Page 45 of No Other Love
***
Forty-five minutes later, I watched as Anshul dunked the cutest baby in a small warm tub of water for a second and his wails began. Then, his little hands and legs started kicking. I was almost finished stitching Neelima up as gently as possibly after scooping all the mess out, including the placenta.
Looking at her exhausted, golden face I felt a reflecting warm glow in my chest. Of pride. Of almost brotherly love.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered brokenly, tears running down her hair. ‘Thank you, Vikrant.’
I nodded around the lump in my throat.
‘Why don’t you clean up and take off, Vikrant?’ Anshul asked me quietly. ‘It’s been a long night for you. And you need to be back tomorrow to check on the baby and mommy.’
“I don’t want to leave you alone with all the clean up.” My body was aching like a fucking bitch, because I crouched from the waist up for the last forty-five minutes. And I needed a minute to catch my breath.
She waved her hand at the mess the miracle of childbirth left. ‘I’m going to wake up Sulekha Kaki and ask her to come in with a hot pot of adrak chai for me. And we’ll get it done before you come back.’
***
I nodded. Made a mental note to give the women a personal bonus for being absolute professionals.
Then I washed up and discarded the gloves and gown and mask in the medical disposal bin. It was almost full, which meant giving the company that dealt with the waste disposal a call and begging them to come pick it up. Just another line item on my to-do list.
Anika would be excellent at organizing all this shit…
I mulled over the thought all the drive home. Sneaked inside with the key, hoping to wake no one up. Luckily, everyone in my family was a heavy sleeper and Anika, the light sleeper, because of being constantly on call, was upstairs. I jogged up the stairs without changing into my house shoes.
The door creaked a little when I opened it, but it did not wake her up. She had slept like the dead this week. Same as me, when I was wrapped up around her.
And I was absolutely looking forward to doing it again tonight. Well, todawn.I thought with a rare burst of humor.
I untucked my shirt from the waistband and was about to unbutton my pants when I heard a buzzing sound. I frowned. My phone was turned off, because I really did need at least ninety minutes of sleep after the night I had.
It had to be Anika’s phone.
I spied it on the nightstand where it was vibrating madly. I was going to turn it off when I saw the caller ID – Dad.
***
Vivek Chakraborty held me in contempt. The few times I’d met him this was the only emotion I felt from him. Contempt. He did not hate me. I was not even worthy of his hate. He just looked down on me – a lowly, small-town doctor with no prospects and no reputation to protect or grow.
I was the last man he’d choose for his daughter and we both knew it.
There was no earthly reason for me to answer this call. I could let it go unanswered.
But Anika was in my life again. In my bed. And I have never wanted anyone else as my family. Which meant, I had to do this. I had to reach out and build this bridge.
Like a man possessed, I pressed answer on the call and said, “Hello, Vivek Sir. It’s Vikrant here. Your daughter is sleeping but I can take a message if it is something urgent.”
“What the fuck?” Vivek exploded. “Is that you, Vikrant?”
I clenched my fist around my stethoscope. The rubber digging into my palms. “Yes, it’s me, Vikrant. Your daughter’s husband.”
“Mydaughter is not your wife, Vikrant,” Vivek began impatiently.
My heart sank under the casual dismissal and contempt dripping from my father-in-law’s words. Made all the worse because they were all true. Every single one of them.
And the weed of hope I’d nursed through this long night dissipated like dandelion fluff in a rough wind as I continued listening to the man talk his daughter up and make me feel two inches tall.
Twenty-Five