Page 6 of The Unwanted Husband
She leaned closer to the desk but her vision started to blur. She could not read anything printed but nodded. After collecting a few signatures, the lawyer got up to leave and Ashok followed the woman to the front door. Isha sat in the chair frozen, processing the last few words she heard.
Her brother and his wife chose her as one of the guardians for their children? They chose the person who didn’t want kids of her own and sucked at handling them to be responsible for their precious twins, why?
Her blood was rushing through her head making her dizzy when she heard footsteps approaching.
“Monisha, are you okay?”
She was finding it hard to breathe. “I… I can’t do this.”
Ashok stood by the desk, his pockets in his dress pants. “Monisha, calm down.”
She looked up at him, her eyes spitting fire. “How do you think I can calm down? I just lost my brother, damn it.”
“And I lost my sister and my best friend.” His words and high tones hit her like darts.
She let out a sob, shaking her head. “I can’t take this. The children, I can’t deal with them. I don’t want anything to do with them.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “The children you are talking about are—”
She interjected and stood up. “I know. They are my niece and nephew but…I’m not… I can’t take care of them.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “We can’t let them stay at our friend’s place forever.”
She shook her head, unable to find the words.
“Let’s go bring the kids back. They need to be in their home.” He looked around the room before his eyes rested on the picture of the happy couple.
“I don’t want to… I don’t want to go.” She shivered.
“Monisha, I am no expert with kids either. I could use some help.” His tone was unforgiving.
She shook her head. “I can’t look at them. It will make me very sad and—”
“You are not the only one dealing with a loss here.” His elevated voice made her look up at him and he added, “Those kids have no one, but us. If you don’t want to do anything with them, you’ll need to hang around at least until I figure out what to do.”
He was right but she had no energy left in her to think about the children. “I… I’m sorry, I—”
“Let’s go bring the kids back to their home.” Ashok’s words were curt but she decided she had no option but to work with him.
CHAPTER 3
A couple of days later, Isha sat on a chaise in the living room, her knees drawn into her chest as she watched her brother’s kids play with their new caretakers. Two middle aged women, recommended by her brother’s friends to care for the children since both Ashok and she were clueless.
Isha kept her eyes on the toddlers and wondered why she could not even look at them until that day. They both pounced on Ashok every time they saw him but didn’t care for her. They didn’t know her and she was glad she didn’t have to deal with the kids.
Her phone rang next to her pulling her out of her thoughts. It was Aman.
“Hi Aman, Good morning” she said, a small smile forming on her lips.
“Isha, how is everything back home?” His tone was soft.
“Home? This is not home, Aman. I feel like a fish out of water and I…” she paused to step away from the kids and added, “I still can’t believe I will not see my brother again and these kids, I don’t know what to do with them.”
Aman let out a sigh. “I’m sorry for everything and I am pissed I’m not there with you.”
“No. It’s okay. I’ll be back soon.”
“How are the kids doing?”
