FlakJacket (22 page)

“Nothing has come to me. I just see his sweet little face.”

“He can’t be born without a name, so get on that.”

“So demanding.”

He helped her to settle more fully onto the bed in a semi-sitting position. Her legs were covered with a blanket and he could see another contraction coming. “Breathe, babe. Just breathe through it.” He held her hand in his and rubbed her stomach with his other hand, soft soothing circles as the muscles under his hand locked. “Are they getting harder?” She closed her eyes and nodded. He checked for her dilation, and she was well along. “This is going to be a fast birth, I think. Take your own pain away if it gets too bad.”

“This is going to be our last minutes alone, Jordan. We will have a new member of our family in an hour or two, so let me get this out.” He waited to hear what she has to say. “You are everything I could have asked for in a man. I know you didn’t want this or me, but you were the chosen one; I didn’t make a mistake.”

“I didn’t make one either.” He kissed her lips softly.

He hit the pad of the phone and connected with Dr. Lambert. “She’s about seven centimeters dilated. I think the nurse should come as soon as she is able. I’ll unlock the front door for her and try to get some shoveling done on the steps and walkway. Stay with me, doc.”

“I will. You go, and I’ll call Lucy for you.”

Madison looked with shining eyes at Jordan. It had taken hours, but the baby was coming as he worked to help him through the birth canal, his capable hands supporting him and his demeanor, calm. Madison’s small voice could be heard: “His name will be Kai, if you don’t mind.”

“Kai,” was all Jordan answered. “Good name.” She pushed one last time, and his son arrived his hands. The nurse had arrived minutes earlier to help with the afterbirth and with cleaning Madison and the baby. Her brisk, no-nonsense manner made Jordan relax. She patted him on the back as she gave him high marks for the birth.

Madison was now asleep; the new baby lay in the wooden cradle he had made, swathed in blue with a cap, and the neonatal nurse was coming back to check on them in the afternoon. The baby had even nursed a bit. It had been a long night, but Jordan had delivered the boy.

He sat beside the cradle watching his son. He had a full head of dark hair, and his dark blue eyes were replicas of his father’s. Jordan touched the little face with his fingertip; he was met with the intense gaze of the baby’s eyes as they connected. This little one would have power, and they were joined, father and son. He leaned into the cradle to kiss the baby’s forehead and thanked God for his safe delivery. There was a God. Jordan knew that now.

A
s soon as the roads were clear, Jordan took Madison and Kai to the hospital. Dr. Lambert welcomed him warmly, and Madison was whisked away to an examining room. Kai was taken by the pediatrician from Jordan’s arms as the two men met for the first time. He was encouraged to go with his son for an examination and tests.

“Tell Madison where I am, please.” This was addressed to the nurse in Dr. Lambert’s office.

“She’ll be awhile, Jordan. You go ahead, and I’ll call you if you’re needed.”

“Thanks. I’d appreciate that.” The story of the winter birth was making the rounds in the hospital wing. Just what he needed, another story about Madison, but this story was about him, and it created ripples across the ocean in Jordan where his half cousin stomped up and down the hallway of his summer home. He had been expecting his package—
the white witch
—for three weeks. She hadn’t appeared even though he had made careful plans with the senator; it took him almost a week to find out that she was not in hand. This was the third time he had lost her; the first was when she was rescued from the Jordanian border before he could get to her when his forces overran it. The second time, his ship The Zephr Wind was boarded by the authorities, missing her transfer from her captors. Now the child had been born, and Malik did not have him, either.

He stared at newspaper after newspaper with pictures of the snowstorm of the century and the child who was born in the middle of it. Great natural events were precursors of exceptional men; this child should be his. His grandmother had predicted that he would sire the child of the white witch. He had been raised on that idea, but his half-American cousin had taken the woman. Jordan’s American father would have been proud.

He canceled the contract with Malik for April 5
^th
. He would have to rework everything now that the child was here. Malik received the Senator’s fax, canceling the deal. He needed the power that the child would hold, and the senator had told him it would be his for a price. Now, that plan, too, lay in ruins. New plans would have to be put in place.

Jordan sat on the floor with three-year-old Kai, tickling his stomach as he laughed and waved his arms and legs at him and cried, “Daddy. Stop it!” His mirror image never ceased to hold his father spellbound. His wife was speaking tonight at a benefit for the refugee crisis; new legislation was proposed, and she was to speak on the floor of Congress in the next three months. Jordan couldn’t be happier than he was. Tim travelled with her; she was much happier to have Jordan stay with the child.

Kai was ahead in his development, but that was no surprise to his father. Jordan had sworn that the boy levitated his toys by moving his hands, but he didn’t tell Madison that. And he couldn’t really be sure since there were toys everywhere for the boy. Now Kai wiggled off his father’s lap and raced around the room laughing. Jordan let him go, warning him about falling. Then he chased him; it was a good thing Madison wasn’t there. He would be in deep shit. He caught him and tossed him into the air as he screamed delightedly. Kai was supposed to be bathed and in bed asleep before Madison came home; Jordan had better get a move on—he had fifteen minutes and Kai wasn’t good at pretending he was asleep especially when his mother came home.

He swept the little boy into his arms and marched him into the bathroom, sitting him down to undress him. He turned on the water and let it run. Kai watched his father work on getting his clothes off before he said, “It’s going to be too hot. You need to add more cold.” Jordan wrinkled his brow and felt the water with his fingers, jerking back; the water was scalding. His son’s guileless blue eyes met his with a clear look.
Jordan adjusted the water flow.

That reminded him of another time when it was raining, and Kai wanted to play outside. Jordan told him it was pouring, and he couldn’t be out in the rain. The boy looked outside, and the rain just stopped. “It’s not raining, Daddy. Let’s go out.” He couldn’t do that, could he? He had asked Madison, but she never gave him a definitive answer.

One of the first arguments between Madison and him had been about correcting Kai. The boy had taken a toy from Michael’s daughter and wouldn’t give it back to her. Madison cajoled him, but Jordan had stepped in firmly, standing directly in front of the child. “This is your choice, little one. Do you want the toy or the friendship of Martine? You can’t have both.”

The little boy looked at the stuffed horse he held and at the little dark-haired girl whom he liked. Then he looked at his father, but there was no guidance there, only resolve. Jordan made him choose. He handed back the horse to Martine to her lovely smile. “Friends?” he queried.

“Friends,” she replied, as she took it.

Jordan took his son’s shoulders and turned him, kneeling down. “Remember when you take from another what is not yours, there is always a price to pay.” Jordan’s stern tones made Madison sit up and take notice. She never interfered in his disciplining of Kai again. There was a mutual respect between the two—her son and her love.

Madison had stopped her birth control pills without telling Jordan. It was an awful thing to do to him, and she knew he would be upset, but she wanted his daughter; her vision of the blonde-haired cherub would not leave her thoughts, and she had warned him that he would have a daughter. They had talked of other children, but Jordan just wasn’t ready, and he was enjoying the bond he shared with his son. He would have to be pulled along, kicking and screaming as usual until he decided the baby was his own idea. And she would make sure it WAS his idea.

Jordan sat back in his office looking over Madison’s schedule for the next two weeks. She had received a notice from the Senate foreign relations committee that she was to testify in two months. Neville Hauser wasn’t done with her, and Jordan saw red. The man had been warned, and now Jordan would take him down. He had paper backup for most of the outside deals that had been made with people in Jordan. Madison didn’t know about the summons, yet, and he would have to find a way to tell her. He wasn’t looking forward to that discussion. She was witch, warrior and woman all in one package, and he just wanted to protect her.

His witch was thriving as love and her family surrounded her. He grabbed his jacket, gathered the itinerary that he had to plan and exited his office. Madison was in her tiny office in the Great Room when he came through the front door of the house. Kai was in for his nap, so she was surprised to see her husband home in the middle of the afternoon. Jordan was such a beautiful man, she thought as he crossed the room to her, catching her mouth with a brief kiss. Then the kiss changed as the chemistry between them ignited. She was fire, and she lit the fuse in him.

“Kai in for his nap?” he asked between kisses.

“Yes,” she said in a breathless reply.

“Good. And he pulled her from her chair, wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her towards the plush couch nearest them. His hands moved to her neck as he continued to explore her face with small kisses, and then they moved to the buttons on her blouse. So beautiful, he thought. He was one lucky guy. He bared the tops of her breasts, and now his kisses became biting, stirring an equal response in her.

“No biting,” She admonished. His feral smile was her only response as his teeth continued their assault. Her hands slipped beneath the waistband of his dress pants and palmed his ass before moving around to caress the fullness of him. Her hands slid up and down, as he continued to disrobe her.

“What if Kai gets up?”

“He’ll see his mother and father making love, then, won’t he? But you can be quiet, can’t you?”

“If the men...”

“I told them I would be in charge of your close protection for the remainder of the afternoon. Stop thinking, Witch. I want you, and I want you now, here under me.”

His words stirred her blood, and she pulled at his tie. “I want you naked, too, and then we’ll see.” She teased him with her smile.

“Oh we will, will we?’ She broke from his mouth and unbuttoned his shirt as he slipped off the offending tie and threw it. Her opened blouse fell from her shoulders and her bra followed to land somewhere behind him. Jordan was very good at removing clothes; why hadn’t she ever noticed that before? His hands meandered down her abdomen, unsnapping her jeans and pushing the zipper down, sliding the garment and her bikini panties to the floor. She kicked them away. She was naked before him, and he just looked at her. “God, what did I do to deserve you?”

Her hands reached up to caress his face, and he watched her closely as she unbuttoned and unzipped his dress pants:  then he stepped out of them, divesting himself of his briefs as well.

His hands were on her face. “I never dreamed I would find love again, Madison, or happiness like you and Kai have given me.”

“And I have always dreamed of you, Jordan. Your face was with me as a child.” He backed her into the couch and took her down, catching his body on both hands so as not to crush her under him, his mouth on her everywhere once again.

She had to be fair, and he was in the throes of his passion. “Jordan.” She whispered. “I stopped taking my birth control pills.”

There was a brief hesitation as he processed what she said as he balanced himself above her, but then he murmured. “Of course you did, “ and his body unerringly found hers to her gasps of pleasure. So full of him! And the ride had just begun.

Madison lay on the couch, her body relaxed, her hair mussed, her skin reddened from his five o’clock shadow. She pulled the throw over her well-loved body. Jordan had cleaned up and gotten his dress pants on, but he was bare-chested when Kai bounced into the room. The little boy’s eyes saw his father and ran across the room to him jumping. Jordan reached and caught him up in his arms. “You’re home. What are you and Mommy doing?”

Madison’s face colored bright pink, and she pulled the throw further up.

Glancing at his very disheveled wife, Jordan made an executive decision. “We were just talking about making cupcakes.”

Madison’s eyebrows shot up.
Cupcakes?
“Can I help?” Kai asked, and Jordan nodded. “We’ll show your mommy what cupcakes should be.”

Kai looked around the room. “You and mommy are very messy, daddy. You have thrown your clothes all over.” Then he giggled delightedly. “See. I’m not the only one who makes messes, am I?”

Jordan kissed his cheek. “No you’re not. Let’s get you dressed,” and he started down the hall to his room. “Mommy needs some things from the store, so we’ll get them.”

“YES! These will be the bestest cupcakes,” and he squirmed out of Jordan’s arms and tore down the hall and into his room.

Jordan glanced back at Madison. “That was close. You better clean up this mess.” He winked at her.

“Yes, Sir. Since you thought up the
cupcakes,
you can clean the kitchen when we’re done.”

Jordan’s rich laugh filled the room. “You always have an answer, Witch.”

T
hree weeks later, Malik fidgeted on the front porch of Jordan’s home. He was of two minds about whether to be here or not. He wanted to see the child and the woman; he had not told Jordan about his visit, taking the chance that he could see her alone. He knocked on the door. Two men came into his sight on each side of the place; how very Jordan. Madison was in Kai’s room putting clean clothes in his dresser while he played on the floor with his trucks. He looked up at her, his brow furrowed. “Mommy, there’s a bad man on the porch. You shouldn’t open the door.” He continued to push them on the floor making truck noises.