Free Silent Honor by Danielle Steel Page A

They drove to San Francisco in the station wagon in the afternoon. They went to Golden Gate Park, had tea in the Japanese tea garden, and went to the Academy of Science. They drove her downtown, and she got a glimpse of I. Magnin from the car before they returned to Palo Alto.
    Lassie was waiting for them at home, in the yard, and she wagged her tail when she saw Hiroko.
    And as soon as they got home, Sally disappeared again, as did Ken, and Hiroko went to help her Aunt Reiko cook dinner. After she had set the liable for them, Tami ran downstairs to play with her dollhouse. Reiko had told her to set the table for seven, and Hiroko wondered who was coming to dinner. She thought maybe it was one of the children's friends, but Reiko said casually that it was Tak's assistant.
    “I think you met him last night, at the barbecue. His name is Peter Jenkins.” Hiroko nodded and lowered her eyes. He was the young man who had spoken to her outside, and told her how much he liked Kyoto.
    And he was just as pleasant, and she was just as shy with him as she had been the night before, when he arrived carrying a bottle of wine for Tak, and a bunch of flowers for Reiko.
    He asked how they'd spent the afternoon, as he sat down easily in their living room, and Hiroko disappeared immediately to cast an eye on dinner in the kitchen. As she had the night before, she had bowed low to him, and he had bowed to her, which Tak thought was amusing.
    “She's incredibly shy, poor little thing,” Tak said, once she'd left the room. He hadn't seen women behave that way since he'd left Japan twenty years before. And he hoped she'd get over it during her year in California. Even with him, as a relative, she barely dared look up at him, and with a young man like Peter, she barely dared say a word to him.
    Hiroko was quiet during dinner that night, and she seemed thoughtful about their conversation. Ken and Sally were, arguing about a movie they had seen, and Tami was just daydreaming. But Peter and Tak and Reiko were having a serious discussion about the war in Europe. The situation was obviously escalating, and the poor British were taking a terrible beating, not to mention the frightening situation between the Germans and the Russians.
    “I think we're going to have to get into it eventu-ally.” Takeo said quietly. “Roosevelt apparently admitted it privately. There's just no other way.”
    “That's not what he's saying to the American public,” Reiko said firmly, looking worried. Her husband was too old to be called into it, if America entered the war, but Ken was young enough to get drafted in two years, if it continued. And that prospect frightened both Tak and Reiko.
    “I thought about volunteering for the RAF last year,” Peter admitted seriously, as Hiroko glanced at him cautiously from under her lashes. None of them was paying any attention to her, and it was easier to look at him now, and concentrate on what they all were saying. “But I didn't want to leave the university. There's a real risk I might not get my job back.” Everything was seniority and tenure, and he had a great job in the political science department as Tak's assistant. He didn't want to give that up, even for a worthwhile cause, but he knew that maybe eventually he'd have to. But for the moment, he was still thinking about his future. At twenty-seven, he didn't feel as though he could just throw it all away to go and fight someone else's battle.
    “I don't think you should go unless we do get into it,” Takeo said thoughtfully, although he knew he might have been tempted himself if he were younger. And then, as they finished the meal, the conversation turned to other subjects, the lecture Tak was preparing with Peter's help, and some changes he wanted to make in the department. And it was only then that Peter realized Hiroko was following their conversation very closely.
    “Are you interested in politics, Hiroko?” he asked quietly. He was sitting across from her,