Jeffrey Archer - Sons of Fortune

‘Couldn’t we speed up the process a little?’ suggested Nat. ‘How about next week?’

‘All right, then you will be invited to tea on Sunday afternoon, because Sunday is the traditional day for a man to have a first meal with a woman under the watchful eye of family.’

‘But we’ve already had several meals together.’

‘I know, so you must come to tea before my mother finds out, otherwise I will be abandoned and disinherited.’

‘Then I shall not accept your invitation to tea,’ said Nat.

‘Why not?’

‘I’ll just stand outside your house and grab you when your mother throws you out, and then I won’t have to wait for another two years.’ Nat placed both his feet on hers, and she withdrew them immediately. ‘What did I do wrong?’

‘Two feet means something completely different.’

‘What?’ asked Nat.

‘I can’t tell you, but as you were clever enough to find out the correct translation of Su Ling, I feel sure you will discover the meaning of two feet, and never do it again, unless...’

On Friday afternoon, Tom drove Nat and Su Ling up to his aunt’s home in the leafy suburbs of Boston. Miss Bussell had obviously spoken to Su Ling’s mother, because she’d put her in the bedroom on the main landing, next to hers, while Nat and Tom were relegated to the east wing.

After breakfast the following morning, Su Ling left to keep her appointment with the professor of statistics at Harvard, while Nat and Tom spent some time walking slowly round the cross-country course, something Nat always did whenever he would be running over unfamiliar territory. He checked out all the well-worn paths, and whenever he came to a stream, a gate or a sudden undulation, he practised crossing it several times.

On the way back across the meadow, Tom asked him what he would do if Su Ling agreed to a transfer to Harvard.

‘I’ll move at the same time and enrol at the business school.’

‘You feel that strongly about her?’

‘Yes, and I can’t risk letting anyone else place both feet on hers.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’ll explain another time,’ said Nat as he came to a halt by a stream. ‘Where do you imagine they cross it?’

‘No idea,’ said Tom, ‘but it looks too wide to jump.’

‘Agreed, so I expect they aim for the large flat pebbles in the middle.’

‘What do you do if you re not sure?’ asked Tom.

‘Follow closely behind one of their team, because they’ll do the right thing automatically.’

‘Where are you hoping to end up this early in the season?’

‘I’d be satisfied with being a counter.’

‘I don’t understand, doesn’t everybody count?’

‘No, although there are eight runners on each team, only six count when the final score is calculated. If I come in twelfth or higher, I would be a counter.’

‘So how is the counting done?’

‘First across the line counts as one, second two, and so on. When the race is over, the first six in each team are added together, and the team with the lowest overall score is the winner. That way, seven and eight can only contribute if they stay ahead of any of the first six runners on the other team. Is that clear?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ said Tom, looking at his watch. ‘I’d better get back, because I promised Aunt Abigail I’d have lunch with her. Are you coming?’

‘No, I’m joining the rest of the team for a banana, a lettuce leaf and a glass of water. Could you pick up Su Ling and make sure that she’s back in time to watch the race.’

‘She won’t need to be reminded,’ said Tom.

When Tom strolled into the house, he found his aunt and Su Ling deep in conversation over a bowl of clam chowder. Tom sensed that his aunt had changed the subject the moment he’d entered the room. ‘You’d better grab something to eat,’ she said, ‘if you’re hoping to be back in time to see the start.’

After a second bowl of clam chowder, Tom accompanied Su Ling across to the course. He explained to her that Nat had selected a spot about half-way round, where they could see all the runners for at least a mile and then if they took a short cut, they would be back in time to watch the winner crossing the finishing line.

‘Do you understand what a counter is?’ Tom asked.

‘Yes, Nat explained it to me — an ingenious system, which makes the abacus look positively modem. Would you like me to explain it to you?’ she asked.

‘Yes, I think I would,’ said Tom.

By the time they reached the vantage point that Nat had selected, they didn’t have long to wait before the first runner came into view over the brow of the hill. They watched Boston’s captain shoot past them, and ten other runners had come and gone before Nat appeared. He gave a wave as he sped off down the hill.

‘He’s the last counter,’ said Su Ling as they set off to take the short cut back to the finishing line.

‘My bet is that he’ll move up two or three places now he knows you’re here to watch him,’ said Tom.

‘How flattering,’ said Su Ling.

‘Will you be taking up the Harvard offer?’ asked Tom quietly.

‘Did Nat ask you to find out?’ she enquired.

‘No,’ said Tom, ‘though he talks of little else.’

‘I have said yes, but only on one condition.’ Tom remained silent. Su Ling didn’t tell Tom what the condition was, so he didn’t ask.

They almost had to jog the last couple of hundred yards to make sure they were back in time to see the Boston captain raise his arms in triumph as he crossed the finishing line. Tom turned out to be right, because Nat ended up in ninth position, and fourth counter for his team. Both of them rushed over to congratulate him as if he were the winner. Nat lay on the ground exhausted, disappointed that he hadn’t done better when he learned that Boston had won by 31 to 24.

After supper with Aunt Abigail, they started out on the long drive back to Storrs. Nat rested his head in Su Ling’s lap and quickly fell asleep.

‘I can’t imagine what my mother would say about our first night together,’ she whispered to Tom as he drove on through the night.

‘Why don’t you go the whole hog and tell her that it was a menage a trois?’

‘Mother thought you were wonderful,’ said Su Ling as they walked slowly back towards south campus after tea the following afternoon.

‘What a woman,’ said Nat. ‘She can cook, run a home and is also a successful businesswoman.’

‘And don’t forget,’ said Su Ling, ‘that she was shunned in her own land for bearing a foreigner’s child and wasn’t even welcomed in this country when she first arrived, which is the reason I’ve been brought up so strictly. Like so many children of immigrants, I’m no cleverer than my mother, but by sacrificing everything to give me a first-class education, she has allowed me a better chance than she ever had. Perhaps you can now understand why I always try to respect her wishes.’

‘Yes, I can,’ said Nat, ‘and now that I’ve met your mother, I’d like you to meet mine, because I am equally proud of her.’ Su Ling laughed.

‘Why do you laugh, little flower?’ asked Nat.

‘In my country, for a man to meet a woman’s mother is to admit to a relationship. If the man then asks you to meet his mother, it means betrothal. If he then does not marry the girl, she will be a spinster for the rest of her life. However, I will take that risk, because Tom asked me to marry him yesterday when you were running away.’

Nat bent down, kissed her on the lips and then placed both his feet gently on top of hers. She smiled. ‘I love you too,’ she said.

‘What do you make of it?’ asked Jimmy.