Shobi dropped onto the barstool next to Mina and rested her elbows on Bram’s granite. “Do you really think I should have let it go? Forgiven Bram. For Ashna. Do you really think that would have made her a happier person? How long do we do it, Mina? Put our heads down and do what’s expected. I couldn’t. I couldn’t make the compromises it would have taken to become what my father and Bram expected me to become. When do we stop this?”

Mina reached out and plucked a napkin from Bram’s napkin holder. Her eyes were determinedly dry, but she had to blow her teary nose. A small part of Shobi wished she hadn’t brought this up. Mina would always regret that night. Shobi had worked her way through it, but Mina had never truly forgiven herself for sending Shobi into that room where Bram had once and for all destroyed any chance their marriage had.

Shobi leaned over and tucked Mina’s hair behind her ear. “How the hell is your hair still this thick and soft with all that coloring and styling?”

Mina laughed a watery laugh. “Save your reverse snobbery. Some of us choose to take care of ourselves. Not everyone is Shoban Gaikwad Raje, rocking the silver mane.”

“And who could ever be Mina Raje?” Smiling, Shobi moved her hair from one shoulder to the other. “Through everything, you’ve been my anchor, Mina.” She took Mina’s hands. “You have to know that.”

Despite whatever nonsense people liked to spew about women pulling each other down, Shobi would never have been able to come out of her marriage standing without Mina and their mother-in-law. Mina was right, though, Ashna had suffered most in all this and been the least responsible for it.

For a while both women sipped the tea blend Ashna had to have put magic in. “She’s so beautiful,” Shobi said, needing to use every ounce of her strength to keep her voice from cracking. “Being around her used to hurt. Now I don’t know how I ever left her.”

“Tell her that.”

“I’ve tried.” That was a lie. “Actually, I have no idea how to. Talking to me makes her so angry, so sad. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“She’s never been the same after Bram’s death. If anyone tries too hard to dig into that or to get her to talk about it, she withdraws so deep into herself, I used to fear she’d never come out. But I think the time for truth might have come.” Mina had to pull out another napkin and blow her nose some more. “She was covered in his blood, Shobi. She sat there with him in her lap until the ambulance got there. She wasn’t even eighteen.”