Neeraj deliberated, keeping both Omkar and Jarminder on tenterhooks. “OK. I give you my consent. But Omkar, you have made promises to me tonight. To break a promise to your father would be absolutely disgusting ya?” Omkar cracked a half-smile at his father’s threat.

Jarminder got out of bed and walked over to the closet. Realizing that she wasn’t tall enough to get to the box she was trying to reach, she asked Neeraj to get it down for her. With it in her hands, she walked back to the bed and put it down where Omkar was sitting. She opened the box to reveal a miscellany of gold jewelry. Jarminder brought the pieces out one by one. She showed him the haar and ranihaar, two of the traditional necklaces she had worn on her wedding day to Neeraj, as well as the tikka, which was an ornamental piece of wedding attire that had been draped across her forehead. Omkar played with the little string of pearls attached to it while he listened to her explain each piece.

Out of the several gold rings that were in the box, Jarminder selected one of them. “This is the ring I have promised you. It belonged to Papa’s mother. I’m going to tell you what she told your father when she gave it to him to give to me … A ring has no beginning and no end. Because of this, it is limitless. The kara you wear represents your unbreakable attachment to God. And this ring will represent her unbreakable attachment to you. With your father’s and my blessing, may your marriage be eternal.”

She hugged Omkar again and cried before she handed the ring to him. Neeraj patted him on the arm. Unlike Jarminder, his sentimentality only smoldered beneath the surface of what he would willingly show.

Omkar’s parents didn’t sleep much that night after their son left their room. They held each other and allowed themselves to be tossed between the vacillations of worry and excitement.

Omkar also found it difficult to sleep. Given that the dark could not compete with his happiness, he switched on the lamp beside his bed and examined the ring. A thin gold band joined up to a larger piece of gold that had been cut into a marquise shape and bent in order for it to conform to a finger. The gold had been carved with such detailed, symmetrical filigree that Omkar could not memorize its design. Emanating from a ruby set deep in the center, four inlays of watermelon tourmaline extended to the perimeter of the ring, like petals.