Making Jane Proud

Chapter 49 - Into the Vast Unknown

The universe was playing at being perverse, Ellie decided, and delighting in turning her topsy-turvy. Whereas when she'd been longing to be back in London each hour had seemed to drag, now that she was sad to be leaving all the people and places she had come to love in India, time had been galloping by with all the speed and stamina of a championship-winning thoroughbred. With only one day of school left, she felt ill-prepared for the finality of her last farewell and dreaded the prospect of the last few hours with her children, wishing she could wrap them all up and take them home with her. Each day since she'd told them she would be going, they had brought her drawings and half-wilted wildflowers gathered from the roadside, piercing her heart when they told her with softly lilting voices and dark doe eyes that they didn't wish her to leave.

She clung to thoughts of Tom and their baby to help her keep her composure.

Their birthday weekend had been sweet and romantic; they'd dined and danced and exchanged gifts before making out in the beanbag and falling asleep in each other's arms. On the actual day she'd had phone calls not only from her husband and her own family, but also her friend Maggie, who was looking forward to her return, and her new in-laws. She'd been thrilled when Sarah had invited her to spend a few days with her in Chennai before flying back to the UK and had happily agreed, using the exchange ticket she had from their cancelled flight to Mumbai. At school she had dressed in a beautiful turquoise sari purchased at the local market and given out chocolates to her class, accepting all their small tokens in return. Her teaching friends had organised a dinner in her honour and once more their friendship and kindness meant she'd struggled to keep tears at bay.

Putting her camera to good use over the past fortnight, she'd taken hundreds of photographs of the local area, the school, her colleagues and most of all her students, wanting keepsakes to supplement the memories she knew she'd keep with her forever. Many times she'd posed with groups of them as someone else snapped a shot, and some of these she had printed copies of to give to the children and their parents.

At night she'd packed what belongings she had, cleaning and tidying the small flat so it sparkled as brightly as it had when she'd first arrived six months before. Veritha wouldn't be returning until the end of the school year so Ellie had no idea what would happen to the little apartment but she wanted it to be spotless before she left.

On the morning of her last day – Friday - Tom called just as she was rising at six. "Tom, it's the middle of the night there; what are you doing up?"

"I know today is going to be difficult for you, darling, so I just wanted to tell you I love you and wish you well."

"Thank you, that's so sweet."

"Sugar substitute, remember?" he referred to a regular joke they made together.

"I should bottle you up and share you with type one's all over the globe," she told him smilingly.

"As altruistic as that sounds, my love, I am happy to belong to just one diabetic. And how are my two beautiful women today? Any morning sickness?"

"Not so far, thankfully. I was a bit green about the gills yesterday, but everything's settled at the moment."

"Good."

She heard him trying to stifle a huge yawn. "Sweetheart, go and get some sleep; you have to be up again in just a few hours."

"I will in a minute. Sarah rang yesterday; she's looking forward to seeing you tomorrow – and, of course, I'm counting down the hours until Tuesday."

"Me too." He gave another yawn. "Now go to bed or you'll look more like Henry IV than Henry V in front of the camera later!"

He chuckled and replied cheekily before giving in. "Such a bossy wife I've lumbered myself with! All right, darling, I'll take myself off to bed...I wish you were here to share it with me though."