The love of my life

26. The brave and the beautiful

Daman looked at the picture of her late husband, running her hand over his face.

She laid back on the bed, thinking about Sangram pampering her through the end of her pregnancy.

"I really don't understand, Can't you extend your leave?" She had asked as he had shook his head.

"I'll give you a headstart babe, my mom will be here before I leave for Ladakh." He said as she nodded.

"Okayy..." She sighed rubbing the lower part of her big belly as Sangram sat opposite her, placing her swollen feet on his thighs to massage them.

"You sure, You're okay?" He asked with a hint of guilt.

"I knew what I was getting into, when I decided to keep my job and marry an army officer. Of course, I'm okay. Don't worry. I just hope the twins are healthy and safe." Daman said as Sangram nodded.

"And I'll video call as often as possible. My kids should remember my voice." He said as Daman laughed.

"Phone voice and real voice are different." She said.

"It's not just about the voice, my dear Mrs. It's the love of a father put into words of affection and adoration." Sangram said in a slow husky voice getting fully dramatic as she laughed.

"Mooommm..." Tejas' voice jolts her out of her memories as she keeps Sangram's picture on her bedside table and looked at the space next to her, before wiping her tears.

"Yes, baby." She says as Tejas runs inside and climbs on her bed beside her.

"Mom, tell me another story about dad." He says keeping his head on her belly.

"Why do you suddenly remember him?" Daman says shocked at the time correlation.

"There was a guy in dad's uniform on TV." He says recognizing the dress from the pictures in the hall.

"Ummm... Okay, let's see... What have I not told you? Oh... you know your dad had Icthyophobia?" Daman said as he looks up at her.

"What's ithithopia?" He asks as she smiled.

"He was scared of fish... All and every... From a big shark to a small Gold fish. That's why we never went on any outing near water."

"But why?" Tej asks tilting his head to the right.

"Because when he was a little baby... A little bigger than you, he was at a relative's house and was fascinated by the way fish moved, so he decided to put his hand in their aquarium and the fish was curious too. so it put it's mouth around his finger." His mother said making a fish pout around Tejas' finger.

"Then?" He says with his eyes wide.

"Then your father took his hand out, with the fish still hanging on his finger for it's life as he ran around the house wiggling his hand, crying and screaming, with everyone running after him to stop him from running."

"Then?"

"Then he ran to the washroom and washed his hand in the basin as the fish left his finger, happy to get water." she answered.

"Did the fish die?" he asked as she shook her head.

"Your uncle Rashpreet, Papa's cousin put it back in a jar of water and then back in the aquarium." Daman says as he sat there unsettled.

"And he was scared forever, even though no one was hurt?" He says as she nodded remembering her husband's face when she asked him to go to the Sea world Aquarium for a date after their wedding.

"He dreamt that the fish ate his finger until he was 12-13 years old." she said as he laughs.

"No, my dad was brave." He says and she nodded proudly.

"Yes, he was... Tejas. Child... Being scared is not being a coward. He was brave and he protected me from bad people, he protected the country from threats and he did it with a smile on his face." She said, remembering the day of his car accident when a drunk driver derailed him, and he protected the pedestrian walking with a child, as his own car slammed into the electric pole that fell on top of him and short circuited.

"I want to be like Dad." He says and she smiled.

"That's what he would want too." She says as her phone rang. She looked at the screen and it was Ekansh.

She wiped any stray tears and cleared her throat before speaking.

"Yes." she said putting it to her ear, sounding distant and uninterested.

"Did you reach safely?" He asks as she frowned.

"I reached an hour ago, but thank you." she said as he sounded awkward.

"You had to buy something on the way back.. Tumbler I think and..." He said with hesitation.

"Ekansh, what's wrong?" She said as he cleared his throat.

"I'm outside your apartment." He said as her eyes opened wide.

"What? What do you mean outside my..." she said and blinked fast, as if that would change the reality.

"I got you Chinese for..." He was about to say as she interjected.

"Chinese? Are we in college? I have plans to make bottle guard and chapatis with curd and salad for dinner because I have a son who I need to feed healthy food." she says freaking out, and loosing her cool as her heart beat fastened.

This is her house. Her apartment where she lived with Sangram.
He can't come in and contaminate it with his touch. This is sacred to her and she was not letting him take away what was like the holy shrine of her late husband.

Every corner in this house held a memory for her, from diwali dusting to re-furnishing or baby-proofing the house... So many memories of Sangram and their happy little life that they had built for themselves.

Didn't he read the board outside?
It had her name written with Sangram's, and didn't it mean anything to him? She couldn't decide what to do, as Tejas got out of bed.

"Mom, we have a guest?" He said as she closed her eyes for a minute.

"I... Yeah..." she said and looked at the phone screen. It had gone dead as it looked like he disconnected.

"Let's go get him. Guest is God, right? Be on your best manners, even if mommy was rude because he wanted junk food for dinner. And remember what I say? Dinner should mostly be light, healthy and home made because our tum-tum can't digest heavy things at night." She said wearing her slippers and walking to the door.

She took a deep breath and opened the door to look around. There was a small box kept on the floor.

She picked it up, and noticed it had dimsums from her favorite place across the city. Her phone vibrated as she looked at the text.

<The watchman loved to take the noodles off my hands. Don't worry, I didn't waste the food. Have a good night.>