Secrets of a Bollywood Marriage(80)

                She gasped and jerked back. He knew his words wounded her. It didn’t please him.

                “If you’re pregnant, I would stay married to you,” he said. Only this time, he wouldn’t hope for a reconciliation. “We will have separate homes, live on different continents and have separate lives. It worked for my parents. Why should I want anything different?”

                “No.” She shook her head. “No, you don’t want that. I know you, Dev.”

                But that was before he’d discovered that Tina didn’t want a future or a family with him. How long would she have dangled the promise of forever if the American television deal hadn’t gone through?

                “And the child would stay with me,” he said. He couldn’t imagine the demands she would have made if she had carried his child. The Arjun heir.

                “No court would allow that!”

                He didn’t know why they were arguing about it. Tina had made it very clear that she didn’t want to carry a baby again. Namely, his baby. That had hurt him more than he cared to admit. “Do you think you can fight the influence and money I have?”

                Tina blinked as she swayed on her feet. She grabbed the back of the chair as her body began to shake. “You wouldn’t,” she whispered.

                He didn’t think he would, but he wasn’t thinking about what was right or wrong at the moment. He was in pain and he was lashing out. “Don’t test me,” he warned. “But you’re not carrying my baby. This time I walk away. This time I’m asking for the divorce. Get out of my life, Tina. I don’t want you as my wife anymore.”

                * * *

                The drums pounded as Tina spun wildly on the stage. She was giving this performance everything she had. Her lungs burned, her legs shook and she fought the wave of dizziness. She was almost done.... Almost there...

                As the music ended with a dramatic flourish, the folds of her tunic still moving, Tina smiled and tossed her hands up in the air to thunderous applause. She wanted to savor this moment, the last time she was going to perform, but the crowd’s reaction didn’t break through the sadness that had settled around her the past month.

                Tina curtseyed to the bridal party and immediately left the stage, ignoring the cries for an encore. She waved to the well-dressed crowd and gave a deep sigh as her lungs threatened to shrivel. She knew this wedding dance was her last performance. She was retiring after tonight.

                “I don’t think anyone noticed that one mistake.” Her mother was at her side wearing her best shalwar kameez. The dupatta shot with gold thread was barely hanging on to her shoulders. She gave Tina a bottle of water and a hand towel to wipe off the sweat. “And what happened at the end when you stumbled? Are you feeling dizzy again?”

                “It’ll go away,” Tina said. She had overdone it and it was going to take a moment or two to recover.

                Reema glanced over Tina’s shoulder as if gauging the audience’s mood. “After tonight, I’m sure you will get other offers to dance at weddings.”

                “I’m not interested.” Her fingers fumbled as she tried to open the water bottle.

                Reema sighed. “You should keep your options open. I understand why you refused the tell-all. It wasn’t my best idea.”

                “That’s why you’re no longer my manager,” Tina reminded her. “You should have told me what you were planning to do before you shopped it around.”