Secrets & Saris Read Online Free PDF

little moppet who was rushing past.
    ‘Can I give the letter to my dad instead?’ Nina piped up. ‘My mum isn’t here, and he’s always around.’
    Mrs Dubey looked mildly scandalised, but Shefali smiled at the child. ‘Why not?’ she said. ‘Does he come to pick you up?’
    ‘Yes,’ she said and pointed towards the school gate. ‘Look—there he is!’
    Shefali turned. There was only one man in the crowd of parents thronging near the gate—tall, with rumpled chestnut hair and familiar mocking eyes. Maybe Nina’s father was standing further back—but what was Neil doing here? She’d not told him where she worked, though he could have probably found out from the hotel.
    She gave him a wary look as he walked up to them, but his attention wasn’t on her.
    ‘Hi, pumpkin,’ he said, ruffling Nina’s hair and inclining his head ironically at Shefali.
    ‘Daddy!’ Nina squealed happily, and clung on to his hand.
    Neil Mitra—married with a kid. Something he’d neglected to mention even after he’d kissed her. No wonder he’d been in such a hurry to get away. It still seemed incomprehensible, though. For one thing he looked so young— she’d assumed that he was around the same age as she was. But he couldn’t be. Nina was one of the bigger kids at the playschool, and had to be at least four years old.
    ‘ You’re her father?’ Shefali asked finally, looking him up and down.
    ‘So I’ve been told,’ Neil drawled. ‘I’ve been thinking of getting a DNA test done, but you know how things keep getting put off.’
    Shefali was about to snap at him when she realised that Nina was right next to them, listening intently.
    ‘He is my dad,’ Nina said, her voice firm, but Shefali saw her chin wobble slightly. ‘What’s a DNA test, Daddy?’
    ‘A piece of paper that says you’re all mine,’ Neil replied, his voice rough as he swung Nina up into his arms. For a few seconds he’d been so intent on getting under Shefali’s skin that he’d forgotten his daughter was within earshot. ‘But we already know that, so we don’t need one. Bad joke. Sorry.’
    ‘Well, now that I see you together I can tell you’re father and daughter,’ Shefali said, trying to lighten things up a little. She’d have a lot to say to him if she saw him alone, but now was most definitely not the time. ‘Your ears are identical.’
    Nina chuckled happily. ‘Everybody says my eyes are like Papa’s,’ she said.
    ‘Don’t believe, them. Yours are much prettier. Your ears, on the other hand...’
    ‘I can’t believe it—a schoolmarm with an ear fetish,’ Neil murmured as Nina slipped down from his arms.
    ‘I read it in a Sherlock Holmes story,’ Shefali said, blushing hotly. ‘Ears are supposed to show a family resemblance the most.’
    ‘ The Adventure of the Cardboard Box ,’ he said, and he smiled suddenly, his eyes lighting up in the way that made Shefali’s heartbeat quicken. ‘It’s years since I read Conan Doyle.’
    ‘Same here,’ Shefali, said, and there was a little pause broken by Nina’s cheerful little voice.
    ‘Teacher, I love the patterns on your hands,’ she said. ‘They’re like a dulhan’s hands. Did you just get married?’
    The henna again. Shefali wished there was a way of getting it off—nail polish remover? Acid, maybe? Anything to get rid of the orange designs snaking over her hands, a constant reminder of her stupidity.
    For the moment, though, she was done with lies and evasions. Neil could think what he liked.
    ‘I almost did,’ she said. ‘But it didn’t work out.’
    Neil’s brow furrowed. ‘Get into the car, sweetheart,’ he said to Nina. ‘Look—Bela Mashi’s waiting for you by the gate.’
    Nina gave Shefali a cheery wave and ran off. Neil’s amazing eyes were troubled as he turned back to Shefali.
    ‘Look, I’m sorry,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I didn’t realise...’
    Shefali cut him off. ‘It’s OK,’ she said quickly. ‘I didn’t realise you were