"Then we'll figure it out together." Advika's hand covered his. "Just like we've figured out everything else."
"Together," he agreed.
They fell asleep like that, tangled together, their child moving between them, safe and loved.
Two Weeks Later – Baby Shower
The baby shower was held at the estate, in the gardens that had once seemed so cold and unwelcoming but now felt like home. Advika's cake was the centerpiece, surrounded by flowers and gifts and women from every part of her life.
Meera and her bakery staff. Nisha and her friends (who'd warmed to Advika over the years). Priya, Rishabh's girlfriend. Even some of the society women who'd once looked down on her now treated her with respect.
She'd earned her place. Not through her marriage, but through her own efforts. Her own strength.
"Having fun?" Sidharth asked, appearing at her side.
"Aren't you supposed to be banned from the shower? This is a ladies-only event."
"I'm the father. I get special dispensation." He pulled her close, mindful of her belly. "Besides, I missed you."
"I've been gone for two hours."
"Too long."
She laughed, leaning into him. "You're going to be insufferable once she's born, aren't you?"
"Absolutely. Fair warning— if it’s a girl, I'm going to be one of those overprotective fathers who interviews her dates with a gun visible."
"She's not even born yet and you're planning to terrorize her future boyfriends?"
"It's never too early to start planning."
Later, after the gifts were opened and the cake was served which everyone declared it her best work yet, Advika found herself back in the main kitchen at Sinfully Sweet. She'd snuck away from the shower, needing a moment of peace, drawn to the place that had always been her sanctuary.
She was working on a small batch of macarons—lavender honey, Sidharth's favorite—when she felt him before she heard him.
"Sneaking away from your own party?" he asked from the doorway.
"Needed a break. And I wanted to make these for you."
He moved into the kitchen, coming to stand behind her, his arms wrapping carefully around her expanded waist. "You were poison I had to swallow," he said quietly. "You know that?"
She stiffened. "What?"
"When I married you. Everyone told me it was risky, that you were a Pradhan, that you couldn't be trusted. That you were poison."
"Sidharth—"
"But now?" His arms tightened. "Now you're the antidote I can't live without. The cure for everything that was broken in me. The reason I wake up smiling. The poison that became my salvation."
Advika turned in his arms, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "That's the most beautiful thing you've ever said to me."
"It's true. Every word." He kissed her forehead. "I was dying before you. Slowly, from the inside out. And you saved me."
"We saved each other."
"We did." He cupped her face. "And now we're bringing a new life into this world. Continuing what we started."
She smiled, even as tears streamed down her face. "Still poisonous though."
