No Escape from Love

by Reet Singh

  'Really?’

  ‘Really,’ he asserted.

  ‘I saved you a trip,' she mumbled. 'You owe me.' She sounded sleepy.

  'I'm all yours,' he smiled. 'Now sleep.'

  He had no intention, himself, of falling asleep. He was too besotted, too enchanted by the reality of the woman in his arms.

  'I love you,' she sighed, so soft and low that he almost didn't hear her.

  Aalok froze. 'What did you say?'

  Mohini's head bobbed up and she looked confused. And slightly terrified. 'I ... I said I love you.'

  He groaned. 'This changes everything.'

  'What do you mean?' she gasped, her eyes round. Her cheeks rapidly lost their pinkness and her breathing faltered.

  She struggled to move away and Aalok chuckled.

  'Marry me,' he begged, gathering her closer still. 'You don't know what it means to me to hear you say that.'

  ‘Aalok, no! Listen to me,’ Mohini began, but Aalok shushed her.

  'I love you, too, my darling. All the way to Tejopur and back, to the power of infinity, but I didn't say the words because I didn't know if you were ready for them.'

  'Oh Aalok, don't let's be impetuous. Let’s talk this through. I didn’t think things over completely before I set off from Tejopur, but I didn’t come here expecting marriage. There's Ria to consider.’

  Aalok reared up on an elbow, his brows knotted into a frown. ‘What the devil do you mean? What did you come here for?’

  ‘I … I thought it would be enough if we could just … just ...'

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Aalok growled. 'In your own words, there’s Ria to consider. Do you think Ria could learn to call me Papa instead of Uncle?'

  To his utter surprise, Mohini burst into tears and it took much cajoling to get her to stop. 'Do you know. Mohini, that when you dropped in this morning looking so bloody fragile, I hoped you'd come to tell me I'd gotten you pregnant?'

  'You hoped?' Mohini squeaked. 'But why on earth?'

  'I think it's a grand idea to make a baby with you. Although,' he held up a cautionary palm, 'I'd really like to get to know my older daughter before we make another little girl.'

  'Aalok, I haven't said yes, so technically, Ria isn't your daughter yet. Secondly, another one might already be cooking - to put it crudely - considering that we didn't use protection this time round.'

  'Damn it!' he yelped, although his heart quickened with excitement. 'We didn't? Well, what do you know? So listen... here's a plan. I feel that we didn't do a very good job - everything was over too soon, if you get my drift - I propose that we try again, only this time we go nice and slow so that ...'

  Mohini rapped his knuckles and he winced. 'Delightful though your plan is, I'm going to have to take a rain-check. Ria is with Ritvik and Tina. Did I tell you I've moved back to Delhi?'

  Aalok shook his head.

  'Well, I have, as of today. My ladies are going to take care of things back in Tejopur. I'll visit now and then, of course, but I'm mostly going to work remotely. It's one of the perks of being a freelancer.'

  'What a wonderful coincidence that I am also a freelancer. Something tells me that we're meant to be together.’

  ‘You could be right, Aalok, but I need to know that you can keep out of trouble. Can you promise not to be an eye-witness to another double murder?’

  Aalok chuckled. ‘I can’t promise, no. Although, I assure you that there’s a one-in-a-zillion chance of such a thing happening again to the same person.’

  ‘How did it end? I seem to remember that the police wanted you back in Delhi for something. I worried that they’d blame you for something. What was that about?’

  ‘The woman turned herself in to the police, it seems, a few hours after the investigating officer asked me to go into hiding.'

  Mohini frowned. 'What? How strange. Why would she do that?'

  'She claimed that she shot her husband to save my life. And that she ran away in fear and confusion.' He laughed. 'The ruddy woman hadn't known the meaning of the word afraid – as a matter of fact, she’d pointed the gun at my head and had gone so far as to pull the trigger. It would have been curtains for me if the gun hadn’t been empty - she’d pumped every last bullet into her cheating husband.'

  'Oh god.’ Mohini shuddered and planted a quick kiss on Aalok’s forehead. ‘Still, it was brave of her to walk into the police station.’

  ‘Brave nothing,’ Aalok snorted. ‘It was a clever ruse to tie up all the loose ends. She lied through her teeth. She’s very rich in her own right, apparently, but also came into a lot of money on her husband’s sad demise. She had the help of a powerful lawyer and the cops bought her version of the story. The forensics were in her favor and her gun was licensed - plus, since she was cooperating with the police, they were very pleased with her.’

  ‘So did you go along with it? Or did you kick up a fuss?’

  ‘Oh, I went along with it, all right. I had my own theories but I didn’t want to get tangled up in anything to do with a messy double murder, so I just went with the flow.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad it worked out in the end,’ Mohini said.

  ‘Yeah, that worked out all right, but what about this?’ He tweaked her nose. ‘You still haven't said yes. We could be married tomorrow - I know somebody who knows somebody in the registrar's office. If you married me, you wouldn't have to look for a place to stay in Delhi.'

  'You make it sound so tempting, but if I marry you it'll be for none of the things you’re offering. I'll marry you because you make me believe in myself and because I can't imagine not waking up next to you every day of the rest of my life.’

  Mohini kissed him. ‘Plus, I'm miserable without you. You kind of make my soul sing, so, yes, for all these very altruistic reasons, I think I will marry you.'

  Aalok whooped in delight and gathered her close, kissing her very thoroughly to seal the deal. He would have preferred to have clinched it with a little more action between the sheets but he had to go see a very lovely little girl about something, and he couldn't wait.

  THE END