Page 51 of Pillow Talk
He stopped in the parking lot outside the cemetery.
‘If you think I’m going to let you walk in there alone, you’re crazy,’ he said, pointing to the darkness behind the gates.
Shona didn’t reply but jumped out of the car.
He followed. It was still the middle of summer so the air was warm against her skin. Sen was in his suit pants and a blue shirt. When he opened the gate, it creaked. He looked at Shona, who wrinkled her nose.
‘Do you know where it is?’
‘Over that hill. It’s not far,’ she replied.
They walked slowly. And then she felt Sen’s palm on hers. He intertwined their fingers. He was holding her hand.
They got to the top of the hill.
‘It’s over there,’ Shona said, pointing to a grave.
Sen let go of her hand. ‘I’ll wait here for you.’
‘Okay,’ she said softly.
Her strides were slow but purposeful. She didn’t know why she’d come here but she knew she had to.
She approached the tombstone; the inscription read:Ira Shah– wife of Yuvraj Shah and mother of Karam and the late Laksh.
Because her grandmother had died when Shona was about to leave school, she knew only what it was like to be on the receiving end of the old woman’s mean-spirited treatment, and there were many things she didn’t understand. But this evening, that inscription infuriated her.
Her mother had given up her ambition and connection to her own family to support Dad in that blasted shop, while Shona and Aruna had worked every day in it. They’d put up with a cruel woman called Ira Shah but their names didn’t deserve to be on her tombstone? They were not acknowledged, as per her grandmother’s wishes.
‘You witch,’ she hissed.
She took a step closer.
‘You fucking witch,’ she shouted.
Sen gritted his teeth and shoved his hands in his pockets. He had to let her do this alone, even if it was killing him to watch her in such agony. Shona didn’t really let him in. He had a snapshot of her childhood. Now he knew her but didn’t really know her; she only displayed glimpses of herself.
Her voice cut through the silence. Then she sobbed inconsolably.
‘Fuck it,’ Sen muttered and rushed to her side.
He turned her in his arms and held her tight. Her head on his heart, she wept on his chest.
Sen glanced at the tombstone as Shona sobbed.
Shona had a dead uncle? He didn’t know that but it did explain the name of the store: Shah & Sons.
Shona suddenly pulled away.
‘Oh Sen, I’m so sorry. You didn’t want complicated and I dragged you into this, she said, making a brave effort to control her tears.
Sen reached into his pocket, pulled out his handkerchief and wiped her eyes.
‘Shh,’ he crooned.
Shona started crying again.
‘I want to go home.’
