by Merry Farmer
“You must have been scared.” Whether deliberately or on instinct, Woody tightened his hold on her arm protectively.
“We were.” She nodded, loathe to remember just how scared they’d been. “But we were lucky. Meiying and I were very skilled acrobats. We found a man who was putting together a traveling show of his own, Mr. Miles Kopanari. He hired us to travel with him. That meant that we were able to earn money by performing, but also to travel and search for Chi-ming.”
“But what about…Meiying?” He spoke her name slowly, as if making sure he remembered it correctly.
Meizhen shrugged. “We stopped earlier this year for a while in a town called Haskell, in Wyoming. We heard rumors and thought we had found our brother, but it was another man. A man who had recently started a ranch of his own. Meiying stayed behind to marry him.”
“So your sister is settled in Wyoming,” Woody said.
Meizhen tilted her head to the side, wincing a bit. “I’m not so sure she is settled. Chen is a good man, but he seems uncertain about whether he wants to continue with his ranch or move into town and start a business, or whether he wants to try something else entirely.”
“I see.” Woody nodded. “But you want to settle down and raise a family, be in one place.”
Meizhen drew in a breath, her spirits soaring and her heart feeling light. He understood. Without her having to explain, Woody knew exactly how she felt. “Yes,” she breathed out. “Yes, that’s it exactly. I have journeyed too long, searching for my brother, traveling to America, and even touring with the circus after leaving home.”
“Yeah,” he said. It was all he needed to say.
Meizhen sighed, glancing out over the horizon, her mind filling with memories. “My heart has never been happier than it was when I was a girl, when we were all home together, as a family. Mother and Father had a beautiful garden. We used to play there when we were young, Meiying, Chi-ming, and I. We were so close. I would have done anything for my siblings, for my parents. They were the stars in my heavens, the blossoms in my garden. The world was beautiful when we were all together.”
“I’ll bet,” Woody said as if he could see right into her memories as well.
“The long summer days were filled with the scent of flowers and the river. We laughed as we rustled through the grass, catching frogs and swimming like fish. Chi-ming was so proud of his little sisters. No one could tell us apart but him. He would tuck flowers in our hair and show us off to the neighbors, calling us his little princesses. He promised he would always take care of us, make sure that we were treated as princesses always. He—” Her throat closed up, and she was startled by a tear sliding down her face and instantly turning cold in the Colorado air.
Woody stopped walking. He turned to face her, wiping her tear away with his gloved hand. “It must be hard to lose someone you love so much.”
She nodded, her grief too surprisingly fresh to speak. She had lost a lot. Meiying and Chi-ming would always be in her heart, but it struck home to her how painful it was that they had each become lost to her in their own way.
“When we have a family,” Woody said, his voice so warm and gentle that it brought tears to her eyes again, “we’ll keep them close. We’ll make sure that they never feel like they have to go away. Unless they want to. Then we’ll do our best to make sure everyone gets together as much as possible. We’ll be happy.”
Meizhen smiled up at him, her heart so full it could burst. She nodded and whispered, “We will.”
A flash of movement behind Woody snagged her attention. A man had just crossed over the bridge spanning the river and was heading in their direction.
“I’ll make sure we have a big house someday, a house for a big family.”
The man came closer and stopped. He was Chinese, but dressed in miner’s clothes.
“I’ll treat our little girls like princesses,” Woody went on, unaware of what Meizhen was seeing, unaware of the explosion of recognition that hit her. “And our boys will be little princes.”
The Chinese man spotted her, his eyes narrowing, then growing wide in disbelief. Meizhen’s breath caught in her lungs. Her heart felt as though it held still. She stepped to the side so that she could see the man better, and so that he could see her.
Joy erupted on the man’s face as soon as she did. “Meizhen?”
Meizhen’s mouth dropped open, a shout of astonishment freezing in her throat. She clapped her hands to her face. It couldn’t be. After all this time, after all the searching…it couldn’t possibly be that she had stumbled upon him completely by accident.
“Chi-ming!” she shouted and dashed across the snowy distance toward her brother.
Chapter 3
Woody’s heart had never soared as high as it did when he brushed the tear from Meizhen’s cheek, dreamed of the family he would someday have with her, and promised her they would be happy. The way she looked at him didn’t make him feel as though he were stupid or dirty or inadequate. It made him feel like he could be somebody.
And the second she broke away from him and ran toward someone else, it was like she had ripped his soaring heart out and taken it with her.
“Chi-ming!” That was the only word Woody caught before Meizhen launched into a string of words and sounds that made no sense to him. Only after the fact did it dawn on him to focus on who she was running to—Buck, one of the miners who happened to be Chinese. But of course she would want to marry another Chinese man instead of him. He peeked down at Mimi, Gigi, and Fifi—who were scratching in the snow a few feet to the side. Fifi looked up and blinked at him as if saying he never should have gotten his hopes up.
Buck dropped the pack he was carrying and shouted something in Chinese to Meizhen, his face alight with joy. He spread his arms wide and ran to meet her. The two crashed into each other, talking and laughing and, if Woody wasn’t mistaken, crying too. Even Buck. Why would Buck be—
Realization struck him, and with it a shivery wave of embarrassment. Meizhen had just finished telling him about her brother. Her brother Chi-ming. He was a fool not to have figured that one out straight from the start. In his head, he could hear the other guys laughing at him, hear them making donkey noises to tease him.
The shame only lasted a second before a couple other thoughts hit him. He broke into a grin as he watched Meizhen and Buck chattering away, faces bright. How amazing was it that Meizhen had finally found her brother, after searching for so long, right here in Noelle on Christmas Day? It was a real miracle, and he was happier for her than he could put into words. But better still, if she didn’t want to go off and marry Buck, that meant she could still marry him.
The idea made him feel light and gave him the confidence to leave the spot where he’d been standing like a stick watching. He approached Meizhen and Buck carefully—the hens following—feeling like he should take his hat off the same way he did in church. Surely this was a sacred moment to the two of them.
Meizhen noticed him coming and gasped. She spun to stand by Buck’s side, holding his arm. “Woody, this is my brother,” she said, her voice high and bubbling with excitement. “My brother Chi-ming. He’s here. All this time, and he’s been here.”
“Morning, Buck.” Woody nodded to…well, he should probably start calling him Chi-ming now, if that was his name.
“It is a glorious morning,” Chi-ming said in return. He clasped Meizhen’s arm and smiled at her. “My beloved sister has been returned to me.”
“This is the most fortunate of days,” Meizhen sighed.
The hens all clucked and hopped around, fluffing and fluttering.
“I’m real happy for you,” Woody said, beaming. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do in a situation like the one before him, but he sure was happy.
“I was asking Chi-ming how he came to be here,” Meizhen went on. “He said that when he left San Francisco to work on the railroad, it brought him to Colorado. And when the railroad job ended, he heard that there was mining work nearb
y, here. He has been trying to save enough money to bring our parents to America.”
“You don’t say.” Woody smiled at both of them. He remembered Buck—Chi-ming—talking about saving money for his family. Woody had always assumed he was talking about a wife and kids.
“What puzzles me,” Chi-ming said, “is why you are here, sister. Our family has always been lucky, but this is exceptional.”
“It must be fate,” Meizhen replied with a laugh. “After Meiying married, I felt it was time that I settled down and found a husband as well. I sought help from Mrs. Genevieve Walters and her business, the Benevolent Society of Lost Lambs, and they matched me with a man who needed a wife.” She glanced to Woody.
Woody stood straighter, brushing the front of his coat to make sure he looked presentable. Chi-ming glanced in his direction, but barely saw him before turning back to his sister with a puzzled frown.
“But you already have a husband waiting for you, in San Francisco,” he said.
Woody’s certainty faltered, and he swallowed.
Meizhen shook her head. “The men who you intended Meiying and I to marry were not available when we arrived. One had already married, and the other had left to find work.”
Chi-ming frowned. “They promised me they would greet you when you arrived, that they would provide for you and give you good lives. My sisters deserve good lives married to good men, strong men with means.”
“Meiying’s husband is a good man,” Meizhen insisted. “He owns a ranch in Wyoming, but he has been thinking of selling and opening a business in a city.”
Chi-ming nodded as he considered what she’d said. Woody shuffled his feet—which were starting to turn to ice in his boots—and waited for Meizhen to claim him as her soon-to-be husband. The hens clucked and fluttered, and hopped along to the bridge a few yards away as if they were ready to go home.
“Then we will find you a husband of equal worth,” Chi-ming went on with a nod.
Meizhen’s mouth pulled up in a fond grin, and her eyes narrowed. “Mrs. Walters has already found me a worthy husband.”
Worthy. The word took Woody’s breath away. He drew in a breath and puffed his chest up, throat constricting with emotions he wasn’t used to feeling.
“Where is this husband?” Chi-ming asked.
“Right here,” Meizhen said.
Chi-ming glanced right at Woody…and past him. “Where?”
“Here,” Meizhen repeated. She stepped away from her brother, walking to stand between him and Woody. She nodded and gestured to Woody. “He is here.”
Chi-ming drew his focus back from the main part of Noelle and focused on Woody. His expectant smile dropped to disbelief, then dropped further to a smirk. “You’re teasing me,” he said, laughing.
Meizhen’s smile slipped as well. “I am not teasing you. Mr. Woodrow Burnside has agreed to be my husband.”
Chi-ming laughed, “Woody?”
Woody’s shoulders slumped, and his heart sank into his boots. “I promised Meizhen that she would be happy.”
“With the mule-man?” Chi-ming continued to laugh and shake his head. “No, no, no.”
It didn’t matter that Woody was used to being laughed at, Chi-ming’s laughter stung like no one’s had before.
“Woody is a kind man.” Meizhen came to his defense before he could think of anything to say himself. She took a step closer to him, but her body language had changed. No longer was she soft around the edges, nor did she lean toward him like she needed him to shelter and protect her. Now she was more formal, more respectful. And she constantly checked with her brother. “He is a good man with a good heart, I can tell. Many people in town have greeted him with respect today.”
Chi-ming shook his head, finishing off his laughter with a snort. “The men here laugh at him. He is weak in the head. He talks to animals as though they are people.” He gestured to the hens on the bridge as proof.
The comments felt as though someone had tied his heart up with barbed wire. Mostly because they were true.
Once again, Meizhen defended him. “Kindness to animals is a sign that a man will be kind to people as well. I have always wished to have a kind husband.”
Woody opened his mouth to promise that he would be the kindest husband imaginable, but Chi-ming interrupted him.
“Many men are kind. I will find a husband for you that is wealthy as well as kind. You should have a beautiful, noble home, a fine garden. You should want for nothing.” He frowned at Woody. “This man has nothing to show for himself but a tent where the rest of the miners have their tents.”
“That’s not true.” Woody finally found the nerve to speak up. “Charlie says we can live in the loft in the barn until he’s able to help me build a house this spring. Financially, I mean. Jack’s the one who would do the actual building.”
But that wasn’t enough for Chi-ming. He continued to shake his head and wave his hands as though any marriage between him and Meizhen were out of the question. “I will not have my sister living in a barn when she could live in a fine home in San Francisco.”
“San Francisco?” Meizhen gasped in alarm.
“We will go there and search for the perfect husband for you, a Chinese husband,” Chi-ming said.
“But—”
“Even if Woody does convince Charlie to pay for a house for him, it will be Charlie’s house,” Chi-ming continued. “I will not have my sister marrying a man who lives in a borrowed house when she could marry one who owns a house of his own…and many others besides.” A strange, distant smile came over him. “We will find you a husband who owns property, who runs a business. I know many men in San Francisco who have found success. They would be happy to have a wife as beautiful and as gentle as you are, my sister.”
“But I made a promise,” Meizhen said. “I signed a contract with Mrs. Walters saying that I would marry the groom she found for me.”
“A woman cannot sign a contract without the consent of her nearest male relative,” Chi-ming said.
“Now hold on a minute.” Woody stepped forward, holding up his hands, an uncharacteristically deep frown on his face. “A woman has every right to decide her own future, contract or no.”
Chi-ming sent him a look that was all-too familiar to Woody—a look that said he was stupid and should keep his mouth shut. “Meizhen is my sister. My beloved sister who I thought was lost to me. It is my responsibility to find a husband for her and to make sure she is happy. That is the end of the discussion.” He nodded once, then turned to walk away, grabbing Meizhen’s hand as he went.
Meizhen watched in horror, her heart shattering, as what had been the most joyful moment of her life mere minutes before turned into a dragon that she couldn’t tame. She loved her brother with her whole soul, and she trusted him to take care of her. But in the short time that she had known Woody, her heart had opened to him as though it were a lotus flower and he was the sun. He looked so forlorn at everything Chi-ming had said that her heart broke for him.
When Chi-ming grabbed her hand, attempting to take her away, she pulled out of his grip and held her ground. “I made a promise,” she said, meeting Woody’s eyes and holding them.
Woody’s eyebrows inched up, giving him the look of a hopeful puppy.
Chi-ming stumbled to a halt, surprise painting his face. “You have a duty to your family,” he reminded her. He wasn’t being unkind. The expression he wore wasn’t fierce or demanding. It was simply startled that she would consider anything else.
“Family is important,” she said quietly, for Woody’s sake as much as for her own. If she could only find some way to make him understand…understand what? Why she would break her promise to him and obey her brother’s wishes? Go with him back to San Francisco to find what Chi-ming considered the perfect husband?
More traveling. More searching. More restlessness. It was the last thing she wanted. Chi-ming might not see it, but Woody was offering her everything her heart longed for.
Except
her family, back together after so long.
One telegram to Meiying, and they could all be together again, like the best days of her life. Her parents could be sent for, doubling their happiness.
If she could just bring herself to break a good man’s heart.
“Meizhen? Are you okay?” Woody asked gently, taking a step toward her.
Meizhen blinked rapidly to fight the tears that had begun to sting at the back of her eyes. She had been standing still caught between two joys, stuck in misery. “I don’t know,” she said, her breath hanging in an icy cloud.
“Meizhen?” Chi-ming asked, his expression as uncertain as it was firm.
“I don’t know,” she repeated, shaking her head and glancing between Woody and her brother. “I don’t—”
Her heart skipped a beat as she spotted Mrs. Walters marching across the snow-packed street on some errand. If anyone would have a solution to the knotty problem in front of her, it would be Mrs. Walters.
“Mrs. Walters!” Meizhen broke away from Woody and her brother and dashed across the snowy street toward the woman. “Mrs. Walters, I need your help.”
“My help?” Mrs. Walters pulled up short. She glanced past Meizhen to where Woody and Chi-ming were exchanging frowns, then faced Meizhen fully. “What can I do for you?”
Meizhen took a breath, pressing her hand to her racing heart. She hardly knew how to explain what had her heart torn in two. “Something wonderful has happened,” she began with a bittersweet smile.
“Oh?”
“My brother is here. Chi-ming is here, in Noelle.”
“The brother you’ve been searching for?”
Meizhen nodded, both excited and anxious. “He took work here as a miner a long time ago.”
“That’s wonderful,” Mrs. Walters said.
Meizhen’s smile tightened into a grimace of misery. “He says that he wants to take me back to San Francisco to find a husband there.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Walters said, understanding dawning.
“He—” She glanced over her shoulder at her brother, then met Woody’s eyes, before turning back to Mrs. Walters. “He doesn’t think that Mr. Burnside will make a good husband for me.”