Chapter 73

The Quiet Between Us

Night – Farmhouse, Outside Udaipur

The house was still, the only sound the distant chirping of crickets and the hum of the ceiling fan. Outside, the wind brushed the trees in soft, sweeping waves.

Rhea stood by the window in a loose cotton kurta, one hand resting absentmindedly on the frame, the other cradling the curve of her belly. The moonlight touched her skin, turning everything about her fragile and glowing.

Behind her, footsteps approached.

She didn't turn.

Lex came closer, slowly—then without a word, wrapped his arms around her from behind, his hands resting gently, reverently, over her stomach.

Rhea stiffened. "What are you doing?"

Lex's voice was low, almost a whisper. "Just feeling my baby."

There was no arrogance in his tone. No teasing. Just quiet wonder.

Rhea closed her eyes, torn between leaning into the warmth of his body or pushing him away. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest.

"I don't know how to be okay with any of this," she murmured.

"I don't expect you to be," he said. "Not yet."

They stood there for a few more seconds, his hands still on her belly, the silence almost sacred.

Then he stepped back gently.

"I made dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Rhea replied without looking at him.

Lex stood still for a moment… then said softly, "If you don't eat, my baby can't eat either."

She turned halfway toward him, her expression unreadable in the dark.

"Please," he said, eyes meeting hers. "Take care of him. Or her. For both our sakes."

There was something in his voice that wasn't demand.

It was plea.

Rhea looked down… then nodded faintly.

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Later That Night

They sat at the wooden dining table in silence.

Rhea slowly took a bite of rice and dal, her hands steady but her mind distant.

Lex watched her from across the table—not with victory, not with possession.

But with a kind of fear.

The fear of breaking something already fragile.

The fear of loving too much and too late.

She didn't speak again that night.

But she ate.

For the baby.

And for the first time in weeks, she slept through the night.