If you have not already, I would really suggest reading Giver of Life chapters 39-49. Those chapters tie into a large part of this story. Kire commands you.
Kire5
"What's in the box?" Alex asked once my cousin excused himself.
"I have no idea," I mumbled. Now that Joshua was across the street and out of earshot, I regretted not asking him further details. There had been many people I had met while on my travels, most of which I wanted to forget and none which I would expect or want to send me any sort of package.
"It must be something small," Alex commented. "Not an elephant, or its tusk, or it's ear for certain."
Lisette paused with her fork inches from her mouth. "Well, of course it's not an elephant."
They both looked to Charles for reassurance. He had only begun picking at his breakfast and nodded. "Of course not."
"May we guess?" Alex asked with excitement in his voice.
I had no desire to guess the contents. I wanted to tear through the wrapping paper and find what had been sent to me years ago. Clearly the contents were not of grave concern or macabre in detail as Joshua had presented it to me and I doubted he would be so cruel as to give me something disturbing, especially with Alex and Lissy at the table.
I reached for the box and noticed Lisette, Charles and Alex all looked past me. Brow furrowed, I glanced over my shoulder and found Ruby darting past people down the street. She weaved through a scattered crowd, her hands balled in her skirt and face red.
"Monsieur Lowry," she panted, ignoring the rest of us.
My breath lodged in my throat, as her tone was impossible to decipher and I feared something had happened to Meg or her baby.
"What's wrong?" Charles asked, placing his hands flat on the table. If his legs had been of any use, he would have stood up and raced home, but instead he managed to push himself back from where he was seated.
"Nothing," Ruby said between breaths. "Madame Seur, I mean Kire, said you should come home at once." She finally managed to catch her breath and smiled. "She said you would have a baby to hold once you returned."
Charles appeared positively relieved. He turned to me as I immediately stood and told the children to finish eating at once. Lisette shrieked with excitement and Alex leapt from his seat and jumped around.
"Do we have a son or daughter?" Charles asked Ruby.
"I don't know, Monsieur, Madame Kire sent me away to find you," Ruby said as she started down the street once more.
I grabbed the package from the table and handed it to Alex. "Do not put this down, no matter what."
He nodded readily and took off after Ruby with Lisette on his heels. They shouted for the cook to stop and she paused, turning to wait for them to catch up.
"Monsieur," Charles said anxiously. He tapped his fingers against the side of his wheelchair as I turned him around and we left the café.
"Monsieur!" the waiter shouted as we left the table. "You are forgetting something!"
I stopped with my back to him and fished into my pocket, realizing I'd handed Lisette and Alex all of the francs I'd had on me. Since I rarely purchased anything when I left my house, I never brought more than a small amount of money.
"Damn," I said under my breath.
"What has happened?" Charles asked, sounding wary.
"A moment of patience," I said, praying the waiter or café owner would allow for an explanation as well as funds delivered once the excitement for the day dwindled. The last thing I wanted was gendarmes called and questions asked.
"No, no," Ruby yelled. She came up from behind me faster than I expected and waved to the waiter. "Monsieur, monsieur, he is a friend of Archie Leach."
She applied the term friend rather loosely. I furrowed my brow but wisely made no comment.
The waiter's expression changed for the first time all morning. He smiled and readily nodded. "Ah, mademoiselle, very well. I'm sure Monsieur Dupage will say compliments of the house."
"If not, you add their breakfast to Monsieur Leach's tab," she instructed.
"Yes, Mademoiselle, I apologize."
"No need." She flashed a smile. "Oh, and Claude, have you heard of Monsieur Kire?"
I looked at her from the corner of my eye and saw her stand proudly before the café. Her demeanor was quite different outside of my home and not unlike Hermine Leach.
"The composer?" the waiter asked. "Of course."
"You've had the pleasure of serving him breakfast," she said before turning on her heel and marching away.
The young man gawked. "On the house, sir," he stammered. "With my most sincere pleasure."
Unsure of what precisely had transpired, I gave a nod and continued down the street with Charles, who chuckled to himself.
"And what, Monsieur Lowry, do you find amusing?" I snapped.
"Archie Leach," he answered.
"He is everywhere," I said between my teeth.
"Yes, he certainly seems to be," Charles agreed with a laugh.
There was nothing more he needed to say. Leach had a finger on the pulse of every business and endeavor in France—and I found his decent into Paris absolutely irritating.
I hurried Charles home as fast as I could without plowing into denizens milling about the streets of Paris. Despite being only a few streets from home, the journey back seemed twice as long as normal.
Once we reached the house, I maneuvered our way to the back garden where Bessie miserably howled, undoubtedly cast aside. Having no idea she was in fact a dog and therefore perfectly capable of surviving for a few hours outdoors, she took to telling the neighborhood of her unfortunate plight.
I opened the gate to find a perfectly round and fairly deep hole near the gate. She immediately paused—entire body blackened with dirt—and looked delighted to see I had returned.
Teeth gritted, I walked past her and pushed Charles up the ramp and into the kitchen. Bessie pursued us, but I blocked her from entering the house with my foot and closed the door. She immediately began to whine, but I grumbled for her to be quiet and she settled down.
We were no more than halfway down the hall when Meg began screaming; an ear-piercing cry similar to the sound she had made earlier in the morning when we left. Gooseflesh rose along my arms and I came to a stop, which made Charles reach back and tap the back of my hand.
"Please," he begged quietly.
Against my better judgment, I plowed forward and delivered him to the bedroom door, which was ajar. Charles leaned forward and pushed the door open just as Meg screamed again.
Eyes averted, I inhaled sharply and pulled Charles back. He immediately grasped the door frame, effectively anchoring himself inside the room.
"Meg," he pleaded.
"Charles," she panted.
"Close the door," Julia ordered. "Erik, you shouldn't be here."
"I told them to return, just as you said," Ruby argued. "I didn't think…you didn't say…" Her voice trailed off, silenced by emotion.
"No one knew," Julia replied. She sounded exhausted and frustrated with our imposing on birth.
"What has happened?" Charles asked, his voice stronger than it had been all morning.
I didn't want to look up, to see Meg in a state of distress or indecency, but Julia and Ruby's cryptic conversation made it impossible to leave, especially with no mention of a healthy baby. I feared the worst, dreaded the possibilities of hard labor on little Meg.
"You both must leave," Julia ordered.
"Answer him," I said loudly. "For God's sake, just answer him."
The room fell silent for a moment as Julia crossed the room and stood before Charles. "Madame Giry has the first one," she said quietly. "Now please, gentleman, the next baby should be here any moment."
My eyes widened and I looked up at Julia, who looked quite frustrated with the two of us.
"I beg your pardon?" Charles and I said in unison.
Julia sighed and smiled at last. "Twins, Monsieur Lowry, your wife has blessed you with twins."
"Let me see her," Charles pleaded. "If only for a moment."
He pulled himself forward with the aid of the doorframe and managed to wheel himself just within the room. I saw Julia bite her bottom lip, then come around behind him and push him toward the bedside.
Charles stifled a sob, his shoulders shaking with the onset of emotion. From the corner of my eye I watched as he leaned as far forward as he could and grasped his wife's hand. "Oh, my dear," he said somberly.
"I'm fine," Meg said, her voice low and trembling.
"You don't sound fine, my dear."
"I'm scared, Charles, but I love you."
"I adore you," Charles replied. "I always have and I always will."
Julia wheeled him closer to the bedside while Meg managed to scoot toward the edge. Despite wanting to look away, I glanced at the two of them, heard a ripple of music in the back of my mind, a melody laced together by unconditional love.
"She looks just like you," Meg replied.
Charles kissed her tear-stained cheek. "A daughter."
Meg began to make soft noises, the prelude to what I assumed was another pain.
"Monsieur," Julia interrupted, clearly sensing Meg was on the verge of another contraction. Books had failed to describe the sounds of a woman in hard labor, the gut-wrenching cries of childbirth.
"I know, I know," Charles said. "I don't want to leave her."
Julia appeared sympathetic and offered a wan smile. "I understand, but please, allow me to tend to your wife."
Charles nodded and Julia stood behind him and pulled his wheelchair toward the door once again. He wiped his face with his hand, then tapped my fingers, signaling he was prepared to leave her side. Unable to speak, I wheeled him from the room. We had barely exited when the door was shut and the lock turned, which I assumed was merely out of habit.
For a long moment we remained suspended in the hallway, Charles with his head cast down, me with both hands tightly gripping the handles of his wheelchair.
"Twins," he said, sounding dazed.
I swallowed hard and took a step forward. Ahead, in the parlor, the mewling cries of an infant beckoned a father toward his new daughter.
"Twins," I echoed.
Now that was entirely unexpected.
