A Royal Affair

by Preethi Venugopala

  “What?”

  “He adopted Hinduism and rechristened himself, inventing an Anglo-Indian parentage. One day, while I was pregnant with my elder one, he came and declared his new name. He said it was dangerous to retain the Worthington surname. He wanted his kids to live a life free from fear. He still goes to Church occasionally though and also accompanies me to temples.”

  “Wow! What a story. But tell me, why didn’t you people return to England? It would have been easier, right?”

  “At first, we didn’t have the financial means and it was also too dangerous. Indrani had informed us that my brother had employed investigators to follow our trail and once or twice we had come close to being found. Then as years passed, we fell in love with this place. Goa became home.”

  Daniel’s family resided in the back wing of the resort. The room given to her was part of the family wing. The rest of the rooms were all occupied.

  “There is no dearth of tourists here. In fact, some of our guests are like permanent residents,” Devika continued as she guided her towards the dining room.

  In the family dining room, Jane was greeted by a cacophony of voices ranging from that of babies to adults. The whole family except Daniel was seated around the table waiting for breakfast to be served. Devika did the introductions. Both her uncles, Dheeraj Roy and Dhananjay Roy, got up and embraced her. Their wives, Shanti and Sheela, followed suit. Dheeraj was the hotelier and Dhananjay the heart surgeon. Both of them had two kids each. A boy and a girl for Dheeraj and two girls for Dhananjay. Dheeraj’s daughter, Keerthi, a fashion designer married to a local businessman, was also visiting. She seemed to be almost of Jane’s age.

  “I'm sorry, I so want to get up and greet you. But I will just spoil your clothes,” Keerthi said. She was busy feeding porridge to her six-month-old who was busy spitting out half of it on his mother’s dress.

  Jane felt someone tug at her capris and she looked down to find a cherubic toddler looking up at her.

  “Are you my new aunt Jane?” she asked flashing an adorable smile.

  “I am, cutie pie. What is your name?”

  “Ahana.” She giggled when Jane scooped her up and planted her on her hips. Ahana was Keerthi’s eldest child. She had inherited her grandmother’s black curls and her grandfather’s blue eyes.

  “Such a sweet name.”

  “So, you went and introduced, yourself to aunt Jane? Good girl. Now allow her to eat breakfast. She will be here all day today. Come here and finish your breakfast,” Keerthi said to her. Ahana wiggled down from Jane’s hips and ran to her mother.

  Time just flew as she got acquainted with her new relatives. Jane had called home using Daniel’s phone and had told them the good news. Everyone was happy. Except her.

  While she sat on the beach with little Ahana on her lap, listening to her babbles, Jane felt a painful tug at her heart. Will she ever have a kid like this of her own?

  Then another thought dawned. They hadn’t used protection when they had made love. It hadn’t occurred to either of them then. They had been driven by lust and longing. But, it hadn’t been her fertile time. She was due to get her periods in a day or two. There was no chance that she would get pregnant. The realization brought an unusual pang. Would it be bad if she had a baby that would remind her of Vijay, of those magical moments of love? It was madness, yet she wanted it. Earnestly.

  By the time they landed in Heathrow the next day, Jane knew the baby would never come. She was experiencing the familiar stomach cramps. Another dream had died before it spread its wings.

  Chapter 21

  Sravanapura, April 15, 2009

  Vijay had spent the better part of the last two days searching for Jane. He had no idea where she was. Her phone was still switched off. He had sent multiple emails to her. No reply had come. She hadn’t checked out from his hotel. That meant she would come back for her belongings. Yet, with each passing hour, his patience was running out. He had to find her. He had called all his contacts in the aviation industry seeking help. He would know if Jane flew out of India.

  Everything seemed like a nightmare. Hadn’t she promised to wait for him? What had happened in the interim to make her hate him? And what about Daniel? Or did something happen to Grandpa Bill?

  Her absence was slowly making him insane. He had drowned in alcohol to wipe out unhappy thoughts. But it had only turned things worse.

  The day before, he had visited Tejaswini in the hospital. She had appeared cheerful and peppy as usual. On an impulse, perhaps also due to the influence of the many glasses of whiskey he had downed, he had leaned near to give her a peck on her cheeks. And then her light brown eyes had somehow taken on a hue of blue and the lips had suddenly transformed before his eyes. He had kissed her lips hungrily and moaned Jane’s name like a frenzied prayer. It was when he felt Tejaswini pushing him away with disgust that he realized his folly. It was not Jane. He had scampered out of the hospital room after muttering apologies to Tejaswini.

  He spent the night shut up in his room, drinking away to oblivion. Sometime during the early hours of the next morning, he opened the connecting door to Jane's room and wandered in, drinking directly from the bottle in his hand. He had lain on her bed trying to trace her scent, her warmth or anything that would have made him feel her presence. After rummaging through the drawers, he found a small hair clip shaped in the form of a butterfly that he remembered having seen on her hair. Clutching the tiny butterfly inside his palm, he fell asleep on her bed.

  And that was where Rudra Dev found him the next morning. He hadn’t asked anything. He left a few aspirins and a glass of water on the bedside table. Vijay had gratefully swallowed the tablets and then plonked back into the bed.

  By mid-morning, he dragged himself off to his room. After a bath, he ordered a light breakfast and checked his phone for messages and emails. Everything felt worse than last time. He had been so close to his happiness but it had slipped away from him again.

  In the evening, his father summoned him and asked him to accompany him to the hospital. Tejaswini was getting discharged from the hospital. After passing half the distance in silence, his father began to talk.

  “Do you know that your grandfather was not the actual heir to our kingdom?”

  “No. Wasn’t he the eldest in the family?”

  “No. He had an elder brother, Hari Dev Varman, two years older than him. They were like best friends and did everything together. They were one lively pair. Hari Dev was much adored by the people and other royals alike. He was a very good cricket player as well. He played for India.”

  “And then?”

  “He fell in love with an English opera singer while on a tour to England with the team. He wanted to get married to her and brought her to the palace. My grandfather would not even hear of such nonsense and sent her back to England. Hari Dev threatened that if he wasn’t allowed to marry her, he would drink himself to death. And he did just that. He died when he was twenty-five. My mother told me about this when I fell in love years ago with someone outside nobility. You can imagine why your grandfather was so against love. He even lost his younger sister, whom he adored, again to love. To an Englishman. No wonder, he was among the first of the South Indian royals to support the nationalist movement. He wanted the English removed from the Indian soil forever.”

  Vijay understood why he was being told this tale. Was his father going to tell him to forget Jane? He braced himself for his next words. But his father surprised him again.

  “I like Jane. I won’t ever become a hurdle in the path of your happiness. But don’t waste your life pining for her if she doesn’t need you. Love cannot be forced, son. If she is yours, she will come to you. When I saw you passed out on her bed today morning, I felt as though history was repeating itself.”

  Vijay felt his father’s hand on his shoulder and he swallowed.

  “No, father. I promise. I will not touch alcohol again. I feel ashamed of myself. Everything happened too suddenly and left
me confused,” he confessed. His father gave him a pat on his shoulders.

  They remained silent for the rest of the trip, each consumed by his own thoughts.

  They were headed to Bangalore where they would remain for the next two weeks. Vijay was planning to lodge a missing person report if he couldn’t locate Jane within a week. Something about the way she had gone away was making him uneasy. Where was she?

  Once they reached Bangalore, Vijay and his father visited the hospital where Tejaswini was being treated. She hated staying at the hospital. Vijay wanted to make sure she was alright.

  Vijay first called on the doctor-in-charge to enquire about Tejaswini. He learned her father had signed a bond to get the discharge. The doctors wanted her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as they suspected she might try to commit suicide again. But the family had refused.

  “I'm clearly against this discharge. The effect of sleeping pills may take up to a week to clear. Only then we can be sure if it was a pretend suicide or a real attempt,” said the doctor.

  “Pretend suicide? What do you mean? Who would take sleeping pills and risk their life?”

  “Some do. To emotionally blackmail others. The dosage of the pills will determine the danger they pose. Depression is a common cause for such acts. So, we want to keep her under observation. But she is not ready. What can we do? I want you to make her understand.”

  “I will try. Let me talk to her family,” said Vijay and walked out.

  He paused in front of Tejaswini’s room when her giggles reached him. He was about to knock when he heard her speak.

  “Yes! You are a genius. Your plan worked. Like you said, he is giving me more attention than before. I'm sure he has packed off that bitch by now. Can you believe that he was whispering her name while kissing me? I almost wanted to strangle him.”

  “Good that you didn’t. Your father badly wants this marriage to go through.”

  Vijay forgot to breathe hearing the conversation. He had heard what he wanted to hear. Instead of making him angry, it cheered him up. He waited another minute before knocking on her door.

  Tejaswini was lying on the bed when he entered, her mother playing the nurse. He acted like the perfect fiancé, enquired after her health and gave her the flower bouquet he had got for her.

  He walked out of the hospital with a grin on his face. The conversation he overheard had made the path ahead of him clear. At least his conscience won’t prick him anymore when he officially ended the engagement.

  When he walked out from the hospital lobby, his phone pinged with an email. An email he had been expecting since long. His face lit up with a smile that refused to leave his face for a long while thereafter. Cameras flashed as he walked to his car. He frowned at the photographers.

  Were they so starved for news? Hadn’t they clicked his pic when he had walked in carrying a bouquet for Tejaswini?

  Chapter 22

  Surrey, April 15, 2009

  Jane hadn’t imagined the scene at the hospital to be like this at all. She had expected an emotional reunion with the brothers shedding lots of tears. Instead, Grandpa Bill had scowled royally and gone quiet when Daniel entered the room. He refused to talk to him even as Daniel sat on his bed and explained the many reasons that had made this separation and secrecy necessary.

  “You scoundrel! Couldn’t you drop a line to me? To your brother? Who the hell would have found out?” snapped Grandpa Bill breaking his silence after long. Jane, who was sitting beside him, patted on his shoulders asking him to calm down.

  “I would have done it. But so many things were at stake. I was up against a very powerful family. Devika belongs to the royal family of Sravanapura.”

  “The royal family of Sravanapura? Good lord, isn’t that Vijay’s family?” asked Grandpa Bill, addressing Jane. She nodded.

  “I loved the chap. Jane had a fallout with him while in college. So, Jane, you are not the first Worthington to fall in love with a royal. Perhaps we have that thing in our blood. We attract royalty.” Grandpa Bill chuckled.

  “Were you in love with Vijay?” The question came from Daniel. Jane sat without answering. What could she say? That she was still in love with him?

  “Of course, she was. But she chickened out when she discovered he was a royal. The poor guy came here determined to win her back. Is he still single? We can send a proposal via Daniel. You are also related to a royal now.” He flashed a smile at Devika whose eyes were focused on Jane. The room suddenly felt claustrophobic. She needed to get out.

  What would they say when they came to know of the events that had transpired between her and Vijay this time?

  “As if I can go to them! Billie, will you forgive me? I'm leaving if you will continue to sulk at me.”

  “Forgive you? Of course, I won’t. I shall consider it if you bring me a pint now though,” said Grandpa Bill. Daniel laughed aloud and hugged Grandpa Bill hard. Daniel gestured to Devika to come and sit near him.

  Jane got up from the bed and allowed Devika to take her place. She slipped out of the room when the talk slowly drifted back to the topic of Vijay and the Sravanapura royals.

  That night, each member of her family took turns to talk and get close to Daniel and Devika. Her brothers Ernie and Taylor had all turned up. It was a full house. She pretended to be happy even though she couldn’t help but remember the last day of her stay in Sravanapura. The news flash she had seen the other day kept playing in loops in her mind.

  After dinner, while they gathered in the drawing room to chat while watching the evening news, Jane bade everyone goodnight and retired to her room to seek some quiet to brood over things. Also, she had to check her email to find out if there were any updates regarding work.

  She took out the laptop from her bag and switched it on. Her inbox had several new emails. Her heart began to thud at her ribs when she found a familiar and dear name among them. Vijay’s.

  What did he have to say? Hadn’t she seen enough?

  He seemed to have been furious when he had sent the first mail. It just read,

  WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?

  The next two emails also asked similar questions. Except that he seemed to have calmed down. The final and latest one tugged at her heartstrings and hope blossomed in her heart along with love.

  Dear Jane,

  Run wherever you want to, but remember you cannot run away from me forever.

  We belong together. How can you forget that?

  I long to have you in my arms again. You are torturing me.

  Where are you, darling?

  I will never stop loving you.

  Yours,

  Vijay

  How could he write this to her after declaring to the whole world that he was still engaged to Tejaswini? According to him, wasn’t she just a creation of the media?

  Or had he called off his engagement with Tejaswini?

  Curious, she typed his name into the Google search box and clicked enter.

  There were many articles trending about him. The one on top was titled, “What is the secret behind his smile? Have they decided on a wedding date?”

  The article contained pictures of Vijay arriving at the hospital with a bouquet. And then one of him leaving with a satisfied smile on his face. For a full minute, Jane stared at his smiling face. If not for his help, the voices wafting in from her living room wouldn’t have been this happy. She turned her attention back to the article. It also had a picture of Tejaswini, clicked during their engagement. The visual of their almost kiss she had witnessed came back to taunt her and she quickly skimmed the article and closed it.

  Tejaswini was being discharged from the hospital. Most of the other articles were on similar lines. Even her hospital stay was being celebrated. Was the media so obsessed with the royals everywhere in the world?

  She opened Vijay’s final email again and contemplated whether to answer it. Why should she answer? Hadn’t he woven a similar web of lies during their college days? She had believed every wor
d he had uttered and then the truth had caught her unaware. Just like this time. Jane shut the laptop with force.

  She had no inkling as to how they lived their life. During the brief hours she had been at the Sravanapura Palace, she had felt like she was in the midst of a modern fairy-tale. The twists and turns had been unnerving to the core. Yet, it was magical while it lasted. And the magic had been entirely due to his presence.

  She had to find a way to stop obsessing over him. That was her last thought before sleep claimed her.

  Chapter 23

  Surrey, April 16, 2009

  The next day got over in a flash. Daniel dragged her to visit old friends and relatives.

  Jane was amazed when she learnt that Devika had been to the Buckingham Palace when she was eight years old where she had been presented to the queen. She recalled incidents and famous personalities she had met during their visits to London. In fact, she had also attended finishing school in London.

  “We had a house near Regent’s Park, the Dev Palace. I don’t know if the family still owns it. I would love to visit it once more. I might never return to the Sravanapura Palace in this lifetime. Is it possible to visit it?” she said while they were returning from lunch at a family friend’s place in their car. Taylor who was driving the car, asked Ernie, the gadget geek in the family to search online. Google informed them that Dev Palace was a private property and still belonged to the royal family of Sravanapura. And that visitors were not allowed.

  Devika’s face showed her despair. Daniel took her hand into his and squeezed it.