The Frenchman's Revenge (79 page)

He added sar
castically
, “
It’s not as though we have anything important happening
.”

Wyatt pushe
d his hat back on his head and looked up at Bai with a lazy grin. In an exaggerated
gesture,
he pulled out his pocket watch and squinted at the
clock face
.

“
Hell
, Bai
,
I
doubt I’ll
see my grandchildren for at least another
twelve
hours.
May as well grab some sleep now.
”

Bai
gasped.

“Twelve hours?
Mon Deux
, that’s not possible!
Jesus Chris
t
, Wyatt.
She can’t handle this for twelve more hours.
There’s no way.
Elena is the strongest woman I know
,
but
t
here is no way she can do this for
twelve
more hours
.
 
”

“
Hmm
. I dunno, Bai
, s
he is having twins
.
I guess
,
to be safe
,
a better estimate is fourteen hours.
But to be fair
,
twins
are
gonna double the agony
,
so it’s probably gonna seem longer.
”

With that
,
Wyatt pulled his hat
brim
down and settled back in the chair.

Bai stood beside him staring at him mumbling under his breath.

“
Doux Jésus,
douze heures?
Quatorze heures?
Non, non. C'est
impossible!
”

He took a deep breath and kicked Wyatt’s foot
--hard
.

“I wonder, Wyatt, if perhaps it would give Elena comfort if she saw you.
You seem most rel
axed.
It might be useful,
oui
?
”

Wyatt
looked
up from
under his hat
with a questioning frown.

“
You asking me to come in there
, Bai
?
Hmm, I
understood this
was a solo mission
.”

Bai consider
ed
for a moment if it
was
shortsighted to strangle Wyatt
,
but
made the executive decision that
murder
was not the best choice at the moment
.

Instead, he swallowed his pride and said with a sheepish grin, “
Oui,
I need you, Wyatt.”
 

Wyatt tipped his hat back and uncoiled himself from the chair, a big grin splitting his face.

“
Oh
,
hell
, Bai
.
D
id you
really th
ink I’d leave you alone in there?
I thought it would take you
about another hour before you caved
.
Damn, it didn’t even take you that long.
N
ot to worry
. The midwives Elena hired are waiting in the infirmary.
We just need to give them the signal and they’ll join us.”

He put his arm around Bai’s shoulder
s
and headed to the door.
He stopped and went back to his chair
. Reaching
down
by the side
he
pulled out
two
bottle
s
of Bai’s best brandy.

“Don’t want to forget the most important supplies, right? C’mon, Bai.
Let’s go birth us some babies.”

~~~

Wyatt walked over to Elena’s bed and leaned down and kissed her.
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

“H
ello,
Father.
I wondered when you were going to join us. You’re here a little sooner than I thought…”

“Hi baby.
How’s my darlin
’
?
Y
eah, Bai decided it might be a good idea to call in the reserves.
He
hasn’t thrown up on you yet, has he, honey?”

“Not yet, Father.
Although it was a close call when my water broke.
”

Bai tried not to
act affronted
,
but it was hard not to
show his annoyance
.

“If you
two
have finished amusing yourselves at my expense
,
perhaps we can get on with the birth of my children.”

“Uh
,
oh.
I think your husband is pissed, darlin.’
Hell, Bai, it isn’t as though you didn’t ask for it.
But, I tell you what.
We’ll keep this
among
the three of us.”

Wyatt went to the cabinet and took down t
wo
glasses.

“Here you go, Bai.
If I’ve ever seen you need a drink, it’s now. Let’s put together a little work plan.
Madam Huang and Madam Wu will be here shortly.
We’ll let the ladies do the heavy lifting, okay, Bai?
My job will be oversight.
I’ll make sure that everything is on track and spot any potential problems.
Bai, your job is to grab hold of that infamous control of yours and become
t
he Frenchman birth partner
extraordinaire
.
That means
you
need to guzzle that glass of brandy
. Then
come and sit by your beautiful young
wife and
tell her in every way you know that she is doing great.
Got it?”

Bai relaxed for the first time in hours
,
but he couldn’t shake his regret or his
concern.

“Damn, Elena, I’m sorry.
I never knew this process would be so…so physical.
Are you all right
,
cherie
? Christ, if there was any way I could take
over
this pain for you…”

“But you
can’t,
Bai.
Just don’t leave me.
If I get scared, hold me, promise?
”

“Ah,
bebe
, I promise.
I love you
,
Elena.”

Elena nodded
,
then groaned.
Bai jumped
to
his
feet
but sat back
down when
Wyatt put his hands on
Bai’s
shoulders
,
easing him back in the chair.

Wyatt said, “Breathe.”

When
Bai
closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Wyatt said with a wry chuckle, “You
,
too, Elena.”

Ignoring Wyatt
,
Bai
smiled gamely at Elena
,
who blew out several puffs of air
,
then settled back against the pillows and closed her eyes
, her face screwed up tight with pain
.

Wyatt let her ride ou
t
the contraction and checked his watch.

“Okay, darlin’ that was about forty-five seconds. That’s good.
It means the little devils have every intention of joining us tonight.
”

Bai quirked an eyebrow
,
trying to imagine what could possibly be good about forty
-
five
seconds
of pain for Elena
,
but was heartened by her smile at her father.

Wyatt moved over next to her and smoothed back her hair.

“You know, honey
,
I haven’t seen you naked since you were about eight years old
.
We’ll let the midwives do the internal
exams but
I need to get the lay of the land here.
That okay with you?”

Elena laughed.

“It’s okay,
Father.
You can pretend I am one of the dozens of mares you and I birthed together
or when you taught me to birth babies when I was nine years old.
It’s amazing how things that are usually problematic
fade in importance in the face of what really matters.”

“Damn right, honey.
F
irst I want to take a look at your tummy.
Both Bai and I need to feel around a bit and make sure th
e
little fellows are headed down the right track.
Got
ta
make some use of
those
five months of
book learning
you did, right, Bai?
”

Bai rolled his eyes
grimacing
at Wyatt
.

“At least on an intellectual level
,
if not a practical one
,
I am conversant
w
ith
the birth process.
”

Wyatt
raised an eyebrow and said
in a dry voice.
“Let’s see if you fe
e
l that way ten hours from now.”

Wyatt
pulled down the sheet
,
then s
t
epped back
, startled
.
H
e pointed to
the sapphire bosom rings on Elena’s breasts.

“
Jesus Christ
,
Elena
. And
you too
,
Bai
.
What the hell are these
?”

Elena smiled and her eyes danced.

“Aren’t they beautiful, Father
?
Bai gave them to me as a wedding present.
He wanted to give me something that you and Grandfather hadn’t already given me.
”

“
Well, hell.
I
gotta
say, th
ese
w
ere
a safe
choice
!”

Bai chuckled and winked at Elena.

“I s
uggested she not wear the
jewels f
or the birth
,
but
Elena
insisted that
she
wanted the
babies’
firs
t
glimpse of her to be
‘
fancy
.
’
”

Wyatt stood still pondering the extraordinary sapphire rings. He
pulled
a cigarette
out of his pocket
and lit it.

“
Can you nurse with those on
?”

Elena smiled at h
er
father’s chagrin.

“
Apparently
,
I can
.
At least that is what Chou Li assured us when he pierced my nipples.
You have to
pierce them correctly
or they can interfere with nursing.”

“Christ, honey.
Be careful the
little tykes don’t swallow them.”

Elena gave him a prim smile
,
but her eyes were dancing.

“
To date
,
Bai hasn’t
swallowed them and
he is probably more energetic than newborn babies.
”

Wyatt shook his head and muttered under his breath something about “damn foolery
,
” but continued probing her
dis
tended abdomen.
Bai stood at her side and held her hand.
He marveled at the relief he felt.
Christ, he should have insisted that Wyatt
was with them f
rom
the
beginning
and
hell
,
he was going to get another bottle of that brandy.