The Scarlet Kimono (Choc Lit)

by Christina Courtenay

  She concentrated on the priest’s words, just to have something to do. When it came to the part where she had to speak her vows, she shook her head and remained silent, her mouth firmly shut. The priest sent Jacob a bewildered glance, but was urged to continue.

  ‘She said yes,’ Jacob growled.

  ‘I did not,’ Hannah stated clearly, but Jacob ignored her.

  ‘Just get on with the rest of it,’ he ordered the priest, and the little man complied, looking as if he couldn’t wait to get away.

  ‘In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti. Amen.’ The Dutchman pronounced them man and wife and Hannah glared at him. She must have looked fierce because he took a step backwards, his eyes opening wide.

  I am not Rydon’s wife, she thought mulishly, no matter what they say. I didn’t promise anything. As God is my witness, I wasn’t married today. She also refused to sign the formal certificate, hastily written out by the priest to record the marriage. Jacob made a cross on her behalf. Hannah turned away after sending him a scornful glance.

  As soon as the ceremony was over, Rydon took her back to the house and marched her to his room.

  ‘Well, I hope you’re happy now,’ he groused. ‘I can’t believe you duped me to that extent. Two years. Two years! Right under my very nose.’ He paced in front of her. ‘You’ve made a complete fool of me, you stupid child.’

  ‘I’m not a child.’ Hannah clenched her hands inside the sleeves of her kimono. ‘I’m nineteen now.’

  ‘Huh! Wouldn’t know it to look at you. No wonder I thought you a boy. Have you no shame? Parading yourself in front of my men dressed in breeches, day in and day out. Why didn’t you say something?’

  ‘You didn’t give me a chance at first and later – well, things had already gone too far.’

  ‘Nonsense. All you had to do was speak up.’

  ‘Like you did this morning? Why didn’t you just refuse to marry me? You’re a man, you have a choice.’

  ‘I have my honour to think of too,’ he said, his voice huffy. ‘Besides, I was doing you a favour. If I hadn’t married you, your brother would have leg-shackled you to Mr Jones. He’s next after me in rank and since I know he’s not averse to young girls, I doubt he’d have said no.’

  Hannah stared at him, appalled to think her brother could have even contemplated such a thing. Rydon was right, he had acted honourably, if a trifle late, and she should be grateful she supposed. Suddenly all the fight went out of her and she sank onto a cushion. What a mess!

  ‘Is there really any point discussing this?’ Hannah sighed. ‘We’re apparently married now, so perhaps we should just make the best of it? Unless you’d like to grant me an annulment?’

  ‘I wish! Your brother would have my innards for breakfast,’ he grumbled, but her words must have had some effect, because he calmed down slightly and sat down as well. Soon after, a knock on the door heralded the arrival of some food, artfully arranged on lacquer trays.

  ‘Thank you,’ Hannah said, while Rydon remained silent.

  They ate in silence, although neither had much of an appetite, and then he stood up and headed for the door. ‘I have business to see to,’ he told her. ‘Stay in the house until my return, please.’

  ‘How long will you be?’

  ‘I have no idea and it doesn’t concern you.’

  Time passed slowly, and Hannah became very bored. She wandered through the house, but it seemed to be deserted. No doubt everyone had been told to leave the newly married couple alone, although Hannah didn’t want to think about the implications of that. She wondered whether she would still be allowed to spend her time with Hoji now, but doubted it. Rydon probably wouldn’t consider it proper for her to be friends with a man who wasn’t her husband. It was ridiculous, of course, but that was how he would see it, she was sure. Perhaps it would be all right as long as Sakura was present though. After all, Hannah had to run the household now.

  Time continued to crawl by and when Rydon didn’t return Hannah tried to occupy herself. She found a tattered copy of the Bible among Rydon’s possessions and sat down to read. There was nothing else to do, and it had been so long since she had read anything, she enjoyed every word.

  Daylight faded and Hannah’s eyelids began to droop. She had slept very little the night before and the insomnia was now taking its toll. Rydon was obviously not coming back any time soon, so she decided to rest a while before he did. She knew she would be expected to share Rydon’s bed that night, and decided she might as well lie down there to wait.

  His futon looked inviting, but when she lay down gingerly on top of the cover, the stale odour of sweat assailed her. Rydon obviously still hadn’t adopted Japanese bathing habits and Hannah wrinkled her nose. The smell bothered her at first, but not for long. She was simply too tired to care.

  ‘My wife are you? We’ll just have to see about that.’

  The slurred words and someone pulling roughly at her hair woke Hannah. She struggled to sit up, but was pushed back down by a large hand. Her mind registered the fact that her new husband had returned. ‘Rydon? What’s the matter?’

  ‘Don’t call me that. My name’s Rafael as I’m sure you know. Or you can always address me as “husband” I s’pose.’

  Her heart began to beat an anxious tattoo as she realised what he was after. Her fears proved correct, when, instead of replying, he yanked her kimono up before she could protest and ran a hand up her thigh, pinching painfully. ‘No, Rafael, wait!’

  He ignored her words and just carried on. Images of that other time with Mr Hesketh surfaced in her mind and she tried to push Rydon away. It was as if the scene was being replayed, only worse, and the fear she had felt on the previous occasion was multiplied tenfold because this time it was dark and there was no chance anyone would come to her rescue.

  ‘Think you can cozen me, eh?’ She could smell the sour stench of wine on his breath, and knew he must be drunk. It made her even more afraid. She was well aware that men in that state were never rational.

  ‘I never intended to, I swear.’

  ‘Be silent and do your wifely duty.’

  She was pushed down again into the bed sheets, and began to struggle in earnest. ‘No, stop! You can’t just –’

  ‘I can do what I damn well please. Surely I should have some compensation for this miserable bargain? I need a woman and I don’t want a heathen one. You’ll have to do.’

  ‘Rafael, no, please don’t. Not like this.’ She could almost taste the fear in her mouth. This wasn’t at all how she had imagined her wedding night. It was a far cry from all her romantic notions, silly though they may be, and the man beside her was definitely the wrong one.

  ‘Be silent, I say. Don’t want to wake the whole neighbourhood.’

  The belt of her kimono was suddenly ripped apart and the garment pushed aside. She heard him swear most foully. Although she was used to the rough language of the sailors by now, she had never thought to hear such words in relation to herself. It shocked her to the core. ‘Not quite the woman your sister is, hmm?’ he grumbled, putting his palm on one of her small breasts and kneading it painfully, just like Mr Hesketh had done. Hannah thought she might be physically sick. ‘Just my luck, I end up with the runt of the litter,’ Rydon muttered.

  A red mist of fury rose up in front of Hannah’s eyes and replaced some of her terror. How dare he insult her, on top of everything else? It was just too much. Feeling angrier than she ever had before in her life, she threw a wild punch which connected with the side of his head. ‘Get off me, you goatish, rutting whoreson! Leave me be, I tell you.’

  He swore again and continued his assault. Hannah screamed for help, but she knew deep down that no one would come.

  She was alone.

  Although she fought him all the way, a part of her was sure that it was inevitable he should win in the end. His superior strength, combined with his anger at being forced into this marriage, made him hell-bent on taking what was his. Nothing she said or did
seemed to stop him. Despite this, she refused to give in without a fight, and so she tried hitting him, kicking, scratching and even sank her teeth into him several times, but he continued relentlessly.

  The fact that her struggles seemed to inflame him further finally penetrated her paralysed brain. She came to the conclusion her efforts were to no avail, and she willed her body to lie still so he would hurry up and get it over with. How Kate could have wanted him to do this to her voluntarily was beyond her comprehension. It was vile.

  She stretched out a hand, trying to find something to hold on to which might give her the strength to endure this ordeal. Instead, her fingers touched something unexpected inside the bundle of sheets. Fumbling slightly, she managed to extract the item, and to her utter joy and amazement, it was a pistol. She pulled it slowly towards her, making sure it was still covered by a corner of the sheet, and hoped Rydon wouldn’t notice. She needn’t have worried, he was busy undoing his breeches and muttering to himself.

  ‘It’s your duty … will come to appreciate that … why I should suffer for your folly, heaven knows …’

  Hannah ignored him while her mind worked furiously. What should she do with the pistol? She couldn’t just shoot him, unless she wanted to be hanged for murder. That would accomplish nothing, but if she threatened him with it, would he take her seriously? There was an additional problem – the room was mostly in darkness, apart from one small lantern which didn’t give off much light. She couldn’t see well enough to determine whether the firearm was loaded or not. If it wasn’t, no doubt Rydon would know that, and therefore it would be no use for her to threaten him with it. She decided her only recourse was to use it in a different way.

  Just as he had finished unbuttoning his breeches at last, Hannah grabbed the pistol by its barrel in a firm grip and clouted Rydon as hard as she could just above his left ear with the firearm’s wooden handle. There was a muffled thud as it connected with his skull, but he didn’t make any other sound. He just crumpled into a heap on top of her, dead to the world.

  Hannah lay staring into the dark for a moment, her chest heaving with emotion and suppressed shock. Eventually she managed to push him aside and crawl off the futon. Shaking, she sat at the edge, still holding the pistol in a death grip, and tried to calm down. She swallowed hard to get rid of the nausea which rose in her throat. It had been a close call, too close.

  She glanced over her shoulder to make sure Rydon was well and truly unconscious, then gritted her teeth and made a vow. ‘This will never happen again, so help me God.’

  She’d had a very lucky escape, but she knew it would be only a question of time before he tried again, and somehow she had to stop him.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Hannah woke Rydon very early the next morning by throwing a jug of water into his face. He sat up and let out an angry shriek, while blinking the water out of his eyes. As if he was under attack and preparing to do battle, he groped among the sheets, presumably for his sword and firearms, but they weren’t in their usual place. Hannah had taken the precaution of removing them all. He swung his legs off the futon onto the tatami floor and stopped short, his jaw dropping.

  Hannah was kneeling in front of him a few yards away. She raised her chin with determination and pointed his own pistol at him. ‘Don’t move,’ she warned. ‘I won’t hesitate to use it.’

  Rydon frowned at the weapon as if he was trying to remember whether it was loaded or not. It was. Hannah had checked as soon as daylight arrived. She was no expert, but with two brothers, she knew that much.

  ‘What the devil’s the meaning of this?’ he tried to bluster. ‘You have no right to –’

  ‘You whoreson,’ she hissed, interrupting him. ‘I don’t care what Jacob says. I am not your wife, even after that ridiculous ceremony, and you are never doing that to me ever again, do you hear?’ She waved the pistol in the direction of the bed, and Rydon frowned. He obviously didn’t remember much from the previous night, but she knew he’d understand what she meant. Just to make sure he didn’t miss her point, she pulled up a sleeve to show him the bruises he’d inflicted. His eyes opened wider when he realised they were his doing.

  ‘Hannah, I apologise, it wasn’t meant to be like that,’ he began. ‘That infernal sake does strange things to a man.’

  ‘It makes no difference to me how it was meant to be. It won’t be happening again, I tell you.’ Hannah pushed a sheet of paper towards him and a quill and ink. ‘Now you’re going to sign this letter which states that you swear on your honour our marriage was not consummated and that you will be seeking an annulment the moment we set foot in England again. Then I’m going back to my own room and if you so much as come anywhere near me, I’ll shoot you, understand?’

  ‘We didn’t …?’

  ‘No, we didn’t. You passed out.’

  Rydon looked bewildered for a moment and put up his hands to hold onto his head, as if that could cure the headache he was no doubt suffering from. ‘What’s this lump?’ he muttered.

  ‘I think you bumped into the doorframe on your way in,’ Hannah lied. No need to tell him she’d hit him with the pistol.

  He closed his eyes and frowned, but just when Hannah was about to snap and shout at him again, he opened them and glared at her. ‘Fine, fine. I’ll sign,’ he muttered. ‘It’s not as if I want to be married to you anyway. Jacob can’t say I didn’t try.’ He pulled the piece of paper towards him and scratched down a signature. ‘There, it’s done.’

  ‘Thank you. I will hold you to this, remember that.’

  As she left the room, clutching the precious document, Hannah heard Rydon swearing to himself. ‘Damn her! Damn all women to hell!’

  But she didn’t care what he thought. He was nothing to her.

  Hannah knew Rydon and Jacob had been waiting for weeks to hear from the Englishman, Will Adams, and they’d become increasingly agitated as they were left to kick their heels while there was no sign of a messenger. Since the East India Company’s representatives had already received their grant of privileges from the Japanese ruler, Adams was their only hope.

  ‘At least he should be able to help us obtain a decent cargo, or so I’ve been told,’ Jacob had said. ‘That would mean the voyage wasn’t entirely in vain.’

  ‘Let’s hope you’re right,’ was Rydon’s reply, ‘though I wouldn’t bet on it.’

  A few days after the marriage debacle, Rydon walked into Hannah’s room without knocking, waving a piece of paper. She groped for the pistol which she kept nearby at all times and debated whether she should make an issue out of it. Then she noticed his preoccupation and realised he hadn’t done it on purpose. His thoughts seemed wholly concentrated on the news he brought.

  ‘At last we have a reply. We’ve been given permission to travel to some place called Edo to see Will Adams and he’s willing to intercede for us with the ruler of Japan. He’s even sent a small escort.’

  ‘Isn’t that good?’ Rydon wasn’t looking very pleased and this puzzled Hannah.

  ‘Yes. Although I had hoped Mr Adams would come here. I’d rather not travel so far in a country full of barbarians. Besides …’ He frowned.

  ‘Besides what?’

  ‘Well, I don’t trust them. I’ve been speaking to some of the Dutch merchants, and they tell me foreigners are very seldom allowed outside this port. I sense trickery, perhaps even a trap.’

  ‘Have you asked Hoji-san? Maybe he can find out the truth of the matter.’

  Rydon scoffed. ‘He says everything is in order and the travel passes are valid, but then he would say that, wouldn’t he? He is, after all, one of them.’

  ‘Yes, but he’s sworn to protect you. He owes you his life, remember?’

  ‘And you think I trust the word of a heathen? Honestly, I know you have a partiality for him,’ Rydon sneered, ‘but don’t let it blind you to his true nature. He is, and will always remain, a barbarian and they stick with their own kind. This time, however, he shall be hoist with his
own petard if he tries anything. I’m taking him with me as a translator and I’ll keep a close eye on him, never fear.’

  ‘You’re taking him away?’ Hannah grew cold. She had become so used to Hoji’s protection that the thought of being without him now was almost painful. He was the only person she could trust at the moment. It was scant consolation that the one she most needed protection from, namely Rydon, was also leaving.

  He nodded. ‘Of course. How else am I to communicate with anyone other than Adams? I don’t understand a word of their prattle.’

  ‘Perhaps I could help? I speak their language quite well now. If I could come with you too –’

  ‘That’s out of the question. You must stay in this house where you’ll be safe. Women know their place here, haven’t you noticed?’

  Hannah ignored the jibe and refrained from pointing out it was his own and Jacob’s treatment of her that had caused her disobedience. Arguing with him was pointless and would only make him angrier, she was sure. Instead she folded her hands in her lap and looked down, as she had seen the Japanese women do. ‘How long will you be away?’ she asked.

  He shrugged. ‘Weeks, months, how should I know? This god-forsaken country probably hasn’t got a decent road anywhere.’

  Hannah decided to ask Hoji instead, since he was bound to know more than the blinkered Rydon ever would.

  ‘Impossible to tell,’ was Hoji’s disappointing answer. ‘The roads are good, but it will all depend on how long any business transactions take. Also whether they need the Shogun’s permission. That could take weeks, maybe longer.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m sorry, but please don’t worry. I will engage trustworthy servants and guards to look after you. You had better not roam too far from here though. I can’t guarantee your safety other than in this house.’

  Hannah sighed. It would seem she had no choice but to remain. ‘Very well then. I wish you a good journey and will pray for your safe return.’