Uma ( An Incomplete Love Story....)

Chapter 5

As per planned the three of them ,Kim , Sheldon and Vicky arrived at the Dublin airport, where Sheldon's mom, dad , and his two brothers were already waiting for them with great excitement and a joyful welcoming smile. And they all greeted Sheldon with bone crushing hugs and kisses from his mother, followed by a friendly handshake for Kim and Vicky. Happily they all hopped into the car and drove towards Malahide where the rest of the family was waiting for them.

Meanwhile Vinnie hurriedly entered a  modern looking  county restaurant and catering shop , which was situated in the market area of Malahide, though the shop was small but it had a beautiful interior with Indian traditional motifs and symbols which represented the country's rich flora and fauna , culture  and heritage in the form of sculpture, paintings and architectures.

It's the shop of Uma's great aunt Ila which she opened with her husband when they shifted to Malahide. Later when her husband died Ila used to run the shop by herself only , later she hired two employees who were so trustworthy that their grand-daughters work in the shop now, after Ila passed the shop to Uma as she was no longer being able to run it ,due to her age. But Uma still insisted her aunt to come and sit in the shop whenever Uma goes down to the main market to bring the stocks , groceries and other necessary items. Even though after taking over the shop, Uma redesigned and gave it a modern look but she still kept the old heritage touch as it contained the memories of her great uncle.

Vinnie walked briskly towards the main counter where her mom was receiving cash from a customer with a beautiful smile on her face. Before reaching her mom Vinnie stood back for a second and admired the sight of her mom's smile which was hard to be seen, as her mom barely smiled. Once her mother was done with the customer, she ran to her mom and jumped on her lap and said in one  breath" Ma! Ma ! Do you know who is getting married? Everyone is calling it the  grand marriage of Malahide !!! And even we will get the invitation !!!" She finished the last sentence with a big smile in her face.

Vinnie was the spitting image of her mother, which was the only good thing God blessed Uma with and for which she would be grateful to God forever. Not only does she look alike like her mother , but even her charactistic and behavioural pattern was same as her mom. Hence whenever Uma used to get super excited and happy about something she used to break the news in one breath with a big smile dancing on her face after completing the sentence. And the same thing was passed down to Vinne.

Uma kept looking at her daughter with adoration , love and worries as well, as Vinnie told the entire sentence in one breath, though she attentively listened to her but feared that her daughter might choke in between. After hearing all the information from the excited little one. Her mom asked Vinnie" Now my sweet baby, will you tell who is the celebrity in our town who is having this grand wedding?" ...

" Well my dear Uma , I am the famous celebrity of Malahide about whose wedding your little lady was excited about " ...The sudden voice made both the mother and daughter jump up from their place and they immediately looked up towards the source of the voice. And once Uma saw who it was , a warm sweet smile spread across her face. " Miranda !! O my God !!! Its you who is getting married, I thought  it would never happen, I can't be anymore happier about anything then this . " Uma completed the sentence and put her daughter down from her lap and went ahead and gave her dear friend a big hug. "Yes my sweet Uma , finally I am getting hitched, which I myself couldn't believe, me Miranda who took the oath of not getting married ; is finally engaged!!!! " Miranda completed the last line with big giggle and twinkle in her eyes which showed that she was very much happy to join the knot with her fiance. 

"And may I know who is the lucky guy ? " Uma excitedly asked Miranda. " Oh!! He is an Aussie, we met during my family trip to Australia two years back. Its was love at first sight you know ; and for these long we were in a long distance relationship until last month he popped the question to my utter surprise, as I was not sure about our relationship due to the distance and thats why I didn't mention about our relationship to anyone as I was not sure whether it would last or not. Though he used to visit me quite often but still I didn't imagine that we will get married although we are madly in love with each other and that's  the reason why " Miranda happily narrated her brief love story to Uma. "And the best part is , after marriage he will shift to Dublin with me !! Oh god Uma I am so so happy that I am sacred that nothing goes wrong at my wedding." Miranda explained the last line with tears of joy and smile in her face and immediately took out her napkin to sob the tears.

Uma immediately went near her friend in order to comfort her, she held her hands and gave a warm squeeze and said " My dear when the love is true, no power in the world can break it nor can give a single scratch on it. " " And by looking at you , I am more than sure that your love for him knows no bound and the same goes for your fiance, so my friend there's nothing to worry about and just wait to be married with the love of your life ."

Miranda smiled back to Uma's word , and gave a hug to her friend and replied back " you always say the perfect words at the perfect time which someone desperately needs to hear." Uma gave a gesture of gratitude and invited her to sit . Both the girls sat down while Vinnie went and sat at the counter with Lorry , one of the co- workers of the restaurant. It was afternoon, so the rush of customers were less. So without any thought Uma told her daughter to sit on the counter while she had a chat with Miranda. But all the while she kept a watch on her daughter and what she was doing . And also kept an eye on the restaurant's door from time to time in case any customer entered.

" Listen Uma , I am giving you the entire responsibility of food at my wedding and not only that you have to be present in all three days of my wedding functions." Miranda commandingly told Uma. Uma laughed out after seeing the hyper excitement of her friend and replied " it will be my honor to serve food in your wedding my dear sweet friend, but one thing I couldn't understood was wedding function for three days ???? " she questioned her friend with a big doubt and curiosity in her face , which Miranda cleared with a minute " Oh !! I didn't give you the details , my bad !! See first day is my grandma's birthday celebration, the second is my wedding rehearsal and the third day is my wedding , so its a three day function , ok !?" To which Uma nodded her head in agreement ,after minutely listening to her friend's information.

Miranda took a beautiful white card and handed it to her friend . The invitation card was decorated with golden borders, and the letters were written in gold , including the name of the bride and the groom on the top page of the card. Inside of it the details were given about time and place of the wedding and some of the beautiful Bible verses were inscripted on it. The card was so beautiful and stunning that Uma stared at that card for a minute or two admiring its beauty. After some time she looked up at Miranda and happily accepted the card as well as the three days catering contract . She assured  her friend that she will be there along with Vinnie and her great aunt for all the three days.  And went to the counter to bring a receipt for the half payment she received from Miranda and wrote down the other half which was due after the wedding and handed it to Miranda.

Though Uma didn't want to take any money from her friend for the catering service, as she was the only close friend of her after her daughter but Miranda insisted on paying it, as she respected her friend's business needs. And she treated it as a complete separate part from their friendship.

Then after a few minutes chit chat along with some light snacks Miranda bid good bye to Uma and Vinnie with a promise from them to be present in the functions.

Uma and Miranda became friends three years  back when Uma shifted to Ireland with her daughter and newly took up the restaurant's responsibility . Though they became friends in a very different situation but with time their friendship grew more stronger.

The first time Miranda saw Uma was when she went out to the restaurant  with her girlfriends and saw a customer was harrassing Uma regarding the food and it's payment. She saw how scared vulnerable and nervous Uma was when the entire fault was of the customer and she cunningly tried to scam Uma in order to get free food. It was at that moment Miranda stood up for her and taught that women a lesson. That day was the beginning of their friendship and from then on the became a really good friend. She knew everything about Uma's past life and how pathetically and cruely she was treated, and also knew about her mental and physical condition after that and even till date. Because whenever she used to get a major panick attack , Vinnie used to call her for help and she used to immediately rush to help her friend even if it needed to be admitted to the hospital.

Miranda was kind of a one of the few  strong pillars Uma was left with after her daughter and her great aunt. And which she never failed to mention it to Miranda as she was grateful to her as her close friend with whom she could share everything as Uma was a very private person.

She also knew about her past life before marriage and her strong friendship with her friend Ryan who was always there for her. Even she questioned many a times to Uma , that did they really never had any feelings for each other as they were so close. To which Uma always smiled as replied " We were best friends" .