was sadness mingling with resignation, as if Izzy didn’t want it to be this way.
“I have nothing against you personally. You and your family seem like lovely people, but you’re not suited to my grandson, and I don’t want him entering into marriage for the wrong reasons.”
Only doing this . . . dying wish . . . not suited . . . wrong reasons . . .
If Harper had any doubts before, Izzy had just played into each and every one of them.
Hell, Harper had had similar doubts herself. She had little in common with Manny. Would he tire of their differences? Why propose so quickly? Why marry when they could date first?
Hearing Izzy echo her doubts and articulate them so clearly made her want to cover her ears and yell la-la-la.
Izzy took her ongoing silence as permission to continue. “My grandson thinks he’s progressive and modern, but deep down he’s a traditionalist. He respects me and my wishes, and wants to give me what he thinks I want. But I don’t want him marrying you out of obligation. It isn’t right.”
What wasn’t right was Harper sitting here, helpless and frustrated and taking whatever this woman dished out. There was a fine line between respect and cowering, and she’d remained silent for too long.
“We both know Manny adores you, but it’s a shame you feel compelled to belittle what we share.” Harper stood, aiming for graceful, not surprised when her legs trembled. She really wanted to get the hell out of here. “Neither of us is obligated. We love each other—”
“Has he actually said those words to you?” Izzy interjected rudely. “Has he said ‘I love you’?”
“Of course.”
Harper’s rebuttal came quickly, a natural reaction to prove this woman wrong at any cost in the spur of the moment. But she wracked her memory, trying to remember if he’d actually said those three all-important words, and came up blank.
He’d said he’d fallen for her. He’d said he loved her body. He’d said he loved everything about her. Declarations she’d lapped up but mistakenly translated into I love you.
“You are lying to yourself.” Izzy gave a dismissive wave. “I’m counting on you to do the right thing and break this off, because Manish certainly won’t. He thinks I want to see him married so badly he’ll do it with whoever happens to be handy.” Izzy jabbed a finger at her. “And right now, that’s you.”
Speechless, Harper gaped at the woman she’d hoped to win over. She understood older people lost their inhibitions sometimes and felt compelled to say whatever popped into their heads, but it sounded like Izzy actually believed the drivel she was spouting.
“Our relationship isn’t like musical chairs—”
“I need to rest,” Izzy said. “We’ll speak no more of this now, but you need to do what’s right.”
Right now, that meant Harper had to leave the room before she said something she’d regret.
61
Harper nodded off on the drive back to Manny’s place, and he let her sleep. It had been a big day, starting with her vitiligo revelation in the early hours of the morning, the party, tidying up, and now heading back to his place. At least, that’s what he hoped caused her tiredness.
Something hadn’t been right when he’d come back into the lounge room after taking that call from the hospital. Harper had been huddled in on herself like a wounded deer, and Izzy had been stiff and unyielding, refusing his offer of help to clear away. It was almost like she wanted to get rid of them, and he’d ignored her wishes, enlisting Harper’s help and ensuring the place was spotless and his grandmother ensconced in bed with a cup of masala chai before they left.
He hadn’t minded staying over and caring for her the last week, but it was nice to head back to his place with his fiancée, knowing he could chill.
When he pulled up out the front of his place, Harper instantly opened her eyes, and in that moment, he knew she’d been pretending. She hadn’t been sleeping; she’d been avoiding talking to him.
“What’s going on?”
He expected her to laugh off his concern, to fob him off, so when she snapped, “You tell me,” he reared back.
“Tell you what?”
“Apparently, your grandmother thinks you’re settling with me. That you had no intention of getting married, something Nishi and Arun concur with, by the way. That because it’s her dying wish to see you married and because she’s so ill that’s the only reason you asked me