Free Captive Bride by Bonnie Dee Page B

bites of cereal.
    Oddly, the fact that he might be uncomfortable put her more at ease. She wanted to relieve his awkwardness so she began to talk back to him. They carried on two solitary halves of a conversation that never met in the middle. And because this man could not understand her, Huiann felt free to say anything she wanted and speak in an open manner that would be considered improper even when addressing her close family members. It was like talking to herself—no constraints, no formality, only the truth she felt inside.
    “It was wonderful to be able to walk out of my room this morning and not have the door locked. I Bonnie Dee
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    wish I could go outside and run in a field somewhere, run until my legs and my chest ache and then fall down onto the grass and watch the clouds roll by in the heavens.
    “Between the ship and Xie Fuhua’s house, I haven’t been free to roam in many weeks. At least I got fresh air on the deck of the steamer. The crossing was quite smooth and I was only seasick for a little while at the beginning.
    “I wish I could tell you everything that happened to me, about the women I found in cages in the hold of the ship and about Xie Fuhua. And there are so many things I’d like to ask you about your life and your world. I’m going to learn English so we can really talk together.”
    Alan Somma smiled and Huiann smiled back, feeling almost as comfortable with him as if he were one of her sisters or her brother, Bolin. She could tell him anything. He would not judge her or say she was too reckless, impulsive or imaginative.
    Then it was his turn to relate some tale, punctuating the story with occasional laughter. It didn’t matter that she had no idea what he was saying. The sense of friendship between them felt easy and natural. Again she was reminded of Bolin, the only male she’d been allowed to talk with so informally.
    Before she knew it, her bowl of cereal was empty.
    Huiann made another attempt to drink the brown liquid in her mug because she didn’t want to shame her host by refusing it, but even with the addition of sugar the dark beverage was too strong for her palate.
    Alan Somma rose and took the cup from her, shaking his head and clearly letting her know it was all 74
    Captive Bride
    right not to finish. He helped her clear the table although she tried to get him to stop. And then, while Huiann washed the dishes, he went outdoors to refill the water pails.
    Through the dirt-smeared window above the basin, Huiann watched him pump the handle until water gushed from the well and filled the pail. His movements were as fluid as the water itself. How had she thought him gangly or graceless?
    An old man came from one of the other buildings across the courtyard, carrying his own pail to be filled.
    His shoulders were stooped and he walked slowly toward the communal pump. Alan Somma greeted him and they chatted for a few moments, then the younger man took the white-haired man’s pail and pumped water into it for him. When it was full and the old man reached for it, Alan Somma carried the bucket for him to his door and inside.
    A man who is respectful and kind to his elders is generally trustworthy, Grandma Mei’s voice reminded her. Not that Huiann needed any convincing. She’d already decided that Alan Somma was a good person.
    If he’d meant her harm, she would have learned it by now.
    While he was inside the old man’s house, a brown-haired woman wearing a shabby dress came out to use the pump. A man slammed open the door she’d come through and lumbered after her, bellowing like an angry ox. He looked like an ox too—big-shouldered and ugly-faced. Huiann wouldn’t have been surprised to see big, curved horns sprouting from his shaggy head. She cringed inside, fearing for the skinny woman who would bear the brunt of his fists. She knew such Bonnie Dee
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    things happened between some married people, although her own parents’ marriage had been as tranquil as a garden of