Transition Plan Chapter 38: First Homecoming Part 25 - Movements

The next morning, Chief Abassi, Taiwo, and the battle chief gathered their spears, provisions, and water pouches. As they were about to depart, Femi stood before them with her own satchel of supplies and knife slung over her otherwise completely bare body, just like the men, with a determined look, "I am going with you."

This was a surprise. A pleasant one, but a surprise.

Abassi asked, "Why?"

"To be by my husband's side on this journey."

"I am deeply honored at that commitment my queen, but the village needs you too in my absence. If I die in the claws and teeth of the Jungle Council, someone must rule."

"You have no heir. Yet. If you die, your rule will simply cease and it will go to another on the Nigerian Council. Do you not have a minor chief who will rule in your stead? Do you not want my company?"

"Well… yes I do. In both cases. That has been established."

"That is good. There is another important reason. Countess Jane needs me too."

"Oh? How do you know this?"

"Because women know each other's needs. You know that we met during the day the Count and Countess were among us and all our people. She is a delightful woman. We danced together side by side with her amazing talent the night Tarzan revealed himself to our tribe. I would consider her a friend. She is very pregnant, and alone with her husband in a simpler but much harder life than we have. I know she loves being with her animal friends, but she needs a human woman for companionship, if only for awhile. I wish to offer the mother to be our tribe's help. You have made the same pledge of alliance to Tarzan. That is why you travel now."

Abassi smiled at Femi's wisdom, "You are welcome to join us. This is why I chose you as my wife and queen. You are a smart woman. Our children will be so as well."

"At least one time on the trail I will permit you the opportunity to make them with me, dear husband."

And to Abassi, that was an even better reason to have her come. She beamed at her husband/chief, squeezed his arm, kissed him, and took the trail that led into the deep jungle. He watched her breathtaking curves sway in the manner he just enjoyed the night before, and drank in the delectably fluid movements of Femi's athletic very dark brown body as she strode off on the trail, striking a pace that the three men found hard to maintain.

…

Prior to the gathering of the Council, from Tarzan and Jane's newest nest only a few days later, something delightfully new happened in her 20th week of pregnancy while they rested face to face on their sides, nearly ready for the night. He saw her belly jiggle and stretch in the bright full moonlight. It could not be missed. She felt it immediately.

Jane exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" and clutched herself.

It was a very strong movement. His and her eyes both grew wide, and they gripped each other's hands excitedly.

She beamed at this new development, and encouraged her excited but nervous husband, "Go ahead. Touch me. You can't hurt the baby."

"This is early, right?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes, dear, it is. We have a very active child. Believe me," she snickered, feeling the baby's constant motion inside of her nearly all the time, and wondered if their little one ever slept.

Tarzan gingerly touched the little bump sticking up from her belly, wondering if it was an arm or a leg or a head or even a bottom pushing far out, and it moved again. He startled and pulled his hand back a bit. He followed the moving bump and touched it another time, a little more firmly. The baby reacted and moved again. Tarzan was absolutely ecstatic he could see and feel their baby move and he could interact with their child, "This is amazing, Jane. I can really feel him. And he feels me, too!"

"Or her, dear," Jane corrected, but remembered her premonition less than a week before.

"Yes of course," Tarzan smiled, not caring if the baby was male or female – only that it was theirs and healthy.

The baby was very busy inside her womb, and Tarzan followed every push out with touches back. Each time he gently poked their baby, the child reacted and jabbed Jane somewhere else. Jane was about to burst into laughter from the tickling, delighted with the interactions.

"Both of you are driving me nuts with that – it tickles on both sides of me now!" she joked, and then grabbed his hand as he tried to pull away, worried he was bothering her, and placed it back on her belly, "No, dear, I was only kidding. Keep doing that; it's simply wonderful. You're playing with our child for the first time, Jonathan."

He rubbed his hand all across and around her belly, following the movements of the tiny person inside her as he kicked and pushed back in reaction to his father's touch. They laughed happily, and hugged.

"The family's females don't notice this so much," observed Tarzan in amazement.

"Their fur hides most of the baby's movements and gorilla children grow in a bigger, tougher body."

The baby's movements settled, probably from being tired with all the exercise. They lay back in their nest, ready to sleep.

"I wish Daddy and Elisabeth could see this…" she said with a sigh.

"I know, Jane. Do you regret not being in England?"

"Only just a little, Tarzan, dear. Being back here is so important. For both of us. I want our child to be born here so much. To be born Mangani first – the first son or daughter of Tarzan and Jane of the Apes. A child like no other child in the world, Jonathan. Then to be the heir of the English Count and Countess of Greystoke. English law says that no matter where a child of an English couple is born, the baby is always a citizen of England."

Tarzan's smile could not have been happier, "Thank you Jane. I want that just as much! So…. you're not happier wearing frilly maternity dresses, sipping on sparkling cider and hot cocoa, mingling with the other peerages' women showing off your pregnancy, being waited on hand and foot by our servants, and us sleeping in a giant canopy bed and travelling the world on the Destiny?"

She looked at him intensely in their soft grass nest, guiding his hands the entire length of her unclad pregnant body, stopping at all his favorite sensitive places, watching his satisfaction while feeling her own pleasure with his soft touches, "My dearest Jonathan, I am as ecstatic about simply being a gorilla female in every way now as we dreamed and planned – the proud mate of the Silverback of the Mangani tribe - as I am being the Countess of Greystoke at the same time. Do you think our nest is any less soft - that we made together - than our giant bed at Castle Greystoke? I think not. Nothing is finer than the smell of fresh grass in our noses. Sleeping in that canopy bed almost got us killed. In this bed, we can see, hear, and smell predators approach."

"True, Jane, but we have no privacy in the English sense."

"I never thought I would say this, Jonathan, but I like knowing our family can see us loving each other as we do them and be happy for us. There is no better way to show off my pregnancy to the females in this jungle world who are truly my friends than this way. Not a day goes by that my girlfriends here in the jungle – no matter what species - say something nice about my pregnancy, help me be comfortable, share conversations about having a healthy baby, and we talk about being good mothers and faithful lovers to our mates. Human women of peerage don't do that. They are always going on about this and that and such frivolous things about who's been where or what they just bought at a shop. That doesn't matter a whit compared to living life as a family. Sure I am a scientist like my father, but I'm delighted being a wife and a mother. I feel so at home this way here with you and our animal friends. Animals are so honest with each other. Nothing is held back. It's a blessing. And so unlike our 'civilization'."

"I don't deserve you, Jane."

She snuggled closer to him, "Yes you do, Jonathan. It's me who is the lucky one to have you. Dear, soon I will be a proudly nursing mother, unlike my stodgy English society where that beautiful practice with our child is looked upon with disdain and being 'old fashioned' or 'dirty'. I want that experience as a mother more than anything in the world. Here I will have no embarrassment or criticism, and have the support and admiration of all the other mothers in the jungle who do exactly the same thing every day with their babies. So Tarzan, do I look like a woman who cares about frilly maternity dresses?"

He laughed, "No I guess not, dear," admiring her natural state, "I'm really pleased about that."

"I can tell," she winked, "Never worry that I am not happy in the jungle, Jonathan. Sure, I love our fancy Castle and enjoy our life of gentry, but I wanted this life with you first, when I could have gone back to all that without you. I chose you and this life with you. I never knew or wanted another life for us. Before we went back to England, every day here was the way I wanted to live life - just like this - here for the rest of our lives."

They both knew life wasn't as simple now as a Count and Countess.

"But as much as I love it here, Tarzan, and would stay here with you forever living our simple and natural ways, I do know things changed for us on Christmas Eve. Now life requires a balance."

Tarzan could not be more pleased at her loving words and dedication to him, "I am grateful you prefer to live here with me and my family. But I also know you enjoyed the life there too, especially us being there together in our Castle. It truly is different now since there will soon be three of us. And being brave enough to see my old nursery on Christmas Eve did change things."

"Yes, Jonathan, I know we both want and need to lead dual lives now. As soon as we lighted that candle for our baby in your nursery we both knew. There will be a time for here, and a time for there. And we'll savor them both. Our child – our children – all need to know the joys of both worlds. This is a lot bigger than just us now."

"I totally agree Jane. We will make it work. We will cherish our shared times in both England and Africa. There are nearly limitless resources to make it all work, and many friends here and there who will support us."

"Yes Tarzan, we really do. What we do now, every day is for you, me and our child."

"The family here will change. I need to talk to Kirok. He needs to understand what this will mean for him and Terk as co-leaders of this family."

It was a revelation for both, precipitated by becoming parents and being nobility. With each passing day in England, they discovered the vastness of the authority of who and what they were, and everything and everyone who depended on them by being the latest in a long line of powerful and influential Counts and Countesses in a family history spanning a millennium. Despite the complications of the terrible battle with Cedric for control of the family, and their compelling need to 'get away from it all' right now, they realized they could no longer turn away from their heritage and responsibilities permanently to live a completely isolated natural life in the jungle any more. With someone helpless coming into their lives to take care of, their marriage wasn't just about them and their needs anymore. Their child needed to know who he or she was, and experience both worlds. They knew they would never give up their life in the wild and live it to its fullest each time they were here, but it would have to be balanced with their role as powerful leaders of a noble family.

But for now, they concentrated on their own deep feelings for each other and for their growing child. She drew him closer so her belly was gently pressed between them. It was as close as Tarzan could get to experience what Jane felt - the subtle movements of their active child against both their stomachs as they fell asleep, wanting to be fully rested the next day for the trip up to White Rock, nearly two day's journey.