All the Tea in China (29 page)

Phineas’s mother, on the other hand, sat as silent as a stone lion sculpture. Rather than displaying the power of mighty paws, however, she seemed to keep her claws carefully retracted for just the right moment until she could capture and shred her prey. The thought made me most uneasy . . .

Precious Spring had told me that marriages in China were not just the union of a man and woman, but the union of two families and fortunes. I could well understand that concept, for in truth many marriages in England were the same. A woman must marry a man who would improve her social standing and provide a good income, while a man must marry a woman with a generous dowry or, at the least, with a social standing that would not detract from his own.

The idea that Phineas’s mother had envisioned an arranged marriage did not surprise me, but I had hoped that she would resign herself to the notion that her son had chosen otherwise. Apparently she would need some persuasion for this to occur, as her behavior the first day did not bode well for my future in Phineas’s family. I consoled myself with the thought that we would no doubt soon leave her home and head inland. There were, after all, a multitude of souls to save, and I was anxious to be about my Father’s business!

13

“When can we leave?” I asked Phineas that night when we were finally alone in our room.

He laughed, stretching out on the four-poster wooden-canopy bed. “Is it that bad?”

“Worse.” I sat beside him on the edge. “Your mother dislikes me immensely.”

“She has not gotten to know you. Give her time.”

“That is not the answer I had hoped to hear,” I said petulantly. “I thought you were anxious to search for the tea.”

He idly rubbed my arm with his fingers. “I must wait for the right moment in the season, when the leaves are golden and ready to pick.”

“Will you meet your partner there?”

“Yes.” His fingers traveled to my shoulder.

“Have you seen this tea for yourself?”

“Mmm.”

“Will you—”

He dropped his hand in exasperation. “Is it your intention to talk all night, wife? Yes, I have seen the tea with my own eyes. Yes, we will leave as soon as possible. Yes, I know that my mother excludes you from my family, but you must avoid her barbs.”

“Avoid them? Phineas, they already weigh heavily!” I said bitterly. “She will not give me a chance to speak. When you speak of me, she acts as though I were not even present.” I crossed my arms. “I should like to take her to a party in Britain. She could teach the ladies of society a thing or two about delivering the cut direct.”

Phineas sat up, laughing, embracing me with one arm. He kissed my cheek. “She will come around, Isabella. She worries about her only son.”

I had not seen her husband nor been given any explanation for his absence, though I knew she had remarried after Phineas’s father. “She is widowed?” I guessed.

He nodded. “Within the past five years. I was sorry to learn of it . . . for her sake.”

“What about your own father?” I turned closer to Phineas, intrigued. “How did she and your father meet?”

“She was the daughter of a merchant who dealt with the European traders—a member of the
kung-hang
, the officially authorized trading merchants. My father was the captain of an East Indiaman. My mother was allowed to visit the Thirteen Factories with her father, and she and my father met there. They fell in love—unheard of even between a Chinese man and woman. They were secretly married, and though she lived in her father’s house, she and my father made plans to return to England.”

He sighed. “Unfortunately, she learned she was carrying a child. When her parents found out, they were furious. To keep their good name, not to mention her reputation, they arranged a quick marriage to another
kung-hang
member, an older man. I believe they told him about the child and paid him extra money to raise it . . . if it was a boy, of course.”

“And if a girl?”

Phineas looked at me steadily. “They would no doubt have killed it.”

I squeezed his hand. “You were that child.”

He nodded. “Though forced into an arranged marriage, my mother was delighted to have me.”

“And your true father?”

“He did not know what had happened to my mother, for she disappeared, and he sailed back to England. When he was able to return many years later, he used all his powers to find out if my mother still lived and discovered that not only did she, but so did I.”

“He had not known you existed?”

“No. He was heartbroken at first, then angry at my mother for not telling him. He offered her and her husband a great deal of money for me, so that he might take me back to England to be raised. My stepfather had been kind to me, but I am certain that I was a daily reminder of what he felt was my mother’s indiscretion with a dreaded foreigner. He eagerly agreed.”

“And your mother?”

“She was heartbroken, of course, but she always clung to the hope that she would have other sons to raise. She wanted only to please her husband. After all, what could she do? She had no choice in the matter.” He paused. “She gave me the sword as a sign that I would always, rightfully, be her firstborn son.”

I leaned against Phineas for contemplation, but he did not give me any time for such. “We should enjoy our time here together,” he murmured. “Soon we will be traveling again, and our accommodations will be spartan at best. This house is more than comfortable.” He nuzzled my neck.

“This room is exquisite,” I agreed, a catch in my breath, but I was not thinking of the furniture or the rugs. Phineas made me forget almost everything when he was so near. “Tell me . . . tell me about Hu-King.”

He laughed softly. “Do you yet have need of a story to put you at ease when we are alone together?”

“Is that why you spun the tale?”

He pulled back so that I could see his smile. “It was also for my benefit. I could not sleep with you so near every night. I needed a distraction.”

I kissed him, boldly. “Then let us save the story for the morrow,” I whispered, just before he extinguished the candle beside our bed.

Phineas left in the morning to buy supplies for our pending journey. I wanted to hide in our room all day, but I awoke in such a pleasant, joyful mood that I disregarded my common sense. Phineas was right, after all; I should give his mother a chance to become acquainted with me.

“There you are,” she said when I entered the eating area. “You are a lazy girl to sleep so late.”

The sun had barely risen above the horizon, but I put on a smile anyway. She could not spoil my cheerful mood. “Good morning, Nai Nai.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t have to pretend with me. Ah Chung is not here to be impressed with how you treat his mother.”

Perhaps I was wrong about my cheerful mood.

“But I am not pretending,” I insisted, eager to be understood. If she could only see my motive, she would no doubt like me! “I want to become acquainted with you, as I hope you do with me.”

“I do not,” she said. She poured tea from a ceramic pot into a matching cup but offered me none. “I only want you to leave my son so that he can marry a girl who is picked for him.”

I sat down and calmly poured a cup of tea for myself. “Did you see a matchmaker? Was such a girl selected?”

Apparently she did not fluster easily. “No. I had waited for his return so that we could accomplish such a thing then hold the wedding. A real wedding.”

“Our wedding was very real.” I sipped my tea, smiling as I stared off, remembering.

“Stupid girl.” Nai Nai slapped my face, and I dropped the cup in surprise. It fell to the floor, shattering, and I covered my cheek. I hated the tears that sprang to my eyes, but I could not hold them back. No one had ever struck me before, and I did not know if the humiliation or the physical sting hurt worse.

“Clean up that mess.” She rose, towering over me.

I pushed back my chair and rose. Now it was I who had the advantage of height. “Not unless you apologize.” God may have wanted me to show a meek and humble spirit to this woman, but this was not Catherine Ransom with her matchmaking tricks.

Nai Nai snorted. “Apologize for what? That you are a foolish girl who married my son? Bah! This is why we have matchmakers. They know better than the silly hearts of young people. I suppose you will tell me that my son loves you?”

Her words gave me pause. Phineas had never said that. Not in so many words, of course, but I had sensed it in his actions toward me. He had called me beautiful and married me, after all. Was there more to love? Were we lacking something?

“Ah,” she said, nodding. “So he does not love you.”

“It is only that he has never spoken the words,” I said. And neither had I.

She folded her arms. “You should go back to England and leave my son in peace. Surely you aren’t here just because of him, are you?”

“No, I’m here because I want to spread the good news of Christianity.”

She put back her head and laughed. “How will you do this?”

“I have tracts,” I said defensively. “Copies of the Gospel According to St. Luke that a British missionary translated from English into Chinese. People can read for themselves about—”

“Bring me such a paper,” she said. Her expression had suddenly gone serious, like someone who only recently learned the world is about to end.

“Certainly.” I curtsied without thinking, then hated myself for it while retreating from the room. I found the stack of hand-copied Gospels in Phineas’s trunk, still wrapped in Julia’s ribbon, and withdrew one. To my surprise, Nai Nai still stood at the table in the eating area. I had imagined that perhaps she had only meant to trick me.

I handed her the booklet, then watched as she studied it. “This was translated by Robert Morrison,” I said, “and I—”

Nai Nai tore a strip from the first page and plugged it into the wall. To my horror, she tore another strip and shoved it after the first one. “Holes,” she said simply, looking up at me. When she straightened, she called out, “Ting Fong!” The name means “Fragrance.”

The young maid entered, and Nai Nai handed her the mutilated tract without so much as a glance in my direction. “Use this when you must start a fire.”

Fragrance bowed at her mistress, but there was something defiant in her posture. As she turned away, she glanced at the broken cup on the floor then briefly at my face. She lowered her eyes again. “Would you like someone to clean this up, Madame Wong?” she said, her voice a trifle sharp.

Nai Nai apparently took no notice. “That won’t be necessary.” She nodded. “You may leave.”

Fragrance bowed, a lazy gesture of submission, and complied. Nai Nai looked at me, a curious expression of triumph etching her features. I seethed inwardly, but I would not allow her the upper hand.

“Clean up the mess,” she said in a low, dangerous tone.

I could be stubborn too. I turned my cheek, daring her to strike me again. “No.” Without waiting for her reply, I turned and left, not looking back, leaving the cup and spilled tea still on the floor.

Any sympathy I had had for Phineas’s mother withered and died. I did not want to hide in my room until Phineas returned, but neither did I want to risk running into her again. Fortunately, I found a garden with a wooden bench where I could sit. I studied the strange flowers and plants growing there. I had been told that Canton was called the City of Flowers, for they grew year round, but suddenly I missed the English gardens in Oxford. I had memories of playing among the hollyhocks and daisies and marigolds with Frederica when I was very young, then helping Flora plant flowers of our own when I was older.

I had worked hard to get to China, to learn the language and try to blend in with the culture, and one tiny woman with an enormous grudge was the near undoing of my plans! I could not believe that she would so heartlessly destroy not only the Scriptures I had so carefully copied, but the Word of God himself. Thankfully I was past tears, but I felt loneliness and heartbreak as heavily as ever I had experienced since leaving home. I began to wonder if I had been so very wrong about everything.

“Isabella!”

I turned, and Phineas stood at the opposite side of the garden. He smiled when he saw me, then hastened forward. I could not help smiling back. Would I do everything over again? Ah yes, here was my answer!

He cupped my elbows with his hands. “How pale you look,” he said, then turned my face to one side. “But you are red here. What happened?”

I considered then discarded the notion of telling him the truth. It was not my nature to prevaricate, but no good could come from lowering his mother in his eyes. “It is nothing, Phineas. I was not paying attention and walked into a doorway. It will be fine . . . Did you procure the supplies?”

“Yes. As soon as the season is right, we can leave for Hupei.” He kissed my forehead. “I know you are anxious to leave, yet your willingness to visit my mother completes my joy.”

I was glad that he could not see my face, for he would surely find guilt written there. Guilt and an important question that his mother had raised. “I . . . I care about you, Phineas. You do know that . . . don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” He smiled. “Just as I care for you.”

There! That was as good as saying the three magic words, was it not?

“Did you spend time with my mother this morning?” he said.

So much for magic. “We had tea together,” I said, relating the only honest thing that I could.

“Good.” He kissed the tip of my nose, then my cheeks, then my lips. “She is a lonely old lady.”

She is a
bitter
old lady. Violent too!
“Phineas,” I said, before we were both lost in the moment.

“Shhh.” He put his arms around me more securely, and giving in, I embraced him as well.

Someone cleared her throat, and Nai Nai stood at the opposite side of the garden. Phineas and I separated guiltily. Nai Nai’s mouth worked open and closed like the orange and white carp swimming in the pond. “Yes, Mother?” Phineas finally said pleasantly.

Nai Nai glanced at me, then at Phineas, as though trying to ascertain how much I had told. I lifted my chin to let her know that I would never stoop to have my husband fight my battles for me.