11

FOUR SEASONS BILTMORE

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA

Comfortably ensconced in the hotel lounge with her requisite cup of hot water and lemon, Eleanor proceeded to recount to Nick the full story of how she came to discover Rachel’s real father.

“Bao Shaoyen was so grateful to all of us in London. Your hopeless cousin Eddie left after a few days, after getting fitted for his new suits, and Shaoyen didn’t know a soul in London. So we took care of her. We took her to visit Carlton every day in the hospital while he was recovering from his surgeries, we took her to eat at the halfway decent Chinese restaurants, and Francesca even drove all of us to the Bicester Village outlets one day. Shaoyen was in seventh heaven when she discovered that they had a Loro Piana outlet store there. My God, you should have seen how much cashmere that woman bought! I think she had to buy three big suitcases at the Tumi outlet just to fit everything.

“As soon as Carlton was out of intensive care, I encouraged Shaoyen to let him do his rehabilitation in Singapore. I even called up Dr. Chia at NUH to pull strings and get Carlton into the best physical therapy program. So of course Carlton’s father came down to visit from Beijing, and I got to know the family well over the next few months. Meanwhile, Auntie Lorena’s private investigator in China went to dig up everything he could on the family.”

“Auntie Lorena and her shady investigators!” Nick scoffed, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Alamak, you should be grateful Lorena hired Mr. Wong! Without his snooping around and paying off the right people, we would never have been able to get to the truth. It turned out that Bao Gaoliang had changed his name right after he graduated from university. Kao Wei was always a boyhood nickname—his actual name was Sun Gaoliang. He grew up in Fujian, but his parents made him take the surname of his godfather, who was a well-respected party official in Jiangsu Province, because then he could move there and get a better start to his career.”

“So how did you break the news to the Baos?”

“At one point, Shaoyen had to go back to China to attend to some business, and Gaoliang was alone in Singapore visiting Carlton. One night, I took him to have kai fun at Wee Nam Kee, and I asked him about his younger days. He started to tell me about his college days in Fujian, so at one point I just blurted out, ‘Did you ever know a woman by the name of Kerry Ching?’ Gaoliang’s face went white as a ghost. He said, ‘I don’t know anyone by that name.’ Then he suddenly wanted to finish his dinner quickly and leave. That’s when I finally confronted him with the truth. I said, ‘Gaoliang, please don’t be alarmed. You can leave if you want, but before you do, please hear me out. I feel that fate has brought us together. My son is engaged to a woman by the name of Rachel Chu. Please let me show you her picture, and I think you will understand that something remarkable has happened.’ ”

“What photo of Rachel do you have?” Nick asked.

Eleanor blushed. “It’s the one from her California driver’s license that I got from the first detective I hired in Beverly Hills. Anyway, Gaoliang took one look at the photo and went into complete shock. He immediately asked, ‘Who is this girl?’ It’s just so obvious—the girl in the picture looks exactly like Carlton, but with long hair and makeup, of course. So I said, ‘That girl is the daughter of a woman who goes by the name of Kerry Chu. She now lives in California, but she used to live in Xiamen when she was married to a man by the name of Zhou Fang Min.’ And that’s when Gaoliang finally cracked.”

“Wow. You should do this professionally,” Nick said with a raised eyebrow.

“You can make fun of me all you want, but Rachel wouldn’t be meeting her father today if it wasn’t for my interfering.”

“No, no, I wasn’t being sarcastic, I meant it as a compliment.”

“I know you are still angry with me for all that’s happened, but I want you to know that everything I did, I did for your sake.”

Nick shook his head indignantly. “How do you expect me to react? You almost ruined the love of my life. You didn’t trust my judgment, and you just assumed the worst of Rachel from the beginning. You thought she was a gold digger even before you met her.”

“Hiyah, how many times can I say I’m sorry? I misjudged her. I misjudged you. Gold digger or not, I didn’t want you to marry Rachel because I knew that it would lead to heartache for you as soon as your grandmother became involved. I knew Ah Ma would never approve, and I wanted to spare you her wrath. Because once upon a time, I was that unacceptable daughter-in-law. And I was not even the daughter of a single mother from Mainland China! Believe me, I know what it feels like to suffer under her disapproval. But you never saw that side of her. I protected you from that. She adored you from the day you were born, and I never wanted that to change.”

Nick noticed the tears brimming in his mother’s eyes, and he softened his stance. A waiter walked by, and Nick gestured to him. “Excuse me, could we please have another cup of hot water with lemon slices on the side? Thank you.”

“Very hot, please,” Eleanor added, as she dabbed away her tears with the crumpled pieces of Kleenex she always seemed to have in her purse.

“Well, I’m sure you know that Ah Ma plans to disinherit me now. Jacqueline Ling told me just as much a few weeks ago.”

“That Jacqueline always does your Ah Ma’s dirty work! But you can never be sure what Ah Ma is going to do. Anyway, it doesn’t matter as much, because you have Rachel. I truly mean it now when I say I am very glad she is going to be your wife.”

“My, how your tone has changed! I guess you don’t disapprove of Rachel now that you know her real father is some bigwig politician in China.”

“He’s not just some politician. He is much more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

Eleanor did a quick scan of the room to make sure no one could overhear her. “Bao Gaoliang’s father started Millennium Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest medical companies in China. The stock is a blue chip on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.”

“So? I don’t understand how that impresses you. Everyone you know is rich.”

Eleanor leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Aiyah, these people aren’t just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich! We’re talking billions and billions. More important, they only have one son…and now one daughter.”

“So that’s why you’re suddenly so keen on us getting married!” Nick groaned as his mother’s true motives finally dawned on him.

“Of course! If Rachel plays her cards right, she will be a great heiress and you will benefit too!”

“I’m so glad I can always count on you to have some sort of ulterior motive that involves money.”

“I’m just looking out for you! Now that your inheritance from Ah Ma is so uncertain, you can’t blame me for wanting the best for you.”

“No, I don’t suppose I can,” Nick said quietly. As frustrated as he was, he realized that he was never going to change his mother. Like so many of her generation, her entire existence revolved around the acquisition and preservation of fortune. It seemed like all her friends were in the same contest to see who could leave the most houses, the biggest conglomerates, and the fattest stock portfolios to their children after they died.

Eleanor leaned in closer. “Now, here are some things you need to know about the Baos.”

“I don’t need to hear any idle gossip.”

“Aiyah, it’s not idle gossip! These are important details I’ve learned just from being around them, and from what Mr. Wong found out—”

“Stop right there! I don’t want to know,” Nick said emphatically.

“Aiyah, I need to tell you for your own good!”

“Give it a rest, Mum! Rachel just met her dad twenty minutes ago and now you want to spill all the secrets of his family? Your digging around and secrets are what almost ruined my relationship in the first place. It’s not fair to Rachel, and it’s not the way I want to begin my marriage.”

Eleanor sighed. This son of hers was impossible. He was too stubborn and too self-righteous and couldn’t even see that she was trying to help him. Well, she would have to wait for another opportunity. Squeezing more lemon into her water and not making direct eye contact with her son, she asked, “So, is there a chance you’ll let your poor lonely mother come to her only child’s wedding tomorrow?”

Nick was silent for a moment. “Let me talk to Rachel. I’m not sure whether she’s ready to roll out the red carpet after you just destroyed her wedding site, but I’ll ask.”

Eleanor got up from the table in excitement. “I’m going to talk to the concierge right now. We’ll fix it. We’ll fly in all the wisteria in the world if we have to. I’ll make sure her wedding is back to perfection.”

“I’m sure Rachel will appreciate that.”

“And let me go call Dad. He should get on a plane right now. It’s still not too late for him to make it here by tomorrow afternoon.”

“You know, I said I’d talk to Rachel. I didn’t promise anything,” Nick cautioned.

“Aiyah, of course she will let me come! I can tell she is the forgiving type just by looking at her face. That’s the one good thing about her—she doesn’t have high cheekbones. Women with high cheekbones are very gow tzay. Now, will you please do one thing for me?”

“What?”

“Pleeeease go to the barber shop and get your hair cut before tomorrow! It’s far too long and I can’t stand to see you on your wedding day looking like some chao ah beng.”