The Orchid Tree

by Siobhan Daiko

  ‘You’ve got too thin,’ Auntie exclaimed, greeting him at the door of the house. Charles kissed her cheek as she dragged him over the threshold. She led him to a tray of dim sum. ‘You eat,’ she ordered. ‘I’ll go check on dinner.’

  Uncle came into the room, dressed casually in an open-necked shirt. ‘Good to see you, Charles. How’re things?’

  He talked about his current case, a family dispute about a Last Will and Testament (taking care not to reveal any names). Uncle listened and cracked sunflower seeds between his teeth. ‘Seems you’re already doing well. Isn’t it time you married? In fact, your aunt and I have been looking out for you and we think we’ve found you the perfect wife.’

  Surely his uncle wasn’t being serious? ‘Thank you,’ Charles mumbled, his English side taking over. ‘But I’ll find my own wife, if you don’t mind.’

  Auntie returned with a tray of drinks and placed it on the coffee table. ‘When do you have the time to meet the right girl? We’ll invite a young lady we know, and her parents, to dinner.’

  ‘Don’t forget the Chinese are matchmakers and we’re half-Chinese,’ Uncle said. ‘People with the same social status are expected to marry each other. If their families don’t intervene, then how else can they meet?’

  ‘Seems to me more like a business arrangement than finding a person you love,’ Charles laughed.

  ‘Love? Very romantic of you.’ Uncle lit a cigarette. ‘Believe me! It’s much better to marry someone from the right background.’

  ‘Actually, I’ve already met my future wife. Kate Wolseley.’

  Uncle sat up straight and blew out a puff of smoke. He coughed. ‘Who?’

  ‘The girl we met at Stanley?’ Auntie turned to Charles. ‘She’s not for the likes of you.’

  ‘How can you say that? Excuse me for being blunt, but you’re in a mixed marriage and so is Ma.’

  ‘We’re women. It’s easier for a Chinese woman to marry a foreigner. But when I say easier, it wasn’t that easy. Our family was against it.’

  ‘The other way round is very rare,’ Uncle said. ‘Miss Wolseley will be shunned by her circle. You’ll make her very unhappy.’

  It was as he’d feared. They didn’t understand. Hong Kong was changing and he and Kate would be at the forefront of that change. ‘Don’t worry! I know what I’m doing.’

  Uncle shrugged. ‘I certainly hope so.’

  ‘Please can I introduce her to you properly?’

  ‘We’ll invite her to dinner,’ Auntie said.

  Charles grinned. Kate would knock them off their feet, he knew she would.

  ***

  Two days later Charles waited with his relatives in the private room of a Kowloon restaurant. He hadn’t seen Kate since they’d made love, and he longed for her so much it was as if he’d been living in a vacuum. Their waiter placed a dish of appetizers on the table. Charles breathed in the aromas of ginger, garlic and sesame oil. The food would be good here; at the entrance he’d spied tanks full of fish swimming about in happy ignorance of their destiny. He couldn’t wait to see Kate again. How would she get on with his uncle and aunt? And, more importantly, how would they get on with her?

  The door swung open and in she walked. Her eyes sought his and she gave a tentative smile. Dressed in a pale blue cotton dress, nipped in at the waist with a full skirt, she looked stunning. Charles got to his feet and squeezed her fingers. ‘Uncle, Aunt, this is Kate, my soul-mate.’ He knew he was being corny, but couldn’t help himself.

  Formalities over, Kate sat down next to him. She beamed at Aunt Julie. ‘I do like your cheongsam, Mrs Noble. I wish I could wear one myself, only I’m not sure I have the figure for it.’

  ‘You’re very slim, so should be no problem. I’ll take you to my tailor.’

  Charles clasped Kate’s hand under the table. So far so good. Then Uncle butted in, ‘What opinion does your father have about my nephew, Miss Wolseley?’

  Kate blushed. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Uncle,’ Charles said. ‘Do you have to be so outspoken?’

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. Just concerned for you both.’

  ‘We’re taking things slowly, Mr Noble,’ Kate said. ‘My father will come round to the idea of Charles and I being together eventually.’

  ‘Do you really believe that? I know of no other Englishwoman involved with someone from our background.’

  ‘Now, now, Phillip,’ Aunt Julie said. ‘Can’t you see how in love these two are?’

  Auntie was practically cooing, but Uncle’s face had taken on a stern expression.

  Kate smiled at him. ‘Mr Noble, we’re not rushing into anything.’

  ‘I don’t want Charles to get hurt.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ she said, firmly.

  ‘Good.’ Uncle rang the bell for their waiter. ‘We’ll discuss this no further. Let’s enjoy our meal.’

  ‘Thank God,’ Charles said, keeping his voice neutral. ‘I was beginning to think we’d never get anything to eat.’ He’d been on the point of making his excuses and leaving the restaurant with Kate. This was supposed to be a social event, not an interrogation.

  ***

  The rest of the meal passed with no major hiccoughs, although it seemed that Uncle ordered specific dishes to test Kate’s resilience: from braised chicken feet to noodles served with one thousand year-old eggs. However, she did Charles proud and tried everything, all the while speaking only when she was spoken to and smiling her sweet smile. He could see she was working her magic on his uncle, charming him into compliance. She already had Aunt Julie eating out of her hand. They’d arranged a shopping expedition to buy the right silk for a cheongsam. What would Henry Wolseley say when he saw his daughter dressed like a local? He’d probably have a fit. Charles chortled to himself, then sipped from his cup of Jasmine tea.

  Dinner over, he stepped outside with his arm around Kate. A forest of neon signs lit up the night and crowds of people thronged the street, pushing past each other into the open doorways of shops selling Chinese medicines, jade, cameras, and linen. The clack-clack of abacuses totalling up sales echoed down the pavement. Most of the women shoppers were dressed in black: from their baggy cotton trousers to their high-necked jackets buttoned diagonally across their bodies. Charles knew from experience that they only dressed in bright colours on special occasions. He couldn’t wait to see Kate in a cheongsam. Turning to her, he said, ‘That didn’t go too badly, did it?’

  ‘Your aunt was lovely to me. But your uncle still needs convincing, I think.’

  ‘Just his character, darling. He’s always been cautious. Never does anything without giving it a lot of thought. He’ll come round eventually. How could anyone not love you?’

  She laughed and squeezed his arm. ‘And you. We need to tell my father soon. I can’t bear not seeing you every day. And I hate lying to him. He thinks I’m having dinner with James tonight.’

  He kissed her. ‘We’ll tell him soon, I promise.’ A bubble of jealousy. ‘We can’t have him thinking you’re serious about James, can we?’

  ‘You know I’m nothing of the sort,’ she said, kissing him back.

  Charles spotted a taxi and lifted his hand. ‘Time to get you back to Hong Kong side, I suppose. I don’t like the thought we’ll have to part for the night. I’d give anything to wake up with you tomorrow morning.’

  They settled into the back seat of the cab, and he put his arms around her. She snuggled against him then lifted her chin. His mouth came down on hers, love for her throbbing through him. Kate’s lips parted and he kissed her deeply, his hands cupping her breasts. God, how I want her. She gave a soft moan, and he made himself pull away. ‘We’re behaving like a couple of adolescents not wanting their parents to find out what they’re up to.’ He stroked her cheek. ‘One thing is certain, though. I can’t go on like this much longer . . .’

  33

  Dressed in a halterneck top and shorts, Sofia stepped out of the sampan and paid the boatwoman. She�
��d accepted James’ invitation to spend the day on his yacht. A whole day! My first time seen in public with him. She pushed away her worries about the Englishwoman.

  Laden down with her picnic basket and swimming things, she clambered aboard Jade to be enfolded in James’ warm embrace. The yacht putt-putted out of the harbour, its inboard engine just about coping with the swell. In Junk Bay, James unfurled the sails and the yacht bucked at a list. Sofia tossed back her hair, tasting the salt of the sea on her lips, and feeling the exhilaration of running with the wind.

  They rounded the headland and tied up to a jetty in Joss House Bay. Here, it was calm and the air redolent with the odour of brine. She changed into her swimsuit in the miniscule cabin, then looked over the side of the boat. ‘It’s so clear you can see right down to the sand on the seabed,’ she said.

  She swam with James in the deserted cove, then climbed back onto the yacht, put on her shorts, and unpacked sandwiches while James opened two bottles of Tiger beer. ‘Shall we go for a walk after lunch?’ She would ask him about the Englishwoman later.

  They ate in comfortable silence, rinsed their plates with seawater, and then stepped ashore. Cicadas screeched in the undergrowth as they strolled towards the temple at the base of the hill. The air was pungent with the stench of fish drying on rattan mats under the portals of the grey-walled, green-roof-tiled buildings. Mongrels sat in the shade scratching their fleas. Children gawked at them and called out, ‘Hallo, bye-bye.’

  In the cool of the darkened temple an old hag, with a few strands of grey hair scraped back in a bun, kow-towed before the altar with a statue of the goddess of the sea.

  ‘That’s Tin Hau. She protects fishermen and sailors.’ Sofia pointed at the blackened face of the effigy and pulled at James’ sleeve. ‘We should pay our respects to her. Light joss-sticks, bow three times and she’ll bring us good luck.’

  James turned his head towards the Buddha-like image. ‘I’d rather get out of here,’ he whispered, his cheeks pale. ‘This place is giving me the heebie-jeebies.’

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the sunshine. His fingers were ice-cold, even in this heat. ‘I’ve got the distinct impression someone just walked over my grave.’

  Back on the yacht she stretched out next to him. ‘I’m curious,’ he said after kissing her. ‘What do you see in me?’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘You’re incredibly beautiful, Sofia, and I’m just an ordinary bloke.’

  ‘I just seem exotic to you, that’s all. I feel as though I’ve known you all my life. Maybe even in another life.’

  ‘Do you believe in reincarnation?’

  ‘I’m not sure . . . I definitely believe in the supernatural. You can’t help but feel it in Hong Kong. The Chinese belief in ghosts is so strong.’

  ‘Then you aren’t a Buddhist?’

  ‘No. My uncle is one, you could say, but he’s a typical Chinese in that he is also a Taoist and follows Confucius. And he venerates his ancestors and believes in all the different deities, just to be on the safe side and in spite of being a communist. I was brought up a Roman Catholic, because of my father.’

  ‘That temple gave me the creeps.’ James shuddered. ‘The smell of the incense made me think of nothing but death.’

  ‘Let me rub your back. You know how it soothes you.’ Not a good moment to ask him about the Englishwoman.

  ***

  It was two days later, and Sofia was working on the solo martial art forms she practised most afternoons in order to build up her flexibility. Her teacher had told her to train her form as if she were sparring and to spar as if it were a form. Sofia placed her hands on the carpet in her office and pushed herself to her feet. She blocked and punched the air, flowing with the movements and, as she did so, she imagined she was fighting Leo.

  Uncle had finally let her in on his plan; it was a daring scheme, but it was also ingenious. Chun Ming and one of Uncle’s associates would commit air piracy. Sofia couldn’t wait to see Leo’s face when he found out he’d been robbed. He wouldn’t be able to find any proof to connect the deed with Uncle, even if he suspected it. Chun Ming would fade into obscurity, knowing he’d helped derail a nationalist, and Uncle’s associate would leave for America to rally support for Mao.

  It was time the Americans were told they’d backed the wrong horse. Chang Kai Shek was a war lord and his Kuomintang party so corrupt they would bleed sleaze if you pricked them. She remembered Uncle’s attempt to bribe James last December. Uncle was an old rogue and many of his business practices suspect, but he loved China and knew the only way for it to prosper was through radical change.

  Sofia went down to the shop floor. The heads of her workers bowed over the looms, the clamour of the machinery deafening. She walked alongside the rows of young women. They were here to earn a wage that might have been considered subsistence-level by some, but for these people it was a means of subsistence they wouldn’t otherwise have. They deserved her respect and she should become more involved in their interests. She would put a stop to using the girls to work the looms at night. It might halve profits, but the practice had to end. If she set up sleeping facilities and ensured her workers were adequately fed, productivity would almost certainly improve.

  Back in her office she dialled James’ number. She needed to check he’d been given the go-ahead by Special Branch. And it was time she asked him about the Englishwoman.

  They arranged to meet at their usual place - a quiet hotel on the road from Kowloon to the New Territories. She phoned for a taxi to pick her up, then took a shower.

  James was waiting for her on the veranda skirting the back of the hotel. A clear view stretched towards Hong Kong Island - rivers and rivers of lights. A plane was coming in from the west, banking low before lining up for the runway at Kai Tak Airport. The warm evening air, rich with the perfume of frangipani, caressed her bare arms.

  ‘I’d love to have dinner with you at the Parisian Grill one evening,’ she said to James. ‘I’ve heard the food is excellent.’

  ‘I went there the other week, as a matter of fact.’ He paused. ‘Of course I’ll take you.’

  ‘Did you go alone?’

  James glanced away, appearing to consider the question. He lifted his shoulders in a brief shrug. ‘I met this girl, Kate Wolseley, who has all the right connections for me to make my way in Hong Kong.’ His eyes searched hers and he gave a sheepish smile. ‘I’d been hoping one of her father’s friends would back me in an import-export business and I suppose I was using her. I’m ashamed of that now.’

  ‘There is another way, you know. Import-export is too old-fashioned. The future is in manufacturing.’ She thought for a moment. Is it too soon to ask him? No. ‘I’d like to offer you a partnership in the factory.’

  ‘Sofia, you don’t have to do that.’ He put his arms around her and nuzzled her ear, sending a wave of pleasure through her. ‘I’m totally smitten with you and should have told you before now.’

  ‘Totally smitten?’

  ‘I mean I’m in love with you. Dare I believe you feel the same way about me?’

  Her mouth too dry to speak, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. James loves me, not the Englishwoman.

  He led her to their room. They undressed and she stretched out next to him on the cool sheets, the ceiling fans stirring the air around them. She touched him, bending over him so that her hair caressed his face. She kissed his eyelids and moved her mouth down his body, burying her fingers in his chest hair. Then she pressed her lips to his flat stomach.

  She took him in her hand, feeling him grow until the size of him made her smile. She wanted the whole of him, every inch. She straddled him, and, once he was fully inside her, she moved slowly up and down.

  ‘Ah, Sofia, what are you doing to me?’

  ‘Shush, relax,’ she said, her voice throaty. She kept her movements unhurried, and concentrated hard to contain her rising desire.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he
said, moving in time with her. ‘Oh, yes!’

  ‘My love,’ she said, pushing down on him, rotating her pelvis, finally allowing her pleasure to build as James thrust back at her. Hot throbbing ripples of sensation, again and again and again. She collapsed next to him, spent.

  ‘Darling, shall we call for room service? I’m hungry.’

  ‘You little minx,’ James said, laughing. ‘You’ve had your wicked way with me and now all you can think about is food.’

  ‘Didn’t I please you?’ she asked with a kiss to his chest.

  ‘You more than pleased me,’ he said, his hand cupping her chin. He traced his fingers over her mouth then down to her breasts.

  With a giggle, she slapped his hand away. ‘If I don’t have supper soon I’ll faint.’ Much as she longed to repeat the love-making, she had to talk to him first.

  They washed, dressed, and ate at a table in the corner of the room: steaming hot wonton soup, chicken with cashew nuts, and crispy noodles followed by pomelo and star fruit. Sofia sat back in her chair and watched James wipe his mouth with a linen napkin. ‘Have you held your meeting with Special Branch yet?’

  ‘They won’t commit themselves to approving an actual robbery. I didn’t think they would,’ he said. ‘However, provided everything goes according to plan and we get the gold off the plane before the police arrive, they won’t pursue the matter.’

  ‘And in return?’

  ‘The names of the banks receiving the smuggled gold, as well as the details of your half-brother’s contacts.’

  ‘Uncle knows the banks and he already has the details of Leo’s associates. He bribed Derek Higgins. As you know, Derek needs money.’

  ‘Strange fellow. Bit of an enigma, don’t you think?’

  ‘Most definitely.’ She stroked his hand. ‘What shall we do now?’