The Second Chance

She lay on the bed in the small nursing home, trembling at the news the doctor gave her, a tear escaping from her eyes even as his words rang loud in her ears. 

“Listen, Maya, it was all a mistake. I don’t love you! These things happen, you know”, he’d simply said on hearing that she was pregnant with his child.

“I’m sure you know what you must do…”, he said, rather matter-of-factly.

She walked away without uttering a word.

As she made her way home, her faith in love shattered, she resolved never to look back at this point in her life again.

In the years that followed, Maya went to business school and secured a good job for herself as an investment banker and had developed an ambition that bordered on aggressive. While she was friendly, she was also guarded in the way she interacted with people and work was her retreat from the outside world. Her life was structured within the boundaries of work and her home and it clearly suffered from a deficiency of a social life but it was something Maya did not think much about. While her parents felt it was their responsibility to see her settle down into matrimony, she harboured no such desire.

“You will need a life-partner”, her mother tried reasoning.

“Amma, to begin with, I don’t have a life!”, she responded, not looking up from her laptop.

These conversations were getting repetitive, until one night over dinner, Maya stated that she had no intention of getting married. As was expected, her mother did get quite melodramatic about it, arguing that this would provide fodder for people to gossip about but her father respected her decision, hoping silently that she would go back on it in the future.

“Maya, could you come home a little early tomorrow?” her father asked, as he sat on the chair in her room.

“Sure, Appa! Want me to take you somewhere?”

“Your sister is bringing someone over for us to meet…”

“That’s wonderful! What time do you want me home?”

The family got busy with wedding arrangements, though for her mother, this was not the way it was supposed to be. In her mother’s book of the ‘ideal’, the elder daughter was to marry first!

“Your younger sister is settling down now”

“Yes Amma, and I am so happy for her!”

“Have you given it a thought…?”

“Given what a thought, Amma?”

“Don’t pretend to be naïve, Maya! You know what I mean..”, her mother sounded irritated.

“Amma, can we make a deal?”

“I’m not your client, Maya, for you to strike deals with! I am your mother and I think it is quite natural for me to desire that you get married”.

“Amma..”, Maya said, suppressing a smile but trying to cajole her mother at the same time.

“Amma, I shall think about it, I promise. But you also will have to promise me you will not bring this topic up again…”.

“For how long?” her mother persisted, encouraged that she had made some headway.

“Ha ha ha! Two years…I promise!”

“Two years?”

“Three, then?”, Maya retorted with a smile.

“No, no…two years is fine. I hope I don’t die before that!”

A conversation with her mother was incomplete without the ingredients of blackmail and melodrama!

As the months passed by, she noticed her mother strike them off on the calendar. And she knew that she was running out of time for her next excuse.

“Maya, guess what!”

“You’re going to tell me anyway…”

“I’m pregnant!”

The words hit her hard, bringing back scenes from the back of her mind.

“Maya…?”

“Ah, yes, I’m here… Congratulations! That’s wonderful news. Have you told Amma, yet?” she asked, hoping that her mother’s attention would be diverted by this news, from striking of the months from her calendar.

“I tried; her line was busy. Shall call her now!”, she said, hanging up.

Maya was distracted by the thoughts that ran through her mind – the child would have been ten years old now…

She cancelled all her meetings for the day and left for home early. The atmosphere in the house was euphoric and Maya thought “this is how the news is to be received”! She excused herself feigning a headache and retired to her room. The scenes from years ago came like an avalanche, every image clear in its detail. While she was very happy for her sister, she noticed her own maternal instincts coming to the fore.

Her sister moved back for her confinement and her mother was so ecstatic at her impending elevation in relationship-status that her calendar lay neglected in a corner.

“Maya, just feel this!”, her sister would draw Maya’s hand to her expanding abdomen

“Ah, the baby kicks!”

Her involvement in her sister’s pregnancy was getting more intense and so were the emotions that were running in her mind. She began spending longer hours at work, even travelling more than earlier, in an attempt to keep memories from taking over her life.

“Maya, your sister has gone into labour! We are taking her to the hospital. “

“Oh okay! I’ll be there as soon as possible, Amma”.

By the time she reached the hospital the baby had arrived.

“Congratulations, Maya! You are an aunt now..!!” her mother exclaimed, sounding over the moon.

“Here, hold her…”

As Maya held the baby in her arms, she felt a tear roll down her cheek. Noticing that, her mother was almost sure that her calendar would no longer be needed!

“Amma, Appa, I am bringing someone home tomorrow for you to meet..”

“Really? I hope you aren’t making fun of me!” her mother sounded excited.

“No, Amma…5 p.m. tomorrow”

The house was spruced up and the stoves in the kitchen worked overtime, preparing delicacies for the special guest expected in the evening. Her mother was hoping that all would go well and the long standing desire of her life would be fulfilled.

The doorbell rang and her father hastened to open the door, not wanting to keep the special guest Maya was bringing home, waiting long.

“Amma, Appa I’d like you to meet Tara, my daughter.”

Her mother slumped into the sofa, not knowing what to say and her father stood there not knowing what to do.

As the child took tiny, unsteady steps into the house, Maya knew she was now a mother. And she did not need a man to make her one!