Chapter 24- Gangas First Birthday
Devagarh was quieter than Krishnagiri.
Vinaya learned to love that.
The residence was smaller.
Less formal.
There were orchards behind the house and a river nearby.
No court.
No whispers.
No portraits of Priya.
No Vikram.
Ganga turned one beneath a sky filled with summer clouds.
Vinaya decorated the garden herself.
White flowers.
Yellow ribbons.
Sweet cakes.
The servants gave Ganga toys.
Parvati and Kalyani sent gifts from Krishnagiri.
Balram sent far too many sweets for a one-year-old.
Ranveer sent a tiny carved horse.
Lakshmidevi sent a necklace for when Ganga grew older.
Vikram sent nothing.
Vinaya told herself she had expected that.
The lie hurt anyway.
Ganga took three uncertain steps that afternoon.
Vinaya gasped.
"Again!"
Ganga dropped onto the grass.
Then stood.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Straight into Vinaya's arms.
Vinaya laughed and cried at the same time.
That night, after Ganga fell asleep, Vinaya wrote a letter.
Vikram,
She walked today.
She stared at the words.
Then continued.
Three steps.
She was very proud of herself.
She has your stubbornness.
Vinaya stopped.
Tears blurred the page.
She folded the letter.
Then unfolded it.
Finally, she placed it in a drawer.
Unsent.
That night, near midnight, Ganga began to cry.
Vinaya woke immediately.
"My love?"
She touched her daughter's forehead.
And went cold.
Ganga was burning with fever.