Fortune Is a Woman - Elizabeth Adler [82]
Lai Tsin replied patiently, “You do not understand. The girl is not my concubine. She is young, like a child. Even though she had deep troubles and sorrows of her own, she helped me. She brought me good fortune and it is my duty to help her.”
“It is never the duty of a Chinese to aid gwailo women.” The old man spoke sharply and Lai Tsin sighed. It was not going to be easy to convince him to do as he asked.
He nodded. “That is true, Honorable Grandfather. But is it not also true that we are bound to repay those who have showered us with blessings? And what I ask is very small. Just your help in locating a man.” Keeping his voice low and his tone reasonable he pleaded his case for half an hour until the old man grudgingly agreed. “You are a good man, Lai Tsin,” he said finally. “Your sinful association with the girl is talked of everywhere, but the way you explain it she is innocent. I will do as you ask. Come here tomorrow evening at seven and you will have your answer.”
The Elder knew everyone, he had a finger in every pie in Chinatown and Lai Tsin knew he would be as good as his word. He hurried back home, satisfied. Even though it was dawn again and he had had no sleep he was filled with energy and his step was light as he ran back up the stairs. Annie was waiting for him.
“She’s just lying there, gazing into space,” she told him worriedly. “And she’s cold even though I’ve wrapped her in all the padded quilts.”
He went to look at her. He called her name and took her hand, but she did not respond and he was worried because he knew she was in deep shock. “I will fetch the healer,” he said, hurrying away.
He returned fifteen minutes later accompanied by a broad-browed Chinese man carrying a black bag. As Annie watched in amazement, instead of listening to her heart and taking Francie’s temperature, the Chinese doctor tested all the pulse points for their twenty-eight different qualities, and from this he made his diagnosis.
“She is in a state of shock,” he confirmed, writing a prescription for Lai Tsin to take to the medicine shop. “She must drink this potion three times each day. She must be kept warm and fed only on boiled ricewater for two whole days. I can do nothing for the fear in her head, but this will be effective in curing her body.” He looked angrily at Lai Tsin and said something in Chinese and Lai Tsin shrugged.
“What was he so angry about?” Annie demanded, after he had gone.
He met her eyes, he knew he must tell her now because he was afraid. Francie might do something foolish. “He told me what I already knew. That Francie is going to have a child. He was angry because he thought that I was the father, and he disapproved.”
Annie stared blankly at him, her heart filled with pity as she thought of Francie worrying about her secret all alone. Realization slowly dawned on her and she said, “The child will be Josh’s.”
“That is so. I saw how she tried to hide it. I waited for her to speak because I did not want her to lose face. But now I am afraid for her. She may do something very foolish. She will need your help, Annie. You must take her away from here, take her away from Chinatown, from San Francisco, from everything she knows and those who know her and seek to do her harm.”
Annie looked at him bewildered, the news about the baby had driven everything else out of her head but now she remembered Sammy. She stared, shocked, at the mask Lai Tsin showed her and she nodded as he repeated the description the barman had given him. “That’ll be Sammy all right,” she said bitterly. “How could he do such a thing? He must be insane.”
“He is insane with jealousy. His love for your brother is mixed up with his hatred for women. It is not uncommon for a man to love another man, but it does not usually lead to such violence.”
Annie blushed, he was talking about things she had barely heard of except in the Bible. “But