The Perfect Revenge: The Couplete Series

by Grey, Madyson

  “Just don’t adopt it because you feel sorry for it,” Lena counseled. “That’s not a good enough reason. You’ve got to look at the long term and decide if raising a child is right for you. It’s a minimum of an eighteen-year commitment. Really, it’s for the rest of your life. Look at my folks. I get sick and call my mom to come take care of me and I’m past forty.

  “It has always been, up until maybe your generation, that the natural way of life that everyone lived out was to get married and have kids. Traditionally, the man worked and provided the living and the wife stayed home and took care of the husband and children. But our way of life is changing. Most women work now, too. And you two have your fingers in so much and seem to enjoy your life the way it is. I’m telling you, having a baby will change all that. If you are ready for and want that change, then go for it. But don’t have a baby, or adopt one, just because you feel sorry for it. That’s my opinion, anyway. Take it or leave it.”

  “You have a good point,” Rafael said thoughtfully. “I really hadn’t thought of it as a pity adoption. But you’re right. That’s not a good enough reason to adopt that baby.”

  “I agree,” Victoria said. “We need to want a child so much that having one, either by birth or by adoption, is the only thing we can possibly do. I think we should ponder this a while longer. If not that particular girl’s baby, there will always be another at a later time.”

  “You’re right, babe,” Rafael said. “Let’s just put it aside for now and see if the desire keeps hounding us or not.”

  “Good idea.”

  After supper was cleared away and the kitchen cleaned up, Victoria and Rafael went out and took a swim. They tried to get in the pool several times a week, but sometimes they were just too busy. None of them could get in it at all for several months after the girl’s body had been found in it. But they had eventually gotten past that horror.

  Lena came out and joined them for a little while. She tried to not inject herself too much into their time together, but they had both insisted that she come join them that evening. Rosie trotted back and forth around the pool anxiously, barking when Lena sat down on the edge of the pool and slid into the cool water. Rosie ran over to where Lena had gone in, looking worried. Lena just laughed, petted Rosie with a wet hand and told her it was all right.

  Since many dogs enjoy swimming, they had all tried to get Rosie in the pool a number of times, but she didn’t seem to like it at all. She barely tolerated her baths, and that was probably because Lena bathed her in the laundry tub with a spray nozzle, rather than submerging her in bath water.

  “Hey, guys,” Lena said. “I’m going to pretend to be in trouble here in the water and see if Rosie will jump in to rescue me.”

  “Okay,” Victoria said.

  She and Rafael stood back while Lena sank beneath the water, and then started thrashing around, flailing her arms and yelling for help. Rosie became frantic and ran around the pool, back and forth, yapping and yapping. She ran over to where Victoria and Rafael were sitting on the step in the shallow end and barked excitedly at them, as if to tell them to do something.

  Finally, in what must have been sheer doggy desperation, Rosie backed away from the pool about four feet, and then ran and took a flying leap into the water, landing right beside Lena. Dog-paddling like crazy, Rosie now had to figure out how to keep her own head about water while trying to save her mistress.

  When she grabbed Lena’s arm and tried to pull on it, Lena quit splashing around, put her feet back on the pool’s bottom and picked Rosie out of the water.

  “You sweet, silly little pooch,” Lena said lovingly. “You tried to rescue me, didn’t you? Now do you want to play and have some fun in the water?”

  “Victoria, throw Rosie’s play rope to me,” Lena called.

  Victoria got out of the pool and picked up the doggy toy rope that was lying on the patio nearby and tossed it out to Lena. Lena showed Rosie the rope, and then tossed it about two feet away and let go of Rosie in the water. Forgetting all about her dislike of water, Rosie paddled happily after her favorite plaything. Grabbing it in her mouth, she swam back to Lena.

  “Good girl!” Lena praised, petting Rosie and scratching behind her ear. “Do it again.”

  She threw the rope again, and Rosie went after it and brought it back a second time. The third time, Lena threw it clear across the pool and then swam beside Rosie. After a few times of that, Lena quit throwing the rope, but just swam around, with Rosie swimming right beside of her.

  “Looks like you’ve got yourself a new swim buddy,” Rafael remarked as he swam over to them.

  “I’ve been wishing she’d swim with me for a long time, but I could never get her to before,” Lena said.

  “Yeah, I know. But looks like you’ve broken the ice with her now.”

  They played in the pool until it began to grow dark, and then the all went in to get ready for bed. Rafael’s desire for Victoria had sparked in the swimming pool, but with Lena there with them, he had to keep it in check. But now that they were in the privacy of the master suite, with Lena two levels down and the width of the house away, he let it rise.

  As they showered together, he made his passion obvious, and they coupled there in the shower, warm water cascading over them from all six showerheads that surrounded them on three sides. It seemed as if the shower was their favorite place to make love. It was certainly the most private place in the entire house for it, and a very conducive place also.

  Chapter Twenty

  There was little talk of babies for the next week. In fact, truth be told, they both kinda forgot about the issue in the busyness of their everyday lives. They both spent a lot of time at the park, both because it was busy and they liked to think they were needed there, and because they both enjoyed being there so much. It was more like a hobby than a job, just because it was so much fun.

  Early mornings they both spent time on their computers taking care of all of the business dealings. Rafael handled the Thornton-Rivera Enterprise business, making sure that rents were coming in on time, making sure that when one occupant moved out of a unit somewhere, that it was rerented as quickly as possible, so there was no loss of income.

  Victoria maintained the RV websites, responded to guest comments, especially the negative ones, and just generally kept an eye on things at each park. The park they had purchased in west Texas was coming along very nicely. The building addition was nearly completed, new washers and dryers were ordered and would be installed just as soon as the interior was painted and the new floor laid.

  Business had increased until the park was at capacity nearly every night, and folks were happy to have a place to park for the night, even while all the construction, remodeling, and renovations were being done. People who had stayed there in the past, and ones who had driven on by it, choosing to rather stay in a truck stop than there, were just full of compliments at the improvements they could see coming or taking place.

  Grass was lush and green between the paved spaces, and flowers bloomed in beds around the front of the office building. More would be planted as soon as the construction was completed. After much consideration and debate, Rafael and Victoria had decided that rather than become a participating park in the various and sundry RV clubs, they would just offer their guests an already low price, and not have to fool with discounts or being subject to inspections by the clubs, or any of the other perceived hassle. Folks daily remarked at how wonderful it was to have such a nice park to pull into at such a reasonable price.

  Occasionally the topic of a baby would come up, usually when they would see a couple somewhere carrying a baby. They were still so undecided about whether or not a baby would fit into their lifestyle. On one hand, when they considered entering old age with no children or grandchildren to help care for them, the thought of acquiring one or two became attractive. But they knew that that wasn’t a good reason any more than a pity adoption was.

  On days that they took off and went exp
loring or to the beach, or for a ride on what they came to affectionately call “a convertible night,” they weren’t so sure that a child would fit their carefree lifestyle. They also took into consideration that even though they were only twenty-eight and thirty years old, they weren’t getting any younger, either.

  One early morning, something happened that made their decision for them in a most startling and unusual way. Rafael and Victoria were up early as usual. It was mid-September and the mornings were cool. Rafael stepped out onto the balcony to peer through the telescope down at the park.

  The telescope was so powerful that, focused properly, he could see squirrels playing on the lawns or read the license plates on cars parked in the parking lot. This morning, as he scanned the park, he noticed something lying on the ground just in front of the ticket booth. It look like a pink bundle of cloth just lying there on the concrete sidewalk. There also appeared to be a piece of paper on the bundle.

  Then the cloth moved. Rafael sprang into action.

  “Hey, Vic, get out here,” he yelled.

  Victoria came running, pulling on a shirt over her head as she ran.

  “Look right there and tell me what you see,” he said.

  Victoria closed one eye and looked through the telescope.

  “A bundle of pink cloth, looks to me like,” she replied. “What is it? Oh, my! It moved!”

  “Come on! We’re going down there,” Rafael said, already on the second step down of the outside staircase.

  Victoria was hot on his heels. Once on the ground they raced for the quad, hopped on and roared down the hill. In less than two minutes they were stopping at the ticket booth.

  Rafael got to the pink bundle first. Picking it up, his wild guess was right. It was a baby. He held it so that Victoria could see it, too.

  “A baby!” she exclaimed. “A real live baby!”

  “Yeah, at least it is alive, and not a dead one,” Rafael said thankfully.

  “What does the note say?” she asked.

  “Take it off and read it,” he told her.

  Victoria unpinned the note from the blanket and read:

  “I hear you people are friends of Thai girls. You are kind and save many Thai girls. Please save my baby, too. I cannot keep baby. She was born two days ago. I love her, but I have no food, no money. I cannot keep. You keep and love my baby. Give her American name so she grow up to be American. Thank you.”

  “Malai.”

  “Oh, honey!” Victoria exclaimed. “How sad! How this poor girl must ache to give up her newborn baby. But how did she know to come here?”

  “I guess word gets around,” Rafael said. “I guess our decision has been made for us, though. We can’t just abandon this baby. Not with the trust placed in us by this girl, Malai.”

  The baby opened its black eyes and looked into Rafael’s face.

  “Okay, that’s it. She’s our baby girl,” he said, smitten already.

  “Let’s get her up to the house,” Victoria said. “We have nothing for her. We’ve got to go to the store right now for formula and diapers and clothes and a crib and everything.”

  “You’ll have to hold her on the back of the quad while I drive. I’ll go slow,” Rafael said, handing the baby to Victoria.

  The baby wrinkled up its tiny face and let out a tiny cry.

  “Oh, hurry,” Victoria urged. “She’s probably hungry. No telling how long she’s been lying there.”

  As they turned to drive away, they didn’t see a young Thai girl watching them from her hiding place in the bushes across the parking lot. She wiped tears away from her face, and resolutely turned her back and walked away.

  Up at the house, they showed the baby to a shocked Lena, who immediately took the baby and unwrapped her. Her umbilical cord had been crudely cut and was tied tightly with a string. Other than that, the baby was clean and had a fresh diaper on. Evidently, she hadn’t been lying there long.

  “Call Doctor Stevens to come quickly,” Lena instructed. “He needs to look at this cord. I’m afraid if you take her to a hospital, they will ask too many questions. Although I’m not sure how you will go about adopting her. Maybe the doc will know. Then call Manuela and tell her to go to the store for formula and diapers. She’ll know what to get better than you two.”

  While Victoria called Dr. Stevens, Rafael called his mom and broke the news to her. She was shocked, too, but hurried out to her car and flew down the driveway to Wal-Mart, which was fortunately less than three miles away. There she got several cans of formula, a big bag of newborn disposable diapers, half a dozen sleepers and a tiny dress.

  The clerk looked at her curiously as she put all the baby things on the conveyor belt.

  “A new baby in the family?” she asked in a friendly tone.

  “Yes,” Manuela answered. “She came unexpectedly this morning, and my son and his wife were unprepared.”

  She was afraid to say just how the baby came so unexpectedly, because she didn’t want the clerk to get nosy and call the police or something. So she just paid for her purchases and hurried out the door. Dr. Stevens had just arrived when Manuela came in with the supplies.

  “What’s this about a baby?” he asked by way of greeting when Rafael let him in the house.

  “She was left down at the park sometime early this morning,” Rafael said. “I spotted a bundle through our telescope and when it moved, we dashed down there, and found this baby.”

  Dr. Stevens sat down on the sofa where the baby lay. He examined her carefully, and then reached into his bag for some alcohol swabs. He carefully cleaned the umbilical cord stump, and then deftly cut the string that was around it and redid the stump so it would heal and form a more natural appearing belly button. He then clamped it off again, and cleaned the area once again.

  He listened to her heart and lungs, and said that she sounded quite healthy, all things considered.

  “She certainly wasn’t born in a hospital,” he said, stating the obvious. “But she seems to be a healthy little girl. You say she was born two days ago?”

  “That’s what the note says,” Rafael told him.

  “Well, native women who are not accustomed to professional medical care, learn to do things on their own. Women have delivered babies at home or in the fields successfully for thousands of years. What are you going to do with her?”

  “Keep her, of course,” Victoria exclaimed. “The mother gave her to us. Here, read the note.”

  She handed the doctor the note that came with the baby and he quickly read it.

  “Can you get us a birth certificate with our names on it?” Rafael inquired.

  Dr. Stevens scratched his head.

  “I’ve never had to deal with a situation like this before. Let me do some checking before I answer you.”

  “We don’t know what to do, but we want her to be legally ours, and we don’t want to lose her, even temporarily, to Child Protective Services. I know what a nightmare that department is,” Rafael said.

  “I have some sources I can check with to see how we can do this legally and yet with as little risk of losing the baby as possible. Have you named her yet?”

  “No,” Victoria said. “We’ve only had her about an hour and a half by now. We’ve been thinking about names, but haven’t settled on one yet.”

  “Well, when I find out what I can do, I’ll need a name to put on the birth certificate,” Dr. Stevens said. “I think that I can just put her down as a home delivery, do the certificate in your names, and be done with it, but I want to be sure.”

  “That would be wonderful if it’s that easy,” Victoria said.

  “Don’t count on it, but I’ll try,” the doctor said.

  They spent the whole day caring for the baby, holding her, feeding her, bathing, dressing, and changing her. Erik and Signe came up to see their surprise great-granddaughter, and everyone took turns holding and loving on her.

  As the day wore on, they finally decided that her name would be Jasmine Malai.
Victoria particularly favored Jasmine and Rafael thought it would be nice to use the baby’s birth mother’s name as a way to honor her, too. But Manuela warned them that it might not be a good idea. It would give her ties to a girl whom they knew nothing about. A girl who was probably an illegal immigrant, brought in by traffickers, and any trace of connection could, at some point in time, prove unwise.

  So they decided that they would keep the name Malai private, but her legal name would be Jasmine Marie. It so happened that Lena’s middle name was Marie and Manuela’s middle name was Maria, so the name would honor both of their mothers.

  Rafael and Victoria were forced to leave the baby at home with Lena and Manuela to babysit while they went shopping for a car seat, a crib, and all the other baby paraphernalia they imagined they would need. They had been right. Acquiring a baby had just turned their world upside down. But they were in love already, and knew that nothing could take this baby from them.

  Epilogue

  “Is everything ready?” Emma asked her mother.

  “I think so,” Jasmine replied.

  “Good, ‘cause they just drove in the driveway,” Emma said.

  “Hey, everybody, they’re here. Get in your places,” David commanded.

  Twenty-six people lined up in four rows across the family room of Rafael and Victoria’s home. A banner taped up across the bookcase wall said, “Happy 5oth Anniversary, Rafael and Victoria.”

  The unsuspecting couple walked into their home and were greeted by a chorus of voices shouting, “Happy Anniversary!” They both nearly had heart failure at the shock of seeing their entire family standing in their family room.

  “Good grief, kids,” Rafael finally said. “You could kill old people startling them like that.”

  But he was grinning from ear to ear as was Victoria, who was already being smothered with hugs from their three children, in-laws, grandchildren, and grandchildren-in-law. Their actual anniversary had been the week before, but then they had been on a Mediterranean cruise.