‘she is gorgeous right anika?’
shivay said to his wife as he held rikara’s daughter who was only an hour old secured in his arms, and close to his heart as she happily slept in them.
anika: so beautiful just like her mother.
shivay: really i think that she looks like her father.
anika: oh shut up! clearly you are blind. she looks exactly like my little sister.
shivay: no! sach toh yeh hai ki you are blind because this princess looks only and only like my little brother!
anika: my sister!
shivay: my brother!
anika: my sister!
shivay: my brother!
anika: my sister!
shivay: my brother!
anika: my sister!
shivay: my brother!
anika: my sister!
shivay: my brother!
suddenly the baby started to cry and everyone in the room looked at one another and started to laugh, as shivay handed over the baby to gauri. she kissed the baby’s forehead and rocked her gently saying: you both can be such a handful.
om: sometimes i wonder gauri whether we are the younger or they are.
gauri: they fight just like children.
anika: can you both insult us when we are not in the room?
rikara: nope!
shivika rolled their eyes at them as both giggled.
gauri: bade bhaiya, she is quiet now. do you want to hold her again?
shivay: haan give her.
gauri smiled and handed her baby daughter to shivay.
anika: shivay, everyone else wants to hold her na. give her to me in exactly 2 minutes.
shivay: but she is too soft and cuddly.
anika: but she is my niece also.
she makes a sad pout as everyone laughs including shivay. he smiled and handed the baby to anika.
anika: thank you sweetie.
after a while, all left the new parents and their baby daughter alone. as shivika exited the hospital and went in their car, anika said: i am so happy for om and gauri.
shivay: same.
anika: i wish i could give you the same joy like gauri did to om.
shivay: anika, meri jaan, it’s not your fault. it will never be your fault.
anika: but i failed one of my responsibilities as your wife and that is giving you a child. i am so useless. yeh maat bolo that one of the vows you made me promise you is “om mayo bhavyas jaradastaya ha” by which he means ‘You have brought sacredness into my life, and have completed me. May we be blessed with noble and obedient children’
shivay: anika…suno, you have made me happy, and that vow, it’s just a vow. remember one vow you promised me is “tava bhakti as vadedvachacha”, meaning ‘I will love you solely for the rest of my life, as you are my husband. Every other man in my life will be secondary. I vow to remain chaste’. you have fulfilled that vow. you have fulfilled all your vows, promises etc. you are not useless. ever since you came into my life, i have been so happy, you have proved yourself as an amazing wife. top class. i am so lucky to have a wife like you, and if you can’t give me a child from your own womb then you know what? it’s fine. many couples can’t have children but then there are a million options to build a family. sunny leone adopted a child and then had twins from surrogacy. we can go through that route.
anika had tears rolling down her cheeks hearing her husband say such sweet things and how he was always calm when it came to the matter of her infertility. she felt blessed to have such a husband.
both just smiled at each other and spoke of other things during their car journey to home.
precap: ‘i want to…’
to what?
find out in the next chapter