Hands on her waist, he scooped her down to the ground. “You can have the naked later. First, let’s do this.”
He closed his hand over hers, hiding her ring. Not that it mattered. The instant they walked into the lounge hand in hand, Raj in a suit, his hair neatly combed, and Nayna wearing a pretty dress, her parents started grinning like cats who’d gotten into the cream. Aji did a slightly better job of not looking delighted, but it was a lost cause.
“Ma, Dad,” Raj said, addressing her parents as they’d asked him to, “we’ve come to ask your blessing on our official engagement.”
Her father was up and shaking Raj’s hand a second later while her mother kissed Nayna’s cheeks and cried happy tears. “Oh, I knew you two were meant to be.”
“Yes, you should listen to your elders,” her father added.
Told-you-sos heroically suffered, Raj and Nayna went to Aji and knelt before her so that she could put her aged hands on their heads. “I wish only happiness for you,” she said in Hindi. “Also, many great-grandchildren for me.” Leaning in as Nayna’s parents laughed, she whispered, “Tawhiri is winning that race. You two better start with triplets.”
“There is one other thing,” Raj said after the first celebration was over. “We’re not going to rush our wedding. We’d rather focus on Madhuri’s wedding first, then make plans for ours.”
“Discussion” ensued.
Raj didn’t budge. Neither did Nayna.
“I want a wedding that’s mine,” she said. “And I want to have time to figure out exactly what that entails.”
“We’re not compromising on the number of guests,” her father finally said.
“No, Nayna, beta.” Her mother held up a hand before she could argue. “You can have the wedding on the date you choose, and we’ll do it how you and Raj want, but we’ve waited a long time for this. We plan to invite everyone we know.”
Nayna glanced at Raj. He gave her a “best offer we’re going to get” look and they both nodded. “Deal.”
* * *
Exactly two weeks later, Nayna kissed her sister goodbye at the airport. A giggly Madhuri, mehndi on her hands from her wedding the Saturday past, waved until she and her equally delighted husband were out of sight. She’d made Nayna promise to involve her in all the wedding preparations for her and Raj’s wedding—there was no question but that Madhuri and Sandesh would be flying back for it in six months’ time.
“I don’t think I’ve recovered from your sister’s wedding yet,” Raj murmured as they walked out to his truck. Her parents walked ahead. Aji had said her goodbyes at home, plenty of tears included.
“Tell me about it.” Nayna’s feet ached still from all the running around she’d done pre-wedding. “But she got her dream wedding, complete with glittering chandeliers, that enormous waterfall cake with the perfect topper, and arriving by Rolls-Royce—and that makes me happy.”
Raj squeezed her hand, which she’d slipped into his. Her hands, too, bore mehndi designs from during the lead-up to Madhuri’s wedding. “I want this,” she said, lifting her hand so he could see the red-brown lines of the delicate work.
“You can have whatever you want,” Raj said before pausing. “Except for a giant ice sculpture that begins to melt halfway through, almost causing a flood.”
Nayna burst out laughing at the memory of how Raj and Sailor had sprung into action to avert disaster. The poor melting swan, in danger of imminent decapitation, had been whisked away with alacrity to provide the children running around outside with a source of much laughter and fun.
“Did ísa tell you anything about her and Sailor’s plans?”
“They’re thinking a beach wedding.” Nayna drank in the sunshine outside. “She gets this funny, sweet smile when she talks about it. I think the two of them must’ve had an important moment on a beach.” ísa had never told Nayna what, and Nayna understood. Some things were to be held close to the heart, shared with only one other person.
Having reached the truck, Nayna got into the back with her mum while her father got in the front passenger seat. The four of them talked easily as Raj drove her parents home.
“We have to finish packing for the cruise today,” her mother said.
Up ahead, Nayna saw her father wince at the idea of a cruise, but he didn’t say a word. Nayna had to fight to keep her grin off her face. It was about time her mother got her own way in their plans. “It’s a week, isn’t it?”
“Eight days.” Shilpa Sharma sighed. “I need the rest and for someone else to cook and do the cleaning and the laundry. I love Madhuri, but she was a bridezilla.”
Then Nayna’s well-behaved mother made claws with her hands, as if pretending to be a marauding bridal monster.
Nayna laughed so hard that she cried—and so did her mother. In the rearview mirror, Raj’s eyes were bright. Her father was actually grinning.
Life, Nayna thought with a smile, was good.
* * *
It only got better as the months passed. Nayna was a bridesmaid at ísa’s wedding, alongside ísa’s sister, Catie, and Raj was a groomsman alongside two of Sailor’s brothers and a plus-one. That plus-one was Harlow.
Sailor’s older brother, Gabriel, stood as best man.
The sea crashed to shore beyond the wedding party while sand glimmered around them, the sunshine bright. Color cascaded from the flowers in ísa’s hair and in the clothing of her guests. Sailor wore a crisp black suit with a white shirt and a blue tie that matched the brilliant hue of his eyes and the ribbon tied around ísa’s living bouquet. That bouquet featured astonishing, lovely succulents and had been created by ísa’s soon-to-be-husband.
Raj and Sailor plus his brothers had, together, built a temporary wooden aisle and wedding platform, all of it in a sand-washed wood that appeared aged by the sea itself. ísa had made the request and Nayna knew why. Catie was incredibly surefooted on her prosthetic legs, but Nayna knew she’d been stressing about messing up ísa’s wedding by tripping on the sand.
It was also why they were wearing shoes rather than going barefoot. Even on this most important day, ísa thought of her teenage sister’s happiness along with her own.
As it was, the aisle and platform had turned out exquisite. The men had outdone themselves by putting up four posts and connecting them at the top. That had provided the understructure for gauzy curtains and cascades of white flowers. ísa and Nayna had done a lot of the decoration with Catie and, surprisingly enough, the Dragon.
With the wedding taking place on the edge of sunset, glass lanterns sat on the sand around the wedding platform, the candles within glowing softly. The seats for the guests were placed on either side of the aisle, simple wicker chairs with flowers woven into the backs. Many of the heavily muscled rugby players in attendance had given the chairs a serious side-eye before gingerly taking their places.
“You look so beautiful,” Nayna said to her best friend as she fussed over ísa’s halter-neck dress with lace detailing. ísa’s red hair blazed against the rich cream of it. The lower half of the dress was flowy and floaty while the upper half was as delicate and pretty as spun sugar.
Face glowing from within, an inner peace in ísa’s eyes that Nayna had never before seen, her best friend said, “I’m so ready to marry him.”
As Nayna stepped out with Catie, the two of them dressed in lovely, simple dresses of sea blue, she felt the same certainty about Raj. He was hers and she was his, and they’d have their adventures together.
His eyes caught hers as she walked up, and the intense look he shot her was unabashed in its appreciation. Beside her, Catie giggled. Nayna shared a smiling glance with her before the two of them took their places on the platform, ready to watch Nayna’s best friend walk up the aisle.
The lanterns shone around them, but nothing could compete with ísa’s glow—or with the light in Sailor’s eyes when he saw her. Nayna had to swallow back tears, was more than ready for Raj to put his arm around her when they followed the newly married couple down the aisle.