Page 140 of The Defiant Wife

My eyes drift back toward the garden. "I keep expecting someone to tell me this isn't real."

His thumb stills against my hand.

"They're here," I whisper. "All twenty four of them . . . they're really ours."

"They are."

"I don't have to worry about them being sent somewhere else anymore."

"No."

"They're staying."

"For the rest of our lives."

Something inside me finally breaks.

A tear rolls down my cheek. "I never imagined I'd get this."

Veeraj turns toward me completely. "No," he says quietly. "You imagined much less."

His words make me look at him.

"You spent years believing you should be grateful for scraps of love." His voice is calm, but I can hear the emotion underneath it. "Today isn't charity, Diya."

He squeezes my hand gently. "This is what you built."

I shake my head. "We built it."

A smile slowly appears on his face. "I was hoping you'd say that."

I laugh softly through my tears. "You've changed."

"Oh?"

"The old Veeraj would've called this an outcome of proper planning."

He pretends to think about it. "I probably would've."

"And now?"

He looks through the window where Raj has somehow climbed onto Keshav's back while Laila cheers them on.

"Now I think some of the best things in life happen because someone refuses to stop believing in people."

I rest my head against his shoulder.

"I was never the one who believed first."

"No."

"You were."

For a long moment we simply sit together, watching our children run across the gardens.

The palace doesn't feel intimidating anymore.

It feels lived in.