Dev was the only one who didn’t outwardly react. Bullshit. If she was really sick, she would have told him immediately upon his arrival.
Farzana was the first to speak. “My God. I am so sorry.”
Shweta inclined her head. “Thank you. I trust you won’t speak of this to anyone.”
Because it’s a lie.
“Of course not.”
“Do you know how long...?” Mohammad asked delicately.
“I don’t know.”
Dev shifted, surprised to find a trace of panic strumming through his veins. His grandmother wasn’t actually dying. He could tell when she was acting, what her tells were. So why was his upper lip sweating? “Aji,” he said sharply.
Pressure squeezed his thigh. Jia squeezed again, looking up into his face worriedly. He gave a small nod, trying to tellher he was okay. Only he wasn’t sure he was.
“Please let me know if there’s anything I can do. Perhaps you can visit our home while you’re in America,” Mohammad suggested. “I work at a large teaching center.”
“I don’t think any experimental treatments can help me now. But thank you.” Shweta looked back at Dev and Jia. “Anyway. That’s why it would be nice to see at least one of my grandchildren taken care of before I go.”
“I absolutely understand that,” Farzana said. “But I do not think Dev and Jia are quite at the point where they can get married so quickly. Like you want the best for your grandson, I want the best for my daughter.”
Adil cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should think of a more realistic timeline for a wedding.”
Bless his uncle, who knew the circumstances of their convoluted path to engagement.
Shweta leaned back in her chair. Her sharp gaze reassessed the table, and he could tell the exact second she made a tactical change. “There is another reason for haste. You see, my husband, he was very stubborn, and he tied up Dev’s inheritance with a requirement he marry.”
“Aji!” He half stood, though the cat was already out of the bag. The last thing he wanted was to air this particular laundry in front of Jia and her family. Or anyone, really.
Shweta continued as if he’d said nothing. “The condition expires in a couple months.”
Farzana stiffened. “So unless he marries...”
“Immediately, yes, he will be left without a single dimeof our family’s fortune. I could give him money, of course, but he’s frighteningly stubborn and won’t accept it. Even though he depleted most of his own savings paying his late brother’s debts. Rohan had a thing for horse racing, sadly.”
He tossed his napkin over his uneaten cake. “Aji, I think we need to stop—”
“Dev and I will think about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“WHAT WEREyou thinking?”
That was a question Jia had gotten a lot in her life, but this was the first time Dev had directed it at her. He delivered it with gentle curiosity, like she hadn’t just agreed that they should get married tomorrow in front of both their families.
He closed the door to the dining room, where her parents and Shweta were politely arguing the pros and cons of their immediate marriage, with Adil Uncle and Ayesha watching aghast.
There was no point in pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. “It seemed like a decent idea. I was being honest.”
He gave her a long steady look. The sun was dying outside, and it streamed through the windows, warming his brown skin. “I don’t think your parents agree with you.”
“Yeah, actually, I was surprised they don’t.”
He glanced away. “Is that why you said it? You wanted to please them some more?”
“Nope.”
