East Meets West Pt. 02 Ch. 01

I can only hope I do justice to their words.

Meili began by explaining she had always known how desperately her mother had wished she could have more children . . . "especially your children, Daddy."

I could only nod my head, then grabbed Jiao's hand as I looked at her.

"I've seen you . . . I've seen you when you stare at some young mother with a newborn," I tenderly told Jiao, "and I knew what you were thinking. I've also seen the tears in your eyes knowing that you couldn't, and how you would try to hide those tears from me."

Jiao squeezed my hand tightly.

"Did you know that Mom would sometimes get up in the middle of the night and cry?" asked Meili.

I had to admit that I didn't.

"Because of this ESP that we share, I always could feel what Mom was feeling, I could always feel Mom crying, could feel how sad she was," Meili said, "even when I was not here but at MIT, I could feel her tears and feel how sad she was.

"When I first woke up in the hospital and you were both standing there, I could feel your incredible love for me . . . and each other . . . and I decided then that I would devote the rest of my life to finding some way to make Mom's dream come true.

"That's when I decided I would go back to MIT and get my degrees in biology and genetics, and open my own bio-genetics lab. I thought the project I was working on, the ability to give you and Mom children would take 10 years . . . but it only took two."

Meili went on to explain how her research team had perfected a process where they could take a female egg, and fertilize it in a test tube with male sperm.

I immediately interrupted: "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You said I am the father? (Meili nodded yes.) Then how did you get my sperm?"

Meili looked at her Mom, Jiao looked at her daughter and both turned red.

"You know Jack, I have a PhD in nuclear physics and I only understand part of what Meili is doing," Jiao said, "but getting your sperm was the easiest part of the whole process . . . the only part we were a little concerned about was possible contamination . . . contamination with my . . . with my saliva."

Mom looked at daughter, daughter looked at Mom . . . and both blushed even more.

Up to that point, I would have said that Jiao ALWAYS swallowed. But apparently not, if I was hearing what I think I was hearing.

After a rather awkward silence, Meili resumed talking.

"Anyway, fertilization in vitro is nothing new, people have been doing that for decades. Our breakthrough came after impregnation. That's where the real magic began."

After hearing Meili use the word, "magic," I raised my eyebrow and said I thought I remembered hearing a certain beautiful, young scientist once say she didn't believe in magic.

Meili grinned, then said "Well, I've learned a LOT since then. And I remember reading English physicist and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke who said, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'

Then Meili leaned over and kissed me, very softly, very gently on the lips.

"And I know this guy . . . who does a magic trick with a silver dollar. In fact, doctors and nurses swear his trick was REAL magic because the ONLY thing that kept me alive was his magic trick.

"Every few months I'll run into one of those doctors or nurses, and they still talk about 'The Miracle of the Silver Dollar.' Whether it was a miracle, or magic, the only reason I am alive now is because of you. I love you Daddy."

I had some tears in my eyes, and it was all I could do to keep from crying.

Then Meili stood up before both Jiao and me, and took a hand from each of us and put it on her abdomen.

"I'm doing this for you Daddy, and for you Mom. I would be dead if it weren't for both of you."

After that . . . well I lost it. Then both Jiao and Meili were hugging me, and I was hugging them. We were all crying.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, we had all recovered enough for Meili to continue.

"Look Daddy, you are one of the smartest men I have ever known (that REALLY surprised me), but like Mom said, even she doesn't understand exactly how I do my . . . magic (big grin). Let me just shorten it some. We take an egg, fertilize it, and then replace the nucleus with DNA from someone else. It isn't exactly a perfect clone of the person whose DNA is now inside the fertilized egg, but close.

"In this case, it was my egg, your sperm and Mom's DNA. Then I had the egg replanted inside my womb. I had to wait for a month to be sure my body wouldn't reject the egg."

"Wait," I said hesitantly, "are you saying that you are . . . are going to give birth to a . . . a clone of your Mom? You are going to give birth to your own Mom?"

"That's an oversimplification, but close. We also mixed some of your DNA with Moms, but the baby will be about 90 percent Mom, and about 10 percent you," she added.

"God, I hope she has Jiao's brains and looks," I muttered. "Wait, is it going to be a girl or boy?"

"A girl," Meili said. "While it would have been possible to manipulate the DNA to produce a boy, it would have involved more risk. It is easier, since it is mostly Mom's DNA, to leave her (and Meili rubbed her abdomen) as a girl."

"And you are okay with this, with your own daughter being a surrogate mother?" I asked Jiao, somewhat stunned.

"When Meili first approached me a couple of months ago and explained the procedure, that they had perfected it, and that she needed your sperm, that was one of the first questions I asked: 'Who would be the surrogate mother?'" Jiao explained. "I questioned her about who would be providing the donor egg and who the surrogate mother would be.

"That's when I found out that she really is as much your daughter as she is mine. The classic nurture versus nature debate."

I had a very puzzled look on my face as I looked at Jiao.

"She lied to me," said Jiao with a big grin as Meili cracked up. "She told me she had found someone to serve as the donor and surrogate, someone from China who really needed the money."

"Now wait a minute," I started saying in protest using my most injured tone, "Yes, I will admit that I sometimes stretch the truth a LITTLE about anniversary and birthday presents and where we are going on vacations, but I don't really lie."

"Oh, yeah," Meili piped in, "stretching the truth like telling us we are going to spend a month at a dude ranch in Wyoming riding horses when you have a private jet waiting to take us to Italy for a month. I felt like a total idiot having a suitcase full of western wear and cowboy boots when we landed in Naples. The customs people looked at me like I must be a total fool after going through my suitcase."

"What about the time he told us we were going on a month-long cruise to Alaska, but instead we found ourselves in Tahiti?" Jiao added, "With suitcases half-full of winter clothing (and here both Mom and daughter recited in unison) 'because it still gets really cold at night in Alaska'?"

"Daddy, you are such a dork at times!" laughed Meili.

"Or remember the time he told us we were going camping in the Ozarks, only we ended up in New York for a month in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf-Astoria? All we had packed was blue jeans and shorts," Meili added. "That was a great trip though, with lots of shopping!"

"Okay, okay," I admitted, "sometimes I do slightly more than just stretch the truth a little."

Mother and daughter didn't say anything, but both started giving me the Chinese evil eye.

"Okay, sometimes I lie," I finally admitted.

I had a lot more questions that night, which Meili and Jiao answered, although a lot of those answers involved words I had never heard before. Words like oocyte, which is actually the proper name for the egg that was taken from Meili and fertilized by my sperm.

The egg, or oocyte is actually called a zygote after fertilization. Other terms were cellular differentiation, which apparently was the biggest stumbling block to producing a baby from Jiao's DNA. I still don't have a clue exactly what Meili was talking about there. Also nucleated cells, totipotent, DNA, RNA, etc., etc.

I can only tell you one thing for an absolute certainty. Eight months later Meili gave birth to the most beautiful little girl in the whole world.

I actually held her before either Jiao or Meili did, and was completely lost when I looked into her eyes. She had been screaming her head off after the birth, but as soon as I held her against me she stopped crying and looked at me and smiled.

I have been told that newborns can't actually see, yet I knew that this little girl could see me and feel my love for her. She only weighed six pounds at birth, but as I held her my arms started trembling at the thought that this was OUR child, mine and Jiao's.

I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for Meili to step aside and give up this little tiny person she had been carrying inside her for nine months, but she held her for a few minutes, kissed her forehead and then put her in Jiao's arms.

Meili breast-fed her for three months, but always handed her back to Jiao or me. On more than one occasion I could see some tears in Meili's eyes so I could sense how hard it must have been for her. We named this beautiful girl Lin, which in Chinese means "Beautiful Jade," because of her jade-green eyes.

Jiao was literally transformed almost overnight. As much as I had always loved her, I could always sense this deep, abiding sadness. And like I had said, I could see Jiao stare at some mom and newborn and sometimes she would have tears in her eyes knowing she couldn't have any more children . . . ever again.

Now, thanks to science and magic, and a love from a daughter that is beyond words, she did have a child. There was such a joy in Jiao now that affected everyone around her. I have seen her walk into a room where people had been arguing heatedly just seconds before, and suddenly everyone would start laughing and joking.

I can only surmise it was some type of reverse ESP. Somehow, the love and joy Jiao now had in her life expanded outward and touched everyone she came into contact with.

I truly did not think it was possible to love Jiao more than I already did, but somehow my love for her continued to grow.

I can't say I was totally surprised when, two years later, I came home from college one day and Jiao and Meili were standing side-by-side when I walked in. They both walked up to me, both hugged me, and Meili once again said, "Daddy, I'm pregnant." Only this time she quickly added, "We're pregnant. We, all of us, are going to have another baby."

I immediately started asking Meili if she was sure about this. I already knew how much it had hurt her to give away the baby she had carried for nine months. I mean she still saw and played with Lin nearly every day, but you didn't have to have ESP to recognize the pain I could sometimes see in her eyes.

Meili immediately hugged me and reassured me she knew she was doing the right thing.

"Yes, it hurts sometimes," she admitted, "but I am doing this for the people I love more than anyone on earth."

Jiao and I both cried some and hugged and kissed Meili.

I had never said a word, but Meili suddenly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," she said with tears in her eyes. "I know how much you want a son, but this baby will be a girl again. It is still too risky to try change the baby's sex."

I didn't even bother to try to deny it. It would have been useless. Both Jiao and Meili could have sensed the lie with their ESP.

I still can't fathom how they can guess almost anything I am thinking, but somehow can't penetrate my little exaggerations about vacation spots or birthday gifts. I know Jiao used to get very frustrated that she couldn't tell where we were going on vacation until after we got there.

Eight months later Meili gave birth to another beautiful little girl. We named her April, which had been my mother's name. This time I could see it was much harder for Meili to give her up. Even though I don't have ESP, I could easily sense the pain Meili was going through.

That was why I told Jiao that there would be no more births using Meili as a surrogate mother. It was hurting her too much, and that was hurting us all as a family.

Jiao agreed, and we both told Meili that. Meili also agreed to no more surrogate motherhood.

Imagine my surprise two years later when I came home one day and Jiao and Meili were waiting for me.

"Daddy, I'm pregnant," Meili said, after both she and Jiao hugged me and kissed me.

I immediately got a little angry.

"I told you no more, Meili, I can't stand to see you hurt like that again," I stated. "Didn't you hear me before, I won't have you going through that kind of pain again."

"No, Daddy, you don't understand," Meili said, looking me directly in my eyes.

"This baby was not conceived in vitro. This baby was conceived in love, the old-fashioned way, between two people who love each other," she added. "This baby . . . actually babies since there is more than one . . . is for me and the man I love."

I didn't even know Meili was dating anyone.

Almost numbly I asked who the father was.

Jiao grabbed my hand and said we needed to talk in the living room.

After I sat down, Jiao sat in my lap and Meili sat down beside me. Jiao leaned over and kissed me so sweetly, so tenderly, and yet with enough passion to let me know how we were going to end that night.

"Jack, you are the father," Jiao said, "you are the man Meili loves. We both love you so much Jack, we both love you so much."

To say I was stunned would be a huge understatement. I immediately began shaking my head, "No!"

"That can't be," I declared. "You said this baby . . . or babies . . . were conceived the old-fashioned way? Meili that can't be since I've never touched you."

Jiao asked me if I remembered a night about six weeks earlier. We had been fooling around for a while, and just as Jiao was about to get on top she had suddenly told me she needed to use the bathroom.

I vaguely remembered. I think I actually laughed and said something about "well, when you have to go, you have to go." I know I had brought Jiao to several orgasms with my fingers and tongue, and was a little surprised she hadn't returned the favor with her mouth. Jiao would usually do that to take the edge off a little and so I could last longer, later.

"I went in the bathroom . . . but Meili came out," Jiao said. "She had been waiting, and it was Meili you made love with that night. Made babies with that night.

"Meili said the two of you made love three or four times that night."

I began remembering a little more. The lights had been out, and Jiao had not turned on the lights in the bathroom. After just a minute or two she came out, then immediately resumed where we had left off.

I remembered her lowering herself down onto me, and again vaguely recalled thinking Jiao had actually felt a little different . . . a little looser . . . that night.

As soon as I was buried insider her, however, the sexual tigress I have known so many times in the past came alive. Jiao always fucked herself when she was on top much harder than I had ever dared to do to her.

I didn't last too long that first time and soon flooded her insides with my cum. I could tell that Jiao had several orgasms also, and knew how almost insatiable she could be at times. That was why I wasn't really surprised when she immediately pulled off me, then took my now softening penis in her mouth.

Quicker than I would have thought possible, I was hard again, and Jiao climbed back on top. This time I lasted much, much longer and Jiao had a number of memorable orgasms before I came deep inside her again.

We both drifted off to sleep, but I awakened again about an hour later with Jiao again sucking my penis deep into her mouth. Once I was completely hard, I rolled Jiao over and was quickly inside her. I remembering pounding into her just about as hard, maybe even harder, than I have ever done in the past. Some 20 minutes later I came for the third time that night.

And I did remember making love again later that night with my beautiful wife. Sweet, tender, relaxed love.

But now Jiao is telling me it wasn't her that night. It was her daughter . . . my daughter . . . OUR daughter?

As I began remembering more about that night I began to feel a growing horror. That night was the only time in all the years we had been together that Jiao had not screamed my name out loud, "Jaaaacccck!" In fact, other than gasps and groans and screams of just "Oh," "Ohhh," "Ohhhhhh," Jiao had never been so silent while we were making love.

It finally began to dawn on me that somehow, in some elemental way I knew it was not Jiao that had been with me that night. Some little, horrible, monstrous, sick part of me knew that I was making love with . . . that I was having sex with . . . Oh, God Help Me . . . I was fucking my daughter. I was FUCKING my daughter. I was committing INCEST with my daughter.

I had known as soon as she lowered herself down onto me. I always knew how tight Jiao was, and I had known then that it wasn't my wife above me. I had known when she didn't cry out my name. I had known when I pounded into her harder than I have ever done in the past. I had KNOWN but refused to acknowledge it.

The hidden monster inside me had known . . . and exalted.

"Monster!" "Monster!" "Monster!" The words reverberated through my mind.

I was some kind of sick, perverted monster who used his daughter for his own depraved lust!

I buried my face in my hands and began crying.

"No, Jack, No!" Jiao began, and at the same time Meili was saying, "No, Daddy, No!"

I just ignored both and continued to cry in self-hatred and loathing. How could I live with myself knowing what I had done? What I had done to my precious daughter? I still, at times, felt like I had nearly killed her by not going shopping with her that day, and now? Now was so much worse. The ultimate betrayal of the love between a father and daughter.

Jiao grabbed one hand and pulled it down while Meili grabbed the other.

Then for only the third time in the years we had known each other, Jiao laid a hand on me in anger.

Jiao is right-handed, and slapped me on my left cheek possibly even harder that she had the last time.

Meili is left-handed, and for the first time in her life laid a hand on me in anger. She slapped me even harder on my right cheek than her mother had.

The one-two slaps left me completely stunned.

"No, Jack, you aren't the monster," Jiao said, "if anything I am. I knew it and allowed it and even helped."

"No, Mom, Daddy, you are both wrong," Meili disagreed. "If anyone here is a monster then it is me, not either of you. I wanted to make love to you Daddy, I wanted you so much. I wanted to give you a son that I know you have been wanting for so long.

"And I am going to give you that son Daddy," she continued, "in fact more than one."

"Jack, LISTEN to me," Jiao said. "Meili knows what I did in the Meadow that day, all those years ago. She knows I killed that man with my bare hands. If you were a monster, Jack, trying to hurt or take advantage of my daughter, then I would have killed you myself, no matter how much I love you. But you aren't a monster, Jack.

"I told you so many years ago . . . it seems a lifetime ago now . . . that you were the best man I have ever known, and I still mean that today," Jiao continued.

"You are the BEST MAN I have ever known, Jack," Jiao stated, then as she looked at me, incredibly she smiled, "And if I have to slap you a hundred times to make you understand that, then I will!"

"And once Mom gets tired of slapping you, then I'll start," Meili said. "Did you hear what I said, Daddy? I am pregnant with your CHILDREN . . . not child . . . CHILDREN! We are going to have triplets . . . two sons and a daughter."