Standing so close to him, she felt something within her she had never felt before-like the calm sea becoming turbulent and the rushing wind seeming to lift her off her feet when he kissed her. The touch of his lips, his firm body and exhilarating masculine scent, gave her the feeling of living in a dream.

“Naren” she gasped and pulled away from him, a beautiful moment broken as she heard another’s name.
“What is it?” Sachin asked, concerned.
She shook her head slowly, a little confused, “I don’t know, I… just keep hearing his name.”
“Whose name?”
Sheila sighed deeply, not sure what was happening to her and said: “Never mind, can we go?”
“Okay” he said and put his arms gently around her, letting her head rest on his shoulder for a few moments. “Just relax. I think you’re a little nervous.”
The two boys were waiting anxiously for her to come home and wrapped their little arms around her waist, happy.
“You’re their everything” Sachin remarked, appreciating the love between mother and sons.
“And they’re mine” she added.
The boys wanted to show Sachin their toy cars so he stayed a little longer then left, kissing her goodbye on the cheek, “If you have sweet dreams tonight, I hope I’m in it.”
She couldn’t have sweet dreams, not when her mind was so confused. Sachin was every woman’s dream but a name, a voice from her childhood memories stood between them, vague visions like chasing butterflies.
“Naren, why are you so much in my thoughts?” She asked herself, “Where are you?”
She fell asleep with no answers to her questions, not knowing how to balance her true feelings for Sachin and memories of Naren.
“Why am I having this compelling feeling there is a connection between the two of them?”
It had been a long time since Naren had left with his family, her mother had told her and now that he was grown into a man, she wouldn’t know what he would look like, the sound of his voice, his smile. As the days passed, her mind searched for answers while Sachin’s regular visits brought her and the boys closer to him. But the mansion his international company was constructing would soon be completed and she couldn’t help worrying that he may leave for another project somewhere else in the world. She did not ask him any questions but he knew something was bothering her.
“Would you like to talk about it?” he asked her, after a special dinner she had cooked for him.
“Talk about what?”
“About what’s bothering you.”
She was not sure how to explain to him.her troubled thoughts when her sons who had been watching a kid’s movie made a sudden request in their own innocent way, “Mommy, we want to have a daddy.”
Their request stunned her and for a moment and she was at a loss for words until Sachin asked her with a teasing smile on his face “Sheila, do you have an answer to give them?”
She shook her head, more worry added to her mind, “I can’t answer that now.”
“Are you sure you can’t?”
He looked at the boys, who were anxiously waiting for an answer and he asked before she could say anything, “Who would you like to be your daddy?”
Sheila gave her sons a stern look, not to answer and they looked from her to Sachin uncertainly but chocolates are children’s best friends and he offered them, “I have chocolates”
Sheila looked at him with disbelief, “You can’t do that, that’s bribery.”
“It would give me the answer I want to hear” he said with confidence.
The kids answered “We want uncle Sachin to be our daddy” grabbed the chocolates and ran to their room.
“Well,” he looked at Sheila with a triumphant smile. “What do you have to say?”
“My answer is more important” she said, her turn now to tease him “but you can’t bribe me.”
“No, I have to win your heart” he said, in a low tone, lifting her chin so she was looking him in the eyes, “I have to make you fall in love with me.”
The deep look in his eyes held her almost in a trance and when he kissed her, she felt lost in that moment of passion, until that voice broke the moment once again. Sachin did not let her pull away from him this time and holding her close he said, “It’s Naren isn’t it? You can’t get him out of your thoughts.”
She looked at him, astonished, “You know him?”
“I told you, Sheila, I know everything about you.”
She was truly mystified but before she could ask him anything else, the boys called her, “Mommy”
She turned and gasped, “Oh my goodness.”
The chocolates they had eaten were smeared on their faces, hands and their clothes.
“See what your bribery did?” she said to Sachin, the tension of the moment dissipating.
“I’ll help you tidy them” he offered.
Sheila put them in bed a little later and as their eyes closed, holding on to her hand, they said sleepily “He likes you, mommy.”
“I know my little angels,” she said and kissed them good night.
Sachin stayed a while longer, but nothing more was mentioned of her troubled thoughts as they sat together watching a movie. She fell asleep on his shoulder and carefully, not to awaken her, he lifted her and put her in her bed. As he looked at her sleeping face, he said “You will remember everything soon and until then, I’ll wait.”
Sheila reached to work ten minutes late and as she was apologising to the matron, Rachel who was on the same shift whispered, “Did he keep you up all night?”
“No,” Sheila hushed her, “It’s not like that.”
It was a busy morning with three deliveries and later when they took a short break, Rachel pursued the topic.
“How is it going with Mr. Handsome?”
“Good,” Sheila answered casually.
“Good?” Rachel was perturbed, “What are you waiting for?”
“I just need to know if he’s the one for me. Remember I have my two little sons.”
Rachel squeezed her friend’s hand with an understanding smile,
“I hope he is, you deserve someone special.”
“Thank you, Rachel.”
It was a tiring day for Sheila and after work she had to stop in at the market and grocery shop. The boys behaved a little more mischievous and after putting them to bed, she felt extra tired. She had just finished showering when the doorbell rang and she sighed, knowing it was Sachin.
“I hope I don’t fall asleep again tonight.”
It must have been the refreshing, fragrant scent of the cherry blossoms bath and body or her simple yet sensual look because without a word, he pulled her in his arms and it was a long moment after he regained control, the passion in his kiss leaving her breathless.
“What was that?” she asked when she could find her voice.
“That was not giving that voice in your head a chance to disrupt anything.”
She laughed a little and sat down near to him on the sofa, a little surprised that he could joke about someone else in her thoughts and not feel bothered. She had hoped not to fall asleep but she did and once again he lifted her and put her in bed. He did not leave just then but laid beside her for a longer moment, looking at her as she slept and he said, “If only you knew how close you are to your dream.”
He did not come by for a few days, informing her he was on a tight schedule, putting the final touches to the mansion. It gave her a little time to think, searching still for the right answer and the idea that did not appeal to her before for the children to have a new father, was now a promising thought.
The mansion now completed Sachin wanted her to have a private dinner with him, at his home on Saturday night and since Sunday was her day off, she accepted his invitation. The house he had bought was where she had spent many of her childhood days with her friend.
“Why did you choose to buy this house?” she asked him after dinner as they sat on the upper verandah.
“I somehow felt drawn to it.” he said.
Being there brought back bits and pieces of those days and a vision of a little boy and girl playing in the garden.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her
“My friend, Naren.” she replied quietly.
“Did you forget him?”
“I did not remember much until my mother told me but I always felt there was something missing that was special to me.”
“Would you have waited had you remembered?”
She did not answer for a long moment then she said softly, “I don’t know if he would have loved me.”
He said nothing more as they sat in silence, watching the mansion, a short distance away, a spectacular vision of magic and dreams.
“It awaits her,” he said, the look in his eyes, a love she had not seen yet, hidden in the dim light.
“Who?” she asked.
“The one whose dream it was.”
An ache formed a knot in her heart for her dream was lost, somewhere in the gardens where they played, a dream only the silent shrubs and butterflies knew of.
“Don’t cry Sheila.”
The voice seeming so close startled her a little and she looked at Sachin, tears forming in her eyes, “Can you take me home please?”
She couldn’t sleep, not that night, not the other, her mind restless and as she watched the light drizzle outside the window, words spoken by Sachin danced in her mind. He knew so much of her. The dimples he said he always loved. Her dream as a little girl. Her fear of spiders and he knew Naren’s name!
A lightning storm seemed to hit her then as the connecting link between the two was formed. That realisation was so stunning fireworks seemed to light the sky and she cried,
“Oh my God, it’s Naren…Sachin is Naren!”
She was so overwhelmed by emotion she didn’t know what to do.
“Why did he not tell me? Why did he give me another name? Oh God, I have to see him now.”
She called her mother to stay with the boys, desperation in her voice.
“Please hurry mom, it’s an emergency.”
The ten minutes her mother took to get there felt like ten years and she ran out the door saying, “I’ll talk to you mom, when I get back.”
The taxi she had called was already waiting but when she reached his old home, he was not there. The guard told her he was at the mansion and she ran all the way through the light rain, her skin wet when she reached there.
She stood at the ornate gates, the rain and the tears trickling down her face as she remembered his words: “It awaits the one whose dream it was.”
The grounds were illuminated in a golden hue and as her trembling hands touched the gates, it opened like magic. She walked slowly up the marble pathway and the door opened to welcome its princess, a simple, beautiful girl who as a little girl, had dreamt of castles and princes.
She stood in the hallway, awed beyond words at its intricate décor and ornate exquisite furnishings. On a small antique glass table in the center was a fairytale book, turned to the page of a castle. Tears flowed from her eyes, even more as she remembered the book they used to read and he said from behind her: “I remember you telling me you would like to live in a castle.”
She turned around slowly, her emotions like a raging sea and she saw, not Sachin but her friend Narendra, whom she hadn’t seen since he was six. He was now a man, tall and handsome with a charming smile. Her dream was not lost anymore. He was there standing in front of her and she called his name, barely a whisper, “Naren.”
He smiled and said: “Don’t cry Sheila.”
She gasped, stunned by another revelation, “You were the one whose voice I was hearing?”
He nodded and the love he had secreted, waiting for the right moment, shone in his eyes.
“I was feeling your pain, that’s why I came to find you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she cried, trembling from the cold and uncontrolled emotions in her body.
He embraced her, holding her close so the warmth from his body could enter hers and he kissed away her tears.
“I wanted you to remember Sheila, to find that little girl again and her dreams so you could find me and love me, the way I love you.”
She looked at him, the jewel of tears in her eyes, at the one whom it was thought could not belong to her, her lips trembling with the passion of a love, her heart had yearned for, igniting a fire in her being and she could say nothing, just whisper his name, “Naren.”
Just his name, spoken with such deep emotion, expressed her love, a passion untamed as the wild sea, an unforgettable night.
One month later, the small town witnessed a fairytale wedding.

(By: Maureen Rampertab)