The call erupted again, and this time even her father spoke a little louder than usual. She raised her hand, and she was gratified that they all quickly quieted. “Look, I know this feels sudden, but as you can see, Dev and I have been talking for a while.”
“Talking. You’ve barely been in his presence for less than a month,” Noor pointed out.
“Right, well, it’s not a formal engagement. His people jumped the gun a little. He was planning on asking Mom and Daddy’s permission first.” Dev’s suggestion had been the wisest, she’d decided. She didn’t want her parents to hate her fake fiancé.
Real fiancé?
“What a gentleman,” Sadia broke in, rubbing her roundbelly. Jia wondered if the gesture was a subtle reminder to her parents about what was at stake if they did turn their backs on her.
“He is,” Jia said in a rush. “We have so much fun together. He’s a really kind person and good with his niece. He’s not stuck-up, and he’s very self-sufficient and down to earth for someone who is as famous as he is.” All true things.
And I want to kiss him.
She’d keep that one to herself.
“Speaking of famous,” Sadia interjected, “I’m surprised you’re mad, Mom. You cut me off when I married someone who had zero dollars to his name. Now that Jia’s with a rich guy, you’re mad about that, too?” Oh, Sadia was definitely reminding their parents of their past behavior.
Seeing as how her sister didn’t love confrontation, Jia was grateful beyond words.
Mohammad lowered his head. Their mother drew herself up. “We were wrong to do that, but our objection to Paul wasn’t that he wasn’t rich, it was that your life would be hard with him, and we didn’t want that for any of our girls. We don’t know this Dev enough to know whether he will be good to Jia. She barely knows him.”
Ayesha lifted an eyebrow. “People get married after knowing someone for far less time. I’m probably going to have an arranged marriage eventually. Mom, Daddy, you met and married in the same week. So why is this so different?”
Jia felt a rush of affection. Ayesha had every right to be concerned about this sudden news, given that she kneweverything, but her twin was rolling with the shenanigans. “What Ayesha said.”
“Because our families knew each other,” her mother snapped back. “It is not at all the same thing.”
“I’m meeting his grandmother in a few days, so that’ll be taken care of,” Jia said.
Zara leaned forward. “His grandma’s coming there?”
“Yes.”
“Shweta Dixit is coming to America?” Noor clarified, then coughed.
Jia eyed her eldest sister with concern, but nodded.
“Then we’ll come there, too,” Farzana said crisply. “We can move up our trip. Mohammad, call the airline.”
What the... “Wait, wait, there’s no need to do that.”
“There’s every need.”
“We’ll all come,” Zara announced.
Oh no.
“Sadia and Noor cannot fly right now, and you must stay here to look after them,” Mohammad said firmly. There went the hope that her father would talk some sense into her mom.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Noor protested.
Oh no.“This is all unnecessary,” Jia tried weakly.
“It is not in the least unnecessary,” Farzana declared. “It is essential we meet his family before we agree to the match.”
“What if you call in and meet his grandmother that way?”
“That’s not how it’s done, for a child’s marriage. This is not a work meeting.”
