“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“You better not hide anything.”
“I am burned twice.”
She smirked, nuzzling her son’s temple — “Baba has learnt his lesson well.”
“Very well,” he snorted, returning to his trimming.
————————————————————
It was astonishing how a place could turn your mood, your lifestyle, your entire being. Jammu for her had been that place. She had first visited this city a few days after their wedding. And even with the attempted hit on Atharva followed by scrambling events for some of his last rallies here, she had always considered Jammu their first honeymoon. The first of many that he had promised her.
Then she had come back here again when he had become the Chief Minister, for his first winter session. Grappling with the loss of their first baby, down but not defeated, she had rebuilt life here. She had made this government bungalow into a home with Shiva, as Atharva had set up his winter intel throughout Kashmir — the intel that seemed to be failing him lately. Iram decided not to worry about his work until he brought it to her. And he would, as he had promised. She was trusting him again after the last time. But what was there to do? She would always trust him, his intentions.
And looking at his remorse, she knew he wouldn’t repeat the last year. Moreover, she saw in his eyes — the respect that she had cultivated for herself in her own eyes. The strength that she had grown through this misery. He was now surer than ever, as was she, that whatever came — she was ready. That spirit was translating into her life, her bond with her baby as well as her writing.
“It’s like I am rewriting the book, Sherry,” she spoke into the laptop screen, Yathaarth’s head pushing up from the coffee table to peek. He couldn’t stand on his own yet but he did try to scroll himself and try to get into all kinds of trouble. Iram grabbed him around the middle and sat him down in her lap, sitting up on the sofa.
“Hello, mini author!” Sherry cooed. Or the best she could do with that naturally authoritative voice. “Is your mom feeding you words and outlines already?”
“We are working on three words currently — Mama, Baba and Arth.” Iram looked at her son and he gave her a toothless grin. “You know who is Arth?” She asked him and his head fell forward into her chest, squealing shyly.
“He is so cute. Why did you have to move to Jammu when he is in this good of a phase? We could have had our meetings in person!”
“Trust me, I would have liked to be in our home as well. Baby proofing two houses is maddening, especially two as big as these.”
“You didn’t hire a nanny there?”
“I don’t need one.”
“Who doesn’t need a nanny?”
“Taking care of him is not a chore. Frankly, it’s not even a thought. I don’t even see it as taking care of another person. It’s like we always had him between us and now he has materialised.”
“CM sahab would definitely not think on those lines,” Sherry smirked. Iram laughed.
“Which brings me back toourTaj. What’s going on with him? Why is he suddenly softening? It’s not making sense, and I do not think you will be able to meet the deadline with the way you are going about scraping and rewriting chapters. We have already missed crucial months.”
“I understand, Sherry. But I feel like he was this macho, alpha man in Rescuing Heaven and I did not show any evolution in his character in this book. He has to grow. And growth for a man as tough as him is not to toughen up more but soften, reclaim his humane side, start showing his vulnerabilities to Zoon. That’s a real man we can stand behind.”
“That’s not what’s working in the romance market, madam. It’s a possessive, alphahole kinda man who is always ready to take on the next challenge.”
“I do not remember writing a romance series.”
“But I remember us positioning it on the romance shelf, AND, it being picked up because of that.”
“Ok, look, here’s what we can do — let me rewrite the first three chapters…”
Sherry groaned.
“Listen, listen. Let me rewrite them. I am already done with two. Give me this week and I will send you the lot. Read it, then tell me.”
“TIME.TIME!”
“Once we are on the same page for Taj, I will take 30 days to finish the book.”
