Chapter 48

A week later, Tom was conducting business when Wong Su Li entered the restaurant. He came to Tom's table. After the expected bow, he sat at the table and surprisingly offered Tom the twenty dollar gold piece that he had paid for the work on the restaurant.

Tom looked at the gold piece and asked, "What's the matter Li, you can't possibly feel that I paid you too much?" Li shook his head and stated, "Master Tom, since I had done the job here word has spread to the other businesses. We have been installing pumps into so many businesses, and even houses that we will be busy for the next month just on the work that we have right now. I expect that we will keep getting more jobs. I'm not sure when we will ever get all of them done. We even opened another business, not in Chinatown, but here in the white section that is just to handle the plumbing business. We have made so much money, and it was all from your idea. I had to return the money that I charged you. I can't take your money and your idea, it wouldn't be honorable."

Tom smiled at the thought, but since Li thought it as a matter of honor he didn't argue. "So, you are busy making money, and keeping your relatives busy too." Li nodded his head tiredly, "I wish I had another fifty relatives. We had to take some from the other businesses. We are stretched pretty thin, and I don't know if we will be able to keep up with everything."

Tom nodded his head and thought, "Li, why don't you go to the other families? Offer to hire five or even ten men, from each family. That will let you put your relatives back to work where they need to be, and it will give you enough men to keep your new business working. If you need more, you can just offer to hire more men. It will also let all of the families make a little money and it might be nice if the other families owed you a favor sometime in the future."

Li looked thoughtful for a minute before he nodded his head with a big smile. "What will stop them from opening the same business once they learn how to do it from us?" Tom shrugged, "Does it really matter? It they have someone like Wing that understands pipes it would only be a matter of time before they did the same thing, and without a man like Wing they wouldn't want to take the risk. Besides, even with other families doing laundry, you still have enough work to keep you busy. It would be the same thing. There will always be another business. You shouldn't worry about getting all of the business. Besides how much business will you get fixing their mistakes? Besides they might think of something new that you can offer, too."

Li smiled and nodded his head. "It sounds good, and I think I will do as you say. Tell me, how much will I owe you for all of this good advice?" Tom laughed and slapped him on the back, "Nothing my friend. I help you when you need it, just like you help me. That is what friends should do." Li smiled again and they settled in to enjoy their tea.

Tom later found out that Ho Min Chu was a great visionary; he designed a permanent wash basin with a drain, that he called a wash-sink. Tom was very impressed and ordered one for the restaurant and one for the house. Of course he had Li's business install it.

Momma Fiona had finally come to terms with the indoor plumbing. The installation of the wash-sink really cemented her love of indoor plumbing. When she wasn't telling Tom how great it was, she was telling all of her friends. She even made a point of bringing all of her friends around to marvel at the wonders.

Li quickly found that the wash-sink was a winning sales item. He ordered all of his wash-sinks from Ho Min Chu, even though there were others making the sinks. He didn't want to give others money for an idea that they stole. The Ho Min Clan respected Li's decision and it cemented their working relationship for a lifetime of partnerships.

When Vanessa started the womanly flows Tom had a talk with Mei and Su. They couldn't say for certain but they suspected that Vanessa was sneaking the tea. Tom nodded that he understood and explained that he wanted her in the family way as quickly as possible. They said that they would keep a closer watch on her and make sure that she got none of the tea. Tom decided to help them out a bit also.

When Vanessa was out of pantaloons again, she found that things had changed. Each morning when the women sat around and drank their tea, Tom took her to the drawing room and bent her over a chair and planted a fresh load of baby juice in her hungry womb. It was a couple of days before she even realized that she didn't have a chance at any of the tea.

Each morning Tom filled her up with baby batter and each night he left a fresh load to soak until morning. The other women felt that Vanessa was getting everything that they wanted, but weren't lucky enough to get.

Tom let her start wearing clothes a week after the new routine stared. Strangely Vanessa didn't care if she had clothes or not. Once she thought about it, she realized that it was the attitude of everybody at the house. They didn't treat her any differently when she didn't wear clothes then when she did. She hadn't really thought about it in a long time. She also realized that she missed the freedom of not wearing clothes. She wasn't used to the Chinese clothes that Tom gave her to wear, but she knew better than to complain. She also noticed that she quickly got used to the feel of the silk on her skin.

After another couple of weeks of the new routine she wasn't surprised when the time for her flow to start came and went, and she knew that she was with child. She didn't know if she was happy or not. She had hoped to drag this out for as long as possible, but she was happy that she would have Tom's baby. She knew that Tom would hear very shortly, and she began waiting for the news that she would have to leave.

She made a comment to Tom that she would have to get a Chinese maid, just so that she could keep in practice with the new things that she had learned. Tom looked at her funny for a minute before he laughed. He arranged to have Vanessa stay with Becky and Jenn that night, and the next morning she had a big smile and told Tom that it was interesting that things were more wide spread than she had thought. Tom smiled and knew that she wouldn't have too much trouble finding the type of maid that she would be looking for.

At the end of the month Tom sent a message to Don Carrone that he would need to bring some clothes to his house when he arrived to pick up his daughter. Don Carrone and his wife, along with ten riders, arrived just after dinner one night. Vanessa knew as soon as she saw them that her time had come. Mei and Su took the clothes and helped her dress.

At the door Vanessa kissed Tom and the girls before she left with her parents. Tom wondered what had happened to Victor, but thought it best not to rattle any skeletons. He didn't feel that he really wanted to know anyway.

Tom was glad when Vanessa left the house. It felt good to get back to a quiet existence, at least more of a normal routine. Tom wasn't expecting the summons when it came, but realized that it had probably been put off until Vanessa left.