Chapter 20

Birthdays were never Tara's thing. She neither celebrated her own, nor had she ever indulged in her daughter's. There was nothing to be particularly remembered about that day, only that life had given her the most wonderful gift, that her battle with loneliness was finally over. Other than Inaya's first cry, her birthday had nothing else to be cherished by. Tara had cried too, in agony of pushing the head of her baby girl. Every cell of her body had remembered the very reason why she had disliked children from the very core, the pain they brought with their first breath in the world. She was alone, with a bunch of doctors immune to screams of women in labour, hardly entertaining her pleas to make it quick. After repeated attempts of failing to push the baby out, she had given up, resting her head back, looking at the ceiling hopelessly, hoping for Donavan to be besides her so she could relieve her frustration by landing a sharp slap on his cheek.

She had no idea how gladly he would h