Dearly Beloved (Siren Publishing Allure) (16 page)

“Tomio,” she said. “You’re awake.”

“Hey, doll,” he said, trying not to let her see how upset he was about the shooting and the death of his parents.

Ebony approached the bed. She leaned over and rested her head on his stomach. “I thought I lost you. There was so much blood.”

Tomio pulled his other hand from under the cover and stroked her hair. “It’s going to take a lot more than a couple of bullets to stop me.”

“I was so scared,” Ebony said.

She would be more afraid if she knew what her future now held in store for her. “Damn, I just wished I knew who did this,” Tomio said.

“The license plate number is 937 at the top and 29-20 on the bottom row,” Ebony said.

“What?” Tomio asked. “You memorized it.” That must have been what Eiji was trying to tell him.

“Yeah,” Ebony said. “I used to play this game as a child where I looked at a car’s license and tried to recall it later in the day.”

Makoto copied something down on a small tablet he pulled out of his pocket, and he, Eiji, and Kazuhiko quickly left the room.

“Where are they going?” Ebony asked.

“Out for some air,” Tomio lied. Now that they had a license plate number, they could begin searching for the shooters. “Have you been getting any rest?”

Ebony shook her head. “You know I can’t sleep without you next to me.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m sorry about your parents. Your father died in my arms. His last words were, ‘Take care of Tomio and the baby.’”

“He liked you a lot,” Tomio said. Just last week his father had made him add Ebony’s name to the family register.

Ebony wiped her eyes. “I liked him, too. I just wish your mother and I had patched up our differences.”

“They wouldn’t have wanted us to be sad,” Tomio said. “I need you to be strong. There is a lot of stuff that needs to get done in the coming days.” He held up the sling. “I need you to be my right hand. Do you think you can do it?”

Ebony nodded. “What type of stuff?”

“Help Gina out with the repast. I can’t trust Haruka or Takara. They have no idea what to do.”

“I suppose it’s not much different than the way we say goodbye to our dead,” Ebony said. “I’ll do my best.”

Akira entered the room. “I’m sorry about your folks.”

“Take my wife to the house and help her gather some things. We’ll be staying with the family for a while.”

Akira bowed.

Ebony leaned over and kissed him. “Try to get some sleep and don’t bother the nurses.”

Tomio managed a week smile. “I won’t.” Akira led Ebony out of the room. He wondered how she would take the news that she was now the wife of a yakuza boss.

Tomio was released from the hospital two days later. Ebony felt that her back was up against the wall when he insisted they stay in his suite in his parents’ home. She would much rather be at their apartment where she could comfort and look after him. Tomio was trying to put up a brave front for her benefit. She knew it was asking too much for him to cry. It wasn’t natural to not show any emotions at a time like this. All of her sisters-in-law were walking around the mansion in a daze, even Gina. This left Ebony in a precarious position of being in control of running the home until Gina got her act together. Servants that had looked down on her the first time Tomio brought her there were now treating her like the woman of the house. But it wasn’t her home, and she didn’t like people waiting on her hand and foot as if she was an invalid.

The members of the yakuza were acting strangely, too. They called her
nee-san
, instead of Ebony, or Mrs. Nakamura. She had to look the shit up on the internet to find out what it was. Older sister, a term used for a female involved with the yakuza.
Involved?
She wasn’t involved in shit.

Gina finally came to her senses and told her the true meaning. They were seated in the parlor having tea. “Your husband is now the boss—
oyabun
or
kumicho
—which means, family head. His subordinates are the
kobun
. The
kobun
refer to each other as family members. Tomio is now the father and you are now the mother. Do you understand?”

Ebony nodded, but her brain was trying to come up with a way to get her ass out of this situation. Going back to New Orleans was not an option because Tomio would just track her down again, and it would disgrace him.

“Do you have any enemies?” Gina asked.

Ebony shrugged.

“Well, you do now. Every enemy of the Nakamura Group is now your enemy.”

Ebony pouted. Damn Tomio for getting her into this mess. “I won’t get a tattoo.”

Gina smiled weakly. “Women are not expected to, and we really don’t have a voice in what goes on. We are to look pretty and take care of our men. You will be respected only because you are Tomio’s wife and the future mother of the future
oyabun
.”

“I hope there is some book that I can read up on this shit,” Ebony said.

Gina put down her teacup, rose, and walked over to a bookshelf and removed a book. She brought it over and handed it to Ebony.

“What is this?”

“A book on Japanese customs. We have a funeral to plan.”

She had buried both of her parents and her grandmother. It couldn’t be that different. Ebony opened it and began turning the pages. Crap. It wasn’t the same. “When is this supposed to take place?”

“In two days,” Gina answered. “You can kiss sleep goodbye for a couple of nights because you and I will be up around the clock preparing.”

Ebony frowned. She didn’t think she wanted to be a yakuza bride.

* * * *

A Japanese funeral consisted of a wake, the cremation, the burial into the family grave, and a memorial service. Both Hajime and Setsuko were Buddhists. The shrine, or altar, in their house was covered with white paper to keep out impure spirits of the dead.

The death certificates had been issued. Tomio, being the eldest son, made the funeral arrangements and contacted a temple to hold the event. Hajime and Setsuko’s bodies were with the morticians, who dressed them and put them into their coffins. Setsuko was dressed in a white kimono and Hajime was dressed in a black suit. Six coins were placed in each coffin for crossing the River of Three Crossing. Also included were a couple of Hajime’s favorite cigars, and Setsuko’s favorite candies.

All of the family members were dressed in black for the funeral. She, Gina, Haruka, and Takara wore black kimonos. Prayer beads were carried by all the guests. Small silver and black envelopes containing condolences money were given to the family.

The immediate family sat to the front. A Buddhist priest chanted a section of the sutra. She and the others offered incense to the urn three times in front of the coffins. The guests performed the same ritual in another part of the temple. The wake ended when the priest completed the sutra. The departing guests were given gifts. Eiji and Kazuhiko stayed behind to keep vigil over their parents during the night.

The funeral was held the next day. The same procedure with the incense and the chanting of the sutra by the priest was performed. At the end of the funeral, the guests placed flowers in the caskets. The caskets were then sealed and carried by hearses to the crematorium. After the bodies were cremated, the ash was put in urns and then taken directly to the graveyard. For the next seven days, a memorial service was held for Hajime and Setsuko. Another Buddhist ceremony was performed on the seventh day following the burial. Life got back to normal slowly. Each day Tomio got a little stronger, and the women in the family cried a little less. A day after the last ceremony, Tomio began his new duties as
oyabun
.

“We have the make on the license plate,” Makoto told Tomio a couple of days after the funeral.

They were in Tomio’s office at the Nakamura headquarters. His new advisor, Masaomi Toujou, and Akira were on board for the announcement. Tomio planned to fill Eiji and Kazuhiko in later once the information had been verified. “Who does it belong to?”

“Ren Ayase,” Makoto answered.

Tomio slammed his fist on the desk, startling Makoto. He knew something was up the moment he saw that bitch Eriko at his father’s birthday party. Ren was Eriko’s older brother, and ran the Ayase Group on the north side of town. Ren never liked Tomio and the feeling was mutual. Ren had been jealous of Tomio’s accomplishments in school. They had been rivals in sports, and Tomio’s spurning Eriko’s advances after they had broken up just escalated the problems between them. A marriage between he and Eriko would have formed a powerful alliance with the Nakamura Group, and also raise Ren’s father, Barnri, up the social scale to be equal with Hajime. But Tomio hadn’t had any romantic interest in Eriko after meeting Rika, and that had spoiled everything for the family. He guessed Ren kept up the hope of Tomio changing his mind, even after Barnri’s death a couple of years after they graduated.

Word must have gotten out about his elopement with Ebony. He didn’t know for sure that this was the cause for the attack, but it probably was. Taking out an
oyabun
and his heir would have given Ren control over the Nakamura territory, and made him one of the most powerful yakuza leaders in Japan. Too bad the shooter didn’t have better aim. Tomio had survived, and Ren was now on the top of the Nakamura most wanted list. If it was a turf war Ren wanted, then it was one he would get. Tomio moved his right shoulder in a circular motion. There was still some stiffness. Every evening Ebony insisted on rubbing the salve the doctor had recommended for him. He didn’t like the smell of the stuff, but it did work. He did like the attention though, and Ebony’s delicate touch. Through all of this, she had been very calm and had slid into the role of senior
nee-san
. He’d promised to take her to dinner on the weekend, and he planned to accompany her to the doctor’s appointment later. “Are you sure?” he asked Makoto.

Makoto nodded. “I checked the registration. And get this. His sister was at Pop’s party spreading rumors about your wife. Apparently they had some kind of argument and Ebony threatened to do her bodily harm.”

A few of the guys present chuckled. Tomio silenced them with a murderous glare. Of course he knew all of this. “Who told you?”

“Takara told me,” Makoto answered. “Gina was involved, too. Takara said that Gina slapped Eriko Ayase in the face for insulting Ebony.”

“No doubt Eriko had been there as a spy for her brother and couldn’t help starting shit with my wife.”

“You mean like a distraction?” Masaomi asked.

“Yes.”

“What do you want us to do?” Akira asked.

“You know the answer to that,” Tomio said. “Erase him and his entire family from the face of the earth. They killed our parents and shot me. I want those shooters, too.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Makoto said.

Tomio suspected his younger brother would since he had just as much at stake to lose as the rest of them. Makoto and Akira would do what they had to do quickly, without leaving behind any evidence.

The meeting ended and Tomio was left along with his thoughts. G
oing legitimate will have to wait.

* * * *

“Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to accommodate me today,” Ebony said to Tomio.

Tomio sat next to her in the car. He patted her hand. “I wanted to come. We’re in this together, remember.”

Ebony nodded. She was now in her eight month, her feet were swollen, and her belly and breasts were huge. Things had changed between her and Tomio, too, since the shooting.

They arrived at the doctor’s office and Tomio acted the dutiful husband. He didn’t even make a face when she got on the scale to be weighed. He was also very attentive when the doctor entered to measure her stomach. This time he wanted to discuss the birthing method.

“What choices do I have?” Ebony asked.

“Natural, with or without anesthesia,” the doctor said. “Or if the baby is too big to pass through the birth canal, I might have to perform a Cesarean section. That would be my decision though.”

“We’ll take natural, without the anesthesia,” Tomio said.

Ebony rose up on her elbows so she could see him. She glared at him. “With anesthesia,” she corrected.

Tomio smirked.

“Lots of anesthesia,” she told the doctor. “Knock me out if you have to.”

The doctor chuckled. He turned to Tomio. “Do you want to be in the delivery room with her, Mr. Nakamura?”

Ebony shook her head with a vengeance.

“Yes,” Tomio answered. “Am I allowed to video the event?”

Ebony snarled at him. She lay back down on the examining table. She didn’t know why she even bothered. That husband of hers was going to get his way anyway.

“Yes,” the doctor answered. “We’ll even video tape the happy event for you so you can help your wife push.”

“Great,” Tomio said excitedly. “I can’t wait.”

Ebony couldn’t wait to leave. All this male bonding between him and the doctor made her nervous and hungry.