Temper: Deliverance: Book Three of the TEMPER Saga, page 27
“Mamma, Mamma! Cake! Eat cake!” The irruption of everyone’s favorite bundle of energy broke the tension and made the adults chuckle. Isao grabbed Lana’s knees and looked up at her, his chubby face shining with joyful expectation. “Chocolate cake!”
A large smile on her lips, heart bursting with a love that melted the ice shards piercing her, Lana scooped her son in her arms.
“Yes! We have an extra large chocolate cake… but for whom is it, hm? I think it’s for your grandfather? Or maybe Aunt Hiromi, no? It’s her birthday, right?” she teased, kissing butterflies on his belly.
“No!” the boy laughed. “Isao! Isao’s cake!”
“Oh, but I think you’re right!” Yuki exclaimed, tickling him from behind. “Isao kun is… one, right?”
His shriek was a mix of delight and indignation. “Kaa san… Isao two!”
“Two, really? Such a big boy! Well, you’re right, you have to eat all of it then! But if you can’t finish, I’m sure otoh san will help you.” Yuki added with a teasing smile for her husband.
Honda pretended to glare at her, only to sweep up their son in his arms. “Your mothers love to make fun of us, don’t they? Let’s eat all of it you and me. We’re not going to leave them a single bite!”
Isao giggled and pulled at his father’s hair as their group went back into the dining room, finding Hiromi, Akiko and Yoshiro waiting for them, torn between confusion and relief at seeing them joking easily.
“Toh san, Ma chan, too!”
Gabriella laughed aloud. “Now, that’s a gentleman! Thank you, darling. Maria loves chocolate. She’ll be so happy to have a bite.”
Honda put back Isao on the floor, and the boy darted to the corner of the table where the chocolate cake waited. With a chuckle, Hiromi caught her nephew right as he tripped and lost his balance before he could finish head first in the cake. She glanced up at Lana with a smile, but it froze on her lips and her eyes shot wide.
“Hiromi san, what’s wrong? Are you unwell?” Lana hurried toward her sister-in-law, afraid for her health. The attention of everyone in the room switched to them.
Hiromi raised a trembling hand and brushed Lana’s cheeks. “Your… your scars, Lana san! They’re vanishing one by one… and now, all gone! Can’t you see, can’t you feel it?”
“What?” Dumbfounded, Lana pulled up her sleeves and checked her wrists and forearms. Where soft pink and white lightning bolt marks had run all over her limbs, her skin was now spotless. Her legs gave out and she ended up on her knees.
With muffled shots of exclamation, her spouses kneeled in front of her, grabbing her arms, fingers sweeping up her neck and face.
“It’s… it’s a miracle,” Yuki whispered with tears rolling freely down her cheeks.
Honda’s eyes were also misty when he faced their other guests, who stared at Lana with various levels of puzzled expressions depending on their knowledge of the situation.
“Otoh sama, Gabriella san,” he said with a shaky voice, “would you mind giving us the room for a while?”
Pale, Nakazawa blinked before nodding, already pushing everyone back to the hall. “Of course. Would you like us to leave altogether?”
“No, we only need a moment to collect ourselves.”
“We will be in the dojo, call us if you need anything.”
When she could find her voice again and stop staring at her arms, Lana reached out for Hiromi.
“How? Why?” Her voice was rough, with a hint of despair in it. “Why now, and not two years ago?”
The older Honda sibling shook her head, apparently as lost as everyone else. “I always wondered why Naruhito’s scar disappeared that night, but not yours. I thought it was because they had been caused after the initial curse had been cast. Related but not entirely. But now…?” She frowned and caressed Lana’s arms. “I wish my mother were here, her knowledge was so deep…”
With a tenderness he didn’t often show outside their bedroom, Honda placed Lana’s hands in his. It took him a moment to find his words, and when he spoke, it was with a kindness that he usually reserved for Isao.
“Today, you confronted your true demon, beloved. The one who did this to you. Who planted the seeds not only of your curse, but also of your rightful but so destructive rage. The hate which fueled your resilience and resolve, that allowed you to survive but nearly brought you to implosion. You… you almost slipped but, in the end, you managed to let it go. You didn’t flee, you faced her, put an end to it, and freed yourself.”
“Yes, yes, it makes complete sense!” Hiromi exclaimed with a broad smile.
Before Lana could say anything, Isao, mouth and hands smeared with chocolate, approached her. He tugged at her sleeve then sprawled his fingers on her face, curiosity lighting up his eyes.
“Mamma, why different now?”
Stumped, the adults gawked at the boy.
“Wh… what? Love, what are you saying?” Lana articulated slowly, heart in her throat. Did he… all this time…?
“No drawings now.” His chocolate-covered finger traced her right cheek where the largest scar used to be. Lana gave him a wobbling smile then placed a tender kiss on his forehead.
“No, no more, sweetheart. I’m… I’m glad you didn’t mind them, that you weren’t afraid of them, but no, no more of those. Only drawings in chocolate you make for me now. Okay?” She grabbed his fingers and kissed them one by one, filled with pure love for her little boy.
Silence settled in the room as the full implications of her healing impacted on everyone.
“Hate and rage. Yes. So overwhelming. Suffocating. It was better these past two years, but not gone. Every time I’d think of her… and today, more than ever.” Lana lowered her head. “For sure, if they had shown up before Nikko, I wouldn’t have held back. I would have killed him,” she blurted out what pressed on her mind, unable to meet anyone’s gaze.
“And I would have let you,” Honda replied softly; Yuki couldn’t help a sharp hiss of anger. “And you wouldn’t have been able to stop me from snapping her neck.”
Surprised but not exactly shocked by his confession, Lana glanced up at him. They exchanged tired, knowing looks. The simmering rage, the painful tension, the volatile temper. Gone, but not forgotten.
Lana let out a shaky breath. “So, both of us truly passed the test, didn’t we? Her test. What okaa sama bid us to do back in the shrine. Survive, endure, not fall into their trap.”
“Yes, today we did, and you are a living testimony of it. But I cannot guarantee we will never be tested in the future. After all, those curses didn’t instill those impossible drives inside us. They only amplified them and spun them out of control.”
She hung her head low, hearing the truth in his words. “Still, I know that deep inside, we’ve changed. We are changed.”
“Yes, and every day I am grateful for it… my fierce yudansha,” he added with a side-lopped grin that made Lana blush with pleasure.
I love it!
Joy and love flushed her cheeks pink; her sorrow and despondency of earlier had evaporated under the warmth of her family’s support and care.
“All right, I think a glass or two of champagne are exactly what I need right now. A day fit for celebrations indeed!” The long look her spouses exchanged stopped her before she could get on her feet. “What?”
“Well, there was something else we wanted to surprise you with today,” Honda began, eyes sparkling. “We came to the same conclusion early this morning. Maybe you should stick to oolong tea.”
“What are you talking about? You want me to cut down drinking? Have I gained extra weight or what?”
Her wife’s laugh was deep and full of joy; cupping Lana’s cheek, Yuki leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Sweetling, your taste has changed.”
THE END
Glossary of Japanese terms
Dogi: white pants and jacket used as training gear by aikido, judo and karate practitioners
Dojo-cho: leader of a martial art school
Genkan: entrance of a home
Goshujin sama: honored husband, honored lord/master
Hakama: black and flowing traditional trouser worn by aikido practitioners who hold a 'dan' rank (black belt)
Kohai: practitioner holding a lower rank
Kyu: grade conferred to Japanese martial arts practitioners before they achieve the first 'dan' rank
Mudansha: practitioner of a traditional Japanese martial arts who doesn't hold a 'dan' rank yet (black belt)
Neko: cat
Oku sama: (your, his) honored wife
- san: standard honorific put after a first or last name
- sama: respectful honorific put after a first or last name
Seiza: Japanese traditional way of sitting on your knees and ankles
Sempai: practitioner holding a higher rank
Shihan: master, expert in martial art
Shintoism: the main, traditional religion of Japan, along with Buddhism. Shintoism is an animistic religion: everything (including non-animated objects and elements such as wind, swords or stones) possesses a spirit
Shodan: first black belt rank
Tatami: straw mats used in dojo and in rooms inside Japanese houses
Ukemi: rolling, falling
Uke: attacker and recipient of a martial art technique
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VINDICTA – a TEMPER sequel
coming up in January 2020, pre-order today!
The original TEMPER story arc may have ended with DELIVERANCE,
but the adventures of Lana and her family aren’t over yet.
Two years after the terrible events that marked Isao’s second birthday, it is time for Lana to go back to Italy to find out the truth and get reparation for what was done to her when she was seventeen. Her family in tow, warily, she returns to a country she no longer calls home to face her painful past.
It turns out that handling her return, shady local politics, corrupt police and disgusting family power plays aren’t her biggest problems.
One of her worst nightmares has become a reality: there is more to her son than meets the eye. Her little boy raises the interest of many, and she doesn’t know how to protect him.
When the dead call for redress and the justice of men fails her, Lana will have to make terrible decisions that threaten everyone she loves. Will her formidable bonds with Honda and Yuki be strong enough to endure it?
VINDICTA
in ebook and paperback in January 2020
Sneak Peek
Prologue
“Isao! Isao, stop right here! Wait for me!” Throwing a half-eaten sausage stick away, Lana Martin darted after her three-and-half year-old boy. In a blink, the bustling crowds who had taken over the historic Tokyo neighborhood of Asakusa swallowed him.
Extreme annoyance and downright panic warred in her heart. With those throngs of people around them and his eel-like agility…
Thank goodness he’s wearing a red shirt and green cap. But what is he running after? Oh, he’ll get an earful this time! Killing me like this!
Dusk was upon them, everyone had already drunk too much to celebrate the end of the Sanja Matsuri, one of the biggest religious festivals of Tokyo. No choice then. Time to apply the tactics tested and proven during her wild days of partying in cramped European clubs.
Cursing under her breath, she elbowed passersby to carve herself a path in the human-shaped wall around her, not sparing them a second thought. Merry people wearing colorful summer yukata moved slowly out her way.
Much too slowly. And dammit, she was already panting! Her lack of shape was ridiculous! Recovering from Nana’s delivery wasn’t as challenging as after Isao, but boy, she sure wasn’t thirty anymore.
“Isao! Come back here right now!” she shouted again, this time in Japanese, at the diminutive figure she glimpsed ahead of her.
Perfectly pointless. Her child kept slaloming between legs with no difficulty and without even a glance for his red-faced mother. She didn’t bother controlling her boiling anger anymore.
Where are Naruhito and his booming voice when you need them? He could freeze the boy in his tracks.
Right when she plowed between a beer stand and a booth selling fried squid, her phone rang in her back pocket. Yuki’s ringtone. Not even stopping, she grabbed it.
“Lana san, where are you?” Her wife’s sweet voice didn’t soothe her nerves for once. “Goshujin sama and I are -”
“Yuki sama! Isao just… just ran in the crowd, I’m… I’m after him, but I can’t catch up!”
“What? Where are you? What do you see?”
“Ah, I’m… I’m heading toward… Er… I think… the entrance of Tawaramachi station?” Her lack of familiarity with the entire area was infuriating.
“Don’t lose him from your sight, we’ll check the tracking app!”
Of course! Girl, are you stupid or what?
Instant relief stole her breath away. Isao carried a small tracking device so they could pinpoint his location on their smartphone for emergencies just like this one.
“Yes, do it! I’m too scared to look away from him!”
But to her abject terror, right then, Isao vanished from her line of sight. Heart in her throat, she cleared the huge crowd and stumbled upon a side street, frantically looking everywhere. With the festival and millions attending, neighboring roads were blocked to traffic, the single piece of good news in this fresh hell of hers. Only a few couples and groups of friends strolled around the quiet road.
With a groan of relief, she spotted Isao’s red shirt dozens of meters away on her left, right when he ran under a tall niomon wooden gate, one of the side entrances of a Buddhist temple.
“Isao! Stop now!” she bellowed even though it was useless, before turning to her phone again. “Okay, he stepped inside the courtyard of a large temple, but I don’t know its name!” Of all neighborhoods in Tokyo to get lost in, it had to be the one hosting dozens of shrines and temples.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find you!”
Fear swept away by downright aggravation, Lana rushed toward the temple, but slowed down once she was under the arch of the niomon.
There he was, crouching on the gravel, his back towards her.
Out of breath, clasping her burning face, Lana glanced up at the intricate ceiling of the gate, a prayer of gratitude on her lips. Her words died when her gaze fell on the statue of the Kongorikishi - a gigantic, wrestler-like guardian of Buddha - standing in the shadows of the right alcove of the gate.
In the dim light of the early evening and with rivulets of sweat blinding her, it was hard to make out the details of the statue. She swallowed hard. Brandishing a mallet, teeth bared, the wrathful deity had huge rolling eyes that caught the light and glistened.
On her left, she met the stern face of his twin companion. As tradition required, the mouth of the one of the right was open, the other’s was shut. Their names escaped her, but she remembered what they represented.
The birth and death of all things.
A shiver ran down her spine, and she fought the urge to crawl under the condemning gaze of those two protectors against evil who, somehow, reminded her of Naruhito’s mother. An overwhelming need to go home, put the kids to bed and cuddle with her spouses made Lana’s head spin.
Shaking herself from her trance, she passed through the gate and in four strides, joined her stray child.
“Honda Isao san!” Lana’s indignant cry came out like a rasp rather than her intended show of parental authority. Still wheezing, she rubbed a painful point below her ribs. Coursing streets like a madwoman in the dead of Japanese summer was not her idea of fun. “Boy, we need to talk! Don’t you ever run away like this! Do you hear me?”
Finally paying her attention, the chubby boy glanced up and threw her a dazzling smile that melted her anger. Pure, intense relief gripped her heart. She fell on her knees on the sizzling hot gravel and engulfed him in a tight embrace. Silky hair dried up her tears. A long shudder shook her from head to toes.
“Mamma!” he giggled. “Cat! Isao find cat!” Lo and behold, he held an adorable gray and white kitten by its tail. The feline sat in front of them and gave her a long-suffering look but didn’t fight back.
“A cat? All of this because of a cat? Baby…” Lana closed her eyes and tried to calm down her racing heart and regulate her shallow breathing. “It’s a cute kitty, but you can’t run away like this without me, do you understand?”
“Isao keep cat. Cat sleep with Isao!”
Lana sighed and ruffled his hair. It would take more time before important lessons could be driven home. At the end, all of this was her fault. “No, we can’t take it home, because I’m sure another child is waiting for it. Come now,” she said, standing up with Isao in her arms. “Say goodbye to the cat, and let’s go find otoh san and okaa san.”
“Bye bye, cat! See you!” Isao nested in her arms and waving at the cat with enthusiasm, Lana headed back toward the street.
No sign of her spouses yet. More exhausted than she wanted to admit, Lana put her son down. Bemused but also a little wary, she watched him walk back under the gate to gawk at the two giant guardians. Their terrible faces didn’t scare him.
Her gaze fell on an itinerant monk standing on the other side of the entrance against the white wall running along the temple. Murmuring endless mantra, eyes hidden by a large and cone-shaped bamboo hat, he held a wooden bowl in hands decorated by prayer beads. These men depended on charity, so Lana approached him with two notes of one thousand yen. Today, of all days, it felt right to pay forward a granted favor.
