Desert Rose

Epilogue

Three years later.....

ARNAV Singh Raizada had been driving for almost one and half hours. He turned his head to see Khushi dozing peacefully in the passenger seat. He didn't know what he done to deserve Khushi. Deserve happiness. His thoughts went back three years ago....He had managed to give Khushi her dream wedding and had whisked her away to their belated honey moon to Europe. Khushi had been enthralled by the two week trip through London, Amsterdam, Paris, Switzerland, Venice, and Rome.They had packed to the hilt for their final destination in the US. So much for a backpacking trip!Then they had gone to the US, where they had rented a house in the suburbs close to the beautiful city of Charlotte in North Carolina known for its lush greenery.

Khushi had adapted to her new environment quickly and in her usual exuberance had earned herself friends in the neighbourhood.She was slowly getting used to wearing western clothes and Arnav realized that except for the height, Khushi was no less than one of the models at AR. On his birthday she had arranged for a surprise party for him with some of their neighbours and close friends present. But his gift turned out to be Khushi looking like a Barbie doll wearing a short pink dress, silver high heels and her long curled to fall delicately around her face. His stomach had done flip flops and while cutting his cake he had wished that everyone would just go home leaving him alone with Khushi.

They had travelled like crazy. During fall they had gone riding on a Harley-Davidson bike, through the Blue Ridge parkway to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee where they had rented a beautiful chalet up in the mountains. He remembered it had taken him some time to convince Khushi that there was no one around to see them if they wanted to use the outdoor hot tub kept on the deck. They had spent their evenings snuggled together in one comforter watching as darkness slowly invaded the fall foliage.They had flown to Boston to spend Thanksgiving with Jenny's family. He had taken her to the University campus and they had gone trekking in the Middlesex Fells Forest Reservation.One Christmas was spent in Manhattan where they walked hand in hand in the snow in time square, drank coffee in the cozy coffee shops, watched the skaters in the skating rink by the giant Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. He had taken Khushi to see the famous broad way show -- Phantom of the Opera. He remembered how Khushi had cried in the end, saddened by the Phantom's unrequited love for the heroine Christine who loved her childhood sweetheart Raoul. In this trip Khushi had been upset that they had forgotten to take their camera but he hadn't regretted it. The memories of this trip was etched in his mind forever. Couple of months later they had driven to Snow Shoe mountain in West Virginia where Khushi had failed miserably in the ski lessons she took. She looked cute in her snow pants and jacket but her face was frozen and her nose had turned red in the -9 degree wind chill. After falling backward a couple of time she had given up. She had satisfied herself with sitting inside the warm hotel lounge sipping a cup of tea, watching him come down the slope. Later that night, having obtained a room with a view of the slope in the ski lodge, they had lain in the darkness, entwined in their warm bed watching skiers skiing under flood light.

This sojourn to the US had allowed him to expand AR considerably, while Khushi worked on her new clothing line, catering solely to NRI clients in the US. During one business trip to California he had taken Khushi along and they had converted it into sightseeing trip covering parts of Arizona and Nevada as well.Last summer,their family had visited them and they had taken them through the usual sightseeing destinations like Washington DC, New York, Niagra Falls and Disney World.At Disney World Khushi had transformed into a little girl, wanting to go on all rides, tireless and enthusiastic till the park closing time. She hadn't allowed anyone to take a single break as they park hopped for five whole days.But after they had left, Khushi had begun to feel home sick. He had realized that it was time to go back home......