Tangled Vines (25 page)

She felt him freeze beside her. They never talked of Dahlia; it was much too painful. For years each had kept their grief silently to themselves.

“What do you mean, news?” he finally asked without looking at her.

Calli reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope. “It’s a long story but first you have to see something. Let me start with saying Dahlia is alive.” She handed him the envelope and watched as he opened it and pulled out the stack of photos. In only a moment she could see he knew it was her.

She’d rarely ever seen him cry, maybe only twice in their entire lifetime together. The first time was when he was finally able to tell her why he’d run from his commune and the terrible things they’d done to him there. The second was when he realized that their moment of happiness as new parents had been yanked away by the selfishness of another. But now to see his daughter’s face and know she was alive out there somewhere had broken the reserve, and the tears rolled down his face, some sliding off the tip of his old nose before he could rub them away.

“Benfu, she is quite beautiful, isn’t she?” she said softly.

He nodded silently but he wouldn’t look up. The tears dropped onto the surface of the photo he held in his hand and his chin quivered as he fought to maintain control.

Calli reached over and put her hand on his knee. “And she looks like you. Those are your eyes, no doubt about that.”

He nodded again and Calli swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. She put her arm around his shoulders. Oh how they had waited for this moment—for some news about their daughter. For years they’d obsessed over it. Then the girls started coming and they had been able to move on in life, but still they had never forgotten Dahlia or stopped hoping.

Finally he cleared his throat and looked at Calli.

“We have to find her,” he said. He pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose.

Calli saw the intense look in his eyes and knew he wouldn’t be deterred this time. She hadn’t yet touched on the other news, that his father was the reason for the sudden breakthrough, but she’d cover that later when he recovered from seeing Dahlia’s face. He was trying to be strong, but she could see that with this evidence that Dahlia had lived after the abduction, just like her, he wouldn’t rest until she was found.

She took his hand and held it to her heart. “There’s more. We’re very close to finding her. And I have a plan to make it happen. Benfu, we
are
going to find our daughter.”

With those words her husband of the last thirty-some years lost control and the sobs tore from him, causing pedestrians to look curiously their way. Calli didn’t care; she shooed them away. Together she and Benfu let go of thirty years of grief as they grabbed on to the first piece of hope they’d been given.

“So now that you’re selling so many shirts, what’s the next step?” Jet asked, leaning across the counter toward Linnea.

Linnea raised her hands and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve got to mock up some new designs while the fad is hot. I sketched a few things on our trip. I just need to go downtown and get them scanned in and e-mailed to my screen printer.”

Everyone else had gone home and she’d made up her mind that she was going to get a few things off her chest with him, whether she wanted to or not. She couldn’t continue wondering about him and the girl. And she’d acknowledged to herself that it wasn’t fair to punish Jet for something when she hadn’t been mature enough to tell him what it was. But so far she hadn’t found a good way to approach it, so here they were making small talk again.

Jet nodded. “Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to keep running around to copy, scan, or e-mail?”

“Yes, but that step will not happen until I pay off everything I owe from the start-up of Vintage Muse. I don’t want to rack up more debt than I can juggle.”

“And what about your idea of renting your own place?” he asked.

Linnea had to give him that—he was persistent. She was glad he was interested in her future but she wanted to get the topic back to them. This was her chance and she wasn’t going to let it go this time.

“Jet, we can talk about all that later, but first there’s something I wanted to ask you. Can we go sit outside?”

She came around the counter and grabbed her bag and keys. She led Jet out the door and locked it behind her.

“I’ll go ahead and lock up—then I can head home in a minute. Nai Nai will be wondering what took me so long.”

They sat at the table outside the store and Linnea propped her bag between her feet. She looked up to find Jet leaning back comfortably, staring as if she were the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

“Lin, I can’t tell you how much I missed you while you were gone.” He reached over and took one of her hands and brought it up to his mouth, putting his lips on it.

Linnea ignored the streak of pleasure that traveled up her arm and gently pulled her hand away. This was important and he wasn’t going to divert her attention.

“I’m sure you weren’t
too
lonely,” she said, then watched his expression closely.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking confused.

“Jet, remember the day we met here and I told you I was taking the trip to Beijing?”

He nodded, still acting completely innocent. Linnea knew she was about to sound like a jealous lover but she didn’t care; she had to let him know she wasn’t oblivious.

“I saw you across the street with that beautiful girl. And you two were acting like you knew each other quite well.”

She watched Jet’s face as it went from confusion to understanding, then blushed crimson. Why would he be so embarrassed if it was innocent? And now that he was caught, what would he say?

Linnea suddenly wanted to take it back—now would their relationship just crumble? Was that what she really wanted? No way, she told herself. It wasn’t.

“You saw us?” he asked, looking crushed.

Linnea nodded and tears threatened to form. She forced them away.

Jet sighed. “I wanted to wait a little while longer until everything was perfect, but I guess it’s time to tell you.”

Linnea could feel the heat travel up her chest and neck and fill her face. “You wanted to wait until it was perfect? Are you serious, Jet? Then what—break up with me and be exclusive with her?”

Jet started shaking his head, holding his hands up for her to stop. But it was too late to stop now. She wasn’t afraid of crying any longer; she was afraid she was going to take his head off! She stood up and grabbed her backpack, struggling to get her arms through the handles. She pointed her finger at him.

“My Ye Ye asked me if I was sure you weren’t just playing around with me until you found someone more suited to your background. And I can’t believe I defended you! All along you were playing me while you were seeing some little rich girl!”

Jet stood and grabbed her arm. “No—Lin—you don’t understand. Let me explain.”

Linnea jerked her arm away and stepped back. “Oh, I understand completely, Jet. You don’t need to say another word.”

She began to walk down the sidewalk, her head down to avoid the eyes of the curious strangers on the street. She felt miserable—and angry—but mostly just very heavy with sadness.

She was only a few feet away when Jet yelled out.

“Linnea, please don’t go. I love you!”

She stopped. He’d never said those words before and neither had she. What should she do? An elderly woman strolling down the sidewalk looked at her and raised her eyebrows, as if she were asking,
So, what are you going to do about that?

Linnea ignored the woman and debated with herself. She realized she should have at least let him give his explanation. It would probably be lame and not make a difference, but she had to admit, she wanted to hear it. She needed to know for sure who the girl was. She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’ve got five minutes, Jet. Then I’m leaving. Start talking.”

He came to her and took her hands. “I don’t need to talk. Just let me show you something.”

She started to protest and he hushed her, putting his finger to his lips.

“For once, Lin, please just do it my way. After you’ve seen everything, you’ll understand.”

“Fine. Just hurry up.” She couldn’t resist but gave up her struggle to keep his hands off her.

He took her hand again and began leading her around the side of the store, into the alleyway. Linnea was confused. What could he have to show her back there? But she held her tongue and kept her questions to herself.

Jet turned to her and smiled, then guided her toward the metal staircase that led up to the second-floor apartment.

“Jet? Why are we going up there? Is that who rented the apartment? That girl?” Now it was making sense. Jet had met the girl because she was the one renovating the upstairs! Linnea stopped at the base of the stairs, refusing to go any farther.

“No, Linnea! The girl you saw does not live up there. You said you’d give me five minutes. Come on.” He pulled her up the stairs and she followed grudgingly. At the top he reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys.

“You have keys?” Linnea asked.

He ignored her and fumbled until he found the right key; then he put it in the door and turned the knob. He pushed it open and stepped through, then reached over and switched on the light.

Beyond him the room lit up and Linnea was astonished to see the same apartment she’d remembered as dusty, dark, and cluttered was now crisp, clean, and smelling brand-new. It was gorgeous, painted in a soft cream color and accented with dark wooden pieces of furniture, covered in brown and gold silk fabrics. She looked down and under their feet lay what had to be a real silk carpet covering the floor.

“What is all this, Jet?” She couldn’t stop her eyes from roving around the room and noticed a few antique pieces. Even the art was exquisite; one scene of a blushing woman on a fainting couch draped in sheer white cloths was the focal point of one wall. Linnea
looked at the opposite wall and gasped when she saw a dozen of her first sketches framed and mounted in two rows—the drawings of the first shirts that had become so popular. She blushed.
They looked so professional up there!

“This is your new apartment, Lin. The girl you saw me with is my cousin and she’s an up-and-coming interior designer. She did all this for us—and only charged for materials. But the photos are going in her portfolio.” He swung his arm out in a wide arc.

“
My
apartment? What do you mean, mine?” Linnea couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. She’d never seen such a beautiful place—except for maybe Jet’s own home. But how could it be hers? The landlord had already sold it to someone else.

Jet took her hand and pulled her in, then shut the door.

“I was going to wait a few months to show you. We still have some work to do but I bought this place before anyone else swooped in. It’s yours.”

Linnea felt dizzy. What was he saying? She moved over to the fainting couch and ran her hand along the smooth mahogany frame. She slowly sank down on it. From her new point of view she saw a small cubby on the other side of the room, complete with a computer and a printer and even a classy filing cabinet.

“Jet, I don’t understand.”

“That’s your office, Lin. You won’t have to run downtown for everything now. I want you to stay away from the buses. You need the convenience of living close to your work.” He pointed at the other side of the room. “Over there you can take a break and watch television. I haven’t bought a TV yet—I was waiting for that. But look at the chair.”

Linnea looked and couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Lau’s antique Mao chair that she loved so much. It sat in the corner and around it, hung artfully on the walls, were vintage movie posters. Linnea recognized Greta Garbo and even a poster from the famous
Gone with the Wind
. “But how?”

“Sky knew what I was doing and he even helped a bit. He’s got a lot of style for a guy. His grandfather wanted you to have the chair. He said you were his fiercest opponent in
xiangqi
and you deserved a trophy of some sort.”

Linnea smiled. She couldn’t believe the old man had given her the chair he had kept safe for so many years. She was touched.