Barbara Faith - Kiss of the dragon

by mag

  She asked to speak to Bethany, and when Bethany took the phone Su Ching said, "Was it what you wanted, too?"

  "Yes, Su Ching. The golden dragon is where he should be. The legend will live on."

  For a long moment Su Ching did not answer, but when at last she spoke there was great happiness in her voice. "Come home, Bethany," she said. "Come home, my dear."

  That day Tiger and Bethany shopped along Nanjing Road. They bought two Western-style dresses for her, as well as shoes and a bag; for Tiger, a shirt, jacket and trousers. Later they had lunch, then walked along the Bund and through small parks along the edge of the Yellow River.

  It was peaceful there and they lingered as twilight settled over the ancient city. When it grew dark they went back to their hotel, to their room with the double bed. They made love, and slept, and woke to make love again.

  The next day Bethany dressed in a pale-green summer cotton and high-heeled sandals. It felt strange, she thought as she looked in the mirror, to be dressed this way. She looked at the Mao cap she'd worn for so long, and with a smile put it in the new suitcase. She'd give the other clothes away, but she'd never part with the cap.

  After breakfast they found a beauty shop. The technician, a small, birdlike woman, looked in horror at Bethany's hair. She fluttered around Bethany, touched her hair, shook her head, then picked up scissors and comb and went to work, muttering in Chinese all the while. At last, satisfied with her handiwork, she led Bethany to a booth and covered her head with an evil-smelling solution. Thirty minutes later she washed the solution off and turned Bethany toward a mirror.

  The blond was lighter than her natural shade, but it looked a thousand times better than the black dye she'd lived with for the past weeks.

  When Bethany dressed and came out into the waiting room of the salon, Tiger glanced up from the magazine he'd been reading, then continued reading.

  "Tiger?"

  He lowered the magazine again. "My God," he said. "Is it you?"

  Bethany smiled. "How do you like it?"

  "You're... you look wonderful." He lowered his voice. "It's almost as though the other you never existed."

  "The other me existed," Bethany said. "I'll never forget the way it was."

  They arrived in Tsingyun at the end of the week. It was September now and the leaves were beginning to turn. They took a pedicab to his mother's home. She greeted them at the door and led them into the living room.

  "Let us have some tea," Su Ching said, "then you will tell me everything that has happened." She touched Bethany's hand. "You've cut your hair. You're thinner. Are you all right?"

  "Yes, Su Ching, I'm fine." Bethany took the proffered cup of tea and smiled at the older woman. Looking around the room she said, "It's good to be back."

  "I have been frantic with worry. Why didn't you telephone or send a message, Tiger?"

  "We were followed, Mother, almost from the time we left here. I thought it would be safer for you if we did not try to communicate. I'm sorry, I know you were worried." He looked at Bethany and with his gaze on her said to his mother, "When Bethany said she wanted to give the dragon to the Chungtai museum, I knew you would be pleased."

  Su Ching put her teacup on the lacquer table. "It is a beautiful thing you have done, Bethany, and I must confess that I did not expect you to do it. You are not Chinese and you cannot understand our close ties with our ancient culture. We are a superstitious people; some of us believe in our legends."

  "I know." Bethany smiled at Su Ching over her cup of tea. "So do some of us infidels."

  Su Ching chuckled. "You are a remarkable woman, Bethany Adams," she said. "For an infidel."

  Tiger looked from his mother to Bethany, not quite sure he understood this communication that flowed between them. But he was grateful that it was there, and that the two people he loved most in the world had such a strong bond.

  That night, under the apricot tree in his mother's courtyard, Tiger asked Bethany to marry him.

  She looked at him, and for a heart-stopping moment he couldn't breathe. "I love you," he said. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to have children with you."

  Bethany leaned her face against his chest. In this strange and foreign land with a man who was different from any man she'd ever known, she felt very far away from the home she had always known. If she married him her life would never be the same. She would no longer be Bethany Adams from Tiffin, Ohio. She would be Tiger's wife, a part of his world. Such a different world.

  From somewhere out of her past came the words: to lose the earth you know for greater knowing, to lose the life you have for greater living, to leave the friends you loved for greater loving.

  For greater loving. Bethany raised her face and looked into Tiger's green eyes. "Yes," she said. "Yes, my darling, of course I'll marry you."

  When Bethany opened her eyes she thought, today is my wedding day. Today I become Mrs. Tiger Malone.

  She had seen little of Tiger since the night they told his mother they were going to be married. Su Ching had embraced them and then she had banished Tiger from the house.

  "It is not proper for you to be here," she said. "You will stay with Great-Uncle Chan until the day of the ceremony."

  "But Mother," Tiger protested, "Bethany and I only want a small ceremony. We will be married in the registry and—"

  "You will have a proper Chinese wedding," Su Ching said firmly. "All of our relatives will attend so that they may wish you and Bethany well, and weep, and drink great quantities of rice wine at the banquet you will give."

  Tiger groaned. "Mother, please. We—"

  "A Chinese wedding," Su Ching said. "Now pack your things. I will inform Great-Uncle that you are coming to stay with him."

  During the following two weeks Bethany saw Tiger only twice. Both times his mother had been present. She had met dozens of uncles and aunts. This morning three of the female cousins were coming to help her dress.

  Su Ching had helped Bethany select the material for her wedding dress. When Bethany pointed to a lovely white brocade Su Ching looked horrified. "Impossible," she said. "Red is the marriage color."

  It was Bethany's turn to look horrified. "Red?" she'd exploded. "I absolutely will not be married in red."

  They had compromised on pink for the ceremony and red silk for the banquet to follow. The wedding dress, made in the style of a Chinese robe, fell to Bethany's ankles and had a high neck, and wide flowing sleeves. It wasn't her idea of what a wedding dress should be but she knew it was useless to argue with Tiger's mother. Until she was married, Su Ching would tell her what to do and she would do it. She was grateful that Su Ching had permitted Tiger to come for dinner the previous evening.

  He'd been very formal. He'd kissed his mother's cheek, then Bethany's hand, and said, "I look forward to tomorrow with great joy."

  "Just so," Su Ching had replied.

  When they were seated at the dinner table, Tiger had poured rice wine into small porcelain cups. Raising his he'd said, "To the two most beautiful women in China." Then, to Su Ching: "I have something I would like to give Bethany, Mother."

  She nodded. "You have my permission."

  "Thank you." Tiger tried not to smile as he took an ivory box out of his pocket and placed it in Bethany's hand.

  Bethany looked at him, then she opened the box. The jade ring and the matching earrings were set in gold. Bedazzled, she stared at them. She handed the ring to Tiger and in a tremulous voice said, "Will you put it on my finger?"

  He took her hand in his and for a moment it seemed as though the two of them were alone. He kissed her palm, then turning her hand slipped the jade ring on the third finger of her left hand.

  "I love you, Bethany," he said.

  When the meal was over Su Ching had risen and said, "Good night, Tiger. We will see you tomorrow."

  He had looked longingly at Bethany; then, with a sigh, said, "Yes, Mother, tomorrow." Now it was tomorrow.

  The three young co
usins arrived before Bethany finished her tea. They were as bright and cheerful as a flock of magpies. It didn't matter that Bethany didn't understand a word they said, they chattered on, stifling giggles behind lovely white hands. They helped her bathe, washed her hair and rinsed it in perfumed lotus water. When her hair was dry, and after she had applied her makeup, the cousins brushed the short blond hair back from her face and pinned pearls and columbine among the soft curls.

  After they helped her into the dress and slipped pink satin shoes on her feet, they led her to the full-length mirror and stood back, waiting for her reaction.

  Bethany looked at herself for a moment, then she went to each of the cousins and kissed their smooth cheeks.

  It was time.

  Tiger arrived. He wore a red robe and cloak and Bethany thought he looked very foreign and very handsome.

  "You are more beautiful that I ever imagined," he said as he took off his scarlet cloak and placed it over Bethany's shoulders. "I will keep the image of the way you look today forever in my heart."

  Then he bowed to Su Ching. "Great-uncle Chan is waiting in the taxi. Shall we go?"

  The four of them went to the registrar's office for the brief, formal ceremony and the signing of the official papers. From the registry they proceeded by pedicab to a temple where the traditional Chinese ceremony would take place. Just before they stepped from the cab Su Ching fastened a sheer red silk handkerchief over Bethany's face. "This is the tradition," she said.

  Tiger held her hand during the ceremony. He looked into her eyes and spoke to her in Chinese. It didn't matter that Bethany didn't understand the words. She saw the love in Tiger's face and listened with her heart.

  When the ceremony was over Tiger took the veil from Bethany's face. He looked at her with tenderness and love and gently kissed her lips.

  When they returned to his mother's home, Mai Ling brought tea and Tiger said, "We must kneel and serve my mother tea, Bethany. Then she will serve us wine that has been sweetened with honey."

  Bethany knelt beside him. Mai Ling placed a tray before them. Together they filled the cup, gave it to Su Ching, and saw the joy in her heart light up her face. She sipped the tea, then rose, and going to a sideboard filled a golden goblet with wine, and poured honey into another goblet. Then Great-uncle Chan lighted incense and placed two tall red candles on a table. When the candles were lighted Tiger and Bethany knelt again.

  Su Ching took a red ribbon, connected the two goblets and held them out to Bethany and Tiger. "May you always find sweetness in your love," she said.

  Tiger sipped from one cup, Bethany from the other. Then they exchanged cups and drank again.

  When they arose the three cousins came in to take Bethany upstairs. They dressed her in the red gown of happiness, took the columbine and pearls from her hair, and pinned in red carnations.

  They rode to the banquet in red sedan chairs to the accompaniment of musicians. At the banquet they feasted and drank rice wine, and for dessert ate moon cakes and sweet lotus seeds. As soon as they'd finished, although the revelry continued, Tiger took Bethany's hand. With a formal bow he thanked his mother and his relatives. Then, amid giggles and jokes that Bethany didn't understand, he led her out to a waiting sedan chair.

  The night was quiet as he slipped his arm around her waist and drew her close. When they reached his mother's house they went together out into the courtyard. Through the blossoms of the apricot trees Bethany could see the beginning of a new moon. She moved closer to Tiger. "My wife," he said. "My dear wife."

  He kissed her then. And it seemed to Bethany that in the distance she heard the faint and haunting sound of a lute.