Stolen (A Prairie Heritage, Book 5)

by Vikki Kestell

Rose nodded and remained silent.

  Liáng looked at Rose. “I read the newspapers. They reported that the police found Su-Chong Chen’s body and that he had apparently been hiding in an apartment in downtown Denver all these months since his escape from jail. They reported that he had been shot. The papers made no mention of anyone else.”

  Rose sipped her tea. “Mr. O’Dell convinced them to leave Mei-Xing out of the official reports. He took her away before the reporters came.”

  Liáng frowned. “So Mei-Xing was with Su-Chong in this apartment?”

  “Again, I must have your assurances before I say anything further.”

  Liáng sat back and studied Rose. He sighed at last and nodded. “You have my word as a gentleman and as a Christian, Mrs. Thoresen. I will respect Miss Li’s wishes.”

  “Thank you.” Rose took another sip of tea. “To answer your question, yes. Mei-Xing was with Su-Chong, but not of her own free will. He kidnapped her from the front porch of this house,” Rose hesitated before adding, “and kept her locked in a room—a prisoner, Mr. Liáng—for nearly six months.”

  Liáng grew sorrowful, fearful of what she would say next, but there was no easy way to break the news to him.

  “Mei-Xing returned to us expecting a child.”

  Liáng’s mouth tightened. “A child! When?”

  “The doctor believes late September . . . even though she appears further along.” Neither of them spoke as Rose poured Liáng a second cup of tea.

  “You must have questions,” Rose murmured.

  Liáng rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Indeed, this complicates matters. Who knows?”

  “Only a few trusted individuals outside this house. And you.”

  “You may trust me, Mrs. Thoresen,” Liáng replied, “But I was hoping . . .” His voice dropped to a wistful whisper. “We were hoping to reunite her with her parents.”

  “I understand, but this is where your trust is required, Minister Liáng. Sadly, Mei-Xing does not wish to return to her parents.”

  The look Liáng turned on Rose twisted her heart. “Not ever?”

  Rose inclined her head, silent.

  “Then they are never to know she is alive? They are to be left grieving?”

  Rose nodded again. “Those are Mei-Xing’s wishes. I must tell you that I have seen it before. These girls are not as their families remember them and so . . . they choose not to return.”

  Liáng lapsed into silence for several minutes before he uttered, “That is not all, is it? It must be Fang-Hua! Mei-Xing is afraid for the child!”

  Rose said nothing but her eyes told him it was true.

  “I cannot blame Mei-Xing,” Liáng exclaimed, “but I also cannot help but think it is a mistake to hide.”

  He looked up at Rose. “You remember how the last time I was here I told you of Su-Chong’s cousin Bao and his role in sending Mei-Xing to . . . Corinth.”

  Rose nodded.

  “Now Bao, too, is hiding from Fang-Hua.” Liáng withdrew a clean, pressed handkerchief from his breast pocket and pressed it to his brow. “You see, after Su-Chong escaped from the jail here in Denver, Fang-Hua somehow learned that Su-Chong had seen Mei-Xing the night he was arrested—and so he knew she had not died by suicide as the newspapers reported. Fang-Hua became concerned that her son would look too closely at the details of Mei-Xing’s ‘death’ and discover his mother’s role in sending the girl to Corinth.

  “Fang-Hua sent more men to Denver to find Su-Chong and to . . . do away with Mei-Xing, but they failed to find either of them. This caused Fang-Hua to panic. A living Mei-Xing was a threat to her! She ordered Su-Chong’s cousin Bao to lead yet another group of men here to Denver to find and kill Mei-Xing. Bao knew if he refused his aunt, she would have him done away with on the spot—so he ran.

  “Now that Fang-Hua can no longer trust Bao, he is as much a threat to her as Mei-Xing is. Fang-Hua has placed a price on Bao’s head. She cannot chance him bearing witness to what she ordered him to do to Mei-Xing.”

  Liáng hurried to add, “You see, as long as the truth is hidden, as long as Fang-Hua is not exposed and called to account, Bao will never be safe—and Mei-Xing and her baby will never be safe! This is why bearing witness to her deeds is of the utmost importance.”

  His words troubled Rose. “Be that as it may, I cannot force Mei-Xing to expose herself and her child to the danger such a revelation would create, Mr. Liáng, nor would I ever try.”

  “I see.” Liáng nodded and thought for a long moment.

  Rose watched as he wrestled with his thoughts. She saw when he came to a decision.

  “I must also tell you, Mrs. Thoresen, that I did not come to Denver alone.” Liáng paused. “You see, Bao is with me. He has given his life to Christ. Now he wishes to confess his sin to Mei-Xing and ask her forgiveness.”

  Rose began shaking her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know if that is wise.”

  He studied his hands. “Will you allow me to ask her?”

  Rose still shook her head. “I don’t know. She is so fragile still. You will not pressure her?”

  “No.”

  “If I agree to what you ask, I will be present when you meet with her,” Rose warned.

  “I understand.”

  Rose’s mouth tightened. “And it will be her decision.”

  He readily agreed but still Rose hesitated. “Minister Liáng, she does not yet know who you are, only that you know her parents and can give some news of them to her. We have not had opportunity to tell her all that Mr. O’Dell found when he was in Seattle.”

  “I will be careful,” Liáng promised. “And I will be kind. You have my word.”

  Rose left the parlor. When she returned, Liáng stood to his feet. Trailing behind Rose was the girl Liáng knew only from photographs that did her no justice.

  She is exquisite! was Liáng’s first impression. Her skin was flawless, the shape of her face perfect, her hair a gleaming ebony. In that moment, Liáng felt he understood Su-Chong’s obsession with her.

  Mei-Xing nodded to him. “Sir?”

  He bowed formally. “Yaochuan Min Liáng, at your service, Miss Li.”

  She bowed in return, graceful despite her pregnancy.

  As they settled into chairs, she asked, “You have news of my parents?” Her voice trembled just a little.

  “Yes. I believe I bring good news to you. I understand from Mrs. Thoresen that you have come to know Christ?”

  Before she answered, she tipped her head on its side, just a little, as though she were listening—a gesture that, in an odd way, touched Liáng’s heart. “Yes, I have,” she replied. “I came to Miss Rose and Miss Joy broken in heart and body. They showed me the love of God and shared with me the message of salvation.” She looked down. “I would not be here today if it were not for God’s love and grace toward me.”

  Liáng nodded, a smile tugging at his mouth. “Then I believe you will be happy to hear my news, dear lady. In their grief after your, er, death, your parents were distraught. They reached out to God for help. They, too, have given their lives to the Savior.”

  Mei-Xing blinked against sudden moisture. “Truly?” She looked into his face for confirmation.

  Liáng swallowed, caught in the mirror of her dark eyes. “Truly, Miss Li. I am their pastor.”

  “Their pastor!”

  He nodded. “They have been members of my congregation for more than a year now.” He gentled his voice further. “May I tell you a story? A true story?”

  Mei-Xing looked to Rose and back. “About them?”

  “It begins with them but it is more a story of how the God of Grace is able to turn great evil to eternal good.”

  She studied him for another minute, and then nodded.

  “Very well,” Liáng began. “Then let me say that some months ago I called upon your parents. They have become cherished friends, and I value my fellowship with them. While we were visiting that day, a servant came into the room and whispered in your fath
er’s ear. He arose and went to a window and looked out across the street below.”

  Mei-Xing nodded, picturing her parents’ home and its view across the street.

  “Come, Minister Liáng, if you would, he asked. I, too, looked from the window and saw a man standing across the street. This man paced to the corner and back in obvious agitation.

  “Who is he? I asked.

  “The cousin of our daughter’s former fiancé, he answered. Bao Shin Xang.”

  Mei-Xing started from her chair, exclaiming, “Bao!”

  “Yes.” Liáng’s eyes narrowed. “Bao. The very man you trusted; the man who betrayed you.”

  Mei-Xing’s eyes were wide and she hovered near Rose’s chair, trembling. “How do you know this?” Rose placed a hand on her arm to steady her.

  “Please,” Liáng encouraged. “Please sit, Miss Li. I do not wish to disturb you. All is well, I promise.”

  Mei-Xing watched him and, after a few moments, resumed her seat.

  “Where was I? Ah, yes. Even from your father’s window, it was clear to see that Bao was in great agitation. Your father, knowing nothing of Bao’s perfidy, asked if I would go down and see if I could help him. This I did.”

  He looked at Mei-Xing. “You will perhaps not know this, but Bao was in love with your servant, Ling-Ling. He was promised he could marry her . . . if he carried out a certain person’s instructions concerning you.”

  Anxious, Mei-Xing twisted the skirt of her dress. “Fang-Hua! She arranged a marriage between Bao and Ling-Ling?”

  “Yes. But just as the fruit of sin is often bitter, Bao’s marriage to Ling-Ling was not a happy one.” Liáng shook his head. “And then Ling-Ling died in childbirth this past December.”

  Mei-Xing said nothing and kept her expression carefully blank but Liáng could sense sorrow warring with deep anger, not far beneath the surface.

  “Bao grew a conscience after this, Miss Li. He recounts how his days and nights were haunted by your face.”

  “My face? My face!” Mei-Xing struggled to remain calm. “After what he did?”

  “Yes. He could not live with the guilt of what he had done . . . to you. The day he stood outside your parents’ house, he planned to tell them everything—that you had not killed yourself, but that he had sent you to a living hell and planted evidence of your suicide.” Liáng’s voice grew rough as he spoke. “Then he intended to kill himself.”

  Mei-Xing’s mouth formed a little “o” and her breath caught in her throat.

  “I dragged him to a nearby tea house that day, and he confessed to me what he had done.” Liáng and Mei-Xing could have been the only ones in the room now. He leaned forward in his chair and their eyes locked.

  “You must understand—his story was so fantastic, I could not believe it! But I was determined to find out the truth. I left Seattle a few days later. When I arrived in Denver, I boarded the next train to the little town Bao had told me of: Corinth. There, not far from the siding, I met a man.”

  Another smile touched Liáng’s mouth. “He asked me to call him Flinty.”

  “Oh!” Mei-Xing’s voice caught in a sob. “Flinty!”

  Liáng looked from Mei-Xing to Rose, confused and then alarmed at their sadness.

  “We lost Flinty to influenza only a few months ago,” Rose whispered.

  Liáng was stunned. “I had no idea. I-I am truly saddened.” He shook his head. “Flinty told me that our meeting was God’s appointment! What precious fellowship we shared that night in Corinth. I shall miss him!”

  Liáng paused, remembering. “That night I learned from Flinty that you had recently been abducted, Miss Li, and that Mr. O’Dell had gone to Seattle to look for your family or Su-Chong’s family in an effort to find who had taken you. The next morning Flinty and I came down the mountain together and to this house where I met Mrs. Thoresen.”

  Mei-Xing looked to Rose for confirmation. She nodded to Mei-Xing, and Liáng continued his narrative.

  “Mrs. Thoresen suggested I return to Seattle and aid Mr. O’Dell with the information I could provide. However, I could not find him.

  “Mr. O’Dell is very good at his job, Miss Li, but he had not been in Seattle long before Fang-Hua’s men discovered that he was asking many questions about Chen affairs. Fang-Hua had her men beat O’Dell and leave him to die near the docks.”

  Mei-Xing gasped and tears trickled down her face. “Mr. O’Dell has been a good and faithful friend! It grieves me to hear he suffered on my account. He did not tell me.”

  Liáng nodded. “Of course. He loves the family in this house and would not burden you with this knowledge. Because of his injuries, when I returned to Seattle as Mrs. Thoresen suggested, I could find no trace of him—his belongings remained in his hotel room but no one had seen him for days!”

  Liáng held up a finger. “And God again intervened! Mr. O’Dell had been found alive and taken to a hospital. The Lord led me to that same hospital, where he and I grew to know each other over the weeks he was recovering.”

  Liáng knew he had Mei-Xing and Rose’s rapt attention, but he experienced a strange impulse to tease Mei-Xing a little. “How is my story so far, Miss Li? Is it of any interest to you?”

  When she looked into his eyes, he was smiling, and she had to smile back through her tears. “Of great interest, Mr. Liáng. Please! Continue.”

  He glanced at Rose, who had relaxed. She smiled and bent her head. Liáng returned to his tale. “I cannot, for the sake of time, share every nuance and detail of the weeks that followed. Today I will relate only what I believe is most important.

  “It was while Mr. O’Dell was in the hospital that Fang-Hua again grew nervous. Her son had escaped from jail, and her men had failed to bring him home. I believe she grew concerned that he was still obsessed with finding you and that you would reveal her role in what had been done to you. So she sent her thugs to Denver to make you disappear forever.”

  Mei-Xing’s mouth dropped open and Rose stirred in her chair.

  “But they could not find you, Miss Li! You see, don’t you? You see how the God of Grace was working? They could not find and kill you because Su-Chong had already hidden you away! Only Su-Chong could have possibly hidden you so effectively from them.”

  Mei-Xing uttered a soft exclamation and Liáng continued. “About the same time, I rented a small house in which Mr. O’Dell could recuperate—taking care that the house was safely distant from prying eyes. But when Fang-Hua’s thugs returned from Denver empty-handed, she was not satisfied. She commanded Bao to take other men to Denver and do a better job.

  “Bao, by this time, had repented of his evil deeds. However, he knew that if he refused Fang-Hua, she would not hesitate to summarily do away with him. So! So I hid him in the same house Mr. O’Dell was in.”

  Liáng laughed. “Let us just say that the atmosphere in that tiny house was quite tense for a while. But then God moved and changed Mr. O’Dell’s heart and Bao’s heart. Now he and Bao are brothers in Christ.”

  “They are? They have both found the Lord Jesus? We have prayed for Mr. O’Dell for a long while!”

  “Yes, indeed they are. Is this not amazing, Miss Li? Since the terrible night Bao put you on the train, no less than five individuals have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ—you, your parents, Bao, and Mr. O’Dell.”

  He watched her with grave eyes. “God has turned the most unspeakable wrong done to you into a most precious and eternal good. One thing remains today that I would ask you. A very large thing, Miss Li.”

  He paused and then whispered, “I must ask, Miss Li: Are you willing to do this difficult thing?”

  She blinked in surprise. “What is this thing, Mr. Liáng?”

  Quite naturally, he reached across and took her hands. “Will you receive Bao and let him confess what he did to you?”

  Mei-Xing swallowed and she withdrew her hands from his. “He . . . he is here?”

  “He is. I left him waiting where the cab dropped us
off. Just out on the curb.”

  Mei-Xing looked ill, and Liáng prepared for her refusal—until he heard her murmuring under her breath.

  “O God, please help me! His sin is no greater than my own! Please give me the strength to fully and freely forgive him just as you have fully and freely forgiven me. Please!”

  Yes, Lord God! he prayed with her. Please help this dear sister. Give her the courage to do what her heart and your word are asking.

  Liáng stood and Mei-Xing stared with trust into his face. “Will you be here with me?”

  The faith she placed in him humbled Liáng. He reached out his hand and she took it. “I will be right here,” he promised. “I will not leave your side.”

  With a gentle squeeze to her hand, he released her and looked to Rose. “May I have your permission to bring Bao into your home?”

  Rose looked at Mei-Xing and back. “Yes.”

  He nodded, bowed, and left the room.

  Several minutes later he returned with Bao. Mei-Xing had retreated to the other side of the parlor, instinctively placing space between herself and the man who had betrayed her. Liáng nodded to her and stepped aside so Bao could enter.

  Rose did not know what she had expected to see, but certainly not this man whose physical appearance was as one not far from death. His clothes hung on his body and his face was drawn and stricken.

  “Oh!” Mei-Xing uttered the exclamation and burst into tears. “Bao! My friend! What has happened to you?” she cried.

  Bao took one look at Mei-Xing and fell to his knees sobbing. “Please forgive me, Mei-Xing! I beg you! Please forgive me!”

  Mei-Xing dropped beside him on the floor. She placed her hand on his head. “I forgive you, Bao, just as God in Christ forgave me.” Then she cradled Bao’s head against her lap as he wept.

  ~~**~~

  Chapter 4

  (Journal Entry, June 4, 1910)

  Lord, since Minister Liáng’s visit yesterday, bringing Bao with him, I have seen with my own eyes a depth of forgiveness and reconciliation I was not entirely sure was possible. What a work you perform in the hearts of men and women! Is there any greater demonstration of Christ’s redemption? You are so much greater than we can ever know.