Jane Orcutt - All the Tea in China

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.

“Is everything all right?” Phineas said, frowning.

She cleared her throat again. “Yes. I only wanted to see that you were home safely. You have not told me where you are going so soon when you have only just arrived yesterday.”

So he had not told his mother about his plan! That was certainly curious. I glanced at Phineas to check his expression, but he revealed nothing. “We can discuss it tonight at dinner if you like,” he said amiably.

“That would be suitable. Please forgive me for the intrusion.”

“You have not told her?” I said when we were alone.

Phineas sighed and sat on the bench. “There is no need, Isabella. She and I seldom speak of my father, and she has no notion of the East India Company’s commerce. Her husband never spoke of business matters with her, and she only knew that he dealt with foreigners.”

“Has she forgotten about your father completely?” I sat beside him. “Does she not remember their love?”

“I believe she has chosen not to,” he said. “Just as she would not remember me if I had not returned to China.”

How cruel. How very cold and cruel! She was a heartless woman, indeed. I took Phineas’s hand and held it as if I could keep him close forever. “My mother probably has some medicine for that mark on your face,” he said. “Would you like me to ask?”

“No. It will be fine. Phineas?”

“Yes?” He smiled.

“I do not ever want to lose you the way your mother lost your father,” I whispered.

“And you will not,” he said, kissing me for good measure. “Isabella, I want you beside me. We are warriors together, yes?”

I nodded, thinking of the family sword he had given me. His mother would most likely halve me herself if she knew it to be in my possession!

The welt on my cheek disappeared, as did the broken ceramic cup and spilled tea. I never knew if Nai Nai had Fragrance clean it up or if she herself did the deed. It did not matter to me. I would not tell him myself, but I would have been happy to have heard Phineas ask about the broken cup and for his mother to be forced to confess.

I still could not fathom that she had destroyed the Gospel I had so painstakingly copied by hand. No doubt the characters were shaky and perhaps even a trifle illegible, but like the monks of old who labored at the Book of Kells, I had endeavored to make the rendering as accurate as possible. I wondered if the tiny bit she had stuffed into the wall was still there…

As for walls, something strange occurred to me one afternoon. Phineas had left for an errand for his mother, as ladies did not venture from their homes. I, being weary, decided on a nap. I had just headed down the hallway toward my room when someone pushed me against the wall and felt under my skirt for my feet, one of which was lifted. I cried out, more in surprise than pain.

Nai Nai jerked off my slipper and stocking. “Just as I suspected,” she said in an accusing tone. “You have large feet.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“Good women-women with class-have their feet bound when they are girls. Your feet are natural. Large.”

She reached for them again, and I hopped away. “My feet are not large. They are rather small in nature, actually.”

She shook her head, scowling. “Very large.”

“Yes, well, would you please leave me alone now?” I said, reminding myself to lock the bedroom door. No telling if she would try to follow me to criticize more of my body parts!

Because of that incident, however, I made a note to study the feet of Phineas’s sister and mother. Only Nai Nai walked with a hobble, but their feet stayed hidden under their skirts. Perhaps it was no accident, if they could hold such power as to pull men under their spell. Apparently the mere sight of their supposedly tiny feet might send some men into a swoon.