“It’s going to be alright.” She hugged me. “Don’t worry.”
“I was already terrified about this wedding. Now I have this news and—”
“Let’s deal with one thing at a time.” She let me go and held my hands. “Today begins your wedding celebrations. Breathe and enjoy them.”
“When should I tell Kamal?”
“Wait until after everything is over. He’s already mad that he will have to be away from you after haldi. If he knows that you’re pregnant, he’ll break tradition and crowd around you.”
“I don’t know if I can hold the secret until then.”
She grinned. “Me either.”
“Zora, do not tell anyone.”
“Not even my mother?”
“Zora, if she knows, the entire wedding party will know before Kamal.”
“Fine. I won’t tell anyone. Not even Corey.”
“Awesome.”
She turned to the pregnancy stick. “You should keep it.”
“And do what with it?”
“Wrap it up, put it in a box, and gift it to him during your honeymoon.”
I smirked. “I like that.”
“Good.” She took a small towel from the rack and gestured for me to leave. “I’ll get this, and gift-wrap it for you in the prettiest box and paper I can find. You go and get dressed. Haldi begins soon.”
My stomach twisted with nervousness. “Okay.”
An hour later, I sat next to Kamal.
Since arriving in Los Angeles, we hadn’t gotten much time to talk. Each moment we tried, someone hurried over and congratulated us or started a long conversation. If not that, then both sides of our families took their turns rubbing the turmeric mixture into our skin. Flower yellow petals sat at the entrance. Guests could also grab the petals and throw them on us.
I realized I was more ticklish than I thought I laughed a lot through the whole ceremony. Yellow liquid dripped down our faces and dotted our clothes. My family didn’t really understand the ceremony. Some of my cousins kept placing it in on our pants and shoes.
My favorite part was when my niece Arya walked over to us and patted a little on my cheeks.
Smiling, I hugged her. “Thank you, sweetie.”
She shrieked with glee and walked over to Kamal.
He leaned forward. “Give me your best shot, Arya.”
She squished the mixture over his face.
Laughter left me. And others joined along. Instantly, my fears of the future and nervousness left. Slowly, I fell into the moment of this amazing celebration of Kamal’s and my love.But that would be short-lived.
Soaked in yellow, our families dragged us away, separating Kamal and me.
No! I didn’t get a chance to tell Kamal that I loved him.
With lust blazing in his eyes, he gazed at me and waved goodbye.
Fuck. This is going to be excruciating.
I bathed for an hour. It took forever to deal with my hair. Karen helped with detangling. I changed into my next outfit and off to another event.
Okay. What are we doing now?
I pulled out my phone and checked my wedding app.
There we go. Henna time.
All the women gathered together for my mehndi night. It was over a hundred women. Some were from Kamal’s family. Most represented my female relatives. And then there were my friends from college and the art world. All arrived in bright beautiful dresses. Many of my cousins wore saris and got their henna done, fully embracing Kamal’s culture.
Throughout the night, we sat on colorful pillows and sampled traditional Indian food— samosas and chutneys, kabobs, and vada pavs.
But most of all, I sat still for hours while artists applied my bridal henna. Red-orange designs stained my palms, back of hands, and feet. Many of the patterns symbolized various blessings of luck, joy, and love. Even cooler, Kamal’s name was hidden within the intricate designs.I was told it was easy to smudge so I had to remain seated forever to let it dry. Apparently, the darker the color of the dried henna, the deeper Kamal’s love would be for me.
Thankfully, Zora and Kamal’s female cousins spent a large amount of my waiting entertaining us. They did dances and sung beautiful songs. I was told that I had to give gifts to all participates. For the huge guest list, I gave away small beaded bags with a tiny bottle of perfume inside.
Once the henna dried, Zora rushed me away.
I didn’t even get time to check my wedding app. “What are we doing next?”
“You’re going to sleep.”
“Good. I didn’t think I could do anything else.”
Finally, the nervousness had begun to leave, I was fully infused in the celebration of Kamal and me. And with that, so many feelings gripped me. I felt special and so emotional. Ecstatic, yet completely overwhelmed.
“Goodnight, Jade.” Zora left me in my room.
“Goodnight.”
Covered in henna, I collapsed into my bed by myself and passed out immediately.
I hope Kamal had a good time.
The next day, we had our sangeet. Although we weren’t supposed to see each other due to tradition, it was difficult to plan everything perfectly and get the venues on certain days. We ended up rearranging traditional events and doing it our way.