NEW Maaneet FF~ LOVE-KNOT~ UPDTPart20page 97 09/24 - Page 62

Maan gaped at her as tears started flowing out of those beautiful hazel eyes which pained Maan.

"Don't cry Geet" Maan said softly and she looked at him with hurt reflecting clearly in her eyes.

"Isn't she?" she asked, the words reflecting her immense pain. Maan took a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to find sanity in the situation.

"Geet….can we talk about this later? Amrita is really anxious to thank you and then she needs to rest" Maan tells her crisply but when Geet refuses to look at him and turns her back to him he sighs. He understood her pain but right now Amrita's smile was the most important for him.

"Geet….for Amrita's sake" he said and Geet nodded. She hated Dev but she was never going to take out her anger on an innocent child. She wiped her tears and ignoring Maan walked into the room with a bright smile plastered on her face.

Amrita looked at her a little scared and a little shy. She went and sat next to Amrita and lovingly touched her face and Amrita gave her a shy smile.

"Thank you for doing this….I loved it" Amrita thanked her and gave her a smile.

"You are welcome Amrita….so how do you feel now?" Geet started making small talk.

"Less pain" Amrita told her simply and Geet couldn't fathom how a small child like her was dismissing her immense pain with a smile.

"I am sorry" Geet said lovingly and Amrita smiled and put her small soft hands into Geet's.

"My Daddy says that God gives pain only to those who are very brave…..and he says I am the bravest 5 year old" Amrita told her proudly and Geet's eyes swam with tears.

She looked up at Maan who was lovingly looking at Amrita. At that moment she felt ashamed of ever thinking that Amrita was Dev's child. She was all Maan….who was her mother and father. She had never thought he even had such a tender and vulnerable side. She had always respected the shrewd businessman he was but not she was getting to see his more tender and human side and her respect was actually turning into like.

"You are the bravest Amrita" she heard Maan reply and then heard him instructing her to rest.

"But Daddy….I want to watch cartoons" Amrita protested.

"Not at all….you need to rest" he argued back and Geet started enjoying the banter between the father and daughter and then suddenly she was caught in it.

"Geet….tell Daddy that cartoons won't tire me" Amrita looked at her with huge innocent brown eyes and Geet melted on the spot, ready to take her side. She nodded and smiled at the child and then turned to look at Maan and the words died on her lips when she saw the pleading expression on his face.

"Geet is on my side Amrita" he teased.

"Nooo…Geet tell him" Amrita hugged her waist and Geet decided to man up.

As soon as she looked at Maan who was watching her with amusement and then hardened his expression, the wind went out of her sails.

"Please Geeet" Amrita begged.

"No Geet" Maan ordered.

"Stop both of you" Geet lifted her hand and the father-daughter duo looked at her waiting for an answer.

"Ahemmm" Geet cleared her throat and then looked from one to the other.

"I think Amrita is right" she started and Amrita let out a happy yelp but when she looked at Maan, he glared at her she shook her head and continued, "but Maan is also right" and Maan smiled the lop sided smile.

"So I think Amrita that you should rest first and when you get up…..all of us can watch cartoons with you…..with ice-cream" she added and Amrita threw herself at her in happiness.

"I like the idea……can we do that Daddy?" two sets of innocent and questioning brown eyes turned towards Maan.

"Fine….but only half a bowl for you Amzy" he kissed her cheek , taking his special name for her and tucked her into bed and Geet and Maan left the room, letting the little girl rest.

As soon as they left the room, an awkward silence fell between the two. Geet wanted and needed answers but Maan didn't know if she was ready to hear them. Slowly Geet turned and touched Maan gently on his arm and he raised surprised eyes at her.

"Am sorry" she said softly and Maan looked at her questioningly.

"About what Geet?" he asked.

"Thinking of Amrita as Dev's daughter…..I think she is absolutely yours…..and am so glad that she got to know you as her father….she is very lucky" Geet said softly and Maan colored in embarrassment.

"I thought you wanted answers" he ignored the compliment and Geet bit a smile as she knew she had made him uncomfortable with her compliment and he had simply ignored her.

"I do Maan…..but I don't want to know what you don't want to share….you have every right to your secret and I am sure you have a reason for keeping it a secret….and I know when the time is right you will tell me" her brown eyes reflected the innocence and trust of her statement.

"Well……don't you have to go for your check up?" he asked changing the topic entirely.

"I do…..but I was so excited to meet Amrita" she smiled up at him.

"Well she is sleeping now so go on……and then you have to fulfill your promise to watch cartoons with her….with ice cream" he rolled his eyes.

"You and I both…and you know what" she said conspiratorially, " I am sooo craving ice-cream….especially vanilla flavor" she admitted and he looked at her surprised that she had just talked about her baby and her feelings for the first time.

"Fine….now go Geet" he ushered her out and Geet left smiling.

While sitting in the car she replayed the past hour in her mind and a slow smile lit up her beautiful face. The Maan Singh Khurana was warming to her and finally she felt a little at home somewhere after having left her home.

At the hospital, the doctor was satisfied with her progress but told her that she needed to rest some more and needed to put on weight.

When Geet reached home, she saw Dadima playing with Amrita and it made her happy that the matriarch of the Khurana family too had accepted the little girl whole-heartedly. She stopped to watch the beautiful family scene in front of her. Dadi amd Amrita were playing chess against Maan and Amrita was almost jumping out of her chair and urging Dadi to checkmate Maan.

"Go Dadi go….beat Daddy" she was speaking excitedly and when Dadi did, she let out a happy war cry and started dancing on her chair. Geet couldn't help laughing at the child's antics.

"We did it Dadima…..we did it….I won Daddy" she was doing a happy dance when Geet's eyes started to fill with tears. She wondered if her child would know so much unconditional love from her relatives….the obvious answer was a no.

Dadi looked up and caught the sad expression on Geet's face and walked towards her. "What happened Geet?" she asked tenderly putting a gentle hand on her cheek.

"Nothing Dadima" Geet smiled trying to hide her tears.

"Did the doctor say anything?" Dadima's face took over a worried expression.

"Oh no Dadima…..all she said was I needed to gain weight….rest she is satisfied with my progress" Geet shared and Dadima smiled in relief.

"Then what are you worried about my child?" she asked and Geet looked at amrita and Maan playing happily and smiled sadly.

"Geet….this baby will be well loved and taken care of….it is going to be my grandchild….please don't worry about it" Dadima reassured her, understanding her sadness and Geet smiled, hugged and thanked her for her tenderness.

"Geet" Amrita shrieked waving at her, "come on…we are waiting for you for ice-cream…..sooon" she insisted and Geet and dadima walked over and sat down.

Maan immediately asked her if everything went well and she nodded happily.

Four different flavors of ice-cream came in front of them and Amrita happily gorged on the mango flavor, dadima was thrilled that she got to eat chocolate ice-cream, Maan took butter scotch and Geet dug into vanilla.

"Vanilla……Geet you know no one ever eats vanilla in our house" Dadima remarked offhandedly and Geet looked at Maan in surprise.

"Oh….you shouldn't have" she started protesting when Maan looked straight into her eyes and said, "You were craving it Geet…..you will get it always"and Geet's eyes filled with happy tears.

"Thank you…..you all don't have to….you have been so nice to me….but please don't go out of the way for me" she requested them.

"Geet beta….this is your house…..we can't change what happened to you but we are with you" Dadima confirmed and Geet smiled happily.

They watched cartoons, played games and everyone went to bed content in their own special way.

The whole week went by like this and no one noticed when Naintara and Dev returned.

Naintara started noticing the long time Dadi would spend at the outhouse and wondered who it was for when Maan lived in the mansion itself. She asked around and everyone remained tight-lipped.

She decided to investigate one evening and got the shock of her life when she saw Geet playing happily with a girl who looked almost like Dev.