The Lowland

tremble during a minor quake. Never knowing until it was over, as a cup rattled on the table, as the earth roiled and resettled itself, whether she would be spared or saved.
    This lady was a friend of your grandmother’s, Bela said to Meghna. That makes her your great-aunt. I haven’t seen her since your grandmother died.
    Oh, Meghna said. She went back to her drawing. She was kneeling at the coffee table, her head tilted to one side. A stack of white paper, a wooden box containing a row of crayons. She was focused on her work, regarding it from an angle of concentration, also of repose.
    Gauri sat, perched on an armchair, in a room whose views had remained constant. But everything had changed, the decades collapsing but also asserting themselves. The result was a too-wide chasm that could not be crossed.
    She’d come seeking Bela, and here she was. Three feet away, unattainable. She was a grown woman, nearly forty years old. Older than Gauri had been when she’d left her. The proportions of her face had altered. Wider at the temples, longer, more sculptural. Inattentive to her appearance, her brows unshaped, her hair twisted messily at the nape of her neck.
    Will you play tic-tac-toe with me? Meghna asked Bela.
    Not now, Meglet.
    Meghna looked up at Gauri. Her face was brown like Bela’s, her hazel eyes just as watchful. Will you?
    Gauri thought Bela would object, but she said nothing.
    She leaned over, taking the crayon from the child’s hand, marking the paper.
    You and your mother live here with your grandfather? Gauri asked.
    Meghna nodded. And Elise comes every day.
    She could not help the question from forming, escaping her mouth.
    Elise?
    When Dadu marries her I’ll have a new grandmother, Meghna said. I’m going to be the flower girl.
    Blood was draining from her head. She gripped the armrest, waiting for the feeling to pass.
    She watched Meghna draw a line on the sheet of paper. Look, I won, Gauri heard her say.
    She pulled the envelope of signed documents out of her bag. She set the envelope on the coffee table and slid it toward Bela.
    These are for your father, she said.
    Bela was watching her as one watched an infant just learning to walk, as if she might suddenly topple over and cause some form of damage, even though Gauri was sitting perfectly still.
    He is well? His health is good?
    Still she would not answer her, not speak to her directly. There was no indulgence in her face. No change, from the moment Gauri had arrived.
    All right, then.
    She was burning with the failure of it. The effort of the journey, the presumptuous chance she’d taken, the foolish anticipation of coming back. The divorce was not to simplify but to enrich his life. Though she took up no space in it, he was still in a position to eradicate her.
    She thought of the room that had once been her study. She wondered if it was Meghna’s room now. Back then she had only wanted to shut the door to it, to distinguish herself apart from Subhash and Bela. She’d been incapable of cherishing what she’d had.
    She stood up, adjusted her bag over her shoulder. I’ll be on my way.
    Wait, Bela said.
    She walked over to a closet and put a jacket on Meghna, a pair of shoes. She opened the sliding glass door off the kitchen. Will you pick some new flowers for the table? she said to her. Pick a big bunch, okay? And then go check the bird feeders. See if we need to give them more food.
    The sliding door was shut. Now she and Bela were alone.
    Bela walked over to where Gauri was standing. She came up close, so close that Gauri took a small step backward. Bela raised her hands, as if to push Gauri away further still, but did not touch her.
    How dare you? Bela said. Her voice was just above a whisper. How dare you set foot in this house?
    No one had ever looked at her with such hatred.
    Why have you come here?
    Gauri felt the wall behind her. She leaned against it for support.
    I came to give your father the papers. Also—
    Also what?
    I wanted to ask him about you. To find you. He said he was open to our meeting.
    And you’ve taken advantage of it. The way you took advantage of him from the beginning.
    It was wrong of me, Bela. I came to say—
    Get out. Go back to whatever it was, that was more important. Bela shut her eyes, putting her hands over her ears.
    I can’t stand the sight of you, she continued. I can’t bear listening to anything you have to say.
    Gauri walked toward