“You, me…”
“You look fresh as a daisy to do that.”
His mouth turned up — “Thanks.” Nilay tipped his chin to find her leaning over him, depositing the machine on its designated table. “You look great too.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and began to move when he grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap. One challenging look from her brought double the energy pumping into his blood stream.
“What are you doing!” She swatted his arm. He held her tight.
“Is taking care of a baby overnight so hard?” He asked, leaning back and pulling her along.
“Not hard…” she said. “Veryhard.”
“How do you know?”
“I have heard MM’s midnight, late-night and early-morning howls. You’d think somebody is torturing her. And this is the good phase. They have gotten through the horrid infant colic phase already.”
“But it doesn’t last forever, does it?”
“No… then it becomes terrible twos, then tantrums, then attitude, then communicable diseases from play school, then…”
“Fine, fine, I get it.” He thumped his forehead on her shoulder. A laugh bubbled out of him.
“What?”
“I like how cute you are in trying to scare me away.”
“I am not scaring you away! That’s how bringing up a kid is!”
“I would have run 100 km/hr in the other direction a month ago at this response but… MM is too cute not to want to fight all the difficult days. The ones that we make might be just as cute, or more…”
Ritu did not answer.
“Doctor.”
“Hmm?”
“I know we haven’t even crossed the baseline here, and I am jumping levels already. But this episode has made me weird. Feel free to cut and burn me and ask me to shut up. But the truth is, I am unable to see even an hour into my future without you in it, and a year ahead without you, me and somebody else in it. We have crossed the bubbly phases of our lives, but it’s not over yet. With you, for the first time I see freshness of living again. Like I am a newly turned adolescent, touching, feeling, experiencing things I have lived over and over again for the first time. MM just seals it all and ties it up. When I see you with her, I want it all likeyesterday!Like where were you all my life? Where was this realisation? Where was this epiphany that even after all the heights are scaled and all the great things achieved, I need nothing from the world, not any adulation, not any worship, not any reinforcements of my worth. All I need is your insults…”
Nilay stopped talking, lowering his chin to stare at her. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow. He smiled. It was rare that she went to sleep like that, without something covering her eyes. And on his lap, of all places. Just like MM.
He gently slipped her to the sofa and reached down to grab the throw. Then he stretched out, set his feet on the coffee table, took her back on his chest and pulled the throw over them. Like it had become his reflex, he circled an arm around her neck and set his palm on her eyes.
Her breathing did not change. She was exhausted, taking care of him. It wasn't that he was demanding, but he did deplete her with his constant bantering. He was a hungry child needing her attention. Nilay kissed the side of her head and closed his eyes.
After a few moments, he felt a flutter. He dipped his chin to check. But she was asleep.
————————————————————
“Well done, Mr. Patel,” Dr. Shravan remarked, pulling his glasses off and setting his reports down. “Lipids look in control, BP hasn’t fluctuated, stress tests are good. Great in fact. How do you feel?”
“Better than great.” Nilay smiled, looking at Ritu sittingwithhim for a change. This was the room it had all started in. She had sat across from him. Now she was sitting beside him. How quickly and wonderfully had they taken this journey.
“Dr. Kapadia, what are your observations?”
“As you said,” she nodded. “Everything is in control. MPO is stable. That was my greatest concern. I wanted your opinion on BNP/NT.”
He shook his head — “Indicators are borderline but that’s because of the recent heart muscle stress. It’s lower than on the day of the angioplasty. Give it a month and it will come down, don’t worry… So, Mr. Patel? You have Dr. Kapadia taking care of you. Why do you need my opinion?”
