Lies and Weddings(93)
It was like watching fighter pilots engaging in an aerial dogfight, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the energy these tiny creatures possessed, the unfathomable energy that allowed them to flap their wings eighty times a second and fly nearly four thousand miles from Mexico to Canada year after year. No wonder the scarlet-breasted hummingbird was guarding its nectar so unrelentingly. It wasn’t even the biggest one, but what it lacked in size it made up for in ferocity.
Thomas reflected on his patient lying barely ten feet away on the other side of the travertine wall. For decades, Rene had been one of the most feared corporate raiders in Asia, mercilessly gobbling up companies, firing thousands at a time, and ruining his competition without any hesitation. Thomas had been terribly conflicted for years, wondering why he expended so much of himself treating a patient who was so reviled, whose empire did so much harm to others and to the planet. And now here he was, the mighty Rene Tan, lying on a hospital bed in Los Angeles, the final bit of life force ebbing out of him.
The doors finally opened and the cabal of suited men and women emerged, a few nodding at Thomas in recognition but saying nothing. Thomas rushed back into the room with his medical team, not happy with his patient’s condition. “That meeting took much too long, Rene. You really strained yourself.”
“I had…shit to deal with,” Rene said. “The coyotes…are already…smelling the blood.”
“What does that mean?”
“Pablo Aguilar…is getting greedy. I need…my succession plan…to be ironclad.” Rene grimaced as pain shot through his body like lightning.
“What’s your pain level, one to ten?” Thomas asked.
“Eleven thousand. Thomas…you need to keep…Luis Felipe…away from Pablo,” Rene muttered weakly before closing his eyes.
“Dr. Tong, I think it’s time we increased his oxycodone and maybe even consider Dilaudid,” the palliative care specialist suggested.
“I’m not sure…,” Thomas said cautiously.
“Give me…the fucking…good stuff,” Rene demanded.
“The good stuff will kill you faster, Rene.”
“Give it!” Rene groaned, his eyes clamped shut in pain.
The door opened and Eden entered, dressed in a saffron Jenny Packham cocktail dress with an exquisitely pleated organdy skirt that seemed to float around her.
Thomas looked at her in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Tessa texted me this morning and asked me to come over before my party. I thought you knew,” Eden said with a little frown as she gave her father a quick peck on the cheek. She walked over to Rene’s bed, and even before she got close to him she could tell how much his condition had deteriorated overnight. “Mr. Tan…Mr. Tan…,” she said softly.
Rene’s eyes flashed open and he stared at Eden standing there in her goddesslike gown. Tears suddenly began streaming down his cheeks, and catching his breath, he blurted out in Cantonese, “Mary ah…nei heui jo bin dou ah?”?[*1]
Eden looked at her father, puzzled. Thomas sprang up from his chair. “This was a bad idea. You’d better leave…”
“No…no…,” Rene protested as he grabbed Eden’s arm forcefully. “Mary…”
“Rene, this isn’t Mary,” Thomas said. “Let her go.”
“Mary, ngo hei mong nei ho ji jun leung ngo.”[*2] Rene held on to Eden, his body convulsing with sobs.
“We upped the oxycodone,” Thomas explained to Eden. “He’s hallucinating.”
Eden nodded, leaning in closer and saying soothingly, “Mr. Tan, it’s me, Eden Tong. Thomas Tong’s daughter.”
“Eden,” Rene exhaled, finally calming down and coming out of his fugue state. “You look like…a beauty queen.”
“Thank you, Mr. Tan. I’m dressed for an engagement party.”
“You’re…getting engaged?”
“No, my friend Daniela is.”
“When’s your turn?”
Eden giggled. “I’m not sure.”
“Are you in love?”
Eden giggled again. “I’m not sure.”
“You’ll know it…when you are.”
“Yes, Mr. Tan.”
“Eden…do me…a favor.”
“Yes?”
“Stop calling me…Mr. Tan.”
“What should I call you?”
“Call me…Uncle Rene.”
“Yes, Uncle Rene.”
“Do me…one more favor?”
“Yes?”
“I want you…to get to know Luis Felipe…better.”
“I’ll try.”
“Be nice to my son.”
Eden hesitated for a split second before answering, “Of course.”
* * *
?
Daniela Farman-Farmihian looked positively angelic in a vintage gold lamé Galanos gown as she mingled with her engagement party guests over cocktails in the magnificent rose gardens of the Huntington museum. At the appointed time, the doors flanking the terrace opened and the guests were invited into the historic mansion that was home to one of the world’s leading art museums.