The Storyteller's Secret

Jaya now understands Lena’s personality as the result of the years she spent with Omi telling her that she was a curse: “Her refusal to get close to anyone for fear that her energy would hurt them” (377) finally makes sense to Jaya. Ravi doesn’t know why Deepak made Lena promise to never return to India, but guesses that it was a way to make sure his reputation in the village would be preserved.

Ravi concludes the story with one last revelation. Before Amisha was bitten by the mosquito, Stephen came to the house looking for her. Ravi begged him to leave, lying that Amisha was happy. If Stephen had seen the baby, he would have immediately recognized Lena as his daughter and tried to take the two away. Ravi believed he was protecting Amisha from being forced to choose between her sons and her newborn daughter, but now he blames himself for Amisha’s death. Though Jaya attempts to persuade him otherwise, Ravi insists that it is his fault that Jaya grew up never knowing her grandmother.

Jaya calls her mother and tells her she loves her. She knows that Lena “was destined to live a life without the presence of guidance of a mother” (380) and that she carried her worries silently so as to not bother anyone.