Anamika - Rebirth of the first wife

Chapter 34 - Peace

Even though they shouldn't touch eachother, Anamika and Pratap couldn't help themselves after the fear of not being able to see eachother again. So they hugged for sometime and asked about their welfare and played with the children until Anamika pushed him to take rest.

Pratap went to freshen up so that he could spend some more time with his wife and children. Pratap and Anamika talked about the incidents both of them faced in each other's absence. Later Pratap met with Malhar Rao and both thanked each other for their timely help. Malhar said, "Thank you so much, Pratap. No one was willing to come forward to help me, in the fear of Ottoman Empire. I had only very little hope that you would help. But you valued our friendship and helped me at the right time. Thank you so much. And our Kingdom will always be indebted to you and your Kingdom". Pratap replied, "Don't thank me Malhar. Infact I was not willing to come for your help due to my wife's pregnancy. It was my wife, who asked me to atleast send troops if I couldn't go in person. So the credits go to her". Malhar smiled and said,"Then I should thank my bhabhi (sister-in-law)". Both continued further conversation regarding Malhar's marriage which was postponed due to the war and now the preparations will be started and as soon as he returns back, the marriage will be done.

Then they both met with Ranasa and decided on the Coronation ceremony of Yuvraj Pratap and his Queen along with the naming ceremony of the twins. As per the midwife's words about Anamika's health, it was decided that both the ceremonies will be held after one week. So the preparation started from the next day while the invitations were sent to few neighbouring kingdoms. Malhar Rao decided to stay back till the ceremony.  Ranisa was doing all the preparations but even in the middle of all the preparation works, she wouldn't forget to go and meet her mother-in-law. While Yuvraj postponed the war expedition for a month, not just for himself to spend sometime with his family but also for the soldiers who came with him to the border on a short notice. And moreover, the expedition may take months for them to return every year or more.

Above all, after the coronation, he has to deal with an important case as the King, which is to determine Meenavathi's and daughter's fate. While Meenavathi's husband was killed during the war itself, only these two are remaining. Saudamini's sisters are still alive, they have gone absconded somewhere, may be with secret lovers or may be married some old king as their nth wife to safeguard their lives. Neither Anamika nor Pratap planned to kill those who were not involved in the crime but their fear got the best out of them, for the sisters to take such an impulsive decision. In the one week before the ceremony, Yuvraj almost stayed inside the birth chamber except the nights as that was strictly not allowed by his Dadisa. During the day, Yuvraj would either play with his children or talk with Anamika or sometimes tease her for something or the other. In other words, this period was just bliss for Anamika and Pratap, as it should be.

One such day, when Pratap was talking to Anamika who didn't mind staying outside the curtain since it was her husband, their son woke up crying. Pratap didn't let Anamika get up from her place afraid of exhausting her energy, and picked up his son to console him before this small guy wakes up his sister as well. But seems like the baby's cries got louder instead of calming down. Pratap was clueless at this point as the babies were fed just few minutes before and he himself burped them before putting them in the cradle to sleep. He even tried to massage the baby's tummy, incase there is pain in the stomach. But still nothing worked. Helplessly he looked at Anamika who was pulling the rope attached to the cradle while sitting in the nearby couch, to not disturb her daughter's sleep. Then she asked for her son from Pratap's arms and placed him in her lap while humming a lullaby. Within seconds, his cries stopped making Pratap sigh in relief. "My son has the power to scare his father which even the enemies whole army couldn't", Anamika said and laughed lightly.  Pratap scowled at her words and glared at his son who embarrassed him infront of his wife and now calmly sleeping in her lap as if all his cries were a drama to be near his mother and make his father away from her.

Seeing him glaring at her son, Anamika replied,"Don't get jealous of your own son, Pratap. You are their father so behave like one". Anamika was surprised at his actions because this is vastly different from how he was in her previous life, where he totally spoiled their son before the latter's training started.  May be it had something to do with the fact that Abhimanyu will be their only child ever. Her thoughts came to a stop when Pratap said,"I'm afraid he will take you away from me completely. See even now you are taking his side". Anamika smiled at his sulking face and teasingly said,"Isn't it the same case with our daughter? Even I can say that you are prioritising her over me". Even though Anamika said it in a joking manner, Pratap could sense some seriousness in her question and a little possessiveness in her tone. He smiled satisfied that she also felt the same towards him as how he feels towards her.

Then Pratap said while cupping her face and looking into her eyes,"When it comes to Priority, it will always be my wife who comes before my children. So don't worry about that". Anamika felt her insecurity fading away slightly. Pratap continued,"But my case is different from yours. In a month, I will be leaving for war expedition and will be able to return once in a year or even less. In that case, wouldn't he take all your time and even when I return I have to spare sometime for him as well. Is this fair?". Anamika just rolled her eyes at his nagging complaints as she knew that he himself would be dying to spend time with their children after returning from his expedition. There was a moment of silence before Pratap asked something.

"They won't forget me right", Pratap asked in a low voice. This made her look at him again only to see his vulnerability which he was trying hard to Anamika put the now sleeping baby in the same cradle as his sister and sat beside Pratap. She took his hand in hers and said,"They may not remember how their father looks. But they will remember how much their father loves them. I promise you that".  Saying so, She leaned on his shoulders while he wrapped his other hand around her and kissed her head. After some moments of peaceful silence, Anamika said,"Pratap, can you not stop this expedition? Why don't we simply look after our Kingdom? Why we need to fight others for their kingdoms?". Pratap replied,"I know I will be missing a lot of our family time by going on this expedition but I can't stop it, Anamika. Expanding our Kingdom is my ambition and you already know why it became my ambition right. I can't leave it at the moment where it is going to start. This would make me weak in the eyes of our own people. Our children will think the same and I can't face that".

Anamika sighed and didn't ask further as she knew the reason behind his ambition. It was his great grandfather who had already expanded their kingdom to almost the whole of Hindustan exception of a few kingdoms. But his grandfather and his addiction to Alcohol along with bad decision making brought the entire empire to be split into pieces. And Pratap's ambition rooted from this story which made him vow to bring back the lost glory.

Like this the whole week went by and tomorrow is the day of Coronation and naming ceremony.

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Hi guys,

A happy chapter.

Do vote and comment if you like the chapter.

Thanks,
SM.