The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,62
kissed her.
The kiss felt like a good-bye, and that was exactly what it was. When he released her, she felt as if the earth had opened beneath her. “I have made you something,” she said, “although it’s not quite finished yet.” She moved to where she had set down the embroidery. “I can complete this, and when you come again—”
“I’m afraid it might be a while before I can afford luxuries such as visiting this house,” he said. “I don’t mind taking it unfinished.”
She hesitated, then handed over the piece, trying to smile even though the crack in her heart had splintered.
Huan Sun examined the embroidery, running the tips of his fingers over the intricate stitching. “It’s beautiful, Mei Lien.” Then his gaze met hers, and he smiled that smile she had become fond of. “I must go. I cannot let Ah-Peen Oie think that I am able to renew any contract. But first, I have one more gift for you, my blossom.”
Mei Lien wanted to tell him no, but she was also curious about what he could have possibly brought her. When he produced a bracelet of pearls, she brought her hands to her mouth. She had never owned jewelry this beautiful.
“This was my mother’s,” Huan Sun said.
As beautiful as the pearls were, she could not keep the bracelet. “I can’t take your mother’s pearls.”
Huan Sun refused to take them back, though. “She told me to save them for someone special.”
Mei Lien fought against the tears burning in her eyes. His mother had died many years ago in Hong Kong before he came to San Francisco. “Huan Sun . . .”
He closed her hand around the bracelet, then wrapped his fingers over hers. “I promised my mother I would, so they are yours.”
She opened her palm and gazed for a long moment at the pearl bracelet. Then she slipped it on her wrist. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Huan Sun leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Good-bye, Mei Lien.”
When the door clicked shut behind him, Mei Lien didn’t move for a long moment. The soft weight of the pearls on her wrist somehow made the pain of Huan Sun’s departure more palpable.
She wished she could help him find his stolen savings. Another knock on the door sent darts of hope through her. Perhaps Huan Sun had returned after all. But the door opened before she could reach it.
Ah-Peen Oie swept into the room wearing an elegant silk dress. Her hair was pulled into a high twist, and she smelled like a garden of roses.
Mei Lien moved her hands behind her back to hide the pearl bracelet, then lowered her eyes so that her mistress wouldn’t think her defiant.
“I sent Huan Sun on his way.” Ah-Peen Oie crossed to the bureau. She sorted through the few things upon it, and Mei Lien tried not to bristle or complain. “He is no longer welcome in my house until he has recovered his fortune.”
Mei Lien knew better than to speak, but listening without replying was like sitting on a jagged rock.
Ah-Peen Oie stopped in front of Mei Lien. With a long fingernail, the mistress lifted Mei Lien’s chin. “Zhang Wei has requested your presence tonight at the banquet.”
Mei Lien had no doubt that if Ah-Peen Oie had been a living dragon, smoke would be coming out of her nostrils right now.
“Do not encourage him,” Ah-Peen Oie warned. “If he speaks to you, reply as little as possible.” She leaned so close that Mei Lien could smell the cinnamon on her breath. “He is mine. Don’t forget it.”
Ah-Peen Oie lowered her fingernail, but not before scraping beneath Mei Lien’s chin.
Her skin burned with the scratch.
When the mistress left, Mei Lien sank onto her bed. Squeezing her eyes shut, she curled up on her side and let the tears fall. Tears for the loss of Huan Sun. Tears for the changes coming into her life yet again. Tears for a mother she was slowly forgetting.
Time pulsed forward, and when darkness fell, Mei Lien reluctantly prepared herself for the banquet. Walking down the corridor felt like she was leaving a life she had reconciled herself to and stepping toward one she feared.
The cloying scent of smoke, rich perfume, powdered faces, and oiled hair was stifling, and Mei Lien wished that she could have stayed in her room tonight. But business came first. And Mei Lien had a long way to go to pay off her contract.