Jigsaw life

"A proposal? A marriage proposal? For me?" Her mother's words had stung her. She knew as well as anyone that a proposal would never come for her. No one ever did. Even if someone did...even if some man liked her, once he knew the full story, he would never want her. She was not hiding who she was from society just to get a proposal that would never happen.

Her mother started crying after hearing her daughter. Jenny felt pity and said, "Mom, don't cry. I'll go through this ridiculous charade again anyway. I'll get dressed up again to play-act being their possible daughter-in-law. But this fellow will have the same answer as all the other 20 men who came to see me for marriage proposal before him: 'No.'

But at least I'll get to wear that beautiful silk saree you bought me."

Saying this she got dressed.

The sudden, high-pitched wail of an air horn boomed through the house. The deep, heavy thumping of footsteps echoed after it. She tentatively stepped out from the kitchen and peeked at the living room. She saw him.

Is it Ram! Is this really happening! 

Ram was dressed in his usual crisp white shirt and dark brown pants. He was tall, much taller than her, enough to make her feel tiny next to him.

She looked down at her feet as if in a trance as she walked down the hall with a tray of coffee cups to be served to the groom's family. Her head swam and her lungs ached. She felt her stomach drop and a wave of nausea rolled through her.

"We love the girl. When can we set a date for the wedding?" asked Ram's mother, who diagnosed and treated her successfully for uterus cancer.

Her dead father's words echoed in her mind - "The world is a puzzle and God has a unique place for every piece to fit together with another one." As she listened to the wind whisper through the reeds, she knew that all of her pieces were finally where they belonged.