Chocolate and Gold

It's not possible to forget what making love to Savannah Wilson was like. She was one erotic woman, visually and physically. I can't imagine some guy dating her and not being totally in lust with her. How they could ever let her go was a mystery to me. But then, knowing Vannie as I now do, it probably wasn't their decision. She had a mind of her own, and it wasn't easy to get her to change it.

We had been making non-stop love almost from the moment she entered the apartment. We weren't saying an awful lot, other than the usual words that lovers share in their passion. Vannie loved oral sex, particularly when it was my turn to give. Her orgasms continued to amaze, still frightening me a bit with her reaction. I hadn't gotten used to them, but they didn't bother her. There were times when I wondered if she even knew they were happening.

So I asked her. "You have the most amazing orgasms. The first time I thought you were having a fit. Have they always been like this?"

She chuckled softly before answering. "No. I didn't know what a real orgasm was until I was with a man. I used to get myself off, but it wasn't like that. You know ... wild. I scared the shit out of my first lover when I had one. He thought I was epileptic and wouldn't date me again. He never knew how good it felt to me. Then ... after that ... I discovered that not all guys could make it happen. Some of them were crude, and so fast that I didn't even get a chance to have one."

"I have to admit, girl, you scared the hell out of me the first time."

"I know, but ... you got over it. Besides, that first one you gave me still ranks as numero uno in my book," she smiled.

"I won't ever forget it either. Now that I know it's how you respond, I keep trying to make it happen again."

"See ... Harry ... that's the thing that makes me love you. You're trying to make it better for me ... not for you. That's what separates you from the rest of the guys. That's what makes you special. That ... and the 'gift.'"

"The only gift I think about is the one that brought us together that morning in Ste. Maxime. Which brings up my ongoing question; when are we going to be able to be together for good?"

"Be patient, Harry. I'm working on it. My strategy counselor and I are almost there. We'll make it happen. Trust me."

"Just who is this strategy counselor?"

"I shouldn't tell you ... but ... it's Charlie."

"What! What's Charlie got to do with it?"

"She came up with a plan and we've been working on it together."

"What plan?"

"Well ... promise you won't say anything ... but she suggested I go and see that nice Mr. Brower. You know, the one that Mama didn't think was very exciting or interesting. Charlie figured that if Mama had someone to look after her that it would free me up to be with you. I wouldn't have to worry about her."

"Just what made you think you could get those two together? If I remember her comments, she didn't think he was worth her time."

"Well, Mama likes him well enough, and he's been courting her for months now and hasn't given up. So we decided that if we could help him along, maybe we could change Mama's mind."

"You're devious!" I smirked.

"I am when I have to be. You didn't think I had given up on us, did you?"

"I didn't know, but I sure hadn't given up on you," I assured her.

"I know. You kept telling me that. Anyway ... Charlie and I figured we had to move things along."

"So ... what did you do?"

"Mr. Jesse Brower got a visit from me ... a private one. I asked him if he was as serious about Mama as it appeared, and he said 'Hell Yes!' So, I had to help him along. I told him what Mama said about him, and asked him what he could do to change her opinion. He was surprised, of course. He'd been so careful to be polite and cautious around her that he wasn't being himself.

"I asked him, what he would do if he didn't worry about what she might think, and he said he didn't know, but he would probably ask her what she liked to do most. Well, that's when I told him that when my daddy was still alive, they used to go out to a roadhouse on route 84 and just dance the night away. Hell, you'd have thought I'd just told him he'd won first prize at a head smacking contest, cuz that's just what he did. Turns out he loves to dance ... honky tonk was his favorite, and that's what set the wheels in motion."

By that time, I was just shaking my head. Those two women had cooked up this plan to find a way to have Vannie and me be together without her having to worry about her Mama. Damn, that felt good. My little sister was turning out to be something special. Something I didn't recognize until just lately.

On top of that, I was the one who was going to get the reward for all their efforts. I was going to have my girl with me permanently. That called for some extra loving for this woman that was dead set on being with me. I made love to every part of her glorious body. We had the weekend together, and I don't think we left the bedroom more than a couple of times a day, and that was just for food or to use the bathroom.

I was mentally cataloguing Vannie's orgasms. They weren't all the same, but they were similar in the fact that she would stiffen, and then shake as she was overtaken with the happening. They varied only in intensity, but my god, what intensity!

"You know, your Mama and I had a talk about us, don't you?"

"No ... what did she say?"

"She wanted to know if I was serious about you. Of course, I told her I was ... I just wasn't sure if I was in love with you yet. After all, it was only a couple of weeks after we had met. I was thinking I was, but I wasn't sure. I told your mother I wanted to find out. She was more worried about what our babies would look like," I laughed.

Vannie was shaking her head. "Isn't that just like her? She was already planning the wedding. I know you made a big impression on her. She talked about how nice and smart you were. Funny, though, she never said anything about babies."

"Do you think she was worried about a mixed marriage?"

"Nope. I could tell after you left, she was trying to get me to follow you. She said she'd be fine on her own, but I knew she wouldn't be. She didn't want to move, so I had to figure out a way to make it happen. That's where Charlie came into the picture. When I first met her, I knew we were going to be good friends. It just happened. So when she figured out I was in love with you, she set about trying to help me make everyone happy. She put herself in charge of strategy."

"So ... how's it going with Mr. Brower and Mariah?"

She grinned and raised her eyebrows quickly. "Great. They've been going out regularly and now he's 'Jesse' and not Mr. Brower. When I asked her about old Mr. Plain Vanilla, she got quite upset and said he wasn't like that at all. She's having a lot of fun, Harry. I think our plan is going to work and I'm going to be able to be with you wherever you are. Would you like that?"

"You know I would. I want you with me forever, Vannie. I want us to have children together, and live happily every after."

"Just like the fairy tales, huh?"

"Yeah ... just like them."

"That's what I want too. It's just a matter of time and this fairy tale will come true," she said as she slid her amazing body over mine, reached back, and guided me into her one more time.

When Vannie left for Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, it was with mixed emotions. She would be returning on Friday, but today I needed the rest. We had worn each other out making love. I knew she must be sore, but she didn't once complain, and I didn't dare let her down. I suppose we were catching up on lost opportunities and maybe things would cool down a bit as we spent more time together. I thought I was the desperate one, but Vannie was certainly showing signs of it as well.

Ben and Charlie came back from Houston and we had a meeting to talk about the trial. It was decided that it would be run next week over two days; Tuesday and Wednesday. Ben would extrude enough material to form ten or more examples from each formulation that he planned to use. In the end, we would have at least a hundred cells to test, each segregated into their category. We wouldn't just be measuring performance, but varying the layers of the light-trapping fabric as well. That was a crucial part of the trial.

It was obvious that Ben was excited, but completely focused on the results of the first resin trial. AmChemTech had been more than co-operative and had expanded the parameters of their trial to give Ben the greatest amount of variability in specification. With their technicians help, they were able to accurately segregate each batch and measure its consistency. This saved Ben many hours in the lab, and allowed him to plot the performance of each trial batch.

I could see Charlie was feeling a bit left out right now with Ben so engrossed in his project. It was time for me to talk to her. I wanted to tell her how proud I was of her, and also find out a little more about her relationship with Ben and Vannie.

"Hey, Charlie, while Ben's wrapped up in his work, can you spare me a few moments?"

She looked up at me, a bit surprised perhaps, but quickly nodded and followed me into my office.

"I just wanted to tell you how proud and happy I am for you. Ben's a great guy, and you've been a revelation since I came back to town. Why don't you tell me about how it all happened? I'd love to know."

I couldn't remember seeing Charlie smile shyly any time in the recent past, but she did this time. She was an attractive woman and the smile highlighted that.

"I think I told you I met him at a Planet for People rally, and we got into an argument about plastics. I thought they were a plague and Ben argued that they were an important step toward our sustainable future. He was pretty cute looking, so I decided to listen to him. After I while, I could understand what he was saying. I didn't agree with everything then, but when we started to compare notes on the environmental footprint of various products, I could see what he was getting at.

"For me, it's all about how we use it. If we're just going to make solar panels and sell them at Wal-Mart, I probably won't be too interested. If we can get some of the big international organizations interested, we can do a lot of good in a lot of places. That's what I want to see us do."

"What kind of organizations are you talking about?" I asked.

"Habitat for Humanity, the U.N. agency that looks after the refugee camps, Doctors without Borders ... those types of concerns. Ben says we could supply enough power for a full operating theatre and it wouldn't take up much more space than a suitcase. Wouldn't that be something?"

Charlie's enthusiasm was running full blast again, and I was right there with her.

"I can see you're going to be a perfect spokesperson for this project, girl. You have the energy and the belief in what you want to do. You can't help but succeed."

Once again, Charlie was speechless, a rare event in my experience. "So tell me more about Ben."

"I don't know what more to say. He's a graduate chemist, specializing in polymer research. He didn't want to work with any of the big companies that recruited him, so he applied for a grant to study and develop plastics that would conduct electricity. It's a new field and he was very interested in it. Then, accidentally, he came across the properties of this gel, and combined with the light trapping fabric, he could see what it might lead to.

"When I got to know him better ... well ... we sort of hit it off ... personally. We started dating; then ... well, you know ... I talked him into moving in with me. I wanted him close by so that no other girl could grab him," she giggled.

"Good move. He's a keeper, Sis. He sure doesn't look like a scientist, though."

"That's because I've been looking after his clothes and making sure he doesn't look like a dork. I think he's really cute, and so do my friends. I hope this success doesn't turn his head."

"I doubt you'll let that happen. Somehow, I think he's found someone to show him which way to go, and he's happy to have you."

Charlie smiled once more. I looked at my younger sister carefully and began to realize she was past being a carefree student. She was a young woman now, with responsibilities and an ambition for her future. She was the smaller of my two sisters at five-foot-three, but she was a classic Asian beauty. Slim, but not skinny, hair glossy black and cut short, she had lovely posture, walking head-up wherever she went. She had been a cheerleader in high school as well as an A student. My parents would accept nothing less from any of us.

It was always a mystery to me where Charlie's activism came from. It blossomed in college ... no surprise, since Cal Berkeley was famous for it. Perhaps it was predictable that she would get involved. Her role as a provocateur was tolerated in the family because she never embarrassed any one of us, and she lived up to the academic standings that my parents expected of her. Looking back on it now, she probably had a lot more fun than Jeannie or I did. I was the stick-in-the-mud guy who wouldn't dare raise any dust back then. Jeannie was also a serious student, but with a simple plan beyond graduation. She always expected to meet Mr. Right and start a family. Enter Mike Lowe.

We had all gone to different schools. Jeannie to the University of San Francisco, me to U W in Seattle, and Charlie to U C Berkeley. My parents had attended Charlie's graduation just before their ill-fated trip. I was glad they saw all three of us finish school, and at least the grandchildren that Mike and Jeannie produced. It was small consolation for us, but it was something.

"So you and Vannie plotted this whole scheme to get her mother married off, did you?"

"Yeah ... guilty as charged. I could see she was in love with you and you with her. It was a matter of speeding up the process. When Vannie told me about this guy who'd been pretty persistent in getting close to her mom, I kind of figured we could give him a kick-start with a little advice. If that didn't work, we'd just have to find someone else."

"Well, from what Vannie told me, it looks like your plot is working. I'll owe you big if it does."

"My pleasure, big brother. Besides, I might need your help with Ben."

"Oh ... what kind of help?"

"I'm not sure about his parents. They live in Washington ... D.C. that is. He's some kind of big wig in the Justice Department. I don't know what they'd think about him marrying an Asian woman."

"Have you talked to Ben about this?"

"No. It's too soon. I'm just getting him used to the idea of us being a permanent couple."

"So ... what do you think I can do to help?"

"Talk to Ben. Find out how he feels ... you know ... subtle like."

"Yeah ... that's me all right ... subtle Harry," I laughed.

"Seriously, Harry. When the opportunity comes up ... please?"

I never could say no to little sister. I nodded reluctantly. She replied with a smile and a kiss on the cheek. I felt good about our conversation.

Vannie returned on Friday as planned and I picked her up at the airport. She was surprised and pleased that I was there waiting for her, and I got a big kiss and a prolonged hug as a reward.

"How was your trip?"

"Fabulous! You did it again, Harry," she gushed enthusiastically. "I hit every target possible, and a couple I didn't think I had a hope for. Your magic did it again."

"I told you, girl, it isn't my magic, it's your skill. Not to mention your sexy appearance. Who could possibly say no to you?"

"Aw ... that's sweet ... even if it is B.S. Mama's right ... you have the 'gift.' You just have to be around me and you pass it along."

"Well ... you believe what you want to, girl. I'm just happy you're happy ... and here."

"Yeah. Me too. Five whole days with my lover. I won't be able to walk when it's over."

"Well then, you won't be able to escape, will you?"

"Maybe I won't try."

"What's that mean?"

"Maybe I'll just stay here with you ... forever," she said in sultry tone.

"Don't tease me like that, Vannie. You know that's what I'm living for."

"Well ... I had a talk with Mama last night. Guess what? She's engaged to Jesse Brower." The look on her face was one of glee and victory.

"Oh ... and that means ... that means ... we can ..."

"Yeah ... we can. How do you like that, Mr. Harry Zheng?"

"I like it just fine. No ... better than fine. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Yeah ... that's what I wanted to hear. I'm all yours, big boy. I've already written my letter of resignation and stapled it to all the orders I wrote this week. I can't wait to see the look on my boss's face when I drop that on her desk next week."

"Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, you don't need to work, but I thought you wanted to do something meaningful?"

"I do. Charlie has something all planned for me. With you around, I can't fail, lover."

"Charlie? Just what are you two cooking up this time?"

"Charlie wants me to work with her in market development. We are going to be the dynamic duo when it comes to making sure the Metzler Cell gets a proper launch. You wait and see."

"Oh ... so you two have figured it all out, have you?"

"Well ... actually ... Charlie has. I just know I want to be involved and help any way I can. That's okay with you, isn't it?"

I stared at her for a moment, running over just what she had told me. "Yeah, that's okay. After all, you're going to be a part of all this when we get married. You might as well get your feet wet with my sister. She's going to be the driving force, whether we like it or not," I chortled.

Vannie tightened her arms around me again and kissed me as only she could kiss me. I knew then that I had made the right decision. Everyone in the boat!

I didn't think we could fit all the people who wanted to attend Ben's trial in his lab on Tuesday morning. I think we all realized just what a big event this was, and just how important it would be to the future of Orient Pacific. In the end, with a little bit of pleading and coaxing, we ended up with Ben, Mike, Charlie, myself, plus two technicians from AmChemTech. We couldn't fit any more in if we tried.

As it was, the techs and Ben were constantly working around the machinery as well as Mike, Charlie, and me. When I realized there wasn't much to see at this point, I made the decision to head back to the office, and I let Ben and Mike know I was leaving. Ben barely acknowledged me, but it wasn't a slight. When he concentrated on something, it got his full attention. Mike took the hint and joined me, while Charlie, of course, stayed behind.

I kept my fingers crossed that the trials would be successful and the project could proceed, but not knowing the outcome would occupy my mind unless I found something else. That something else was Vannie. I reached the office just before noon and took my girl out to lunch. It was another warm, sunny, late August day and we sat outside a little café, just talking about the future ... our future. There was one now, and it was tangible and near.

Vannie would be flying back to Florida tomorrow morning to settle her affairs and organize her move to San Francisco. She had written her letter of resignation, attached it to her expense account and her order sheets, putting the whole fat pile in a large manila envelope. She left most of her clothes in my ... our ... apartment. No point in hauling them across the country, then turning around and bringing them back.

As we sat in the sun at the sidewalk café, I thought about what had happened in just four short months. I'd literally and figuratively met the woman of my dreams. I had been almost shanghaied into taking over the running of the family business. I ... we ... were involved in a monumental project that could have enormous implications, both financially and socially. And through it all, it had reunited my family. Every member, present and future, would be involved. It was a very satisfying feeling.