His father’s eyes snapped, nothing of weakness in him. “Ma and Pitaji and Komal went to her and told her about that new contract you’re vying for, the multimillion-dollar one with Hari Shankar.”
Hari Shankar was a major developer, the project on offer enough to triple their turnover. “What’s that got to do with anything?” Raj asked, utterly in the dark.
“You know how conservative Hari is,” his father reminded him. “Your grandparents told Nayna that we’d lose all hope of gaining the contract if it came out that your future sister-in-law was going around with other men. Worse, they said Hari would spread it around that we aren’t the right kind of family to do business with and we’d lose everything.”
It was as if he was living in the nineteenth century. “Hari Shankar didn’t become a multimillionaire developer by caring about his contractors’ personal lives.” Outside of his visits to the temple and pious weekly prayer meetings, the man was a ruthless shark. “He wants the best and most cost-effective build, full stop.”
“Yes, I know, son,” his father continued, his jaw set in a way Raj had rarely seen. Jitesh Sen was the jovial joker of the family, not a man who’d ever been a harsh disciplinarian. “But Nayna isn’t in our industry and wouldn’t know it wasn’t the truth. Your aja and aji told her that if she loves you, she should walk away.”
Raj’s hand fisted at his side. Before he could trust himself to speak, his grandmother said, “We were thinking only of you,” and the edge in her tone made it clear she wasn’t impressed by his parents’ stance on the matter. “This isn’t the kind of blood you want to bring into our family. Komal has let us know that that sister of hers already ran off with a man before. And then got divorced! It’s possible that your—”
“Aji.” Raj shook his head at his rail-thin, silver-haired grandmother. “Nayna is the woman I love, and she’s the woman I’m going to marry. If she’ll have me after this.” He locked gazes with his father and made the call he should’ve made right back when this farce first began; Jitesh Sen knew how much Raj loved him. This wouldn’t change that. “You need to let us decide. You need to let Nayna decide if she wants to come into this family after the way she’s been treated. As much time as she needs.”
His father gave a solemn nod, his features stricken. “I’m sorry, beta,” he said with a sigh. “Your grandparents haven’t seen the two of you together as many times as we have. They don’t understand what they’re getting in the middle of—and they don’t understand Nayna.”
“Well,” his aji said, “if that woman comes into this family, then you can forget about me. I’ll be moving in with Dhiraj and his wife.”
“If that’s the decision you want to make, Aji,” Raj said, well aware that his grandmother was used to getting her way by throwing down ultimatums.
He also knew she loved him. Despite her often antiquated ideas, she’d never once brought up his adoption. As far as she was concerned, he was her eldest grandchild, and he loved her for that. But he would never give up Nayna for her. “I would’ve liked you in my life and in the lives of my children, but if you want to walk away, that’s your prerogative.”
Then he left to find his Nayna.
He was pulling out of the drive when he realized he didn’t know where to go. The first place he tried was her apartment, but no one responded to his knock. When he checked with her neighbor, the old man told him that Nayna had been home, had visitors, then left. “I was hoping she’d come back soon, make me some of that chai, and help me download my emails,” he said with a denture-white grin. “Nicest neighbor I’ve ever had.”
After leaving Nayna’s place, Raj swung by her office, but the villa was also shut up. And when he drove by her parents place, he saw no sign of her green MINI.
Gut in knots, he called Sailor. “Sail, do you know if Nayna is with ísa?”
“No, ísa and I are out of town visiting ísa’s sister. Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Raj said, squeezing the steering wheel. “Have a nice time.” Hanging up, he sat in his vehicle and thought about where Nayna could’ve gone. She had always stood her ground. But Komal had poured poison into his grandparents’ minds. Maybe Nayna had fallen for it.
No.
He refused to believe that of the woman who owned his heart. The Nayna he knew would give him a chance to make this right. She would never just leave him. Not when she knew how much the abandonment would hurt.
Turning the truck around, he drove back to her apartment complex and parked in a visitor spot. He’d only been there two minutes when lights flashed behind him as another vehicle pulled in. A familiar green MINI.
He was out of his truck before he remembered opening the door.
“Raj!” The startled word was all that Nayna had time to say before he crushed his mouth over hers and wrapped her up in his arms. Hands fisting in his shirt, Nayna rose on tiptoe and kissed him back as she always did.
No distance, no rejection.
His breath harsh and his eyes stinging, he looked at her and said, “Why didn’t you answer my messages?”
“I forgot my phone at the office—and I was at the supermarket before I realized.” Scrunching up her nose, she scowled. “I had the most awful meeting with your grandparents—Komal was there too, though she didn’t talk—and I really needed double chocolate ice cream, so I drove out in a temper to get it.”
Her eyes flashed. “I went to call you once I’d calmed down enough to talk, and that’s when I realized my phone was at the office. I’d already bought the ice cream by then, so I came back here to put it in the freezer before driving to the office.”
Gripping the back of her neck, he pressed his forehead to her own. “My grandparents, what they said—”
“If you wanted to get rid of me,” Nayna interrupted, “you’d do it yourself to my face. You’d never send your grandparents, and you would definitely never send Komal.” She spread her hand over his heart. “Your parents—”
“They love you.” Shaking inside, he couldn’t make himself release her. “My grandmother threatened to cut me out of their lives if I stayed with you. I told her that was her choice. You’re mine.”
“Raj, no.” Nayna shook her head.
“I am not willing to give you up for anyone,” Raj vowed. “Not anyone, Nayna.” He held the rich brown of her eyes, eyes in which he saw home. “As for our wedding, it’s off the table until you’re ready. No one in my family will ever again interfere. If you’re never ready, then I’ll continue to be your boyfriend even when we’re old and gray, just like your aji and Mr. Hohepa.”
47
Love. Love. Love
Nayna’s breath stopped, her lungs devoid of air and the moment, it hung like a star against the night sky.
“You have your freedom again, Nayna.” Raj’s hand rough on her cheek, cradling her face as he so often did, this big man who cherished her. “I will never ever allow anyone to steal it from you.”
A sudden rush of air, a crystalline clarity. “I don’t see walls when I see you,” she whispered, the joy of the moment incandescent. “I don’t see a cage. I see my sexy hunk and hot fling. I see the man who drove hours to find my sister and who didn’t hesitate when I told him I planned to throw away my stable job for a wild risk. I see you.” And he was a man beyond price.
Raj was the husband she would choose, whether she waited five years or five months. It would always be him. By her side when trouble rose, on her side against the world. “I want you to be my husband, Raj.” A sense of utter rightness settling inside her, an inner happiness brighter than the sun.
But Raj wasn’t smiling. His hand trembled where it lay against her cheek. “You want the world, Nayna.” It came out ragged, rough. “I can’t take you to those faraway places. I have to stay here.”