The Forbidden Daughter. Shobhan Bantwal
me, okay?” She placed a soft kiss on the flushed forehead. “Everything will be okay soon, I promise.”
There was no response from Priya, but her silence was enough acquiescence.
When Sundari and Isha hauled the suitcases downstairs, they found that Baba had already left for work. Ayee was reading the paper. Isha stood before her. “Looks like you got your wish, Ayee. Someday, I hope you’ll realize that with Priya and your other grandchild gone, you will have lost all links to your only son. For Nikhil’s sake I hope you don’t suffer too much grief when that happens.”
“I have already suffered more than my share of grief. There is no more left.” Ayee gave Isha and Priya a disinterested look and went back to her newspaper. She clearly didn’t believe a word Isha had said. Priya and Isha could have been leaving on a shopping spree for all the interest Ayee showed in their departure.
Sundari put her palms together before Ayee in a desperate plea. “Ayee-saheb, please stop them from going—at least for the sake of peace for Nikhil-saheb’s soul.”
“Where can they go?” asked Ayee. “By this evening they will be back.”
Perhaps realizing finally that she wasn’t going to get any help from her employer, Sundari stood by the door, the anguish on her face squeezing at Isha’s heart. In her faded cotton sari and her gray hair in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, she was the very image of a doting grandmother. If only Isha had a definite place to go to, she’d have taken Sundari with her.
And she wished she could take her own car, too. The temptation to climb into the driver’s seat of the silver Maruti Esteem Nikhil had bought for her recently tugged at her, but she suppressed it. She didn’t want anything of value from the Tilaks. Besides, how was she going to afford the petrol and the car’s upkeep?
By the time the taxi arrived, Priya was more or less back to normal. Sundari offered both of them hugs and tearful words of advice to Priya. “Be a good girl and eat the food on your plate, baby. Don’t give Mummy any trouble. And say your prayers every night.”
Priya readily got into the seat next to Isha. She probably still harbored the hope that the two of them were going on a trip somewhere, and that Papa was magically going to appear.
Their first stop was the bank, where Isha went to the safety deposit box and retrieved the insurance policy that Nikhil had secreted away so his parents wouldn’t find out about it. They’d never have understood the need for a man taking out a policy and naming his young wife as the sole beneficiary.
And now Nikhil’s forethought had come in handy. Did he have a premonition that his end was near? Was that why he’d taken out such a large policy, and so recently? Something must have compelled him to do it. More and more she was convinced of that, considering how he’d made haste to contact the agent secretly and put the plan in motion.
He’d told only Isha about the policy, warning her never to mention it to his parents. When asked about the need for such secrecy, he’d simply said, “It’s for you and the children. What if something happens to me?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” she’d chided him, trying to suppress the chill creeping up her spine. Such macabre thinking was simply tempting fate.
“Life is unpredictable, Isha,” he’d said on a quiet note.
At the time it had sounded like a strange conversation, but now it didn’t seem that weird.
Besides the policy, there was another large envelope crammed with papers in the safe deposit box, mainly their passports, marriage certificate, Priya’s birth certificate, and other things that she had no time to inspect. She also emptied out all the extra jewelry she’d stored there. It was substantial, thank goodness. Her parents had given her a lot of gold and diamonds over the years.
The conventional rationale behind giving a daughter jewels was this very scenario: if something happened to her husband and she needed instant cash, they would come in handy. Wasn’t it ironic that that piece of ancient wisdom had come into play for her?
She’d always thought of it as some antiquated custom that was too obsolete for these modern times. But then again, she’d never pictured herself a widow at such a young age, either.
She informed the bank’s manager that she had no more need for the safe deposit box, and that he could cancel the account. After signing the necessary forms, Isha asked the taxi driver to take her to Anvekar Jewelers in the heart of town.
At the jewelers’, she took out three elaborate sets of gemstone jewelry, expensive but with the least sentimental value attached, and asked old Mr. Anvekar to give her a fair price for them. The old man was someone she and her mother had dealt with for many years. He gave her a puzzled look before bringing out his scale and jewelers loupe to examine the pieces.
“Are you sure you want to sell these sets, Isha? They are top quality and will be good for your daughter when she grows up,” he said, casting a glance at Priya.
Isha took a deep, regretful breath and nodded. “I’m sure.”
When he handed her the cash, the old man looked sympathetic, perhaps recognizing her desperate need.
Isha put the wad of cash in her handbag and walked out with Priya. She knew Mr. Anvekar’s speculative eyes followed her all the way to the taxi. That was another thing that would seem strange to him: a wealthy woman like her traveling in a dusty taxi when her family owned multiple cars and had a chauffeur.
The old jeweler would be sure to call his wife right away and share his news. Soon half the town would know Isha had sold some of her choice jewelry. And they would draw their own conclusions.
She ordered the taxi driver to take them to St. Mary’s Convent and pulled Priya close.
A new chapter in both Priya’s life and hers was about to begin.
Chapter 5
October 2006
The extreme discomfort in Isha’s belly made her wince. With mounting anxiety she’d been waiting for this signal for a while. She was overdue by a full week. But now that she was nearly there, it caused her heart to flutter.
Excitement combined with dread had been nipping at her since she’d awakened at dawn that morning. And throughout the day, while she had read aloud to the children at the orphanage, sung nursery rhymes with them, and tended to their needs, the pain had put in an appearance every now and then, reminding her of the imminent arrival.
There had been small signs in the past couple of days—minor indications that could have fooled a neophyte, but not her. The nagging ache in her lower back and the intense pressure on her internal organs were gradually escalating. Isha had been through this once before, and knew what to expect.
Millions of women experienced similar trauma all over the universe, and yet there was stark fear in her heart at her impending ordeal, mostly because she was in it alone.
She didn’t know what her future held. When the next contraction came, she had no more time to ruminate. The sheer agony of it forced her to focus on one thing and one thing only: the baby inside her womb conveying a clear signal that it was ready to face the world.
Taking short breaths, she massaged her swollen belly till the contraction subsided. This one was stronger and more painful than the last, the one that had racked her body less than three minutes ago.
Concentrating on the framed picture of Ganesh, she prayed for His help. Of course, most of her prayers in the recent past had gone unanswered, but that didn’t mean He hadn’t heard her, nor did it mean she was going to give up her staunch Hindu faith.
Next to Ganesh was a crucifix, reminding her that this was a convent. It was the only convent in Palgaum. Now it was her home. Thank goodness, when Isha had asked for help, the nuns, although hesitant at first, had been kind enough to let her stay there with Priya and earn her keep by working as a teacher’s aide in their orphanage.
At