She had been shocked then.
“Are you sure?”she had asked.
He had held her gaze and replied.“Yes.”
She had known, even as she asked it, that it was an unnecessary question. Bharat Singh Jogra did not do anything he was unsure of.
And now, they were expecting a child in seven months.
They had told only their immediate family. The public announcement would be made much later, when her pregnancy would become too obvious to hide.
She recalled everyone’s reactions with a smile.
Her mother had cried with happiness, Pooja had screamed with excitement, Rani Suchitra had hugged her warmly, and Sanjana had been thrilled that their children would be close in age. Her brother and father were happy too. And Ram, Samar, and Viraj had congratulated her with their rare smiles.
“Rani Ma wants a granddaughter,” she said with a smile. “Since there are no girls in the family.”
His fingers continued to stroke her stomach.
“What do you want?” he asked, watching her smile.
“I don’t mind anything as long as our child has your eyes,” she said.
“And if our child is like me in other ways?” he asked.
There were no shadows in his eyes when he asked that question.
Six months ago, he wouldn't have asked it that way. The question would have been a warning, not a simple question.
“Then I won’t be able to answer our child’s complicated questions, which would probably need charts and equations. That’ll be your job. But I’ll already know how to love him or her.”
His golden-brown eyes softened at her words.
“And what if our child is like me?” she asked. “We are going to have to make the entire palace childproof. Although… door and walls have never stopped me.”
His mouth twitched again with a smile. “The staff will be busy for quite some time then.”
They definitely would be busy for years, since they would be chasing after a tiny terror who would climb walls and jump into muddy fountains.
She laughed.
His gaze settled on her face. The amusement in his eyes was turning into something deeper.
One hand lifted and cupped her cheek.
She leaned into the touch instinctively.
He kissed her, slowly and deeply.
Outside, snow covered the mountains in silver.
Inside, warmth surrounded her.
The man she loved. The child they had created together. The future she once thought she
would never have.
She was home. Fully loved. Fully chosen. And fully claimed by her maharaja.
