‘So why did you say earlier that -?’
‘It’s like a time bomb, Adam. It is ticking and maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, next month or next year the bomb will explode and then we will see change.’
‘But why? Surely it’s better if things stay as they are.’
‘For the moment, yes. There have been three thorns in the side of the communists: there was Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. They now have Hong Kong and Macao but they won’t be satisfied until they also have Taiwan.’
‘But any attempt to invade Taiwan will meet with international opposition and possibly direct intervention by the Americans.’
‘And you think that worries the communists? I’m afraid, Adam, things have changed a lot more than you or even we realise.’
* * *
‘We must get her into theatre, Miss,’ the Registrar told Gabrielle.
‘Yes, of course.’ She looked down at Christina. ‘I’ll be here for you when you wake up.’
Christina allowed a weak smile to cross her face. ‘I may not wake up.’
Gabrielle felt the grip in her hand tighten. ‘Can you leave us for just one minute,’ she asked the Registrar and the two nurses who were waiting.
‘You must -’
‘I know what I must do,’ Christina told him. ‘Just one minute.’
The Registrar nodded to the nurses and they moved away from the trolley. ‘Now, my dear,’ she said, turning back to Gabrielle. ‘I’m not a very good Christian despite the name my husband gave me but …’ She screwed up her face in pain and swallowed heavily, ‘... I need you to find my son and bring him home. I have no idea why you came to see me but I can tell from your face that your feelings for him are more than …’ Christina grimaced again. ‘He is in Hong Kong and I don’t think he intends coming back. He must come back and start a new life.’
‘I understand,’ Gabrielle said, realising straight away the enormity of what she was being asked to do.
‘Go back to the house now,’ Christina urged her. ‘Don’t wait here any longer. I will be all right. In my room next to the main bedroom you’ll see a desk. The key to the top drawer is behind the picture by the window. In the drawer you will find a black book … and in the book there are addresses in Hong Kong that may help you find my son. Find Adam … please bring him home.’
Gabrielle closed her eyes. She could not refuse Christina because in so doing she would be refusing herself, and yet the chances of her ever finding Adam were so remote. ‘I will go and bring him home,’ she said.
‘Thank you, my dear.’
‘What about Lolita, will she …’
Christina lifted her right hand slowly and removed a jade ring from her little finger. She gave it to Gabrielle. ‘Take this and show it to Lolita. She will understand its meaning. Keep the ring with you and when you find my son show it to him also.’
‘I will.’
‘Thank you, my dear. Now I must let them do their worst. Go now. Good luck.’ She lifted Gabrielle’s hand to her lips and kissed her fingers.
‘God be with you,’ Gabrielle whispered.
Chapter Nineteen
‘That was very deep,’ Adam commented, ‘but it did suggest that other than land reclamation, new buildings and roads, the Hong Kong of today is not dissimilar to the Hong Kong I knew.’
‘Did I bore you?’
‘Not at all. It was enlightening, but the bit about it being a time bomb was just a little disturbing.’
They had finished the main course during which Adam had said very little, though now and then he did raise an eyebrow, nod in agreement, smile at a witticism and empathise with a show of emotion. He was not surprised that Leila’s relationships had not lasted. She was deep-thinking and very circumspect. But some men would not be able to see beyond her sensuality. It was a disadvantage certain women had to get used to. Being intellectual and very good looking often meant that one positive attribute subsumed the other to the frustration of both parties.
Adam smiled.
He had arrived in Hong Kong without a plan. He had come because something inside him told him he had to be here. Whether he was here to bury the dead or to relive what Lucinda had shared with him was still unknown to him, but this remarkable woman sitting opposite him had taken him from the solitude of his indecision into a world that was quite incredible. He saw her as others would see her. He saw an enchanting and beautiful face that told a story with every change of expression. He saw a skin that was almost flawless and he saw a body that he was sure would also border on perfection. But for the moment, he’d been introduced to a mind that surpassed anything physical.
‘Were you surprised at what I told you?’ Leila asked, returning his smile. ‘And are you sure I didn’t bore you?’ She knew exactly what facial expressions to use, when to smile, when to touch, when to allow her tongue to moisten her lips and when to allow her foot or knee to innocently touch Adam’s under the table. It had worked so often, so Adam Harrison, whoever he was, would have to be quite remarkable not to fall for the bait.
‘Surprised? No, I suppose in all honesty it was inevitable that nothing you said would come as a surprise. I was only fifteen when I left Hong Kong and the perception of a fifteen-year-old is very different from that of an adult.’ Adam took a sip of his wine. ‘And did you bore me? You could talk about the price of fish caught in the harbour today and you wouldn’t be boring.’
He is no different, Leila thought. ‘That is probably the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.’ She covered her mouth with her fingers and giggled.
‘Now you are spoiling the image,’ Adam told her.
‘Why? Because I am feminine as well as a philanthropist?’
‘I don’t ever remember a Hong Kong Chinese ever using the word philanthropist before,’ he said jokingly.
Hook, line and sinker, Leila thought. ‘Then perhaps you haven’t lived,’ she told him, picking up the wine bottle and topping up his glass. ‘Perhaps I know a lot of similar words, some of which might surprise you even more.’
‘Words? You surprise me by just being here. There is no need for words. Why, Leila? Why are you here?’ Adam could hear what he was saying but he wasn’t sure where the words were coming from. Leila was suddenly intoxicating and she had become a challenge.
Would her intoxication supplant his own willpower?
* * *
‘Have all the police gone?’ Gabrielle asked as Lolita peered round the front door.
Lolita nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said, opening the door a little further. ‘You want come in?’
‘Please,’ Gabrielle responded as she heard the taxi she had taken from the hospital crunch its way across the gravel. She would have to move her car later, but she had checked and it was not causing a problem. ‘Mrs Yong has gone into the operating theatre,’ she said, moving through to the hall.
Lolita looked slightly apprehensive. ‘She going be all right?’
‘I don’t know but I have prayed for her.’
‘Me too. You want cup coffee?’
‘That would be lovely, thank you.’ Lolita turned towards the kitchen. ‘But before you go, Mrs Yong asked me to show you this.’
Lolita looked up at Gabrielle’s face and lowered her gaze to what she was being shown. ‘That Mrs Yong’s special ring. She give it you?’
‘Not gave, Lolita. She lent it to me to show you so that you would trust me.’
Lolita looked surprised. ‘Trust you? I trust you because you a priest.’
‘Thank you, but Mrs Yong wanted me to look at her black book. As you have never met me before, well, she wanted you to know that she had asked me to do this.’
Lolita became confused. ‘She want you look at book?’
‘Yes. She said it’s in her room next to the bedroom.’
‘That Mrs Yong’s study. It where she do her business.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
From Lolita’s expression Gabrielle thought she was going to object but instead she nod
ded. ‘Okay, I take you there then bring you coffee.’
* * *
Adam felt light-headed.
Whether he was still recovering from the long-haul flight or whether it was the copious amount of red wine he had drunk, he wasn’t too sure, but he certainly felt woozy.
They had finished their meal and were now enjoying espresso coffees. Adam also had a brandy and Leila a Cointreau. She was watching him now as she had throughout the meal. At first he found the attention she was paying him a little off-putting but after a while he felt flattered by her interest.
He still could not work her out.
He decided to keep the fact that his parents owned the restaurant to himself. ‘That really was a delicious meal and may I compliment you on your choice?’
‘You may compliment me on anything you like, but thank you. There are five or six Colombo Dragons in Hong Kong, but I like this one the best because it’s the original.’ Leila sipped her coffee, her eyes dancing with amusement.
‘What’s funny?’ Adam asked.
She cocked her head to one side. ‘Nothing is funny, Adam. It’s just that you are a very deep and private person. I’ve learnt nothing about you and yet you know so much about me.’ She moved her foot and rubbed his leg again with her toes. ‘When are you going to let me in beyond that outer shell?’
‘Why do you want to get beyond it? I still don’t understand why we’re here.’
‘I’ve told you already and perhaps I should take your remark personally.’ To show she was joking she leant across the table and covered his hand with hers. ‘We are both adults and unattached so why do we have to be strangers?’
Adam looked down at Leila’s hand on his. ‘I -’
‘No, there’s no need to say anything. Women are emancipated now, you know, and there are a few of us who can make our own decisions -’
‘I wasn’t going to say that you -’
‘Didn’t know my own mind?’
Adam nodded.
‘Well, I do. I like you. I know nothing about you but I like you. I explained earlier that if I want something now I go out and get it. That’s the emancipated bit of me coming out. This evening you’re the lucky one to be chosen but it is for you to decide whether I’m to be lucky too.’
‘It’s been a lovely evening and -’
‘It could go on being a lovely evening. Why are you fighting what you really want?’ Again Leila smiled. ‘That sounded awful but why beat around the bush?’
‘Your English is amazing.’
‘It’s my first language so why should it be amazing? Anyway, stop changing the subject.’ Leila looked around at the other customers in the restaurant. ‘There’s nobody else in here I fancy so I guess you remain my first choice. So, Mr Adam Harrison, are you going to turn me down or are you going to accept the opportunity of a lifetime.’
Adam shook his head. ‘You are unbelievable.’
‘That you have yet to find out. So do I ask the waiter to call us a taxi?’
Adam took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I think that would be a good idea.’
* * *
Gabrielle had never been in another woman’s study before.
The first word that came to her mind was elegance. Christina Yong’s study was sophisticated without being pretentious. The walls were magnolia and decorated with delicate Chinese watercolours. A large mirror on the end wall opposite the window made the room appear a lot larger than it was. On the highly polished wooden floor stood a coffee table with two soft leather chairs. The sash window had a low deep sill and silk ochre curtains were draped either side.
But the main feature of the room was a large uncluttered rosewood desk and chair. A few papers lay on the desk, together with a laptop computer, a washed bronze lamp with a white silk shade, and a gold letter opener.
Gabrielle crossed to the window. Dusk was beginning to fall but she could still make out the magnificence of the garden. Beyond the rhododendrons at the bottom of the garden stretched an expanse of fields and woods that seemed to go on for miles. The house was similar in size to her parents’ but she knew her mother would give anything to have the view Gabrielle was now admiring.
More questions came into her head which made her look to the left of the window to a lone picture she believed hid the key to the locked drawer in Christina’s desk. As she lifted the picture away from the wall she sensed she was being watched. Lolita was at the door, tray in hand containing a solitary cup, coffee pot, sugar bowl, milk jug and a plate of biscuits.
‘Mrs Yong told me that -’ Gabrielle started to say. She felt guilty, as though she was intruding.
Lolita moved across the study and put the tray on the desk before turning to face Gabrielle. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that where Mrs Yong keep key.’
Gabrielle moved away from the window. ‘You and Mrs Yong are very close, aren’t you?’
Lowering her head and rubbing her hands together Lolita said, ‘We … we friends and we have secrets.’
‘And you feel I’m intruding?’
Lolita lifted her head and frowned. ‘Sorry?’
‘You …’ Gabrielle took Lolita’s hands in hers, ‘you think that I am a stranger and should not be interfering.’
‘You a priest and Mrs Yong she give you the ring. You not a stranger.’
‘Thank you, Lolita. That was nice of you.’ Lolita lowered her head again and Gabrielle sensed she was close to tears. ‘Mrs Yong is a strong woman and if anybody is going to pull through what has happened, she will.’ Gabrielle put her arm round Lolita’s shoulders and pulled her closer. ‘You will not be left without anything,’ Gabrielle reassured her. ‘Mrs Yong will have made sure of that.’
* * *
Adam watched as Leila walked naked round the bottom of the bed and across the deep pile carpet towards the bathroom. She did not look at him. The lights were dimmed and as she passed in front of the window with the harbour lights and Hong Kong Island as a back drop, she was an absolute vision - every man’s dream. Her long shiny hair hung half way down her back and from her shoulders to her heels her skin shone the colour of a frangipani petal, as though she was somehow internally illuminated. For the first time Adam noticed she had a tattoo across the base of her back: 你在哪裡 - Where Are You?
He knew he had made a mistake from the moment he agreed to call for a taxi. Even when he heard himself agreeing to what Leila was proposing, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. He wasn’t ready. He was not sure he would ever be ready.
They had returned to his room and nothing had been rushed. They knew why they were there. Leila had gone straight to the window and admired the view across the harbour to Hong Kong Island.
‘I have lived here all my life and I’ve seen this view so often and yet every time I see it I marvel at its beauty, regardless of it being man-made. It’s how I imagine heaven would be.’
Adam draped his jacket over the back of one of the chairs. ‘There are many other man-made things that are equally beautiful. Would you like a drink?’
Leila turned from the window. ‘A vodka and tonic please and I will take your comment about man-made beauty as a compliment.’
Adam looked among the array of miniatures. ‘That’s how it was meant,’ he said quietly. ‘With ice?’
‘Yes please. And Adam, why are you so nervous?’
‘Nervous?’ he asked nonchalantly although inside he could feel his stomach churning. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any lemon. What makes you think I’m nervous?’ He poured the miniature Smirnoff over the ice in the glass and opened the fridge.
‘Because you’ve hardly said a word since we left the restaurant and neither have you made eye contact with me.’
Adam opened the bottle of tonic. ‘I’m nervous because … because ...’
Leila went up behind him, took the bottle out of his hand and placed it on top of the mini-bar. ‘You’re nervous because you’ve never had a woman proposition you before, as I did. You’re nervous because you really do
n’t know what to do next. Do you want me to go on?’ she asked, putting her hands either side of his face.
Adam looked down. ‘I don’t know.’
Leila took her hands from his face so that she could unhook the clasp at the back of her neck. ‘This, Adam, is me being a seductress,’ she said as she pulled down the zip of her cheongsam. ‘All you have to do is enjoy what I’m offering.’
With nothing more than a wiggle of her hips she was standing in front of him wearing only bright red silk camisole knickers and her high heels. She reached up, her eyes never leaving his, and took the tortoiseshell comb from her hair. With a little shake of her head her hair cascaded over her shoulders and back. Then taking hold of Adam’s hands she placed them on her hips, lifted herself up and pushed her lips against his.
* * *
Gabrielle put the key into the lock.
She still felt very guilty. There was no doubt that Lolita and Christina had a very special relationship. The ring Christina had given to Gabrielle held a meaning for them both that probably even Christina’s husband knew nothing about.
Gabrielle slowly opened the drawer.
It contained exactly what Christina had told her she would find: a black address book, lying on top of papers and envelopes. She lifted the book out of the drawer and placed it carefully on the desk. Almost absentmindedly she closed the drawer.
Should she look at it now? The addresses in the book would mean nothing to her. She would take the book with her to Hong Kong; then and only then would the addresses begin to mean something.
She hoped they would lead her to Adam.
She thought about the other items she had seen in the drawer. No matter how much trust and faith Christina had placed in her, she could not delve into the personal lives of people she didn’t know. Perhaps what she saw would mean nothing to her anyway. Other than what Adam had told her, she really didn’t know anything about his family. She had never met his mother before and she would never have the opportunity to meet his father.
In Denial Page 23
