The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore

Author:Heather B. Moore [Moore, Heather B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781629727820
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Published: 2020-08-31T18:30:00+00:00

—Kum Yin, secretary of the Junior Red Cross Society, referring to the Boxer Rebellion in China and the Spanish-American War

1900

The fog was little deterrent to Dolly as she and a few of the Chinese girls boarded a streetcar on the morning of Ah Cheng’s wedding. Dolly wanted fresh flowers, and she was determined to get them at the wholesale market. Mrs. Field had called it a waste, since the flowers would only die soon, but Dolly said she would use her own salary to pay for them. Her relationship with Mrs. Field was strained anyway, so at any complaint from the director, Dolly would immediately find an alternate solution that Mrs. Field couldn’t object to.

Now, Leung and Jiao walked with her through the flower market, and Dolly was gratified to see the smiles on their faces. With Jiao losing her mother, Hong Leen, and saying good-bye to her brother, Kang, when he went to a boys’ school, then Leung losing her sister so recently, this outing was good for all of them. Soon, Dolly and her girls had armloads of white blooms, including roses, chrysanthemums, and dahlias.

After spending the rest of the morning decorating the chapel, their newly expanded meeting room, Dolly checked in the kitchen.

The wedding cake was cooling. Lonnie and the kitchen girls proudly showed off the Chinese pastries they had baked. Lonnie had been braver in the kitchen lately, and she had taken it upon herself to help Leung and Jiao learn how to bake. All was in place, and everything was turning out perfectly. So why did Dolly feel a sense of emptiness? Yes, she would miss Ah Cheng deeply, but Dolly was happy for her friend and fellow staff member.

Other rescued women had been married in the mission home, and the occasions had always brought Dolly joy and pride. But today . . . at over thirty years of age, she supposed that in most people’s eyes she was too old to marry. She hadn’t had much opportunity to meet men in social capacities, but she was truly fine with it. Mostly. She thought little of her first fiancé, and she didn’t regret for a moment having come to San Francisco.

Yet . . . Dolly walked through the chapel alone while the others in the house were dressing or attending to preparations. She stopped by the vines and branches that arched into a bower where the bride and groom would soon stand and take their vows. The fragrant white flowers tucked into the greenery created a cocoon of lovely scents.

Dolly closed her eyes and breathed in the heavenly blooms. Alone for a few precious moments, she waited to feel the sorrow, the emptiness, and the loneliness grow bigger than her heart. After her first failed engagement, she had felt the solitude more acutely, especially when she saw young married couples. Their shared smiles and affection made her want to find a way to cut away her single status as if it were an inconvenient burr in her hair.

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