The Girl Who Wrote in Silk (18 page)

He didn’t say anything about the offerings floating toward the middle of the sound, though she saw him looking at them as he pulled the rowboat out of the water.

“I made it from here to Orcas Village to pick up the mail load and back again to Olga before they confronted me,” he told her, referring to the small settlement southward down the sound where he always started his delivery rounds. He wrapped the rope around a tree and worked on tying knots to keep it secure as he went on with his story. “The Honeycutts and Talmidges were there, as well as half a dozen other families. Told me James Tulloch would be taking over the route from now on. I gave him the mail and rowed away without a word. Felt good too.”

“But you love your mail route. I just made you the new bag.”

He yanked hard on the rope to tighten the knots, then dropped the end onto the beach and turned toward her, wiping his hands together. “The mail route was never about power to me. It was about getting to know my neighbors and doing a service for the community. The moment they decided to punish me for loving a person they don’t approve of was the moment my service ended. I don’t care to know people like that, and I can find other ways to serve my community.”

She stepped into his welcoming hug. “You’re earlier than I expected, but still you’re home late for having not completed your route.”

Joseph released her and went to the rowboat to gather his things. “I would have been home earlier, but Campbell hailed me from the shore. You know I try to stay away from him, knowing what I now know, but at that moment I decided the old saying is correct. ‘One must keep friends close, but enemies closer.’” With a hand on her back, he guided her through the forest back to the house in the clearing beyond. She noticed he still carried the mailbag she’d made, but it was empty now.

“He told me he’d heard I’d lost the mail carrier position. Then he said if things got too rough for us, he’d offer me a fair price for our land.”

Mei Lien stiffened. “He told me the same thing earlier today. He’s up to something.”

Joseph stopped in front of the porch steps. “He was here?”

She nodded and, afraid he’d see her fear, kept her head low as she bent to pull weeds from the flower bed. “Introduced himself and was friendly until he learned you weren’t here. He promised he was going to drive me away. Then he left.”

Joseph squeezed her shoulders. “I won’t let him hurt you, May. And I won’t let him drive us off our land. I told him so.”

Joseph went upstairs to change his clothes and Mei Lien followed him as far as the kitchen where she stood staring out the window to the garden, trying to calm her shaking nerves as the day’s events played through her mind again.

Of one thing she was certain—she hadn’t seen the last of Campbell. But at least now she wouldn’t be alone so often.

Monday, July 9—present day

South Lake Union, Seattle

Inara waited for Daniel at Chandler’s Crabhouse on Lake Union. It would be their first official date, and their last.

And then she’d return to Orcas and put this miserable day—and the sleeve and Daniel—behind her.

After leaving her father’s office, she’d driven randomly around the city for hours, thinking about her mother, the sleeve, Mei Lien, and all the people killed. Telling the truth would bring shame on her family and dishonor all the good work her mother had done. But keeping the secret was dishonoring all those who had died and their families.

Part of her believed Daniel had the right to know the true reason why she wouldn’t be seeing him any longer. The other part reminded her she’d promised her dad she’d keep the story secret.

She had no idea what she was going to say.

“Sorry I’m late. Traffic.” Daniel leaned down to kiss her cheek, his touch jump-starting her already frazzled nerves. This was going to be harder than she’d thought.

If only she could have kept this thing between them going and seen where it led.

“No problem. You’re not that late.” She smiled as she lectured herself about just getting through this and leaving. The sooner, the better. “I hope your mom forgives you for canceling your plans with them tonight.”

He just shrugged. “I’ll stop by later. They’ll be okay. I was surprised you came down today.”

“I hadn’t planned on it, but something came up and I had to meet with my dad.” She decided to tell him half of it as she worked up her nerve for what she’d come here to say. “He ambushed me with a real estate agent trying to convince me to sell the estate.”

His eyes widened. “You’re not going to, are you?”

“I talked him into holding off until Labor Day. If the hotel doesn’t impress him by then, he’ll call in my loan and I’ll be forced to sell.”

“Well, that’s something. At the rate you’re going, in two months no one will be able to walk away from the project. Not even your dad. I wouldn’t worry if I were you.”

Warmth flowed through her at his words, and she wanted to lean into him and feel strengthened by his presence. Instead she sat up straighter and looked down at her lap. “Thanks.”

Now
or
never, Inara.
She took a breath, but right as she opened her mouth, Daniel spoke.

“I have news.” The corner of his mouth twitched upward as he placed both arms on the table and leaned toward her. “I found the 1890 census. They had a son.”

Inara blinked as her mind struggled to keep up. “Who? Mei Lien and Joseph?”

He nodded and she could tell it was killing him to rein in his excitement. It stirred an answering thrill inside her. But she was confused. “Wasn’t the 1890 census lost in a fire?”

“The federal census was, but not the state records.”

The truth sank in. Mei Lien and her husband had had a child. A son. A boy who had probably gone on to have a family of his own. Suddenly the stakes were higher. “This means there could be a descendant of Mei Lien’s somewhere who could tell us what happened to her.”

He nodded and reached for his menu, though he didn’t glance at it. “The son’s name was Yan-Tao McElroy. In 1890, he was listed as being two years old, so we looked into birth records and found a Washington Territory birth certificate for Yan-Tao Kenneth McElroy, born July 27, 1887.”

“A year and a half after they got married.” She did the math in her head. “That means he must have been about seven when my family bought the property. How can we figure out where the McElroys went?”

Daniel dropped his menu back on the table. “I already have my graduate students researching it. They’re looking through old newspaper records and other settlers’ diaries that have been donated to the university, the state archives, the Orcas Island Historical Museum, or the Orcas Island Library in Eastsound. I also have them searching the 1900 census records of surrounding communities to see if the McElroys pop up anywhere, as well as interviewing anyone in the region with the last name McElroy.”

She nodded, impressed that he was covering so many bases. They would find Mei Lien’s descendants and possibly learn more about her than the embroidery was telling them. “I wish Mei Lien had left a diary along with the sleeve. Then there wouldn’t be so many unanswered questions.”

And then she remembered why she’d come here tonight—to stop Daniel from doing any further research. They were supposed to forget all about Mei Lien.

But how could they, especially now that they knew there might be descendants still alive who could tell them more about Mei Lien and what happened to her?

Daniel turned his attention to his menu, so she did the same, though she didn’t see any of the words printed on it. Would it be so bad to keep researching what happened to Mei Lien and her family? Everything they’d be looking at was well after 1886 and should in no way lead anyone to discover the truth about the murders.

But Inara had promised her dad she’d forget about the sleeve.

Which she’d do. But if they shifted focus to what happened after the story depicted on the sleeve, she’d be okay, right? She could put the sleeve away and keep her promise, yet still find out what happened to Mei Lien and her family.

She could still see Daniel.

He set his menu aside and smiled at her across the table. “I’m glad you came here tonight.”

She made a quick decision and set her own menu aside. “Me too.”

Casually, like he did it all the time, he reached across the table and snagged her hand. “Tell me more about your hotel. I can’t wait to see it when everything starts to come together.”

“You’re welcome to visit and see our progress any time.” His thumb was drawing circles on the back of her hand, making it hard to focus. “They’ll be putting up drywall this week.”

“Sounds exciting.” He paused. “How about this weekend?”

She searched his face to see if he was kidding, but he just stared at her with those hazel eyes that made her want to sink into them. “Um, sure. You can even stay in my guest room.”

His eyes darkened. “I’d like that.”

She was too flustered to think up a response so she stayed silent.

“Can I answer any questions about the menu, or are you ready to order?”

The sudden appearance of the server made them spring apart. Inara felt her face flame as she picked up her menu and stammered out her order. Once the server disappeared, she reached for the glass of wine she didn’t remember ordering and sipped it to keep her hands busy.

“Are you staying with your father tonight?”

She shook her head. “No. There’s an eleven o’clock ferry I plan to be on.”

He glanced at his watch and shot her a grin. “Plenty of time.”

Over dinner they didn’t talk about the sleeve or Mei Lien, and Inara was happy about that. She hated keeping what she knew from Daniel, and it was easier to push it all out of her mind for an hour and just be normal.

They talked more about their families and where they went to school (she at UW, he at UCLA with graduate work in Beijing), how he wanted to try stand-up paddleboarding but had a terrible sense of balance, and how she had a weakness for chocolate.

Inara was reluctant to leave when it was time to hit the road. Daniel walked her to her car, and there in the parking lot, tinged pink by the setting sun, his palm found the center of her back and gently pulled her toward him so they were face-to-face. His eyes stayed locked with hers as he slowly bent his head, his mouth drawing closer and closer. Finally she could take it no more and she closed her eyes, giving in to what she only now realized she’d been waiting for all evening.

His hands pulled her body tighter against him and she wrapped her arms around his neck, marveling at the perfection of their fit. She tilted her head to deepen the kiss, savoring the moment, the taste of him, the delicious sense that nothing mattered but the two of them. Not their families, not the sleeve, not her hotel.

She completely lost track of time. When they paused for breath, Daniel rested his forehead against hers and said, “I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you.”

She smiled and kissed him again.

The sound of a nearby car beeping as its owner unlocked it reminded them where they were, and they reluctantly stepped apart. “I’m so glad you came into town today,” Daniel said as a lock of his hair fell over one eye.

She gently brushed it back. “Are you really going to come to the island next weekend?”

He glanced at the couple getting into the car two spaces over and jammed his hands into his pants pockets. “Yes,” he answered simply.

She smiled. “Good.”

Much later, as she was sitting in her parked car on the ferry, she received a text from Daniel that made her laugh out loud:

Are you really going to make me stay in the guest room?

She replied:

Let’s decide when you get here.

He arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday.

He didn’t use the guest room.

Wednesday, July 27, 1887

McElroy Farm, Orcas Island

Mei Lien slowly opened her eyes to see sunlight streaming in through her west-facing bedroom window. The heat in the room told her she should have been up hours ago, but she was glad for the rest. She didn’t want to get up just yet, so she was careful not to move and cause her swollen belly to put pressure on the part of her that would necessitate a visit with the chamber pot. Instead, she let her thoughts drift.

The winter had been a hard one. Not because of the weather—it only snowed around the time of the New Year on Joseph’s calendar and stuck on the ground for two weeks. Otherwise, it was just cold and gray and wet. No, it was hard because of the mental strain. Since the day the islanders forced Joseph to hand over his mailbag last summer and Duncan Campbell had threatened her, Mei Lien had felt hunted and watched.

She did not like to leave the farm, but when she did, to go into Eastsound Village for supplies or to Port Townsend or Victoria for larger purchases, she always stayed by Joseph’s side. They both heard the whispers and insults. They both noticed how people crossed the street or left a shop to avoid them. Most refused to speak directly to Mei Lien, preferring to ignore her and pretend Joseph was alone—if they spoke to him at all.

She knew she was the reason Joseph was no longer invited to supper at neighbors’ houses or on hunting or fishing trips with friends. He no longer had any friends.

Folks did occasionally stop by the house to see Joseph, away from the eyes of other islanders. But always, she noticed, it was because they wanted something from him. An extra pair of hands to thresh the wheat. Joseph’s mare to pull their plow. His strength to help raise their new barn walls. His beach to land their rented barge loaded with building materials.

He always helped.

Not once in the past year—and she had kept track—had anyone stopped to offer them help, food, or a kind word. Not once had anyone shared a smile with her. Always they ignored her as though she wasn’t Joseph’s wife, but his dog or, probably more accurately, his pig in the mud.

She could handle being ignored, but she was tired of the way her husband was taken advantage of and mistreated for the crime of marrying her. What did it matter to anyone else what she looked like or where her ancestors were born? As long as she was a hardworking, caring wife to Joseph, what could they possibly have to complain about?

When she voiced her thoughts to Joseph, he just shook his head and gave her a sad little smile. “What people think don’t matter none,” he told her. “I’m happy and I hope you’re happy. You are, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m happy,” she agreed.

“Well then, we don’t need anyone else.”

And so they continued on, tending their farm and tending their deepening relationship. But still she worried that he yearned for what might have been, had she not come into his life.

Just as she sometimes wondered what might have been had none of this happened.

Would she still be embroidering purses with Grandmother and helping Father in the store? Or would Father have arranged her marriage to a Chinese man, a proper merchant like himself or someone like Yeung Lum? Would she still be wearing men’s breeches, or skirts and aprons like Grandmother? Would she have adopted the white woman’s dress as she’d done here?

Why was she wasting her morning lying in bed thinking about things that did not matter or could not be changed?

Resigned, Mei Lien rolled to her side and pushed her weary body up to sitting. Her constantly swollen feet hung over the side of the bed. She paused as she always did to rub her huge belly, waiting for movement inside.

Joseph’s son—she was sure the baby would be a boy—would be born soon, and they were ready to meet him. Joseph had built a cradle that now waited at her side of the bed. A pile of clean cloths was stacked on the kitchen counter downstairs, and she kept their largest pot of water on the stove, filled and ready to bring to a boil. She’d visited the herbalist in Port Townsend months ago and purchased herbs to help with the labor and others to help her heal afterward. She’d traded him four embroidered purses she’d made over the winter to pay for the herbs so Joseph wouldn’t have to hand over any of his dwindling cash.

Without neighbors willing to help with the harvest last fall, Joseph had had no choice but to leave apples and pears to rot on the trees. The rest of the crop he’d taken to sell in Port Townsend had filled only half a barge.

But this year would be different, she decided as she finally pushed to her feet, leading with her belly. It would have to be different if they expected to survive.

Just as she stood up, a sharp pain arced through her back and wrapped around to her stomach. She bent over with one hand propped on the wall in front of her and the other rubbing her belly to ease the ache away.

Aches, pains, twinges, pulls…such was her life now. She used the chamber pot, dressed, and waddled down the stairs to start breakfast. Just as she reached the kitchen, Joseph came in through the back door, carrying a full milking bucket.

“Mail came,” he said as he set the bucket in the sink.

“This early?”

He removed his gloves as he raised an eyebrow at her. “The morning’s nearly over, May. I thought you could use the extra sleep.”

She went to the back door to look up to the sky and judge the time for herself. Sure enough, the sun had already cleared Mount Constitution and would soon reach its highest point overhead. “You should have woken me. I’ve got hundreds of things to do today.”

She quickened her steps, moving around the kitchen to prepare breakfast while Joseph settled himself at the table to sort through the mail he pulled from his back pocket. Frying bacon proved to be nearly impossible without her belly getting splattered with grease. Then, when she went to pull the biscuits from the oven, she tried to bend at the waist but felt the baby’s weight shift her off balance. Trying again, she bent her knees and just about had the pan in her towel-wrapped hand when Joseph intervened.

“Come. Sit. I’ll finish breakfast.” He guided her to a chair and pressed on her shoulders until she gave in and sat down.

“I can’t sit here and do nothing.” Being fussed over irritated her. She’d never been fussed over in her life, and she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and her husband. “I don’t need you to do my chores.”

He turned from the stove with a fork in his hand and his teeth biting a smile. “I know you don’t mean to sound ungrateful so I’ll ignore it. And you will rest. That’s my child you’re carrying.”

“How could I forget? This baby won’t stop moving around when I’m trying to sleep, and when awake, my body won’t do what I want it to. Oh!” The stab of pain hit her spine again.

“What? Is it time?” Joseph was suddenly beside her, crouching to lay a hand on her belly. His eyes were huge as they looked from her belly to her face and back again. “What do I do?”

The pain disappeared as fast as it hit. She shook her head at her husband as she rubbed her belly. “No, it isn’t time. I’m just sore from lying in bed so long.”

He gave her a look that said he didn’t believe her, but he returned to the stove anyway. “If you insist on doing something, you can read me that letter there from my sister.”

His sister’s letters were full of boasts about her perfect twin daughters and how her husband was building what was reputed to be the greatest ship of all time in his shipyard in Tacoma. Mei Lien had never met the woman and she was glad, since Elizabeth would no doubt be in person just as she was in her letters—arrogant, bragging, belittling Joseph, and completely ignoring the fact that Mei Lien existed.

She picked up the letter from the stack on the table and unfolded the rose-scented paper. Elizabeth’s handwriting was small and tight with occasional flourishes, as though she felt particularly fancy about certain words. Slowly, Mei Lien started to read, interpreting some of the scratches as best she could. “
Dearest
Joseph. I trust this letter finds you as well as we are here in town.
” She paused in reading and looked up. “Why does she act as though Tacoma is the only town around?”

Joseph shrugged. “It’s the center of her world, so to her it is the only town around.”

She shook her head but went back to reading. “
Marcus
has
taken
on
a
new
partner
and
so
is
finally
able
to
take
time
off
from
work. I informed him I’d like to visit my brother and meet his wife, so that is what we are doing. We will arrive on the morning steamer August twelfth and will stay through the weekend.
” With nausea lying heavy in her throat, Mei Lien paused to calculate the date in her mind.

“Joseph! That’s only two weeks away! The baby should be here by then. It’s too much to have your family here as well. You’ll have to write her back today and tell her not to come for another month or so.” She paused. “Does she know we’re expecting?”

“Yes, she knows. I told her in my letter months ago.” He slid her plate in front of her and turned back to the stove to fill his own. “Why can’t she come? She could be a big help to you.”

Mei Lien stared at her food. “Possibly. Or she could cause more work when I’ll have my hands full as it is.” She picked up the biscuit Joseph had slathered with the wild strawberry jam she’d made last month and took a huge bite. With the letter lying beside her plate, Mei Lien leaned forward and continued reading. “
We
hear
your
little
island
is
becoming
quite
popular
amongst
Seattleites, so we simply must be the first from Tacoma to know if reports are exaggerated.
”

Joseph grunted at that as he sat down across from her with his own breakfast. “Sounds like she expects to be shown around like a tourist.”

Mei Lien lowered her chin. “Please promise you’ll write to her and tell her not to come yet. After harvest would be best, unless they plan to help with it.”

Joseph carefully chewed his bacon, then washed it down with a cup of milk dipped from the bucket still sitting in the sink. “I’ll write to her.”

“Thank you.”

As they finished their breakfast, they went through the rest of the mail together. Among the bills was one from the Baron sounding quite irritated that Joseph had not yet paid for the goods he’d procured three months ago, despite the fact that the Baron had said over and over again, “You pay ven effer yous feel like it.”

“Can we pay him?” Mei Lien asked as she shoved her body up from the table to make her way gingerly to the sink to wash their plates.

“Yes. Some. Not all.”

Soon the fruit trees would be ready to pick, but Mei Lien would be busy with the baby. They might need to find another source of income. Soon.

“Do you think Elizabeth and Marcus could be convinced to help with harvest?”

Joseph laughed. “And get her hands dirty?”

Mei Lien grimaced and then turned her attention to cleaning the kitchen. As soon as she finished, she turned toward the door. “Did you take care of all the animals this morning too?” she asked her husband. He nodded. “What about the garden? Have you checked to see if the deer or rabbits got through the fence last night?”

“It’s fine.” He stood up and put his hands on her upper arms, stopping her from going out the back door to start her chores. “Wait. There’s something else.”

What more could there be, other than debts that needed paying and their only source of income needing tending? “What, Joseph? I’m already behind today.”

His lips pressed together as the corners of his mouth twitched upward. He was up to something.

“Wait here,” he said, both his hands on her shoulders as if to plant her in place in the middle of the kitchen floor. “I’ll be right back.”

He rushed to the back door and stopped to look back to ensure she hadn’t moved. She just raised her eyebrows at him.

With a grin, he opened the door and stepped onto the porch, where her laundry tub and clothes wringer stood propped against the house waiting for her. Joseph left the door hanging open as he disappeared around the corner for a moment, then quickly reappeared with a brown paper-wrapped parcel in his hands.

His smile filled his whole face as he walked toward her with the package in both hands stretched out in front of him like an offering. “This is for you,” he told her as he kicked the door shut behind him. “For you and the baby.”

Mei Lien couldn’t imagine what he might have ordered for her that came wrapped in paper. “Joseph, what is it? How did you pay for it?”

A scowl flashed across his face at the question but then was gone, replaced with his excited smile again. “That doesn’t matter. Open it.”

Mei Lien took the package from him and instantly felt the sides give, indicating that whatever was inside was soft.

Setting the package on the table, she carefully cut the waxed strings with a kitchen knife and pulled back the paper, knowing she’d think of something to use the paper for later. Nothing was wasted in their home.

The moment she peeled back the final layer, she gasped.

Inside the package was the richest blue silk she’d ever seen, finer than any Father had sold in his store. It was woven tight with threads so fine it felt as soft as water as she ran her fingers over it. Instantly an image flashed in her mind of a scene she could embroider on its delicate surface. Father’s store on Washington Street, Father standing in the open doorway. Grandmother in the window above, her own embroidery in her hands. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed, not sure if she meant the silk itself or the image she knew she’d create on it.

“That’s not all. Look under the fabric.”

Curious, Mei Lien lifted the bundle of cloth and found a package of embroidery needles and what must have been twenty different colors of silk embroidery floss. Lucky red, rich gold, midnight black, sea blue, cloud white, earth brown, and shades she could not identify because they balanced between two colors, dyed by hands with talent and a lifetime of experience.