Secrets of a Bollywood Marriage(21)

                Dev frowned. “What do your makeup rooms usually look like, Tina?”

                Tina hesitated to tell her husband. She was a working actress, not a star like him. She wasn’t offered these perks.

                “Makeup rooms?” her mother said with a laugh. “She’s lucky if she gets to share a makeup room with the junior artists and backup dancers. Can we see one of the soundstages?”

                “Of course,” Dev said as he guided them out. “We also have a gymnasium, lounge and executive dining room for the artists and senior technicians.”

                “Ooh!” Reema clasped her hands. “Tina, one of these days you’ll have to take me into the dining room. I might see a Khan or a Kapoor.”

                “I don’t think I will be allowed in,” Tina said. She understood the hierarchy in the Hindi film industry. “They are for the main actors.”

                “You are married to an Arjun,” Dev said. “You will not eat with the production staff in the cafeteria or canteen.”

                Tina flinched at Dev’s tone. It made it sound as if her hasty marriage had been her greatest career achievement. Didn’t he notice that she didn’t beg to work with him or use his name? She knew a lot of people thought she had trapped him into marriage out of ambition, but she didn’t want him to believe it. His opinion meant more than anyone’s.

                “You need to get back to work right away. I knew getting pregnant was going to ruin your career.” Reema gave a huff of exasperation.

                Tina squeezed her eyes shut. She remembered the argument she’d had with her mother when she announced she was pregnant. It had brought up some old secrets and fresh wounds. Tina had always known she wasn’t the son her father had wished for, but she didn’t know that her mother had seriously considered sending her to an orphanage when she was a child.

                Her infant son had not been planned, but Tina never thought of it as an inconvenience. “I wanted the baby more than I wanted to be a Bollywood actress.” Her voice shook with emotion.

                “And what happened? You lost both.” Reema tossed her hands up in the air in surrender.

                Dev cupped his hand on Tina’s shoulder. This time her instinct wasn’t to shake him off. Her tense muscles began to relax under the comforting weight.

                “You should have gone straight back to work. Dev did.” Reema gestured at him with reluctant admiration. “He didn’t miss a step. You, however, took a prolonged vacation.”

                “I insisted that she take some time off,” Dev said.

                Tina went very still. She wasn’t prepared for Dev to take the blame. She didn’t need his help. Not anymore.

                Reema stopped in the middle of the busy corridor and her eyes widened with horror. “Why would you suggest that? Tina’s acting roles were getting smaller and her responsibilities to our family were getting bigger.”

                “You remember what she was like after the miscarriage.” Dev’s voice grew colder. “She was grieving.”

                “She would have snapped out of it sooner if she hadn’t taken an extended break from work. The gap between movies isn’t going to be easy to overcome,” Reema decided. “I knew she shouldn’t have married.”

                Dev’s eyebrow rose from that statement. “What do you mean?”