"Mama we were so worried," Tricia cried into the receiver of the phone after Shaundra finally decided to call her family and put them out of their misery. "We didn't know what to think when Ichiro called. The last thing I remembered was that you were leaving him and Japan and coming home."
"That was the plan," Shaundra replied. "But a big damn earthquake and tsunami stopped me." There were still some things about that day that she couldn't remember.
"We prepared for the worst, but I didn't feel it in my heart that you were dead."
"I kind of figured the Lord had something special planned for me," Shaundra told her.
"How are you feeling? Are you staying away from salt and taking your medications?" Tricia asked.
"I'm fine and yes, I'm following the doctor's orders to the letter. But baby there's something I have to tell you."
"Please don't tell me you're a diabetic."
Shaundra chuckled. "No, but I have gained a lot of weight recently."
"I don't believe that. What have you been gorging yourself with?"
"Love," she replied. "Ichiro and I are expecting a baby."
There was a pause. "Expecting what?" Tricia finally asked.
"A baby."
Another paused. "You mean you're considering adopting a baby. Juanda did mention that to me a few months back when she called to tell me that my mother was involved in yet another scandal on YouTube." She chuckled. "My friends at school think you are so cool. And they're reading your books.
I'm sort of a celebrity by proxy."
"Congratulations. I hope you're actually getting some classes in and not hanging out in the recreation hall."
"No, I'm working hard and my grades are fantastic."
Tricia was a journalism major and dreamed of traveling the world and writing articles for big-name magazines.
"Now back to what I was trying to tell you. I'm pregnant."
"What?" Tricia asked. "How can you be pregnant? Aren't women your age supposed to be menopausal or something?"
"Apparently not," Shaundra answered. "I still had a period, but I noticed that it had thinned out some over the years, but there was still some spotting once a month...nothing heavy so I figured I was sliding into perimenopause, but apparently Ichiro has some mighty powerful sperm."
"Aww, gross Mama," Tricia said. "I must have the only mother in the world who has no problem discussing her sordid sex life with and a hot Asian pop singer with her impressionable daughter."
Tricia was such an innocent and hated it when she spoke about sex.
"Are you sure? Have you taken tests?"
"Yes, in fact I was hospitalized in the beginning. The change in my hormones sent my pressure up to record proportion and I blacked out. Satoshi and Takumijo found me unconscious lying on the floor in my bedroom and rushed me to the hospital. That's when the test was done and sure enough they found a bun in the oven." She paused. "Two buns in the oven to be exact."
Tricia screamed so loudly that Shaundra had to remove the receiver away from her ear. "Are you serious? I'm going to be a big sister?"
"Yes, you're going to be a big sister."
"That mean I'm going to have someone to boss around.
You know being the baby in the family is sorely overrated."
Shaundra chuckled. Tricia was a bit melodramatic.
"When are they due?"
"Late September or early October," Shaundra replied. "But I think the doctor is going to put me in the hospital before then. He's very concerned because of my hypertension."
"What does Ichiro think about all of this?" Tricia asked.
Shaundra refused to tell her the story that led up to Ichiro finding out. Some things were better left unsaid. "He couldn't be happier. I swear the man is walking around on a cloud."
"And he should be. So everything is okay between the two of you?"
"Yes," Shaundra lied. "Things are great." Well they were better than they were before she decided to leave him. He was spending more time at home and he'd hired someone to help with the construction of the new restaurants in Kyoto.
"Try not to deliver until October," Tricia said. "I'll try to come for visit."
Unlike her, her kids were not afraid to fly. "That would be just the best thing ever," Shaundra said. "And I know Satoshi will be glad to see you."
"How is he?" Tricia asked.
"Still Satoshi. Very inquisitive and a bit of a devil and also becoming one of my dearest friends."
"Define that."
"No, I'm not sharing my bed with him if that's what you're thinking. I swear. I don't know where I got this reputation from. If these guys weren't idols, no one would think anything of me dancing or talking to them."
Tricia squealed again. "I'm going to be a big sister. I can't wait to see them. I bet they will be beautiful babies with long jet black hair and blue eyes."
"Blue eyes are rare in Asia. Ichiro is just so special, but I don't think the babies will have blue eyes. Don't forget they will have an African American mother."
"True, but you are beautiful, so they are bound to take after you."
"I'm just hoping for healthy," Shaundra said, suddenly feeling hungry. She looked over at the clock. It was very late in the United States. "You better get off this phone and go to bed. I'm sure you've got a test or something to take tomorrow."
"Okay, Mama. I can take a hint. I'll call to check up on you in a couple of days. Please try to stay out of trouble until then."
Shaundra grimaced. "Bye baby." She hung up the phone.
Why did everyone think she was a troublemaker?
The door to the bedroom opened and Ichiro came in carrying a tray of food. Right on time. She wondered if he'd heard her stomach growl.
"Good morning, beautiful wifey," he said placing the tray on the table next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Like a beached whale. You know you didn't have to go to all this trouble. I'm perfectly capable of coming downstairs and eating at the table with the guys."
"The doctor said you have to take it easy and be on bed rest." He had escorted her to a doctor's office the day after she came back home. "I've looked up the fancy terms he said so don't try to fool me."
Shaundra smiled smugly. He was getting too big for his britches.
"And besides it gives me some alone time with you." He spread a napkin onto her lap, place some of the bowls on a smaller tray, and then he pulled the chair up to the bed. He started lifting the tops of the bowls, displaying succulent no- salt dishes.
"I hope you plan on sharing some of this food with me,"
Shaundra said.
"No, I've already eaten," he said. He sat down and lifted a bowl. "But I plan to feed you." He uncovered a bowl of grits and scooped some into a spoon and fed it to her.
While she chewed Ichiro sat patiently watching and then her stomach moved. His eyes widened and then he smiled.
Shaundra's heart flipped. Damn traitorous babies loved him already. She sighed. And to think he was prepared to sacrifice the fatherhood experience to be with her.
Ichiro lifted the tray aside, moved the covers off her, lifted her gown, and waited for her stomach to move again. The babies responded and wiggled. His hands covered the spot.
"Little Satoshi is very frisky," he replied. He leaned and kissed the spot. I can't wait to start parenting and Lamaze classes."
"I hope you'll be just as excited with two am feedings and poopy diaper changes."
He lowered her gown and re-covered her. "I plan to help you one-hundred percent," he said.
Shaundra grimaced. She'd heard that line before. Four other times to be exact.
Someone knocked at the door.
"Come in," Ichiro said after making sure she was decent.
Satoshi entered. "I just came up to see how you're feeling."
"I'm okay," Shaundra said as Ichiro fed her another spoonful of grits.
Satoshi crawled into the bed and lay down next to her. He rose up on his elbow and watched.
Ichiro looked but did not comment.
"Are you sure?" Satoshi asked. "Because I don't want you to overdo it."
"Thanks for the concern. Why are you in our bed?"
Shaundra asked.
"Because we've all decided to share the experience. These are our first babies and we don't want to miss a moment. Plus this may be the only chance of being in a bed with you," he said batting his eyelashes at her.
"You got that part right," Ichiro said. "Just this once. I don't want you to get any ideas of a threesome in the near future. You're cute, but not that cute."
Shaundra chuckled. "I'm already a threesome. But I won't lie. I have thought about what it would be like with the two of you."
Ichiro opened his mouth to protest.
Shaundra winked at him "So what was it like?" Satoshi asked suddenly interested.
"This fantasy of yours?"
"A lot like it is now with one of you getting very jealous."
"I am not jealous," Ichiro said. "And you better only be fantasizing for your books. These guys are still off-limits, especially this one."
Shaundra reached over and ruffled Satoshi's hair and then stroked his brow. "Sorry. I'll just have to visit you in my dreams."
Satoshi chuckled and slid out of the bed. "I'll take that for now." He headed toward the door. "Seriously do you need anything?"
"I might have to go out shopping. I need bigger clothes."
"I don't think you have to worry about that," he said.
"Apparently Harper has anticipated your needs. Boxes have been arriving all morning from every maternity boutique in Japan."
"What?" Shaundra asked.
"It's true," Ichiro said. "Even though I don't understand why he's buying my pregnant wife clothes." He sighed. "They are piling up in the den. That man is so strange."
There is nothing strange about him. Harper is kind and loving and so not supposed to be on my mind at the moment.
"I'm surprised he's thinking of me after..."
"After what?" Ichiro asked.
"Nothing," Shaundra said remembering the terrible beating he suffered at the hands of Yori and Takumijo.
"I better go," Satoshi said trying to escape before he would have to explain their actions.
"I know you two are hiding something from me," Ichiro said. "I won't ask you to explain because I have more important things to do like feed my two sons."
"That's too much food for them," Satoshi said looking over at the big tray.
"I'm not talking about feeding them that way," Ichiro said.
"Yuck," Satoshi said this time hurrying to the door. "No explanations necessary."
The door closed and Ichiro got up and locked it. "No more distractions. You need to eat."
By now the grits were cold and the food in her stomach started to protest. "Ich I think I'm going to be sick."
Ichiro moved the food and Shaundra made a mad dash for the bathroom.
Oh, my poor baby, Ichiro thought as he held Shaundra's shoulder-length hair back as she threw up everything he'd fed her. Finally it was nothing but drive heaves.
He helped her rise to her feet, flushed the toilet and put the seat down. Shaundra sat down on top of it looking exhausted.
"I'd change places with you if I could," Ichiro told her, wetting a washcloth and using it to wipe her face, brow and neck.
"No you wouldn't," she replied. "Men say that but they don't mean it." She rose, walked over to the sink, and brushed her teeth and gargled. Then she turned on the shower and began shucking out of her soiled nightgown and underwear.
Ichiro watched fascinated at how her body had changed since the last time he had seen her naked over four months ago. Her breasts had grown bigger and full, her hips had spread, and her butt looked bouncier. His eyes landed on her swollen abdomen. The doctor had explained that she was showing so much because of having two babies instead of one inside of her. There was no way she could hide the fact that she was pregnant from anyone. He smiled. It must have come to quite a surprise to her when she actually heard the words from the doctor's lips. "Do you need any help?" he asked after he cleaned up the bathroom and put her dirty clothes into the hamper.
"I think you've helped enough," she snapped at him.
Oh, oh hormones. The doctor had told him about that too.
From what he had read on the subject some women had some serious mood swings. He sat down on the toilet seat and waited. Moments later she exited, dripping wet from head to toe. Ichiro grabbed two towels, wrapped one around her hair, and began toweling her off with the other, surprised as his body's response after witnessing her vomiting no more than fifteen minutes ago. He wrapped the towel around her while he stepped out of the bathroom to get her robe.
"Here slip this on," he told her helping her out the towel.
The robe barely buttoned.
Shaundra glared at him.
"Don't kill me. I'll buy you a bigger one today," he told her.
"So, you're saying I'm fat?"
Ichiro's eyes widened. Wrong choice of words. "No, I just think a bigger robe would be more comfortable for the babies."
Shaundra rolled her eyes at him and walked past him and entered the bedroom. She sat down at the vanity prepared to tackle her hair. She removed the towel. Her hair had curled in an interesting pattern of thick curls that looked like an Afro.
Ichiro took out the blow dryer, the diffuser and looked for the biggest comb he could find.
"There is no way you can comb my hair with that," she said pointing at the wide-tooth comb. "I have an afro pick and a bush comb in the top right drawer."
Ichiro left her and found the combs. "I don't know where to begin. It's just so much."
"Regardless of what you may believe African American sisters all don't have good hair."
Ooh, she was pulling the race card. Maybe he should let her do it. He handed her the dryer and watched her go to work on her mane. A half hour later it lay down her back after she flat ironed it. "Damn babies," she muttered as she rose from the chair and climbed back into bed.
He still had a raging hard-on but he was afraid she'd neutered him. "Can I ask you a question? How long is all this going to last?"
"All of what?"
"That," he said indicating her attitude.
"Three more months give or take a day," Shaundra answered angrily.
Ichiro bowed. "Maybe I should go and let you get some rest."
"Good idea," Shaundra replied.
Ichiro gathered up the trays of food and hightailed it out of the room. He found Takumijo and Satoshi seated at the breakfast table looking lonely and depressed. "What are you lumps doing?"
"Waiting for our breakfast," Takumijo replied.
Ichiro frowned at them. "You mean to tell me that you guys were too lazy to get your food out of the kitchen?"
"You have us spoiled," Satoshi replied flipping his bangs out of his eyes. "It's not our fault you knocked up Shaundra and have to see to her needs first."
Takumijo shook his head in agreement. "I knew things were going to change the moment I saw that big belly."
"You'd better not let her hear you say anything about her weight," Ichiro warned carrying the tray into the kitchen and returning a few minutes later with their breakfast and a cup of tea for himself. He sat down after he served them.
"What's wrong with you?" Satoshi asked him.
"I don't think I'm going to make it three more months,"
Ichiro confessed. "Shaundra's like Linda Blair in The Exorcist."
Takumijo nearly choked on his food. "What do you mean?"
"She's all nice and loving one minute and then she tries to snap my head off the next."
"Which head?" Satoshi asked.
Ichiro threw him a murderous look. "We never even got that far. She got morning sickness right after you got out of bed and left the room.
Takumijo nearly choked again. "Huh?"
"Long story," Ichiro said.
"Maybe I should have stayed," Satoshi replied. "Apparently the babies prefer my company to yours."
"You guys had a threesome?" Takumijo asked suddenly interested.
"Yes," Satoshi lied.
"Hell no," Ichiro replied. "Satoshi is just trying to be funny.
I asked her one simple question when she finished showering and she turned on me, blaming her condition on me and damning the babies."
"Hormones," Takumijo said going back to his meal.
"That the same thing I thought," Ichiro said. "But I kept waiting for her eyes to change colors like they do when a person is possessed by the devil."
Satoshi chuckled. "Better get used to it. Three months is a very long time."
"I don't think I can go without sex that long," Ichiro replied. "I've waited four months already and her breasts are humongous now."
Satoshi stopped chewing. "Define humongous."
Ichiro showed their size with his hands.
"No," Satoshi said with a moan. "And I was lying up real close to them."
"I would feel sorry for you if I didn't feel sorry for myself,"
Ichiro said with a groan. "When is Cristal due back?"
"Saturday," Satoshi replied. "Why?"
"Because I might have to take her up on her kind offer to be the cream in our cookie."
Takumijo spat food. "What?"
"You heard me. I'm getting desperate," Ichiro said with a groan.
"No way, Jose," Satoshi told him. "Cristal is off-limits."
"Why?" Ichiro asked. "You shared her with Yi-jun, Hyung."
Satoshi glared at him. "You touch her and I'll kick your ass."
Ichiro smirked at Takumijo. "Did I threaten to kick your ass this morning when you crawled into bed with my wife?
This is a family. We share."
"There's nothing in the world you can do or say to get me to agree with that," Satoshi replied.
Ichiro took down his hair and shook it in front of his face.
Satoshi stopped what he was doing and looked at it.
"You don't need Cristal," Takumijo replied going back to his meal. "Satoshi's yours for the taking."
Ichiro batted his eyes at Satoshi who looked at him all dreamy.
"Do you think he's serious?" Satoshi asked Takumijo.
Takumijo shrugged.
Ichiro enjoyed bating Satoshi. "Cristal likes my hair."
That snapped him out of the stare. "You bastard."
Ichiro and Takumijo chuckled.
"What are you going to do? Are you just going to let Yi-jun have her?" Ichiro asked.
"I don't know," Satoshi said. "But if I were you I'd put that hair away." He pointed toward Takumijo.
Takumijo was teasing him, running his tongue over his bottom lip.
Ichiro fixed his hair quickly. "I forgot about him."
"Maybe we should put him out of his misery," Satoshi said suddenly switching the game.
Takumijo nodded. "Just say the word and I'll be all over him."
"You guys are horrible," Ichiro said rising. "You can't take a joke."
Satoshi chuckled. "No, but we could rock your world baby."
"You guys better be kidding. I am not a girl and I've put two buns in Shaundra's oven."
"Well it is either Shaundra or us to help your little problem because Cristal is off-limits," Takumijo replied.
"I think I'll just go take a cold shower," Ichiro replied dashing out of the kitchen.
