Chapter 14
Shaurya
By the time I pull up outside the mansion, my mind is consumed with how this arrangement between Reeva and me could possibly work.
For now, I am moving into her brother’s house, but that cannot be permanent.
Eventually, I want Reeva and our baby to come home with me.
But things between us are still so fucking tangled in hurt and anger, and I have shattered the very trust that once made her feel safe with me.
I have no idea how to make her want to return, especially while Mom still carries so much resentment towards her.
The moment I enter the house, I find Mom pacing across the living room. At the sound of my footsteps, she stops and turns towards me, frustration tightening her features.
“You left me standing there.”
“Reeva had lost consciousness.”
Mom drops onto the sofa. “Your wife certainly knows how to create unnecessary drama.”
I stare at her, unable to understand how she can be so unreasonable, how she can blame Reeva after publicly humiliating her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she demands. “I didn’t make her faint.”
“No. You only cornered her and announced the ugliest parts of our family history for the entire boutique to hear. You added to the stress she was already carrying.”
Her eyes flash. “So you are going to pick another fight with your own mother?”
I shake my head. “I already know that arguing with you about Reeva is a losing battle. I am not here to repeat the same conversation. I came to tell you that I am moving into Rudra’s house.”
For several seconds, she simply stares at me. “You’re doing what?”
“I am staying with Reeva at her brother’s house.”
“Absolutely not.” She rises abruptly. “You are not moving into a Singhania’s home.”
“I wasn’t asking for your permission, Mom. I was informing you.”
“Have you lost your mind? She faints, and suddenly you’re consumed with concern for her? You are Shaurya Rajvansh. Have you completely forgotten that?”
“No.” I hold her gaze. “For the first time in a long while, I know exactly who I need to be.”
“And who is that?” she asks bitterly. “Arvind Singhania’s son-in-law, dutifully looking after his daughter?”
“You see Arvind Singhania’s daughter. I see my wife and the mother of my child. I am taking care of her and being the father my unborn child deserves.”
The anger drains from Mom’s face. Her lips part, but for several seconds, no sound emerges.
“Child?” she finally whispers.
“Reeva is pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Her hand rises slowly to her chest as tears fill her eyes. “You’re going to be a father?”
I nod.
“My grandchild.” She crosses the room and cups my face, smiling through her tears.
“This house will finally have a Rajvansh heir.” Her hands fall away as plans begin tumbling from her lips.
“We need to prepare the nursery. Your bedroom is large enough, but perhaps the eastern room beside it would be better. It receives more sunlight. I’ll speak to the family priest and arrange a puja immediately.
And Reeva will need the best obstetrician. I’ll call Dr. Batra. She handled—”
“Reeva isn’t coming here.”
Mom’s happiness falters. “Don’t be ridiculous, Shaurya. She is carrying a Rajvansh heir. Of course she will stay here.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So the baby suddenly changes Reeva’s value to you? If I bring her back here, will you accept her wholeheartedly as my wife and the mother of my child?”
Mom’s expression immediately closes off. “No. She is carrying the next generation of this family. My love and responsibility are towards the child, not her.”
“Our baby is part of both of us,” I say, each word deliberate. “This child is as much Reeva’s as mine, yet you expect me to bring the baby into a home where you refuse to accept its mother.”
Mom folds her arms across her chest. “I will love my grandchild, Shaurya. But don’t ask me to accept Reeva.”
“Then I am sorry, Mom, but she will not return to this house.”
Her eyes widen. “You plan to keep my grandchild away from me?”
“You’re doing that yourself, Mom. Our child belongs wherever Reeva feels safe. And until you accept her, that place will never be here.”
“This is madness.” She shakes her head. “Bring Reeva here. Whatever resentment exists between us can be handled later. Right now, making certain that my grandchild, who belongs with this family, is safe matters more than anything else.”
“Reeva is not an incubator carrying something that belongs to us,” I snap. “You want the baby beneath this roof, but you refuse to accept the baby’s mother.”
“I can remain civil with her.”
“Civil? You couldn’t remain civil with her for five minutes inside a public boutique.”
Her face tightens. “I was angry.”
“And what happens the next time you’re angry?
What happens when you look at her and remember whose daughter she is?
” I step closer, holding her gaze. “Will you corner her again? Accuse her again? Remind her that she will never be worthy of carrying our family’s name?
” I drag a weary hand over my face. “Mom, I don’t want to fight with you.
But the doctor specifically warned that stress could worsen Reeva’s condition.
And Reeva has already told me that returning here would make her anxious because she knows you don’t want her. ”
“She is using the pregnancy to manipulate you.”
The final thread of my restraint snaps. “Stop turning every decision she makes into manipulation simply because it makes her easier for you to hate her.”
Mom’s eyes flash with hurt. “You’re choosing her over your own mother.”
“I am choosing the safety of my child over everyone else’s pride, yours and mine included.”
Her expression hardens. “And you intend to live there? Beneath Arvind Singhania’s roof?”
“I don’t care whose roof it is. Reeva feels safe there with her brother and Meena Aunty, and right now, that matters more than what either of us wants.”
“Your father would be ashamed.”
The words strike the wound she knows has never fully healed. Once, they would have been enough to pull me back into line. But now, there is another life to consider, one that needs my protection more than my father’s memory needs my loyalty.
“Perhaps he would be,” I agree. “But I cannot turn my back on my child either. The doctor said Reeva needs peace, and I will do whatever it takes to give her that. If it means staying in Rudra’s house, I’ll stay there. If it means standing between her and this family, I’ll do that too.”
Pain flashes across Mom’s face, but I force myself not to soften.
“I need to pack. I promised Reeva I would return within an hour.”
I walk past her and head towards the staircase before she can respond. But just as I reach the first step, I find Dadiji standing at the foot of the stairs. Her eyes are wide, and one trembling hand covers her mouth.
“Reeva is pregnant?” she asks, tears filling her eyes.
The anger inside me immediately loosens. “Yes.”
Dadiji presses her palms together in silent gratitude. “Thank you, God.” Then she pulls me into her arms. I close my eyes as she holds me.
When she finally draws back, concern replaces some of her joy. “Is Reeva all right?”
“She and the baby are safe.”
Relief softens her features. Her gaze travels towards the drawing room before returning to me. “Your mother will need time.”
“Reeva shouldn’t have to suffer while Mom takes it.”
“No, she shouldn’t,” Dadiji agrees immediately. “A woman carrying a child needs affection and peace around her, not anger.”
“I am moving into Rudra’s house.”
Dadiji’s eyebrows rise, but then a small smile touches her lips. “I imagine Rudra was delighted.”
“He threatened to throw me out.”
“I would have been concerned if he hadn’t.”
Despite myself, I almost smile.
Then Dadiji’s expression turns serious. “This baby is a miracle, beta.” She takes my hand between both of hers. “Perhaps this child will bring you and Reeva close again and give your marriage another chance.”
My gaze shifts towards the staircase leading to the bedroom I once shared with Reeva.
I want to believe her, but a baby cannot magically repair everything that has broken between us.
Reeva hates me, and I am still struggling with the knowledge that she intended to hide our child from me.
There is too much hurt between us, too much anger neither of us knows how to release.
Our baby may give us a reason to remain in each other’s lives, but if our marriage is ever going to survive, I will have to earn that chance. I cannot use our child to force it.
But I don’t voice any of it. I simply nod, gently squeeze Dadiji’s hands, and make my way upstairs to pack.
Thirty minutes later, with my suitcase in the boot, I drive away from the mansion carrying Dadiji’s blessing, Mom’s anger, and a mind still trapped in a relentless battle.
When I pull up outside Rudra’s house, a member of the staff lets me in and informs me that the guest room has been prepared. He takes my suitcase and carries it down the corridor, but I remain in the living room.
“Reeva ate some soup,” Meena Aunty tells me as she emerges from the kitchen.
I nod. “Is she asleep?”
“She was supposed to be.” A knowing smile touches her face. “But she is on the terrace.”
I thank her and climb the stairs.
When I reach the terrace, I stop at the threshold. Reeva stands with her back to me, both hands resting on the stone railing as she gazes at the darkening sky.
My first instinct is to tell her that she should be in bed, but before I can speak, she senses my presence and glances over her shoulder.
“You came back.”
“I told you I would.” I close the distance between us and take my place beside her, curling my fingers around the metal railing.
“I thought Bhai’s welcome might have encouraged you to reconsider.”
“It will take more than your brother’s anger to frighten me away.”
She doesn’t respond. She simply turns back towards the sky, allowing the silence to stretch between us. Then, after a long moment, she faces me again.
“You told your mom about the baby?”
“Yes.”
Reeva nervously bites her lower lip. “Was she happy?”
“Very. She wants you to return to the mansion so she can have her grandchild beneath the same roof.”
Reeva turns fully towards me, surprise flashing across her face.
“Not because she has accepted you,” I add, unwilling to let that surprise become false hope. “She wants you there because you are carrying her grandchild.”
The surprise fades from Reeva’s features, and she turns back towards the sky.
“That is exactly what I have been trying to make you understand, Shaurya,” she says quietly. “Your mother may love this baby with all her heart, but that love will never make her stop hating me.”
“I won’t allow her near you if she cannot treat you with respect.”
Reeva looks at me again. “And how long can you maintain that? She is your mother and our child’s grandmother.
Are you planning to keep her away forever?
” Her voice thickens with emotion. “You cannot build a future by cutting your mother out of it, and I cannot build one inside a family that refuses to accept me. Sooner or later, all that resentment will find its way into our baby’s life. ”
Her words silence me.
“Our child will grow up caught between two families who hate each other,” she continues.
“Your mother hates me because of my father. My brother hates you because of what you did to me. You resent me for hiding the pregnancy, and every time I look at you, I remember the lie at the centre of our marriage.” Tears brighten her eyes in the fading light.
“An innocent baby doesn’t deserve to be trapped in the middle of all that anger. ”
“What do you expect me to do?” I ask, my voice turning rough. “Walk away from my child?”
“Yes.” The word leaves her in a broken whisper. “If remaining in our child’s life means dragging this baby into a war between our families, then yes, Shaurya. I want you to let me raise our child alone in peace.”
“I am sorry, Reeva, but I am not selfless enough to walk away from my child, even if part of what you’re saying makes sense.”
Before she can respond, I turn and walk away because staying would force me to confront the one truth I am still not ready to accept. Protecting my child may require letting Reeva and our baby go, and that is a sacrifice I don’t fucking know how to make.