Tangled Vines
Authors: Kay Bratt
Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage
Chasing China: A Daughter’s Quest for Truth
The Bridge
A Thread Unbroken
Train to Nowhere
Mei Li and the Wise Laoshi
TALES OF THE SCAVENGER’S DAUGHTERS
The Scavenger’s Daughters
Tangled Vines
Bitter Winds
(coming in April, 2014)
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2013 Kay Bratt
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Lake Union Publishing, Seattle
ISBN-13: 9781477808818
ISBN-10: 1477808817
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013912318
To my dad, Tony.
I’ll never forget that you once helped me out of my own desperate situation.
Contents
“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.”
—
Buddha
Suzhou, China, 2011
L
i Jin ducked to the left as the familiar but dreaded fist flew toward her face and hit the concrete wall behind her. It was getting easier to predict his actions and sometimes her quick moves helped her avoid the pain. But not always.
“You’ll do what you’re told and if you don’t, Jojo will pay the price.” He cradled his fist as he spat the words at her.
Li Jin was glad Jojo was at school and not there to witness her shame. The man she’d once considered her rescuer cradled his bleeding knuckles against his chest and glared at her as if his pain was her fault. She huddled in the corner of the room, transfixed by the dots of spittle on his upper lip. Erik knew how to get her to do what he wanted. Her son meant the world to her, and she’d do anything to protect him, even if it meant jeopardizing her freedom.
“Okay. I’ll do it,” she answered, careful to keep her eyes downcast. If she looked straight at him when he was angry, he’d take it as a challenge.
Erik snorted in disgust and pushed the piece of paper into her face, crushing it against her nose. She took it and slapped his hand away. He turned to leave, throwing out one last warning.
“Be there by noon. Don’t make me come find you, Li Jin. You’re an old woman now. You can’t hide from me.”
The bitter sound of her name rolling off his foreign tongue made her glad once again that she hadn’t shared her secret with him.
Dahlia
—just a name but it was the only clue about her birth that she’d been able to flush out from the director at the orphanage. The nontraditional name had been given to her by parents who didn’t want her, but it at least made her wonder if they may have loved her even a little. She’d almost told Erik about it when he’d asked about the tattoo on her foot, but now she never would. He didn’t deserve to know and she didn’t want to share something so special with such a vindictive person.
Surprisingly, Erik spoke good Chinese and his South African accent made it sound almost poetic. When he had swept her off her feet a year ago, he’d told her she was lovely and didn’t look all of her thirty years. Now that he’d been in China long enough to understand much of the culture, he knew being an unmarried mother at her age was a social stigma. In the eyes of her people, she was a disappointment to society.
He’d used that weakness and longing for respectability against her. He was younger than her, though not a lot, but his muscular body had immediately attracted her attention. He’d approached her as she sat watching Jojo play in the park. She hadn’t encountered too many foreigners and his golden-boy looks, blond hair, and blue eyes had startled her. At first she was wary, but he won her over with his smooth way of talking. After some flirting, he’d told her he was an investor. They’d hit it off and she couldn’t believe such a worldly man would choose her. He had smothered her with attention and for the first time in her life, she had felt what it meant to be romanced. They’d moved fast—too fast. Within weeks she had helped him secure an apartment for a great local price, and he’d begged her to move in with him. At the time, she and Jojo had been staying in a hostel and barely making it. With the new living arrangements, she’d felt like fate had finally sent her a reprieve.
Unfortunately, Erik’s behavior changed quickly once she was securely ensnared in his web. Those blue eyes that had captivated her now turned icy when he was having one of his fits. And these days he was constantly reminding her that he could easily get a younger, more beautiful girl to do his bidding.
Now that she knew who—or what—he really was, Li Jin wished he
would
find someone else. But then who would pay for Jojo to go to school? Without an education he’d be just another boy on the street, forced to hustle to make a living like the migrant workers’ children. The financial support from Erik had allowed her to put Jojo in school for the first time and he had flourished ever since. To Jojo, an inquisitive ten-year-old, school was a constant adventure and source of entertainment. And she loved her son more than life itself. He was her only spot of light in what before him had been a world of darkness. This was her chance to provide for his future. She’d suffer the abuse as long as it didn’t touch her son. There was no limit to what a mother would do for her child and she was determined Jojo would never have a childhood like hers. He would have a family and feel protected. And wanted.
When she heard the front door slam she stood and released a ragged sigh of relief. He’d be gone for the rest of the morning. She rubbed her hands down her clothes to wipe away the invisible feeling of filth from Erik’s latest demand. She didn’t approve of what she had to do, even if she’d done it several times already. The truth was that it never got easier. She resolved to just get it over with and not think about it. She’d focus on the face of her son and pretend she was just a normal mother out to finish her daily errands. She’d done it before and she could do it again. But only for Jojo. And just maybe before the next round she’d find a way to stop the madness.