The Love Detective (41 page)

She gives me a small, grateful smile, then seems to pause, as if just noticing something. ‘Ruby, why are you wearing pink clothes and a jewelled bindi?’

‘Huh?’ Quickly snatching my hand to my forehead, I feel my fingertips brush against it. ‘I must have forgotten to take it off,’ I murmur, my mind flashing back to last night’s weddings, to Jack, to the ring—

It’s like a door blasting open on an aeroplane. My stomach lurches as I start freefalling through my emotions: pain . . . disbelief . . .
betrayal
. . . Another man has lied and cheated on me . . . With sheer brute force, I slam it closed again. I don’t want to go there. I
can’t
go there.

Looking up, I meet Amy’s gaze. She’s staring at me. ‘Looks like we’ve both got a lot to talk about,’ she says quietly and, looping her arm through mine, leads me to the waiting taxi.

Set in the middle of the desert, Jodhpur has a timelessness that makes you feel as if nothing has changed here for hundreds of years. A magnificent fort cut out of the rock dominates the old walled city below, which is made up of a maze of winding back streets filled with textile shops, bazaars, and the indigo-painted houses that give Jodhpur its alternative name of the Blue City.

Driving through the ancient walls, we twist and turn along narrow streets, zigzagging back and forth, until the taxi pulls up outside a magnificient old
haveli
.

‘Hang on, this is
the house
?’ I ask, in bewilderment. I stare at it, feeling stunned.

‘Yes, it belongs to Shine’s uncle,’ nods Amy, seemingly unfazed. ‘Nice, isn’t it?’

‘Nice?’ I gasp, staring at it, feeling slightly dumbfounded. And I haven’t even
started
on the uncle bit.

As Amy pays the taxi driver, I climb out to get a better look, shielding my eyes from the strong midday sun. If I had questions for Amy before, now I’ve got even more. I stare at the imposing stone archway and huge studded doors that look like something you’d see on a castle, whilst thinking of our own uncle and his pebble-dashed bungalow. To say our family and Shine’s come from two different worlds is something of an understatement. Now I think I know how Kate Middleton must have felt, meeting the in-laws.

Or nearly-in-laws, I remind myself, feeling thankful Amy didn’t go through with the wedding. Followed by a flash of fury towards Shine. I don’t exactly know what’s been going on, but I’m more than ready to give him a piece of my mind. How dare he treat my little sister like this? Leading her on, getting her to elope, when all the time . . .

Indignation bursts inside me. I’m usually a pretty calm person, but seeing my sister so upset makes me furious. I’ll show him! He might have been able to pull the wool over Amy’s eyes with his sexy yoga teacher act, but now it’s me he’s dealing with!

Feeling fiercely protective, I turn towards Amy, who’s waiting for me by the archway. Together we walk through and into the courtyard. It’s stunningly beautiful, opening out into a large paved area with a fountain in the middle and a kind of terraced veranda filled with potted ferns, large velvet sofas, and walls hung with old sepia photographs of maharajas.

‘There’s Shine,’ nods Amy, towards the fountain.

I glance across and at first I almost don’t recognise him. He looks completely different. Gone are the white robes and bare feet; instead he’s wearing jeans, a smart blue shirt and what look like a pair of polished brogues. Hearing our footsteps, he turns and I’m bracing myself for our greeting, when we’re interrupted by the rumble of car tyres behind us and have to step to the side as a car sweeps past us. And not just any car, but one of those really expensive Mercedes.

Somewhere, deep inside me, an alarm bell starts ringing.

One of those really expensive Mercedes.

Hang on. Surely it can’t be the same . . .

No sooner has that thought fired across my brain than the dark-tinted windows buzz down and the dark-grey door opens. One long, stiletto-clad leg appears, followed by another, and a woman emerges. Swishing back her curtain of glossy dark hair, I catch a glimpse of her face. She’s wearing big black sunglasses, but there’s no mistaking her. It’s the same woman I saw Shine with in Goa!

‘Oh my God, Amy,’ I hiss, grabbing onto her sleeve and trying frantically to pull her back.

‘Rubes?’ Glancing at me, she looks taken aback at my panicked expression. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘That’s her!’ I gasp, my mind racing in disbelief.

Fuck! What is she doing here? And what’s going to happen when she sees Amy? I suddenly feel a beat of fear. Well, one thing’s for certain, I’m not going to stand around to find out.

‘Who?’ asks Amy, frowning impatiently. ‘What are you going on about?’

‘Quick, before she sees us!’ I watch Shine walk over to greet her and feel a beat of indignation. Oh my god, he’s so brazen!

‘Rubes!’ Amy sounds really quite cross now. ‘What are you doing?’

‘I’ll explain later,’ I hiss, trying to drag her in the other direction, but she’s not budging.

‘Ouch!’ she yelps, ‘you’re hurting me.’

‘Sssshh!’ I hiss.

But it’s too late. The woman’s seen us. She’s coming over. Oh, fuck!

‘Amy, get back,’ I instruct, stepping in front of her to act like a sort of human shield, but she sidesteps out from behind me with a loud tut.

‘Rubes!
Have you gone stark, staring mad?’

‘No, you don’t understand . . .’ I break off as the woman bears down upon us.

‘Amy, there you are!’ Pushing her sunglasses onto the top of her head, she leans towards her and kisses her politely on both cheeks.

I stare in disbelief.

‘And who is this?’ she asks, turning towards me with a courteous smile.

‘My sister, Ruby,’ replies Amy, quickly introducing me. ‘And Ruby, this is Aisha, Shine’s sister.’

His sister?

‘I wish he wouldn’t use that silly nickname,’ Aisha says, holding out her hand to shake mine. ‘Hello, it’s very nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.’

I don’t react. I can’t. I’m still trying to take it all in.

‘Ruby, what’s wrong?’ Amy peers at me with a worried expression.

‘I saw you with Shine . . . you were in a back street in Goa . . . I assumed . . .’ I trail off. It’s as if my mind has been lagging behind and has now only just caught up with this sudden turn in events.

Amy’s face suddenly registers that the penny’s dropped. ‘Oh no, you didn’t think . . .’

But she doesn’t even have to finish. I blush beetroot. I suddenly feel very foolish.

‘Well, how was I to know?’ I protest weakly. ‘I saw them together’ – my mind flashes backwards – ‘and they were arguing.’

‘This is true,’ nods Shine’s sister, seemingly unfazed. ‘I was holidaying in Goa, I had come to visit my baby brother, but when he confessed to me that he was in love with your sister and wanted to marry her, I was very much against it.’

As the nuggets of information are starting to drop into place like jigsaw pieces, Shine reappears, walking towards us. ‘I’m sorry, I was just helping the driver park the car . . .’ he begins apologetically then, seeing me, he hesitates slightly and bows his head. ‘Hello Ruby,’ he says politely.

‘Hello Shine,’ I nod, somewhat stiffly. OK, so I might have jumped to conclusions, but he still eloped with my sister. Plus, that still doesn’t explain why he lied to me. ‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ I blurt, looking to him for an explanation. ‘Why did you lie to me?’

Shine’s handsome face puckers. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand.’

‘That day I saw you in Goa, when I was lost in the back streets, you told me you weren’t with anyone, that you were by yourself.’

As I enlighten him, his face floods with the memory. ‘I didn’t want you to tell Amy,’ he says, after a moment’s pause. ‘I didn’t want Amy knowing my sister was in town. If she knew, then she would have wanted to meet her, and that would have been impossible . . .’ He trails off. ‘It would have created many problems.’

‘So you just ran away?’ I reproach.

Well, I’m sorry, I can’t help it. I’ve been worried sick.

‘My brother has always been headstrong, even as a baby,’ interrupts Aisha. ‘I should have realised he would not listen. When I discovered he had run away to be married, I was very angry and upset.’

‘Yes, me too,’ I nod, remembering my phone call with Amy at the airport.

‘I say to myself, he cannot go against years of tradition, he cannot marry some stranger he hardly knows, this is crazy!’ she continues vehemently.

‘Yes I know, it’s crazy,’ I agree, and yet deep down inside of me I unexpectedly feel a niggle of doubt.

‘I knew I had to find him and stop him. I didn’t want him to make a big mistake, something that he would regret for the rest of his life . . .’

I recognise those words – those are the same ones I’d used, I reflect, glancing across at Shine and Amy. They’ve moved closer together and his arm is wrapped protectively around her waist, whilst she’s holding onto his hand. Except, seeing them now, somehow it’s hard to imagine either of them as a mistake.

‘The man who owns the retreat couldn’t tell me anything,’ she tuts, shaking her head and I have a vision of poor Biju, terrified into silence. ‘I called friends, visited relatives, until finally, after travelling the whole length of the country looking for him, I find him here at our uncle’s house,’ she finishes, throwing her hands onto her hips and glaring at him.

I flinch slightly. Aisha’s actually pretty scary.

‘Our parents will be turning in their graves!’

‘
Aisha
,’ says Shine sternly, throwing her a look, before turning to me, his expression solemn. ‘Please don’t be angry with your sister, it was all my idea,’ he says earnestly. ‘I take all responsibility.’

I feel myself soften. ‘Don’t worry, I can never stay angry at her for long,’ I smile ruefully. ‘That said, I don’t believe for a minute it was all your idea.’ I glance across at Amy and she shifts uncomfortably. ‘Her nickname at primary school wasn’t Little Miss Trouble for nothing.’

She blanches. ‘That was a bit unfair,’ she protests indignantly.

‘Tell that to the little boy you buried in the sandpit, or the girl whose hair you painted.
Literally
.’

Everyone smiles and I feel the atmosphere lightening.

‘I’m just relieved you’re OK,’ I confess, ‘I was really worried. Especially when I met someone who had a photo of you both on an elephant in Jaipur.’ My mind flicks back to Cindy. ‘She said you were upset—’

‘Oh my god, not that crazy American girl!’ gasps Amy incredulously.

‘She wasn’t
that
crazy,’ I correct, feeling strangely protective.

‘She was crazy,’ repeats Amy, ‘and an outrageous flirt. She was all over Shine like a rash!’

Having witnessed Cindy’s flirting techniques first-hand, I don’t doubt it, but still . . .‘She said you’d had a fight with your boyfriend,’ I persist.

Amy’s cheeks pinken. ‘OK, so I admit, I got a bit jealous.’

‘Now you’re the one being crazy,’ smiles Shine.

‘And she told you he wasn’t worth it.’

‘Like I said, she was completely crazy,’ nods Amy.

‘But . . .’ My mind is scrambling; as so often recently, it seems to have been another misunderstanding. ‘But I’ve been really worried,’ I gasp, finally.

‘I told you not to worry,’ objects Amy, but Shine shushes her.

‘Big sisters always worry,’ he says, putting his arm around her.

‘It’s true,’ nods Aisha. ‘I have spent my whole life looking after my little brother, making sure he doesn’t get into trouble.’

‘Me too,’ I nod sympathetically, and a look passes between us.

‘It is all my fault,’ continues Shine, his expression falling serious. ‘My love made me rash, impatient and thoughtless. And I love your sister forever, Ruby. I love her more than anything in the world.’

I look at them together. Whereas before I didn’t believe it, now I don’t doubt it.

Except . . .

‘But then, I don’t understand . . .’ I begin, my mind turning. Because now everything has been explained, I’m more confused than ever. ‘Why did Amy ring me, really upset? She said it had all gone horribly wrong.’

At once, both their faces cloud over.

‘Well, seeing as you were both trying to stop us, you’ll both be pleased to hear we can’t get married,’ says Amy, looking upset. ‘It’s bad luck. If we do, something terrible will happen.’

I stare at her in bewilderment. Like I said, my sister is full of surprises. ‘What do you mean, something terrible will happen?’

‘We were supposed to get married last night in Udaipur,’ explains Shine. ‘We had everything arranged, and then we had our charts read—’

‘It was my idea,’ interrupts Amy. ‘When I found out it was traditional to consult with an astrologist before you get married, I thought it would be fun – you know me and my horoscopes . . .’

‘I was against it from the beginning,’ says Shine, shaking his head. ‘This match-making of horoscopes is outdated nonsense. I should never have agreed. But Amy wanted to do it and I stupidly thought: where is the harm?’