Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“That’s my father.” Sarla rose from the bed where she’d pressed a compress to a feverish child’s forehead.
She looked at Will, who stood at the foot of the bed.
Their paths met two days after the incident with the Company men at the palace.
She’d been on the way to the almshouse, and he was too.
He explained he donated money on Sundays, since it was the English church’s weekly holy day. She’d nearly melted where she stood.
“He sounds furious.” Will reached out his hand to guide her toward the door.
He’d been concerned when she told him she ministered to the sick.
He feared her catching something, but his anxiousness eased when she explained that the people who she visited didn’t have communicable diseases.
He visited with her every day, offering whatever help he could, moving supplies, cutting wood, even scrubbing floors.
He was happy for any time spent near her, and he noted in the Company logs how villagers fared.
It justified his actions. He listened to her read to patients, and they’d sat side-by-side as two patients died the previous week.
He’d held her hand as she grieved the first one.
He’d pulled his chair beside hers and wrapped his arm around her.
She’d cried against his chest. She’d known both women since she was an infant.
“He rarely yells. It must be something bad.”
They hurried out of the almshouse and followed the sound of chattering voices.
They stopped short as Theo and Vinita came to stand beside Surat and Chandra.
Sarla and Will followed her parents' gaze and found Sunita in Rob’s arms. It was obvious they’d been caught, and Sarla wondered just what they’d been doing.
After the second time Will offered her sympathy, they’d found reasons for their bodies to brush together, or they linked little fingers when they sat at patients’ bedsides.
But hearing Surat bellowing at Rob and threatening to dismember him made them both fear going beyond the harmless displays of affection and attraction.
“How dare you!” Surat stormed toward the couple. “You came into my home, shared a meal with my family, assured me my people would be safe from yours, and now I find you corrupting my daughter.”
Suniti stepped around Rob, but he tried to place her behind him again. She shook off his hold and looked back at him. “Do you want to marry me?”
“Of course.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Implicitly.”
“Then let me talk.”
Their hurried and whispered conversation ended when Surat reached them. He extended his arm to grasp Suniti’s, but Rob wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Baba, no one corrupted anyone. You know Rob is an honorable man who respects you and the people of Bikaner. He’s done all he can to ensure accord between you and the Company. If he were Indian, he would be the man you’d choose for me. Admit it.”
“He’s not Indian.”
“But he intends to stay here with his wife.”
“Wife?” Surat bellowed.
“Me. We married by Gandharva.”
Everyone froze. All they needed was mutual consent to live together and copulate to make the marriage official. But people didn’t consider that official without consummation. Suniti made it sound as though that already happened. She watched her father flush red. He reached for his sword.
“Don’t, Baba,” Suniti whispered, reaching out a staying hand. “This is hardly how we wanted anyone to find out. It was foolish of us to show our affection in public, and I’m sorry that we’ve shamed you. But Rob is who I choose. You would too if he were Indian. I know you would.”
“When will he take you from us?”
“Maharaja, I’m not taking Suniti anywhere.
My home is in India. I don’t wish to return to England.
If you’ll allow it, I will remain here in Bikaner.
I think I can convince the Company to approve it.
I’ve told Suni that if she wishes to visit or move to England, we can. But I do not wish to do that.”
“Why? Are you hiding something? Another wife? A crime?”
“No. I’ve done nothing wrong. But I do not share most of my father’s views on—everything.
I miss my mother and brother, and maybe one day we could visit them.
My brother might even come to visit here.
I never wish to live under my father’s roof again, and I will never depend upon him for anything.
I can provide for a wife and family on my own. ”
“Why Suniti?”
“Because she’s the singularly most amazing person I’ve ever met.” Rob spoke as though it were obvious, as though everyone should feel the same way about the woman in front of him.
“And you know this after a month and a half, a fortnight of which you were away.”
“I knew it the moment I met her.”
“So it is lust. You cannot care for someone the moment you see them.”
“Your daughter is beautiful. I couldn’t deny it, lest I paint myself a fool. But she is far more than her beauty. It radiates from her. I knew it when I saw it. We’ve talked many times over the past month, and my admiration grows with each day.”
“Baba, I don’t wish to be excised from your life or our family’s, but I’ve made my choice.”
Surat turned to Chandra, who approached with her other two daughters and Rob’s friends.
“I warned you something like this would happen. There’s nothing we can do now that she’s declared her marriage, and half the village saw them together. But you’d do well to get Sarla and Vinita’s marriages finalized.”
“Mine?” Sarla stepped forward. “Who do plan to marry me to? Were you going to tell me or just dump me at the groom’s home?”
“Now is not the time,” Surat snapped. He looked at Rob. “Do you intend to make my daughter live in a tent?”
“Baba, my home is with my husband. I’ll live in a tent, a house, or under a tree.
Besides, you know the workers will finish the officers’ quarters in a month.
We will live there, won’t we?” She looked over her shoulder at Rob, realizing there was much they hadn’t discussed before her shocking declaration.
“We can live there until we build a house for us. Married officers are entitled to their own home and staff.”
“My daughter is not living in a tent surrounded by the very type of men who entered our home and threatened to force her.” Chandra shook her head.
She put her hand on Surat’s arm, and he looked down at his wife of nearly twenty-five years.
There’d been resentment between them when they first married.
Chandra’s parents essentially did what Sarla described.
Neither of knew until their wedding day that they were marrying.
They’d met a few times, and they suspected their parents negotiated a union.
But it came as a shock when they learned their wedding would begin that night.
It took two years before they admitted they’d fallen in love.
Before that, the early months had been rife with bitterness.
Neither wanted that for their daughters.
It was why Surat dragged his feet about signing Vinita’s marriage contract.
“You come to live in our home.” Surat’s declaration made Suniti sigh, and once he felt her calm, Rob relaxed. “I suppose we have a celebration to plan.”
Rob slipped his hand into Suniti’s as they followed her parents to the palace. Will and Theo followed behind Sarla and Vinita. The other two couples didn’t know what to make of Suniti and Rob’s elopement, of sorts. They wondered if that was their fate.
“I can’t believe you announced to any and every one that you have a Gandharva marriage.
” Sarla whispered after dinner. She and her sisters sat across the room from the men.
Chandra was in the kitchen overseeing the servants as she planned a wedding celebration in a fortnight.
She’d barely spoken to Suniti since they arrived home.
“It was that or watch Baba lop off Rob’s head, or worse. We’d just been discussing marriage. We’d already agreed that was what we want. He even said he would happily have a Hindu ceremony and forego the English church one.”
“Do you think Will would agree to the same thing? I mean, a Hindu wedding, not necessarily a Gandharva.” Sarla was desperate to ask Will, but there’d been no chance. And she wasn’t sure she could be so forward.
“I do. I’ve seen you together. He looks at you the same way Rob looks at Suni.
” Vinita smiled at her sisters, but she felt demoralized after hearing her mother say her father needed to complete the marriage contracts.
She expected her parents to announce she was leaving for her new home as soon as they finished celebrating Suniti and Rob.
She wasn’t convinced anyone but the three couples would be celebratory.
“Theo looks at you like that, too. Nita, I think he’s the one Baba should worry about the most. I saw how defensive he was of you that night. We all did. He didn’t look like a man willing to forgive. I heard he drowned the man after practically flaying him alive.” Sarla whispered the last sentence.
“What?” Vinita turned to look at Theo before shifting back to face Sarla.
“Yes. I overheard two Company men talking about it the next day. They all know better than to come near us, but apparently, it was so out of character for Theo that people haven’t stopped talking about it.
“You both need to get caught with your man.” Suniti’s blunt statement made the decision sound obvious.
“Like you?” Sarla saw the suggestion’s merit.
“They caught us kissing in the market. It was bad, but Maan and Baba could have still married me off if I hadn’t spoken so loudly. You need to ensure they can’t marry you to anyone else.”
“Are you saying I should bed Theo?” Vinita didn’t sound shocked. She sounded intrigued.
“Maybe not that far, but we know there is plenty to do short of that.” Suniti planned on exploring everything and coupling once she and Rob could be free of her family.
“I’d let Will, but I don’t think he would agree. I think he won’t agree unless we’re already married.”
“Rob made it clear he wouldn’t consider anything less than marriage, and nothing has ever made me happier.”
“You look happy, Suni. I’m glad for you.” Vinita embraced her older sister, and Sarla joined them until Rob walked over. He waited until Suniti accepted his hand. He pulled her against his side to whisper.
“It’s time to make you my wife.”
“You really don’t mind that we haven’t had an official ceremony?”
“Do people consider Gandharva real?”
“Yes.”
“Then we had a ceremony when you declared it. Do you want one?”
Suniti bit her bottom lip before she nodded. She wanted to ensure no one could ever doubt the legitimacy of their union.
“Do you wish to wait to consummate it until after that ceremony?” Rob watched as her cheeks pinkened.
She glanced toward the family chambers and shook her head.
Chandra already told her which chamber would be theirs.
They would move their belongings in the next day.
For now, Suniti wanted to retire in private with her groom.
“Our felicitations once again, my lady.” Will bowed to Suniti before clapping Rob on the arm. He moved aside for Theo to do the same. Will stepped closer to Sarla.
“Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Yes. I hope we can talk.”
“I do too. Sarla, I’m going to ask you tomorrow. Think about your answer tonight.”
“It’s already yes.”
William beamed, but it dimmed as they heard Surat and Chandra talking. He nodded and prepared to walk to the door.
“Will, wait.” Sarla drew closer. “You and I need to be caught together. Something more serious than Suni and Rob. Nita knows that has to happen with Theo. It’s the only way.”
“I know. Theo and I talked about it earlier. We don’t wish to ruin your reputations.
We’ll make it private, but irrefutable. But I will not consummate our union without a proper marriage, Sarla.
I care not if it’s Hindu or Anglican, but it won’t be a mere declaration.
I want it unbreakable and uncontestable.
Once you’re my wife, I will not let you go. ”
Sarla nodded, unsure what to make of the unwavering insistence in Will’s voice.
“I don’t say that to be possessive. You are not an object I wish to keep from the world or to dictate to.
But I want you to understand that I don’t take this lightly.
You know I have to return to England in the future.
When my father dies, I have no choice but to inherit.
Think about whether you can live in England and make a life there with me.
If you marry me, I won’t leave you behind, but neither can I ignore my duty. ”
“Would your family accept me? Our children?”
“Yes. My cousin was a privateer. He married a woman from the West Indies. They have five children who look like his wife. The only children who could be more adorable will be ours. My family was uncertain at first, but they know they love each other.”
Sarla nodded. They were running out of time to talk. “My answer is still yes. And I’ll agree to a Brahma wedding, but we must make it the only option.”
“We will.”
“Goodnight, Will.”
“Goodnight, Sarla.”
Suniti turned to Sarla as Will walked away. Her sister nodded. Suniti shifted her attention to Vinita. It didn’t look like her conversation with Theo progressed as far. Chandra and Surat stood between them.
“Are you ready to retire, sweetling?” Rob’s warm breath caressed her neck and made her shiver.
“Very.”