Grave Phantoms (Roaring Twenties #3)(34)

He licked his lips. “What would I do for money? And I don’t think she’d want to live in my old apartment in Chinatown. This girl likes the finer things in life.”

“She’s not the only one,” she said, slanting him a critical look. “And the two of you could temporarily live with her nicer brother on Telegraph Hill.”

“You’re assuming he wouldn’t stand behind his older brother’s wishes. And even if he took them in, that might risk dividing the entire family, and this family has already been through a lot of tragedy. I am certainly not worth the injury this could cause.”

“You should let her be the judge of worth,” Astrid said, brow lowering.

“It’s not the only complication, I’m afraid.” He continued stroking her arm; touching her was like the patter of rain above them, seductive and relaxing. As long as he could continue touching her, their Pretend Conversation would continue. “Even if the family could be mended, there are other things dividing them. She is high class, and I am low. She is college educated, and my uncle forced me to drop out of school when I was thirteen so that I could earn him money by robbing people—”

“Lazy bastard.”

“—but most of all, she is a privileged white woman. I am Chinese.”

She leaned closer. “I’ve heard from a reliable source that the xenophobes plaguing our society have got it all wrong—that the Chinese are beautiful, resilient people with a rich cultural history that spans thousands of years. And that they came here to Gum Shan—”

“Gam Saan,” he said, correcting her pronunciation as he leaned closer.

“Gold Mountain, then. The reason they came to California was the same reason my parents came here from Sweden. Because life was hard at home, and though they loved their land, they came here to seek their fortune. How were they supposed to know that a bunch of idiots with power were already out here, and that they’d be jealous of their hard work and make life miserable for them?”

Bo chuckled. “Your reliable source seems to have strong opinions about history.”

“He’s smarter than every single one of my professors.” She tucked a lock of misbehaving blond hair behind one ear at the same moment her knee moved and touched his. “He knows a hundred Chinese fables. Do you know any, perhaps?”

“I know a few.”

“Tell me one about a cunning fox spirit. Those are my favorite. I like that all the female fox spirits are beautiful seductresses and make men do stupid things.”

“You just described my life.”

She laughed.

“Let me think of one I haven’t told you.” He paused to think and said, “I know one that doesn’t have a fox spirit outsmarting anyone to make them do stupid things, but she’s still quite extraordinary,” he assured her. “So extraordinary, that it’s believed she must be descended from the old foxes.”

“Tell me about her.”

With his knee touching hers, he leaned closer and told the story.

“A young scholar in a small village pined away for his childhood sweetheart for many years, but he didn’t dare touch her because her family was wealthy and respected, and his family was poor. When she was finally old enough for them to be together, he spent his savings to buy fine clothes and a horse and went to her family home to ask for her hand in marriage. But when her father answered the door, a loud celebration was going on behind him. The scholar asked what they were celebrating, and the father told him that another man from a respected family had proposed to his daughter and they were to be married.”

“That’s awful,” Astrid murmured. Her hand dropped between them and settled on the stone wall.

His hand followed hers. He continued.

“Heartbroken and sick with grief, the young scholar left his village and went to the capital to find work. On the hilly road there, he heard the sound of someone running behind him and found his childhood sweetheart had raced two miles up the hill to catch up with him. She loved him, not the other man, and was willing to run away from home to be with him.”

“I like her already,” Astrid said. Slender fingers slid over his. Her thumb rubbed circles into the heel of his palm. “Was he happy?”

“He was happy beyond belief,” Bo told her. “They went to the capital together, where they were married. He found work in the emperor’s library. It didn’t pay much, but he still had all his savings, so he was able to buy them a meager home—”

“I thought he spent all his money on fancy clothes and a horse.”

“He sold those to some dupe in the village for twice what he paid.”

“Very savvy. I like this scholar. What happened next?”

“He and his new wife were living out their dreams. Good work, a roof over their heads, and a nice big bed where they spent all their free time—”

“Oh my.” Her circling thumb moved a little faster.

“—and they had five children.”

“Five? That must have been one very big bed.”

“The biggest.”

“Stars.” Pink dots swelled on the apples of her cheeks. “How did they have any free time with all those children running around? One or two sounds nicer to me. And I’d think that maybe the wife was a famous dancer in the emperor’s court, because she isn’t going to sit around the house all day. So they should probably have a nanny, too.”