EPILOGUE
One month later…
“Remember, I told you it was the London Eye you remembered every time you saw a Ferris wheel. It had been a week since they got married and were on their honeymoon spending time in the rural area where Neil had his underground bunker.
“My wife is the smartest detective,” Neil nuzzled her ear as they walked through the village fair after dinner.
Their wedding was one the people of the province would remember and talk about for decades. Her parents begged her to be part of the wedding, and even though she didn’t want them, it was Neil who had convinced her to let them attend the wedding.
The province was shut down for almost seven days, five days before and two days after the wedding for the numerous ceremonies. Abhay and Dev knew no bounds to their happiness as they saw the end of the feud. The three families celebrated every moment of the rituals, and Narmada felt like she was on the top of the mountain.
She was happy to have found the love of sisterhood from Anika and Sabitha, although Sabitha was not as mushy as Anika. Narmada, as the people of the Singham household noticed, was a little bit of Anika and Sabitha.
Narmada pulled out her phone when it pinged. “Oh my… look at Dhanush!” She laughed at the baby picture that flashed on her screen with a message from Anika. ‘Dhanush says he wants two playmates. I’m sure you are you working on the second one.’
“What’s so funny?” Neil looked at Narmada laughing and shaking her head.
“Look.” She turned the phone toward him.
“That’s a nice picture… I miss the little guy,” Neil confessed.
“Really? Says the uncle who freaks out about holding him,” she taunted.
“He is so tiny, so precious. I’m scared to hold him.”
“Oh, you poor baby,” she teased kissing him on his cheek.
He tightened the hold on her waist pulling her closer. “I promise to learn how to hold a baby, will you give me one?”
“Neil Ranadeep Singham, we talked about this. You promised we would travel the world before we have kids,” she teased, although she wasn’t opposed to having kids. The moment she saw Dhanush after he was born, she knew she wanted one of their own.
“We can still travel, and you can work on your book while I work on merging my company with the Singham corporation… and I know you want a baby, too,” Neil encouraged.
“We can talk about it tonight if you let me kiss you,” she rasped into his ear causing a shudder to pass through him.
“You can kiss me anywhere you want if you let me kiss you,” he growled digging his fingertips into the softness of her waist.
They walked hand in hand around the fair as Neil greeted the people he knew from the village. They walked up to the stall with an old man standing behind a table of handmade dolls.
“Hunter, how are you? I met your brother last month,” the man said surprising Neil.
“Who?” He had interacted with the villagers but never shared anything about himself.
“Your brother, he came looking for you… he looks just like you,” the man declared, and Neil knew at that moment who he was talking about. It explained who Abhay had talked to when he was looking for him.
“Thank you, and my real name is Ranadeep… you can call me Rana.” Neil smiled before handing him a bundle of cash. “My wife wants all the dolls in your store. I will come pick them up tomorrow.”
“That was sweet of you. I love all the dolls, but I think they belong in the store.” Narmada smiled.
“Did I tell you how much I love you?” Neil led her away from the store his fingers laced with hers.
“Yes, you did. Oh, what is all the fuss about?” She looked in the direction where a small group of people had gathered, and most of them were women.
“Local ceremony, I guess.”
“I love the local traditions, let’s go check it out.” She pulled him with her.
A group of women sat on the carpeted floor and a couple of pregnant women stood to one side holding trays of fruits and flowers.
“What is going on?” Narmada looked around trying to figure out what was happening.
Neil looked around and waved at one of the older women who was seated to one side watching the ceremony. “Let’s go… I know someone who can tell you what this is about.”
He walked her to the other side of the gathering and introduced Narmada to the older woman asking her what the event was about. The older woman scanned Narmada briefly and took her hand before responding. “Will you help us with the ceremony?”
Narmada was slightly taken aback but followed the woman to the center of the ceremonial setup. She followed the steps the women told her to do and finally they handed her a tray with fruits and flowers similar to what the other pregnant women were holding.
“What is this?” She leaned closer to the elderly woman.
“The women sitting here have not been blessed with a child, and if women with child hand them the flowers and fruits, they will bear a child. We were waiting for one other woman, and with God’s grace, you came today.” The woman smiled.
“Oh no… I’m not pregnant,” Narmada said trying to give her back the tray.
“No, my child. I know when a woman is with child. You may not know this, but a very strong seed is growing inside you.”
She caught her breath, a feeling of happiness and surprise enveloping her. “Are you sure?” They had used protection when they could, and the times they didn’t, he pulled back to mark her skin with his release. There were a few times she had felt him even with protection. She should have known and believed when Anika and Sabitha were talking about the Singham bloodlines and how strong they were.
The older woman nodded, smiling. “You will see your child in less than eight months.”
“Oh my… I need to tell my husband.” She turned to look at Neil, her eyes twinkling with joy. She felt the vibration in her womb when their eyes met, and she knew the woman had to be right.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. At that moment, she didn’t care for the travel, her book, his company merger… the only thing mattered was their togetherness.
She spent about thirty minutes on the ceremony and walked back to Neil after taking the blessings from the older woman. “May God bless you and your child.”
“Thank you!” She walked back to where Neil stood, her eyes trained on his face.
“Looks like you had too much fun.”
“I did, and I have an idea for a fun night tonight,” she purred.
“I’m listening.”
“How far is the nearest twenty-four-hour store with a pharmacy?” she asked.
“Pharmacy?” He scrunched his nose.
“There is a special gel kind of thing that can make it more fun.” She winked.
“It’s not too far, let’s go.” He laughed.
Four hours later, she stepped out of the bathroom wearing a long, baby pink satin nightgown. He let out a whistle as she slowly walked toward the bed. They had driven to the nearest pharmacy, and Narmada had picked up a couple of home pregnancy tests and had taken one right after showering.
“I have a surprise for you.” She put a rolled-up towel in his hand and sat on the bed next to him. “Roll it open carefully.”
He looked at her suspiciously but did not say anything. She held her breath as she watched him open the rolled-up towel. He got to the plastic, pen-shaped device and looked at it, and looked up at her, clearly confused.
“Yes,” she whispered pointing to the strong lines on the display. “We are going to have a baby.”
“Sweetheart, are you…” His lips met hers when she nodded.
“Neil, I’m so happy right now.”
“Baby, you have no idea how big this is. I never thought I would have this life… life with you.” He kissed her like he couldn’t get enough of her. He pulled his lips away to look at her, the bulge in her tummy that he couldn’t wait to see. He ran his hands gently over her belly lifting the satin nightgown up with every stroke.
When her belly was fully exposed, he looked at her as he lay on the bed, her eyes pools of lust. “I love you!”
“I love you, too…” Her voice wavered when she felt his lips on her navel. He planted endless butterfly kisses like he couldn’t stop himself.
His hands molded to her body as the kisses moved south. “You deserve a lot of kissing tonight.”
She gasped raising her hips as he moved his lips closer to the throbbing between her legs.
“Patience, baby,” he crooned nuzzling her heat-emitting folds over her lacey panties.
She moaned when he started running his lips up and down over a certain part of the soft fabric. “Neil, you are killing me.”
“Hold it in, sweetheart.” He smiled looking up at her. He slowly pushed the slightly damp fabric of her panties aside, and he dug the tip of his tongue into her folds.
She grabbed his head, her fingers fisting in his hair. She tossed her head moaning in ecstasy as he slowly traced every crevice in her depths. He moved painfully slow, from one fold to the other caressing and tracing them with his tongue.
“Neil…” She couldn’t think of anything but to call out his name as the peak that built up threatened to explode and shred her entirety into a million pieces.
“Come for me, love,” he hummed, putting pressure on her swollen clit, and she came over and over again as he continued to lap up her release.
Her breathing was ragged as he came up to claim her mouth, and when she tasted the sweetness he always talked about, she thought she was going to explode. The peaks hit her like a storm surge as he continued to caress her depths with his fingers.
“Oh… Neil…” She grabbed his arm digging her nails into his biceps when she felt another one building up.
“Yeah… I am going to make you come again and again tonight,” he growled into her ear making her shudder.
“I… I… “
“No talking.” His lips claimed hers as his fingers pumped in and out of her molten cave of pleasure. His thumb played with her clit, and when the big peak hit her, she swore she felt the ground shake as the seismic tremors ran through her body.
He pulled his fingers out of her and took them to his warm mouth to suck them clean. “You taste like heaven.”
She moaned burying her face into his chest. Her body trembled with the decadence of the pleasure he brought on, and she held onto him while she steadied her breathing.
“Narmada… I only want one thing… I want a healthy baby girl…” His voice was lost when she reached up to kiss him on his lips.
“A baby girl, and we should name her Arundhati,” she completed for him.
Neil smiled making her womb tingle. “I love you so much.”
“And if we have a boy, I want to name him Ranadeep… after his father.” She nuzzled his jawline.
He turned his face to kiss her. “I want a baby girl first.”
“Yes, I have a feeling Sabi and Dev will have a boy, too. We need a girl to kick her cousins’ butts.” She laughed.
“I want more than one,” he murmured against her jawline.
“Yeah… how many more?” She smiled feeling the tickle from his stubble on her skin.
“I want four… four babies or more.”
“I’m sure you’ve thought of names for every child already,” she teased pulling him closer.
“Maybe,” he crooned.
“I can’t wait to share the news with Sabi and Anika. They will tease me to death, but I don’t care. I love the idea of our baby growing inside me.”
“That’s our love, sweetheart. Let’s take care of it,” he said softly.
“Yeah…”
“And you… you are my everything, you are my life, and I need you for every breath I take.” His voice was soft yet firm.
Narmada looked at the man lying next to her and sent silent prayers to every superpower there was for their togetherness. “I love you, I am yours forever.”
The End