A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 50

                                In the cottage, Norman debated with himself whether to broach the topic of her fainting spell with Martha. After a lot of intense deliberation and after seeing Martha so relaxed and chirpy, he desisted from his urge. He’d let sleeping dogs lie for the moment. He didn’t want her to have nightmares that night, alone in her cottage, after he left. He couldn’t possibly stay there overnight, much as he wished to as it wouldn’t be encouraged by her. As he stood up to go after having the coffee, he remembered her words. I was just hoping that I could see you and speak with you right now. Why had she said that? So he said in as casual a tone as he could muster, “Martha, you wanted to tell me something, I suppose. What is it? Can you make it fast? I’ve to be back home in an hour’s time as I have promised to Nancy that I’ll speak with her on the phone.”

                              “Norman I….” she began and stopped. Then again she picked up the thread of her words. Fearing his temper she cautiously said, “Norman, I owe you an apology!” As he stared at her, she continued “I’ve been writing again. In spite of your warning I have been writing and had another fainting spell just before you arrived. Some stranger revived me and just vanished into thin air.”

                              Norman barged in saying, “Why did you faint Martha?” Gulping nervously and unwilling to relive her horror at seeing Juan at her doorstep, she fibbed, “I’m sorry but I don’t know why.” Not removing his eyes from her pale face he said, “You saw someone didn’t you? The hero of your novel, right?” It was her turn to gape at him, aghast. How did he know? Was he so intuitive? Then it struck her. Probably that Samaritan had informed him. Quickly putting two and two together, she blanched visibly as she realized belatedly that that Samaritan could’ve only been John D’ Costa! Juan! No wonder she had fainted. No wonder, she had been revived.

                              It must have been John who had come to her cottage to meet her, unfortunately witnessed her fainting spell on seeing him, revived her with the smelling salts from her kitchen and then phoned Norman. He had then wisely gone away, not wanted her to be frightened again after gaining consciousness. After all, she had fainted because she had seen him! She felt wretched as it struck her that John must have been shattered on discovering the ugly truth. Oh John! How I wish I could make up for it and assuage your hurt feelings! I don’t abhor you. I am just tormented by the thoughts of the unhappy suitor in my novel as I’ve created him and his misery. It isn’t your fault that you resemble him!

                              Sheepishly she agreed. “Yes Norman. John had come home probably to meet me and I passed out on him, not even giving him a chance to greet me. I’m rather ashamed of myself. In fact, I’m nervous about the fact that there has been no improvement in my mental condition, at all. I’m still under the spell of my novel’s characters. That is what I wanted to talk to you about. Norman, I can’t help writing, as you know that writing is the raison d’etre for my existence. At the same time I think that it is not fair to John to be drawn into my misery. He is wholly innocent. I feel wretched that I can’t talk to him and meet him everyday. We are colleagues, damn it! As she swore, she reddened. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to lose my cool.” She said as she realized that her voice had raised several notches higher than usual.

                               Out of the blue Norman questioned, “What’s going on Martha? What’s going on between you and John?” The sudden question threw Martha completely off track. She had forgotten how astute Norman was! Carefully she considered her reply. Seeing her silent, he prodded again. “Do you have any feelings for him?” Seeing her completely still, as if she was being guarded, he pressed on “Are you in love with him?”

                               As tears sprang into her eyes and she collapsed on the couch with a strangled moan, he realized that his grilling had made her giddy again. Why had he been so persistent? Was it because he loved her or was it because he couldn’t brook any competition, least of all from John D’ Costa, his employee? He couldn’t bear to think that Martha found John better than him! Not after all that he’d done for her!

                                Brusquely he said, “I’m sorry Martha, I didn’t mean to frighten you out of your wits. Take rest right now. We’ll talk tomorrow. Take care, darling. I love you.” Leaving her more miserable than ever, Norman walked away after closing the door behind him. And he was supposed to be her fiancée? Martha shook her head. Oh, God, what a mess her orderly life had become!

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        Martha stared at the closed door for a long time; her mind in turmoil.  Norman had said that he loved her, but he surely didn’t look the part; of a lover, that is!  May be it was his ego that made him fly into a rage.  He didn’t want to become the laughing stock if Martha ever chose John over him.  What would everyone in the office say, “Look, there goes the jilted Boss!” And laugh behind his back.  “Imagine, John ‘The Great’ stole the Boss’ fiancée from right under his nose!” they’d sneer and that wouldn’t do for Norman.  So yes, in a sense, it was a prestige issue for Norman.  For better or for worse, Martha was his and would remain so, until he decided otherwise!

        Martha shuddered at John’s fate too.  Would Norman sack him forthwith or would better sense prevail?  After all, John was his right hand.  Firing him from his job would be like cutting his (Norman’s) nose to spite his face.  Norman was far too practical and sensible for such a rash action.  Though he was tempestuous, he did think his decisions thoroughly beforehand.  Probably he had decided to marry her also because of such forethought. 

         He could have a ‘tailor-made’ employee in her, to do his bidding at the office, after marriage.  Though she wasn’t a pushover, she could be super-pliant at times!  She hoped that her thoughts were off the mark and that Norman had no such fanciful notions.  She prayed that he really loved her, for that was all that she needed in life.  To love and be loved!  But somehow she felt that Norman was too practical to be in love.  He wasn’t romantic enough!

To be continued... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 49

                           But then Mara should’ve been happy not uneasy. After all, heroes of romantic novels were supposed to be dashing and suave men who swept the women off their dainty feet! No, he decided, her ailment ran deep. It wasn’t just one factor but a combination of several others too. He wondered whether he could go and have a private conversation with her ‘shrink’. But he knew that Doctors kept the information about their patients strictly confidential. So who did that leave? Norman? It was out of the question? He’d demand an explanation from him (John) or snub him for prying into their personal affairs. Wasn’t Martha Norman’s fiancée?

                           He looked wistfully and longingly at the beautiful but prone figure lying in front of him, her hair tumbling to a side of the couch, her dress riding up her rounded, plump knees and her gorgeous face with slightly parted lips. Then he sprang up. What a fool he was? He should’ve first called a Doctor instead of imagining things. Where was his prudence? Then his eye fell on the writing pad. He was tempted to read her unfinished novel. Surely it would give him all the answers he needed. But now he had other things to do.

                         He debated with himself over whether to call a Doctor or Norman to the scene and promptly decided that Norman was the one to be informed first. In fact, he’d ask him to fetch a Doctor along with him to save time. He did just that. He sensed the curtness and the coldness in Norman’s forbidding voice that wondered what he was doing at Martha’s cottage at that late hour. “I’m sorry Norman. I’ll explain later. First things first! Please hurry up.” He hung up without much ado.

                         John looked around the kitchen, found some smelling salts from a labeled container, took a spoonful and held it under Martha’s straight nose. She immediately spluttered as the scent hit her and opened her eyes wide, looking around like a frightened kitten. This time she didn’t espy John. He had left the cottage in a jiffy and gone to sit in his car. He decided to wait there till Norman arrived. He hoped that it would be before Martha came out to check who was in that gray car in front of her cottage. Then he started the ignition and reversed it till he was at a safe distance from the cottage. He hoped that she hadn’t heard the car reversing. He didn’t want her passing out again. That would be too much!

                          Martha bolted from the couch and sat upright, getting her bearings. Why was she sleeping on that couch instead of her bedroom? She was perplexed. Had she gone off to sleep tired after writing? Wait a minute! Hadn’t she gone for a walk in the woods? When had she come back? With a sudden shudder she remembered seeing Juan at the door to her cottage, shrieking and passing out. Who had brought her, rather carried her into her cottage?

                        Then she saw the spoon of smelling salts that she had started stocking after her spells of fainting and realized that someone had indeed helped her right then. But who was that Samaritan and why was he nowhere to be seen? Was he elsewhere in the house, waiting for her to be revived? On the porch’s arm-chair? She got up cautiously and walked out slowly, fuzziness blocking her thoughts. She couldn’t see anyone around? That was strange. Again she started feeling scared.

                       Firmly she shook her head, went in, closed and latched the door securely behind her and went to make a strong cup of coffee for herself. The caffeine would do the trick and bring her to her senses. She regretted going back to her novel again against Norman’s specific instructions. She deserved it. The fainting spell, that is! But the smelling salts? From the kitchen to the living-room? That was a mystery. Where was her savior?

                           A screech of tyres made her jump. Even as she poured the piping hot coffee into her favorite mug, there was lots of pounding on the door. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she walked as casually as she could, peeped through the hatch and opened the door. Thank God, it was Norman. “What a pleasant surprise Norman? I was just hoping that I could see you and speak with you right now. Please have a seat. I’ll bring coffee for both of us then we can chat.” She escaped into the kitchen, not giving Norman a chance to even open his mouth. He just stood there gaping at her. She looked and behaved absolutely normal. Not in the least like what John had mentioned! If she had really fainted, she had regained her composure fairly soon!

                           He had spoken to John whom he chanced upon around the bend to Martha’s cottage and got the details. Not wanting an ugly confrontation that could end in fisticuffs, given the wild rage that he was in, Norman had calmly inquired from John about the whole episode, told him through clenched teeth to just mind his business thenceforth and gone onward to Martha’s cottage. A pale John had acquiesced and driven away, hurt by the implied guilt in Norman’s deadly soft voice. He knew that tone and what it meant! He had a lot of explanation to do the next morning, to Norman. A part of him realized that he deserved it and the other part stubbornly protested against the situation. It wasn’t fair. After all, he cared for Martha too, probably tenfold than Norman! But nothing on earth could alter the fact that Martha was Norman’s fiancée. 

To be continued... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 48

                         “You resemble Juan to the extent that all your physical features exactly match Juan’s, right down to the single eye with sight. I am sorry about that, but it’s eerie. Even I can’t fathom how you are just as I’d envisioned Juan. Even your name is somewhat like his. John-Juan. Get it? That’s not all. Here’s the icing on the cake. My name is Martha. One of my heroine’s names is Myara and you insist on calling me Mara which rhymes with Sara, another heroine’s name in my novel. All this uncanny similarity is getting on my nerves and I’m affected.”

                          John fell silent as he pondered over the gravity of the situation. Yes, it was indeed implausible, but true! No wonder she had passed out when she’d seen him for the first time! Norman was right. He had to remain apart from Martha to maintain her sanity! He was dumb-founded and despondent. Just when he thought that he had found his soul-mate…

                         “There are many other coincidences, but I’ll reserve that for another day,” she was saying. Nothing else registered in John’s numb brain. He could just mumble “I see”. “So there,” she said, “please don’t breathe a word about all this to anyone in the office, not even to Norman. Promise?” He said “Promise” and hung up. He had a lot on his mind.

                         Martha decided to call it a day and stop writing. A walk was just what she needed. A long and refreshing walk through the woods. She needed to think. As she slowly started walking through the cool and dense undergrowth, her mind was racing. What was it that she really wanted in life? How would her life be in the next 10 years? Most important, who would be there in her life then? Norman, John, Arnold or Dr. Hussey? She was spoilt for choices! But a voice in her head told her “Don’t be silly Martha. Arnold is a much married man, happily married at that! Dr. Hussey is just that. Dr. Hussey. Period. He was her psychiatrist, not her suitor. He couldn’t possibly marry all his neurotic patients who even slightly fancied him, could he? Well, that left Norman and John.

                           Norman was a highly accomplished, capable man who could manage all his personal and professional commitments (and hers too) like a professional juggler. Only, sometimes he could be overbearing, impatient and tactless. Undoubtedly, a sensitive heart lay behind his tough, ‘man of the world’ exterior; otherwise he wouldn’t have got so involved with her, to the extent of wanting to marry her! But did that mean that he loved her? She hadn’t heard him profess his love for her even once or if he had, she didn’t recollect it! Besides, she didn’t love him. It was evident as she couldn’t think about him as she could about the last option, John D’ Costa. Now he was someone who could be her soul-mate and her lover in the true sense of the word! She blushed furiously and was relieved that there was no one who could see her so engrossed in amorous thoughts.

                            She had by then reached the clearing where cement benches were thoughtfully placed for the trekkers. Usually she used to sit there for some time, rest and then walk back home. It was about three kilometers from her home. But as it was growing dark, she wisely thought that she should turn back. Suddenly she felt scared and lonely. It was a beautiful but desolate area and she’d be glad to reach home safely. Somehow, she got an eerie sensation and felt the goose bumps on her skin. It was cold. But she was shivering due to unexplained terror, not because of the cold.

                          She broke into a run and ran as fast as she could, through the darkening shadows and the rough undergrowth that pulled at her dress at all places. She cursed herself for going on the walk so late in the afternoon. As the forest birds tweeted and the owls hooted, she felt an impending sense of doom. Why was she so agitated? She wasn’t one who feared anything. Why then was her heart pounding so furiously against her ribs and her lungs feeling as if they would burst with lack of oxygen? Oh God, she prayed. Please don’t make me faint. I’ll die here without anyone knowing about it! She was paranoid, could feel it in her veins.

                        She had just reached the gate of her cottage when she saw someone gazing at her and let out a loud scream of pure terror. Even as John watched horrified, Martha passed out and collapsed on the ground. He rushed to gather her in his arms. Too late, he realized that he was the one who had caused her to faint. So what Norman had felt and done was after all bang on target. He had goofed up and things had gone drastically wrong. Norman would be hopping mad with him. He would have to brace himself for an ugly confrontation with his Boss. Maybe that Boss would soon be his ex-Boss!

                         His heart thudding frantically, John awkwardly reached for her purse, found the keys and opened the door to the cottage. Then he switched on the lights in the porch. Feeling very sorry for Martha, he gently lifted her limp body and carried her swiftly into the living-room. His hands were aching as he placed her on the couch and sat on a chair nearby for a breather. Phew! He was sweating despite the chill in the air. Part of it was due to the sudden reaction to seeing her collapse in front of his eyes. Was he so ghastly to look at? Yes, with his one eye covered with a pirate-like patch, he did look different but not ugly. Then it struck him that he was evading the truth. The truth was that he resembled Juan, the hero of her romantic novel. 

To be continued.... 

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.