The Forbidden Daughter

by Shobhan Bantwal

  200 Shobhan Bantwal

  “Dada knows?” Harish slapped a palm over his forehead.

  “I’m in deep trouble!”

  “I don’t think so,” said Prachi. “I heard him say something like, ‘Better a widow than no marriage at all.’ I was very surprised myself.”

  “You’re not kidding?” Satish gave his wife a dubious look. “I would have expected Dada to have serious objections to a woman like Isha Tilak. You know Dada is adamant that we marry professionals.”

  “That probably would have been the case if he hadn’t met Isha. But after her visit the other day, I think he rather liked her.” She chewed her lip thoughtfully. “He did have some choice things to say about her father-in-law, though. He called him an unscrupulous black marketer and pukka badmaash—an utter scoundrel.”

  “Exactly what did you hear him say about Isha?” Harish asked.

  “Mamma asked Dada if he’d noticed how you were gawking at Isha all evening.”

  Harish slumped against the cushions. This was getting worse and worse. It seemed like everyone in the world knew about his feelings for Isha. Was he that transparent? “What did Dada say to that?”

  “He said you looked like a starving dog staring at a piece of raw meat.”

  “No! Tell me he didn’t say that!”

  Prachi grinned. “He didn’t. But he said you were a fool to think someone like Isha Tilak would fit into your life.”

  “He may be right,” confessed Harish. “I may be aiming for something entirely beyond my reach.”

  “Dada also said a pampered, high-class Brahmin woman like her would never marry a schoolmaster’s son, especially a non-Brahmin.”

  “But Isha’s not like that,” Harish protested. He’d come to know her well. She was unspoiled and guileless. In fact, she was a caring woman with a big heart. Despite her circumstances, she was not bitter, either. Most women in her shoes would have THE

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  been complaining and pouting about their lot, but Isha did neither. And she was coping well.

  “I realize that,” admitted Prachi. “I liked her a lot, too. I don’t think she’s spoiled or pretentious or condescending.”

  “I know that for a fact. That’s what attracted me to her in the first place.” He looked at his brother and sister-in-law. “What do you think I should do? Talk to Mamma and Dada before I summon the courage to ask Isha?” He looked at the wall clock, realized it was time to leave, and rose to his feet. “She may turn me down flat, of course.”

  “She’d be a fool if she did.” Prachi stood up and stretched, looking even more exhausted than she’d looked a few minutes ago. An ob-gyn’s work entailed long, grueling hours.

  “You’re biased because you’re my brother’s wife,” Harish said to her.

  “Maybe, but I still think you’re a good man and Isha should recognize it. You even adore her daughters. Who could ask for a better man than that?”

  Satish reluctantly rose from his comfortable chair. “You want me to talk to Dada and Mamma about this?”

  Harish looked at him. “You’d do that for me?”

  Satish smiled and put an arm around his wife’s shoulders.

  “By that I mean I’ll get my wife to talk to them.”

  Harish walked toward the door. “Whichever one of you is the more daring of the two, go ahead and talk to the elders. I’ll go say a few prayers.”

  “So when exactly are you going to ask Isha?” asked Prachi.

  “I’m not sure. One of these days.”

  “Good luck,” said Satish with an amused chuckle.

  “I could use some luck.” Harish closed the door behind him and headed home.

  Chapter 24

  Isha paced the length of the hospital corridor and glanced at her wristwatch once again. It was late evening and the kids had yet to be taken home, fed dinner, and put to bed. She had to add the finishing touches to some dresses that were promised to customers within the next couple of days. There was so much to do—too much.

  The children had been in Ayee’s room for the past seven minutes. The door was closed. What the heck was happening in there? What was keeping them so long? The longer she stayed, the tighter the knots in her stomach became. Her efforts at making herself relax weren’t working.

  She wanted to be inside that room, and yet, she didn’t want to be. She felt smug satisfaction that Ayee was suffering (paying for her sins), but she also felt sorry for her on some level. Isha’s emotions were so mixed up she didn’t know what she wanted.

  Sheila was in the room, so she wasn’t worried about her daughters’ safety. But Priya was old enough to get her feelings hurt, and Isha didn’t want that for her daughter. The kids had suffered enough without being subjected to their grandmother’s ugly remarks.

  If Sheila hadn’t begged Isha to let the girls visit Ayee, Isha would never have allowed them anywhere near their grandmother. Besides, Priya had asked several times if they could visit Ayee, and Isha was running out of excuses.

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  In the end, there was nothing Isha could do but agree to let Sheila take the girls to visit the ailing Ayee. Nonetheless Isha had insisted on accompanying them to the hospital and then planted herself right outside the room—just in case.

  Sheila had dropped her bombshell on Isha the previous evening when she’d said, “I know this is going to come as a shock, but I have to ask a favor of you . . . for Ayee’s sake.”

  “Ask me what?” Isha had responded, wondering where it was leading.

  “She wants to see the girls.”

  “No!” Isha had stared at Sheila for a long second. Was her sister-in-law insane?

  “Please, Isha.”

  “Why?”

  “She says she wants to apologize to Priya.”

  “Apologize for what?” When had her mother-in-law ever apologized for anything? Did she even know the word?

  “For having treated her badly all these years.”

  Isha hadn’t been able to suppress the snicker. “A little late for that, isn’t it?”

  Sheila had nodded sadly. “I think Ayee has finally come to terms with her own mortality and wants to make amends for her sins before she dies.”

  “These are the children Ayee couldn’t stand. She didn’t even want Diya to be born. She wanted the fetus flushed down the sewer pipe.”

  “A near-death experience apparently changes a person’s out-look,” Sheila had argued. “Ayee sounds like she wants them in her life now.”

  “I’m not sure if I want Ayee in their life.” Seeing Sheila’s disappointed expression, she’d added, “You know I have every reason to refuse.”

  “Yes. But please think about it, Isha. I gave it a lot of thought before coming to you with my request. I almost decided not to ask at all, but then, what if, despite the alleged success of the surgery, Ayee doesn’t make it? Then I’d feel guilty for not allow-204 Shobhan Bantwal

  ing her to make peace with her grandchildren and Niku’s soul.”

  She’d thrown Isha a hopeful look. “You may come to regret it, too. Think about what Niku would want.”

  “That’s the only reason I’m even having this conversation,”

  Isha had replied.

  “I’m sure you won’t regret it.”

  So Isha had slept on it, conferred with Sundari at length and even with Harish. They were both wise people who cared about the girls’ welfare as well as Isha’s. They were also more objective than she.

  “Isha-bayi, I know Ayee-saheb never wanted girls,” said Sundari. “But I think she has come to regret it. You know what a proud lady she is. For her to admit that she is wrong means that she is feeling very, very bad about it. Why punish her at the end of her life? I think Nikhil-saheb would want his mother and his children to make peace with each other, no?”

  Harish had more or less expressed the same sentiments.

  “Look at it f
rom the point of view of the kids, Isha. Carrying around a negative image of their grandparents is not healthy for them, especially when they’re in the same town. Let them have some contact with her. Maybe the time has come to repair the scars left by Nikhil’s death and all that happened before and after. Who knows, maybe your father-in-law will also come around.”

  “But the kids may be hurt even more than before,” Isha had countered. “Poor Diya hasn’t known them at all. Imagine finding out that she has grandparents not two miles away from her house and they didn’t want her; they rejected her even before she was born.”

  “But that’s exactly why Diya may need to know that her grandmother has reversed her thinking,” said Harish. “When Ayee is gone, at least your children will be left with pleasant memories instead of bitter ones.”

  Finally, after taking into consideration every angle she could think of, Isha had consented. But she had set her own parame-ters. “If Ayee says one offensive thing to my children, I’ll never let her see them again,” she’d warned Sheila. “One more thing: THE

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  I don’t want Baba anywhere nearby, unless he feels the same way as she does. And if he raises his hand to either one of them, I’ll break my silence. I’ll tell everyone about his abusive ways and the nasty abortion story with all its shocking details.”

  Sheila had agreed to all of Isha’s demands. And so here they were, Isha waiting outside in the corridor, vibrating with tension, while Sheila and the kids were in that room, behind the closed door.

  As she paced she observed other people enter the small, exclusive private hospital, walk up to the front desk, get direc-tions, and go on their way. Some of them looked familiar.

  The three other private rooms in this wing were occupied, and family and friends of the patients were going in and out.

  She heard conversations, some whispered, some loud enough to eavesdrop on.

  There was a little awkwardness when one of the women visiting a patient next door recognized Isha, hesitated a bit, and then stopped to chat. Very few acquaintances had come face-to-face with Isha in the past year because she’d rarely been out in public. With Sundari now able to do the grocery shopping, Isha practically never went out.

  She briefly explained to the curious woman that her motherin-law was a patient there, letting her draw her own conclusions. After a moment of polite conversation the woman said good-bye and left, looking somewhat relieved.

  A minute later, Isha was surprised to see Harish walk in the front door, talk to the receptionist at the desk, and start heading toward her. Merely seeing him was enough to bring on a sigh of relief. Despite the fact that her heart had started to do some strange things whenever he appeared, he still had a calming effect on her. What was it about the man that both excited and soothed at the same time?

  She waited until he got close enough for them to talk. “Hi.

  What brings you here?”

  “I knew you were very nervous about this visit,” he answered. “I stopped by to see how things were going. I was worried about you.”

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  She raised a brow. “Why were you worried about me?”

  “Well, all this . . . uh . . . stress is not good for your health, you know.” He took off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief, then put them back on.

  “Hmm.” Isha didn’t quite know how to respond to that except to be grateful that he cared so much. Maybe too much? He had gradually become one of her best friends. But lately there had been a thread of awareness between them. It went beyond friendship and bordered on tension. It hadn’t been there in the beginning, but it seemed to buzz around them almost all the time now.

  Tired from her restless pacing, Isha sat down in one of the four chairs in the waiting area. Harish took the one across from hers.

  She inclined her head at the closed door nearby. “They’ve been in there for several minutes.”

  “I’m sure Sheila has it under control,” he said. “She’s a very capable woman.”

  “That she is. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have allowed my girls to see Ayee.”

  He gave her an approving look. “You made the right decision. I knew you’d eventually do what’s in your children’s best interests.”

  “How did you figure that?”

  “Because you’re a devoted mother. Even if you’re angry you’ll ultimately do what’s best for your daughters.”

  “I’m still not sure it was a good idea to let them see Ayee, but Sheila begged me to reconsider and I couldn’t say no.”

  Harish’s attention suddenly shifted to something behind her.

  “Uh-oh!”

  “What?” Isha had her back to the entry foyer and she couldn’t see whatever had captured his attention. But from the expression on his face she could tell it was bad news. Assuming it was Baba showing up when he wasn’t supposed to, she braced herself for the confrontation. She had to face the old man sooner or later.

  She turned around, and the breath was knocked out of her.

  Karnik! Or was he a figment of her imagination? But as the man THE

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  kept walking at a brisk pace down the passageway, coming closer, the characteristic skimpy gray hair, the slight build, and the grandfather glasses were hard to mistake. It was Karnik all right.

  This was Nikhil’s killer! What was he doing here?

  In a split second she was on her feet. Her legs quivered but she managed to face him. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Her tongue was paralyzed. She had so much to say to this loathsome creature but didn’t know where to start, how to start.

  He had no right to be alive when Nikhil was dead!

  Karnik noticed her and looked taken aback for a moment but then recovered instantly. He approached her with a smile, his hands joined in greeting. “Namaste, Mrs. Tilak. What a pleasant surprise.”

  She continued to stare at him, her body taut and still. How could the swine behave like nothing had happened? He had struck her husband down brutally, ruined her life and her children’s, and now he stood before her looking like a gentleman and making small talk.

  His faux smile remained. “You don’t recognize me? I’m Karnik, your doctor.”

  “You’re no longer my doctor.” There, she’d managed to say at least a few words.

  Karnik’s smile faded instantly. “I—I’m sorry about that . . .

  silly m-misunderstanding.”

  “It wasn’t a misunderstanding.” She savored the sweet satisfaction of hearing him stutter and look uncomfortable. So much for the façade of a confident and amiable old man.

  “Oh, I’m sure it was. Your father-in-law and I see each other at the club. We chat all the time.”

  “My father-in-law, perhaps, but not me.” How could Baba pretend to be friends with his son’s killer? How shallow was that?

  Karnik gave her a look filled with sympathy. “I’m very sorry about Nikhil. I hope things are getting better now, and we’ll see more of you at the club.”

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  Isha shook her head. “That’s not likely to happen.” She narrowed her eyes at him in speculation. “You know why, don’t you, Doctor?”

  Panic flashed across his face for a brief moment before he reverted to his formerly benign expression. “What are you talking about, Mrs. Tilak?”

  She sensed Harish come up behind her. He touched her hand lightly. “Isha, isn’t it time you checked on your children?”

  She ignored Harish and maintained her steely focus on Karnik. “You know what I’m talking about.”

  “Isha, please . . .” whispered Harish in her ear.

  “Let’s not pretend anymore, Doctor,” she said to Karnik.

  “You and I both know precisely what happened to Nikhil and who was behind it.” From the corner of her eye she noticed a couple of men emerge from the neighboring room. They stopped to stare. But she did
n’t pay attention to them.

  Karnik glanced at Harish, finally dropping the pretense and acknowledging this wasn’t a friendly encounter. “I don’t understand.” Although his expression remained the same, his voice now sounded like chipped ice. “What in heaven’s name is she implying?”

  “It’s time to get the children and go home, Isha,” reminded Harish and put a warning hand on her arm.

  Once again she ignored the plea in Harish’s voice. “I’m referring to certain documents, Doctor.”

  Harish’s fingers dug into the skin of her forearm. “Isha . . .

  please!”

  But she couldn’t stop talking. Seeing Karnik had triggered an eruption of the volcano that had been churning and heating up inside her for a long time. “I’m tired of pretending nothing’s wrong when there’s enough material to prove certain things.”

  “That’s enough!” Harish’s voice cracked like a whip. It silenced her instantly. He motioned to Karnik to go away. “I’m sorry, sir. She’s . . . not feeling very well.”

  “Obviously!” Karnik turned visibly pale before throwing her one last look of disdain and turning around. “I think she needs some intensive psychiatric treatment.”

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  Isha watched Karnik glance at the two men before striding away. She collapsed onto the nearest chair, trembling all over.

  “How dare he pretend to be a caring healer and family friend!

  How dare he!”

  A second later the door to Ayee’s room opened and Sheila stepped out, Diya in her arms and Priya close on her heels. She threw a suspicious look at Isha’s face, then at Harish. “Is something wrong?”

  “Just . . . uh . . . a minor problem,” replied Harish.

  Sheila’s voice gentled when her eyes switched again to Isha.

  “What’s the matter?” With Diya still in her arms, Sheila crouched on the floor in front of Isha when she didn’t get a response. “What happened, Isha? You’re shaking.”

  Gradually becoming aware again of her surroundings, Isha’s gaze came to rest on Sheila’s face. “Karnik was here.”