Free Silent Honor by Danielle Steel Page B

and she lowered her eyes again before she blushed and answered.
    “Sometimes. My father speaks of these things too. But I do not always understand them.”
    “Neither do I.” He smiled, wishing that she would look at him again. She had eyes that seemed bottomless in their shiny blackness. “Your father teaches at the university in Kyoto, doesn't he?” Peter asked. She nodded, and then got up to help Reiko with the dishes. She could barely bring herself to speak to him, although he seemed very pleasant, and she found his conversation with Takeo both interesting and enlightening.
    He and Takeo went into the study after that, to do some work, and when the dishes were done Hiroko went downstairs with Tami to help her work on her dollhouse. She made some tiny origami flowers and birds for her to put in it, and the smallest of drawings to hang on the walls, including one of the mountains at sunset. Reiko was amazed when she came downstairs and saw what she had done. She was not only a girl of gentle manners, but one with many talents.
    “Did your mother teach you how to do that?” Reiko was fascinated by the minuscule origami birds she had made for Tami.
    “My grandmother.” She smiled. She was wearing a green-and-blue kimono as she sat on the floor, with a bright blue obi, and she looked very lovely. “She taught me many things …about flowers and animals, and how to care for a house, and weaving straw mats. My father thinks these things are very old-fashioned and quite useless,” she said sadly. It was all part of why he had made her come here, because he thought she was too much as her grandmother had been, too old-fashioned, and not modern, as he was. But it was what she felt in her soul, she loved the old ways, and the ancient traditions. She loved helping her mother run their home and do the cooking, and tend the garden. And she loved being with children. She would make a good wife one day, though perhaps not a modern one. Or maybe in America she would leam those things that her father felt were lacking in her. She hoped so, so that she could go home again, and be with them. After two days in America, she liked being there, but she was still terribly homesick.
    Tami showed her mother the drawings Hiroko had done, and eventually, the two women went upstairs and put Tami to bed, and then came back down to find Takeo and Peter. They were finished with their work by then, and were sitting in the living room with Ken and Sally. They were playing Monopoly, and Hiroko smiled as she watched them, and they laughed, and Ken accused Sally of cheating.
    “You did not have a hotel on Park Place. I saw you, you took it.”
    “I did not!” she squealed at him, and then accused him of stealing Boardwalk. And the fight went on as everyone laughed, and Hiroko tried to understand the game. It looked like fun, but mainly because they were having such a good time at it, and Peter played with them just like one of the children. He offered to give his place to her, but she declined. She was too shy to play with them, although it reminded her of when she had played shogi with her brother. He often cheated too, and they got into endless arguments over who had really won, and no one ever seemed to agree on the winner.
    It was after ten o'clock when Peter finally left, and Reiko promised to have him to dinner again that week. They wanted to get to know his new girlfriend. But Takeo reminded her that they were leaving for Lake Tahoe the following weekend. They were going to be gone for two weeks. As they did every year, they had rented a cabin. Takeo and Ken loved to fish, and Sally loved to water-ski, although they all agreed that the lake was freezing.
    “I'D call you when we get back,” Reiko said, and Peter waved as he left, and thanked her for the evening. He and Tak had a big week ahead of them, mapping out the curriculum for the coming term. They both wanted to get it done before Takeo left for his vacation.
    And as he left,