Blossom (The Blossom Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  “I want to show you something, Blossom. Chinatown isn’t what I expected it to be, or at least it didn’t live up to its reputation.”

  Blossom jumped into the conversation, “You clearly haven’t seen the darker parts of town.”

  “Anyway,” said Brock, “it’s different from other parts of the city, but not necessarily in a bad way. You can find kindness and cruelty in any neighborhood. That’s what I want to show you.”

  “You want to show me some kindness and cruelty?”

  “Yes, and here it is.”

  The carriage stopped in front of a home of palatial proportions.

  “A museum?”

  “No, that’s my family’s house. This is Nob Hill.”

  Blossom quickly estimated that fifty Chinese families could live in that one building alone.

  “I want you to see—”

  “Brock, giddy-up those horses and get us out of here! Someone’s sure to see us!” said Blossom as she quickly rummaged through her handbag and produced a fan. She unfolded it in an attempt to mask her face.

  “I don’t care.”

  “Well you ought to. The windows in Chinatown have eyes, and I believe the same is true here,” said Blossom as she studied her surroundings from over the black fan with cherry blossoms painted on it. She’d had the fan since childhood. It was a gift from Grand Ma Maw and it had her name spelled out in white Chinese characters. While she knew it was unnecessarily risky to be here, it was unavoidable not to gawk at this place.

  “How many people in your family live here?”

  “Um, the three of us and the help.”

  “You have half a city block for just three people? It’s hard to believe!”

  “Believe it. It’s all I’ve ever known, and I wanted you to see it so that you have a clear picture of who I am and where I come from.”

  The playing field was leveled now. Each had been exposed to the other’s world, only separated by a handful of street names on a city map.

  “Do you know how lucky you are?” asked Blossom.

  “Yes, I met you on Saturday and today you’re in my carriage. How could I be any luckier?”

  “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

  “Yes, I know that I’ve lived what most people consider a charmed life. Now let me charm you!”

  He signaled to the horses to get moving. They were off at a full gallop in no time, with the carriage surging back and forth randomly until its movement synchronized with the horses.

  Blossom held onto Brock’s arm tightly. This is nice, she thought. She took in the sights as each mansion appeared grander than the next. He pointed out the homes of the Crockers, the Stanfords and the Huntingtons.

  “If you think these houses are amazing, you should see the one that’s being built for Clarissa and me. And it’s just for two people! It’s complete insanity. I’m beginning to think that I’d rather live up at my ranch,” said Brock. He looked forward at nothing in particular. “But that’s never going to happen.”

  Before long, the houses grew smaller and then nonexistent as they left the city. Blossom firmly held the package on her lap. As she looked down at it repeatedly, Brock had to ask, “So what’s in there?”

  “I suspect you haven’t had to want or wait for much in your lifetime. Where I come from, it’s not only good to want and wait, it’s unavoidable. It makes you appreciate what you get when you get it. Oh, that sounded high and mighty of me, didn’t it? That’s not what I meant to say. Well, it is what I meant to say, but not the way I meant to say it.” She paused. “I’m babbling. My father would have shushed me long ago.”

  “I’m not your father, and I want to hear everything that you want to say to me,” Brock said as he focused on the curving, winding rutted road that led to his dairy and stables. He made a clicking sound with his mouth and the horses knew to pull harder and move faster.

  “Well, here’s something you may or may not want to hear me say,” Blossom announced, intriguing Brock with such a set up.

  “All of my life I’ve been taught what to think and believe about being Chinese, being respectful and being obedient. I’ve been fine with most of it, but being obedient…I’ve never been too good at that. You know what I mean?”

  “Yes.”

  Blossom went on, “One…single…solitary…day in the bakery can stretch on for what seems like a month. Don’t misunderstand me. I love my family and our business. But time practically stands still there. And I don’t sit or stand still for long. It’s not in me.”

  She stopped and realized that she was speaking much too openly and freely.

  “Now that was babbling. Why didn’t you stop me?”

  Brock looked at Blossom the way he did the first time they met, intimately and deeply. “You’re so different.”

  “Different from the girls on Nob Hill?”

  “Different from anyone I’ve met. I mean that in a good way, in a very good way.”

  It was getting breezier as they reached the stable on the hill. A gust of wind pushed and pulled the carriage canopy. They both felt it and braced themselves.

  Brock handed the reins to a grizzly looking old man named Gubbs, a hired hand who came with the ranch and stable when Brock’s father bought the place for his son. Trying to study him without getting caught, Blossom noted that Gubbs had a face that was marinated by life.

  “It’s time for your surprise,” said Blossom as she lifted the package and the carriage was parked near the tree they’d kissed under yesterday. In a flash, Blossom replayed that moment in her mind and smiled.

  “I’m glad that you’re happy to be here,” said Brock as he helped her out of the carriage.

  “What makes you think I’m happy?”

  “The smile on your face was my biggest clue.”

  Blossom looked down at the ground.

  “Yes,” she recovered, saying, “I could get used to the animal smells at some point, but the view—and you—make me happy right now. Thank you for bringing me here again. I can see why you want to live here. Is it safe that your stable man knows we’re here?”

  “Oh, sure, Gubbs talks to the animals more than to people, I think,” said Brock reassuringly. “The other men who work here don’t really notice when I’m here or not, or who my guests are.”

  She handed him the package.

  “This is for you. I hope that you like it.”

  He knelt down, setting it on the ground. Blossom studied how Brock’s hair was streaked with sunlight as he gently unwrapped the package. A ball of string rolled out in one direction as the wind picked up and stole the rest of the package’s contents.

  “Quick, a thief has stolen my gift!” announced Brock with a playful sense of urgency.

  “That’s a good thing. We need the wind to take this gift. It’s a dragon kite. I’ll put it together.”

  Blossom unfolded a sheet of paper that had a diagram of how to assemble the kite. She organized the rows of circular hoops wrapped with bright tissue paper stretched across, arranged like a centipede with an outrageous dragon face on the front disc. Soon she was ready to help Brock launch it into the blue sky.

  “Here, you hold the string and run when I tell you to. I’ll be over here holding the kite.”

  “Blossom, I was a boy once. I know how to fly a kite.”

  “Not one like this!” replied Blossom. “But first, I have to take my shoes off.”

  “Your shoes off?” asked Brock.

  “You might as well know now. I like to be barefooted or in socks. Shoes are too restrictive,” she said. “Take yours off too and see for yourself.”

  Blossom looked at him in a playful way.

  He hesitated. As he began to remove his boots and socks, Blossom watched. When he was finally finished, she found that she had to hold back her first reaction.

  “How did that happen?” she asked, pointing to his feet and putting her hand softly on Brock’s arm.

  “It was years ago, when Austin and I were li
ttle boys. We were playing cowboys and Indians in the cellar under our house. I was the cowboy and I let him tie me up to a wooden support beam. We were going to pretend that he was going to burn me at the stake. What I didn’t know is that someone had taught him to tie really good knots and how to set a fire. And he did both!”

  “He set you on fire?” she asked sounding outraged.

  “We were playing. He put newspaper and pieces of wood around my feet and lit it. Once it started, he ran away thinking he’d be in trouble and—”

  “He ran away?”

  “Yes, but luckily Clementine was in the kitchen and smelled the smoke. She came running down and saved me, but not before the skin on my ankles and calves was burned. I had to be in bed for weeks. She said she hadn’t seen flames like that since she was a little girl…when she watched the Yankees burn down Atlanta near the end of the war. Ever since then, I’ve done my best to stay away from fire.”

  He stopped talking.

  “Brock, we all have scars,” assured Blossom. “Yours show.”

  “Thanks.” He stopped talking again. His eyes opened abruptly.

  “But Clementine made me fried chicken and biscuits…and red velvet cake…every night for my dinner for a long, long time!”

  Blossom smiled back at Brock. “That’s why you liked our picnic lunch so much.”

  “No, I liked it so much because I was sharing it with you.”

  Brock’s comment embarrassed Blossom, but pleased her too.

  “So let’s get this dragon into the air!” she announced as she ran a good distance away, holding the kite.

  She instantly let go and laughed loudly as Brock wrangled and wrestled with the unleashed dragon. It was a racing blur of crimson and gold with black eyes. It felt alive in Brock’s hands, fighting, swirling, pulling and yanking wildly.

  “You’re right. I’ve never flown a kite quite like this one. You can stop laughing now and help me get a grip on it,” said Brock.

  Blossom moved close behind Brock, in the way someone lovingly teaches an inexperienced person how to swing a golf club or tennis racket. But this closeness served another purpose as well.

  Her hand guided his to calm the unruly dragon.

  “Thank you. I haven’t done this in years.”

  “You are most welcome.” I’ll never forget this moment, no matter what happens next, she thought.

  They stood united on the crest of Twin Peaks, the wind tugging at their clothes and swirling their hair. The sky was unusually clear. The sun warmed them as they looked beyond the kite over the sparkling bay and the endless blue sky.

  Blossom knew that he now also had a tight grip on her heart, and she didn’t want him to let go.

  He turned to look at her. A gust completely took hold of her hair, making it fly in all directions. Brock studied her and then stared deeply into her eyes. Just as he’d done in front of the Tie Yick General Store, Brock asked Blossom to stand silently. He slowly looked to the ground and closed his eyes. After a long pause, he announced, “Okay, I’ve got it!” to let her know that he’d captured the vision of her. He slowly opened his eyes.

  “Brock, look up…not at me!”

  “No, I’d rather let go of this kite—of everything—and just be with you.” He held up the ball of string and deliberately dropped it. The dragon took off. Neither immediately reached to grasp the escaping string.

  Blossom, however, knowing how hard she’d worked for the money that bought the kite and ball of string, broke away to run and firmly plant her foot on the string. He followed.

  They embraced as if nature’s forces pulled them together. Brock’s lips forcefully parted Blossom’s. He nibbled softly on her upper lip. Blossom inhaled irregularly and then calmed down. She slowly slid her hand down Brock’s back, over his hips, and she crouched down in a slow swooping motion that surprised and intrigued Brock. She burst out in laughter as her hand scooped up the ball of string.

  “Let’s fly this kite right.”

  “I’d rather continue what we’ve started,” said Brock.

  “So would I, and that’s why we need to fly this kite.”

  Chapter 24

  Irreplaceable

  Monday, April 16, 1906, 4:58 p.m.

  Two days before the earthquake and firestorm

  “Where Blossom?” asked Grand Ma Maw. The urgency was apparent in her tone. “It one thing to storm out of here. It entirely another to not help in restaurant tonight.”

  “Yes, my honored mother, she know her obligations. I believe she return soon. Can I help?” asked Chang.

  Grand Ma Maw grunted in frustration. “Unless you can wear women’s clothes, carry heavy trays and smile entire time to dining room packed with hungry people, you cannot replace your daughter.”

  The reflective blue mood Grand Ma Maw was in a few hours ago passed. She was clearly back to her feisty ways again.

  “People waiting to be seated. At least do your job before asking if there anything else you can do! Now go tend to them while I see if I can get someone to fill in for Blossom tonight.”

  Grand Ma Maw reached for the telephone receiver, but looked at the door. No one ever replace my Blossom.

  Chapter 25

  The Last Place On Earth

  Monday, April 16, 1906, 5:02 p.m.

  Two days before the earthquake and firestorm

  “Brock, can we go any faster? The dinner rush already started without me.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” replied Brock as he snapped the reins, giving a hurry-up signal to the horses.

  “Aren’t these the houses we saw going up to Twin Peaks?” Blossom put her hand on Brock’s thigh. “Do we even dare use this street twice in one day, with me in plain view?”

  “Sure.”

  Blossom continued, “Speaking of dares, I need to tell you something…to confess something. I—”

  The horses suddenly got spooked and Brock’s full attention diverted to them and away from Blossom. “Whoa. Whoa,” he said.

  Brock turned the carriage to the right. “We’ll take a different way.”

  “See that yellow one on the left with the scaffolding in the front? It’s the new house I told you about, the one that’s being built for Clarissa and me.”

  “It looks very nice,” said Blossom, immediately feeling left out of Brock’s future life. “So getting back to what I want to tell you, Brock, I…uh, who’s coming out of the front door?”

  The wheel of fortune suddenly stopped spinning in Brock’s favor. Clarissa and Faye stepped out from under the scaffolding.

  ***

  “Isn’t that Brock’s carriage coming this way? I thought you said he didn’t take much interest in the new house,” said Faye to Clarissa.

  “Why, who is that Chinese-looking girl with him? Oh, just one of his family’s maids, I guess. Such generosity and attention his family gives their servants, sightseeing trips around Nob Hill no less,” Faye chattered on. She delighted in the clandestine moment that fate laid comfortably in her lap. Now things are really going to get interesting, thought Faye.

  “Brock, honey, is that you?” asked Clarissa with a tentative wave of her hand.

  Blossom quickly reached into her handbag to retrieve the fan from Grand Ma Maw. She opened it and shielded her face.

  “Sweetheart,” he said as he turned his head. “And Faye, how wonderful to find you here too.”

  Faye wasted no time. “Are you going to introduce us to your passenger?”

  “Yes, of course. This is Blossom,” he said. There was a long break before he continued. “Her brother works at the stables and I offered to take her home to Chinatown so he could finish his work and she could start hers … yes, um, waiting tables in a restaurant.”

  “Your stable boy’s sister, you say?” asked Faye, hoping for another verbal stumble. With the assistance of Faye’s almost photographic memory, she knew this was the same girl she’d seen Brock with in Chinatown. Now this girl has a name: Blossom.

  �
�That’s right,” he responded and refocused his attention on Clarissa. “How’s the progress on the house?”

  Blossom kept her head in a demure and downward position. She fanned herself briskly to cool the heat that was stinging and staining her cheeks.

  Brock made small talk with Clarissa about the work crew’s progress. Faye nodded from time to time to appear engaged in the conversation, but she never took her eyes off of Blossom. Faye’s action bordered on rudeness for someone who should know better.

  “Can we offer you ladies a ride home?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Faye fired back. Her eyes shifted squarely on Brock, which was a relief for Blossom. “I won’t be caught dead behind horses these days! I only ride in automobiles now. They smell too, but not of manure.”

  “Thank you, but we have a driver coming to fetch us any minute now,” Clarissa responded.

  Faye scrunched-up her face and wrinkled her nose. “Besides, we wouldn’t want to delay Blossom from getting to her job waiting on tables, now would we? Just think of all the hungry Chinese men down in that part of the city. They must be waiting, simply desperate for the kind of service she provides!”

  While I’ve been told that I can be a one-note shrill of criticism, Mr. Brock St. Clair, I also can be a dreadful symphony of sarcasm, anger and jealousy. This just gets better and better. And I don’t even need to lift a finger!

  “That’s very considerate of you, Faye,” replied Brock.

  “By the way, I hope that the bachelor party Austin is hosting for you is something you’ll always remember. Where is it being held? I thought I heard it’s going to be at Prickly Pete’s,” announced Faye in a more-than-sufficiently loud voice considering the decorum of the neighborhood.

  “Yes, Prickly Pete’s it is.” Brock flicked the reins. “Ladies,” he announced with a nod of his head and a tip of his hat, “have a safe journey home in your automobile, even if it’s just around the corner.”

  ***

  “I am so sorry,” said Brock in a hushed voice. “I didn’t know what to say or do. Understand?”