Chapter 7

Thank you everyone for the get well wishes. Being ill is not exactly how I had hoped to spend my Christmas/New Years, but I can say that at last, fingers crossed, that is behind me.

So chapter 5 is finally complete, and I hope that everyone enjoys it. I look forward to the fb : good/bad or indifferent .

Chapter #5

Was this it, Shaurya wondered: the moment when finally, everything clicked, and she would return to him? Hastily he thought back on all the meetings he had with the doctor who had worked with Mehek over the last six months. All the advices she had provided on when it may happen, how it could come to pass, and most importantly how he should handle the moment should it ever arise: for the life of him, he could remember none of it. As it had been all this time, all that mattered now was her well-being, and that of their unborn child, and avoiding any undue stress on either of them. Consequently, he floundered, which in her present condition was entirely unacceptable to his wife.

"You are not at all who you have said you are, are you Shaurya?"

"Jaan..."

She shook her head vigorously, when it looked that he would not give her what she needed.

"Tell me, she insisted."

Unable to meet her eyes, Shaurya glanced around the room desperately, before realizing that he did, in fact, have an out.

"Your focus object. It's not here. I'll just slip out and get it for you," Shaurya pointed out, hoping that the errand would thus provide the opportunity him to telephone, and seek the counsel of therapist who had worked tirelessly, dedicating much of her time Mehek's recovery.

"Nahi!"

"It will help, you have been practicing...

Another shake of her head, and then Mehek spoke up. "I don't want it," she groused irritably of the small pendulum clock. "I don't need it," she said as she reached for Shaurya. "I have no need of it. I don't care what Dr. Bhasin says.  It is not the focus I have chosen. Don't leave me Shaurya, I won't be able..."

He kissed her hand softly, consoling her with this one action. He met her eyes finally, and saw them alert and imploring.

Alive.

His breath caught in his throat, as he grasped the truth of this discovery. It was only now that he realized that there was such a marked difference in them. For the last six months he had been waiting, praying for the moment when Mehek would suddenly awaken from her haze, and realize that she was everything to him. And for the entire time, there had been nothing but an insipidness to her demeanor and worst of all, the hint of shadows in her eyes that perpetually kept them apart. Not that he had been deprived of the innate sweetness that embodied the woman he loved. That part of her had never left, but something about his wife had conclusively been tempered. It was almost as if a facsimile: a faded version of Mehek, had been left behind when she had lost her memory.  But no more. Now there was fire, and life and determination in her beautiful brown eyes as she questioned him.  There would be no way of getting out of answering her now.

 

"Bolo Shaurya..."

 

 "I am not totally unfamiliar with the kitchen, but no," he said with a shake of his head as his mind spun with the notion that somehow the onset her labor had spurred the change he was seeing. "I am not a chef. In fact, I suspect I've probably been more of a hinderance in the kitchen than not." He paused when he noticed her nodding her head in agreement.

"Haan," she replied, somehow managing a small smile, despite her discomfort: one that lit up her eyes, and encouraged him even more. He couldn't help but respond likewise, as he reached and caressed her cheek, but he turned serious again and pressed on, and placed one hand on hers. "However, that is what you believed of me, so Chef Shaurya, is who I became.  Whatever has been done since has been done entirely for your benefit. And so, it will remain for as long as it's necessary. Whoever and whatever you need me to be Jaan, I am prepared to carry out: for you... and for the baby."

"For the baby, "she repeated, the expression on her face showing her uncertainty by what had been disclosed to her.

He moved, making his position even clearer by placing a proprietary hand on the tautness of her abdomen.  "Haan: for the baby...for my baby," he reiterated.

She looked about to say something, but instead, stopped suddenly, and her next exhaled breath came out as a hard groan. Instantly her face crumpled, and she stared fixedly where his hand rest. The room soon filled again with her steady, concentrated breaths, but for a minute Shaurya wondered if, contrary to every fiber of his being that was prompting him to tell her the truth, he had just made the worst mistake he could possibly have. Or, as he had dwelled on many times before, had wrong decision in fact, been taken months ago?

********

 

"My word is final; either agree or leave..."

"Shaurya!"

 Shaurya stopped, shocked at himself, having blurted out the unthinkable to his elders. He hung his head low, ashamed. Letting his eyes seek the means of solace, he focused, and then closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. He slowly opened them and then, contritely, he spoke. "Maa, Chachi forgive me, but you have not lived what I have these last few days and nights... I cannot and will not take the risk. Had you seen her on the riverbank contemplating..."

"And that is because of her uncertainty...if she knew who she was; who you are to her..."

"Exactly Beta," his mother concurred.

He would have to practice seeking inner-peace a little more, Shaurya thought, as he shook his head to disagree. "Nahi!"

"Excuse me, If I may interject?"

The objecting pair turned towards the stranger in their midst. The underlying authority in the diminutive woman's request demanded their attention. She in turn, smiled at the two older women, "Normally, I would proceed exactly as you have suggested Aunty, however due the situation as I have been seen, not the least being Mehek's delicate condition, I cannot in good faith recommend it," she insisted. "At least until I have had a few more sessions with her, and she is safely into her second trimester, I would not advise any disclosure. Any sort of shock this early in her pregnancy will not be good for her."

Kanta narrowed her eyes and stared at the professional her son-in-law had procured to treat Mehek. She understood why he had, and even his hesitancy, but she knew her child better than he, and certainly more than this psychologist. And in her mind, this was not the way to go. Mehek had the right to know her truth, but beside her, she could sense Karuna wavering, in direct response to her son's distress, and understood that they were on thin ice with the overwhelmed man. She closed her eyes and resolved to take a step back...for now. "Thik  hai," she conceded. "How will this go then? How, if Mehek is not to know of our relation will we be able to meet with her?"

 

By then, Shaurya had calmed down some more. They couldn't be faulted, he supposed. Their joy on learning that Mehek had returned had to have been lessened by the lack of forthcoming information on their daughter afterwards. Shaurya's insistence on getting as many facts as possible before disseminating everything they knew to their anxious family, hadn't been enough to stop them from coming en-masse, and now, when he should have been focused completely on this meeting with Dr. Bhasin who had met with Mehek, Shaurya had been inundated by the unanticipated arrival the lot of them. Demanding to see Mehek at once, Shaurya had put them off by immediately dispatching the head of guest services to attend to them and settle his parents and his in-laws into one of the private villas that could accommodate the group. However, the two matriarchs he could not rid himself of so easily.

 

 "Ma, Kanta Chachi, please," he appealed, "Allow me to meet with Dr. Bhasin. I promise you that I will be by the villa this evening, with Mehek," he added, before they can object further. "She will be with you daily, as your personal chef for the duration of your stay here," he determined, already resolving how the issue would be handled. "Provided, that all of you follow Dr. Bhasin's directives. For now, she is solely Meera: your private chef, nothing more."

He watched as his mother placed a comforting hand on Chachi's arm. Kanta was still not entirely appeased.

"Is there room in the villa for her...for both of you to stay, Beta?"

"Ma, that wouldn't be for the best. Nights, especially, are difficult for Mehek. I have just worked out a solution where she will be comfortable, I won't change it."

Her lips pursed, Karuna nodded, "Thik hai," she responded standing up when Hina entered the cabin. "Kanta Ji, let us go and freshen up before Shaurie brings our Mehek to us."

 

"I know that was difficult, but let me offer my congratulations, Mr. Khanna," Dr. Bhasin said. "You did just exactly as you should have to overcome the stress.  As you utilize the technique more often; using the pendulum I've provided, you will find it easier to do.  Remember, your ability to cope is paramount..."

"Is there truly no way," Shaurya blurted out, ignoring the psychologist's commendation when they were finally alone; unveiling, that he too believed that the straightforward approach would serve them, and more importantly Mehek, better. "She's my wife. She knows me, I know that she does, even if she cannot properly recall."

"I know this is difficult, and you are in no way obligated to follow my advices, but the answers you seek from me, I cannot ascertain from a single meeting and reading a report alone, Mr. Khanna. Only after further meetings with Mehek can I even determine a course of action... how long it will take, or even if recovery is possible." She pinned the man across the table from her with a piercing glare. "The choice is entirely up to you Shaurya. Perhaps nothing would happen should you reveal the truth, but are you willing to take that chance? Does the need for the truth outweigh the potential danger?"

***********

 

A desperate noise escaped Mehek's lips: proof positive that the partial confession he had made had resulted in some unwanted liability, brought Shaurya back to attention. He cursed himself for his momentarily lapse into the past, when he saw that Mehek was suddenly struggling, and on the verge of panic. "Jaan, look at me. Calm down and control your breathing," he ordered. "For the baby's sake."

She met his eyes for the briefest second before she dropped her head again. "I can't," she ground out. "The baby...Shaurya... it feels like he's coming...now." 

"What," he bellowed.

"I have to push," she cried out, clearly overwhelmed by the abrupt change of her labor.

 

Whether it was their raised voices, or just good timing that had the doctor returning to the room, Shaurya counted his blessing that before he could rush for help, Dr. Luthra calmly appeared accompanied by her nurse.

"Doctor you must do something, she says the baby is coming. Surely this is too soon!  Do something!"

Succinctly, reading the situation in front of her. "Aacha, it appears things are progressing a mite faster than first anticipated." Shooting a steely look at the frantic father-to-be. "If you intend to be of any use, pull yourself together Mr. Khanna."

"Shaurya..." Mehek pleaded.

Turning back to her, all Shaurya's qualms fell away. It was time, and understandably she was frightened. Somehow before they realized it, they had entered the home stretch. This was going to happen whether they were ready or not, and just as she had her work; so, did he have his responsibility to her and their child. He smiled softly but reassuringly at his wife. "Thik hai, Jaan are you ready for this?" She steadied, and shook her head no, even as she automatically paced herself by matching the deep breathing of the man at her side. "Haan, we can do this Shaurya," she answered before they both listened to instruction the physician who would help bring the child they were both anxious for, to make his entrance into their lives.

*******

A daughter: a beautiful healthy daughter... a perfect princess who at first glance, he believed to be, a mini-replica of the beautiful woman who brought her into the world, but he may be a little biased in thinking that exquisiteness of the precious infant was directly bequeathed from his wife.  Now, the indignant crying of the squalling newborn: this he would definitively say was his sole contribution to the jewel they had been gifted...she had his temper already. While they waited to be given the all-clear from the pediatrician who had come to examine their child, Shaurya refocused on his wife. He swept away Mehek's tears, uncaring when the exhausted woman reached for him and gently brushed his own damp cheek. "Don't worry, Jaan. She is fine, you can tell by that cry that she is strong.  She will soon be right back in your arms where she belongs."

"Haan, Shaurya I know."

One of the nurses approached them then, advising that she would settle Mehek, so that when the doctor was done that she could be ready for the baby's first feeding.

"There are a few changes for you to select from, but if there is something specific you need, I can go and collect it from your room."

"My overnight bag, I have it packed. It should have everything I need for now," Mehek stated, no longer shocked by the lengths he was going through. Not now, now that she understood. They would have to speak about this soon.

 

"I was right," Shaurya said when he returned to find Mehek murmuring to the swaddled baby she cradled in her arms. "Her mother's own...two angels." He placed the small piece of luggage he held on the floor, and pulled out his mobile. "May I," he asked knowing that he had a captive audience waiting with baited breath for more images of the new addition to their family. She smiled and nodded, giving him access to them both.

"You took a while Shaurya."

"Haan, I thought it may be best, in case you were going to feed her...that you may have wished for the privacy. Did you manage, Jaan?"

"Ji Shaurya, but staying away was hardly necessary. You were here for her birth after all."  

They fell into silence, neither able to address the matter that had precipitated the baby's birth.

"Would you like to hold her, Shaurya?"

"Should I," he asked nervously. "She looks quite content where she is."

"Sister, can you help us?"

Shaurya turned as the nurse, he hadn't been aware was present approached, and told him to take a seat in the comfortable nursing chair that was now beside the bed. When he was settled, she turned and carefully took the infant from her mother.

"Are you ready, Shaurya Sir?"

He took a deep breath and waited as the nurse placed the baby in his hands. He wasn't a natural, and the sister had to guide him so that he could securely hold the infant, but soon she was able to back away from the awe-struck man, pausing only to show the couple the call-button that would summon her, before she quietly departed.

"Thank you Shaurya...for everything. I couldn't have done this without you."

"Where else could I have been, Jaan?"

Mehek tucked her head down. Now, that the euphoria of giving birth and sharing those first precious moments bonding with her child had passed, the new mother was fading rapidly. Confident in the safe keeping of her daughter, her mind was quickly signaling her to partake of the rest that her overburdened body needed. However, she couldn't rest before saying her piece. "I can't tell you how much it means to me that you care enough to want to consider her your own, Shaurya."

Shaurya could only stare at her, when she made that announcement. He had opened his mouth to correct her misunderstanding, when she spoke again. "Your daughter needs a name, Shaurya. Have you given any thought as to what she should be called?"

 

"Meera," he answered without hesitation. "I think there could be no better name for her."

 

He believed that the beatific smile sent his way was to be his only reward, as Mehek finally appeared to give in to the sleep that beckoned her. But just before she was firmly in the grasp of slumber, she gave an answer that set his heart to pounding rapidly in his chest.

"Haan... I like it. My mother would have been thrilled with your choice, Shaurya."

 

"Mehek?" he whispered.

 Chapter6

[NOCOPY]