Page 83 of I Wish We Weren't Related

“Reeva?” The doorflung open to reveal Saraswati in a sexy lace nightgown that looked like something Jaya would wear. “I can’t find my earplugs. I must have left them on the plane. Do you have any?”

Reeva blinked in confusion. She’d fallen asleep hours before, exhausted from her mum’s revelation. “Uh, what?”

“Earplugs!”

“Um, FP’s chewed them all up.”

Her mum’s face recoiled. “How disgusting. Well, can we ask the porter to pop down to the shop and get me some?”

“Uh, I don’thavea porter. And even if I did, there’s no way you could ask them to do that.”

“But, Reeva, is it safe to live in a building without a porter?! Why can’t you move back to the house and have Minu take care of you?”

“You have spent way too long in India. And I don’t need a housekeeper to take care of me.”

Her mum sighed. “Fine. So, what time are we leaving for Leicester tomorrow?”

Reeva sat up straight. “ ‘We’? I’m not coming.”

“But, the kriya...” Her mum’s face tightened in anxiety. “It was his last wish.”

Reeva frowned. “Uh, he also wanted us to spend two weeks at his house attending his bloody prayers and packing up his stuff. The man wanteda lot.”

“But...” Saraswati walked closer to Reeva’s bed, wringing her hands together. “You being at the kriya was his real last wish.”

“Real?” Reeva’s eyes narrowed. “Mum, are you not telling me something?”

Saraswati hesitated and then shrugged. “Oh fine. I made all that up. There was no clause in the will at all. You and your sisters get everything equally. I made my lawyers invent the stuff about you having to be there for the prayers.”

Reeva’s mouth fell open. “You lied?!”

Saraswati raised her chin defiantly. “Yes. For the greater good.”

“Excuse me?”

“I thought it would be a good way to get you and your sisters in the same place together. I’m so sick of you all hating each other. You need each other. Especially you.”

“Why especially me?!”

“You love your sisters—you always have no matter how much you pretend you can go it alone. You need them in your life.”

Reeva crossed her arms. “No, I don’t. They’re selfish, and I’m happier without them. And I cannot believe you tricked me into spending a fortnight with them! That’s really, really not okay, Mum.”

Saraswati waved her hand dismissively. “They’re not selfish;they’re just insecure. Jaya feels her only worth lies in her looks—she’s too scared to show more of herself to the world in case she’s rejected. And Sita is too scared of people’s judgment to leave Nitin and live her own life.”

Reeva was privately impressed by her mum’s perceptiveness but refused to show it. Instead, she scowled like the rebellious teenager she’d always wanted to be.

“They need you too, Reeva,” continued Saraswati. “You’re stronger than them. You can help them find the courage to be themselves. And I know this wasn’t right of me, but it felt like the best way to help you all. And it worked, didn’t it? At least for a while...”

“Mum, this is a new low even for you.”

“But, Reeva, I was just trying to help! And you need to come to the kriya tomorrow—it’s important. It’s what your dad wanted. And forgiving him will help you to let go of all of this and just move on.”

Reeva shook her head resolutely. “I’m sorry, Mum, but you can’t just manipulate people into forgiveness. Whether it’s with my sisters or my dad.”

“But at least come—”

“I’m not coming to the kriya,” interrupted Reeva. “I already said goodbye when I was five years old and I thought he’d died. I’m not doing it again.”

---