Chapter 26
Shaurya
My smile deepens as the morning light slips through the curtains and my gaze falls on Reeva, curled against my side with her head resting over my heart and one hand splayed across my chest.
I have woken up with her in my arms every morning for weeks, yet today feels completely different. Until yesterday, every time I held her, I knew she might still choose to leave. This morning, she is here because she chose to stay with the promise of forever between us.
My gaze drifts to the mangalsutra resting against her skin.
Our intertwined initials catch the morning light at the centre of the delicate pendant.
She is back in my life, not merely as the woman whose name remains bound to mine on paper, or as the mother of our child, but as my wife in every way that matters.
Her lashes flutter, and a sleepy sigh escapes her as she nestles closer. I instinctively tighten my arm around her and press a tender kiss to her forehead.
“You’re staring,” she murmurs.
“I’m admiring my beautiful wife.” My thumb caresses her shoulder. “I’ve spent months looking at you and seeing only everything I destroyed. Allow me this one morning to look at you and appreciate everything I’ve been given back. You, our child, and the future I was certain I had lost forever.”
She lifts her head from my chest and rests her palm over my heart. “I’m here, Shaurya. I love you. And from now on, every morning we wake beside each other will be special, not only this one.”
I lower my head and kiss her softly. There is no desperation in the kiss this time. Only love and an overwhelming gratitude for the second chance she has given us. When I finally draw back, her fingertips trace the line of my jaw.
“We’ve allowed the past to steal enough from us,” she whispers. “But not anymore.”
“I will never allow it to come between us again.” I brush my thumb across her lower lip. “You, me, and our baby… that is all I want.”
Her expression softens, and a radiant smile spreads across her face as she nods.
“We need to tell everyone,” I say, reluctantly dragging us back to the next step waiting beyond this room.
Her body tenses against mine before she carefully sits up and draws the sheet around herself. “Already?”
“Yes.” I sit up beside her and lift her fingers to my lips. “I am not willing to treat our reconciliation as though it is something we need to hide.”
“I am not asking you to hide it. But Bhai is still away. His meetings have become more complicated, and his trip has been extended again. He won’t be back for at least four more days.” She holds my gaze. “He needs to hear this from me in person.”
My jaw tightens despite my attempt to remain reasonable. “You think he’ll object.”
“I know he will.”
“I can handle your brother.”
She gives me a pointed look. “That isn’t the point, Shaurya.”
I tighten my fingers around hers. “Then tell me what you’re afraid will happen.”
“He was the one who held me together when you hurt me,” she says, her voice softening.
“He watched me fall apart. On the nights I couldn’t sleep, he sat outside my door even when I refused to let him come in.
He wanted to destroy you for what you did to me, but when I asked him to step back, he did. ”
Her gaze falls to our joined hands.
“He even allowed you to stay beneath his roof because I told him I needed to remain here. He hated every second of it, yet he still placed my peace above his anger.” She swallows before raising her eyes to mine.
“I can’t honour that love by calling him while he is thousands of miles away and casually announcing that I’ve forgiven the man who broke me.
He deserves to hear it from me in person and to see for himself that this is truly my choice.
I need him to understand that I am not being manipulated or pressured, that I am choosing this marriage with a clear mind.
” Her fingers tighten around mine. “I don’t need his permission to choose you, Shaurya, but I need a chance to help him understand why I chose you, instead of forcing him to accept my decision. ”
Her reasoning is infuriatingly sound, leaving me with no argument that wouldn’t make me selfish.
“I’ll wait until he returns,” I concede.
Relief softens her expression. “Thank you.”
“But understand one thing, sweetheart.” I gently cup her face.
“I am agreeing to wait because I respect everything your brother has done for you, not because either of us needs his permission. He can be angry. He can question me, threaten me, or demand that I prove myself for the rest of my life.” My voice hardens with certainty.
“But whether he approves of our reconciliation or not, he will eventually have to accept that the decision is ours. Your brother does not get to decide whether we remain husband and wife. That choice belongs only to us.”
“I’ve chosen you,” she says firmly. “His anger won’t change that. I just need to find a way to help him accept us without hurting him.” She pauses. “But I have one condition.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Of course you do.”
“When Bhai gets angry, and he will, you must remain calm.”
“I will attempt to remain calm.”
“No attempts. You will not insult him.”
“Even if he insults me?”
“Especially then.”
“That seems remarkably unfair.”
“It’s non-negotiable, Shaurya.”
I narrow my eyes, but the determination in her expression tells me this is one argument I won’t win. “Fine. I won’t insult or provoke your brother.”
“Good,” she says, apparently satisfied.
I wrap an arm around her and pull her closer. “Surely this extraordinary display of patience deserves a reward.”
Her eyebrows rise. “Last night wasn’t enough?”
I press a kiss to the top of her head. “Not remotely.”
Her cheeks turn scarlet as she pushes at my shoulder. “You’re shameless.”
“I’ve never claimed otherwise where you’re concerned.”
Before I can draw her back into my arms, my phone vibrates against the bedside table. With an irritated groan, I glance towards it and immediately stiffen when I see Mom’s name flashing across the screen.
Reeva follows my gaze. “Aren’t you going to answer?”
“I’d rather not.” My last several conversations with Mom have ended in anger, and I have no desire to let her intrude on the first peaceful morning Reeva and I have shared in months.
“Shaurya, answer it.”
At Reeva’s insistence, I reluctantly reach for the phone and accept the call, keeping my voice guarded. “Good morning, Mom.”
“Good morning, Shaurya. Did I wake you?” she asks from the other end.
“No, Mom. What is it?”
“I’ve arranged a puja for the baby’s health and protection,” she says. “Panditji says tomorrow is an auspicious day, and I want you and Reeva to be present.”
My gaze shifts to Reeva, who watches me carefully as I ask Mom, “You arranged this without consulting either of us?”
“I am speaking to you now.”
“You’re telling me what you’ve already decided, Mom. That isn’t the same as asking.”
She releases an impatient breath. “Must you turn everything into an argument?”
“When you make decisions concerning my wife and our child without speaking to either of us first, yes.”
“Fine.” A strained pause follows before she tries again, her voice noticeably controlled. “Will you and Reeva please come home tomorrow for the puja?”
I slide out of bed and retrieve my trousers from the floor, pulling them on before walking towards the window. I lower my voice even though Reeva can still hear every word.
“I will not take her back to that house merely because you require her presence for a ritual, mom.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you do not get to welcome the baby while treating the baby’s mother like an unwelcome obligation.”
“I am trying, Shaurya,” Mom says, hurt sharpening her voice.
“Then tell me plainly—what exactly are you trying to do, Mom?” I need to know if she truly wants to make things right with Reeva or if this puja is just an excuse to bring her home because she’s carrying my child.
“To keep this family from breaking apart completely.” Some of the steel leaves her tone. “Dadiji misses Reeva, and the house hasn’t felt the same since the two of you left.”
Her words catch me off guard, but I keep my voice firm. “I will ask Reeva. The decision is hers.”
Mom exhales. “Fine.”
“And if she chooses to attend, you will treat her with respect.”
“I know how to behave in my own home.”
“The boutique incident suggests otherwise.”
Her voice hardens. “There is no need to keep throwing that incident in my face.”
“There is every need until I am certain it will never happen again.”
“Nothing will happen. The puja is for the baby. I have no intention of making a scene.”
“That isn’t enough. If she enters that house, she enters as my wife and the mother of my child, not as Arvind Singhania’s daughter or the woman you blame for our family’s past.” My voice hardens with finality. “She enters as Reeva Shaurya Rajvansh.”
Mom remains silent for several seconds.
“I understand,” she says at last.
I don’t know whether she truly does, but it is the most I will get from her over the phone.
“I’ll speak to Reeva,” I reply before ending the call.
“What did she want?” Reeva asks.
I turn to find her sitting on the edge of the bed with the sheet wrapped around her. Crossing the room, I crouch between her knees.
“Mom has arranged a puja tomorrow for our baby’s health and protection. She wants both of us to attend.” I gently cup her face. “But you don’t have to go if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“I think we should.”
I search her expression. “Are you certain?”
“Yes.” Reeva places her hands over mine, holding them against her cheeks.
“I am not suggesting that we move back tomorrow or pretend nothing happened. I am only agreeing to attend one puja.” Her voice grows steadier.
“Dadiji will be there, and the ritual is for our baby. If we’re truly beginning again, we cannot rebuild our marriage while avoiding your mother forever.
” Her expression softens. “I lost my mother before I ever had the chance to truly know her. I don’t want to deny our child the chance to know their grandmother without giving that relationship one honest opportunity. ”
Her answer silences every objection on my tongue.
Even after everything Mom has done, Reeva is still willing to offer her grace.
Not out of weakness, but because she wants our child to grow up surrounded by love rather than inherit the wounds of our families.
She is already protecting our baby in ways I am only beginning to understand and proving herself to be the better parent, not because she loves our child more, but because she understands that protection does not have to become control. That is something I am still learning.
“All right,” I concede. “But the moment you feel uncomfortable, we leave. No arguments and no staying merely to protect anyone’s feelings. You and our child come first. Always.”
She releases a quiet sigh but nods. “Agreed.”
“I truly don’t deserve you,” I murmur, overwhelmed by the generosity of the heart I once shattered.
Her fingers tighten around mine. “Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“No.” She leans forward until her forehead rests against mine. “What matters is that you are trying to become a better man, and I have chosen to believe in the man you are becoming. So stop insulting my judgement by insisting he doesn’t deserve the chance I have given him.”
“I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you too.” She brushes her nose gently against mine. “Which is why we’re going to the puja.” Pulling back, she cradles my face between her palms. “We will go together, Shaurya. And if things become difficult, we will leave together.”
I lift one of her hands and press a kiss into her palm. “Fine.”
Her eyes shine with emotion as her thumb moves tenderly across my cheek. “That’s more like my husband.”
I lower my forehead to hers and close my eyes, breathing her in.
Tomorrow, we will walk back into a house that almost destroyed us. But this time, I will not let that old hatred rise against us again. It will have to tear through me before it ever reaches my wife or our child.