What can you do with an unwanted girl–whether an unmarried aunt in a crowded apartment, or a girl child, when a son is desired? When her nephew s born, Wong Ying Fa, a Chinese silk embroiderer, considers her future. Blessed with a lucky face, she wants to meet a man who can hold an intelligent conversation.
Li Gwai Ha is well-traveled, sophisticated and handsome. He wants her, and not just because his uncle, their Party Boss, demands an heir.
Ying Fa’s dreams die when she bears a girl. Betrayed by her family, and faced with a cruel choice, she and Gwai Ha abandon their child to survive.
Little Sister – Excerpt
Publisher: Authorhouse (May, 2006)
Cold, refreshing waves rose up and engulfed her as she plunged in after him. Free and light, she revelled in the weightless realm as her arms and legs flailed tirelessly. Then a hand grazed her breast beneath the waves and a jolt shot through her.
“Who do you think you are?” she cried, sputtering as she rose from the water, hair streaming, pulling her suit away from her chest, seeing too much of taut round breasts and alert nipples. With both hands, she gripped the front of her suit and strode from the water with measured steps. He’d pay for that.
He burst from the water and flung his hair aside. “Ying Fa?”
“Mr. Li, you assume too much,” she said, coming to a halt, seeing the confusion in his eyes. “You are an eager pig for my bounteous feast.” She slapped him playfully on the shoulder.
“Are you a tease?” he asked. She lowered her lashes.
“Alright. Alright,” he said at last. His lips curled into a wicked smirk. “Then take some of this!” he cried and pushed the water at her with both arms.
She shrieked and splashed back; and then leaped away, slowed by the weight of the waves, laughing over her shoulder.
“I’ll get you yet!” he cried, running toward her with his hands outstretched, attracting stares from two small families at the water’s edge.
Fa giggled and ran for the shore, nearly tripping over a small, naked boy who was shovelling sand into a red bucket.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she apologized, frantically righting his bucket and patting him on the head. She ducked her head, mortified by the child’s howls and his grandmother’s scolding.
What a hopeless sow she was. If only she were slim and graceful like Hsiao. “I’m so sorry,” she pleaded, begging for a smile from the old woman as she retrieved the boy’s shovel, imagining Zhaodi with Anji under similar circumstances.
Gwai Ha was almost upon her. Laughing, she ran, veering away from him, one eye trained on his advancing form. He was too fast. He was closing in on her, making silly chopping sounds with his mouth, his arms scissoring out to catch her.
She shrieked and turned, swatting him in mock anger as he pulled her close. She wanted to melt against his sea-cooled skin; but he was handling her more carefully this time, holding her arms, touching just the top of her head with his chin.
“Come on,” she said.
He grinned, his eyes expectant.
She took his hand and pulled him along the shore, splashing in the shallows, around to the back of the pavilion, away from prying eyes.
“You little monkey,” he said, and pulled her to him, pressing her against the building, his skin against hers. In flashes, she saw into the women’s changing area, thankfully empty. She could hardly breathe, crushed as she was against lean muscles, loving the feel of warm hands as they roved her naked back. Skin to skin she breathed his breath, oblivious to the South China Sea lying green and fluid before her, the rickety boats bobbing on white-capped waves, and the delicate trace of clouds languishing in the clear, blue sky.
Silken lips touched hers, and she gazed into black demon eyes that held the secrets of time. She closed her eyes and moaned as his soft tongue met hers, her lips tingling, as a wondrous need filled her loins.
Embarrassed laughter erupted all around them. She opened her eyes to find that they made a tall island amidst a sea of gaping children.
“Why aren’t you in school?” she shouted and shoved Gwai Ha away. The children scattered like sand crabs, laughing as they ran.