“I want to wake up and know the day matters,” she answered slowly, choosing each word. “That what I do has meaning. The Haveli gives me that. The people. The work. The history.”
Her fingers curled against his arm.
“I want children who know where they come from.”
He didn’t interrupt.
“And I want to stop being afraid,” she added, softer. “Of being too much. Of taking space that might not have been mine.”
His arm tightened. He turned to her.
“You have never taken too much space. You have always taken exactly what was yours. Others just didn’t see it.”
Her eyes rose to his.
“I did.” His voice dropped. “From the first day.”
That reached deep. She looked away, gathering herself.
"What do you want?" she asked.
He took a moment, choosing his words carefully.
“I want someone who argues with me. Not because they have to. Not because they need anything.”
His thumb moved along her arm.
“Someone who says no, Boss and means it.”
She curled into him.
“I want Maa to stop worrying. I want Naina to have someone who won't complain when he has to drag fabric samples at midnight.”
A small smile touched her lips.
“I want your father to know that everything he gave came back to his daughter.”
She looked up at him.
“I want you to wake up every morning and know you are exactly where you are meant to be.”
He brushed their noses together.
“And I want to be the reason for that.”
Her throat tightened. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
He read it in her. Then softer, quieter, “I want all of us. Together.”
That was all.
She leaned back into him, her head resting against his shoulder.
He pressed his mouth to her hair. They didn’t speak again. Above them, the sky changed as morning arrived.
Morning Five
They were back against the wall, her legs stretched across his, his arm around her.
