Marriage by Arrangement

by Sophia Singh Sasson

  A little later, Rani caught up with her mother in the kitchen. “What are you doing? What’s with the questions?”

  Her mother placed her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong with the questions? You think we haven’t noticed that he is very evasive when we ask him about whether his family will accept you. He answers without answering. You are naive, Rani. You don’t know how things work in traditional Indian families, especially khandaani ones like his. His parents’ approval is very important and he should not be waiting too long to get it. We are just pushing him a little so he doesn’t keep stringing you along.”

  She touched Rani’s cheek. “We don’t want him breaking your heart.”

  Rani sighed and turned away. How could she tell her mother that she hadn’t thought things through? That she’d been so swept up in the moment that she had forgotten that everything her mother was saying was true? How was she supposed to tell her mother that there was a chance Arjun might not be the one walking away?

  She couldn’t make the same mistakes she’d made with Navin. She wasn’t going to give up everything she’d worked for, and she wasn’t moving to India. What remained to be seen was whether Arjun would stand up for her with his parents.

  Her mother caught her arm. “Rani, we want you to be happy, above all else. Arjun seems like a decent boy, and marriage to him will leave your past behind. He cares about you. I see it by the way he looks at you, and the way he worried about your father. Did you know that he flew in the best stroke specialist in the country to see your dad?”

  “What?” Rani had no idea.

  “We wouldn’t have found out but Anaya heard the doctors talking outside his room. We thought the hospital called Dr. McNeil but he was flown in from New York. He’s a world-famous stroke specialist. Arjun got him a private jet and God knows how much he must have paid him. Doctors like that don’t fly across the country for people like us.”

  Rani sucked in a breath. That sounded like something Arjun would do.

  “No matter how rich he is, if he didn’t love you, he would not have done that. And he would not have hidden it from us. He wanted your father to get better.”

  Her mother grabbed her hand. “I know you’re afraid to go into another marriage, but you mustn’t think like that. You need to consider the man you are marrying. He is pure gold. And this time, maybe you will be more understanding with your in-laws.”

  Tears stung her eyes. Rani extracted her hand from her mother’s grip. It always came back to her needing to make the compromises.

  She didn’t argue with her mother then, but she did tell Arjun she wanted to leave as soon as they could. She couldn’t let her parents fall more in love with Arjun than they already were. There were some difficult conversations that she and Arjun had been avoiding. It was time to have them.

  Seventeen

  Arjun stretched out in his seat as their plane took off towards Vegas. The night had been trying to say the least. When Rani suggested they leave, he had been happy to oblige. He hadn’t fully thought through things when he had asked for Rani’s hand in marriage and when he had agreed to the puja at her parents’ house. In both instances, he’d let his love for Rani dictate what he’d done, rather than choosing the smart play. And tonight had been a good reminder of the consequences of his emotional decisions.

  Rani’s parents had every right to question why he hadn’t told his parents about Rani. He should have called his mother the moment he returned the first time from LA but he’d decided to wait until he could fly to India and discuss it face-to-face.

  There were several messages from his assistant to come back to Vegas, so he’d called for the jet immediately and Rani decided to return with him. His phone kept buzzing but he ignored it. Whatever crisis had brewed in the few hours that Arjun had been in LA could wait until the morning. Arjun was tired and wanted to enjoy a moment with Rani. Things would be hard enough for them in the next few weeks.

  “Arjun, we should talk.”

  He nodded. “It’ll be nearly midnight when we get to Vegas. Why don’t you stay with me tonight? We can talk when we’re both fresh in the morning.”

  “I don’t have any of my stuff and I can’t go around Vegas in this.” They were still dressed in the Indian clothes they’d worn to Rani’s house.

  He tapped out some quick messages on his phone using the plane Wi-Fi. “I’ll have someone buy some clothes for you to wear.”

  “At this hour?”

  “It’s Vegas. There are shops open 24/7.”

  “I meant you have people working at this late hour?”

  He shrugged. “I have a personal assistant on call for things I might need.” He saw the expression on her face. “What?”

  “I can’t even fathom this life that you have. An assistant at your beck and call to pick up clothes for your—” she paused “—for whatever I am.”

  He actually had several such assistants but he didn’t bring that up now. He took her hand. “You are the love of my life. I know tonight was hard.” He squeezed her hand. “I don’t have all of the answers but I will soon. I’ve been getting things lined up. I’ll fly to India next weekend and talk to my parents in person.”

  Rani’s face brightened. “Really? Do you want me to come with you?”

  “Not for this trip. My parents will be furious and I don’t want you to bear their wrath. Once things have settled down and they’ve accepted the situation, then I’ll take you to meet them. Or fly them here to meet your family.”

  Rani frowned.

  “Trust me, Rani. I need to handle my parents carefully. The news is not going to be easy on them and I have to be very strategic about how I present things. It all has to be in a certain order.”

  “Why?” Rani whispered.

  “It’s all the reasons you already know.”

  “I want to hear you say it. What’ll be the most important thing to them?”

  “Probably the fact that my mother is breaking a vachan to Hema’s family. And it’s not just the promise she made, my mother loves Hema like her own daughter and she’ll be heartbroken at the idea that Hema won’t be her daughter-in-law.”

  “How will I ever compete with that?” Rani said in a small voice.

  “You won’t. My mother has known Hema since she was a little girl. It’s not a competition between you, just like you wouldn’t try to be equal with one of my sisters. Be your own person, Rani, and in time they will come to love you just like I have.”

  “And what happens if they don’t accept me?”

  “What happens if you don’t accept them?”

  “What?” The question had clearly surprised Rani, but it was one of the things that had him more worried than his own parents’ reaction. There were a lot of things he’d have to work out with his family, his mother especially. But Rani would also have to compromise. He couldn’t move to Vegas. Most of his family holdings were in India. He was also the eldest son, which meant that he was in charge of their familial home in Rajasthan. While he could work with his mother to loosen the house rules, Rani would still have to learn to live with his parents under more restrictions than she would like.

  Will she accept the life I can give her?

  “My family is very traditional, and I’ll do my best to change that but it won’t happen overnight. Are you willing to be patient with me? To go into this situation knowing you might have to make some compromises?”

  “Like what?” Rani said, her eyes wide and panicked.

  At that moment the pilot announced that they were landing soon and due to a dust storm in Vegas, the landing would be bumpy. Rani and Arjun buckled their safety belts, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

  Arjun glanced at his phone to see that his executive assistant’s panic level had risen. He’d call him once they were at his condo.

  A car was waiting for them when they arrived at the airp
ort. Rani was quiet on the ride into town, no doubt contemplating the loaded question Arjun had asked her. He didn’t push. When they got to his building, he used his elevator key to get them up to his condo. When they exited the elevator, his executive assistant was standing in the foyer dressed in a business suit.

  Arjun groaned. While he appreciated the man’s tenacity, he was in no mood to deal with whatever red tape the gaming commission had thrown his way.

  “Rahul, I need a minute,” he said, holding up his hand as he punched the code to get into the condo.

  “No, sir, I must speak to you before you go in.”

  Arjun waved Rani through the open door. “Go ahead, make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right in.” Then he turned to Rahul, who looked like he was about to go into cardiac arrest.

  “Sir, your parents are inside,” he whispered.

  Eighteen

  Rani had barely entered the condo when Arjun grabbed her hand. “Rani!”

  “Don’t bother, Arjun. We see you.”

  Rani turned towards the voice and recognized his mother immediately from the pictures she’d seen. Arjun’s parents were not what Rani expected. Perhaps because of her experience with her mother and ex-mother-in-law, she expected a traditionally dressed woman in a sari or salwar kameez with the kind of jewelry that befit her status. But Jhanvi Singh was dressed in cream linen pants and a stylish light blue blouse. Her salt-and-pepper hair was stylishly cut in waves and fell around her shoulders. Her makeup was flawless even at this late hour and the only jewelry she wore were tasteful diamond solitaires. Dharampal Singh was an older version of Arjun, with nearly white hair. Tall and stately, he was dressed in a Lacoste collared shirt and khaki trousers. The couple looked like they belonged on a yacht in Monte Carlo.

  Arjun moved towards his parents and bent down and touched their feet. They each placed a hand on his head. Only then did he rise and hug them. Rani knew the tradition but was surprised to see it. While touching feet was a mark of respect for elders, in modern Indian families it was only done during special occasions like marriage. Her parents, and even her ex-in-laws, didn’t follow this custom on a daily basis. A deep dread spread inside her chest.

  “And who is this?” his mother asked.

  “This is Rani.” Arjun motioned her over and Rani stepped towards them on leaden legs.

  Rani joined her hands and bowed her head. “Namaste.”

  Arjun looked pointedly at Rani and then his parents’ feet. She gave them a thin smile then bent down and did what was expected of her. They each touched her head and uttered a blessing.

  “So she’s the one you’ve been fooling around with?”

  Rani froze then stepped away from them.

  “Ma!”

  Jhanvi’s eyes blazed with anger. “We dropped everything and flew overnight from India to see if the story was true and we find you coming home in the middle of the night with her?” Then she turned to Rani. “And what good Indian girl is with a man in the middle of the night when he is not her husband?”

  Rani shrank back, her mouth completely dry and her chest so constricted she wasn’t sure if she was still breathing.

  “What are you talking about?” Arjun came to stand beside Rani. He touched her and she tried to focus on the warmth of his hand in the exposed dip of her lower back.

  His father clicked on a tablet and turned the screen to show Arjun. “There’s a story of you circulating in the media. A picture of you and Rani kissing. The story claims you’re engaged.”

  Rani squinted to look at the headline, which blazed in red. Hottie Arjun Getting Married to Average-Looking American Divorcée. Right below it was a picture of them kissing. The hospital garden with its metal picnic tables was in the background. It was the day Arjun told her he loved her.

  “How did this get out?” Arjun lamented.

  Like that was what was important right now. Did he not see the anger in his parents’ eyes?

  “Someone named Anaya Gupta—I assume she’s your sister—took the photo.” Arjun’s father looked at Rani with such anger that she felt like she’d been cut in half. She shriveled back, moving away from Arjun and towards the door as if willing it to open and let her escape. “She posted an Instagram picture saying how happy she is for her sister and used the hashtag #IndiasHottestHottie. That’s when the story first broke. The story is all over the Indian news media. How could you be so stupid, letting people take pictures with you like that? Hema’s family is furious. Her father wanted to come with us.”

  “What were our PR people doing? Why didn’t they stop the story?” Arjun asked.

  Why is that important? Rani shouted in her head. Why wasn’t anyone addressing the real issue?

  “That PR hack you hired isn’t worth the dirt on my shoe.” His father scoffed. “The paper called him for a comment and he was worse than useless.”

  “I’ll fire him tomorrow.”

  “Already done,” Dharampal responded.

  I have to get out of here or I’ll scream.

  “We’ll have to fix it. I’m thinking we call a press conference tomorrow morning and say the picture is being blown out of proportion. Maybe announce your engagement to Hema,” his father said, all businesslike.

  “How about just denying it’s me in the picture. You can’t see my full face.”

  What was Arjun saying? If they were going to be together, what good would it do lying to the media? Unless he didn’t plan on going through with the engagement after all.

  “Arjun, this story has a lot of steam in India. The only way to settle things down is to announce your engagement. Besides, Hema’s family isn’t willing to wait anymore.”

  Say something, Arjun! Tell him that if you’re announcing your engagement, it’ll be to me! Rani’s tongue was superglued to the roof of her mouth. Her body trembling, she was unconsciously taking small steps towards the door behind her.

  “I’m not ready to announce my engagement to Hema.”

  Say the rest Arjun, say the rest, Rani silently pleaded.

  “What’s not to be ready about?” Arjun’s mother stepped up to him. “Your wedding is set for two months from now. Do I need to remind you what’s at stake here? Hema’s family has been very patient with you but you know as well as we do that if they pull out of our business partnership, you’ll have to sell the Vegas hotel.”

  Two months! The wedding date was around the corner and Arjun still hadn’t talked to his parents about not wanting to marry Hema? This wasn’t just about him and Rani. It was about him having the courage to face his parents.

  “Ma, why are we standing here talking about such important matters? You must be tired from your journey. You should rest, and we can discuss this first thing in the morning,” Arjun said with maddening calm.

  “I’m quite fresh,” Jhanvi said. “It’s early morning India time. I slept on the flight and so did your dad.”

  “Jhanvi, we are on India time but he’s on Las Vegas time. Let him get a few hours’ sleep. I’ll send the jet back to get Hema. If we’re going to make an announcement, she should be here with him.”

  Rani had never seen Arjun getting steamrolled and yet here he was, looking wearily at his parents like he wasn’t going to tell them that the woman he loved was standing right there.

  “Let’s pick this up tomorrow morning,” Arjun’s father said with finality.

  “What about her?” Jhanvi nodded towards Rani as if suddenly remembering she was there.

  Yes, what about me? Were you going to remember that I’ve been standing here this whole time or am I always going to be invisible next to your parents?

  Arjun stepped towards her and whispered quietly in her ear. “Rani, I will handle them, but not tonight. Why don’t you go home? I’ll have Sam take you.”

  Rani did not need to be told twice. She spun and Arjun had barely gotten the door ope
n before she walked through it. She stabbed at the elevator button, silently cursing it for not lighting up. Arjun came up behind her and calmly punched a code into the keypad next to the call button.

  “Rani, please understand. There is a way to deal with my parents.”

  “And that way is to pretend like I don’t exist?”

  “Believe me, this is not how I intended to introduce you to them. Right now they are only concerned about my media image. Remember, I’m the face of our hotel chain. Any scandal affects not just our family reputation but also our hotel brand and the partnership with Hema’s parents’ business. They’re a publicly traded company and answer to shareholders. We need to deal with that situation first. If only your sister hadn’t posted that picture on social media...”

  I’m not going to cry. I’m not going to beg. And I’m not going to let this be Anaya’s fault.

  When the elevators dinged, Rani stepped into the carriage. “Your family image and hotel brand won’t be helped by an average-looking divorcée.”

  He let the doors shut, and she let the tears stream down her cheeks.

  Nineteen

  The next morning Arjun woke up to his mother making chai in his kitchen. He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll call the housekeeper to bring us something for breakfast.”

  “I’m making you aloo paranthas with my own hands,” his mother replied in Hindi.

  Arjun smiled. The thin wheat pancakes stuffed with spiced potatoes were his favorite. It was a special treat in his house to have them made by his mother.

  “I’ve taught Hema how to make these too.”

  Arjun sighed as he took the cup of tea she handed him.

  “Ma, I’m not going to marry Hema.”

  He hadn’t wanted to have the conversation with his parents in front of Rani. He knew how brutally blunt his parents could be and he didn’t want Rani’s relationship with them affected by what they’d say in anger. But he wasn’t going to let them walk all over him. This was his life and it was time to get things under control.