2

Yasmin stretched up on her toes again to see around the crowd of people gathered in the arrivals lobby all eagerly waiting for their loved ones. None she doubted, were waiting quite as nervously as she was.

Impatiently she paced back and forth along the barrier, checking her watch as though it would somehow speed up time. It had been half an hour since their plane landed, surely they were nearly through customs by now.

The customs doors opened once again, and once again she was disappointed. Another five minutes passed, ten and then fifteen. Finally, after forty-five minutes the doors opened to reveal the three smiling faces she'd been so eagerly waiting for. Okay, so none of them were actually smiling. Shani looked tired, Marek appeared anxious and the young girl he carried on his hip was crying. But somehow, that only made Yasmin's own smile broaden all the more. It had been six months since she'd made a trip back to India and she couldn't believe how much her niece had grown in that time.

"Shani, over here," she called out, waving her hand as she pushed past the crowd to reach the barrier.

Both Shani and Marek turned toward her, their eyes searching in the direction of her voice. When Shani's eyes found her cousin her fatigue melted away, brightening her drawn face with a mirroring smile.

"I'm so happy to see you. How was your trip?" Yasmin asked, hugging Shani and Marek in turn.

"Me too. We had a extended stopover in Mumbai for our connecting flight, but otherwise it was pretty good," Shani answered with a disgruntled sigh, giving her daughter a dismayed look.

It was only then that Anjuli lifted her face from Marek's shoulder to look at Yasmin. Almost instantly her sobbing cry reduced to hiccupping breaths while she looked over the familiar face of the woman before her. When recognition dawned, Anjuli's sobs renewed once again as she reached out her arms to Yasmin, abandoning Marek in favour of gaining sympathy from a new source.

"Juli, my little munchkin, what's got you so upset," she asked, using her best compassionate teachers voice.

"They lost La La," she hiccupped again.

Yasmin looked curiously between Shani and Marek for an explanation.

"It seems the airline lost one of our bags, the one which has Anjuli's favourite teddy bear, La La. She won't go to bed without it, she's had it since she was a baby," Shani replied.

"Oh dear, that's terrible," Yasmin declared over dramatically, gaining the little girl's full attention. "You know what, you know how you're coming to stay at my house for awhile,…" Anjuli nodded. "Well, I have a room filled with lots of teddy bears and dolls. Maybe you can pick one of those to keep you company tonight,…Just until they can find La La for you," she added quickly when the three year old's pout acquired an accompanying scowl.

"I want La La, he'll get lonely without me," she said, her bottom lip beginning to quiver again.

Shani had to bite back her smile. "I know sweetheart. Hopefully they'll find him soon, but what if one of aunt Yasmin's teddy bears is lonely like La La. Wouldn't you like to make another teddy happy too?" Shani asked.

"Maybe, but I still want La La."

Shani heaved a defeated sigh. "I know."

"We should probably get out of here," Marek suggested, his keen eyes sweeping the sea of faces at the airport. It made him uncomfortable standing about in such a public place, especially an airport with all its security cameras feeding images back to computers with facial recognition software. He had more than one enemy here in England he'd prefer to avoid announcing his arrival to, if possible.

"Of course. Where's the rest of your bags?" Yasmin asked, looking at the two large cases and one medium sized rucksack on the trolley beside them.

"This is it. Marek insisted we only bring the essentials," Shani told her.

"Why, if you're not planning on ever going back again?"

Marek gave Anjuli a cautious look. She maybe young, but he wasn't foolish enough to think she didn't understand what they were saying. "Saadir maybe indisposed now, but he still has quite a bit of influence. We needed to make it look like Shani and Juli were only coming for a holiday." Marek left his explanation at that, leaving Yasmin to figure out the rest on her own.

"I see. That's probably very wise," she replied in a light tone for Anjuli's benefit, who squirmed impatiently on Yasmin's hip to get down. Complying with the young girl's demand, she placed her on the floor. Despite relieving herself of the weight in her arms, the weight on her heart seemed to have increased. It was frustrating and distressing to know that although Shani and Anjuli were now thousands of miles away from Saadir, the malicious bastard couldn't be ignored or forgotten.

"Where's your car?" Shani asked, taking Anjuli's hand and following after her cousin.

"I didn't bring it. I thought you'd have mountains of luggage so I hired a limo. It's waiting out front. I also figured you'd like to start your knew life in style."

Shani couldn't help a quiet chuckle. "It wasn't necessary, but thank you."

Yasmin waved away her cousin's gratitude. "What's the point of being a thirty-something rich widow if I can't lash out every now and then?" Her face suddenly lit up like a light bulb had switched on in her brain. "Oh, this is great," she began excitedly.

"What is?"

"You not having much stuff,…and the airline losing Juli's things. Tomorrow we're going shopping."

"Do we have to?" Shani asked less enthusiastically.

"I insist."

Shani let out a half-hearted huff but didn't argue. She really wasn't in a position to refuse any financial help. With Saadir finally now in prison and all of his bank accounts frozen, pending investigation of his financial dealings, it also meant that she was cut off from her meagre allowance.

"What would I do without you Yasmin? What would I do without either of you?" she amended, sparing a glance and tentative smile between her cousin and Marek.

Yet again Yasmin disregarded Shani's gratitude. "Here we are," she said, waving at the limo driver leaning against the car door.

Marek too, ignored her appreciative overtures. He'd wanted to be her knight in shining armour, her captain on the high seas, and rescue her from an intolerable fate. But, his boat was more of the holey, sinking variety than the competent buoyant type. Even after infiltrating Saadir's inner circle, it had taken nearly three years of manipulating and scheming to bring about Saadir's incarceration. However, despite his best efforts, the layers of corruption surrounding the bastard were too numerous to unravel entirely. He feared all he'd done was give Shani the illusion of safety and freedom, not the real thing.

Marek helped the driver load the bags into the car while Shani got Anjuli strapped into the back seat. "Where's Pa," she cried out anxiously, struggling against her mother's efforts to secure the seatbelt.

"I'm sorry munchkin, you're daddy's not here," Yasmin told her.

"Not daddy," she replied gruffly, her big brown eyes welling with tears again. "I want Pa."

"Juli calls Marek grandpa," Shani explained.

"It's alright sweetheart, I'm here. I'm not leaving you, I promise," Marek replied as he climbed into the car, taking his seat beside her and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. Not surprisingly she smiled up at him and snuggled into his side. Weary from their long plane trip, Anjuli's eyelids quickly grew heavy and closed when the car starting moving.

How wonderful it was to be a child, he thought. A few kind words and a smile on a friendly face was all that was required to make the problems in their world evaporate. If only it was so simple for adults.

Talking quietly so as not to wake Anjuli, Yasmin's curiosity got the better of her. She couldn't wait another minute to ask. "Did you see Saadir before you left?"

Shani nodded. "Two days ago."

"Did you ask him for a divorce?"

Shani nodded again.

"What did he say, did he agree to it?"

Shani's eyes dropped to her fidgeting hands in her lap. The disappointment and sadness churning within couldn't be fully contained, it pulled at her down turned mouth as she chewed on the plump flesh of her bottom lip. "No."

The laws in India were strict regarding divorce. Shani knew she would never be granted a divorce except under extenuating circumstances, or with the agreement of her husband. Saadir himself had created the circumstances, and she thought she would only need to produce the evidence to a judge. She was wrong. It seemed that if your husband was a very powerful crime boss who owned half the police department and judicial system, the usual rules didn't apply.

"My life hasn't gone as planned, but that's okay," she added, forcing a sad smile on her lips.

It was hard not to view her life like potholes in a perfectly paved road. Sometimes all you can do is smile. Move on with your day, hold back your tears and pretend you're okay. Tomorrow was another day and with that, the potential for a better day. She lived in hope that something would change. After all, one of the few constants in life was change. Unfortunately those changes rarely came with a road map to give you direction. Some changes are easily predicted and therefore common sense prevails for the navigation. However, some changes can blindside you, hitting you out of the blue and leaving you bewildered. In hindsight you may have seen them coming, if you knew what signs to look out for.

With Saadir, Shani had accurately predicted his reaction to her request for a divorce. He was a power monger and control freak. In all their eleven years of marriage he had never allowed her a single day of freedom to make even the simplest of decisions for herself. Why should now be any different. What she couldn't predict was how he might react to having his own freedom taken away. Would he cower into his shell in self pity, or would he react like a wounded animal, cornered and ready to come out fighting? If only she had hindsight to reflect on now, maybe then it would easier to prepare for the imminent fallout.

Still, no matter what happened next, she had to stay strong for her daughter.

"Shani, now that you're back, are you planning any trips to Oxford?" Yasmin asked.

"You mean, do I plan on going to see Dray? No. There's no point, our situation hasn't changed. If anything things are even more complicated than they were before," she answered, brushing a lock of hair behind Anjuli's ear.

"You two have serious chemistry. I don't understand why you'd deny yourself some happiness. God knows, if anyone deserves some, it's you. You're never going back to Saadir, hopefully he'll never get out of prison, so what does it matter if he doesn't give you a divorce. Live in sin like everyone else."

"I can't. Especially now. I need to set a good example to Anjuli. I don't deny my attraction to Dray, but the thing about sexual attraction is it's an illusion. The mind creates an intellectual and emotional bond between two people, even if one doesn't exist, just because one body is attracted to the another."

"My god. Do you hear yourself? I've never heard such nonsensical bullshit in my life," Yasmin threw up her hands, looking to Marek for backup who wisely chose to stay quiet. "You're afraid, plain and simple. Well, I'm telling you that if you don't start learning to take chances, you could miss out on something wonderful."

"I could say the same about you. You have millions of dollars and you live in a pokey little house, you have a job you don't need, you stay home every night by yourself and the only socialising you do is with seven year olds."

"I'll have you know, I'm very happy with my life. I like my little house and being a teacher. I have no need for a lot of money and I'm not pining away for a man I'm trying to convince myself I can't have."

Both women sat back in their seats, silently fuming at the other.

They'd reached a stalemate. With neither one willing to budge on their point of view, the conversation in the car ceased for the remainder of the trip. Not that Marek was complaining. The peace and quiet was bliss.

"Juli, sweetheart, wake up. We're here." Marek nudged her gently to rouse her from her sleep.

With a huge yawn she stretched and looked out the car window. "It's not as big as our house," she observed matter-of-factly.

"No, but there are lots of teddies and dolls waiting to meet you, and its warm and cosy." And safe. Shani thought it, but didn't say it. Sadly, even at the age of three, Anjuli had learned that a home wasn't always a safe haven. On more than one occasion she had witnessed her father's violent outbursts. Fortunately Yasmin's townhouse held none of the familiar anxiety, only excitement and adventure. "Now, let's get you inside and unpacked."

"I'll let you get settled. I have a couple of calls to make. I'll catch up with you soon," Marek told them.

Waiting for them to close the front door, he leaned against the low brick wall of the property and pulled his phone from his pocket.

"Hi, I just wanted to let you know we arrived."

"Any issues?" Saladin asked.

"None so far."

"Do you think Saadir is going to cause trouble?"

"If he doesn't I'd be disappointed, he's a vindictive bastard."

"Hmmm, that's what I thought you'd say. In that case, I think it's about time I have a chat to Dray."

"Do you think that's wise?"

"No. But he can't keep his head buried up his fucking arse forever."