Deepak’s words, followed by Dr. Chan’s brief visit, made everything come into sharp focus. Nothing Bina and Natasha have ever argued about matters now. All that matters is that Bina’s baby is in pain and she needs to take it away.

“No, I’m so sorry. I’m such a screwup.” Natasha starts sobbing. Rings of mascara—Suhani’s mascara, no doubt—have smeared under her bloodshot eyes. Natasha’s unraveled hair and tear-streaked cheeks make her look the way she did as a little girl. She always cried so easily. My emotional little girl, Bina used to say. You feel everything too much, like I do.

“Shh, just take a deep breath.” Bina runs her fingers through Natasha’s tangled hair. Why did she have to bring up Natasha’s comedy or Karan? Why is she so obsessed with her children being married? Why can’t she ever keep her mouth shut, even when it can bring peace?

She feels the weight of Suhani’s arms around her and Natasha. “It’ll be okay.”

Bina’s phone rings with a call from Mira. A quick glance at her screen shows that she’s received more than a dozen WhatsApp messages in just the last hour. She puts her phone on silent and buries it at the bottom of her large plum leather handbag, last year’s Mother’s Day gift from the kids.

Deepak, Zack, and Anuj are unfazed as Bina and her daughters hug. Everyone knows this is the reliable pattern of all their arguments: bursts of anger followed by a steady rush of sadness and regret.

Bina clutches Natasha and makes the same hush, hush noises she had made when Natasha was a baby. Nothing else put Natasha to sleep during her first months in the world. After a certain point, Bina wondered if she was doing the rocking and soothing more for herself than for her daughter. She was so worried Natasha’s trouble sleeping would lead to the same overwhelming fears she had after Suhani’s birth, or even something worse. But to her surprise, her thoughts didn’t spiral out of control. And while childbirth broke some parts of her, others were slowly stitched together with a new sliver of hope. Maybe before, she wasn’t just being dramatic and difficult. Maybe it wasn’t all in her head. Maybe her parents were wrong and she wasn’t damaged.

Of course you’re damaged, her mother’s voice challenges in her head. After everything you’ve done, look at where your own child ended up.