HUSH, MY BEAUTIFUL ONE | PART FOUR: THE CONCLUSION

MOTHER and father looked at her truly shocked and for once her father was at a loss for words. Her mother started to cry and her father, regaining his composure, told her.
“I know you’ve been under great stress with your husband and in-laws but I can’t believe they could go to such an extreme.”
“There are many things I have not told you because you hold on to traditional beliefs that a good wife does not leave her husband or home. She stays and takes the abuse and the suffering, hoping for a change that does not always come. Is it better you think father, that I leave in death?”

He did not answer, the muscles on his face taunt, for the tradition he was taught to believe was right, would be wrong in today’s world, a fast-changing world.
“I’m sorry if I was wrong,” he apologised, “for the pain and suffering I caused upon you because I upheld the rules and laws of our tradition.”

“My in-laws,” she said, “have been reading the same pages. They disapprove of a divorce because they don’t want their son to be blamed for it so they have hatched a plan to poison me and make it look like a suicide.”

“Oh god!” her mother exclaimed with an anguished cry.
Her father stood there, his face blank, not sure what to believe but he had strong faith in his daughter to know she wouldn’t make wild accusations. It was incredible though, how she found out the truth.
The brave soul she was, Priya decided to return to her husband’s home and wait until the plan came into play to expose their evil intent to the world.
“You know the danger Priya,” her mother appealed, “You should just walk away.”
“No mother,” she said with determination, “It has to be done to send a clear message for too many women like me have been suffering silently.”
She left her worried parents to keep her date with her friend from the child care agency and explaining in some detail, the single, working mother’s dilemma of not having anyone to take care of her children.
“You do know without any official report we can’t question anyone based on just suspicion.”
“I know, Sarah but let’s go to make sure the child is okay, have a friendly chat with the mother and maybe we can find something to justify a serious report.”
The family was home and Priya breathed a deep sigh of relief when she saw the little girl by the birdbath. The child looked at her and smiled and Priya, so happy to see she was alive, wanted to hug her but instead, she spoke to her in a friendly tone, “Hello, how are you?”
“I’m okay,” the child said, sweetly and showed her a baby bird, she had just picked up that had fallen from its nest.
“It’s so little and cute,” Priya said, touching the baby bird gently.
Her mother had come to the door to see who were the visitors, a poor woman with tiredness and worry etched on her face. Sarah spoke to her about her children’s welfare and what assistance she needs for the family.
The woman did not answer for a long moment then she started to cry.
“We can help you,” Priya said comfortingly.
After she had calmed down, Sarah asked cautiously, “Who takes care of the children when you are at work?”
“Me lil brotha does help a lot wid de chirren, ah ain’t got nobody else.”
The little girl had come into the house and touched Priya’s hand, signalling she wanted to say something and she whispered, “He’s not nice to me. He’s bad but if I tell, mommy will get worried. I wish he was gone.”
Priya looked at Sarah with deep relief, knowing now they had a case to remove the child from the uncle’s care beginning now.
The mother was assured she would be assisted by a charitable organization with better comfort and care for the children and her brother would be prohibited from any interaction with them.
Priya, promising the child to visit often, thankful she would now be safe, returned home, tired from the day’s proceedings, wondering if tonight was meant to be her last night.
Dev was home, a surprise, given his usual late hours, having a quiet conversation with his mother and aunt in the living room. Priya greeted them with a pleasant smile and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Dev came to the doorway and stood there looking at her for a little while, then he asked in a caring tone, “How was your day?”
“Good,” she answered, looking at him to see how well he was masking the deception.
He nodded and said, “I have to go out a bit, I’ll see you later.”
A lump formed in her throat from the ache in her heart and she bit her lip from crying. Dinner with the family was a no show for her and she stayed in her room, working on a few business reports before making a cup of tea and taking a leisure bath.
A hidden micro camera recorded all moments in the room and sitting down on her bed, after her bath, she lifted the cup to her lips but she didn’t drink the tea.
The video recording showed her mother in law, entering the room and slipping the poison in her tea.
They would wait for it to take effect, she knew and by that time, her husband would come home but too late, as planned.
A clever plan foiled by divine intervention.
Priya sent a text to her parents, who had been sitting for hours in a parked vehicle, not far away, waiting for her message and at the sound of their voices at the door, she got up to leave the room, cancelling death’s invitation.

Her father was saying, “I’ve come to take home, my daughter.”
The astounded look in her in-laws’ faces as she came out of the room and put the teacup on the centre table was classic.
Priya looked at them not with hate nor disdain but with a smile that said she won.
“It’s not my time, nor is it your right to take my life. Tell your son ‘Goodbye’ for me.”
She held up the video recording for her in-laws to see and a small jar with the poison tea.
“Let me see how you and your son will live down this evil plan to kill me.”
She walked out, holding her mother and father’s hands, a feeling of deep peace filling her heart – a beautiful one, no longer hushed.

 

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