Where the Lotus Flowers Grow (26 page)

“All right.”

“Really?” he asked, suspicion casting over his face.

“Yes, really. Thank you. You should go. You’re already running late.”

“Good-bye, Mary.” He picked up his laptop case, swung it over his shoulder, and turned.

“Liam,” I called before he walked toward the door. I ran up to him and swung my arms around his shoulders. “
Main tumse pyar karti hoon
.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means have a safe journey.”

“You too, Mary. Godspeed.”

Liam

I sat on the plane, my thoughts consumed with her. I had tried and failed to convince myself it was the allure of traveling that incited these feelings. No, what I felt for Mary was pure and real. It wasn’t just how I felt about her, but how she made me feel about myself.

I loved her.

It hit me hard…the simple statement. I thought I’d been in love once before with Melanie, but it wasn’t love. We were compatible and comfortable. Mary, although compatible, wasn’t exactly comfortable. She challenged me in ways I’d never been challenged. We’d known each other for less than a month in total. How could I love someone in such a short time? I dismissed the question. I had no answer, except that I did.

But she didn’t reciprocate those feelings. Even if she did, it’s not like I could take her to New York with me, right?

Bloody hell, why couldn’t she come to New York with me? She had to feel it, too. But would she uproot herself and continue our crazy journey? There were a lot of logistics, but logistics I could conquer.

Main tumse pyar karti hoon.

Safe journey, my arse. We’d watched a Bollywood flick one night with the same phrase. How had I not made that connection?

“Drink, sir?” the stewardess asked.

“I need to get off this plane.”

“We’ve already boarded.”

I stood and made myself clear. “I need to get off this plane right now.”

Word to the wise, it was not a good idea to stand up and dramatically announce the need to get off your international flight. It worked well in the movies, but in real life, they took you to a room and asked you a bunch of uncomfortable questions. Then they asked you to strip and subjected you to certain searches. They could have at least bought me a drink first.

It took me two hours to get back to the hotel. It figured—my phone had up and died. I almost jumped out of the cab and started running. By the time I bolted through the front doors, I was an out of breath, bloody mess.

“Sir? Are you all right? Did you miss your flight?” the front desk attendant asked.

“Is Miss Costa in the room?”

“I’m afraid she’s left, sir.”

Something inside me snapped. “Did she say where she was going?”

His face brightened, giving me a ridiculous sense of hope. “No.”
Goodbye hope, it was nice knowing you
. “But she did ask me to post this to you.”

I didn’t have to open the envelope to know my check was inside. Stubborn, proud Lotus Girl, the love of my life, the thorn in my side, the girl who killed me, the one who saved me. I stuffed the envelope into my pocket.

Bloody hell.

“Shall I have your bags taken back to the room? The maid is cleaning it now.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

How would I find her? This was a huge country. One that was easy to get lost in. I made a mental list of the places to search—the rail and bus stations for starters.

I walked outside in the warm Goa sunshine. “Can you get me a car?” I asked the valet.

“Right away, sir.”

I heard them in the distance. Chimes. Really, the soft sound should not have carried or been strong enough to pierce my wayward thoughts.

“Are those church bells?”

“Oh, yes sir. Service is just getting out.”

Mary had asked about church service, hadn’t she?

He said some other things, but I was already bolting across the street.

People were exiting the building when I got there. I prayed I hadn’t missed her, if she was even here to begin with.

I watched them, a procession of parishioners, all shaking hands with the priest.

She wasn’t there.

I stood, holding my breath, until the very last person exited the church. The priest walked back inside and closed the ornate doors.

Yet, I could not leave. I climbed the steps. Nothing could stop me from entering, although I wasn’t sure if I was breaking some cardinal rule. After all, I didn’t exactly have a membership card.

I adjusted to the dim light filtering through the bright colors of the stained glass windows. The strong scent of incense lingered in the air. Finally, I let out a long deep exhale.

Welcome back, hope, I’ve missed you.

She sat in the second pew, her head bent in prayer.

“Mary…” I knelt in the aisle next to her. Her dark brown eyes were tinged with red. The tracks of dried tears and wet tears made a roadmap out of her beautiful face.

“What are you doing here, Liam? You’ll miss your flight.”

“I already missed it, love. I got off the plane.”

“Why?”

“I forgot something.”

She stood, her shadow falling on me. She fell to her knees. We stared at each other in the middle of the church aisle. She placed her hands on my shoulders, shaking me, or trying to. “What could you have possibly forgotten that was so important you missed your flight?”

I clasped her wrist and kissed the back of it. “You.”

She blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“Come with me to New York.”

Her silence killed me. But I let her process the statement.

“Another holiday?” She shook her head. “I think we’ve extended this one as long as possible, don’t you?”

I held her face and leaned my forehead against hers. “I’m not interested in a holiday. I want to make a life together.” A stretch of silence passed until I finally cleared my throat. “
Mai tumse Pyar karta hoon. Tora Dost Daram. Mai Taunu Pyar Karda
.”

She put her hand over my mouth. “You don’t have to say it in seven languages.”

“I memorized ten.”

She laughed and cupped my face. “Ten…very impressive.”

“You said it to me first. Why did you lie about what it meant?”

“I wanted to say it aloud. It’s something I’d kept bottled up to a point where it erupted. I didn’t want you to know. It seemed almost selfish to express it, since we couldn’t do anything about it.”

“We can do something about it. Say it to me in English, please. I need to hear it.”

“I love you, Liam.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore and kissed her. A long, deep kiss. When we finally broke apart, she shook her head. “Liam, it’s not as simple as that, is it?”

“Why isn’t it?”

“It’s difficult to get a visa here, especially for the States.”

I smiled huge, the kind of smile that comes from great relief. “You let me worry about that, love. I can make it happen.” She chewed her lip, the tension in her body tangible. “What else?”

“I’m afraid of leaving everything I know. I had forgotten what happiness meant until I met you. I’m afraid of tempting fate. Of not being strong enough. I’m afraid of being surrounded by darkness. I won’t survive it again.”

Now, I was the tense one. “You’re the strongest person I know. This journey we’re on? I feel it’s right in my soul. I think fate is what brought us together in the first place. But I understand I’m asking a great deal of you.” I tucked the loose tendril of hair behind her ear and made a vow I wasn’t sure I could keep. “Anytime you want to come back, I promise I’ll let you go. I won’t make it difficult for you. Mary, you have to fight for your own happiness in this world. This is me fighting for mine. If…” I wasn’t even sure how to complete the thought.

“Okay.”

“What?”

“I’ll fight, too. Yes, I’ll go with you. But the promise you made to me? The same goes for you, Liam. If it’s too hard to make us work, you let me go, too. I will not make it difficult for you.”

That was never going to happen, but she kissed me so deeply I chose not to ruin the moment with more words.

Mary

My excitement was a contained pot, ready to boil over or explode at any minute. I did my best to control it. I never thought a visa would be approved, so I didn’t allow myself the same excitement as Liam. I had no idea how much the right amount of money and contacts could accomplish. Liam spent vast amounts of cash, buttering up important people. It helped I already had a passport, although expired. We updated it first. Within a week, I had an official tourist’s visa granted by the U.S. embassy. Something people spent years trying to obtain.

But I still didn’t let myself believe it, not even during our layover at the Mumbai airport for the flight that would take us directly to New York. I feared someone would tell me this was all a cruel joke. I’d suddenly wake up back at the fountain in Jaipur wearing a scratchy sari.

I read the two dates they stamped on my passport once more.

“What happens when it expires?” I asked.

“I need to talk to you about that. There wasn’t a lot of time. We settled for the only visa we could get.”

“Talk to me now.”

“When it expires, you either have to go back or we get married. I have dual citizenship so as my spouse, you’d be granted a green card.”

I would have dropped the papers if he hadn’t held his hands over mine.

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Not yet. I want to, though. I wouldn’t have come back for you and stormed into that church if I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. But you have to be sure too, Mary. I will ask you to marry me once you tell me it’s okay.”

“So I have to tell you when?” There were so many niggling thoughts in my head. What if I didn’t fit into his world? Truthfully, I didn’t even fit in my own world. In a way, it was a relief to set a time period for straightening out all my tangled thoughts.

“I’m not going to pressure you.”

I wanted to tell him this fierce love I felt for him would never waver, but I couldn’t make that promise. He was right. Liam had become my power, my strength, my calm. But I couldn’t make assurances to him until I knew I could support him as he supported me.

They started boarding calls for first class passengers.

“One more thing,” he said. “Because we booked the flight on short notice, I wasn’t able to secure two seats together. I could only obtain one first class ticket. I know flying makes you nervous, and this is going to be the longest flight ever. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll manage.”

“You should get going, sweetheart.”

I was puzzled for a moment, until he handed me my ticket. Liam, the consummate gentleman, had given me the first class seat.

“I’ll see you in New York, love.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he pointed me toward the gate. “Go on.”

Little butterflies fluttered in my belly as I found my seat. I was going to America with this man. Everything was changing so fast. I was sure my heart was pumping fast enough to fly the plane.

The stewardess approached me, welcoming me by name. She explained how my large, comfortable seat folded into a flat bed. I closed my eyes,
clutching the arm rest as the plane took off, watching as the bright lights of Bombay disappeared. The seat offered enough legroom for three of me. I thought of Liam’s tall, broad frame squashed into an economy seat for over 20 hours.

As soon as they turned off the seatbelt sign, I grabbed the stylish carry-on bag Liam had purchased for me and headed back toward the economy section. Luckily, Liam was tall, and I spotted his head over the rows of seats. Stuck between a chatty lady and a portly man, he had his nose in a book. The person in front of him had leaned their seat all the way back, giving him even less room.

“Liam.”

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“This is stupid.” I gestured to him. “Look at you. Take the first-class seat.”

“I’m fine, love. I plan to sleep the whole way, just as soon as I finish this chapter.”

I handed him the ticket. “Then sleep in first class. You’ll be more comfortable.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “No. Now you should head back.” He arched an eyebrow. “Unless, you want to join a special club with me?”

“What kind of club?”

He shook his head. “Never mind, I’ve already had my fair share of troubles with this airline.” His grin sparked with mischief. “We’ll save that for another time”

“I don’t care where I’m sitting. But I’ll feel horrible imagining you all cramped back here. You’re so much bigger than me.”

“No kidding. But I’m going to insist on this. You think I’d rest easy knowing I took the better seat? Now go back up there, lass. I’m serious.”

The woman next to Liam piped up. “I wish someone would offer me a first-class ticket. You wouldn’t hear me arguing about it.”

I looked at her and back at Liam. He shrugged his shoulders, picking up on my silent suggestion.

“Please, Auntie, take my seat.”

“
Arey
, are you being serious?” she asked, but she was already standing up, her hand on the ticket.

I nodded. “What I want more than anything is to sit next to him.”

The woman turned to Liam, probably for confirmation. “Yes, please take it with our gratitude.”

She clamped her hand on the ticket and pinched my cheek. “
Achha
, thank you, beta.” She shook her head. “Young people, so sweet and silly.” Liam helped her with her bag before getting back into his seat.

I sat next to him. He put his arm around me and kissed my temple.

“You’re crazy,” he whispered.

“So are you.”

Liam, the seasoned traveler, fell asleep right away, his arm stretched across me. Although I felt better sitting next to him, I couldn’t sleep. The plane filled with the snores of other passengers.

I shifted to my side. A little girl with huge blue eyes and curly black hair smiled back at me.

“Hi,” she said, giggling as if she knew a secret.

I returned her smile. “Hello.”

“Sarah, shhh. Don’t bother her,” her mother said. She was a young, pretty woman who had the same smile as her daughter.