Her Sanctuary

32. Pregnancy reveal

Sabina POV

I stood in the kitchen chomping on a carrot as my mom enters from nowhere, giving me a stern eye.

"Raw carrots?" she asks, as I gulp it and nod.

"Vitamin A or I think I'll have to get spectacles soon." I say, not wanting her to point out that the last time I ate so many raw carrots was when I was pregnant with Danish.

"Where's Danish?" she says as I put the carrot in the pocket of my sweatpants for later.

"He's out with Shyam, helping him water the plants." I say slowly try to slip away, as she nods looking for something in the cabinets.

"I was saying, why didn't you call Avinash over for dinner, yesterday. The poor child might be missing home-made food and feeding on junk." She says reminding me of what she had said yesterday evening, as I shake my head.

"He was out for dinner."

"With?" she asks, as I think for a minute. Avinash told me that he talked to her about it. If I keep her in the loop, she'll be less angry when she knows. "Sabina? Dinner with? Is he back to office work?"

"Mom, his father invited him over for dinner... with his new wife and son."

"His fa... In this city?" She knows he's not dead, but she doesn't know who it is.

"Mom, it's not my place to tell you until he's comfortable."

"Fine, then tell him to eat from his new mother's house." She says as I narrow my eyes.

"Mom? Are you jealous?" I ask, as she shakes her head.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"Because Kavita aunty is a damn good cook. Vikram would eat here only when she was working..." I say, giving her a strong lead as her mouth falls open.

"He's the... Oh... Kavita once told me that Ravdeep was married before her and he left because..." she goes to say as I shake my head, not wanting to go into who said what.

But she was my mom... She had her ways. So, I ended up telling her the whole story about paternity disputes, divorce and his childhood, as she leaned on the kitchen slab for support. I did not mention the abuse he had to tolerate which still torments him, but I told her that there were even darker things that had broken him, and how he put his pieces back together.

"Poor child..." she gasps, when I was done as I nod, bringing her a chair from the dining table. She sat in the kitchen thinking for a minute.

"Call Avinash over for dinner today. I'll make butter naan and... and what is his favorite dessert?" she asks as I shrug.

"I'll make Gajar ka Halwa. Call Gina and ask her to get more khoya and milk, check if there's enough dry fruits, and then you start grating carrots." She says as I huff.

"But mom?" I say as she gives me a death glare.

"Okay, let me call him first." I say and run out to my phone.

++++++++++++++++

It was barely 7 pm when a cab dropped off Avi and he walked in.

"You're early," I say while chopping coriander for the dough of Naan.

"I wanted to help Aunty, prepare the meal." He says as I frown.

"Don't ever try to be her favorite." I say the knife pointed at him, as I hear mom exclaim.

"How dare you? And Avi, where's your luggage?" she says as I frown and turn to her.

"What Luggage?" I ask trying to stream down the happy notes playing in my head, as she looks at me with narrowed eyes.

"Oh yes, I forgot." She says and gestures him to sit.

"Tea, coffee?" she asks as he walked to touch her feet as she blesses him.

"No, no tea or coffee.How can I help you?" he asks, as I shake my head.

"You can't do much with one hand." I say as my mother just ignores that sending me away. "Help Gina in the kitchen."

She held Avi, as they walked to the living room and started chatting. I tried to eavesdrop. First it was polite and then it was serious, but I didn't hear anything clearly. I returned to help Gina in the kitchen.

It was an hour later, when dinner was laid down on the table that they walked out and I noticed Jeet was in there as well.

Jeet sat as the head of the table with mom on one side and me on the other. Avinash took a chair with mom, as always as Danish instead of coming to my side went to Avinash.

"Did you say Hi to him?" I ask as he nods.

"We met in the lawn, when I just came in." Avinash says, kissing Danish on the cheek.

"What did you guys talk about?" I say looking at dad as he looks at his wife.

"You're very selfish for hurting your parents like this." She says as I frown. "So, we will be selfish too. I want the house to be as cheerful as it is now. I can't let you go away, even if you get married." Naina says, as I look up at Avinash.

"So, we asked Avinash, if he wants to be with you and stay unmarried, he'll have to forget all about his house. He'll stay here, like our son and take care of us." She says as my mouth opens wide and I look at the man in question as he nods.

"And... And you know that I'm pregnant." I ask, as she nods.

"I realized it before you did, four days ago. When you walk by the night-blooming Jasmine these days, you immediately frown as if nauseous and you bought that little Gucci perfume worth 8000 rupees that smells like it. These brands you know... selling us our Indian 'Raat ki Rani' flowers in a bottle for so much." She says looking at Avinash.

"Mom, the topic..." I say getting mildly irritated at the situation.

"You've hated dalchinni all your life and the other day you got cinnamon flavored breakfast cereal for Danish and even take a spoon or two every morning from his bowl these days. Your sense of smell and taste is very different from the past over a week, Not to mention the carrots, just now. Then the day Avinash moved out, you started wearing loose clothing because..."

"I took a test." I say completing and she nods.

"I knew before Jeet ji came to convince me for this live-in on the roof that day. I thought if I didn't break, maybe I'll get to plan your wedding."

"Wow. I'm not a good detective." Jeet says as Avinash nods.

"Excuse me." I say feeling a bit overwhelmed and get up from the table as I walk out of the door, standing at the edge of the gazebo staring at the lawn as tears fall down. I felt like screaming and wailing and I didn't even know what was wrong.

I looked up at the stars in the night sky, to find grey clouds rushing over the navy blue sky covering them up.

"Sabina..." I hear Avinash call out as I shake my head without turning to look at him.

"Please, leave me alone..." I say politely unable to fathom how confused I was feeling right now.

"Sab..."

"Please, Avi." I say as I hear his footsteps walking away. There was a loud rumbling heard from the sky, as I see lightening from the corner of my eye. Then there was a sharp echoing thunderclap heard that made me jump, followed by a heavy downpour.

I felt something on my shoulders as I turned to look at Avinash, giving a blanket over my arms and back.

"I'm going in. Just... just don't get sick." He says, turning to go back inside as I look at the rain falling on the lawn infront of me.