RaBir FF - Recasting the Princess CH 11 pg8 03/12 - Page 7

Chapter #11

Immediately outside the door, Rachna stopped. Her companion, a few steps ahead of her noticed and turned back in order to return to her.

"You're early, far too early Kunal. Why?"

Her co-worker, who had now reached her, grabbed her by the elbow hoping to usher her away, all the while nervously glancing back at the entrance door of the home they had just exited. "Chalo Rachna," he whispered conspiratorially, "once you see what I have discovered, you will understand that I was justified." Out of the corner of one eye he noticed an oncoming auto, and hailed it by enthusiastically waving one hand. "Chalo, we can go the cafe and grab a cup of coffee. Trust me you will need one." He insisted as he all but tugged Rachna in his wake.

*********

"And this special project warrants his showing up unannounced here, today of all days, Nanhe," Daadi questioned, unmoved by the explanation provided to her. "Why am I not convinced of this, beta, and further how exactly did he know where to find her after work hours, eh beta?"

Kabir stopped trying to rationalize with his grandmother. She had a point: a very good one to be exact. Since when had Rachna's and the IT specialist's association develop to the point that they would be meeting outside of office hours? Logically, he could only surmise that his wife had provided directions to her location today, if as Daadi had indicated, she hadn't been at all surprised by Kunal's arrival. Clearly he would need to have a word with the man to determine his objective in coming close to a married woman. He had no doubts in regards with his wife's trustworthiness, however it dawned on him, for the first time, that he did not truly know the man he had introduced to their lives. Naturally, with this new development he could not help, but to speculate if something else was afoot.

***********

"Two coffees: black," Kunal presumptively ordered. Beside him Rachna sat impatient for some clarification of what was of such critical importance. She didn't have to wait long. The waiter had barely walked away, when Kunal removed his tablet from its case, and hastily pressed the keys to navigate where he needed to be. There seemed to be some issue with connectivity, and as he waited for the problem to resolve itself, Rachna observed as the man seated beside her, impatiently began tapping on his knee. She looked at him expectantly. Having absolutely refused to conduct the necessary searches at the office, Kunal had generously offered his own time on her research. Judging by his reaction, Rachna suspected that he had met success. Tearing her attention away briefly when a mug of black coffee was placed in front of her, Rachna raised her head, coffe cup in hand, to encounter the Cheshire Cat like grin on her companion's face. With flourish, he turned the device around to face her.

"May I present said absentee mother: Sonal.

Rachna sat back in her chair, shocked.

Leaning over the image, Kunal looked up from his study of the photo , when Rachna spoke up suddenly.

"Kunal are you sure?"

The man switched to something else and then offered his recitation: detailing how the pair had known each other in New York, most likely predicated by the fact that the woman had had a career as a model. He told of Kabir and Sonal's long -term relationship concluding with the latter's subsequent travel to Banaras in pursuit of the man she loved when he had relocated back to India. He stopped then and considered Rachna who still looked dubious of the information. "Honestly it wasn't hard to discover and there is ample proofs of these facts, Rachna, if you need to see." He moved to pull up something else on his device. "Let me just..."

" Wait Kunal. May I just see the picture once more Kunal?"

The man obliged her request, and handed the tablet over to her after switching back to the original page.

Rachna's first thought was that they suited each other; that at face value, the handsome designer and the exceptionally stunning woman in the image were definitely a match physically. And yet, there was still something, a brittleness in the woman's smile that belied the fact that she could ever Kabir's equal. Even if this association was found to be factual, Rachna could not fathom that their relationship to have been a happy one. She couldn't explain it, nor could she expect Kunal to understand what she meant, when, in fact she herself quite comprehend her doubts either...

"They became engaged soon after she travelled to Banaras, at Holi to be specific. Her son was born in December of the same year," Kunal continued, carefully scrutinizing the woman across the table from him. "She would have been here during the time you were first employed by Kabir, Rachna. Is none of this familiar, can you say that you have never seen her before?"

"I...I don't know," Rachna replied in what she hoped was a calm voice. All the while, she felt as if she was struggling internally: her heart palpitating in her chest, and an uncomfortable heat seeming to have risen from the same area.

Ignoring her troubled expression, Kunal reached out across the table. "May I," he asked, looking to take back the pad. He quickly brought up something else, and then re-offered it for Rachna's viewing. "And now this here, Rachna is the kicker: the answer to your original question of what would make a mother abandon her child."

If she thought her reactions to be abnormal before, they were nothing in comparison to now, when it felt as if her throat would completely constrict. She gasped, attempting to draw in breath as she scanned the article in front of her.

**********

"Hey Ra, I'm bored, do you have time to stop by today?"

Naomi scrunched up her face as she waited intently on the other end of the line for her friend's response. If that hadn't been the lamest excuse, she thought, of the request she had just made. She should be so lucky to be in a position to be bored, she thought swiftly before she reverted back to worrying that she would be caught out. You see, she fully expected Rachna to see right through the invention behind her request.

"Um, Nahi... I mean I'm sorry, I just unable to... well today at least," Rachna stuttered finally.

"You have set plans, I guess," Naomi asked pressing her friend for information.

"Haan, and only because what I am doing is vitally important can I not come over, Naomi, but I promise as soon as I'm done..."

"It's okay Ra, we can touch base when you are free. But...if you don't mind me saying, you sound a litte frazzled. Is something going on?"

"Hmm," Rachna mumbled , "not really...it's just..."

"Hey it's cool Ra, if you have something going one, we can talk later, thik hai."

"Haan, bye."

Naomi bit her lip, as she lowered the phone. Daadi was right; something was definitely up with Ra. If she wasn't mistaken, wherever she was; whatever she was doing with Kunal, Rachna was rattled. Naomi had no idea what it meant, but she had every intention of finding out. Stuck home as she was she realized that she, herself was somewhat limited, and she would have to be careful going about looking into things, not that she would be stopped .

After finishing with her telephone call Rachna turned her attention back to Kunal. "Is it really possible, I mean surely it will hard to schedule a visit with her at all? If so I really need to meet his woman."

"I don't think so, it seems a straight forward process to arrange an official visit through the warden's office told me; we haven't even missed the time she has allotted for her visitations. And every indication is that she would welcome it. What would be harder would be getting there. I don't expect that your family will be keen on you travelling so far." Kunal waited for Rachna's response, and then shook his head when it appeared that she was still seemed skeptical. He had clearly mistepped, so he backtracked his position. "Nahi, wait never mind...just forget it. It]s crazy for me to be encouraging any of this. Look you wanted to locate the mother of Kabir's son, and I've done that . The rest of it, well it's probably better that we leave that well enough alone." He studied Rachna, who it appeared he hadn't quite convinced. "Look Rachna, maybe you need to level with me, and tell me what's really going on. Just tell me why you feel the need to be involved ; what's behind this concern you have?" He reached out and grabbed her hand, starling her with the tight grip that prevented her from withdrawing it. "Be honest with me Rachna: what is your relationship with Kabir?"

********

She came home, her mind solely on her destination. She needed to confide in one of the few people who understood, and she had to do it immediately. Her head felt tight, but she remained focused on reaching Gunjan to speak to her. So distracted, she did not immediately respond to her mother's greeting, and only stopped, when the hand placed on her shoulder, held fast, checking her progress through the house.

"Beta, are you okay; did you not hear me when I called out?"

Rachna spun around to acknowledge her mother. "I'm sorry Mummy; I was just in a hurry." She swallowed when her mother reached out to feel her forehead. "Beta you look a little peaked, are you certain you are okay?"
"Ji mummy, I mean I have a bit of a headache, but I am fine," Rachna answered spinning her head back toward the direction she had to go. "I just really need to speak to Gunjan for a second."

"Wait a minute, Rachna, at least come and get something for your headache,"Shail insisted.

"Nahi, please, Mummy if I can just have a moment."

Since the accident, Shail had never seen her daughter so agitated, and wondered if it could mean that such a moment that they had been advised by the physician to watch out for had occurred. Something had assuredly occurred, and instinctively Rachna had felt the need to reach out to one of her closest confidants. Shail was left with no alternative, but to allow her child to seek the solace she needed from her sibling.

She sent a prayer up to the heavens that it some progress would be seen in the situation, that would bring an end to the separation of her daughter from her husband and children.

"Go beti," she called.