WILDFLOWER

Chapter 5

Jazzy's week with Milind and his small family flew by with greater speed than she had expected. He had left home - no walked out, she remembered his wife telling her, without a word to anyone. He had been searching for answers and it had ended when he found his sister. Her father had filled in a lot of the missing details about their parents and after a couple of days together, meeting Milind's wife and little daughter had been a wonderful experience in getting to know the man who was simply her baby brother.

She had introduced her brother to her friends and had even thrown a small dinner party to celebrate their discovery of each other. Now she tightly hugged the lanky form in front of her and felt the tears prick behind her eyes. She hated goodbyes, even when she knew it was only for a short while. Promising to visit soon, she turned to drop one last kiss on her sleeping niece's cheeks before they walked through the large glass doors that would lead them towards the security check and boarding lounge.

Her father drew her into his arm and squeezed her shoulder as they slowly turned to walk back to where they had parked.

"I'm already missing them, Daddy," she informed as she slid into the driver's seat, "How is that possible?"

He patted her knee and tugged the seat belt into place. "He's grown into a nice young man.......Lilly would have been so proud."

"Did she never long to see her son?" She still found it difficult to understand her biological parents.

"Many times. But a promise was made and it was kept," offered the man beside her.

"Promise to who?"

"To me."

Her eyes flew to his face fleetingly before turning back to the road. "Did you not feel bad?"

He shook his head, his voice gruff with emotion, "I thought I was doing the right thing, Jasmine. I'm sorry now. But at that time I just wanted people believing we were a normal family. I wanted you to have a normal life and at that time I believed keeping Lilly away from the man she loved was necessary. The decision to separate the children was never mine, you must understand that."

There was much earnestness in his voice and she suddenly felt guilty. It couldn't have been easy for her father to turn a blind eye to her mother's continuing affair and to accept not one but two children that had nothing to do with him. He had admitted that her grandfather had rewarded him well but that couldn't have made it any easier.

"I do understand Daddy. And in a way I'm glad things turned out the way it has," she said before she asked him about Amita. "Did you never want to marry again? Like maybe Amita?" her lips curled suggestively and he made a sound of clearing his throat.

"She doesn't want to marry," he mumbled.

"You asked? Wow, a woman after my own heart."

"No Jasmine.....don't ever do that when you fall in love," he advised with a tremor in his voice indicating he was upset.

"I can't imagine being tied down," she explained as she slowly increased the speed, "Look what a mess Mom made. How could she let herself be pushed into marrying someone else and then messing up another life?" she wailed, tapping one finger agitatedly on the steering wheel, "I'm sorry she hurt you, Daddy."

"Oh, I can't say I was hurt. But Amita is different," he explained. "She knew my whole story and still loves me. But marriage is out of the question," he stated flatly when she threw him an enquiring look.

It took her almost an hour to drop off her father and head to the spa. She needed to unwind and she knew her dance studio would be the best place to do that.