Desert Rose

Chapter 20

JENNY was a tall, slim woman, with straight shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in simple denims,white t-shirt and matching sneakers but her sinewy arms and broad shoulders emphasized that she was physically very fit.

Khushi realized that she looked smart rather than pretty.

She leaned in and kissed Arnav on the cheek. 'How are you Arnav?' she said smiling showing off perfect white teeth.

'I am good Jenny,' Arnav said smiling back at her in a way Khushi hadn't seen before, 'how are you?'

'I am doing great, as you can see,' she said pointing her hands toward her figure, and then she turned toward Anjali, 'hey Anjali how are you doing?'

'Fine, thank you Jenny,' Anjali said walking up to her, 'welcome. It's nice to see you after such a long time. It's been like seven years isn't it?'

'Well, Arnav and I met couple of years ago at Harvard,' she said looking at Arnav, 'we were invited as guest speakers.'

'Oh right,' said Anjali, 'I remember that.'

Arnav then introduced her to the rest of the family. 'This is Jennifer Logan, my friend from Harvard. We were in the same class. She lives in Boston now.' After introducing everyone, he finally reached Khushi and said, 'this Khushi – my wife.'

'God Arnav, I can't believe this!' exclaimed Jenny as she shook hands with Khushi, 'You got hitched? Congratulations!

'You must be a really special girl to have converted this 'I am never going to marry' kinda guy into a married man! It's nice to meet you Khushi.'

Khushi was amused by the other woman's exuberance. If only she knew, thought Khushi mentally. 'Thank you Jennifer, it's nice to meet you too.' She replied back and found herself subjected to stares from the entire Raizada family. It was obvious that they were all a little surprised to hear her reply back to Jenny in English. How would they know that she had learnt to speak the language fluently working at the boutique that was patronized largely by NRI clientele?

'Please call me Jenny,' Jenny told Khushi affably, 'I might not even respond to Jennifer.'

'Jenny, why didn't you tell me you were coming?' asked Arnav,'I would have picked you up from the airport.'

Jenny explained that she was visiting India with a group of friends, on a month-long tour of Northern India which included a 10 day visit of Rajasthan. While her friends were visiting Chittorgarh, she had decided to take a detour to visit Bikaner which was excluded from the itinerary.

'I am on a really tight schedule and will have to head back to Jaisalmer by tomorrow night. So, I am hoping to look around Bikaner while I catch up with you.'

Jenny wanted to see Deshnoke temple and Junagarh fort mainly. But she wanted to squeeze in some shopping if time permitted. So it was decided that they would go shopping first and then go to the temple in the evening. Anjali had begged off as was scheduled to go to Ranakpur, but promised to accompany them to Junagarh Fort the following day.

As the discussion was underway, Shyam watched Khushi's face, her eyes reflecting something akin to uncertainty. This was going to be interesting, he thought.

An hour later, Khushi stood in the kitchen preparing lunch for Akash, Payal and mamiji who would be leaving for their respective destinations post lunch.

Arnav came into the kitchen, 'Why aren't you ready yet?' he said.

'What for?' said Khushi stirring dal.