Meena pulled out of their grasp. “What are you talking about?”
“Sabina told us everything.”
Meena exhaled, relieved. She didn’t know what she would have done if Sabina hadn’t.
“Come sit.” Tanvi pulled her to the table. “Are you hungry? Have you eaten?”
“She’s a grown person.” Uma opened the plastic container. “Let her be.”
“I just want to take care of you,” Tanvi brought mugs from the kitchen and poured chai.
“I’m fine,” Meena assured them. “We’ve reached a truce of sorts.”
Uma snorted as she shoved the container of parathas toward Meena.
Tanvi patted Meena’s arm. “I’m not fine. I’m angry and upset. We missed so many months with you.”
“You didn’t,” Meena said. “You’ve been taking care of me. And I don’t need much.”
“I’m angry that she’s being a bitch,” Uma grunted. “She should have dealt with all of this better. You deserve more.”
“It was her choice,” Meena offered.
“Not about her choice.” Uma took a paratha, folded it in half, and shoved it in Meena’s hand. “For her secrets and for trying to get rid of you.”
“I can’t do anything about that.” Meena took a bite, if only to please Tanvi.
“It’s not you.” Uma went to the kitchen and rummaged around in the pantry. She brought over a plate of cookies. “Did you make these?”
“I’ve been practicing.”
Uma bit into one. “Too much baking soda.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
Tanvi sipped her chai. “We’re mad, and it’s going to take time. She should have come to us. Instead she relied on Neha, trusted someone so . . . so, well, you know.”
“At least she helped Sabina through it all,” Uma said.
“And held it over her head,” Tanvi added. “Made Sabina her personal servant.”
“She wrote me notes.” Meena wanted them to know the whole of it.
The aunties looked confused. Meena went to the drawer of her worktable and pulled out the envelope of notes. One of the few things she’d kept. She didn’t consider them Neha’s, but her own. The three women scanned them.
“What a mind fuck.” Uma shook her head.
“Tell me about it,” Meena said.
“I didn’t know this was happening to you.”
“That’s on me. I wasn’t exactly an open book.”
“You weren’t even a closed book,” Uma said. “Just a series of Post-it Notes.”
“Did Sabina tell you about the father?” asked Tanvi.
“Neha did.” Meena took another sip. It needed sugar, but then she remembered that it was always Sabina who added sugar, so she drank it plain. “And Sabina filled in parts.”
“She told us he was Neha’s cousin,” Uma said. “His name was Akash.”
“He was very attractive.” Tanvi took a paratha, rolled it up, and dipped it in her chai before taking a bite. “I remember. You come from good genetic stock. At least on your father’s side.”
“I had wanted it to be you.” Meena put her hand on Tanvi’s arm. “When I learned that one of you could be my birth mother.”