"Why didn't you tell me?"
The forbidding frown on his face would have daunted any lesser mortal. Five months ago it would have daunted her as well.
"Why didn't you tell me about Thakurain Maasa?"
Rudra's dark eyes flashed in warning, a muscle ticking in jaw. But an air of dangerous recklessness had seized Paro. It had been growing steadily since the tragedy on her wedding day, but last week's disclosure had done what months of uncertainty about the future and grief for a life lost forever couldn't do. Parvati no longer feared anything. Everything she'd once loved and believed in had been blown to smithereens. And now, all that remained was to seek answers. She didn't need anything except closure. And that is what she told herself again and again. She repeated it thrice daily along with her meals. She reminded herself when she felt a glimmer of sympathy for the ruthless Major Saab who spent nights staring aimlessly out of the window. She brought it up when her heart longed to let go and dream.
She just wanted answers. So she repeated her question loudly and as firmly as she could.
"Why didn't you tell me that Thakurain Maasa is your mother? You told me what Sunaina said. You told me what your Bade Saheb at the headquarters said. You told me about what happened in Birpur. Why didn't you tell me about Thakurain Maasa?"
Nostrils flared and eyes narrowed in disbelief, Rudra finally let loose.
"I told you exactly what I needed to. And why would I tell you anything of the sort? Why would I tell you that I've been wrong for more than fifteen years, about my own mother? Why do you need to know, Parvati? So that some of your beliefs about the BSD are reaffirmed? So that you can read me another lecture about what I should have done and what I should have not? Go ahead. Make your judgments and leave! Why are you still around to watch the fun?"
She couldn't help taking a small startled step backwards as he screamed. Wrapping her arms defensively around herself, she shook her head. A tremor she tried hard to control slipped into her voice.
"After Mami Sa, Nandini Jiji and Bindi, Thakurain Maasa was the closest thing I had to family-- a mother. You should have told me, Major Saab. She is important to me."
Pacing restlessly to the other end of the room and sitting down heavily on the bed, Rudra gripped fistfuls of the patchwork quilt Paro had recently finished making.
"Why are you still here, Parvati?"
Following quietly in his footsteps, she sat on the bed beside him, carefully maintaining a few inches between them. When she realized that he was still waiting for a response, she gave a small shrug of her shoulders.
"Where would I go, Major Saab? Where does a woman leave her husband's house and go?"