Page 79 of The Secret Bride
Then I would tell Viya the whole truth. Even if it meant risking her anger and hurt. Even if it meant she might never forgive me.
But tonight was not that night.
"I was testing something," I said, keeping my voice light even though guilt was gnawing at my insides.
"Testing what?"
"Testing if you would miss me enough to call. To reach out first."
She looked down at her plate, and I saw her throat work as she swallowed.
"And sadly, you did not," I continued. "Not once."
Her head snapped up.
"That is not fair. I wanted to call you every single day. I picked up the phone so many times. But I thought you did not want to hear from me. I thought you were angry with me."
"Did you miss me?" I asked softly.
"Yes," she said immediately, her voice almost breaking. "All the time. Every moment. I missed you so much I could barely function."
The honesty in her words, the raw emotion, made my chest tighten.
I reached across the table and took her hand.
"I missed you too. More than you know."
She squeezed my hand, and I saw tears gathering in her eyes.
For the next hour, she told me about her month. About taking care of Dadi. About her projects at work. About the lonelinessthat had consumed her. About how the bed felt too big and too empty without me in it.
And I listened to every word, hating myself a little more with each story about her suffering while I was stubbornly staying away.
Finally, we finished dinner. The waitress cleared our plates and then left us completely alone again.
Viya stood up and walked to the windows, looking out at the beach.
"Can we walk out there?" she asked, turning back to look at me.
"It is all yours. You can do anything you want there."
Her face lit up with joy. She immediately bent down and slipped off her heels, holding them in one hand.
Then she ran.
Actually ran out of the restaurant and down the steps to the beach, laughing like a child.
I followed at a more sedate pace, watching her with a smile I could not have wiped off my face if I tried.
She was dancing in the sand, twirling in her white dress, her hair flying around her in the ocean breeze.
She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
And she was mine.
Completely, irrevocably, eternally mine.
Chapter 20
