The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,104
continued in a quiet voice. “I remember the beatings and being hungry all the time. If Miss Culbertson hadn’t rescued me, where would I be now?”
Mei Lien’s eyes burned with tears. She knew the answer.
Lonnie turned from the window, her own eyes shining with tears. “I would be dead. I am sure of it.” Her face glowed with a smile that was both sad and triumphant. “To my very bones, I know that if I had not been rescued when I was, I would have joined my ancestors. But I am here. I’m alive, and I have a second chance to become something that never would have been possible.”
Mei Lien returned her gaze to her clasped hands. Lonnie’s words reverberated inside her chest. She knew that all the girls staying in this house must have come from somewhere and must have been through experiences similar to hers. But hearing Lonnie speak of her past so openly had made Mei Lien feel less . . . different.
She met Lonnie’s brown eyes. In them, she saw the warmth, the acceptance, the nonjudgment.
“They lied to me, too,” Mei Lien said in a quiet voice, the first words she had spoken since Miss Cameron and Lonnie entered. “From the first promise to my mother, they lied. They offered her money for her sacrifice of giving me up. They promised that I would be married to a wealthy man looking for a wife.”
Mei Lien didn’t realize tears were falling until Miss Cameron handed over a handkerchief. Mei Lien pressed the cloth against her cheeks.
Lonnie sat next to her on the bed again, this time closer. When Lonnie rested a hand on her shoulder, Mei Lien felt something she had never felt before in her life. This was what it must be to have a sister.
Mei Lien told her story in bits and pieces, stringing the events of the last several months together as best she could. She left out some of the harder, darker things, but there was no need to explain those in detail. By the knowledge in Lonnie’s eyes, and the understanding and compassion in Miss Cameron’s, Mei Lien knew both women heard all the words she couldn’t speak.
“You have a second chance here,” Miss Cameron said at last when Mei Lien had explained how Zhang Wei had caught up with her in the end, just when she thought she could escape and work for the laundry woman. “There are many things to learn, and no one will ever think less of you because of what you’ve been through.”
Mei Lien had heard these words from Tien Fu Wu and Miss Cameron before, but with Lonnie sharing her story, slowly Mei Lien allowed herself to believe.
“I am grateful . . .” Her voice cracked, and she tried again. “I am grateful for the risks you’ve taken for me.”
“It was our honor,” Miss Cameron said. “You will be a wonderful asset to the mission home.”
Mei Lien didn’t know how. But she was tired of being tired. Tired of the heavy weight upon her chest and the deep ache in her stomach. For a few moments, with Lonnie here, she had felt lighter somehow. Less alone.
“Come to the kitchen,” Lonnie said. “I’ll show you how to make almond cookies. They’re my favorite.”
Mei Lien had only had almond cookies a few times in her life. They were a luxury her mother couldn’t afford very often. Ah-Peen Oie had served them at the banquets, and Mei Lien had tried them there. “Is there a special occasion?” Will there be a lot of people coming? was her real question.
“No,” Lonnie said. “The housekeeper allows us to bake anytime as long as we don’t have class and we clean up after ourselves.”
Mei Lien looked over at Miss Cameron for confirmation, and she nodded.
“Are there a lot of other residents down there?” The thought of leaving the confines of this room, of being around many others in a bigger space, still made her want to lock her bedroom door.
“Everyone is at their lessons,” Lonnie said. “We will be the only ones in the kitchen. If I can bake, then so can you. When I was a slave, my mistress used to burn me if she thought I was lazy. It took me a long time to go into the mission home kitchen, and even longer to attempt any baking.”
Mei Lien stared at the girl. It was hard to believe this cheerful, frank girl had once been too afraid to walk into