‘You caught onto it. Vinay said you knew?’
He grinned. ‘How could I not? His bike was out. I concluded riding highways was where he had been and you were back, hadn’t gone with that slugbody, so it was safe to conclude you had been with him. Knowing that, knowing that he has taken to often confiding in you, when I stepped into his room, something struck me as odd. I had the distinct impression of a scene, set for the benefit for the audience, the books placed as though to remind us he is a student, the bottle half spilling onto the bed… As Kalyani said, it would be normal to place it back on the table or something. I detected the hand of a master director at work, luring us into immediately jumping to a certain conclusion. I bent to your judgement and fell in with your plans, but when Mummy began to get soft towards me, I knew we had taken it too far…that’s just not normal for her!’
‘So you went in and woke up Vinay?’
‘I got you out and when you were out of his vicinity – which you were guarding him like anything!, another giveaway – I – to make my errant bro suffer a little – poked and prodded him a bit…punched him a few times…I must say he bore remarkably well, until I threatened to thump one into his solar plexus!’
Unable to resist his inviting chuckle, she broke into giggles. ‘Oh, poor Vinay, getting hit by you, while I forbade him to eat anything! I was afraid somebody would hear his stomach grumbling!’
‘I can see why you two get on together…you’re as infantile as him!’
‘I had no choice! Brijesh gave me the idea…he and Meghna were with us you know. Vinay was saying he was getting late for his rally so all us went there and Brijesh began to say he’d take part in a suicidal stunt to teach his father a lesson. However, now he and Meghna are getting settled so it’s okay.’
Guy stepped forward and caught her upper arms. ‘Lyna, enough about them and enough about my family – not that I ever thought I should say that – it’s time we talked about us.’
She experienced a swimming sensation in her head and thought she must have overshot her staying awake limit.
‘I thought I’d never felt for any girl what I felt for you.’ She raised her brows and he said, a smile playing about his lips. ‘I was wrong because I was still thinking of you as a fling then, a special fling but not –’ He took a deep breath and said, ‘The girl I had fallen in love with. And I haven’t said that to any girl even in my drunk moments.’
‘And I thought –’
‘What?’
A smile danced at the corner of her mouth. ‘That I could never fall for you!’
‘And now? What do you think now? Or am I sunk beyond all reproach?’
‘Mmm, almost,’ she said. ‘When I asked you if you’d like to give us a chance…’
‘I ran like a hare,’ Guy confessed. ‘I got scared about what I felt for you and what it might mean. For my life, for you, for this family…I never had to consider anyone before. I was determined that I wouldn’t marry ever. Then that very evening, Dadu announced he wanted to turn Mummy out of the house. She’d been behaving very obnoxiously towards you and he wasn’t tolerating that. He’s very fond of you. Mummy was scared I would marry you and turn her out.’
‘And you put yourself beyond salvation by walking out on me.’
‘You guessed.’
‘Everything.’
‘About Sara?’
‘Even that. In fact, that was what gave me the clue,’ she said.
‘What?’
‘That you could leave me high and dry for some girl you hadn’t even mentioned in passing and knew three years ago, when you ran away to avoid getting married to her. It made no sense. At least, now I can calmly dismiss it, forgetting the frenetic pacing my bedroom carpet had to endure.’
‘Oh my love, that bad, was it?’
‘Quite.’
He made a sound of remorse and caught her up in his arms, kissing her thoroughly on her lips. ‘I have been a fool,’ he said, lifting his head. ‘I walked away but it was hell to think I had to be without you. I came back hotfoot. Sara was relieved I chose to come back. She was sick of me.’
‘She was very cooperative with your scheme,’ Lyna said on a jealous note.
He chuckled, enjoying the chink in her armor after her sweeping takeover of his life. ‘I think I fell in love with you when you asked me out on the bike.’
‘And I fell for you when I realized you took the time to increase my mother’s self-esteem, though you were making plans to wreck our engagement. I mean what could be a busier time than that?’ she teased.
‘She looked quite crestfallen so I went to keep her company. I was so consumed with what I was going to do, it was a relief to talk to her and joke around. We actually enjoyed the ice cream and our chatting. Your mother is quite fun when she’s not so much in the doldrums.’
‘You forgot to call her Mom,’ she reminded him.
‘Have I the right? Lyna, do you mean it when you say you love me? After all I did? Are you sure?’
‘Am I sure?’ A short silence fell as her heart beat fast. She fished into her jeans pocket and took out something. ‘Guy, I don’t need parties and ceremonies for you to put this on my finger. What I need is a simple avowal of your love.’
She opened her palm. The ring he had bought for her lay there, the central sapphire glinting invitingly.
He took it and slipped it on her finger. ‘I love you, my darling. Will you marry a flirt?’
‘Hardly a flirt. A man who has deeply ingrained family values and a sense of integrity. Though a streak of stubbornness and a quicksilver temper…’ The rest was lost as he bent to kiss her, slow and deep, a satisfying caress, broken short when they heard some voices.
They parted to see Vinita on the porch, watching them with her mouth slack. In the other direction, a car came to halt on the driveway and Matthew and Tasha began to get out of it.
‘What, they’re again here?’ Guy wondered aloud.
‘Mom wanted my father to take charge of his paternal responsibility – which includes demanding an explanation from you for yesterday.’
‘Oh God, I’ll give that a miss.’ He took her hand and led her to the bike. ‘Just as I guessed. Young gun has left keys intact. Come on!’ He handed her the helmet.
She slipped it on. ‘We’ll wave to Mom. I’d say she’d love to get another chance to dress down Tasha, so let’s not spoil her moment.’
So, to the collective surprise of the couple entering the grounds, the woman standing at the porch and various other members standing at their balconies, a bike sped out of the driveway, carrying the reluctant bridegroom and the dumped fiancée, plastered together like nothing would ever come between them.
He led them out to the curving hill road. ‘I have to be honest, Lyna, Brijesh was giving you what I couldn’t. Your own company. I couldn’t hand it over to you, not because I love it and feel it to be part of me, but because I couldn’t use anything to win your love.’
‘You don’t need to use anything,’ she replied softly, hugging him closer. ‘Just be who you are.’
******
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