A long moment of silence assured Amala that no one had anything to say, so she forged ahead. “I don’t ever want to go back to India; I consider England my home, and you are my family. I want you to know that I’ve accepted what must be. I only ask that you respect what is clearly inevitable and that we all stop trying to pretend it could ever be otherwise. I am fine with attending socials if you wish me to go with you, and to be present when we receive guests in our home. But I need it to be clear that I am not seeking a suitable husband, because I would never consider bringing such obvious challenges and grief into the life of any decent man.” She forced herself to draw air into her lungs and concluded, “There. That’s what I needed to say. I should have said it a long time ago.”

Again there was only silence, which implied to Amala that no one could think of any reasonable argument to her declaration. Of course they couldn’t. Everything she’d said was true and they all knew it—now that they’d actually been forced to think about it reasonably. She finally found the courage to lift her head and look at each of them, only to find that their expressions only corroborated their lack of disagreement.

“I’m feeling very tired,” she said with full honesty. She felt absolutely drained of strength. It had been an emotionally exhausting day. She came to her feet and set her napkin on the table. “I believe I’ll go up to bed now. I will see you all at breakfast.” She hoped her last statement would prevent any of them from coming to her room tonight to try to talk to her. Until she had some rest and some time alone, she just didn’t have the strength to discuss this any further.

“Good night,” Amala said and hurried from the room, relieved when she got to the stairs to note that no one was following after her. She wondered what they might say to each other following her departure. All she could imagine was more silence and perhaps some tears as the truth of what she’d declared settled into them. Any conversation that might be meant to try to convince themselves that she was wrong wouldn’t go on for long, because she wasn’t wrong, and none of them could deny it.