OS: Daddy Says

"…sugar, frosting and chocolate chips…" Geet said aloud as she added those three things to her shopping list.

 

Usually her shopping list was very well balanced with fruits, vegetables and a few guilty pleasures for the family. This shopping list however, was catered specially for baking – lots of baking.

 

It was back-to-school night at her son Nihaal's school. Nihaal was her pride and joy, her baby boy. For Geet it only seemed like yesterday that he was headed off to preschool with his little Spider Man backpack. Now he was all grown up. Nihaal was seven years old, in second grade, reading, writing and doing math at an advanced level. So advanced that the teachers and principle were discussing him having a placement test to see if he could skip a grade.

 

Back-to-school night was a evening where parents went to school with their students to see how the new year was planned out. Parents would get a rundown of the general outline of the syllabus, books they'd be using and goals the planned on reaching. It also meant that it was fundraising time for the school. Every back-to-school night was accompanied with a bake sale, carnival games and various other events.

 

Geet had been part of the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) since Nihaal had started at Hunter Elementary School. She had started out by simply acting as a chaperone for a fieldtrip when another mom cancelled at the last minute. Once there, she realized that many of the women were like her – stay at home moms – who could relate to her feelings and her day-to-day life. One volunteer event lead to another, then to another. Before she knew it she was Treasurer of the PTA helping no only volunteer but also plan events. This is why she now found herself on the verge of baking 7 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 3 dozen cupcakes.

 

Reading over her list once more, Geet made sure that she hadn't missed anything. The last thing she needed was to make two trips to the grocery store. Of course, that wouldn't necessarily be true because she could easily call Maan and make him pick it up before he got home from work. After making sure that her list had everything she needed, Geet got up from the table and towards the downstairs play room.

 

"Divya," she called as she walked towards the play room. "Divya honey it's time to go…lots to errands to run today."

 

As she got closer to the play room, she could hear Divya, her two and a half year old daughter, giggling as she heard singing in the background. Coming up to the door, Geet enjoyed the sight before her. Divya was still dressed in her princess pajamas and a bottle cradled in her hand. A smile spread on Geet's face as she marveled at her little miracle child.

 

When Geet had found out that she was pregnant for a second time, she had planned to work through her pregnancy just like she had done with Nihaal. However, when she was five months along, one afternoon while at work she had a shooting pain in her lower abdomen. Scared that something was wrong with the baby, she rushed to the hospital where Maan met her. As they waited for test results, they prayed that the baby would be alright.

 

The results came in bearing good and bad news. The good news, the pain was nothing serious, probably just an abdominal cramp of some sort. The bad news, there was something wrong with the baby. While doing an ultrasound the doctors discovered that the baby was small for her gestational age. They sent Geet home telling her to take it easy for the next few weeks, after which they'd check her again. Two weeks later, the news wasn't much better. It seemed as if the baby wasn't growing properly. The doctor explained that sometimes what happens is there is a malfunction in the placenta, which connects to mother to the baby. In this case, the baby wasn't getting enough nutrients from Geet – essentially the baby was starving.

 

Geet had only one option she had to go for if she wanted a successful pregnancy – full bed rest. Knowing that she'd never endanger her child's life, Geet went on early maternity leave from work. Maan's mother as well as her mother had flown in to care for her because Maan was a complete mess. He just couldn't handle a then fiver year old Nihaal and tend to Geet. The doctors had told Geet that if the baby didn't gain weight soon, they might be forced to do deliver it early. Both Geet and Maan prayed like they never had, to make sure their baby was born alright.

 

God had listened to them. Though she as born a month and a half early, Divya was healthy and strong. She had to be in Neonatal ICU for the first month of her life but after that, she was just like any other normal baby, only slightly smaller in size. Now at the age of two and a half, Divya was within the average growth curve of children her age.

 

It was after that, Geet had decided that there was nothing more important to her than being a mother. So, she happily gave up her life and career as a medical researcher to be a full time mom. Not one day passed where she regretted that decision – it had been the best decision of her life.

 

"Mommy," she heard Divya call bringing her out of her trance.

 

"Yes honey…" Geer replied.

 

"We going out?" Divya asked.

 

"Yes we are," Geet said as she lifted her daughter into her arms. "Grocery shopping and then we have to go pick up Bhaia from school."

 

"Bhaia!" Divya yelled as she threw her hands in the air.

 

For Divya there were only two men in her life, one was her father and the other was her big brother. She trailed after Nihaal every chance she got. She was so attached to him that if she say Nihaal do anything she had to do it herself. That had its benefits and its down falls. The benefits, Geet could get Divya to eat/drink anything like vegetables and milk if Nihaal did. The down falls, she thought she as big like Nihaal and often got hurt trying to do things – like play stunts – like Nihaal did.

 

"Mommy…fire," Divya said in a sad voice.

 

"No…no more fire," Geet said adamantly.

 

"Daddy say no more fire?" Divya asked.

 

"That's right…Daddy said," Geet replied.

 

That seemed to quiet Divya for the moment, but Geet knew the issue would come up again.

 

Getting Divya changed into a purple dress and then changing into a floral printed dress herself, Geet headed out to the store. Shopping only took about an hour, so Geet decided to stop by home again to drop the groceries off before heading to pick up Nihaal.

 

Once at the school, Geet headed to the playground with Divya. She set Divya on her feet in the sand box so that she could play while Geet took a seat on one of the benches with another mother. The woman she sat next to was someone she'd never seen before. The woman was holding a child, who looked to be about two and a half or three years old, in her lap. The woman also looked slightly nervous and lost.

 

"Excuse me," the woman called. "Do you know where I'd go to pick up my daughter. She's in the third grade."

 

"You're in the right spot. All the classes will come through there after the bell rings," Geet said pointing to the courtyard past the playground ahead of them.

 

"Thank you," the woman said, "I'm Beth by the way. Beth Connell."

 

Geet took the hand Beth held out and introduced herself. "I'm Geet. Geet Khurana."

 

"Nice to meet you," Beth said.

 

"You too," Geet replied.

 

The two of them got to talking. Geet found out that her husband, an accountant, had been transferred by his firm to head up the new offices in town. They had just gotten in over the weekend so this was her daughter, Sophie's, first day of class.

 

"And who is this precious cutie?" Geet asked as she ruffled the child's hair.

 

"This is Clara," Beth said.

 

"Nice to meet you Clara," Geet said making the child blush slightly.

 

A few seconds later, Geet was greeted by Divya who trotted up and came to a stop by her legs.

 

"This is my little one, Divya," Geet said.

 

"Hi Divya," Beth said.

 

"Hi…" Divya said softly.

 

"And Divya this is Clara," Geet said.

 

Geet smiled as she thought Divya reached to touch the baby's arm.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

She had been playing in the sand box with some toys when she saw her mother playing with another child. At first, it didn't really bother but then she saw the child. Not sure if she was truly seeing what her eyes told her she saw, she decided to go check it out for herself.

 

As she approached her mother, her eyes went wide in shock.

 

The girl had a fire. A fire!

 

Desire and craving over took her senses for a few seconds as she watched the baby, dazed in a trance almost. Then, jealousy and anger went through her.

 

This was not fair!

 

Making up her mind, she knew what she had to do. If she couldn't have a fire, no one could.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Geet smile of admiration quickly disappeared and was replaced by a look of shock. She watched as Divya reached up to the baby's mouth and yanked out the pacifier that she sucked on. Instantly the loss of her comforting mechanism made Clara cry and scream. Beth quickly rose to her feet and tried to calm her crying child while Geet looked on in horror as Divya ran, pacifier in hand.

 

It took Geet a moment to gather herself again because not only could she not believe what had just happened, but also because she'd never seen Divya move so fast.

 

"Divya!" Geet called after her. "Divya get back here."

 

Geet chased her down to the end of the playground where they had a small area of plants. Divya stopped and turned to Geet, holding the pacifier in one hand as she breathed heavy.

 

"Divya honey…give Mommy the pacifier…" Geet urged.

 

Geet knew that something like this was going to happen. Not something exactly like this but something similar. Divya had been very attached to her pacifier. No matter what they tried nothing worked. They tried weaning her off of it with no luck. Geet had even tried to make it taste bad by rubbing various unappetizing things on the nipple but that didn't work either. Finally, something had worked.

 

As Geet had said, there were only two men in Divya's life and she'd do anything they told her to do. Geet clearly remembered the conversation Maan had had with Divya two weeks ago. Maan had said in very clear terms that she was no longer to use a pacifier because she as a big girl now. After lots of trying to get around the new rule, Divya finally promised that she wouldn't use her pacifier any more, even throwing them out herself at Maan's request.

 

Geet knew that making her quit cold turkey was going to back fire at some point and it did. Her two and a half year old daughter just had a relapse – a pacifier relapse.

 

"Give Mommy the pacifier," Geet said again.

 

"No!" Divya yelled.

 

"Divya…be a good girl," Geet pleaded.

 

"No…no…no…" Divya kept repeating.

 

Looking over her shoulder Geet saw Beth approach with Clara, who had managed to calm down but was still not a happy camper. As soon as Divya saw Clara, Geet saw a spark go off in her eyes.

 

Then, once again, Geet watched in horror at what her darling daughter did next. She watched as Divya threw the pacifier into the plant bushes.

 

"Daddy say…no more fire," Divya said with her hands on her hips.

 

Geet closed her eyes and wanted the earth to just open and eat her up. When she opened her eyes, she noticed they had a little bit of an audience that consisted of other mothers and caregivers.

 

"I'm so so so sorry," Geet said to Beth.

 

Beth looked on at them in disbelief still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

 

"I'm so sorry," Geet repeated, "I don't know what came over her."

 

"Uh…it's…umm…it's ok…I guess…" Beth said.

 

Baby Clara began to start to fuss once again so Beth tried to console her but it didn't help. She walked back to the bench with Clara and fished in her diaper bag for something. Beth pulled out a toy and tried to get Clara to calm down while Geet watched in utter shock.

 

Looking back down at her daughter, Geet saw that Divya stood next to her bending over smelling the flowers that lined the bushes. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Here she was, trying to think of a way to get out of this embarrassing situation and her daughter, the one responsible, stood idly smelling flowers.

 

Smelling blood flowers!

 

Geet's distraction was lifted when the school bell rang and a minute or two later the cheers and laughter of children could be heard. As she waited for Nihaal, she couldn't take her eyes off of Beth, who had managed to get Clara to calm down. Geet had seen Beth take the top off of one of Clara's bottles, dump out the water and hand her the nipple to suck on. Geet felt so bad, not only because it was the most embarrassing situation she'd been in, but the poor child had cried so much.

 

"Mom…Mom," she heard Nihaal call as he tugged on her hand.

 

Breaking out of her trance, Geet looked to see Nihaal standing in front of her, looking at her questioningly.

 

"Everything ok Mom?" he asked.

 

"No…everything most certainly not ok," Geet said with a sigh.

 

"You ok Mom?" Nihaal asked, concerned.

 

"Could you grab my purse baby," Geet said, "It's there on the bench."

 

As Nihaal ran off Geet took Divya by the arm and began pulling her towards the car.

 

"No Mommy," Divya complained, "I wanna see flower."

 

"No, no flowers for Divya," Geet said as she scooped her daughter up into her arms.

 

She could feel her anger begin to rise after the haze that had covered the incident dissipated. She was furious to be exact. She had raised her children to be kind and to share with others. But here she was, with a daughter how had stolen another child's pacifier and thrown it in the bushes.

 

"No Mommy. I wanna see flower!" Divya yelled as she began to squirm and cry in Geet's arms.

 

Geet, who was half way to their car by now, stopped mid stride. She pulled Divya to face her instead of the bushes and flowers.

 

"No!" she said, louder than she had intended. "You were a bad girl, no flowers for you."

 

"Mommy…flower," Divya continued to cry.

 

"No, no flower for you and…no hugs from Daddy today," Geet said.

 

Geet knew that would catch her daughters attention. As soon as she had said that Divya couldn't have any hugs from her father, Divya stopped fighting with her and simply stared at her. Then, a few seconds later, her eyes filled with tears and Divya began to wail.

 

"Not a sound out of you," Geet warned. "Not a sound."

 

Divya immediately became quiet though tears still flowed from her eyes.

 

"What did Divya do Mom?" Nihaal asked.

 

Looking down, Geet saw Nihaal waiting with her purse in his hand. She wasn't sure when she had joined them again.

 

"Don't ask baby…don't ask," Geet said taking her purse.

 

As they drove home, Geet checked her rearview mirror to check on Divya who had stopped crying but was clearly upset. Nihaal, who sat in the back with Divya, tried to cheer up his baby sister by talking to her and playing with her but nothing worked.

 

"Daddy," Geet heard Divya say as she sniffled.

 

Geet's hands tightened over the car steering wheel as her heart broke for her daughter. But she knew she couldn't fall weak. What Divya had done was inappropriate and there had to be consequences.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Finally, Maan was home. It had been a horrendous day packed with meetings and conference calls. Running your own company was a lot of work. So many new projects and a merger in the works had him working well into the night. However, now that he was home, everything would wash away. All he needed was a kiss from Geet and a hug from each of his children and he'd be as good as new.

 

Maan entered the house but stopped in his tracks as he smelled baking. Baking, usually meant that his wife was stressed, upset or both. He drained his mind to see if maybe he'd done something that he didn't know he had done that had upset her, but he couldn't think of anything. It wasn't February so he didn't forget Valentine 's Day, her birthday had passed last month and their wedding anniversary was just before Christmas – so what could it be?

 

Usually, when he got home, Maan announced his return with great fervor that had his family rushing out to greet him. This time he decided not to do that until he was sure what he was up against. Maan walked silently into the house, gently putting his keys and phone on the coffee table in the living room. After placing his filed on the sofa, he quietly made his way towards the kitchen area where he knew he'd find his family.

 

On the table he saw dozens of cookies and cupcakes. So much baking, Maan didn't know what to make of it. When Geet did bake it was usually a cake, or maybe a few dozen brownies/cookies, but never so much.

 

A movement caught his eyes. Turning he saw his son coming out of the kitchen with a book in hand. Nihaal took a seat at the table and then began writing something into the book.

 

It was then that Maan breathed a sigh of relief. He now remembered that Geet had volunteered to bake cookies and cupcakes for Nihaal's back-to-school night the following day. That explained it all.

 

"I'm home!" Maan yelled finally confident that he was safe from his wife's wrath.

 

"Dad!" Nihaal yelled.

 

Dropping the pencil in his hand Nihaal dashed towards Maan with a smile on his face. Maan enveloped his son into a hug and squeezed him before kissing the top of his head.

 

"How as school Champ?" Maan asked.

 

Before Nihaal could answer, another little voice broke out among them.

 

"Daddy!" he heard Divya call.

 

She was the apple of his eye and his whole world, not to say that Nihaal and Geet weren't. However, Maan had a soft spot for his baby girl. Of course, she was Daddy's Little Girl and had him wrapped around her little finger, but the way that her life had started off made Maan even more fiercely protective of her.

 

A smile spread across his face as he saw her waddle out of kitchen, her arms out stretched ready to be lifted into the air by him.

 

"Princess," Maan called back.

 

Maan was just about to bend down to catch her when her heard his wife, and she was not happy.

 

"Divya!" she yelled as she came out of the kitchen holding an egg beater, "Stop!"

 

Divya stopped.

 

"What did I tell you earlier?" Geet asked as she put her hands on her hips, looking sternly at Divya.

 

"But Mommy…" Divya began.

 

"What happened?" he asked.

 

"I said no hugs or kisses from Daddy tonight," Geet said.

 

Maan was shocked at what Geet had said. She herself knew how close Maan was to Divya, just as she was closer to Nihaal. He couldn't figure out why Geet would do something like that.

 

"What did she do?" Maan asked.

 

He looked at Nihaal, who stood off to the side smiling and fighting a laugh.

 

"She was a bad girl today," Geet said, "So her punishment is no hugs or kisses from you. And you Mr. Maan Singh Khurana…"

 

Maan took a step back when Geet pointed the egg beater towards him threateningly.

 

"If you want a good night's sleep and spare your back I say you comply with the situation or else you'll be sleeping on the couch," she said.

 

"But Geet…" he began.

 

"No buts Maan…not this time…you should have seen what she did," Geet said exasperated.

 

"What did you do Princess?" Maan asked looking at his daughter who stood in between him and Geet.

 

"Daddy…" she said.

 

He saw Divya take a few steps towards him slowly, while keeping her eyes on her mother.

 

"Divya Singh Khurana dare you take another step," Geet warned in a menacing voice.

 

Divya looked from Maan to Geet, then back to Maan again. Then, she ran towards him as if her life depended on it. Maan, who knew what he did next could literally make or break his back, did exactly what Geet had asked him not to do. Bending down he took his daughter, who was crying by now, into his arms.

 

"Maan!" Geet shouted, unhappy.

 

 Maan Singh Khurana was a strong and powerful person but one single tear from his daughter and he'd sell his right arm to make her smile again. He could do nothing but shrug his shoulder as Geet rolled her eyes.

 

"Hey!" he heard Nihaal call.

 

Turning to his son, Maan saw anger and hurt written all over his face.

 

"That's not fair Dad," Nihaal complained. "Every time Mom punishes me you always do what she says…how come you didn't do that for Divya? How come she gets away with it?"

 

"Champ, she's a baby…" Maan began.

 

"Oh she's no baby," Geet said, her voice clearly laced with anger. "She proved that today."

 

"You love Divya more than you love me!" Nihaal yelled.

 

Maan saw tears in his eyes as he turned and raced up the stairs.

 

"Wait…Nihaal," Maan called but it was too late.

 

A few seconds later, they head the slight slam from Nihaal's bedroom door.

 

With Divya in his arms, crying away, he turned to Geet who stared at him with her death eyes. The anger quickly left her face and was replaced by a slight smirk. Walking up to him she kissed him on the cheek.

 

"Welcome home," she teased before going off to the kitchen again.

 

Maan stroked hi daughters back to calm her as he tried to think of a plan to get his wife and son back on his good side.

 

Fifteen minutes later, after having changed and putting Divya in the play room, Maan headed to the kitchen where he saw Geet was still baking.

 

"Hi Mishti," he said as he wrapped his arms round her midsection from behind.

 

She shrugged him off as she walked away. "Don't 'hi Mishti' me," she said.

 

"Come on, what happened? Why are you punishing my sweet little Princess?" Maan asked.

 

"You 'Princess' had a complete diva moment today," Geet said.

 

As Maan listened to what happened, he burst out into laughter. He could just picture Divya running with the pacifier and throwing it way, only to scold the other child. He was so disappointed for having missed that. Where was a video camera when you needed one.

 

"Don't laugh Maan," Geet said, "It was so embarrassing. Your daughter is a bully!"

 

"Mishty come on…" Maan began.

 

"You have no idea what it was like. On one hand there was poor Clara who was crying for her pacifier and then on the other hand I had Beth and all the other moms looking at me and my spawn of Satan child!"

 

"It couldn't have been that bad," Maan said.

 

"Not that bad, are you kidding me…it was horrible. I've never been so embarrassed!" Geet yelled.

 

"How embarrassing could it have been? She's a child," Maan said.

 

"You don't know…you weren't there…What are we going to do with her?" Geet asked.

 

Maan took a cookie and was about to bite into it when Geet took it back from him and smacked his hand.

 

"I'll talk to her before dinner," Maan said. "But now…what do I do about Nihaal?"

 

"That Mr. Khurana, you have to figure out…I'm not getting in between father-son matters," she teased. "Just like you shouldn't get between mother-daughter matters!"

 

Maan knew that for him staying quiet was the best thing he could do. There was no reasoning with Geet when she was upset.

 

Thinking along the way, Maan headed up to Nihaal's room to see if he could smooth things over with him. Entering he saw his son sprawled on his bed reading a book. Maan felt his heart swell with pride as he watched his son. Nihaal was an exceptionally smart child and Maan knew that he would do right by the Khurana name and make everyone proud of him. Maan had high hopes for his mild mannered, intelligent and loving son. Maan thought back to how he was when he was Nihaal's age and a frown came on his face. Maan had been nothing like Nihaal; in fact he'd been the opposite. He was the kind of kind that bullied and teased kids like Nihaal. If anyone tried to so much as talk down to his son Maan would ruin them. Pushing all thoughts of the possibility of Nihaal being bullied he entered the room.

 

"Hey Champ," Maan called.

 

Nihaal looked at him, with a sad face, "Hey Dad."

 

A few minutes later, Maan walked out with Nihaal smiling and high fiving as they headed down for dinner. Coming to the dining room they saw Geet setting up the table.

 

"Why don't you go help Mom," Maan said. "I'll go talk to little miss pacifier stealer."

 

Nihaal chuckled but then said, "I know what Divya did was wrong, but go easy on her Dad…she's so little, she doesn't know what she's doing."

 

Maan couldn't help but smile with pride. He was truly blessed to have such an amazing son. Nihaal looked after Divya like most older brothers would. It gave Maan a sense of peace knowing that if anything happened to him the future, there would always be a man of the house who could handle everything. It also gave him immense pleasure knowing that he had back up for the days when Divya would start to get interested in boys. Between him and Nihaal, they could easily kill and get rid of any sleazy boy who dared to even look at his Princess.

 

"Divya," he called as he entered the play room. "I want to talk to you."

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

She had been lying on her stomach on the floor watching a cartoon, her favorite, The Beauty and the Beast.

 

"Divya," she heard her father call.

 

Looking to the door she saw her father standing, hovering over her. He looked at her with his arms folded across his chest. Instantly she knew she was in trouble. Whenever her father was angry, he crossed his arms over his chest, just like he was doing now. Also, he had called her Divya. He never called her Divya because she was his Princess. Anytime he called her Divya, she knew, she was as good as dead.

 

"I want to talk to you," he said.

 

Great!

 

It's not fair. Some other girl has a fire and now she's the one getting in trouble. That was not fair.

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

"Yes Daddy…" he heard respond.

 

Maan closed his eyes and gathered his strength. Besides Geet, his daughter was the only other person that could make him go weak in the knees and turn into putty. Maan knew that what Divya had done was unacceptable and he knew he had to talk to her – no matter how utterly cute and funny he thought it was.

 

"Come here," Maan ordered as he took a seat on the floor across from where she lay.

 

She got up and walked over to him. Usually when he sat on the floor like that, Divya sat right in his lap. As she turned to sig in his lap, with her back to him, Maan stopped her. Instead he guided her so that she was sitting face to face with him.

 

"Mommy told me what you did today," Maan started.

 

Her face fell as she looked down at her hands. Maan's heart just shattered as he saw his baby girl so upset.

 

"What you did was wrong Divya," he continued, "We don't take someone else's things and we definitely do not throw them away."

 

"But…but…she had a fire…" Divya said in her defense.

 

"Doesn't matter…it was her pacifier…not yours," Maan said.

 

Divya folded her hands across her chest and gave him a scowl before speaking.

 

"I want my fire too," she said adamantly.

 

"We've been over this Divya…no more pacifier for you," Maan reminded. "You're a big girl now. Big girls don't use pacifiers anymore."

 

He could see her body loosen as she looked up at him.

 

"Big girls no use fires?" she asked.

 

"No…pacifiers are for babies. Are you a baby Divya?" Maan asked.

 

"No, Divya no baby, me big girl," she said proudly.

 

"Good," Maan said as he gently stroked her cheek.

 

She smiled at him sweetly.

 

"Tomorrow you are going to go and apologize to Clara and her Mommy for what you did, ok?" Maan said.

 

"Apolo…what?" Divya asked, unable to grasp the word he'd just used.

 

"You are going to say sorry," he clarified.

 

"Sorry to the baby?" she asked again.

 

"Yes," Maan said as he nodded his head in agreement.

 

"Ok," Divya agreed.

 

Maan smiled as he lifted her off the floor and made her sit in his lap. Wrapping his arms around her small body he kissed temple.

 

"Now, you are going to go out and say sorry to Mommy and say you won't do that again," Maan said. "Ok?"

 

"Ok," she agreed quickly.

 

Maan got up after placing Divya back on her feet. He began to walk out when he heard her call to him.

 

"Daddy still mad at me?" she asked, softly.

 

Looking at her, he could see tears glisten in her eyes.

 

Maan felt as if someone had just stuck their hand in his chest and pulled out his heart.

 

"No…I'm not mad at you anymore," he said as he kneeled down to her level.

 

"Daddy love me again?" she asked, so softly that Maan almost didn't hear her.

 

"Of course Daddy loves you," Maan said as he took her into a hug, "Daddy always loves his Princess."

 

He felt her tiny arms tighten around his neck as she kissed him and it was like he was in heaven.

 

Coming out of the play room, he saw that the table had been set and dinner had been served. Geet and Nihaal sat at the table waiting for Maan and Divya. Maan set Divya on her feet so she could do what he'd told her to do.

 

"Go on Princess," he encouraged.

 

After a bit of hesitation, Divya made her way to Geet. Stopping at her chair, Divya stood silently for a while.

 

"I sorry Mommy," Divya said.

 

Maan saw Geet smile softly before lifting Divya onto her lap and kissing her cheeks.

 

"No do it again, Daddy said me big girl," Divya said proudly.

 

Geet simply kissed Divya's forehead.

 

"Yes, you're my big girl," Geet said. "Tomorrow you will say sorry to Clara."

 

"Yes," Divya said as she nodded her head in Maan's direction, "Daddy say."

 

----------

 

The next day, Maan had decided to leave work early because it was Nihaal's back-to-school night, and also because he afraid of a throw down between his daughter and the girl whose pacifier she'd taken.

 

"There they are," Geet said.

 

Maan looked to where she pointed. He saw a couple with two little girls gathered by the face painting booth where the older girl was getting a butterfly painted on her cheek.

 

"Isnt that girl a little old for using a pacifier?" Maan asked as he whispered into Geet's ears.

 

"Maan!" Geet admonished, "We are not her parents, we do not decide that."

 

"I'm just saying…" Maan began, but he shut up when Geet gave him one of her death glares.

 

Instead, Maan walked over to them with Geet.

 

"Hi Beth," Geet called, "It's me Geet, from yesterday."

 

Beth turned around and was shocked at seeing them

 

"Hi Geet…and yes of course I remember, how could I forget," she said with a giggle as she looked down at Divya.

 

"This is my husband Maan," Geet introduced.

 

As introductions went around, Maan saw that little Clara was hiding behind her mother leg.

 

"About yesterday," Geet began. "We're so sorry about what Divya did."

 

With that, Geet handed Beth over a small gift bag which contained a packet of new pacifiers and a small stuffed animal as well.

 

"Oh please…this was unnecessary," Beth said. "Kids will be kids."

 

"Still," Maan said, "It wasn't right."

 

"Well thank you," Beth said. "Say thank you Clara."

 

The girl remained silent as she eyed Divya. It took Maan everything he had not to laugh at the fact that another child was scared of his daughter. Not only would it send the wrong message to Divya but Geet would literally kill him.

 

"Don't you have something to say Divya?" Geet asked.

 

"Yes…" Maan chimed in, "What did we talk about last night Princess."

 

Slowly Divya walked up to Clara, after some nudging from Maan.

 

"I sorry," she said softly.

 

"For…" Geet helped.

 

"For taking you fire," Divya said.

 

"Go give Divya a hug," Beth said to Clara, who had finally come from hiding behind her mother.

 

Both sets of parent's oo-ed and aww-ed as the girls hugged each other quickly.

 

"I say sorry cuz Daddy say I sorry," Divya continued.

 

Maan and Geet gasped silently as Divya was about to turn a perfectly moment into something else.

 

"Let's go Princess…let's go get us a cookie," Maan urged.

 

However, Divya was having none of it.

 

"Daddy say you are baby…me is big girl," she said puffing her chest out.

 

"Hey!" Clara cried, "Me not baby!"

 

"Of course not," Geet said to defuse the situation that was turning south, "You're a big girl too."

 

"No Mommy she no big girl…Daddy say only baby have fires…" Divya said.

 

"Divya…" Geet said in warning.

 

"Me no use fire so me big girl…she use fire so she baby," Divya added.

 

"Me not baby!" Clara yelled.

 

Then, as if something out of a movie, Clara threw herself on the floor and began thrashing her arms and legs around as she threw a full blown tantrum while screaming bloody murder.

 

Beth tried to get her daughter into her arms but she was not cooperating and nearly slipped out of her grip a few times.

 

"See…she crying, baby crying," Divya said.

 

"Divya hush," Geet said as she grabbed Divya by the hand and started to drag her away.

 

"Baby crying," Divya said, "Give baby fire."

 

"Divya!" Geet yelled as she lifted her into her arms.

 

She had turned to leave but stopped and turned back to Beth.

 

"I'm so sorry…again…" Geet said with a remorseful look on her face.

 

As Geet escaped Maan stood there unmoving as he felt embarrassment wash over him. He remembered what he had said to Geet the night before.

 

'How embarrassing could it have been? She's a little girl.'

 

Clearly, he had no idea just how embarrassing little girls could be – his little girl leading the pack for sure. As if it wasn't bad enough that Divya kept taunting the child but she kept throwing him under the bus by saying "daddy say".

 

As Maan offered a smile to the family and walked away, only one thought was in his mind – his daughter was a bully. She was a bully that would blame him for her bullying ways.

 

'Daddy say…'

 

He had to definitely be careful about what 'Daddy say' now.