Last Man She'd Love

by Summerita Rhayne

  It said much for her state of mind that she was speaking as she entered and only when she was halfway in, she noticed that Guy was naked to waist and was running a trimmer over his beard area.

  ‘Brijesh got here and no one invited him!’ he said calmly, making her hackles rise.

  ‘Oh? As though there’s any comparison between the two. You know how I feel about him…’

  ‘Talwar? Glad to hear he’s finally fallen in your estimation.’

  ‘It’s impossible to talk to you. Savika says valet parking has been arranged. Mom is wondering because she thought from something I mentioned before, that it was to be a small get together. Just what is happening?’

  ‘Time is running out,’ Guy said imperturbably. ‘If you don’t start now, the guests will be here before you are decked up in all your finery. Go on now. If your father is already here, we can’t do anything about it.’

  She stared at him in puzzlement. He stared back at her. She couldn’t put her finger on it. He was acting fine, yet where was the concern in his manner? The way he changed things to suit her. He was busy today, she reminded herself. Yet it was with a feeling of misgiving that she walked out of his room.

  Yesterday, it had been a different man who looked at her with warmth and melting passion. Decked up in all your finery, he said. It sounded like a brush off. Like something he had to put up with. Was he already sick of her? His words in her room yesterday indicated as much. We should take this one thing at a time. It felt like a slap after what they had shared. She’d fallen for him, hook, line and sinker. It felt like love was everything. But now it felt like she had really stumbled.

  She couldn’t make the same mistake as her mother.

  She’d never felt less like dressing up, but her mood improved slightly as she met the others who came into her room for adding finishing touches to hair and make-up.

  Kalyani had already done her hair, sprayed to such an effect that she was sure the piled-up knot with its tucked-in row of rose buds on one side, wouldn’t move a strand. Now Savika and she tucked in pallus and dupattas, pinned securely to allow for dancing.

  If the dance party had felt like too many people, now it felt as though the gardens were dotted with them. The banquet hall had now been allowed to be used and the stage was set for a choreographed show. The party got underway as cars, flashy and sleek, drove up, one after the other up the driveway to be led down a path where a section of the grounds had been cleared for parking purpose.

  Vinay was nowhere to be seen, then she caught sight of him drinking at the stocked bar. She couldn’t exchange more than a few words with him, before Kalyani took her off to introduce her to yet another new arrival. All she could catch was Priti wasn’t coming. She saw his pleasure in the event was already over. With the single-minded fervor of youth, he could see only his disappointment.

  She wished she could have had the time to persuade him to a dance at least.

  Greeting his guests, standing beside her, Guy looked drop dead gorgeous, his tux fitting him perfectly, sitting well on wide shoulders and nipping slightly at a trim waist. He had allowed a shadow at his jaw, conceding to fashion half-heartedly while thick beards ruled the day. It gave him a dangerous look, the hard glitter of his eyes adding to the impression. There was no time to talk, but a compliment, a soft look might have made her feel – feel what? she derided herself. Was she so starved for his attention that she needed it like scraps tossed to a puppy?

  Her father and Tasha had arrived before the event. Tasha wore white, a second-skin gown with a hip high slit, her slim figure easily setting her among the fashion divas. Her mother looked at her, mouth agape. Her stiff silk sari and short stature made a painful contrast as the other woman came over to great her. Lyna wished she hadn’t. Being ignored would be a better option. Tasha and her father nodded condescendingly and went on, Hina following them. Lyna saw the smirk on her face and felt another wave of heat. She took a deep breath and made herself calm down.

  ‘Let’s have something cool.’ She took two glasses off the tray of a passing waiter and handed one to her mother.

  ‘Who’s that girl?’

  Her head whipped round at her mother’s question. Sara. She’d never seen the woman but there was no doubt in her mind. She stood talking to Guy, a hand casually on his sleeve, water straight hair falling down her back. He began to lead her towards the exit, as though to find a secluded spot to talk to her. Lyna felt another wave of heat rise up along her throat.

  ‘She was standing very close to him.’ Her mother was old fashioned, but Lyna could see she was right. Her stomach muscles tensed.

  ‘Lyna, are you hap–’

  She couldn’t wait for the inevitable question. ‘Mom, I’ll just be back.’ She didn’t want to leave her mother alone. ‘Brijesh,’ she called to him. He’d found an acquaintance but obediently came at her call. ‘Will you sit with my mother for a minute? She doesn’t know anybody here.’

  ‘Sure.’ He heaped a few snacks on a plate and settled down beside Vinita.

  Lyna made her way out of the banquet hall. It wasn’t that crowded, but it felt stuffy and hot – or was it her own skin which had got warm? There must be something wrong with the air conditioning.

  She made her way to the morning room. It was quiet, blessedly so. The muted sound of current hit remixes came here too.

  She was about to sink down on the sofa when she caught sight of a woman, holding a phone to her ear. Her eyes widened.

  ‘Hello, Lyna,’ said Meghna, disconnecting the call.

  ‘Oh no! Not you too! Anybody who isn’t here?’ She hadn’t expected to see her here at all events.

  She shrugged. ‘I shouldn’t have barged in here uninvited. I heard Brij was here. I was afraid he might come back to persuade you. And then I found all this. You’re really going to be engaged with Guy Singh?’

  If only…

  Meghna’s eyes were wide, alight with pleasure. ‘He’s so rich, I hear. Not that one would need to hear. You only have to see all this.’ Her movement encompassed the whole room, much like a child doing a mime for a poem. Lyna realized her pleasure was in the wealth. Like people who saluted it, for her just the presence of it was a source of joy. She finished looking around and told Lyna, ‘I couldn’t come inside, I’m not even dressed for a party. I only came here because I didn’t want you to marry Brij.’

  ‘How can I? This is Guy’s house, for God’s sake.’

  ‘Yes, well. The DNA test is cleared, I thought you should know. You’ve been really helpful.’ She paused and looked around again with starry eyes. ‘You’re really getting engaged with him?’

  ‘I’m not getting engaged with anyone...’

  ‘Well, here you are, Lyna, I have been looking all over for you –’

  She whirled as she heard her father’s voice. But he had walked in and stopped short, staring at Meghna. ‘You!’

  Lyna looked at one, then the other. Their expressions gave them away and wiped her fledging patience. She gave her father a contemptuous glance. ‘Is there any girl around Mumbai you haven’t taken to your bedroom?’

  She wasn’t aware of stalking off. She found herself walking along the porch. Footsteps sounded behind her. Her father said, ‘Now now, Lyna, I just knew her slightly. There’s nothing like that between us. You wrong me, my dear.’

  ‘Do I? Do me a favor. Just stay away from me.’

  ‘How can you say that? Come now, it’s time for the ring ceremony. You don’t know what kind of a ring I have for you to give to Guy. It was going to be a surprise.’

  ‘I don’t want your ring. You probably brought it because Guy is a good business prospect. You care nothing for me!’

  ‘I see now. Your mother has been poisoning you against me!’

  She stopped and confronted him. ‘Oh, for God’s sake. I have eyes and ears and sense. I’m an adult now. Is Tasha ok with it or does she also live by your rules? An open marriage, they call it nowadays, don’t they?’

  �
��Lyna!’

  She walked off. Simmering about all the past incidents. At last she stopped. It was stupid. There were tons of guests. She couldn’t play hooky. She forced herself to take deep breaths and calm down. Surely, she’d imagined Sara was hanging onto Guy. They might be discussing the past. Laughing it off. Her phone rang and she flicked it on gratefully. Anything but the present.

  ‘Hey, Lyna, thought we sh-should congratulate you! Thought we wouldn’t get to know, did you?’

  It was Sanjay, her assistant and by the sound of it, three parts drunk. ‘Goood th-thing you nabbed him. What? What are we doing? We’re all celebrating here. It’s all on the office tab because you and Guy skipped on giving us the goods. If he was, might have sold out but with you here no chance,’ he garbled incomprehensibly. ‘We love you, Lyna! Yes, I’m drunk. Am I drunk, guys?’ His comment was seconded by hollering and desk thumping. ‘Say, clear of his GF, won’t you?’

  ‘What GF?’

  ‘Bina. She was here, swearing vengeance on you!’

  The phone was snatched out of his hand. ‘What nonsense! Hi Lyna, it’s Mani.’ She was Guy’s PA. ‘It’s okay, we’re keeping things under control here. It’s just that we couldn’t resist celebrating when we heard you two are getting hooked!’

  Lyna made appropriate responses and signed off.

  Her father was standing near a pillar, gesturing her to come. She didn’t and he moved off inside.

  Once unfaithful, always unfaithful. Tasha. Was she aware of what her husband was like?

  She went back to the banquet hall. Savika came towards her. ‘There you are, Lyna! We were looking for you!’

  Guy was at the bar, a goblet raised satirically or so it seemed. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Lyna shivered.

  Her father came on the stage as Savika led Guy there and Kalyani accompanied Lyna. Kalyani held the mike and announced the event, introducing the people on stage. Now Tasha was also there. Where was her mother?

  Kalyani handed the ring to Guy. He laughed, the sound mocking and inappropriate. He took the ring in his palm and tossed it up in the air, catching it back in a flippant gesture. Suddenly there was silence. Lyna’s gaze caught the sight of Dadu seated very near the stage, his stick in his hand. Everyone had paled a little.

  She was looking at Guy, coming closer. He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, but no, Lyna, I’m not the stuff to be tied down.’ He tossed the ring once more, caught it, took her hand and put it in her palm. ‘Guys,’ he addressed the gathering, a buzz was beginning to sound but it died as he spoke. ‘This is not an engagement. There won’t be any ceremony. But a party is still a party. Enjoy!’ He saluted everyone, a mocking sardonic travesty. He handed the mike to her stunned father and threw Lyna a last look. ‘You see, I’m not worth it. I’ve known for long I’m a hypocrite. My redemption lies in the fact I’m not so much of a hypocrite as some other people.’

  He walked down and headed out. People parted like a boat’s bow had cut water. A buzz began in his wake. It grew and grew and became a thunder.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  The guests stood bewildered, scandalized and gloating, in varying degrees. A scandal always lent excitement to any proceedings and this one concerned a family they had seen rise over the years. The fall assuaged the envy to some extent as they experienced schadenfreude.

  As Guy neared the large double doors that stood wide, leading out of the banquet hall, he paused and caught the hand of a woman with water straight dark hair. The buzz rejuvenated, punctuated by gasps as they both went out together.

  A few sofas were lined up along one wall. A woman, seated in one of them, shook the shoulder of a dozing rotund woman next to her. ‘Mrs. Reddy, I think you should wake up. Your daughter just walked out with the groom!’

  ‘Whaasat you say?’ Mrs. Reddy, getting oriented to the changed atmosphere, eventually grasped what had happened and muttering and exclaiming, hurried out after the pair.

  The drama hadn’t yet finished. Dadu now got up and ignoring Savika’s request and disdaining her support, walked onto the stage. He condemned Guy’s doing and told the guests not to forgo their dinner, just because his grandson had turned out to be a jerk.

  Nobody ate however, as expected. People milled around, the music was shut down and eventually after showering true or false sympathy, as the case maybe, little groups began to leave.

  Kalyani had led Lyna to some room before the furor arose to its full extent. She didn’t recognize it at first and then realized it was the room with the musical instruments. Memory stole in, sharp and unforgiving, of the way Guy had kissed her here, and brought a wave of slicing hurt with it.

  ‘Do you want to go to your room?’ Savika asked. ‘Maybe you’d like to lie down?’

  ‘No, she’d feel better in company,’ Kalyani said.

  They hovered around, making sure she was comfortable, making sympathetic noises. Lyna couldn’t decide if she was comforted or irritated by their cosseting.

  Gradually, the numbness was being superseded by pain. Everything was still partly in a haze. It hadn’t been a real engagement. It didn’t affect her. Not really. But he’d known what he was throwing away. It showed in his eyes, cool and insolent. In his words. She dimly understood them and didn’t want to examine them again to know what he had meant.

  She shouldn’t have cared for him. She had known, seen the signs. Hadn’t she?

  She was perversely glad her father’s ring had gone waste.

  Kalyani and Savika were in a heated argument. The kids wanted something. Kalyani took one of them to their father, who stood in the middle of a group of men outside in the corridor. He began to protest then allowed the kid to remain and bend down to attend to him.

  People were spilling out, sounds of cars driven out.

  What about Dadu?

  Disjointed thoughts formed and re-formed.

  She got up, telling Savika, ‘I’m fine.’ She couldn’t let Savika hover around when her kids needed her. She went out and reached the morning room. Hina was seated near Dadu, handing him tea that he refused to drink. He got up and headed upstairs, pausing as he came near Lyna. In a wordless gesture, he passed a hand on her head and resumed his journey.

  Hina had seated herself near her mother. ‘Three years ago, it was the same trouble,’ she said in a low voice. ‘He refused to marry that girl. Now he suddenly realized he has done wrong. I’m sorry for your daughter. I do apologize. I feel for her, but what is the use of deceiving you? You’d do well to take her with you today itself. The sooner she puts this behind her, the better.’

  Her mother was murmuring her assent. ‘Where is Lyna?’ she asked Brijesh who stood nearby.

  ‘She’s just come here. Do you want to leave now, Mrs. Perry? I can take you both back to Mumbai. Have my car here.’

  ‘Lyna, come here, my dear,’ said her mother, folding her in a warm embrace. ‘Are you okay, dear? Have some tea.’

  ‘No, I’m fine.’

  Her mother looked at her in concern. Hina got up to attend to someone else.

  ‘It’s terrible.’ Her mother squeezed her hand. ‘Just when I thought he was the best son in law I could have. So courteous, so concerned...’

  Lyna murmured something unintelligible. What could she say? He’d saved her mother’s cake, so fondly made, so she, for one, carried an excellent impression of him.

  ‘He could have told you in private!’ Her mother’s voice had gone tearful. ‘When practically the whole town was there, what was the need to –’

  ‘Mrs. Perry…’ Brijesh still stood there, waiting for an answer.

  ‘Where’s Meghna?’ Lyna asked. ‘Doesn’t she have to go back too?’

  He looked here and there and tugged at the collar of his shirt. ‘She’s asleep. One of your sister in laws...I mean, one of the ladies…gave her a room because she was tired.’ He looked resentful. ‘She told them she was my fiancée.’

  Lyna didn’t want to deal with him at the moment. But she ha
d to say. ‘She shouldn’t have lied, but still, you can hardly leave her here. Won’t you take her back in your car? How did she arrive?’

  ‘What do I know? I didn’t ask her to come. If my father even hears she’s here at the same time as I am, he will –’ Brijesh became conscious of others and stopped short. ‘Look, are you coming or not? I don’t think we should stay here.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere at this time of the night,’ Lyna surprised them as well as herself by announcing.

  Her mom looked like she feared she’d lost it, but said with a note of relief. ‘I didn’t feel like travelling either, but dear do you think we should move to a hotel nearby? From what I hear Guy will hardly be back, so if you wanted to – you know – ask him why he acted the way he did…’

  ‘No,’ said Lyna. ‘Savika has already said I should rest. I think I’ll do that. As for talking to him, I don’t think any explanation is necessary.’ Her chin lifted a little. ‘I’m certainly not waiting around for him to show up.’

  ‘Oh dear!’ Her mother reflected, then nodded. ‘Just as you like, Lynie.’

  The fond name made her react, her gaze blurring, but resolutely she blinked away the moisture.

  When she could focus again, it was to see her father and Tasha enter the room. Her father beckoned to her. She didn’t stand up and made her hand tighten around her mother’s, so she wouldn’t either. But her mother didn’t make the attempt.

  After another failed attempt, Matthew and Tasha came over. ‘Well, we’ll be going.’

  With a twinge of hurt, Lyna noted that her father didn’t even ask if there was anything he could do like offer her a ride back to town.

  ‘Isn’t it typical of you, Matthew!’ It came from her mother and Lyna whirled to look at her mouse of a mother looking as fierce as a lion. ‘You have never cared for anyone but yourself. Run away now because that’s what a good father would do when his daughter is sobbing and heartbroken!’

  This was a bit of hyperbole. His daughter, who hadn’t been sobbing, was even farther from it now, gazing at her mother, stupefied by her sudden boldness.