“And do what? Play third-wheel to your romance with Dia?” asked Shatru, glaring at his twin.
Bharat burst out laughing. “You need a woman of your own,” he said, slapping Shatru on his shoulder.
The twins chatted half the night away with Shatru telling him about his trip around Europe and Bharat making the other man laugh with humorous anecdotes of all things that could go wrong during shoots. It was like old times when the twins used to share a room and cook up plans to play mischief on the rest of the family. They fell asleep around 3.30 in the morning, bickering in a friendly manner.
18
It was five in the morning when a knock came on Sapna’s hospital room. Ram got up to open the door to see a nurse holding a precious bundle that was his daughter. Yeah, his Samaira. “The baby needs feeding,” said the nurse as Ram held out his arms to take the squirming bundle. He nodded, holding the baby close to his chest, kissing her on her tiny forehead. The nurse left, pulling the door shut, confident that the father was capable of taking care of the newborn.
Ram walked with his baby daughter towards the bed, where Sapna had just woken up from a deep, undisturbed sleep. He handed their daughter to the new mother, kissing Sapna on the top of her head, saying, “Good morning.”
Sapna took their baby from his hands and began to feed the little one who had just opened her mouth to cry, her little face contorting unpleasantly. She latched on to the teat presented to her, suckling hungrily, her eyes tightly shut, long lashes fanning her baby cheeks. Sapna brushed the soft curls on the baby’s head lovingly, before looking up at her husband who sat down next to her on the bed, watching them keenly.
“Greedy little imp,” he chuckled, touching the baby’s head in fascination. “She’s adorable, our baby.”
Sapna smiled at her husband, her heart in her eyes. “Yeah, she is, in the spitting image of her dad.”
Ram grinned with pride. “Isn’t she, our Samaira?”
“Ram!” Sapna gave him a mock glare. “I thought we’d agreed on Rakshita?” She raised an eyebrow at him, carefully clutching her daughter close to her breast.
“Our first baby will have her name beginning with S, same as her mom. We’ll name the second one with something in R, okay?” Ram couldn’t take his eyes off Samaira, who was still feeding greedily. “Does it hurt?”
Sapna laughed. “What do you think? She’s a baby, Ram, without teeth. While I’ve always revelled having your mouth on my breasts.” She winked at him.
Ram took a painful breath, wincing. “Don’t remind me. The doctor’s warned me to keep my hands off you for at least three months.” He bent down to press his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
“Actually, my nipples do feel a bit tender. But I suppose it’s normal with childbirth,” said Sapna, turning her head to kiss his rough cheek. He’d been a rock, never letting go of her hand in the labour room. She wondered if the pain had been less because he’d been with her.
“Oh!” exclaimed Ram, adoration in his eyes as he gently held the underside of her breasts, his hands supporting their weight.
Sapna sighed. “That’s so blissful, Ram.” She touched a hand to his forearm, caressing the rough surface, her grey eyes glowing mistily up at his. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said, kissing her on her forehead. “How are you otherwise, sweetheart? I’m sorry you’d to handle the labour pain all by yourself.” His charcoal gaze studied her face for signs of pain. She had had a difficult time of it, in labour for almost ten hours.
Sapna lifted a hand to pull his head down to her, kissing him fiercely. “But you were my strength throughout, my Ram. I couldn’t have managed without you by my side.”
Ram held his wife close to his heart, helping her shift Samaira to the other side, while the baby continued to feed contentedly, her eyes tightly shut in slumber. And yes, Sapna didn’t offer another argument about the child’s name. If it made Ram happy, she was absolutely fine with it.
It was a couple of hours later in the morning when the twins knocked on the room. Bharat hugged Ram tightly, feeling emotional. “Hey Pappa! How have you been?” he asked softly, noticing Sapna lying back with her eyes closed. “Are we disturbing?”
Ram hugged him right back. “Awesome. Congrats to you too, chacha. Come on in.”
“So is it Rakshita or Samaira?” asked Bharat mischievously, going to the cradle to check his niece out.
“Samaira,” said Sapna, a smile in her voice. “Hello, Bharat chacha.”
“Hey, new mamma,” said Bharat, grinning at his sister-in-law, hugging her. “So, Ram had his way, as usual,” he teased.
“As always,” said Sapna, laughing.
“Can I hold the baby?” asked Bharat, looking at the little bundle in awe. “Isn’t she the cutest!”
“Let me help you,” said the proud father, lifting the sleeping Samaira from the cradle and handing her to his brother.
Bharat received the baby carefully, his large hands more than capable of holding her safely, as he kept her close to his chest. He kissed a silky cheek, having made it a point to shave himself within an inch of his skin, not wanting the fuzz to hurt her baby skin. “You must be feeling on top of the world,” he told his brother, refusing to take his eyes off little Samaira’s face.
“I do,” said Ram, sitting beside his wife, holding her hand in his.
Bharat settled down on the couch next to Shatru, the two of them admiring their newborn niece. “Does she ever open her eyes?” asked Shatru, holding a little fist in his huge hand, his face rapturous.
“Only a slit at times. It will take a while. The light is too much for her, after living inside a womb all this long,” said Sapna, smiling at Ram’s brothers. She was so lucky to be married into the Maheshwari family. Each one of them had a large heart and they had accepted her into it totally.
Shatru sighed, taking Samaira from his brother. “I could spend a lifetime simply staring at her.”
Mohan, Meera, Lakshman and Ruma knocked before walking into the room, all smiling widely. “So, how’s my granddaughter today?” asked Mohan, looking at the sleeping baby in Shatru’s hands.
“Samaira’s great, Pappa. She even stayed awake for two whole minutes,” said Sapna softly. Yeah, she called him Pappa nowadays. No one had insisted. But Sapna liked the typically Indian tradition and she was confident that Ram’s parents loved her like her own parents, if not more.
“Excuse me, guys,” said Bharat, walking out of the room to call Dia.
Meera took the baby in her arms and kissed her on her forehead. “She looks exactly like you Sapna, right down to your grey eyes. Beautiful baby!”
Sapna blushed at the compliment, smiling at her motherin-law. Lakshman and Ruma vied with each other to hold Samaira for a couple of minutes each, before they had to rush to work. While Lakshman cooed to his niece, Ruma went to sit next to Sapna. “How are you, Samaira’s mom? Hope there’s no pain now.”
Sapna shook her head, a smile on her face. “None. It stopped the second Samaira slipped out from me, I think. I can’t wait to get home.”
Ruma nodded. “I’m sure. I’m going to call the baby Sam. Samaira’s such a mouthful for a tiny baby. I hope you guys won’t mind.” She looked up at Ram.
He shrugged. “Why not? Unless Pappa has objections.” He winked at his wife and sister-in-law.
“Pappa, what do you say?” asked Ruma, looking at her father-in-law. He was one of the most loving people she had ever met in her life.
Mohan looked up from where he was chatting with his sleeping granddaughter. “What Ruma? I didn’t hear you.”
Ruma repeated, “I’m going to call the baby Sam. I hope you don’t mind.”
Mohan sighed. “I suppose you should. In this age of speed, Samaira does seem long.” He smiled at Ram’s startled laugh as he swiftly changed it to a cough.
Meera laughed, showing a ‘thumbs-up’ to Ruma. They hung around for another fifteen minutes before the nurse came to shoo them all out. Meera was to stay back
with Sapna and Samaira while the rest were all leaving.
Shatru waited next to his car, arms folded across his chest, calmly eyeing Bharat from afar as the latter fiddled with his phone.
Bharat checked his phone to see if there was a message from Dia. He mentally cursed when he realised that he’d forgotten to turn his mobile data on. She must have just boarded the flight. But her phone was already switched off. Just then, his phone vibrated as her WhatsApp message came in. Dia had wished him “GM” with lots of emojis at 5.30. God, he missed her! He planned to pick her at the airport at ten.
What Bharat didn’t know was that Dia had switched off her phone sooner than expected because she was on an earlier flight—only it wasn’t taking her to Jaipur, but to Delhi. From there, she planned to travel with Pia by road to Meerut.
19
Bharat waited outside the Jaipur airport, feeling restless, when his phone pinged. Eager to find out if Dia had got off her flight, he saw it was an SMS, confirming the cancellation of her ticket from Mumbai to Jaipur. What the fuck! Dia wasn’t coming to him.
He called her on speed dial but her phone was still switched off. Bharat turned pale. Had Dia decided to cut him out of his life once again? By now, it was obvious that she wasn’t travelling. So, her phone wasn’t turned off because she was on a flight. Then what the hell was happening?
Then he remembered her morning message. She had obviously been up early. Then why didn’t she take the damned flight? Well, there was no sense hanging around at the airport. He got into his Ertiga and rushed home, crossing the speed limit at least twice, his temper making him reckless. Where the hell was Dia?
He parked the car in the garage, taking deep breaths to calm himself. He didn’t want the others to get worried on his behalf. They were all too happy just now with the addition of the new member. And yeah, Chanda was coming that evening while Ranveer planned to join them over the next weekend. Bharat pressed his forehead against the steering wheel, doing his best to calm down.
Just because her phone was switched off, it need not mean that Dia had ditched him. He took a couple of more deep breaths. But then, why had she cancelled her ticket to Jaipur? Shit!
He hadn’t got around to taking her sister’s contact number or her parents’. Well, even if he had, what could he have asked them? He couldn’t tell them that Dia was missing. They would simply panic.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Bharat got out of the car and went to his room—the one that was all his own. He shut himself in the bathroom and ran the shower full blast, not bothering to take his clothes off. He just stood there under the cascade for the whole of twenty minutes, even as his mind ran around in circles. He slowly pulled off his sodden t-shirt, jeans and briefs, wondering how to deal with the situation. He had been so sure that Dia loved him. She had even agreed to marry him. But then, this was the same woman who’d shut him out of her life for two years. His mind swung back and forth, back and forth.
Suddenly, he switched off the shower and dried himself in a hurry. What in case Dia had called him while he’d been in the shower? He rushed to check his phone to find nothing—not even a measly message. He lifted his cell and threw it on the bed. It bounced and settled against a pillow, refusing to break its silence. Bharat took out an imported bottle of whisky that Shatru had brought for him from Europe. Taking a glass tumbler, he filled half of it, adding some ice-cubes from the mini fridge in his room. Swirling it in his hand, he stared broodingly at nothing before gulping it all in two mouthfuls.
When Shatru knocked on his door, Bharat had finished almost half the bottle. “Come in,” he called.
Shatru took one look at his twin’s bloodshot eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Dia has dumped me, again,” said Bharat in a defeated voice, burying his face in his hands.
20
Dia got into the waiting cab that already had Pia sitting in it. She hugged her sister, asking, “Any further news?”
Pia shook her head, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Not much. The doctor’s doing an angiogram to find out what must have gone wrong. Mamma’s waiting outside for the results and I’ve been calling her every half an hour. One sec…” Pia pulled out her vibrating cell from her jeans pocket to see it was Daksha. “Hello Mamma.”
“Your father has a block in one of the secondary arteries. The doctor is going to do an angioplasty.” Daksha began to cry in relief. She’d had the shock of her life when her husband refused to get up in the morning. She’d called an ambulance and taken him to the private hospital. Taking an ECG, the doctors told her that Paresh had suffered a mild heart attack. Thank God that he wouldn’t need an open heart surgery. “He says your Pappa should recover soon.”
“Of course he will, Mamma. Dia just got to Delhi and we both are already on our way to Meerut,” said Pia, relieved. She had just read all about heart attacks and the various treatments available, checking out many informative links on the internet. Angioplasty wasn’t so bad. Their father would recover soon. “Here, Mamma, talk to Dia.”
Dia took the phone from her sister and spoke to Daksha for a long time. It hadn’t been easy, sitting on the flight from Mumbai to Delhi, worrying about her parents. She disconnected the phone and gave it to Pia, relaxing for the first time in over four hours. “I didn’t tell you Pia. I was going to Jaipur today to meet Bharat’s family. He rushed there last night as Sapna delivered a baby girl yesterday evening. I…”
Pia smiled, the worry in her eyes diminishing. “Okay, that’s how the wind is blowing.” She hugged her elder sister.
Dia turned red as she hugged Pia back, saying, “Yeah, he wants to marry me and I’ve agreed.”
“Well, this is one news that should cheer up Pappa and get him back on his feet soon.”
“I really hope so. Let me call Bharat. In all the rush in cancelling the ticket and booking into a Delhi flight, I forgot to even message him.” Dia checked her jeans pocket for her phone. Not finding it there, she opened her backpack. After fifteen minutes of fruitless search, Dia realised that she had lost her phone. She stared at Pia, her face pale. “You wouldn’t be having Bharat’s cell number saved on your phone by any chance, will you?” she asked pathetically.
Pia shook her head, thinking hard. “You said Bharat is at his family home in Jaipur. His dad’s number must be stored in Pappa’s phone for sure.”
Dia nodded slowly, feeling sick. What if he presumed that she’d run away from him, yet again? Refusing to think about it, she borrowed Pia’s cell to cancel her SIM card. How the hell had she managed to lose her cell phone of all things? But the morning had been too stressful. Dia shut her eyes, her mind whirling. She had to get in touch with Bharat. But how?
It was three hours before the sisters reached the hospital bone weary, Dia more so since she had been travelling longer. After enquiring at the reception, they went to the fifth floor. Daksha was sitting in the visitors’ area. She hugged both her daughters, tearing up. “Your Pappa’s alright now. The angioplasty went off well. They had to put only one stent. He’ll be in the ICU for twenty-four hours.”
The doctor gave permission for the girls to visit their father—two minutes each, and one person at a time. Dia went in first and was shocked to see how pale her father appeared. She held his limp hand as he slept on, having been administered a sedative. His other hand was connected to an intravenous fluid by a needle and tube that looked ominous.
“I love you Pappa,” whispered Dia, kissing him on his forehead, before the nurse-in-charge shooed her out.
Once Pia finished her visit, the three women sat huddled together on one long sofa.
“Did you eat anything at all, Mamma?” When Daksha shook her head, Pia went in search of the hospital canteen, offering to get them all tea and something to eat.
Dia sat with her mother, holding her hand. “Do you have Pappa’s cell phone with you, Mamma?” she asked. Now that the worry about their father was gone, Bharat loomed in the forefront of her mind. She w
as terribly worried for him. The last time she had disappeared, she had hurt him badly.
“Here.” Daksha took the phone and gave it to her daughter. “Something wrong, Dia?”
Dia placed her head on her mother’s shoulder. “I lost my phone, Mamma. I wanted to check some numbers.” She didn’t want to say anything more about her relationship with Bharat. Not at this point. Let Pappa get home first.
Daksha nodded, running a hand on her daughter’s head as Dia ran through her father’s contacts lists. A search for Maheshwari or Mohan didn’t result in anything. Tch! She tucked the phone in her jeans’ pocket when she saw Pia juggling a tray of food and three cups of tea. She went to help her, her nerves taut with tension. Dia bit desultorily into a veg sandwich, almost choking on it as her throat refused to let it in, what with the stress she was undergoing. She managed to finish it, though, taking sips of tea in between.
Dia went back to checking her father’s phone while her sister and mother chatted softly in the background.
Running an eagle eye over the numbers stored under the letter M, she saw one that went as MM. Could that be for Mohan Maheshwari? It was a cell number, so she didn’t really know if it was a number from Jaipur. Coming to a decision, she called the number from her father’s cell.
21
Seeing Paresh’s call on his screen, Mohan picked up his phone immediately. “Hello Paresh. Kaise ho?” he asked cheerfully, happy to talk to his friend. He’d been planning to call him with the news of his granddaughter’s birth.
Dia’s heart skipped a beat when she heard Mohan uncle’s voice. Finally…finally she was closer to getting Bharat’s number. “Err…Mohan uncle, this is Dia,” she said softly.
“Dia beta, tum kaisi ho?” asked Mohan affectionately. He had liked both the girls from when they had visited with their parents.
“I’m fine, uncle. Pappa’s been a bit unwell…”
“What happened, child?”
Flaming Sun Collection 2: Marriages Made in India (Box Set with 5 novellas) Page 30