White Diamonds (21 page)

He ran to her side, relieved that the doctor had arrived.

“Malika, time to push.”

“I can’t.”

The doctor gave Kevin a look of concern, and the new father gently encouraged Malika to push.  “It’s almost here, baby.  You can do it.”  He held her up and waited for his son to enter the world.  Though the baby was early and appeared to be smaller than a full term infant, the child was healthy and appeared to have no problems.

“It’s a boy!”

Malika lay back down and Kevin held her shaking hands.

“You gave me a son, baby.”

The young woman smiled at her proud husband.  She was exhausted.

The doctor left the room, leaving Malika in the hands of the rude nurse who immediately turned to the woman’s non-white husband.

“Do you have a place to stay?”

Kevin was not going to leave his wife, but to answer the woman’s question, he didn’t have a place to stay.  The house was not scheduled to be rented to them for another two weeks.

“I plan to stay with Malika.”

“I don’t think so, sir.  Malika needs her rest and the baby will spend the night in the nursery.”

Malika had fallen asleep and Kevin just stood there not knowing what to do.

“You cannot stay here.  There are plenty of motels right off the highway.”

Malika was wheeled away and Kevin walked slowly to his jeep.  This can’t be right, can it?  Malika is my wife.  He should have insisted upon the baby being born on the reservation.  That was the best way, with family around.  If he had been a white man, the nurse would have welcomed him with open arms.

Kevin drove to a secluded park but he slept very little as he thought about his son in the cold sterile environment of the hospital.  At six in the morning he was back at the hospital asking for his wife’s room number.

The woman at the desk was as rude as the nurse had been and demanded to see some form of identification.  She studied the laminated card as if she were trying to detect some flaw.  In Kevin’s presence, she picked up the phone and rang the nursery.  “That’s right.  He claims to be married to one of the teachers.”  Whoever was on the other end of the line thought something was funny.  Kevin could hear the laughter but he was determined not to let the woman break his spirit.  “I know it.  It wasn’t like that in our day, was it?  Seems nowadays the young white girls want it black or brown.”  Kevin would have filed a complaint if he thought it would do any good.

“Go on up.  Room 202.”

“Kevin, oh Kevin, I missed you.  They said you went to a motel.  Why did you leave me?”

“I’m sorry, Malika.  I was told that I could not stay.”  He thought about lying to her and saying it was his fault, but why should he?  Let her know the truth.  Let her see how things really work in the white man’s world.

“Oh.  I didn’t know that.  I’m sorry.”

“You were asleep, Malika.  You needed to rest.”

“Is the baby okay?”

“I have not seen him since last night.”  Kevin began to panic at the thought of his child being sold on the black market while he had been away and while Malika had been sleeping.

A nurse wheeled the baby into the room and handed him to Malika.  The day nurse was unlike the one they had encountered last night.  She was a young African American woman, and Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.  She was nice and helpful, and not at all like the rude white woman of last night.  “Time to feed the baby.  We gave him sugar water last night.”

The woman smiled at Kevin, and he reached out to touch his son.  The infant boy held tightly to Kevin’s index finger while he made what his grandmother had described as, “happy baby noises”, while he greedily ate his breakfast.

“You are free to go home after lunch.  He’s a cutie, your boy.”

The woman patted Kevin on the arm and left the happy family alone for a while.  Kevin nervously paced the small room until the discharge papers had been signed and his wife and baby released.

“It’s a long way home, Kevin.  Maybe it would be best to stay in the city awhile.”

“No, Malika.  My son is going home.”

The stern words bothered the new mother, but not nearly as much as having been left out of them.  He does want me, too, doesn’t he?  She tried to make conversation on the way home, but Kevin said little more than an occasional “yes” or “uh huh.”  He was tired and pissed off once again at the white man’s system.  His son’s birth weight was not quite six pounds and if he had been any smaller, he would have been required to remain in the hospital for a few days.  Kevin wasn’t going to take any chances.  He was not going to stop driving until they were back in his home on the reservation.  Last night had nearly done him in, and he had made several calls to the reservation with the good news hoping to cheer himself up.

***

Kevin’s grandmother and two of his friends were at the house to welcome the new family and Kevin had not seen a more beautiful sight, other than seeing his son for the first time.  He helped Malika to the bed, and after the baby was fed, the new mother slept.  Malika was surprised at the number of people offering their assistance with the newborn Sioux.  She didn’t think anyone cared that much, not even here.  Kevin’s grandmother came to the house daily and the aroma of her fresh baked breads and home cooked meals was just what Malika needed to recover from the exhaustion of pregnancy and childbirth.

She sat down on the bed one day next to Malika and held the young woman’s hand.  “My dear, you have given my Kevin the most wonderful gift.  He has no other relatives, besides me, and now you and the little one.”  She reached for the hand with the band of gold and touched it ever so gently.  “You must treasure this, Malika.  It is much more than a gold band.  You must never tell Kevin I told you this, but he was afraid to ask you to take his name.”

Malika was puzzled.  “Why was he afraid?”

“A white woman with the name of Wild Horse will raise suspicions and bring ridicule by those who do not understand our ways.”

“I don’t care about that.”

The old woman smiled.  “We will have a traditional wedding for you as soon as you are feeling better.”

“Thank you,” Malika whispered.

The elderly woman left the room, and Malika fingered the gold band on her finger, making circles around and around.  When night came and the baby had fallen asleep, Kevin lay with his wife in their bed and held her.

“You can get your arms around me again!”

He ran his hand along her stomach and kissed her cheek.  “I miss you, Malika.”

She kissed him, pressing her fuller body into him.  She missed him, too.  She missed everything about him.  When he touched her for the first time since long before the baby had come, she gasped at the sensation.  The young lovers devoured each other, Malika’s fuller body arousing the beast inside of Kevin.  She opened herself to him, begging him to hurry inside her.

“I love you, Kevin.”  She pulled him inside of her and made love to her sexy husband.  She loved him and she hoped that very soon she would bear him another son, or a daughter, as many as he wanted.

“Malika,” he moaned many times during their first time together in too many months.  He lay on top of her while they slept.  He would never take her from the reservation again.  He promised himself that.  It was too risky for her as well as for his son.

The baby’s cries woke them from a sound sleep and they took him into their bed, feeding him and loving him.

“Malika, he cannot be Baby Boy Wild Horse forever.  What shall we call him?” 

“Do you want an English name?”

He lowered his eyes.  “It is best now.  It is his surname that matters the most.”

The young couple spent the morning thinking of names for their firstborn and decided upon Kyle.  “Our sons will be given names that begin with “K” and our daughters will be given names with the first letter of “M.”

“Sounds good to me.”  If that was what Kevin wanted, she would give it to him.  She would give this man the moon and the stars if she could.

***

Three months had passed since Malika had given birth, and the new family had been showered with gifts in the tradition of the native Sioux.  A traditional wedding had been attended by their closest friends as well as a very proud Sioux grandmother, and Malika had slowly become accepted as a permanent fixture on the reservation.

On a morning when Kevin was away for a few hours, the telephone rang for only the second time since it had been installed shortly after they returned home with the baby, a surprise gift to Malika from Kevin.  Grandmother Stillwater called every day and Malika loved the older woman.  She was nice to her, gave her advice, but was never pushy or demeaning.

Expecting the voice of the dear sweet woman, Malika cheerfully answered with her usual, “Hello”, but it was a loud shouting voice that met her ears.

“Do you hate us that much?”

“What?”

“You ungrateful child!  How dare you!”

“Mom?”

“Don’t ever call me that again.  You and your half breed bastard son are not welcome here.”

“I don’t recall coming to see you.”

“Don’t take that tone with me, missy.  You said you would be here for spring break and when you failed to arrive, we were worried sick.  I called the agency in charge of your loan payback demanding to know the truth.”

Malika was unaware that such an agency existed.  Her parents had arranged everything.  “I thought it was a government thing.”

“It is, but the regional office for the reservation with the greatest need is located in Rapid City.  Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your name change?”

“I was going to tell you.  You will like him…Kevin.”

“Is that his name?”

“Yes.”

“Malika, I know he is a no good Indian. Probably drunk all the time.”

“No, you don’t get it.  He isn’t like that, but if he was like that, whose fault do you think it would be?  It would be our fault, Mother.  Hell, you would drink too if everything was taken from you.  You cry if you don’t get an invitation to the latest social event in Philly.”

The woman on the other end of the line was seething, and Malika tried to remain calm because the baby was beginning to cry.

“So, is that your bastard son I hear in the background?”

“He’s not a bastard.  I am married.”

“Married to one of them is not married.”

“Yes it is.  You may not like it, MOTHER, but I am married…legally.”

Malika was shouting and baby Kyle was screaming when Kevin walked through the door.  He took the baby to Malika’s old bedroom which had been converted to a nursery and rocked him in the wooden rocking chair that had been handmade for them.

“How did you know about my son, anyway?”

“People talk, Malika, but they will not be talking around here.  You stay away from here.  And to think of all the things we have done for you.”

Malika waited for her mother to calm down, but she never did.  After several more insults, Malika quietly set the receiver in its cradle and sobbed.  She heard the door to the nursery open and her husband walking toward her.  He took her hand and she looked up, her tear streaked face breaking his heart.

“Was that your mother?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, Malika.  I can see that her words were not kind.”

“She hasn’t even met you, and Kyle is her grandson.  I thought my parents were different.  I thought they were the most accepting people in the world.  That’s what they always claimed, anyway.  But they said awful things about black people when I was growing up.  They made fun of them all the time, but I didn’t think they meant it.  I thought they were joking.  Everyone did it.”

Kevin knelt beside her and looked into her reddened eyes.  “Many a truth was said in jest, Malika.  We hear comments all the time, outside of the reservation.”

“But Kyle is a baby, a helpless infant.  He never did anything to anyone.”

“That is why he belongs here, Malika.  He needs to feel accepted and that will never happen out there.”

“Will I be accepted here completely?  You said you wanted to have your son here with you…on the way home from the hospital you said that.  Do you want me, Kevin?”

Kevin placed his sleeping son back into his crib, took his wife by the hand, and eased the door of the nursery nearly shut.  He lifted the woman he loved into his arms and carried her to his bed.  He kissed her, and Malika felt the same stirrings she had the very first time their lips had met.  Her breasts were full and womanly, her body sensual and giving.  She reached for her husband and he moved toward her, his body aching for her touch.  The young wife took charge and lay over her husband’s gorgeous body.  This woman who had first come to this man as a virgin was now a sensual lover, knowing how to satisfy her man’s desires.  She eased her body downward, taking him deep inside of her, and closing her eyes to the sensation.  She rode him fast and slow, hard and then harder.  She squeezed and watched as her husband moaned and writhed with her movements.  He held her down to him and he came hard, voicing his pleasure loudly.  Malika placed her mouth on his as if trying to capture the moans.  She felt the warm cream fill her, but she did not stop.  She continued, and her climaxes came fast and forceful as she moved her clitoris along the shaft of her man’s penis.  She was pulled to him, and he kissed her beautiful lips, forcing her breasts into his chest.