Jane Orcutt - All the Tea in China

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.”