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“Okay... The thing is...”
Reeva pulled out her mascara and began applying it onto her lashes, her jaw falling slack as she focused on her task.
“Darling... your dad’s dead.”
“Uh-huh, and?” Reeva’s mouth was still open as she put on her mascara, so her voice came out lisping. “Ith there a reathon you’re bringing up thomething that happened when I wath five?”
“Don’t talk like that, darling,” said Saraswati. “You sound like you’ve had a stroke. And of course there’s a reason. It’s just... well...”
Reeva put away the mascara and pulled out a fuchsia lipstick that perfectly matched her shoes.
“I suppose I’d better just say it.”
Reeva was only half listening. Her mum probably wanted to talk about her latest realization in therapy, one that would doubtless focus on her own struggles and avoid the phrase “I’m sorry.” Reeva wished this new therapist wouldn’t encourage her mum to share all her supposed breakthroughs with her daughters. It was fine when you were being paid more than £100 an hour to hear them, but not when you were forced to listen for free.
“You see... Your dad didn’t actually die back then. He was alive. And he has been—all this time. Until today.”
Reeva’s hand slipped and smudged fuchsia lipstick across her cheek. “I’m sorry. What?” She grabbed the phone and stared into her mum’s shifting face.
“It was a heart attack in the middle of the night yesterday. All very sudden.” Her mum looked down at her nails (dark red Shellac—her trademark) and began fiddling with her ridiculously large diamond ring. “I’m sorry to not be able to tell you in person, Reeva. But this latest movie, it’s just taking up so much of my time.”
Reeva wiped the lipstick off her cheek and stared at her reflection in the mirror and then looked back down at her mum. “I’m sorry; are you kidding? Are you trying to tell me that Dad’s been alive all this time?! Until last night?”
Her mum nodded guiltily. Reeva scanned her face for some kind of explanation, but none came. “So why did you tell us he was dead?! Mum—you need to explain! What’s going on?!”
Saraswati coughed awkwardly. “I know it’s a lot to take in. It’s a real shock he died so young. Only sixty-four.” A series of muffled shouts erupted on Saraswati’s end, and her face brightened momentarily. “Darling, I’m so sorry, I have to go in a minute. That’s the producer calling me. We’re getting a flight up to the Himalayas today—I have no idea why these directors are so obsessed withgetting the mountains into every song sequence. I think the Wi-Fi will be even worse there. Honestly, these hotels—”
“Mum!” Reeva cried out, forgetting her own therapist’s advice to avoid raising her voice when dealing with members of her family. “What about Dad?”
Saraswati started twirling her diamond around her ring finger again. She held her hand up to the light and gave it an admiring glance before turning her attention back to the phone screen. “Look, it’s all very complicated. I don’t want to explain it on the phone. My lawyers will give you and your sisters a call later to talk you through the details. Your dad used the same lawyers, which makes it all less complicated. That’s one thing he did right, I’ll give him that.”
“What details?” demanded Reeva. “Why do I need to speak to lawyers?”
“Well, it’s just... your dad’s last wishes were for you and your sisters to be at his funeral and perform the Hindu prayers for him,” explained Saraswati. “Seeing as he couldn’t spend time with you in life and all, he thought he’d do it in death. I suppose it’s quite poetic, really. I get you when I’m alive; he gets you when he’s dead. Perhaps more families should do things this way.”
“I’m sorry, what prayers? When is his funeral? And—and where did he even live?!” Reeva felt her breath constricting again. “Mum, I need answers!”
“Oh, he’s just a couple of hours away from London. In Leicester. You’ll need to go for the full two weeks, I’m afraid.” Saraswati looked somewhat apologetically at her daughter. “It’s written in his will. You girls are inheriting everything so long as you turn up for all the prayers—oh, you know, they happen every night after someone dies? We did it for your ba, remember? Oh, yes, you girls were at school... Well, it’s not as big an ask as it sounds.You won’t have to organize it all; you just need to be there, clean his stuff out and sing for an hour every evening. He wants the prayers all the way up until the kriya ceremony, though, when he finally goes.”
Reeva blinked in total incomprehension. “Goes? What’s a kriya ceremony?”
Saraswati sighed in impatience. “Darling, you really should know more about your culture and all our traditions. It’s when the soul leaves the body. On the thirteenth day. Look, Reeva, my lawyers will call you to explain it because I really am needed elsewhere. Hemant was only an optometrist, so I doubt the house will be all that, but he never spent much, so there’s probably a pile of cash for you all to inherit. It’ll be helpful, I’m sure. Anyway, it was his last wish! You can do that for a dead man, can’t you? And you never seem to take any holiday, so I’m sure your job won’t mind. Perhaps you could take some extra time off and come visit me afterward? Oh, it would be so fun; we could go to a retreat in Kerala.”
Reeva shook her head rapidly. She knew she had only a matter of seconds before her mum did what she did best and disappeared on her. “Wait. Mum. Why did you tell us he was dead when he wasn’t? What’s going on?”
There was an awkward silence before her mum’s face started to blur. “Reeva? Reeva?”
Reeva leaned in closer to the screen. It looked like her mum was deliberately moving the phone herself.
“Sorry, the connection’s failing again! I’ll explain everything soon, I promise. Just do what the lawyers say, go to his house and spend thirteen days there with your sisters. Your aunt Satya—that’s your dad’s sister—will be there to sort it all out. And I’ll be back before you know it.”
Reeva’s mouth dropped open in shock. She didn’t have time to register the fact she had an aunt she’d never known existed; she was still reeling from her mum’s revelation that she was expected to spend thirteen days with her sisters. Not to mention the Dad news. “Wait, they’re going to be there too? No, no, no. I’m definitely not going if they’re there. No. You can’t make me. Nope.”
Saraswati’s arched eyebrows made a valiant effort to narrow. “Reeva. You’re an adult woman. Grow up and stop acting like a child. They’re your sisters. Go and spend time with them. It’ll be good for you. You can bond over all this business with your dad.” She paused thoughtfully. “You know, he’s probably left some letters for you that will explain everything better than I ever could—that’s just the sort of sentimental thing he’d do.”
“No, Mum, no.” Reeva’s face tightened. “You can’t just tell me Dad’s dead—again—and then disappear. You need to come home and explain it all. Right now! And you cannot expect me to spend thirteen entire days with Jaya and Sita after everything that’s happened. Youcan’t.”
Her mum’s face started to blur suspiciously again. “Sorry! It’s the connection. I’ll call to check in on you soon. Love you!Mwah.”
