Page 40 of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

I turn when I hear a noise behind me. It’s the woman from the courtyard who was laying bricks. She says to the men behind the counter, “I’m out of clay. What do you want me to do?”

I choose this moment to grab the empty saddlebags, run to the door and jump on Chandra. In seconds, we are galloping down the winding path through the forest. I hear shouts behind me, but there were no vehicles in the yard, so I know they have no way to follow us as quickly as Chandra and I can travel.

In my ears I hear the rush of wind, the thrum of Chandra’s hooves pounding the earth and my own blood coursing through my veins. Would they really harm me for two bars of gold when they have most of the treasure in their possession? I hope not, but I can’t be sure. What I do know is that I need to get as far away as I can as quickly as I can.

I’ve traveled less than a mile when I realize Jay’s horse is riding beside mine. I slow Chandra to a canter. Only when I turn to look at Jay do I realize he must have followed me out here to make sure I’d be safe. My eyes fill. Slowly, I let the terror of the last hour drain from my body the way Madho Singh allows his feathers to settle onto his back after he realizes the loud noise that terrified him is no more.

15

NIMMI

Shimla

I run my hands over the smooth porcelain of the bathtub in Lakshmi’s guest bathroom. I’m in the bath with Rekha and Chullu. Rekha is fine on her own, but I have to hold on to Chullu with one hand while I soap him down with the other. There are two spouts. Every now and then, I turn the one on the left, as Lakshmi taught me, and more hot water magically appears! I’m used to the rice-bran-and-yak-fat soap our tribe makes, but Lakshmi’s soap is heavenly—it makes so many suds when mixed with water! And the scent! I feel as if I’m in the meadow collecting flowers.

When Chullu tries to put the bar of lavender soap in his mouth, I tease it out of his hands.

Rekha slaps her hands on the surface of the water to see how high she can make it jump.

Always before, when I came to Lakshmi’s house, I was so obsessed with Malik’s letters that I didn’t notice anything else. Now I realize every detail of her home has a purpose and a simple beauty. I see no point in comparing this house with my own simple lodging, but I can’t help feeling embarrassed, imagining what Malik must think when he visits me at my home. I’m thankful that he’s been there only at night, when it’s hard to see the cracks between the wooden planks of the walls.

I was watering the plants in the Healing Garden when Lakshmi arrived at the hospital this afternoon, after she’d delivered the gold to Canara. My children were nearby, playing in the dirt. No one else would have guessed she’d been up half the night removing gold bars from sheep. She had bathed and dressed in a sari to work her shift at the afternoon clinic, her hair in a neat bun at the back of her neck. She looked, as usual, alert.

“The whole flock has to be sheared tonight,” she said quietly. “The groundskeeper told Jay that the sheep have almost grazed the lower pasture clean. They need to be moved tomorrow. And we can’t have people speculating about their half-shorn fleece.”

I was wondering how I’d manage by myself when Lakshmi said, “Come to our house tonight. We’ll go together.”

Mypatalcould cut cleanly and quickly, but it wasn’t meant for shearing sheep. The blade was too sharp and could nick their skin. I’d sheared sheep in the past, with my tribe, but it was a group activity, with everybody helping. I wasn’t sure that Lakshmi and I could do it by ourselves.

“Will Dr. Kumar help us,Ji?”

Lakshmi nodded. “He has to. Otherwise we’ll never get it done.” She gave me a reassuring smile, but I saw the worry in her eyes. “Do you think you can find someone to move the flock?”

That would be the easy part. I nodded. I wanted to ask the question that had been hovering on my lips for the past two days. Lakshmi had separated me from the second man I’d ever loved (the mountains had taken the first), and it had caused me so much pain. I finally asked her, “Why are you helping me?”

She looked surprised, as if she thought I should have known the answer. “You’re part of Malik’s life, Nimmi, and so you are a part of mine.” Then she turned to leave but stopped and spoke to me with her back turned. “Before I met Dr. Jay, Malik and my sister, Radha, were my only family, and both came late into my life. You’ve met Malik. Someday you’ll meet Radha and you’ll see how special she is. I would do almost anything—and have done what I can—to keep both of them safe and happy.” Finally, she turned to look at me, her gaze direct and unflinching. “As happy and safe as Malik wants to make sure you and the children are.”

In her blue, guileless eyes, I saw nothing but concern.

Then she frowned. “Suno.The men who’ve taken the gold are unhappy that two bars of gold are missing. The two bars we never found. I’d be more comfortable if you and the children stay with us for a while.”

This took me so much by surprise I wasn’t sure I’d understood. “Stay with you?” I asked. “In your house?”

She smiled. “That’s the idea.”

Looking at her clean sari and matching sweater blouse, I felt ashamed. I had not had time to wash my clothes with so much going on the last few days. I could feel my face grow warm. Rekha and Chullu were no cleaner. After all the work with the sheep the night before, I hadn’t had the energy to draw water, heat it, and wash the dirt and sweat off me or my children in our lodgings. Would she want our private grime to soil her home?

“You and the children can stay in Malik’s room. He has an adjoining bath.”

How is it that she always manages to read my mind?

“And I think it’s better, safer that you not sell flowers on the Shimla Mall until we get this sorted.”

My pulse quickened. “You think it’s that unsafe?”

“I do.”

A little while later, I took a break from my work in the Healing Garden and went to the waiting room, where I approached patients who were people of the hills, most likely shepherds—their homespun woolens and darker skin giving them away. One middle-aged man with a cloudy eye and half an ear missing said he could take our sheep to graze with his flock, north of here. I told him I’d let him know tomorrow where to find my brother’s sheep and described the notch on their ears so he could keep his sheep separate from my brother’s.

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