Part 5
On leaving her house, Sahana had got on to her bicycle and peddled as fast as she could. She reached her haven in fifteen minutes. It was a small secluded mound not very far from her house. It was where she went whenever she wanted to be on her own and think. Tonight of all nights she wanted to be on her own but she did not want to think. She just wanted to blight out all memories of her life, for they were filled with images of the two most important people in her life, her Papa and her Mama. Today she felt let down by both the people she had reposed all her faith and trust. She did not care that it was nearly eleven in the night and she was the sole person in that desolate place which was dimly lit. All she cared was that she got the much needed air to breathe, for in her own house she felt suffocated. She sat on the green grass and pulling her legs up, she buried her head between her knees and wept bitterly.
Meanwhile, Maan and Geet got into their car and Maan started the engine.
"Where could she have gone?" asked Geet
"I know where to find her," Maan said without elaborating further. He knew his daughter's secret getaway. He had followed her there several times but always stood at a distance so that she felt she was on her own. He always kept a watchful eye over her though.
When they reached the spot, he saw her bicycle lying at the bottom of the little mound. He parked his car and together with Geet he climbed up. Even before they reached up they could clearly hear her heart wrenching loud sobs tearing the quiet of the night. His heart went out to his daughter. In the past he never intruded into her private space but tonight he had to, if only to stop the unbearable sobs. Geet followed him silently, her own heart heavy with grief and despair. As soon as they spotted her, Maan rushed to his daughter and sat down beside her. He then gently laid his hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head up and seeing him, her eyes opened wide in surprise. How did he know her secret place, she wondered. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder and yelled.
"Please leave me alone. Have you not done enough?"
"What have I done, darling?" asked Maan in a pained voice.
She did not respond for she felt ashamed to say that he lusted after her mother. All said and done she had called him Papa till now. She cannot speak so derogatorily to him.
"Sahana, your Papa is not at fault. I am," Geet tried to intervene.
Sahana turned to her mother and looked at her with flaming eyes, "Yes, you are. You are the one who ditched your boyfriend on your wedding day and forced another man to father your child," she spat out.
"Sahana!" For the first time in his life he raised his voice at his daughter. "Is this the way to speak to your mother?" If there was one thing he could not stand, it was anyone accusing his Geet of immorality.
"Maan, please!" implored Geet, a hand on his arm before he flew off the handle.
Maan soon realised it was futile to yell at his daughter. He can't fault her, for she has been fed lies by that snake, Brij. She wasn't thinking clearly. After all she was just sixteen years old, not old enough to discern truth from lies. She was at an age when one is super sensitive and hot blooded. He has to give her a wide margin.
He ran his hands through his hair and asked her in a more subdued tone, "Sahana, I have given you 16 years of my life. Will you give me 16 minutes of your time and hear me out before you pass your judgement on your mother?" His voice and eyes betrayed the pain and hurt he was feeling which Sahana could not ignore. She silently nodded her head.
He then continued, "Most of us look up to our parents and treat them like demi-gods but we fail to realise that they are human too. Our expectations from them are high and when we realise that they have failed in some respect we are more unforgiving of them than we would of any other relative or friend because we feel that parents are supposed to set examples for us to follow. But then nobody is born a parent. A parent was also once a teenager and went through all the confusions and temptations of one. Some fall prey to it but some survive and come out unscathed. Your mother committed a mistake, one she never ceased to repent. She gave into the weakness of the flesh and conceived you. You can pass your judgement on her based on that single fact but do you realise what her life was before she got into this entanglement?"
Sahana looked at her father questioningly. Maan turned to Geet and silently apologised with his eyes for what he was about to do. Geet knew that her old wounds would be reopened but if in the process her daughter's emotional wounds are healed, she would be more than grateful. She nodded her head to give her approval.
Maan then went on to give a complete account of Geet's life before he met her, right from the fact that she was an illegitimate child to the miserable life she led in her own house after her mother's death. When he recounted the torture she was subjected to by her step-mother and her brother, Sahana's eyes widened with shock and filled up with tears.
"You believed what your uncle wrote about your mother. But did you know that this very same uncle tried to molest your mother when she was just fourteen and that he was locked up in a juvenile delinquents home for it? Now the guy has the audacity to talk about morality," he said between gritted teeth.
Sahana felt nauseous just hearing about this dark part of her mother's life. Her revulsion for this unseen uncle kept growing. She turned to look at her mother who sat crumbled next to her, weeping silently. Her heart went out to her mother.
Maan continued, "Yes, your mother absconded from her wedding but the scheduled wedding was not with your biological father, as your uncle would like you to believe. It was with an old widower who was more than twice her age. She tried to escape so that she could wed your natural father. Unfortunately here too it was your uncle and his accomplices who ruined everything. They beat up your father and got him bed ridden for six months. In the meantime they made your mother believe that your father had ditched her."
Geet intervened here and said in an emotional voice, "I was all set to take away my life, unable to face the prospect of raising you fatherless. If it had not been for your Papa, we would not be around now. We both owe our lives to him."
She then told her how Maan saved her, took her to his house and later married her in order to give an identity to a child he did not even father.
Maan hastened to add, "Well, I have to admit I was not totally selfless in marrying your Mama. It suited me fine because I wanted to perpetuate a lie I told my father."
Seeing his daughter's surprised expression he nodded his head. "Yes, Sahana. Your Papa is flawed too. I was an incorrigible liar. But believe me darling, whatever I am telling you now is the truth and nothing but the truth."
Geet continued, "Your Papa may have had his reasons for marrying me but darling he had fallen in love with you long before you even arrived in this world. He modified his entire life for you, giving up his freedom to spend more time with you. Did you know that your Papa even brought you into this world single-handedly?"
Geet then described how she could not go to the hospital due to a curfew and Maan helped deliver her baby. Sahana looked at her father in amazement on hearing this.
"After all this, do you still believe your uncle's words that your father does not love you? Let me tell you something. Why do you think there is a six-year age gap between you and Ishan? It is because it took me five years to convince your Papa that his love for you will not diminish or be divided if he has another baby. In fact, love can only multiply when shared. So you see, your Papa loved you so much that he was willing to give up having a child who was genetically his for fear that his attention on you will be lessened."
Sahana was moved to tears hearing about her Papa's love and the sacrifices he made for them. She could not have dreamed of having a more loving set of parents than she already had and she had hurt them by doubting their love. She flung her arms around both of them and hugged them tight.
"I love you Papa. I love you Mama. Please forgive me for being so harsh in judging you," she cried, whimpering loudly.
"Sh....sh..." Maan patted his daughter's back soothingly. "Darling. You needn't ask for forgiveness. It is we who should ask yours for not being the perfect parents that you so deserve to have. We should have told you everything. In fact we were planning to tell you the truth tonight but that sadistic uncle of yours beat us to it and that too filled your head with all those grotesque lies."
"But still Papa, I believed the lies told by a stranger whom I had never met without wondering about how they can be true. I have witnessed nothing but love in all my sixteen years of existence and yet I suspected that love."
"Darling, don't be so hard on yourself. You only behaved the way any teenager would have behaved, hearing such horrible things about her parents," Maan assured her and kissed the top of her head.
Sahana lifted her eyes and saw the love and understanding reflected in her father's eyes. She kissed his cheek and said that she was lucky to have such a wonderful Papa, the best in this whole wide world. She then turned to Geet and kissing her chubby cheek she said, "Mama, I am sorry you went through hell. I cannot even imagine what your life must have been like. I have been privileged to have such lovely parents like you unlike you who did not have a real family. I hope I could do something to alleviate your pain."
"You have, baby. You have more than compensated for everything I went through. The minute I laid my eyes on you, I knew you were worth all the trouble. I am very sorry darling, I nearly punished you for my sins by trying to take away my life," Geet's eyes started streaming, thinking about that fateful day. Maan wiped his wife's eyes and asked her to forgive herself first.
Turning to his daughter he said, "We are not exemplary examples for you to follow darling but I guess you can learn from us what you should not do. Your mother's pre-marital relations very nearly cost her life and yours as well. The lies I told my Baba cost me my freedom and deprived me of my cherished bachelorhood, not that I am complaining. I guess that marrying your Mama may have been the best spur of the moment decision I took. Both of you are like my two eyes. I can't imagine a life without you. You are my special baby, Sahana, because you brought together two strangers."
He then got up and with both his arms he yanked his daughter and wife up simultaneously. "Come on, it is getting late. Dev and Neha will be worried."
At the mention of Dev's name Sahana's face fell. Maan was quick to notice the change in his daughter's expression. He did not say anything immediately. He shoved the bicycle in the car's trunk and got into the car. Geet asked Sahana to sit in the front next to her Papa and Sahana gladly agreed.
On the drive back home, Maan slowly broached the topic of Dev again. "Darling, Your natural father is not at fault, darling. He was as much a victim of circumstances as we were. He loved your mother very much. Yes, he should have waited till they wedded before he...(he did not complete the rest of the sentence, considering the delicacy of the subject). But he had no intention of duping your mother. He too suffered. Can you make room in your heart for him?"
Sahana had tears in her eyes, "Papa, how can you be so magnanimous? You accepted Mama and me into your heart and now are even willing to share me with my natural father."
Maan smiled and said, "Remember what your Mama said a few minutes back? Love multiplies when shared. It does not get divided. I know you will always love me and I will always love you. I don't feel threatened by Dev."
"Papa, give me some time. It is all too much to accept in a day," she pleaded. He pressed her hand and smiled understandingly.
"Yes, darling it is too much to handle in a day. Take all the time you want. I am sure Dev can wait a little longer."
When they reached home, Dev came rushing to them asking them if everything was fine. Maan nodded his head and turned to look at his daughter. Sahana gave Dev an embarrassed glance and hurried to her room. Maan asked Dev to give her some time and Dev nodded.
Maan picked up the sleeping boys, took them to their room and laid them on their beds. Dev carried his daughter to Sahana's room and laid her in bed. He turned to Sahana and said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry for everything." When she did not respond he shuffled his feet and murmured a hurried good night and left her to her thoughts.
The next morning Dev and his family got ready to leave for Goa. He explained that the kids wanted to see more of India. After their Goa visit, they planned to visit Kerala, Chandigarh, Agra and Delhi before they return back to London at the end of the month. The Shergills and the Khuranas had an emotional farewell. Sahana remained unduly quiet throughout it. Baba and Bua who were blissfully unaware of all the happenings of the last 12 hours asked Dev to visit them every year as the children got along so famously with each other. Dev smiled ruefully and said he will try. Maan then dropped them at the airport.
One month later
Maan got a call from the detective he had engaged to do a background check on Brij. The news he gave was shocking. It seems Brij had ended up killing his own mother, Amrita in an altercation five years ago. He hit her hard and she fell down dead. He later buried her in the garden in their house in Hoshiarpur. He had admitted to his crime in his diary which was kept well hidden but was unearthed by the detective. There were other evidences too which pointed to him. Maan submitted all these to the police. With this he was sure Brij would be locked up for life.
That same day Sahana sat at her table to write a letter.
'Dear Dev uncle,' she began her letter and then struck out the words 'Dev uncle' replacing them with 'Dad'. She then went on to describe her school life to her natural father. At the end she signed 'Your loving daughter, Sahana'. She smiled and sealed the letter in an envelope. She was a lucky girl indeed. When she was in her mother's womb she very nearly did not have a dad but now she has two. Both of them loved her very much. While she had accepted Dev into her heart, her Papa will always hold a very special place in it forever.
***The End***
Edited by Opti - 15 years ago