Sweeties!" Dina trilled.
Arms flung wide in welcome, she tossed kisses left and right. "How was the honeymoon? Zandra, I simply must hear all about it. Goodness! Heinzie, you're both tanned as nuts. Well? Do sit down. I apologize for these humble quarters. It's only temporary, but it already feels like forever ..."
While their apartment was being redecorated, the Goldsmiths, their majordomo, Dina's personal maid, and a small selection of their museum-quality paintings were camping out in high style at the Carlyle Hotel. The "humble quarters"—a four-bedroom corner suite which rented for $24,000 a month—was on a high floor, with both north- and west-facing views. The foyer had a marble floor, the enormous living room a grand piano, and each bedroom an en suite bath. A separate room on a lower floor had been converted into an office for Gaby.
Julio hovered discreetly.
"Champagne," Dina decreed as they got settled on plump floral chintz sofas. "Cristal. And send downstairs for tea sandwiches."
She beamed at Zandra and Karl-Heinz.
They both looked radiant, exactly like a couple returning from their honeymoon should look. Obviously, marriage agreed with them.
As well it should. They had everything anyone could possibly want. Wealth, power, glamour—you name it.
Well, almost everything, Dina thought. But she had to wait for the right moment before raising that particular subject.
Meanwhile, there was much gossip and news to exchange. It had been two weeks since the wedding, and Dina realized she didn't even know where the happy couple had honeymooned.
"Oh, sweeties, this is fantastic!" she purred. "I couldn't wait for the two of you to get back. Without you, this city's been dull, dull, dull!"
Karl-Heinz laughed. "You're not prone to exaggeration, are you?"
"Me?" Dina laughed. "Of course not. Anyway, do tell! Where did you get those magnificent tans?"
"Oh, these? Why, Mustique, darling. Where else?"
"Mustique!" Dina looked nonplussed. "But ... it's so quiet there."
"Dead, actually," Zandra said cheerfully.
"My point exactly. And you didn't go stir-crazy? Not in two entire weeks? Sweeties, what did you do there?"
"Oh, Dina, really."
Zandra exchanged a sly, amused glance with Karl-Heinz.
"Darling, what do you think couples do on their honeymoons?"
"I see. Well, we needn't get into that. Ah! Saved by Julio and the champagne."
While Julio uncorked the bottle and poured, Dina eyed the newly- weds closely. There was something different about Zandra and Karl- Heinz ... something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Then suddenly she knew what it was. They really were a couple. And there was something else, too. They were happy. You could tell just by looking into their eyes.
Whether they realize it or not, she thought, they're in love. Genuinely in love!
Julio drifted away and Dina raised her glass.
"A toast," she proposed. "Here's to the both of you and the timely arrival of a bundle of joy."
"To a bundle of joy," Zandra repeated softly, and the three of them touched glasses and sipped.
"Delicious," Karl-Heinz said.
"Yes," Dina said. She put her glass on the coffee table. "Now for some news. I hope you won't mind my meddling, but during the past two weeks I took it upon myself to do a little research."
"Research?" said Zandra blankly. "Darling, whatever for?"
"Why, for your little bundle of joy, of course! What else?" Dina smiled like a benevolent fairy godmother. "And there's good news and there's good news! I myself couldn't believe the leaps and bounds obstetrics has made during the past few years. I don't think you will, either."
Zandra had to smile. Good old Dina, she thought. Trust her to have gone sniffing around the halls of science and medicine.
She said, "Well? We're all ears. Aren't we, Heinzie, darling?"
Dina picked up her glass and took a tiny sip and set it back down.
"It used to be," she said, "that a child's sex was a toss-up. Sort of like pot luck."
"Still is, I should imagine," said Zandra.
"Ah." A faint smile hovered on Dina's lips. "You'd be surprised, sweetie. Dr. Lawrence Rosenbaum has proved otherwise."
Karl-Heinz frowned. "Rosenbaum ... Rosenbaum ..." he murmured, crossing his legs and pinching the perfect crease of his trousers. Then he shook his head. "Never heard of the man."
"That's not surprising," Dina said, "because before this, neither had I."
"Darling, you know how I absolutely despise mysteries," Zandra said. "So who is he?"
"Only this city's most famous obstetrician/gynecologist. That's right, sweetie. In fact, he's often referred to as the top OB/GYN expert in the world."
Dina folded her hands in her lap. "Lawrence Rosenbaum and I," she said, "had a nice long talk. And guess what?"
Zandra and Karl-Heinz looked at her expectantly.
"Apparently, a new procedure was developed a few years ago which can help influence the sex of a child. That's right!"
Dina sat forward on the sofa. She was seized with a barely contained excitement, and her pale eyes shone like faceted aquamarines.
"Heinzie! Zandra! Sweeties! Did you hear me? He can help you produce a male ... heir!"
"I wonder how he does that?" Zandra mused thoughtfully. "Last I heard, the sex of a child is determined by nature."
"It seems that nature can be helped along. I forget the exact name of the procedure—" Dina waved a slender hand airily. "—you know I have absolutely no head for medical terminology, sweetie, but I did gather it's done through artificial insemination."
Karl-Heinz shook his head. "I'm not sure I like the idea of Zandra submitting herself to—"
"Darling, it isn't the method of insemination that's important, really it's not!" Zandra told him softly.
"But—"
"We need a male child, darling, and I'm willing to undergo anything within reason so long as there's a chance it'll help. I can live with that...if you can."
Karl-Heinz sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Dina pressed onward. "The process is really very simple. What they do is ... let me see ... first they take some sperm—in this case yours, Heinzie—and then they spin it or shake it in a laboratory, which causes the female sperm to drop, and the male sperm to come to the top—"
"Did you say ... shake it?" Zandra giggled. "Like a martini?"
"Spinning the sperm," Karl-Heinz uttered in amused incredulity. "And that is supposed to guarantee us a male child?"
"No," Dina conceded. "It doesn't guarantee anything. But it has been known to be effective. If you're interested, Dr. Rosenbaum can explain it all far better than I can."
Karl-Heinz exchanged glances with Zandra, who gave an imperceptible nod.
Dina drank some of her champagne.
He sighed. "It just sounds so ..." He held up his hands ... "so over the top."
"Sweetie, it is not over the top," Dina objected. "Lawrence Rosen- baum is a highly respected scientist who happens to be practicing medicine." She paused and stared at him. "Besides, do you have a better idea?"
He shook his head.
"Look at it this way," Dina's voice gentled. "What have you got to lose?"
Karl-Heinz did not reply, but Zandra thought: Only about twelve billion dollars.
She sat up straight and tall, and as she raised her chin she was every inch the princess.
"Darling," she told Dina, "call Dr. Rosenbaum. Ask how soon he can see us."
"Zandra!" Karl-Heinz protested. "Draconian measures like this weren't—"
Part of the bargain, he didn't have to say.
Zandra smiled at him. "You're sweet, but my mind's made up, Heinzie."
"But why not let nature take its course? See what happens?"
"Because, darling, nature may take months—years even!—just to fertilize me. I know your father's condition is currently stable, but he is still in a coma. You heard his doctors. It's only a matter of time."
"Yes, but—"
"And besides," she said, "how can I let Sofia's munchkin inherit? Any woman who dresses in mourning for my wedding's certainly not going to get the better of me!"
Zandra looked at Dina.
"Make the call, darling," she said huskily, taking Karl-Heinz's hand. "Make it now."