Beautiful Beast (Gypsy Heroes #3)(60)

‘Snow, Snow,’ he shouts happily.

And for a moment my sad heart lifts. I love Kupu. This is my real family. Kupu, Chitra, and Vijaya, our cook. I have missed them. With shaking hands, he unlocks the padlock from a set of keys dangling from his tattered belt.

He opens the gate and I walk through.

He puts his palms together in a prayer gesture. His rheumy eyes are wet.

‘How’ve you been?’ I ask in Tamil.

‘I’m so glad you’ve come home. It’s not been the same without you,’ he replies sadly.

‘How is Papa and Mummy?’

‘Your papa is lonely. He’s lost a lot of weight, but he won’t go to the doctor. He spends all his time in his room watching TV.’ He drops his voice to a whisper. ‘Your brother is home.’

I sigh. ‘Thank you for the warning.’ I touch his skinny, wrinkled arm. ‘I’ll see you later, OK?’

His hands come out to grasp my hand tightly. ‘All right, child. Don’t worry, God sees everything.’

And I just want to burst into tears. God didn’t see anything. He let it all happen.

I turn away and walk up the short driveway to the portico of the house. My father’s car is in the garage. I open the intricately carved, heavy Balinese doors, and I am standing in the cool interior of my family home. But for the emptiness inside me, it is like I have never left. I walk further into the room and my brother pops his head around the side of the couch, sees me, and raises himself onto his elbow.


‘Well, well, the prodigal daughter returns,’ he says sarcastically.

I walk closer. He is flipping through a sports magazine and eating monkey nuts. He puts the magazine down. ‘Are you back for good?’

I nod.

‘Why?’

I shrug. ‘Just wanted to.’

His eyes glint with malice. ‘The streets of London are not paved with gold after all, eh?’

‘They are paved with the same gold as the streets of Kansas City,’ I retort.

He looks at me with irritation. ‘That was not my fault. Americans are just stupid.’

‘Really, all Americans?’

‘Yes, they are all as stupid as you are,’ he says, cracking a nut and lifting the pod over his mouth, letting them fall in.

My brother will never change. He will always be peeing on other people’s heads. I watch him chew. ‘Where’s Papa?’

‘Where do you think?’

There is no point in talking to my brother. The longer I stay the more likely it is that we will end up in a huge argument. I turn away from him and start walking towards the stairs.

‘Hey, you never said, what happened to your big dreams of becoming a teacher in England?’

‘Who told you that?’

‘Mother, obviously.’

‘I see.’

‘So you couldn’t make it there then, not even as a pre-school teacher,’ he notes gleefully.

‘No, I could not make it there,’ I say dully.

‘You shouldn’t have bothered to come back here. There’s absolutely f*ck all to do. And don’t start making plans to set up here forever either. I’m in the process of persuading Mother to sell this house and buy a smaller one for the three of us. I want to use the remainder of the money to set me up in a business.’

I go up the stairs and knock on my father’s door. Even from outside I can hear the TV turned up loud.

‘Who is it?’ my father growls impatiently.

I open the door and enter his room.

His bad tempered scowling face freezes for a second. Then he stands up and exclaims in shock, ‘Snow?’

Kupu is right. My father has lost a lot of weight. His face is sunken in and his shirt is hanging off him. ‘Yeah, it’s me, Papa.’

He fumbles around the low table in front of him for the TV remote. He mutes it and turns towards me eagerly. ‘When did you come?’

‘I just arrived.’

‘But why didn’t you let us know? Who picked you up from the airport? Does your mother know?’

‘I took a taxi from the airport, Dad, and no, Mum doesn’t know. It was a spur of the moment decision to come home.’

‘Are you all right?’ he asks worriedly.

‘Yes, I’m fine.’

‘Are you sure?’ he insists, frowning. ‘I … I mean, we … have been so worried about you.’

‘Yes, Papa. As you can see I am just fine.’

He nods a few times. ‘Come in. Come in. Come and sit down with me. Are you tired? Do you want something to eat? Vijaya can make something for you.’

I go and sit down next to him. ‘No, I’m not tired. I slept on the plane and I am not hungry. Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I am all right.’ He looks at me and sighs. ‘You left a child and you have come back a woman. It is a man, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ I whisper.

His eyes narrow. ‘Are you pregnant?’

I shake my head.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes, I’m very sure.’

‘Thank God. Oh, thank God for that,’ he says with relief.

I find my eyes filling with tears.

‘Don’t worry, Snow. I will find you a good husband. You are young and beautiful. Many boys from good families will come for you. Don’t ever tell anyone about this man who cheated you. You know how it is. People will talk. The less they know the better.’