Sejal’s head whipped around. Her sister returned her gaze calmly, like she hadn’t just told her she’d had major surgery. “Preeclampsia?”
“My blood pressure shot up. It happens sometimes.”
“I heard C-sections are rough.”
“Every way to get a baby out is rough, unfortunately. But at least it was over quick.”
“And Naveen was there for you the whole time?”
Mira’s face softened. “Yes. Very much so.”
Sejal’s words came in a rush now. She was aware that she was overstepping and they were in a hurry, but she couldn’t help but get every last ounce of her curiosity satisfied. “You must have been pregnant at the wedding, huh? How did that go over with Naveen’s family? He takes your side against your mother-in-law, right?” Naveen’s parents were rich rich, part of the Bay Area wealthy. They’d struck her as snobby, as much as any other rich people, when she’d been lurking at the wedding event.
“Situations don’t arise often where my mother-in-law and I are on opposite sides, but when they do, yes, Naveen takes my side. I could have given birth at the wedding and she would have been delighted, so long as she had a new adorable grandchild to smother.”
Sejal grunted. “I suppose Ananya is pretty cute.”
“She’s perfect,” Mira said. “I never thought I’d have kids, but I do love having her.”
Sejal put the drawings back in the box with more care than she’d thought she’d show. “Yeah, I’m still on the no-kids train. What changed your mind?”
“I thought the world could use some more people who were raised right.”
“You seem to be a natural. Especially for someone with no example of good parenting.” She opened the wallet and found nothing inside but an old ID. She tossed it back in so she didn’t have to look at their father’s smirking face.
“I had examples. Rhea. You.”
Sejal gave a rough, startled laugh. “Not me.”
“Of course you. You mothered me quite a bit.”
“Till I left home, maybe.”
Mira nodded, and there wasn’t an ounce of the anger Sejal expected to see in her gaze. “Yes, until Dad made you leave.”
Sejal’s hands stilled. She should say something now. Maybe something she’d always wanted to say. “I should have—”
Mira shook her head. “You didn’t have to do anything for me.”
“You were a kid. And I never even came back to check on you.”
“You were a kid, too. And you weren’t my mom. I already told you this, that day in the hotel room.”
You were my sister, not my mom... though you were a better mom to me than she would have been, no doubt.
Mira had said that, after rescuing Sejal.
It wasn’t so easy, though. Mira didn’t get it. How could she understand the guilt Sejal had carried all these years? For leaving her heart behind and slowly letting its fire dim, for the sake of her own sanity?
Sejal put the useless box to the side, instead of saying such a sappy thing aloud. “Why would he keep stuff like this?”
“Who knows why Dad did anything when it came to us.”
There wasn’t much bitterness in Mira’s voice, which was pretty shocking. “You don’t sound as mad at him as you could be.”
“It’s called intensive therapy,” Mira said dryly.
Sejal gave a half laugh. “I’ve thought about trying that, but figured the therapist would run screaming into the night after the first session.”
