Rebecca Hagan Lee (33 page)

Epilogue

“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints—I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.”

—ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, 1806–1861

W
illiam Burke Keegan and Julia Jane Parham were married at the Coryville Presbyterian Church by the Reverend Simon Winston later that evening, surrounded by the friends they cherished.

James Cameron Craig stood up for the groom, and Elizabeth Sadler Craig stood up for the bride. The Treasures—Ruby, Garnet, Emerald, and Diamond Craig—were allowed to stay up past their bedtimes to witness the ceremony and feast on cake. Delia, Miss Kittredge, and Helen Glenross were there as well, along with Lan Chu and Gan Que, Irina and Chava, and Kathleen O’Flaherty.

The newlyweds spent another two days honeymooning at Craig House, then bade the girls and James and Elizabeth good-bye.

Mr. and Mrs. Will Keegan returned to San Francisco, rented a house on Nob Hill, settled into a blissful married life, and continued rescuing girls from the horrors of slavery and prostitution—not just in San Francisco, but throughout California. Li Toy was gone, but the tongs and other madams and procurers were eager to fill the void she’d left. Will and Julie’s work would endure as long as crime and corruption ruled the city and the government turned a blind eye to the plight of the Chinese.

And on a beautiful sunny day eleven months after their wedding, Will and Julie Keegan and James and Elizabeth Craig, the Treasures, Delia, Miss Kittredge, Helen Glenross, and Kathleen disembarked from a steamship in Hong Kong into a crush of relatives. Will’s father, Reverend Francis Keegan; his sisters, Molly and Colleen, and their families; James’s parents, Julia and Randall Craig; and Julie’s father, Commodore Lord Nelson Parham, home on leave from the Royal Navy, and Lolly were all there to greet them

Will and Julie had kept Julie’s promise to her friend. Su Mi had brought them to each other, and to the families they had left behind in Hong Kong. And they had brought her home to her mother and her ancestors.

Julie had given her heart, and then herself, to Will Keegan, the man who loved her and would cherish her and keep her safe.

As she would do for him.

Until death did they part, and beyond . . .