“Of course.” A long pause. “Took me a while because I was given a different name.”

“What name?” I asked.

“It was a while ago. Singh Rajut?”

“Peresh Singh Rajut?”

“Yeah, I think that’s it.”

“That’s Devek’s nephew, although they’re almost the same age. They were in New York at the same time.”

“Yes, I know that now. But for a while, I was confused. Didn’t matter. I found you.” A smile. “Nice house you lived in. How big was it?”

“Big … around five thousand square feet. We sold it.”

“How much did it sell for?”

“Thirty-six crores … about five million dollars. But Devek didn’t own it. His father did.”

“Ah.”

“It went to pay off his first set of debts. Afterward, we didn’t have any savings. I know he had to ask his father—well, actually it was his older brother—for spending money. He swore he’d never gamble again.”

“Never trust a dog. I should know.”

“Right you are.”

“Where’d you move to afterward?”

“A very nice apartment … which we didn’t own. It was his brother’s. I don’t know if we paid rent or not. Devek handled the money. A big mistake.”

“Devek has a money problem. He can’t seem to hold on to it.”

“I realize that now.” I paused. “So … you were at our house … our first house?”

“I was.”

“The inside?”

“No, just the back. The gardens were lovely. Lots of green and lots of places to hide.” I didn’t answer. He said, “First time I saw you, you were with Devek … strolling with him, hand in hand, in the garden. You looked happy. You were heavily pregnant.”

“I’m sure I looked like a cow.”

His voice dropped in volume. “You looked absolutely stunning. You’ve got to remember that I never saw you pregnant with Gabe. I found out after the fact.”

“I was wrong. I should have told you.”

“I was married. I had another life. It was a violent life, and I’m sure I scared the shit out of you. I don’t blame you for staying away. But at that moment, I realized what I had lost.”

My eyes moistened. “Sorry.”

He said, “You must have loved the garden. You sure went out there a lot.”

I stared at him. “How long were you there?”

“Long enough. You used to cry a lot.”

I felt tears coming. “I missed Gabe. Believe it or not, Chris, I also missed you. I was out of my element. The garden was the one place where I could be alone with my emotions. I was stoic when I was with Devek. He didn’t want to hear about my past. He’d tune out when I talked about Gabe. He expected me to forget my own son.”

“Understandable.”

“Maybe from his point of view. From my point of view, it was spiteful and idiotic.”