Golden Lies - Barbara Freethy [60]
"You come anyway. I invite you," Lee said firmly. "She do what I say. She's my wife."
"I can't come without my mother."
"Jasmine lay in the bed of her making. Not you. You come."
"I'll think about it." She paused. "Do you remember Ma telling you of her dreams about a dragon?"
He frowned. "She dream too much. She must stop."
"Ma thinks she saw a dragon just like the one in her dreams."
"She always see dragons. She imagine it."
"A man," she said, deliberately not calling David Hathaway her father, "brought her a dragon statue the other day. She said it looked exactly like the one in her dreams. But that man was robbed, and the dragon was stolen." Alyssa watched her grandfather's face for a reaction but saw nothing in his eyes. He might be the friendliest of her relatives, but he had the same unreadable expression as the rest of the Chens. "Did you hear of a robbery in Salmon Alley on Wednesday night?" she added.
"I hear many things, some lies, some truths. Who knows which is which?" he said with a shrug.
"The man who was robbed was David Hathaway. I don't suppose you know who he is?"
"I must go. It is my turn to play. You be a good girl, Alyssa, go home, go to work. Make good life for yourself. Forget about dragons."
Her grandfather was gone before she could say another word. He knew who David Hathaway was; that much she was sure. Although that wasn't completely surprising. The Hathaways were a famous San Francisco family. Did her grandfather know that David Hathaway was also her father?
With a sigh, she walked out of the square. She was tempted to end her quest and go home, but Paige's reminder that her mother might be connected to their father's attack worried her. She couldn't let her mother get into any more trouble than she was already in. The Hathaways had a lot of money. They could make things happen. She hadn't needed Paige to tell her that. It was strange to think she had a sister now— a half sister, but still a sibling. She'd been an only child forever.
Paige was beautiful—blond, sophisticated, smart. She'd never had to struggle, never worried about her family name or lack thereof, never wondered where she came from, who her parents were. It wasn't fair, and Alyssa was jealous. Not really of the money, although it would have been nice to grow up rich. No, what she really hated was that Paige had grown up with two parents who loved her, two parents who could probably trace their family tree back to the Mayflower. Paige had never had to be half of anything.
Not that it was Paige's fault. She wasn't responsible for the situation any more than Alyssa was. In a way, Alyssa was surprised that Paige had been friendly. She wondered if she would have felt the same way if the situation was reversed. Well, she'd have to deal with Paige later. Right now she had to speak to her grandmother, and that would require all of her attention, strength, and courage.
Squaring her shoulders, she headed down the street and opened the door to the family herb shop. The smells of ginseng root and honeysuckle made her want to breathe deeply, to inhale the peace and calm that filled the shop. Despite her often anti-Chinese stance, she secretly loved the herb shop: the floor-to-ceiling mahogany cabinets filled with hundreds of long, narrow drawers where the various herbs were stored; the soft flute music that played in the background; the rows of books on Oriental medicine, self-healing, meditation; the candles that burned brightly along the counter no matter what the time of day.
Her cousin Ona, who at thirty-five was the oldest of the cousins and a favorite of their grandmother's, was helping a customer complete a purchase. She smiled at Alyssa and said she'd be just a moment.
"Is Grandmother here?" Alyssa asked deliberately using the word grandmother. While the other grandchildren affectionately