Pride, Honour & Love

Chapter 36

And thereafter .......

Bani entered the house feeling very low and guilty, she blinked her tears and took a deep sigh....she felt guilty because she pushed a single girl back into the real world...she has sailed home, home where she might not find her family, towards an uncertain destiny, Bani could see Sarah standing in the deck and waving her handkerchief, smiling and crying at the same time as she boarded it....

Kya baath hai, abhi takh tum row rahi ho, Jacques came to stand before her.....he was already looking much relaxed, even shaved his stuble he was growing sometime ago and now back from a warm farewell to Sarah and Toddy....

Tabh kya nachna/ kudna chahiye......Bani glared at him....

He smiled....I know you are feeling guilty I wonder why, at one point you never liked the women My Lady wanted to marry me with and enjoyed very much when I rejected them one by one....so another one gone, time for you to rejoice, I guess.....

Firstly she is not gone altogether and secondly she meant more to me then your other girls, she brushed past him in a huff, Jacques smiled, he knew exactly how she was feeling....at one time she hated the sight of Sarah but now she is crying at her departure....life is strange, Jacques thought as well as it is so unpredictable, who knew two women who meant to hate each other and did so will become so friendly that will shed tears of separation....he watched Bani pulling Tara up the stairs, Tara was also throwing tantrums she was missing Toddy, was doing Todd...Todd.....wanting to ride him like a horse....Toddy, the good old Toddy, has gone to see his Home.....yes more than Sarah he will be missing Toddy....

Jacques looked up, he could hear Bani scolding Tara for being naughty , she was losing her patience, Jacques nodded now it will be a herculean task to make Bani come around and stop blaming herself...he stepped towards the staircase to see My Lady watching him from the chaise lounge she was sitting, she must have heard them alright, on being eye to eye, she picked up the book she was reading, Jacques nodded, it seems both My Lady and Bani are holding him partly responsible for Sarah's departure but then he is a man with one heart....he climbed the stairs and went towards Bani's room....

Epilogue

My Lady was sitting under the 'Champa' tree, it was winter, the sun was soft, her feet were covered with a light shawl as Tara playing with her dolls on the grass. My Lady was speaking to her in French which she was replying while serving My Lady with imaginery tea and snacks in her small cups and saucers....

My Lady looked up to see the Kothi, the masons working, it looked very different from what she had built with her husband, the house she had built had more French and English influence, the house Jacques was building is more Indian but yes there was a tower at one side to remind them about their heritage, the tower was meant to keep a watch, Jacques now was not taking any chances...My Lady sighed....

It was not before another 4 months before Jacques could leave Calcutta for Dariyaganj...the uprising was terrible, the British was massacred in Lucknow and Cawnpore very badly, My Lady thanked their sheer luck that they never entered to these two cities...now it seems Jamal's chase turned out to be more of a boon then of a bane. Ismail had gone back to Dariyaganj and with the help of Jamal's abbajaan who was very much alive he started building his own force and clearing the debris of the Kothi.

My Lady shifted, Tara now over two years old spoke non stop, in three languages, French, English and Hindustani....My Lady's thoughts were broken with a sound of a bell ringing.....Tara stood up, Oh God it is time already, come on nana, lets go otherwise mama will be angry but then I had so much to do, she nodded her head...My Lady laughed ruffled her hair, she will grow upto her beauty no doubt and Jacques was already fearing what will he do with his daughter, Tara hold her hand as she has been taught and My Lady picks up her stick walks towards the house....