Free The Forbidden Daughter by Shobhan Bantwal Page B

trim.
    Within minutes she had a cardboard box filled with vaccines and other items ready to go. “You should start thinking about charging those nuns for your services, you know,” she said blandly. It wasn’t the first time she’d expressed her opinion on the subject.
    “That’s out of the question.” Harish took off his lab coat and put it on a hanger. “These are orphans we’re treating. The nuns are barely able to feed them, let alone pay for medical care.”
    Saroj-bayi rolled her eyes. “I know that, but if you keep giving free treatment, how are you going to provide for a wife and children?”
    He couldn’t help smiling. He knew his mother and Saroj conspired behind his back about ways to nudge him toward marriage. “Why worry when I don’t have a wife and children?”
    “Then it is about time you got yourself a wife,” she sniffed.
    “That poor mother of yours is longing to see you settled. Right now she has half a dozen nice girls lined up for you.”
    He patted her shoulder. “One of these days I’ll see what I can do to make Mamma and you happy.”
    “If you keep putting it off, all the good girls will be taken and 58 Shobhan Bantwal
    you will be stuck with some ugly old maid with dentures and a balding head.”
    With an amused laugh he slung his medical bag over his shoulder and grabbed the box. “Thanks for helping me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    He put his gear in the trunk of his compact four-year-old Ford, got behind the wheel, and headed out to the convent. It was a trip he made every three months. This was something he looked forward to, even though he didn’t get paid for it. It was his modest contribution to the community. He was blessed, and as a good but not devout Hindu, this was the only way he could give something in charity.
    When he got to the locked steel gates of the convent, he stopped, pulled out his mobile phone, and called Mother Regina’s number so someone could let him in. Returning the phone to his pocket, he smiled to himself. The nuns took their job of protecting the girls under their guardianship very seriously indeed.
    However, neither stone walls nor steel gates could prevent the really tenacious and enterprising ones from sneaking in or out.
    The previous year’s bizarre episode was a prime example. In spite of the keen-eyed nuns watching over their wards day and night, one of their teenagers had still managed to become pregnant.
    The baby’s father was a boy from St. John’s School for Boys, located across the street from the convent. It was run by Catholic priests. St. John’s was Harish’s alma mater.
    Nobody could figure out how those two teenagers had managed to meet, let alone have sex. It was still a mystery, but a testimony to human ingenuity.
    Eventually, the boy and girl had been expelled from school and each sent home to their parents. And that’s where it ended.
    The nuns never talked about it afterward. Anything that sinful wasn’t meant to be discussed in the hallowed atmosphere of a convent.
    A minute later, a novice came to open the gates for him. Har-THE
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    ish drove his car around to the back of the cluster of buildings.
    That’s where the old stone boardinghouse and the orphanage were located. The more modern brick buildings facing the street were reserved for classrooms, where day-students as well as boarders studied together.
    The same novice who had opened the gates appeared from somewhere. “Good evening, Dr. Salvi. I’m Sister Rose,” she said. “I’ll be helping you with the children this evening. I can carry some of your supplies if you’d like.”
    “Thank you, Sister Rose. Appreciate the help,” he said and handed her his bag. He hadn’t seen her before. Like the other novices, she was very young and didn’t wear a cap. They were also referred to as Sister. He had learned that the white cap with black border was something that came after they took their final vows and shaved their heads. That’s