Child Brides of India

By C. Stanton Leman

Chapter 36: Starting Life Together Mgg, rom, no sex)

The rest of the week was somber as Mom and Dad packed and readied to leave. Mom did manage to spend a lot of time with Monaavi and the girls and set aside some special time each day for just Aleeya.

On Sunday, the day before Mom and Dad were scheduled to leave, Mom and Priya went out for a couple of hours alone and talked. They were not only mother and daughter-in-law; they had become very deep, close personal friends. Although Priya was more an adult and less of a child, despite her age, I guess Mom wanted to play mother to her and reassure her before she left.

Dad and I talked quietly in the study of last minute business details while Aleeya and Attiya were playing video games in the living room. Dinner that night was quiet with everyone wanting to say so much, and yet nothing needed to be said. We all decided to retire early so that we could all get up early to go to the airport.

After morning prayers, we went downstairs for what would be our last breakfast together for several months. Priya and I decided that after the school year ended, we three would fly to the States for the summer to be with my parents again. It was really difficult for everyone to eat, with all of us leaving a good portion uneaten. Dad and I helped the driver load their bags in the limo and soon, we were ready to leave.

At the airport, once we’d gotten my parent’s bags checked, we got passes to go to their gate of departure, went through security and sat in the waiting area for their boarding.

The goodbyes were heart wrenchingly painful. I hugged Dad, shook his hand and embraced my mom. I kissed her softly on the lips, and said to her as I cried, “Always and forever, Mom, I will love you. I can’t tell you enough what you mean to me!”

Hugging me with her head alongside mine, she kissed my ear and said, “I know, Son, I know. I love you with all my heart. Take good care of my girls or I’ll have to kick your ass, understand?”

Tearfully laughing, I replied, “Understood.”

Priya could hold it no longer and broke down, rushing into my mother’s arms crying, “Oh, Momma! I love you so much! You’ve taught me how to be a woman, and there will be a place of sadness in my heart until we meet again.”

Mom comforted her saying, “There, there now. You are such a remarkable young woman! I need you to take care of my son and your sister. Can you do that?”

Priya nodded.

Mom continued, “You have enriched my life beyond measure, and you are my dearest friend. There won’t be a day that passes that I won’t think of you. Be strong. Be strong for Sean and Aleeya and my heart will feel safe. I love you, Daughter. I love you more than words could ever express. Now: chin up high, dry your tears and be strong for your family, okay?”

Priya nodded and said, “I love you, Momma, I’ll be strong, I’ll show you I can.”

Mom pulled back and smiled at her and said, “I know you will. You vowed it and it shall come to pass, right?”

Priya nodded and said confidently, “Right! I have vowed it!”

Priya turned to Dad and without uttering a word they embraced. He rocked her in his arms and said to her, “You’re a chip off the ‘ole block, aren’t cha?”

She nodded and said, “Yep, a chip off the ‘ole block!”

He kissed her on the lips and said to her, “I love you, daughter of mine. You are the sweetness in my old age. Take care of your husband and Aleeya won’t you?”

“It’s done, Father,” she replied.

He nodded and said, “That’s my girl!”

Poor Aleeya was distraught. It took my mother about five minutes to calm her down enough to pry her little arms away from her neck to talk to her. Mom took her off to the side for a few minutes, hugged and kissed her numerous times and they returned with Aleeya still crying, but under control. Aleeya leapt into my father’s arms and cried on his shoulder as he held her. He whispered in her ear as he spoke, and she’d respond with nods as she cried. He kissed her forehead and handed her to me.

We all watched tearfully as they boarded and stayed to see the plane pull away from the gate. We watched it taxi onto the runway, lift, bank to the right and up into the clouds out of sight.

It must have been a terrible sight as we left, but I didn’t care. All the way out of the airport, I was cradling a distraught five year-old in my arms as my twelve year-old wife clung to my arm sobbing. They cried all the way home from the airport and were pretty much cried out by the time we got home.

Once home Priya took Aleeya upstairs and they fell on my parent’s bed. I closed the door and let them grieve together and went back downstairs.

I sat in my father’s chair behind his desk and reminisced about the events that took place in this house over the past six months… I put my head in my hands on my dad’s desk and wept like a child.

Priya came downstairs about five and said that Aleeya was emotionally exhausted and still asleep. I said to her, “Well, Darling, it’s just us now and we have to now begin to live our own lives as a family.”

She sat on my lap with her head on my shoulder and said jokingly, “If you do what I tell you, we’ll be all right.”

Chuckling, I replied, “Damn, I thought my father took off for the States, but it seems he hasn’t left at all!”

“Silly boy,” she remarked, “that was your mother speaking. Haven’t you learned yet that she wears the pants in the family?”

I looked at her in mock shock and asked, “So what now, I have to start wearing a sari?”

Priya wrinkled her nose and quipped, “I think you’d look good in one. You’ve got a cute butt.”

Laughing, I replied, “Yeah, I bet you say that to all the blonde haired boys, don’t you?”

She didn’t miss a beat and replied, “Only the rich ones that’ll suck my toes, and… whatever else that needs sucking.”

“Damn,” I said, “If only your IQ were a little lower than mine then I could keep up with you!”

Devilishly smiling, she replied, “I think you keep it up just fine.”

Wanting to end this reparteé, I said, “Not tonight, I’ve got a headache.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Harlot.”

“Letch.”

She lifted from my lap and opened her robe to show her pubes. She looked down and running her hand over her mons said, “I think I’ll let these new hairs just grow out. Whatcha think?”

“Oh please! Not hairy pubes!”

“Oh all right. Are you gonna be a good boy?”

“You know I will. I don’t want a female rebellion on my hands.”

“That’s right, you’d better or we’ll cut your water off at the tap.”

We both knew that this could go on forever, so Priya changed the subject by saying, “You know I’ve got to go to the embassy tomorrow, right?”

I’d been beaten at my own game. What’s that axiom that says the last to speak in an encounter leaves with the power?

Anyway, I replied, “Yes, I know. I wonder what this interview will be like?”

She said, “Don’t know, don’t care. I’ll take my passport in and won’t leave without the visa.”

“Kick ass and take names, right?”

“Don’t forget, I’m a chip off the ‘ole block, remember?”

“How could I, you have the tap.”

“And don’t you forget it either.”

Damn! She did it again.

Changing tactics, I said, “I wonder how Aleeya will be tomorrow with just Monaavi?”

Priya replied, “I think she’ll be alright. Attiya will help her get back to normal. While we’re speaking of Aleeya, I don’t think you should do anything with her until she settles down emotionally.”

“I agree,” I said. “I didn’t plan on it.”

“Good.” she replied. “That means more for me!”

“Kidding aside, do you think she’ll really be okay?”

Priya replied, “I think it may take a week or so, but she’ll be alright once we get into a routine of our own. Has Pita started dinner yet?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I haven’t heard her, but then I really wasn’t paying any attention.”

Priya and I walked to the kitchen and saw Pita preparing dinner. She said she was trying to be as quiet as she could because she knew we were sad and needed some peace. She also said that she’d left Attiya with her mother today and that she was fixing a light supper. We thanked her for her concern and went to check on Aleeya.

When we opened the door to my parent’s room, Aleeya was still sleeping under the duvet. I asked Priya if I should wake her, but she said just to let her sleep, so we retreated to our bedroom to clean up and say evening prayers.

After praying, we again checked on Aleeya; she was still sound asleep. We went downstairs to eat. It really felt strange because before, we all had a specific seat at which we sat to dine, but now, Priya and I looked at each other as if to simultaneously ask, “Where do we sit?”

Priya spoke up and said, “You sit in Father’s seat, I’ll sit on your right and Aleeya can sit on your left. Sound like a plan?”

“Fine with me.”

We moved the place settings and as Pita served dinner, Priya told her, “This will be our new seating arrangement, all right?”

Pita politely replied, “Yes, Ma’am, as you wish.”

Priya and I ate dinner quietly, not talking much, except a little about her interview at the embassy tomorrow. I asked her how Haseeba and Mahmoud were getting on and she said, “Watching them reminded me of our courtship: stealing unspoken intimate glances, the laughing and carrying on.”

Chuckling in remembrance, I replied, “Yeah, remember when Me Ma caught you kissing me? I thought that at that moment our courtship was over.”

Laughing, she replied, “You? It was me that was leaning over and was caught being the one to initiate the kiss. I thought I was going to get the first spanking of my life when Papa got home! I too thought that I’d ruined things forever with us.”

Smiling, I said, “You know, I really love your family and have a special place in my heart for your naughty Me Ma.”

Priya replied, “I never thought I’d marry a foreigner, or that my family, even my extended family would love my husband so much. I’m really happy about that. It’s kind of funny though, I’ve always been very close to Momma, and I think at first she was a little jealous about the relationship between your mom and me, but now she is happy that we’re so very close.

“Oh, Sean, I miss her so much! She’s been so supportive of me, it’s almost like we’re sisters, not in-laws.”

“I know. My mom is a very special person, and I never really appreciated her until I began seeing her for the woman and person she really is these past few months. And Dad? You have brought out a side of him I never could but always wanted to see growing up: his soft and tender side. He was always so tough, abrupt and bossy when I was growing up. I never saw my father shed a tear for me or anyone or anything until he cried with you.

“I feel so blessed to have you as my wife. Doesn’t it make you see the wonder of God? I mean, everybody is searching for that special someone. He knows what we need and had someone special for me on the other side of the world. It’s when I think of things like this I know He exists.”

“I know what you mean. I used to lie in bed at night and cry because of my skin. I hated myself because everyone else hated me. The first time our eyes met, I felt all that pain just wash away and I knew that my skin color didn’t matter anymore. I realized that night in bed that I’d spent my life worrying about the wrong things.”

We finished dinner on a much more relaxed mood, having considered the good things the God had brought to our lives and not dwelling on the sadness that parting with loved ones brings.

We played some video games and watched some TV for a while just to pass some time, but after Pita left about eight-thirty, we went to bed. That night, we all slept on my parent’s bed. I enfolded my arms around both my tender young wives and after saying a prayer to keep my parents safe, I feel off sadly to sleep.