A/N: I can pretty much guarantee that the conversation does not start how you think it does, unless you are a genius. If so, kudos to you! R&R!
"Hi!" I say with a note of false cheer.
"Are you babysitting? I mean, I know that you wouldn't have stayed with that barbarian for long, because you must have come to your senses, and I don't see you marrying someone and having a child in two years. So, since you're still single, would you like to go out this weekend," Artie finishes, pulling is lavender and pink striped sweater vest down over his fleshy stomach.
I think of Ren putting on a pair of light denim jeans and a cobalt blue button down shirt with black curls. I had run my hands through his hair that morning, and we kissed for a long time. I involuntarily shiver.
Artie assumes that the shiver is because of him. He grins and comes closer. "So, I'll pick you up at six?" he asks.
"No, Artie-," I protest. "I didn't-."
"Who is this little guy anyway? Son of a friend, random stranger, nephew?" he asks casually.
"My son," I say shortly. Artie's eyes bug out. "And 'the barbarian' is my husband."
"Well, I won't apologize for my opinion, but I-," he swallows thickly, "congratulate you. Though I do think that you would have been better off with me." He bends down to kiss my hand just as Ren comes out with a shopping cart. He jumps in front of me.
"You," he says like it's the worst insult that he could come up with.
"You?" Artie says, like he can't believe who he is looking at.
"I thought I told you that Kelsey would never be available again," Ren says menacingly.
"Well, I assumed that Kelsey would come to her senses," Artie says, indelicately. Anik, uninterested in the drama unfolding before him, begins to cry. The sound leads Ren to loosen the fists clenched at his side, and turn to me.
"Is he okay?" Ren asks concernedly.
"He's fine, I say with a smile. "He's just mad because I stopped playing him," I say as I pull on each of his fingers and whisper at him. I hug him to my chest and smooth the soft brown-black down on his head.
Artie's eyes bug out, and he stalks off, presumably to send a package to his ex-girlfriend.
When he is out of earshot, I snigger loudly. "He called you a barbarian again," I jibe.
"I'm not surprised, but I am a little bit offended that he thinks he knows you so well. Are you okay?"
"Ren, he asked me out, he didn't punch me. I'm fine."
"Good. Now, we need bacon, milk, bacon, bread, bacon, butter, and bacon, right?" he lists.
"Wow, you really want the bacon, don't you?" I laugh.
"Well, if you're making a Scramble for me, you need to put in a whole package, at least," Ren says, and tugs on my ponytail. He takes Nik from me and buckles him into the cart seat. We walk into the store, together.
~TR~
Three days later, we board the private Rajaram Industries jumbo jet to go to India. I always feel weird that we are so rich, since neither one of us does anything for a living. When I think of it, I usually console myself saying that Mr. Kadam worked hard for, literally, centuries, and he did leave a hefty sum to both Ren and me, and so it should be spent in ways that would make him happy. Namely, us spending it the way we want to. But then, I think of Kishan, and I touch my necklace, and I think of how he would have adored Anik, and the kids to come.
I shake my head to clear the sad thoughts, and buckle Nik into the special seat Ren had installed in the plane for him. As I buckle myself in, Ren comes on board, and sits down in the buttery leather recliner with a seat belt. I look over at Nik, and see that he is already fast asleep. I laugh, and trace the dimples on his palms.
Ren lightly places his hand on the small of my back. I turn and smile at him. He points at my seat belt, and I buckle. He intertwines his fingers with mine, and I lean my head on his. My eyelids flutter a few times, and as I feel the plane take off, hear Ren speaking to me softly, in Hindi, I fall asleep.
~TR~
When I wake up, we are cruising above the Atlantic Ocean. Ren is sleeping, too, and I have the urge to use the restroom. I check on Nik, who is still asleep, and enter the copper and cream bathroom. When I come out, Nik is stirring fitfully, and starting to whimper. I dash over and unbuckle his entirely too complicated seat as fast as I can. When I finally do get him out, I cradle him close to my chest.
"Kelsey?" Ren says. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," I coo at Nik. I clear my throat. "Sorry, yeah. I think he was having a nightmare, though."
Ren takes him from me. "Ladka, yehrehnatheek. Yehhona bas eksapna. Mat sataana," he says, rocking our son back and forth smoothly.
I lean against the seat, and think of the new baby we'll have in seven months. Ren looks up and smiles at me.
"I could have said, 'Monsters are going to come eat you in your sleep and then I will turn into a tiger to finish you off,' and you wouldn't have been able to tell, right?" he jokes.
"Pretty much. As long as you say it like you want him to be okay, you could say whatever the heck you want," I say with a grin. "What did you say?"
"I said, 'It's okay. It was just a dream. Don't worry'," he says with a smile. "Ladka literally means son, or infant, child, etcetera, but my father used to use it as a term of endearment for Kishan." Ren frowns. "I remember him calling Kishan many things, but all he ever called me was Dhiren. He sometimes called me 'meri uttaraadhikaari' which means my heir, but I don't remember him being affectionate towards me."
I walk over to him and place my hand on his arm. "Ren, what you remember of him is from over three hundred years ago, so there may be things that you don't remember-," I pause as Ren interrupts.
"So you think I just forgot that my father actually cared about me?"
"No, I think that you are jealous of Kishan, like you always have been. Your parents gave up ruling a kingdom and moved into the jungle to be with you when you were a tiger. If that isn't proof of love for your child, then I don't know what is," I say, putting my hands on my hips. "Did your mother have nicknames for you?"
Ren grins at that. "She called me rajkumar, similar to one of my favorite name for you, rajkumari, and meri kripaapatra, which means my favorite, but only when Kishan wasn't around. There were more, but those were the ones she used most often."
"See?" I say, and poke his chest above Nik. "I'm sure that Kishan was jealous of your relationship with your mother. After all, you were going to get both of the women he loved, the crown, and you were generally better than him. Except possibly at martial arts," I finish thoughtfully.
"Hey!" he protests.
"What! He said that he loved Yesubai and me; you were older than him; and you are better at negotiations, better looking, and more dangerous. Except in fighting, because unless it involves me, you follow the rules, and he didn't. He probably has to now, being a god and everything."
"Miss?" A flight attendant says, sticking her head into the cabin from the attendants' quarters between the cockpit and the cabin. "Would you like lunch?"
I look at Ren, and he shrugs. "Yes, please. I'm Kelsey, by the way," I say, approaching the door.
"Genevieve," she says, and enters the cabin as she straightens her skirt. That's funny. One of my best friend's name was Genevieve in elementary school "Have you lived in Oregon all your life?" she asks, inclining her head slightly to the left, just like Gemmy.
"Yeah," I say slowly. "Where are you from?"
"Oregon. Where did you grow up?"
"Salem. You?"
"Same. Your maiden name wouldn't happen to be Hayes, would it?" she says with a dazzling smile.
"It would. Gemmy?" I say incredulously
"I wondered how long it would take you. How are you?" she asks, hugging me tightly.
"I'm fantastic. What about you? Did you marry Neil?" I ask her, teasing her about the guy about she had a crush on all through elementary school.
She laughs. "No, but we did go out for awhile in high school. I'm dating a guy named Artie at the moment."
"Wait, sweater vest Artie? He went to WOU a few years ago and worked in the language lab?" I ask.
"Yeah. Why, do you know him?"
"Uh, yeah. He asked me out earlier this week. We went out one time three years ago, and it was one of the-never mind. Do you like him?"
"Yeah, I do. He's really sweet. But we've been going out for almost a year and a half. You say he asked you out a few days ago?" she says dubiously.
"Yeah. Well, more like told me out, but then my husband came out. Speaking of, Ren, get over here," I say as I beckon him over.
"Hi, I'm Ren," Ren says, as he repositions Anik to shake Gemmy's hand.
"Genevieve, but you can call me Gemmy," she says with another bright smile.
With her long, thick, and straight strawberry-blonde hair; perfect skin that is either the result of taking wonderful care of herself or an expert hand with make-up; bright white teeth; and perfectly manicured nails, it's no wonder that I felt inferior to Gemmy in fifth grade. She changed schools for middle school, and then she moved out of county for high school, then I ended up gallivanting across India before we could reconnect.
"Hi, Gemmy," Ren says, with a more dazzling smile.
"Gemmy," I say, taking Anik from Ren, "this is my son, Anik. If you want, you can call him Nik."
"Oh, he's adorable! How long have you guy been married?" she asks me.
"About two and a half years," I say thoughtfully. "Yeah, Nik was born two years after we got married, and he's about eight months old."
"Wow, how long did you guys date before you got married? Didn't you just get out of college?"
Well, just thrown the two hard ones at me, why don't you? I take a deep breath. "Well, we had a rather complicated relationship, before we got married. Um, we dated for about six months before Ren got, uh, transferred to India for his work, and I had to stay here for school. We decided to break up, and then I went out with his brother. He, uh, came back with a girlfriend, and Ren's brother and I were engaged, but then Kishan…Died in a plane crash, and Ren and I got engaged about six months later." I stop at her questioning look. "What?"
"We always thought that I would be the one with a complicated love life."
"Yeah, well, it looks like we were wrong," I say wryly.
"What about college?" she asks innocently, not knowing how close I am to changing her life with myths she thought were only myths.
"Well, I finished my first semester of freshman year normally, then Ren's, well, father needed me to go to India to catalog some artifacts that he and his team found on a dig, so I finished second semester online, and then I married Ren, and he's the head of the company, and we decided that one of us should stay home with the kids that we would have, so I didn't go back," I shrug, hoping that I could remember the huge lie I just told.
"Well, you're life is much more exciting than mine," Gemmy says slowly.
"And much, much, much, more complicated," I mutter.
"What was that?" she asks innocently.
"Nothing," I say brightly.
"Oh!" she says quickly. "I was supposed to get your lunch, wasn't I?" she says. "I'll be right back," she says as she ducks around the curtain separating our quarters.
"Well then," Ren says. "How do you know her?" he asks quizzically.
"We were besties in grade school," I smile.
"Two things: Besties and grade school," Ren says, reminding me that he has only been in the U.S. for about five years.
"Besties are best friends, and grade school is elementary school," I explain.
"Information filed for future use," he jokes. He holds out his crooked arm, and I slide my arm through him as we walk back to our table.
~TR~
Ten minutes later, Gemmy comes out carrying a tray with two plates and two glasses of ice-cold water. She bends down and presses the button that pops the table out. She sets the glasses down in the indentations, and sets the plates down in front of us.
"Today's lunch is macadamia nut-crusted chicken filet with a side of summer vegetables, and a peanut butter cookie topped with ice cream for dessert," she announces. "Enjoy," she says formally.
As Ren and I dig in, with me holding Anik, we talk about what Nilima and Sunil's wedding should be like. I think that they should have a ceremony similar to what Sunil would have participated in, back in his time, but Ren thinks that they should have a modern ceremony, based on the fact that both of them have been so isolated from society, that the wedding would be an almost coming-of-age ceremony.
"But, Ren," I protest. "Neither one of them really wants to be part of modern society."
"True," he says, pointing his fork at my face. "But that is exactly why they need to be initiated."
"Ren, that's like saying that, um, let me think," I say, twisting my face, trying to find a ridiculous example. "That's like saying…that I should have taken you to a night club on your first night in the U.S.," I say triumphantly.
"And you should have taken me to a nightclub. I think I would have enjoyed it very much," he says very superiorly.
"Ren, darling, do you know what a nightclub is?" I ask sweetly.
"A club that meets at night, I assume," he says with the same tone.
"Well, you assume wrong. It is where teenagers go, wearing tight, sort-of dresses, in respect to the girls, and dance very inappropriately, and sneak off to rooms provided," I say, proud that I thought of something.
"Well, that does sound, um, interesting," Ren says suggestively, and waggles his eyebrows.
I blush. "I'm sorry; I thought that I was talking to Dhiren. But, it appears that Kishan has magically reappeared," I joke.
"Oh, that reminds me. Wonderful story you told your friend there."
I frown. "I wish that I didn't have to lie to people. If only that our relationship had been that simple."
"Hey," Ren say gently as he taps my chin to make me look at him. "Everyone is happy. You and I got married and are having children, Kishan married a goddess, and Nilima is marrying Sunil. There isn't any reason to be sad."
"But, Ren," I say, tortured by theses thoughts. "You were tortured by Lokesh and had to watch me try to love Kishan; I got mauled by a bear, almost got my leg bitten off by a shark and a kraken, you forgot me, and I had to figure out which three hundred year old were-tiger I should marry; Kishan got a face full of dragon fire and watched the girl he loved try to love him, but love his brother," I say, breathless. "And we can't forget the part where both of you had to be tigers for at least six hours. Kishan spent three hundred years punishing himself for killing the girl that he thought he loved, but found out that he didn't kill her or love her when a raven sucked out his brain," I moan.
Ren takes my hand from across the makeshift table. "Kelsey," he says exasperatedly. "I wasn't present for some if that, but I can assure you that Kishan regrets none of it. I know I don't," he says sweetly. "And from what I heard, it didn't suck out his brain. It just took off his sunglasses." I laugh weakly at his reference to Kishan's analogy.
"I know," I say as I wipe a few stray tears from my eyes. "I just wish that we could have met in college, gotten married after dating for a year, and never had all the chaos and heartbreak."
"But we wouldn't be the same if we hadn't," Ren says with a slight smile on his face. "Kelsey," he says turning the hypnotic aspect of his voice up to high. "What's really the problem here?"
"I'm not really sure," I answer. "It's probably just hormones."
"Okay," Ren says doubtfully.
"Ren, do you remember when I was pregnant with Anik?" I say, referring to the time when I almost slapped him for telling me the he liked a lighter green for the nursery, or the time when I started bawling because I made dinner and there weren't leftovers, so I thought that I didn't make enough.
"You're right," he says reluctantly.
"The pregnant lady always is," I tease him.
"Hm. You are correct there as well. I will never argue with you again."
"I doubt that," I, inelegantly, laugh.
"No, I promise!" Ren says loudly.
"Shh!" I admonish ineffectively, as a laugh accompanies it. "Nik's just fallen asleep.
"Kelsey, why do you call him Nik? Don't you like his full name?" Ren asks me.
"No, that's not it at all!" I exclaim. "He just looks really, well, not Indian, so Anik sounds weird, and Nik is an appropriate sort of American name with a little twist, and it fits his name, so I figured, you know, why not?" I babble. "Is that okay with you?"
"Yes, it's fine," he assures me. "I was only curious."
"Kelsey? Mr. Rajaram?" Gemmy says, peeking out of the curtain.
"Call me Ren," Ren interjects.
"Oh, thank you, sir, but the rules say that I either have to call you 'Sir' or 'Mr. Rajaram'," she explains. "I just wanted to tell you that the plane will be landing in about five minutes."
"Thanks, Gemmy," I say warmly. "Oh! What's your phone number?"
"Oh, I don't have one. I'm not living on the streets or anything, but I'm not doing that well in the way of money at the moment. You have Artie's number, right?" I nod. "Just call him, and he'll get back to me."
"Okay, I say cheerfully. She'll never hear from me again. "Just ask Artie to text me or something, and I'll get back to him, too."
"Great," she smiles as she ducks back behind the curtain.
I buckle Nik into his seat, careful not to wake him. As I sit back in my seat, I see Ren leaning his elbows on his knees and studying me.
"Is everything okay?" I ask him curiously.
He shakes his head, like what I do to refocus. "Yes." He reaches over and caresses my stomach. "I love you."
"I love you more," I say, starting one of our games. Ren realizes what I'm doing and grins.
"No, I love you more." And on and on and on, until we get off the plane.
~TR~
Nilima is waiting in a new car out one the tarmac as I hug Gemmy goodbye with one arm and hold Nik tightly with the other.
After Ren gets all of our suitcases into the trunk and Nik is buckled into the car seat, I ask Nilima to see her ring.
She grins, and extends her left hand toward me. The narrow silver band is topped with a medium-sized, circle-cut diamond, which is surrounded by smaller, circle-cut diamonds.
"Oh, Nilima!" I exclaim. "It's beautiful!"
"Thank you, Ms. Kelsey," she nods. "Sunil told me that he brought his mother's ring with him when Phet told him that he would have to come back with you, since he hoped to marry someone."
"That's so precious," I say with a sigh. "You hear that, Nik?" I say to my sleeping infant son. "Learn from Sunil and your father and girls will be flocking to you from all over the world."
Ren smiles at me and cranes his neck to see the ring. "Hmph," he says crossing his arms. "Not bad," he says begrudgingly.
"Hey," I say with a laugh. "I still like mine better," I reassure him.
"Okay," he says, appeased.
~TR~
When we get to the house, I take Nik out of the car and walk up to the front door as Ren struggles with the bags.
"Do you need any help?" I call back to him.
"No," he grunts. "Wow, I really need to get back to the gym," he comments.
"That's not true," I tease him. "I saw you get dressed this morning, and there is absolutely not an ounce of cells that aren't pure muscle on you."
"That doesn't mean that I don't have to go to the gym anymore," he argues.
"I know, I just-never mind," I sigh. "Hey Nilima!" I call back to her. "Is Sunil home?"
"Yeah, just knock."
I knock, and hear the confusing rush of more than one pair of footsteps to get to the door.
"Who is it?" a voice that sounds teasingly familiar says.
"Sunil, let me in," I say tiredly. "I want to put Nik down."
"I am not Sunil, and who is Nik?" I can tell that whoever is speaking is altering their voice, and it is driving me crazy.
"I mean it!" I say exasperatedly. "Just open the door!"
"Let us in," Ren says, his struggle with the bags obvious in his voice.
"Fine." He drops the alteration from his voice, and I recognize it. I look wildly at Ren, but he seems just as surprised as I am. The door opens, and I almost drop my son onto the hard tile floor as my suspicions are confirmed.
"Hello, bilauta," Kishan says with a glint in his eye.