Free The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo Page B

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words with my father and took his leave.
    When Amah had thought me safely upstairs, I made my
way hastily to the front door. At the very least, I wanted to gaze upon his
retreating back. There used to be a porter to man the great doors of our house
and announce visitors, but now his post lay derelict. There was no one to see as
I opened the heavy wooden door. To my surprise Tian Bai was still there,
standing irresolutely under the eaves of the great gate. He started at the
cracking sound of the hinges.
    “Li Lan!” he said.
    A wave of happiness washed over me. For a moment, I
could not speak.
    “I brought some medicine from Yan Hong. She heard
you were ill.” The warmth of his gaze seemed to penetrate my skin.
    “Thank you,” I said. The urge to touch him, to
place my hands on his chest and lean against him was overwhelming, but that
would never do.
    After a pause, he said, “Did you get the watch I
sent you?”
    “Yes.”
    “I suppose it wasn’t a very appropriate gift.”
    “My amah disapproved. She said it was unlucky to
give a clock.”
    “You should tell her that I don’t believe in such
traditions.” When he smiled, a dimple appeared briefly in his left cheek.
    “Why not?”
    “Didn’t Yan Hong tell you? I’m a Catholic.”
    “I thought the English were Anglicans,” I said,
thinking of his education in Hong Kong’s missionary medical college.
    “They are. But as a boy I had a Portuguese priest
as my tutor.”
    There were a hundred things I wished to say, a
hundred more to ask him. But time had already run out for us. Tian Bai raised a
hand to my face. I dared not breathe as he ran a finger lightly down my cheek.
The look in his eyes was serious, almost intense. My face burned. I was seized
by an urge to press my lips against the back of his hand, to bite the tips of
his fingers, but I could only drop my eyes in confusion.
    Tian Bai smiled faintly. “This is probably not the
best time to discuss religious convictions. I really came to send my
apologies.”
    “About what?”
    He started to speak, but just then I heard voices
from behind. “My amah is coming!” I said. I began to pull the door closed when a
thought struck me. Swiftly, I wrenched an ornament from my hair. It was a plain
oxhorn comb, but I thrust it into his hand. “Take this. Consider it payment for
the watch.”
    A s soon
as I could, I cornered my father to ask about Tian Bai’s visit. Since the day
that he had dashed my marriage hopes, he seemed to have aged. Our financial woes
and my illness had weighed him down so that fresh lines creased his face like
new-turned furrows. Indeed, he seemed so guilty that I could hardly bear to
reprove him.
    “What was the visit for?” I asked.
    “He brought some medicine for you from the Lim
family.” My father was ill at ease, unsure whether or not to mention Tian Bai’s
name.
    “I know who he is, Father. I met him at the Lim
mansion. Did he have a message for me?”
    My father hung his head. “He told me that he had
heard from his uncle that the arrangement between the two of you was dissolved.
He said he was sorry, but it was possible that his uncle might still change his
mind.”
    “Oh.” My heart gave a lurch.
    “Don’t get your hopes up, Li Lan. Tian Bai is not
the one who will make these decisions. The family will have a great deal of say
in it; and as far as I know from Lim Teck Kiong, he has made up his mind quite
firmly.”
    I nodded but hardly heard a word that he said. I
could only recall the slight pressure of Tian Bai’s finger as it had traced the
curve of my cheek.

Chapter 8
    S ince my illness, Amah had taken to sleeping in my room on a thin pallet on the floor. I protested at this, as she was old and the wooden planks were hard, but she insisted. In truth, it made me feel much better. Every night Amah securely fastened the wooden shutters, no matter how hot and still the air was.
    “You mustn’t catch a chill,” she said. “That would set you back.”
    I