Nisha, their older daughter, had been married for ten years and lived in Los Altos Hills, and Trisha and DJ lived in a Palo Alto condo down the street from Ashna. Vansh, their youngest child, was always off traipsing across the world trying to search for things that made him feel useful. He was currently in Zimbabwe working on water filtration systems.
The only one of “the children” who still lived at home was Esha, Shree and Bram’s oldest brother’s daughter. Esha and their grandmother occupied a suite in the uppermost floor of the mansion. Esha hadn’t left the estate in close to thirty years because of a condition where she couldn’t handle any stimulation outside of what was familiar.
Every time Mina Kaki worried about Ashna, she tried to convince her to sell the Palo Alto bungalow. But the bungalow and Curried Dreams were all Ashna had left of Baba. Without them she had no idea who she’d even be. It was like asking her to cast off her body and rely on the promise that her soul would still be here. Or maybe it was like losing her soul and being left with only a body. Well, she’d never have to find out.
“Mom called,” she said to her aunt as she followed her up the sweeping marble stairs. “To tell me about the Padma Shri.”
Her aunt stopped midstep and studied Ashna as though she were an event spreadsheet from one of her fund-raisers.
“I’m happy for her,” Ashna said, hoping like crazy that her voice sounded happy. “I really am.”
“I know you are. It’s huge.” Pride flashed in Mina Kaki’s eyes. She and Shobi were inexplicably close. Ashna had always wondered what someone who treated motherhood as sacredly as Mina Kaki did had in common with Shobi, who treated it like nothing more than bondage.
Mina Kaki sank down on the spotless marble staircase and Ashna sat down next to her.
“She wants me to come to India and speak at the ceremony.”
“That’s nice, right?” Mina Kaki took Ashna’s hand.
“She wants me to shut down the restaurant, move there, and get involved in her work.”
The pressure of Mina Kaki’s grip on Ashna’s hand tightened. “Shobi said that to you?” Irritation slipped into her voice.
“I said no.”
That got Ashna a tilt of the head. An impressed and slightly disbelieving tilt. “And Shobi agreed?”
“Well,” Ashna chewed her lower lip. “I told her I’m working on a Food Network show.”
“No!” Mina Kaki threw her head back and laughed. “I can’t believe Trisha and China pulled that off.”
“They came to you first to try to convince me?” Of course Trisha would try that first. Trisha knew Ashna would do it if Mina Kaki asked her. But Mina Kaki must have refused, and that made Ashna want to hug her aunt.
Her aunt smiled. “Trisha really wants DJ to do that hosting gig. But she also believes it’s the perfect solution for Curried Dreams.”
“I know. I don’t think I can do it, though,” Ashna said.
Her aunt pulled her hand to her lips and dropped a kiss on her knuckles. “Are you joking? You’re going to be spectacular. You’ve done far harder things.”
Ashna’s only response was a twist of the mouth.
Her aunt cupped her cheek. “The real question is, do you want to do it?” She paused, weighing her next words carefully. “You have to start giving a little more thought to what you want, Ashi.”
Ashna pulled her hand away. She didn’t want her aunt to feel her hands go clammy.
“You don’t have to figure that out right now. Just think about it, that’s all.”
Ashna wondered if she would bring up selling Curried Dreams, or offer to bail her out again. Like everyone else in her life, Mina Kaki believed that Ashna’s obsession with Baba’s restaurant was unhealthy. Ashna knew they meant well, but they didn’t understand. Her family was everything to her, but Curried Dreams was hers and hers alone. She had to be the one to save it.
“Trisha is right,” Ashna said. “It could help pay off the debt on Curried Dreams once and for all. Give me a clean slate if I win.”
Mina Kaki blinked as though Ashna had spoken a foreign language.
She stood and pulled Ashna up to standing. “Well then, you’re doing this.”
They ran up the remaining stairs—Mina Kaki, probably because she was excited, Ashi, because moving helped curb her anxiety.
“Ashi is going to be a TV star!” Mina announced as they emerged into the suite of rooms Ashna’s grandmother and her cousin Esha shared.
Aji, Esha, and Nisha were lounging on the white leather sectional and turned to Mina and Ashna as though that announcement were a simple hello.
The first thing Ashna did was lean over and squeeze her grandmother in a hug.
“It’s been a full week!” Aji said indignantly, returning her hug. It was her way; she always counted off how many days it had been since she saw her grandchildren. She also always exaggerated the time. It had been five days since Ashna had been by to see her. But of course it was futile to point that out, because Aji would only tell her that five days was a working week, or that it felt like seven days, or something else no one in their right mind would argue with.
Instead, she said, “Sorry, I thought about coming to see you every day”—the truth—“but a lot’s been going on at the restaurant.”
Sadness flickered in Aji’s eyes. She was the only one in the family who saw the value in holding on to Curried Dreams. It was a link to her youngest child. “A lot should always be going on at one’s workplace,” she said with a smile that crinkled her nose.
Ashna hugged Nisha, who stood to display her adorable baby bump, which seemed to have doubled since Ashna had seen her last, then turned to Esha to see if she was up for a hug. She wasn’t, but she squeezed Ashna’s hand and made one of her declarations. “Being in public needs armor.”
Wasn’t that the truth. Esha wasn’t just incredibly wise; she was also clairvoyant. There was no armor from her sight, and what she saw always came true. Ashna had a sense that Esha not only saw but also felt her pain, no matter how hard Ashna tried to hide it. She sat down next to Esha, careful not to touch her except for the firm grip Esha’s soft hand still had on hers.
Esha had suffered seizures ever since the plane crash she’d been in when she was eight. The accident had killed the other thirty passengers on the family’s private jet, including Esha’s parents. Esha had been the miraculous sole survivor. No one could explain how that had happened, or why the seizures and visions had started after.
HRH and Mina Kaki had brought Esha to California before word of her clairvoyance leaked out of the Sripore palace. Just the rumors had caused lines to form outside the palace gates for one look at the “Little Goddess” even as the poor little goddess went into seizure after seizure at the least stimulation.
Staying within the Anchorage estate and restricting contact to only the family had finally minimized the seizures.
“So, what is this about being a TV star?” Esha said with mischief in her smile.
Nisha poured tea from Aji’s china service, a blend Ashna mixed specially for her grandmother that she called “Aji’s Hug,” and Ashna found herself smiling as she filled them in on China and Trisha’s midnight visit and offer.