by Lucy Monroe
"I will see you later then."
"You will both be far too busy." His mother stepped closer so her words could not be overheard. "And you will stay in your own suite tonight, no sneaking down the halls in the early hours. It is your wedding day tomorrow and you will hold your libido in check."
Vin felt heat crawl up his neck and realized he was blushing, but what grown man wanted to be having this kind of discussion with his mother?
"Fine." What his mother didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
"Rajvinder." His mother's tone was far too reminiscent of his childhood.
"Yes, Maan?"
"I will sleep in her suite if I cannot trust you to stay out of it."
A snort of laughter sounded from the fiancée sized peanut gallery and he glared at Eliza. She blinked back at him innocently.
"I promise, Maan."
"Good. You always keep your promises."
He did. Damn it.
***
Eliza woke the morning of her wedding and realized it was also Christmas Eve, her sense of nervous anticipation inexplicably doubled.
There was no reason for the extra excitement.
After all, the Singhs did nothing to mark this day or the next, but the holiday was still special to Eliza.
Her last memories of her family all together was Christmas. And for whatever reason, only happy memories of them assailed her this time of year. Longing, yes, that too. And loneliness, but that she'd long since grown used to.
As she climbed out of bed, she promised herself this was the last year Christmas Eve would be just another day. And since it was her wedding day today, it wasn't anyway.
But next year and every year after, she and Rajvinder, Barbie and Jamison, would all celebrate the holiday.
And they would make more good memories to add to the best from her childhood.
Rajvinder hadn't come to her bed last night just as he'd promised Barbie he wouldn't.
Eliza had loved the look of consternation on her fiancé's face at being taken to task over that sort of thing by his mother.
She hadn't missed the heated looks he gave her since the Mehendi Ceremony. He liked the Henna tattoos very much. Eliza had gone to sleep warmed with the knowledge that leaving her in peace hadn't been easy on the man she was about to marry.
She had a surprise for him he would see on their wedding night. The idea had come to Eliza after seeing his anticipation of the Mehendi. She'd asked her soon to be mother-in-law for a favor and Barbie had been only too willing to do a private intricate Henna tattoo that covered Eliza's entire back.
It would wash off eventually, but Eliza had no doubt that Rajvinder was going to love it while it lasted.
She was not at all surprised when a knock sounded on her door just as she was crossing the room toward her en suite.
Eliza opened it to find the beaming faces of Barbie and Tabish auntie.
And so it began. Amidst giggles far too girlish for women of their age, and jokes way racier than Eliza would have thought the two women capable of, she was poked, prodded, powdered and pushed into her wedding finery.
And against every one of her own expectations, she enjoyed every single minute of it. Their exuberance was infectious, feeding the deep well of excitement Eliza had in no way expected to feel on her wedding day when she embarked on this plan to reunite the rightful heir with the House of Mahapatras.
After the umpteenth veiled comment referring to some surprise Rajvinder had arranged for her, Eliza threw up her hands. "So, spill already! I already know about the elephant."
And that had been at Barbie's insistence, not Rajvinder's.
"Don't mess up all my hard work." Tabish auntie fussed with Eliza's hair.
Barbie straightened the folds of the traditional red wedding gown embellished with real gold thread, twenty-four carat gold beads (as she was informed by Barbie) and only the finest Austrian crystals. "Be patient, Eliza. You will see soon enough."
"You keep hinting."
"You need to eat something."
"Maybe we should have thought of that before getting me all trussed up in finery," she grouched and realized she really was hungry.
Darn it.
Then Barbie fed her pastries while Tabish auntie tutted and protected her dress with a fine linen cloth.
But Eliza felt much better after she'd been allowed to drink a cup of tea and finish her breakfast.
Her improved mood went into the stratosphere when she stepped out of her room and saw a palace transformed.
Not by the wedding decorations, but by Christmas.
Poinsettias were everywhere and garlands of red velvet accented with shimmering crystal snowflakes at every gather between the swoops of fabric lined the walls on both sides of the hall. She stopped and gasped in delighted shock when she reached the Royal Reception Hall.
The biggest Christmas tree she'd ever seen indoors was right in the center and decorated elegantly to match their wedding colors.
"Wait until you see the ballroom," Barbie said.
Grabbing up the skirts of her gown, Eliza flew down the stairs and ran to the room that had been her sanctuary since arriving to live at the palace. Inside she found the wedding décor as Barbie and Tabish auntie had discussed, but there were no less than six Christmas trees and poinsettias replaced the traditional wedding flowers everywhere.
Eliza spun in a circle, her hand over her mouth, tears threatening her eyes.
Tabish auntie smiled. "I didn't know what to think when Rajvinder insisted on incorporating a Christmas theme with the wedding décor, but I believe it turned out all right."
"It's beautiful." Rajvinder had done this for her.
She wanted to see him so badly in that moment, her heart ached like it hadn't since it shattered from loss.
But this time the ache was a good one, if no less profound. And it was in that moment she could no longer deny the truth that had been staring her in the face.
She loved Rajvinder.
Loved him enough that it would destroy her to lose him.
Terror washed over her and her knees nearly buckled. Her walls had fallen, leaving her barely mended heart vulnerable to love for the man she was about the marry. She could not catch her breath as she acknowledged emotions she'd been so sure she would never allow herself to feel, but even a broken heart was stronger than the mind's will.
She could barely stand. Her heart raced so fast, Eliza could feel it pounding in her chest and pressed her hand against it, making a soft sound of distress.
"Are you all right?" Barbie asked, her voice filled with concern, her beautiful face creased with worry.
Tabish auntie looked around and then back at Eliza. "Do you not like it? I do not know if we can change the décor this late."
And suddenly the one thing she needed was there, strong arms coming around her, Rajvinder's voice in her ear. "This was intended to delight, not terrify."
She turned in his hold until she could see into dark eyes, what she found there so perfect, so necessary. "I love you," she blurted with all the fear and devastation roiling through her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Rajvinder did not smile, but she saw he wanted to. In his eyes. Instead, he leaned down and did the unthinkable in front of Tabish auntie.
Rajvinder kissed Eliza until the fear had to take backseat to passion. Then he lifted his head and met her worried gaze. "Listen to me, sonii."
She nodded.
"Tragedy happens. I cannot promise our life will be without it, but I promise you there will be great joy too."
"Do not die." Again, she demanded the impossible.
Again, he promised it. "I will not."
And she believed.
Had to believe, or she would lose her sanity in fear. And Eliza was stronger than that.
"Your mom said you weren't supposed to see me before the wedding."
"I do not believe in superstition. We make our own luck." He smiled that devastating smile. "Besides, I had to see your reaction to my s
urprise."
"It's amazing. One of my best Christmas memories ever." She waved her hand toward all the trees and poinsettias. "It's all so beautiful. Thank you."
"Nothing is as beautiful as you are today."
She ducked her head, embarrassed by the compliment. "Barbie and Tabish auntie did their best."
"They had perfection to work with."
She rolled her eyes, but didn't dismiss his words. They made her feel good. "I'm glad you think so."
"Are you ready to get married?"
"It will be a long day."
"I am aware."
"I'm ready for it."
"Then it is time I saw to the elephants."
She laughed and hugged him before Rajvinder let her go.
He stopped on his way out and turned back to her. "I have one more surprise for you. I know you will be very happy, but others might not be."
She gave him a smile, wobbly, tinged with emotional tears, but there all the same. "I am looking forward to it."
His expression was all approval. "I believe you. I believe in you."
"And I believe in you, Rajvinder. You keep your promises."
He nodded and left.
"What was that about?" Tabish auntie demanded.
"I don't know."
"But you said you trusted him."
That wasn't exactly what she'd said, but Eliza supposed it could be taken as implied. "I also told him I loved him. I can't believe I blurted it out like that."
"I thought it was beautiful." Barbie was crying without shame, her smile so lovely, so very welcome. "I cannot tell you how happy I am that you two are so well suited."
"You must not worry if he does not say the words," Tabish auntie assured Eliza. "There are things far more important in marriage than the love of your husband."
Barbie's look said she didn't agree, but the look she gave Tabish auntie was filled with understanding. "My son will realize his feelings when his stubborn brain allows him to do so, but he may never actually admit to them."
"Does Jamison say the words to you?" Eliza asked Barbie.
"Eliza! That is hardly an appropriate question," Tabish auntie admonished.
Barbie smiled at the other woman and then Eliza. "It is all right. Yes, Jamison does say the words."
"In front of his son?" Eliza didn't use the term stepson, because in all the ways that counted Jamison Latham had been the only father Rajvinder had ever known.
Barbie's eyes widened, acknowledging she'd noticed the deliberate use of the term son. "Yes."
"Then I trust that one day Rajvinder will say them to me. No doubt with a lot more aplomb than I used, but he learned many important life lessons from the man who became his father."
"I've always thought so; Jamison is a very good man."
"His real father was a good man too," Tabish auntie said, her own eyes washed with suspicious moisture now too. "He would have been so proud of you today, Eliza."
"Rajvinder got some of his best traits from his biological father, but don't expect him to ever admit it," Barbie warned the other woman with a commiserating smile. "He'll never accept the duty that dictated my exile to America."
Tabish auntie sighed. "I'm not sure he should. We cannot change the world for the better if we are not willing to change how we react to the world."
"Don't let Trisanu hear you say something like that," Barbie said with a laugh.
Eliza found herself joining the older women in their mirth, her fears for the future dissolving just a little around the edges as she let warmth in to melt the ice around her heart.
And she realized she owed those three little words to someone else. Someone who had patiently waited to hear them, who had earned them just as Jamison had earned the moniker father.
Eliza grabbed Tabish auntie's hands and smiled. "Thank you for all you have done for me. No one could have been a more loving mother to me. I…" She swallowed and took the leap. "I love you, Maan. You are my family."
Tabish auntie's eyes filled with tears. "You bad child, making me cry." She belied the admonishment of the words, tugging Eliza into a tight embrace and whispering, "I love you, daughter." And then repeating it in Hindi. "Mein tumse pyaar karti hoon, beti."
Barbie's smile was gentle and approving when Eliza stepped back. "You will make a very good wife for my son. I could not have planned a better match for him myself."
Coming from the woman who still held some very traditional beliefs despite her Americanized ways, it was as sincere and encompassing compliment as could be.
Eliza, who had spent nearly two decades eschewing relationships, found herself being hugged again, by a woman she knew she would be as close to in the years to come as she was to Tabish auntie now.
***
Eliza had been raised with all the trimmings of being a princess of the House of Mahapatras since she was ten years old, had known she was to marry a Prince since she was sixteen, but she felt like a princess for the first time riding an ornately decorated elephant to her wedding.
It should have been over the top. Totally naff. But it felt like she was sharing in millennia of tradition.
A little while later, tears burned the back of her eyes as she approached the Mandap and saw that it too had been decorated with poinsettias and beautiful crystal snowflakes dangled with glittery gems from the corners of the silk canopy.
She approached the traditional sacred fire burning in the center of the Mandap, the berobed officiant on the left side.
Rajvinder, his gaze fixed firmly on her and nothing else, stood to the priest's left, across the fire from where Eliza stopped.
She'd seen him earlier, but unlike her, Rajvinder had not been dressed in his wedding finery.
He was now.
And seeing him in the traditional Indian garb of a prince on his wedding day fairly took her breath away. He should have looked uncomfortable in this style of dress so different than the bespoke suits he wore most days.
But he looked entirely natural and very powerful in his silk Kameez and trousers. The color of the House of Mahapatras, it was embroidered with thread a darker shade of burgundy that was almost black.
He even wore a turban, the impressive ruby broach worn by every man marrying in this family for the past several generations pinned in the center.
The officiant started speaking and she could not deny that each word held the gravitas of lifelong commitment. And love.
Love she may not have wanted, but now filled every crack in her heart.
She met Rajvinder's espresso gaze, her own probably revealing everything she'd thought never to feel. His expression subtly changed, going from intense to something even deeper, his gorgeous eyes making her promises that the wedding vows would not require.
And she soaked every single one in, letting those promises fill in emotional fissures almost two decades old, healing ragged edges to finish making her heart whole.
She had no brother to offer the three fistfuls of puffed rice to signify a wish for her happy marriage.
Emotion welled inside of Eliza when Barbie's husband, the man who had taught Rajvinder by example how to be a good partner, stepped forward and offered the rice to her.
Eliza threw each handful into the fire, offering her homan and feeling that with such genuine hope for her and Rajvinder's happiness, their marriage could not be anything but a good one.
Later, as Rajvinder placed the traditional floral garland around her neck, she was sure of it. This man got what he wanted and he wanted their marriage to succeed.
Everything he'd done to make this day special for her was a promise of that. Even her garland had little tiny Christmas balls mixed amidst the flowers. A subtle reminder that they were getting married on Christmas Eve, something neither of them would ever forget.
She put her own garland on him, unable to resist brushing her hand over his shoulder after she'd done so.
He smiled and she found herself returning the expression, moisture glistening in her eyes.
Their exchange of rings came next as she'd been told it would and the tears of joy spilled when she slid her ring on his finger. Against tradition, Rajvinder reached forward to brush the moisture away from under her eyes and she felt cherished.
Grandfather performed the tradition of pouring water through her hand to drip over Rajvinder's giving her away in the way of the kanyadaan.
Unexpected and unwelcome grief washed over Eliza in that moment. She'd lost her father and then the man who had raised her as his daughter had been taken from her too.
She sucked in air, trying to push the grief away on this day of all days, only to hear Rajvinder's voice cut through the pain as nothing else could have. "They are with you now, sonii. Believe it."
She looked up from where Grandfather's hand still hovered above her own and met Rajvinder's gaze. And in that moment, she felt the presence of not only her father, but her mother and the grandparents she'd loved so much, as well as Adhip uncle, the man who had been her father for seventeen years.
Smiling through her tears, she nodded.
"And now you are mine," Rajvinder said in a way that was not at all traditional.
But she nodded again. "And you are mine."
The vows that came after were profound, but only an adjunct to that truth, the rest of the wedding rituals touching deeply into her soul.
This marriage might have originated as a business deal, but it would be what she and Rajvinder made of it.
And against all expectations she'd had that day in his office, Eliza had every intention of making this marriage everything her parents’ had been. And more.
***
The reception, held in the Christmas tree bedecked palace ballroom, was lavish and everything Barbie and Tabish auntie could have wanted.
Barbie's entire Acharya family were there, dancing attendance on the woman they had once exiled. The Singhs were there en masse as well.
Rajvinder had invited both business associates and a couple of people she realized were the friends he'd spoken of. Eliza noticed even people she'd attended school with whom she’d wanted to invite were here, along with distant relations she barely remembered.
Really all that mattered was that Rajvinder stayed by her side, though, even as every tradition observed felt amazingly intimate and happy inducing.
