Out Of Wreckage?

Chapter Twenty Two

When happiness knocks the door, sadness just disappears.

This morning was such a delight when my uncle and cousin visited us.

Chacha couldn't control his tears when he saw me. His joy had no bound when he held my baby.

"Rabia, she's so cute and beautiful." Rumana whispered once she held Bushra in her arms.

Bushra, yes. I named my girl.
Aslam had left the decision completely on me to name our child. It's weird and surprisingly shocking. His behaviour has changed entirely.
He is being the man I always wanted him to be.

He cradled our daughter last night so that I could sleep peacefully.
I was reluctant at first. I can't trust him with her so I pretended to sleep only to see him actually tend to her needs when required.

He was in my room, smiling while holding our daughter.
A smile that I had never seen on his face.

It was hard, not to believe him. Did he hit his head somewhere or did he really change for my girl? Our daughter.

"Rabia, are you alright?" Rumana asked me, breaking my chain of thoughts.

"Yeah. Just exhausted." I replied.

We were seated in my room while Aslam and Chacha had gone for prayers.

I was just glad to have them here.

"How was your journey?" I asked her.

"Good but equally tiring."

I smiled, "I can't explain how much I missed you and everyone."

She closed her eyes, "Oh Rabia, we missed you too and I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" I asked her.

"I couldn't be of any help to you. We couldn't save Chacha. We tried. We truly did but nothing worked. He was in extreme pain. We even went to the best doctor in the city but it was too late." She said.

Tears brimmed my eyes. "You did the best you could. All of you did but Allah had some other plans. Maybe that's how fate works. Maybe he's in peace now." I replied and wiped a lone tear.

"Oh Rabia. He loved you so much. He talked about you a lot. His last thoughts were of you only." She squeezed my hand.

I nodded.

"This guilt of not being with him burns me every day." I spoke the truth.

"Rabia, we all know that you were not well. Aslam told us about your health and I'm sure if you weren't carrying her," She pointed to Bushra, "You would've been there."

I pursed my lips.

I would've been there if only I was awake but to think of it, was Aslam entirely wrong?
He was when he spoke ill about my father but I wasn't in my right state of mind. I was not even prioritising my baby. I didn't even remember being pregnant when I heard about Abba.
What if I hadn't fainted?
I would've travelled to Hyderabad even without thinking about the baby. I could've lost her too.
The thought itself is nauseating.
I won't be able to live without her. She's all I have now.

My little angel.

"Rabia, you zoned out again." Rumana snapped her fingers.

"I'm sorry. I was just wondering about something." I smiled.

She blinked her eyes then started playing with Bushra.

"Chachi told me that she would come. Why didn't she?" I asked her after some time.

Rumana sighed, "Arsheen Bhabhi! Seriously Rabia, that woman gets on my nerves. She has become a headache of mine and everybody's since she delivered Nomaan and Farhaan. Ammi couldn't come here because Bhabhi threw a fit about taking care of the babies on her own. So Abba took the call to travel with me instead of Ammi and here we are."