A year and a half later
" Oh how excited I am di! " , Diana gasped. The pink hue on her cheeks showed. " Does he kick? "
" She... " , Anushka blushed. " I bet it's a she... "
" Seriously? And how do you bet? " , Diana chuckled.
" I've heard her sing in nights" , Anushka blushed hard and immediately placed a finger on the camera.
" owww...my...gawwwd! Di!!! " , Diana laughed harder than ever and Anushka now covered her face with her hands.
" Alright now. Stop laughing at me. Is Rohit home? " , Anushka enquired.
" I don't believe this! How could you forget ? He's receiving the Youngest Entrepreneur award today! In fact I'll get ready in no time. I'll WhatsApp you how I look. " , Diana giggled.
" Goshh!! Today's eleventh, right? How could I forget? I'll ring him up now. Will that disturb? "
" Not at all! Oh oh... look who's here!
I better get dressed, you talk to her. " , Diana got up, and her seat was taken by a beautiful woman, with an enlightening smile. Christina Johnson Abraham.
" Hi Anushka! How are you ? How's Joy? And I want to see your baby bump right now! "
Anushka smiled wide. She hadn't met Christina till date, but technology met the gap everyday. It had become a routine to sit before the laptop, and communicate with these beautiful women, those having the electrifying ability to invisibly transfer the lights in their hearts to the one sitting in front.
" Just a second. "
Anushka stood up and showed her seven months old bump, turning side to side.
" Happy? " , she sat down.
" oh my god! So cute! " , Christina cupped her face.
" This cute little thing should see your face at birth. I won't listen to any excuse! "
" Anushka! You extremely well know how I wish to go to Rungpo. Delhi chokes me up at times. But being a doctor's wife and a two years old kid's mother with my own job to handle, things aren't at all easy! " , Christina twisted her lips.
" I said I won't listen to just anything! " , Anushka made a sad puppy face. " I hate this glass barrier that prevents me from hugging you. "
" Me too!! " , Diana shouted invisibly.
Both Anushka and Christina laughed.
" Are you ready? " ,Anushka shouted.
" Almost there! " , came the answer.
" I promise. I'll be there. " , Christina smiled at Anushka.
" You have always been beside Christina! Joy would be so happy to have you here! "
" I know right. " , Christina smiled back.
The conversation lasted a few more minutes. Anushka logged out after that. And slowly walked upto the window.
The Montgomery Place. The little cottage she had accidentally dropped in almost twenty months back, was her very home now. Day after day, she had slowly decorated the little dwelling according to her wish, with little things that made her happy, and the happiest when she could see Joy's smile seeing them.
" You turned this house a home Anushka! I love you! " , and in no time Joy would get her waist from the back and peck on her neck. And she would shiver, and blush, and set herself free, " naughty! "
And Joy would laugh and get hold of her again.
Anushka slided her fingers along the window pane.
Everything fell in place from a mess. Like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces always together, yet unfixed, unmade, that ultimately produced a beautiful picture when made up by the almighty.
A year and a half back, on a very usual Sunday, Anushka was carefully placed in the middle of a tornado as if, swinging, flying, falling, losing balance, drowning, reviving.
Slowly, the tornado subsided, and everything turned peaceful again, more than they actually had been.
Christina was residing in Delhi then, she had got a small job for herself at a hospital, and there she met Dr.Ron Abraham, one of the best neuropsychiatrists of Delhi. It was extremely unusual of them falling in love, but they did and got married. She had by then known, Joy was a phase and had passed off.
Exactly. Two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that stayed side by side for a long time, but didn't fit actually.
Christina informed the Olivers who had connected to her again, clearing every misunderstanding, that she was extremely happy with her life and more than that, her husband was the best person to help Diana, who at that time was extremely vulnerable. The Olivers, immediately transferred Diana to Delhi along with her mother Margaret.
Diana was in her initial stages of the ailment, and Ron proved really to be the best for her, dragging her out of the black hole she had just stepped in, back to the beautiful world in just a few therapeutic sittings and some medicines. Within six months itself, Diana recovered a lot, like totally.
Ron had himself arranged for a flat next to theirs in Vasant Vihaar, and an internship for her at the newly set up cellphone company of his very young friend Rohit Sehgal.
And the rest... was cuter than anything.
Diana's twenty years old heart that had gotten over every unnecessary obsession by then, found butterflies in her stomach, and the same beautiful butterflies in the arms of Rohit.
They had been living in since then, while Margaret returned home.
Everything so perfect.
And here?
Joy and Anushka got married in the church soon after things started returning to normal. Anushka turned Mrs Anushka Montgomery with a blush.
The ultimate piece got fixed together.
Anushka cuddled her belly.
You will complete the little gaps that still remain.
****
" Finish the cake. " , Joseph ordered.
" ohh... no dad. Please! " ,Anushka squeezed her brows and then complained to the lady standing beside, " maa!! "
Margaret smiled. " She has eaten enough. Don't force Joe!! I know you made it specially for her but you cannot expect her to eat the whole of it at her seven months. " , she took the plate and went inside.
" Seriously? You made that for me?" , Anushka's eyes widened. Joseph slowly nodded with satisfaction.
Anushka got up as fast as she could, and hugged her dad.
Joseph hugged back.
Completeness. Another piece of the puzzle, fit in the right place.
It was Wednesday and Joy had gone to the town market for baby shopping. He was a trillion times more excited about the little one.
Hence Anushka was staying at her father's place for the day.
" Ohh shit!! I forgot to ask Diana if she's turning up this weekend. " , Anushka bit her nails as she slowly settled down on the sofa with Margaret's help.
" She is. " , Margaret glowed.
" Thank God! Skype is so distant! I've so much to tell her sitting beside. "
Joseph laughed.
" It's you who brought technology to the Montgomery's. Joy and phone or laptop? Distant dream. I have never seen such a tech repellent before. "
Anushka smiled on her own.
Things eventually be what they were meant to be.
" Maa! " , Anushka suddenly caught hold of Margaret. She settled down beside her. Anushka slowly leaned her head on her shoulder. Joseph watched the process.
" Thank you for accepting me as your daughter. And giving me what I had never got from anyone on earth. I feel so complete! " , Anushka knew her eyes were watering.
Margaret slowly wound her hands around her head and cuddled her hair. Joseph wiped off an impending tear.
" Accept you? Are you crazy darling? Ever since I knew you exist, I had always wished to have you in my life, you have always been my daughter.
Joseph Oliver is the best person I could have. And everything that's his... is more, mine. Have you ever looked at yourself baby? Anyone who has you in their lives are the luckiest. Don't you see Diana? The way she'd come to love you in a year? Don't you feel that girl??? "
" I do feel maa. Vivaciously. Gracefully.
Diana had a crisis. Otherwise someone having parents like you, can be nothing less than the best. " , Anushka whispered.
Joseph came forward, and sat beside her, cuddling her head too. " Diana not only had a crisis, she been born late to us, was pampered more than needed. We became blind, unjustified. I am so ashamed as to how I indirectly pestered Joy to... " , Joseph cupped his face.
" It's okay dad. It's fine... " , Anushka said.
And then sat sandwiched between the two enormous pieces of happiness of her life... smiling softly shifting glances from one to another.
Perfectly fit.
****
Joy spread the bag full of baby items he had shopped on the bed.
Anushka sat before them, giggling.
" I don't believe this! " , she exclaimed.
" What? " , Joy frowned. " Don't you consider me capable enough to know what my baby needs? "
" The man who isn't capable enough to decide what he himself needs, shops a world for his baby. " , Anushka smiled with a little tongue out.
" Anu... " , Joy almost jumped onto her.
" baby... careful... " , Anushka knew extremely well how careful her husband would be but yet she shouted, laughing hard at the same time. " Joy... "
Joy fell on her as she fell on the bed, keeping a careful distance from her baby bump. He at first kissed the bump softly, and uttered, " teach your mum lessons when you are out, at present dad's doing the job!"
Anushka giggled and blushed and closed her eyes.
Joy next hovered over her face and looked straight into her eyes which she slowly opened. And closed again, blushing.
Yes... she still blushed whenever he closed up, she still stopped breathing.
Joy gently kissed onto her eyelids, and then her forehead.
Her lips curved to a smile while he pecked her cheeks and then, shifted to her lips, ornamenting them with a deep passionate kiss. She still shivered and grabbed the bedsheet, and Joy enjoyed this little things about her.. the way she gave in.
She hadn't opened her eyes yet...
Joy slowly like an artist, sifted his lips down her neck, taking in every bit of her soft skin. She let go off the bedsheet and grabbed his hair instead, pleasure rippling down her skin.
And the very next moment, she shouted, " Ouuch. "
Joy immediately sat up, he knew his wife was in a sensitive state and he couldn't just do everything he wished to with her right now.
" What? " , he anxiously asked.
" Your beard tickled my neck. " , Anushka said like a baby.
And then they both broke into a laughter. An uncontrolled tinge of happiness that radiated through them, as if lit up Rungpo's night sky as well.
" You are hiding something. "
Anushka surprisingly stared at him.
" hell no!! What and why will I hide anything? "
" I know you are. " , Joy danced his brows.
Anushka stared silently and questioningly.
" You are writing something. About you. About me. About us. " , Joy said, meticulously.
A smile crossed Anushka's face followed by a frown.
" You checked my diary again! "
" No! Baby promise! I just guessed. I saw you scribbling and then looking at me... smiling on your own. "
Anushka smiled wider and slowly leaned on Joy's lap.
" I am. I am writing my life story. The story of a messed up life that was set right altogether by a prince charming. The prince not only gifted her with himself, but a baby ... and a long lost family.
Do you know what I'll name it? "
Joy silently nodded in question.
" The Jigsaw Puzzle.
Our life is one... scattered pieces which ultimately fall in place to make a beautiful picture altogether. "
Anushka smiled back. The smile that was truest in its form.
THE END
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