Page 11 of The Unwanted Husband
He pulled his tie, as if to diffuse the frustration. “As a single man, I can only adopt Vish since he is a boy.”
“And you cannot adopt err…the girl?” She felt pathetic about not remembering the kids’ names.
“You can, as a single woman. But what purpose is that going to solve? Especially if you are going to be in San Francisco.”
Isha was new to family law in India. “Could you and I not file for a single adoption?”
“No. That’s only for married couples.”
Something flashed in her mind. A crazy problem-solving side of her. “Let’s get married.”
Ashok looked at her silently like he was trying to gauge the seriousness of her words.
“I’m not kidding. This is the best thing to do. We get married, of course on paper and once the adoption goes through, I can leave to go to San Francisco and you will have full custody of the kids.”
“Are you serious?” He looked visibly taken aback.
She nodded. “This is the only way.”
He stood looking at her, silently.
She shrugged. “If you’re expecting a marriage proposal, that was it.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ll see if that works.”
With those words, he was gone, leaving her wondering what the heck she had just proposed.
A marriage of convenience? When she never ever wanted to get married!
CHAPTER 6
Later that day, she wandered downstairs. With every step, the kids’ voices grew louder. They were in the large open family room playing with their caretakers. As she got closer, she noticed one kid was loudly banging on a drum that lit up with every beat and another kid was playing with a big car.
Both the kids stopped what they were doing and looked at her, making her freeze on the last stair. She had no idea why they were looking at her with their big round eyes. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do so she stood looking at the two kids. Surprisingly, none of their nannies were around.
She stepped off the last stair and looked around for the two hired help who have been taking care of the kids. If only she had paid more attention, she would know the names of the nannies to call out to them. A sudden movement in her peripheral view made her look to her right and she froze.
The kid who was playing with a car was now crawling toward her, a surprisingly familiar look in their eyes. It took her a moment but she recognized the expression. It was a look she had seen in her brother’s eyes growing up, one filled with joy and affection.
Isha suddenly felt a spark of joy in her heart. A sudden surge of affection rose for the child and it surprised her. How could she feel such a sudden connection for a little kid?
The kid stood up from the crawl and started walking to her. Another surprise because she didn’t realize the kids could walk. How did she miss that?
The kid held the small car in his hand and held it out to her as he got closer. She suddenly found herself smiling at the child. It had been a week since a smile surfaced and she felt theweight lift off her shoulders. It felt wrong to feel joy but she knew she had to learn to find those moments of happiness. The young kid held the car he was playing with, out to her.
“Oh, nice car,” she said, taking the toy from the kid. “Thank you but you should play with it.”
Isha tried to hand the small toy back to the kid but he just stood looking at her, the same adorable look that reminded her of her brother. “You are so cute, you know that?”
The little boy, as if in response to her words, dropped the toy car on the floor making it shatter.
“Oh no,” she said looking at the car that lay shattered on the marble floor.
She knelt to the floor to pick up the pieces but in a flash the kid took off towards the wide-open door. She froze again watching the kid run away. When did the crawling baby learn to run so fast?
“Stop,” she called out after the baby as she ran behind him, fighting her body that would not move as fast as she could. Her brother ran track at school and was a champion and his kid was running like him and she could not keep up just like their childhood days.
“Ravi, stop,” she shouted, wondering why she was calling her brother’s kid by that name. That’s because she could not remember the kid’s name.
