square and the men of my family would be more likely to hang me instead of you, if it came to that."

  Aaron frowned. "You are serious?"

  "Unfortunately." Alka ran her fingers down his arm. "You wanted me to tell you about India?"

  "Yes." Aaron was still taken aback by her revelations.

  "Well, I can only tell you about the parts I know about," Alka said softly. "The majority of my family lives in a village in Punjab. They are all cotton farmers. The rural life is way different than in Mumbai, almost like a different country. Back in Punjab the pace of life is slower; people are friendlier.

  "On the other hand, Mumbai is busy and bright and colorful. It is a study in contrasts: very large colonial type buildings and very large slums, the very rich and the very poor. It is much like any other city but on a grand scale." Alka put her feet on Aaron's. "When I first went to Mumbai it was a culture shock to me. It is a far cry from our village in Punjab and far, far larger than any of Jamaica's cities."

  "I know a bit about India and specifically Punjab," Aaron said. "For example, I know that Punjab is the land of five rivers. I did extensive research on India when you left. I thought it would bring me closer to you somehow. In the long run I had to stop researching because it just made me sad."

  Alka swallowed. She didn't want to think about the time she left ten years ago, or her departure in a few days.

  "When I had just arrived in Mumbai I felt a little lost, even though we live in the suburbs of Bandra. It is somewhat quieter than the city, despite the sound of rickshaws in the early morning and myriads of conversations in different dialects, crowds, cars... I eventually got used to it, though."

  Aaron nodded. "That was expected. You adapt to situations easily. You are like a chameleon."

  "I never adapted to missing you," Alka whispered. "I went to school and eventually graduated and did my specialty in gynecology. I barely slept during internship, which I did at the Bombay General, the busiest hospital in the world.

  "It was the perfect job for a woman with a husband who didn't demand much. I mean, I swear Rajiv is better than my parents, who keep hounding me about grandchildren. It drives me crazy. Do you know that my older sister is a grandmother now, and I am not even a mother yet?"

  Aaron sighed and squeezed her closer to him. "If I was half a man I would still find some way to be intimate with you."

  Alka rolled on top of him and the hammock started swinging in earnest. "Is that so?"

  "Yes," Aaron pushed her hair out of her face. "Are you sure that Rajiv has no feelings for you?"

  Alka lowered her eyes. "He has feelings for me. I am a business asset to him. As the owner of a major production houses in Bollywood, he entertains a lot; it is expected. In the last three years he has produced some of the top movies. He likes to show me off."

  "Like a trophy." Aaron frowned. "That guy is not going to want to let you go."

  Alka shivered. "I know. I'll have to wait until he dies or something."

  "That sounds morbid," Aaron said.

  "I know." Alka placed her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. "You know, sometimes, before he had cancer, I wished for it and now he is sick I feel so much guilt. He is a good man, he is patient and kind; the only time he has ever been mad at me was three years ago when I visited my family in Punjab and didn't return to Mumbai on time. He was frantic."

  Aaron cleared his throat, a painful jab of regret piercing him. He had turned into the other man, and he had vowed not to do it. He felt a twisted sort of sympathy for Rajiv that he didn't want to feel.

  "That sounds like a man who doesn't want to lose you," he said to her softly.

  "My parents thought that it was so romantic of him. They saw the relief in Rajiv's eyes when he came to the airport to pick me up. I have never seen him like that before. I was only gone a few days longer than he expected but he looked as if he had aged years."

  Aaron felt a slow insidious guilt creeping across his mind. "I slept with his wife. How is he going to feel when he finds out?"

  "He isn't going to know," Alka said shakily. "I don't want to hurt him. I really don't." It wasn't until she had replayed the scene in her mind that she appreciated how possessive Rajiv had gotten over the years. Even though he had flippantly said that she could take lovers he hadn't demonstrated that kind of flippancy when it came to her. He had their manservant, Abhijat, follow her around the city whenever she wanted to go anywhere. She had gotten adept at hiding from him over the years because she knew that Abhijat made a full report to Rajiv. She had to ditch him the day she left for the airport to come Jamaica.

  Until now, Rajiv had no idea where she was because she had the feeling that if she told him he would have stopped her somehow. It was the tenth year and he had not mentioned her leaving him. He had chosen to forget the deal and she suddenly realized that the deal was probably off the table in Rajiv's mind.

  He was ill now. He expected her to stay with him. He was responding well to treatment. She would never be free. She placed her lips on the beating pulse on Aaron's neck. She would always be tied to Rajiv somehow, unless she severed her bonds to her family and country forever.

  She closed her eyes tightly. If she left Rajiv now, she would be effectively shunned—not only shunned, but her uncles were not of such a liberal mind as her parents and would probably find a way to effectively silence her like they did Nina. Her father would stand by and do nothing because it would all be in the name of family honor.

  Alka shuddered involuntarily. She remembered when her mother had called her last year, crying, to te
ll her about her cousin, Nina.

  Nina had married a Christian man, Nigel, the principal of the Christian school in their village. She had broken her arranged marriage deal to another village family, a deal that was brokered when she was eight. She had turned her back on the religion of her fathers and had defiantly married a white man and worse, a Christian man. It didn't help that she lived with him in the village for all her family to see.

  It caused a two-week uproar among the villagers. Initially, the men in the Duggall family said nothing about the matter, but they lured Nina to her parent's house under the pretense of accepting her choice. They claimed that they were throwing her a party but instead stoned her to death.

  Alka wanted to ask if her father participated. She knew it was the only way to restore family honor in their eyes, but the barbaric ritual sickened her. Aaron massaged her scalp tenderly. He must have felt her tension.

  "Look at the glorious red and gold hues of the sunset," he said softly. "It was worth the wait."

  Alka opened her eyes a crack. The sun had managed to make a break through the gray clouds and it was indeed beautiful but somehow she couldn't appreciate it like she did yesterday. Yesterday she had clapped her hands with unrestrained glee as the sun slowly sank into the horizon.

  Today, she had to face the truth. Her husband was not going to let her go so easily, and if she left him her fate could be the same as Nina's.

  Chapter Eleven

  Boris sat in the conference room listening to the executive meeting with half an ear. Dawn was sitting across from him, to the left. His father was droning on and on and repeating stuff that he had already said. When he was president he would not have so many meetings. He found them non-productive.

  Ever since the dinner where he had tried his best to expose Aaron as less than perfect, she had been unusually warm to him. She went to lunch with him twice and dinner once and she had been smiling with him more. He was beginning to feel confused, like somehow he had missed the plot. What was she really thinking? Did she like him now or was she playing a game with him? Was the player being played?