Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters by Anita Kushwaha

Author:Anita Kushwaha
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2019-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

The next morning, they woke in each other’s arms, staring more than speaking, as if words might prick the golden dream that had formed around them in the night like a luminous bubble. Mala discovered something curious about being close to someone—this close to them. There was a gentle torture about it. She wondered, Who put these bodies between us? She wanted to tunnel down the dark centres of his eyes and not stop until she was on the other side of the window, in his house, where his soul dwelled. She wanted to know him, and she wanted all of him.

“I don’t want to leave this room,” he said, looking down at her, a film of sleep still clouding his vision.

She grinned. “There’s a world outside this room?”

All peace vanished from his face. “I mean it, Mala. The thought of going back to our separates lives after this . . .” he trailed off, shaking his head.

Mala clutched him tightly. This was another perplexing reality, she was discovering, about being close to someone. It made you happy, more than you had ever known. But it also hurt. She was racked with fear at the thought of losing him.

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

He quietly traced the contours of her face. “I woke up in the middle of the night. You were fast asleep. You looked so beautiful with the moonlight shining on your face. All I could think to myself was, I want to be worthy of this person. I want to make things right out of the mess I’ve made.”

Mala hooded her eyes. “I’m as responsible as you are. I feel awful.”

The bump and gurgle of his swallow echoed in her ear. “Not worse than I do.”

A long, brooding silence settled over them as they sank into the guilt of their own thoughts.

“I was wrong to think I could deny my feelings for you,” he said at last. “There’s no going back. At least, not for me.”

Mala burrowed her face into the warm bend of his neck, wishing she could fuse their bodies together. Then nothing and no one—not even fate—could keep them apart.

“Not for me either.” She had found her match. For her, there was no one else.

His arms fastened around her.

“We both have things to settle first. I have to tell Laine the truth. About what happened last night and my feelings for you. I’m committed to being the best father I can be. But she needs to know our relationship is over.” Three strong beats of his heart. “What about Sumesh?”

“What do you mean?”

“When are you going to tell him the wedding’s off?”

Mala shrank in his arms. She resisted the urge to hide her red face behind her hands.

“About that,” she said. “I was completely sideswiped by your news. And I reacted. The truth is, after we kissed, I took your advice and talked to my mom. I told her that Sumesh and I weren’t a good match and I wasn’t going to see him again.

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