The Wedding Tamasha

Pete flipped open the passport and his hands stopped on the first
page. He looked up quickly at Raj before scanning the remaining pages
for the next few moments. ‘Interesting,’ Pete remarked. ‘Is this the only
passport in your possession, Mr Valsan?’
Shweta held her breath.
As if he’d been relieved from all suspicion, Raj nodded. ‘Yes,
officer. This is the only passport I have.’
‘In that case, Mr Valsan,’ Pete said, stressing on each word he
uttered, ‘this isn’t your passport.’ He waved the passport in front of Raj’s
face.
Shweta’s hands flew to her mouth as soon as she heard this. Could
it be? Could it be that in his stupidity, he had pulled out the wrong
passport? That could mean only one thing.
The passport that Pete held in his hand was hers!
Shweta felt a bubble of excitement rise in her chest but she held her
breath.
‘Since I have what I need and since this lady here,’ Pete said,
turning to Shweta, ‘is kind enough not to press further charges, we will
keep this and take our leave, Mr Valsan. Good night!’
Raj looked dumbstruck but he did not say a word, as Pete and
Shweta turned around and walked out of the house. Shweta did not once
turn behind to see the reaction on Raj’s face.
Once near the car, all three of them whooped in excitement. Max
and Shweta congratulated Pete on his brilliant performance and Shweta
was confident, like she’d already told Pete before, that Raj would never
guess that he’d been set up, and think to seek redress for unlawful
questioning by an off-duty police officer.
When they got back to the café, there was a beautiful surprise. Julie
had a wonderful dinner planned in celebration for everyone. They
ordered pizza and Julie opened a bottle of wine.
‘I just knew all of you were pretty smart. If Raj hadn’t agreed, I’m
sure Pete would have made him see sense the hard way,’ Julie said, over
slices of pizza.
‘I don’t think so, Abuela. I think we just got lucky,’ Pete said, and
they all laughed. ‘And I did it all for this pretty girl,’ Pete teased Shweta.
Shweta blushed and said another ‘thank you.’ She still couldn’t
believe her good luck.
‘But I do think you’d be safer back home rather than working at
Abuela’s without a work permit on your passport. I can get into trouble
for this, you know.’ Pete held her gaze as he said this.