The Frenchman's Revenge (80 page)

At that moment
,
Wyatt let out a string of curses
. Both Bai
and Elena jumped startled.

“Elena. C
omstock
. McManus. Chang.
What the Goddamn hell is this?
”

Wyatt
pointed to
the clitoral ring that was barely visible at the
top
edge of the sheet.

Elena blushed and
said
in a slightly quavering voice.

“
D
iamond
s
?
”

Wyatt looked flabbergasted.

Bai laid it on thicker.

“Actually
,
most expensive diamond
s
.”

Bai squeezed Elena’s hand and gave her a wicked grin. It felt good to be turning the tables on Wyatt after he had enjoyed himself
so thoroughly
at
Bai’s
expense
.

“I didn’t think it was possible to make your father speechless, Elena, but I believe we have.”

Deciding that now was the time to drive in the knife Bai took a drag off his cigarette and said nonchalantly, “Before you get too interested, Wyatt, there
is a reciproc
al
element to this
intimate
jewel wearing
.”

“
What the hell
do you mean by that?”

“
Have you ever heard of Prince Albert?

Wyatt
gave him a
quizzical
look
,
then understanding flashed over his face. He turned bright red.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Bai.
You can’t mean what I think you mean
,” he said with a pointed glare at Bai’s crotch.

Bai threw back his head and roared. He got control of himself
,
then grinned wickedly at Wyatt.

“
You’re
showing your age
,
Wyatt
.
Where’s your spirit of adventure?”

Wyatt muttered, “I’m s
howing
a hell of a lot more than that
. I
t
’
s
called common sense.
”

He stood back and ran his hands through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. Looking at the
two of
them smiling at him
and at each other,
he shook his head and gave a little shrug.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and the legendary twinkle lit up his eyes.

“
On the other hand
…
Lei does like diamonds.
The bigger the better.
”

Their frivolity was cut short by Elena’s contraction. For the first time, she cried out
,
startled
by the
intensity
of the pain.
Wyatt immediately w
ent
into coaching mode
,
setting
an example for Bai.

“
Okay, honey.
Now the little guys are letting you know they are serious
about
this venture.
Hang in there while Bai times this contraction and we’ll get ready for the next one.”

The midwives arrived shortly after the contraction
ended
and were able to check the babies’ progress in the birth canal before the next contraction began. A
long night became longer
as Elena’s labor began in earnest.

~~~

Bai looked at the clock
,
startled to see that Elena had been in labor for
seventeen
hours. Her contractions were coming ever
y
minute now and Bai fought to keep from screaming when she did.
His body was as
damp
with sweat as hers was. He brushed her hair back off her forehead and twisted the
wet
curls up on her head once again.
He held her hand, rubbed her back,
fed
her sips of water, murmured comforting words and promised himself that
,
as God
is
his witness
,
he w
ill
never allow her to get pregnant again.

If there was some way he could stop
the process midstream
,
end the fucking mess
,
he would do it. Why had no one told him that his wife, the woman he loved more than anything in the world
,
w
ould
endure
countless
hour
s
of torture? How the hell could Wyatt have put Lei through this twice,
one time
with fucking twins?
Jesus, what
selfish bastard
s men
are.
And claiming ignorance didn’t cut it.
Even if the coward
ly assholes
didn’t participate in the birth, they couldn’t pretend the
y didn’t hear the screaming. He’d
never
considered
joining the women’s suffrage movement
,
but given their drive for birth control he was damn well going to become their biggest contributor
. Hell, he’d not only donate money, he’d march in the streets. Anything he could do to stop this barbaric practice.
Goddamn m
en implanting their seed, impregnating women
,
all to demonstrate their manliness, forcing their women to go though this hideous torture. Christ
,
it had to
stop
!
And he was going to make it his life’s mission that it did.

Looking at Elena’s swollen face
,
he prayed to a god he
was sure had abandoned them.
P
lease, God, let these babies come now.
My Elena can’t take much more.

Elena’s body was slick with sweat
her eyes large and
black
with pain. S
he looked at him imploringly.

“Bai, Father, I think something is happening.
I…I…need to push!”

Wyatt and the two midwives moved
int
o action.
And Bai did
,
as well.
His
tormented
thoughts were things of the past.
His only focus was Elena and their babies. For the next five minutes he held her, encouraged her, praised her
,
and loved her. When he thought the
r
e was no way she could continue
,
there was a sudden rush
of activity
.
Wyatt’s
voice
roared through his ears
like
wind
through a
tunnel.

“I see the head, honey.
That’s the way darlin
.’ Now baby girl, now.
Now, you need to push that baby out.”

Miraculously
,
a tiny blue body slithered out after the head and Wyatt called out in a gruff voice.

“You have a son, Bai.
A beautiful little boy, Elena. Christ, I’m not joshing. This is one beautiful baby.”

The midwives
’
aides
came out of nowhere and took the wailing baby
to the
bassinet
table t
o clean him
a
nd keep him warm.
Bai stayed at Elena’s side
,
painfully
aware that they were only halfway through.
But the gods had mercy and in a
blessedly
short period of time Wyatt’s triumphant cry declared that Bai also had a daughter.

Later
Bai would try to reconstruct th
ose miraculous t
wenty minutes
,
but try as he would they were
a blur, lost in the exalted agony of the moment
.

The first focused memories he had were when the midwives delivered the after birth and he worked with them to
clean
Elena’s blood stained body. After he had washed and dried her body, he helped
her put on
a clean nightgown.
All the while
,
h
e held her and praised her as astonished as she was at the miracle that they had wrought.
He waved off her concern about the
bloody
indentations
from
her fingernails
on his arms and chest. T
hey wept together in
relie
ved joy
.

O
blivious
of
the wailing babies he heard in the background
,
he
focused entirely on Elena. When he added a fourth pillow behind her back and had brushed her hair off her face and kissed her for the hundredth time, he finally allo
wed himself to hear the
infants’ cries
.

He looked up to see Wyatt standing in front of them
,
holding a tiny buddle in the crook of each arm.
W
et tracks that he hadn’t bothered to wipe
away marked Wyatt’s face
. His eyes were shining
,
as though he had seen a miracle. A moment later, Bai knew that he had.

“Are you two ready to meet your children?
”

U
ntil Wyatt put the
babies
in his arms, Bai had thought it impossible to love more deeply or more intensely than he loved Elena.
He
knew
he would love his children
,
but he
didn’t know
where
he would find
that additional
love.
He
held the sleeping babies in his arms and Elena leaned against him, peering over his shoulder, cooing in delight. At that moment
,
Bai knew the love he and
Elena
shared
had miraculously expanded and now instead of the two of them their love encompassed the four of them
.

~~~

They had agreed to give the
babies
both a Chinese and
European
name as Lei and Wyatt had done.
With
Wyatt
and
Lei’s
blessing
,
they planned
to
name a girl Vivian Ming after
Elena’s
mother
and Bai’s grandmother.
A
boy would
be
Joseph Dewu
after
Elena’s great grandfather and Bai’s grandfather.

Bai and Elena marveled
at
the precious creatures they held in
their arms
.

Elena stroked
Joseph
De
wu
’s hair
.

“
L
ook
,
Bai,
h
is
hair
is
as black as yours.”

She touched his
soft
face and he opened his eyes squinting at the bright light.

Bai laughed in delight.

“Why
Dewu
, you look like your grandfather.”

Bai grinned at Wyatt.

“He has your eyes, Wyatt, and yours, Elena. Goddamn
,
he is beautiful. You were right about that, Wyatt.

“
L
ook at Vivian
Ming
’
s
hair.
I think I see a little red, what do you
think,
Elena
?”

Elena smiled
,
running her fingers over the few sprigs of hair
sticking up on the top of
the
tiny head.

“
Most
definitely. A
t least
I hope
it will be red
.
”