My cheek rested on his warm chest. I placed a kiss where his heart was and felt him gingerly draw me closer in his embrace. I sighed. My heart swelled painfully in my chest.
I recalled the day, the agony on his face, the way he had screamed my name when he thought I was dying. I shuddered.
"You okay baby?" he asked with concern.
I nodded against his chest, too scared to use my voice.
What had I thought? That he didn't love me? I felt stupid now. There was no one in this world who'd ever love me like him, and there never would ever be. My eyes welled.
I'd broken the peace and shattered the delicate balance that ran through our dynamics. Now everything was in shambles. I couldn't even look him in the eye, I felt so guilty. Rudra and ma did not even glance at each other in my presence. Trying to side step the elephant in the room, all of us treaded on eggshells.
What I had done, made my heart sink, specially what I had done to ma. I had forced him into her life only to abruptly take him back again for myself. I felt ashamed. I couldn't talk about it to either of them. I missed my babies. I couldn't ask Rudra to take me home to them. I knew why he had decided to keep me at the suite. It wasn't just because the hospital was closer, the guilt made the reason even more difficult to bear. I hadn't seen ma. I knew she was taking care of the babies and she was busy. The little one, Joel, was probably keeping her on her toes. Born premature he had barely made it. I had almost lost him. If they hadn't taken him out of me on time, I closed my eyes shaking the image out of my head.
Dr. Sid had been kind enough to send a nurse to help ma take care of the children during the day. But I knew the task of breast feeding them fell entirely to her. I felt guilty. She was doing this for me, for a daughter who had given her nothing but misery.
I needed to fix this, no matter how. It had been three months since the incident. I missed our life, before I had stupidly destroyed it. I would give anything to have us all live under the same roof again. My chin trembled.
"Rudra," I started slowly. "I'm missing the babies. Can I... see them?" I stuttered.
He cleared his throat and gently squeezed me in his embrace. "When you've recovered thoroughly."
I'd woken him from his sleep so I decided to pursue it in the morning instead.
I dreamt horrible dreams all night. No matter how much I tried, ma would not forgive me. What the doctors had told us at the hospital kept repeating over and over in my head. "You cannot have any more children. Your heart will not bear another pregnancy." I felt grateful that I had been able to have Joel but felt sad that Rudra and I would never make another baby again. I knew how much we both would miss that.
The thought occurred unbidden. Ma could still conceive, but I'd ruined that last chance too. Every morning I heard him jack himself off in the shower. I knew he was having a difficult time. To think he had another wife back home and it was because of me that he wasn't going to her made me feel terrible.
"Let me?" I offered one morning when I heard him in bed. If nothing else I could at least give him this much respite.
"Did I wake you?" He stuttered apologetically and scrambled out of bed in embarrassment. He didn't even meet my gaze.
Why was he punishing himself for what I had done? Why had he stopped being with ma? The thought shattered the little peace I had left remaining. I had never wanted this. I had only wanted his love but not at the cost of his misery or ma's misery. I cried my sorrow into the pillow.
"Riya, are you all right?" He strode to my side and kneeled beside the bed. He looked into my face. "Riya?" I heard fear in his voice, and I began to cry again.
"Riya," he made a dash for his phone then sat next to me again. "What's wrong? Please." He was in agony.
"I want to see the babies." I cried. I couldn't say what I had wanted to. It just felt too shameful to say that I wanted things to go back to the way they were before I had mucked up everything for all three of us.
"Riya," He exasperated pressing his head into the pillow next to me. "I told you baby, I'll take you home, as soon as you've recovered completely."
"But I have recovered. I want to see the babies. I miss them."
I wanted him to be home. I knew he only needed to be in close proximity to ma, then nature would take its course and everything would go back to normal again.
"I'll take you when the doctors say so. You know how far it is. We barely made it...," his voice trailed off. "I can't risk it again." He shook his head hiding his tears from me.
Then a brainwave hit me. "You're going home and installing all the cameras in the house so I can at least see them when I want to. Tell me that you will?"
"I will. Calm down now."
The next morning when we woke he had a massive erection. I pretended to be asleep while he grunted under his breath to his own ministrations. An hour later he was jacking himself off again under the shower. I decided I would just have to do something drastic to get him back together with ma.
Over the weekend, he got ready to drive home with a guy to install the cameras so I could watch and talk to the babies whenever I wanted to.
"Will you be all right Riya? I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Don't worry about me," I tried to assure him.
"Just take care of yourself while I'm gone. I'll be back home before dark. I've asked Sid to send a nurse to look after you while I'm away." He placed a kiss on my forehead.
"Go now," I murmured. "I'm all right." I placed a kiss on his cheek. "Go. I want to see the babies."
He nodded then and tore himself away from me.
It was almost afternoon by the time he asked me to remotely access the camera and I was able to see our babies for the first time in three months. My throat felt choked from trying hard not to sob out loud. Rivulets of tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Then ma got baby Joel in her arms, and a long howl issued from my lungs. I couldn't bear to be away from him anymore. A thunder storm had broken outside quite similar to the one inside me. Rudra tried as hard as he could to console me.
"I'm sorry baby, I should've done this sooner." He choked on tears too. "Please forgive me."
That made me cry even more. I was the one in need of forgiveness. I had done this to all of us.
"Don't cry baby, please. You're breaking my heart, Riya. I'm coming back. We'll both watch them together."
"No, it's raining so hard. You're going to stay there until it subsides," I ordered wiping my tears at once. "Stay there."
"Don't worry about..." he began but I cut him short.
"It's a thunderstorm and you're not coming home Rudra. Do you hear me?" I snapped at him in disbelief. This was all I needed now, him risking his life for me.
I talked to ma, both of us awkward around each other. She had lost a lot of weight, and my heart sank even more. Taking care of the babies was telling on her. But she did look younger. The weight loss had taken years off of her age. I could make out the slight outline of the nipple rings that Rudra had gifted to her on their wedding night. My heart contracted painfully in my chest. She still wore them.
From the corner of my eye I could see Rudra pace the floor restlessly. He'd need a bit more persuading to spend the night, I thought. Once we were done I thought it better to give both him and ma some time alone. My presence was probably putting an additional strain on them. Before turning the screen off at my end, I spoke to Rudra again.
"Please don't upset me more by trying to return in this weather. Do you hear me?"
"Yes," he answered reluctantly looking away.