Chapter1
Steam rose in undulating swirls off of the muddy brown river, slowly creeping toward the gritty banks of sand where long, narrow, wooden fishing boats were pushing off in the early light of day beneath an eggplant and dusky rose-colored sky. Engines on bigger boats rattled as the smaller boats wove deftly in between them across the water, pedaled by foot by Vietnamese men and women.
Just above the bank of the Red River, roosters crowed, and small dogs barked up and down the dusty red road that meandered through the timeworn patchwork village. It was a humble place, made up of palm leaf thatched roofs here and corrugated tin tops there, with thin wood walls making a home for the meager, and crumbling brick walls for the poor.
The remnants of a faded red rag hung as a makeshift curtain over the open square of a window frame on the small wall of one scant home. It wavered slightly, and as dim sunlight began to filter through the haze of pollution in the sky, the light sifted through the material and set the room ablaze in hues of fiery orange and buttery gold.
The room was bare, save for a small wooden table weathered and worn, with four legs and a thin top. Sitting on it was a carry-on-sized suitcase which was laid open and partially filled with clothes that had been folded, moved, refolded, and pushed around again. The remainder of the clothes that would normally have filled the rest of the bag were hanging outside on a line.
A few feet away, on the other side of the room, was a thin mat which was spread over the floor. There was a small pillow on it and a young woman with black shoulder length hair that was braided to one side, and dark mahogany skin that was only partially covered in thin gauzy material in a sandy beige color. There was a nearly transparent sheet draped over her lower half, though it didn’t cover her bare feet.
On the wall not far from her head was a single electrical socket that looked as if it might have been installed when electricity was invented. Plugged into it was an international electrical converter, and plugged into that was a cell phone charger with a lifeline that extended to the base of a late model cell phone which was ensconced in a case with the protective equivalent of Fort Knox.
Her eyes were closed, and she was dreaming strange dreams, but some distant sound filtered through her visions, and it felt like she was being dragged out of them the same way that the boats on the river outside dragged up their anchors from the riverbed. She surfaced slowly, confused by what she had been seeing in her sleep and what was coming into her mind as she woke.
Her cell phone was buzzing. She opened her chocolate brown eyes and looked around as her mind rushed to make sense of where she was and what she was doing. Her heart skipped a couple of beats as she rolled over and reached for her phone, blinking a few times so that she could focus on the screen. She hadn’t been expecting any phone calls, and for that reason, it surprised her to get one.
A smile formed over her full lips as she saw the identity of the caller and swiped her finger over the screen, praying that the extremely weak signal where she was in the little village would be enough to carry the phone call.
“Mom?” she asked, sitting up and unplugging the phone.
“Natalie!” Her mother’s voice came through the line and sounded like the sweetest thing to her. “I’m so glad that I caught you!”
“Oh, Mom, I miss you so much! How are you doing?” She asked one question, as hundreds formed in her mind and tumbled over each other to get to her mouth, fighting to be spoken. She curled her fingers tighter around the phone and grinned widely.
“I’m wonderful, darling, thank you. How are you? Are you capturing all of Vietnam with that fancy camera of yours? Getting lots of work done?” There was pride in her mother’s voice that sounded strong, even through the weak connection and the distance of thousands of miles.
“Yeah, I’m getting great work done, Mom. There’s a lot here to document.” Natalie Davidson had graduated college with a degree in journalism and had specialized in photojournalism. She had taken off from California immediately and gone directly to Asia, where she had spent two years going through Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Japan, China, the Philippines, and had gotten as far as Vietnam, doing her photojournalism work almost every day.
“Has National Geo picked up any more of your images and stories?” her mother asked with high hopes.
“They have! I’m working on one for them now about the people of the Red River. I’m just about finished with it, actually.” She reached her hand up and absentmindedly smoothed her fingers over the top of her head and the braid in her hair.
“Oh, that’s wonderful, sweetheart! I’ve shown your work to everyone I see. I’m really so proud of you!” Her mother, Charisse, bubbled over enthusiastically.
Natalie grinned. It was always nice to get a pat on the back from anyone who appreciated her work, but it was especially nice to get it from her mother. Charisse was an accomplished woman herself, and she was the one person who Natalie admired most in the world. It made her heart swell to hear her mother support her the way that she did. “Thanks, Mom. That means a lot to me. What about you? What’s going on for you right now?”
She knew that there had to be a reason that her mother was calling. It was unlikely that she called just to chat. They did their chatting over email and social media. If Charisse called her, it was for a reason, and she wanted to know what it was.
“Well, actually, I am calling you about some exciting news here on this end.” Her mother sounded as if she was about to burst with joy, and Natalie grew tremendously curious.
“What is it?” Natalie pressed, not wanting to wait to hear it.
“Wilson asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes!” Charisse could hardly have dropped a bigger bomb on her daughter.
Natalie’s mouth fell open, and everything inside of her froze for a moment. “Married?” she asked hesitantly, struggling to wrap her mind around the fact. “But Mom, you haven’t been seeing him very long at all, have you?” Natalie knew it couldn’t have been three months since her mother had started dating the Silicon Valley billionaire. She hadn’t been able to believe that they were dating to begin with, but her mother had seemed so happy about it that she hadn’t said anything to dissuade her.
Her mother wasn’t ruffled in the least. “You know, it has been a very fast romance, but I guess when it’s right, when it’s really right, you just know it. He’s such a perfect match for me, and me for him, and I’ll tell you, I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone before in my life. I know it’s fast, honey. It’s right, though, and neither of us wants to wait. We’re both getting a bit older, and how does that old movie line go… when you find the person who you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start right away, or something like that? Well, that’s where we are. We both want it to start now, no waiting. We’re both so happy.”
She sounded as if she hadn’t ever been happier. Natalie couldn’t fault her for wanting to grab onto something so good and hold on tight; Charisse had been a single mother right from the start after a mishap in college, and she had raised Natalie all on her own, working hard to make something of her own life and of Natalie’s. Charisse had dated here and there, but it was a rare thing, and it had never worked out into more than just a few dates with a few men over the years. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship until she had started dating the billionaire tech magnate out of the valley, and Natalie had been interested in meeting him, thinking that the first time they met would be at Christmas when she came for her annual visit.
“Well, Mom, if he makes you that happy, then I say go for it. Congratulations! When is the wedding?” Natalie felt her whole world shift in tectonic layers, and she wondered what the future would be like. She knew deep inside of her that nothing was ever going to be the same again, but that was true of anyone’s life at any point.
“That’s another thing that we need to talk about. I want you to be one of my bridesmaids, of course. Your aunt Caroline is flying in to be my maid of honor, but I want you as my other bridesmaid.” Her mother paused and cleared her throat. “The wedding is set for three weeks from today.”
Natalie’s mouth fell wide open. “Three weeks?” It was a sudden proposal and an even more sudden wedding. “That’s so soon, Mom!” She began to wonder if her mother had rushed things just a little too much.
“I know it seems sudden, sweetie, but it’s what we want to do. We’re having the ceremony here at the house in Silicon Valley. I hope you can come home right away so that you can help me prepare for it and join in all the wedding celebration fun.” Her mother’s tone was desperately hopeful. “Actually, you’ve been gone so long that I was hoping you could stay with us for a while and get in a lengthy visit.”
Natalie closed her eyes and put her hand over them. Taking a deep breath, she sorted through her work in her mind and sighed. “Well, I am just about finished with the piece that I’m working on right now, and I have enough photos and stories that I could work from anywhere for the next four to six months and still have content to submit to publications all over. So, I guess I could wrap up the one that I’m working on and come back. I could leave in two days if that works.”
It was astounding to her that she was even saying it, but her life was a life on the road, and it wasn’t really very uprooting to her to pack up her bags and get on a plane and go, though it was much further than she had gone in a long while.
“Oh, Natalie, that’s wonderful! Thank you! I’ll email you the address, and you just let me know when you’re arriving. I’ll have your new room all made up for you. I can’t wait to see you, my girl!” Her mother was completely elated.
Natalie was still recovering from a stunned shock. “I can’t wait to see you, Mom. Congratulations again. I’ll check flights and let you know when I’m arriving.”
“Perfect! I love you, darling, and I’ll see you soon.” Her mother ended the call, and she slowly lowered the cell phone in her hand to the thin mat she had been sleeping on. Blinking, she shook her head. It was almost impossible to wrap her mind around it. Her mother was marrying a man she had only been dating for a few months, and the wedding was in three weeks. It sounded like something out of a movie. It was too unreal to fathom. Her mother had never been the kind of person to dive right into anything; she had always taken her time with big decisions, thinking things over carefully and for a while before she opted one way or another on anything, but that was obviously not the case this time.
The biggest question in her mind was why. Why would her mother rush into something so important and so big? She thought about what Charisse had said about knowing when something is right, and she realized that she had never felt that way about anyone before, knowing without question that a person meant a great deal to her in such a short time. She was going to have to trust her mother’s instinct on it and have faith that Charisse really was making the right decision for herself, even if it was something that seemed reckless to Natalie. She had always thought a great deal of her mother’s judgment, and she realized that she was going to have to have some faith in her mother’s choices this time and support her rather than question her.
With another sigh, she turned her attention back to the phone in her hand and started checking for flights from Hanoi to San Francisco. She could wrap up her work there in two days and be on her way to the city by the bay, and a new epoch in her mother’s life. It was mind boggling, but her time in Asia had just come to a sudden and unexpected halt.
Finding the flight that worked best for her, she bought a ticket and then got up to shower and start her day. She was going to have to work fast if she was going to get done what she needed to get done, and then get herself halfway across the world.
When her shower was done, she sent a quick message to her best friend who lived in San Jose, not far from where her mother was with Wilson Brookes. She let Ophelia know when she’d be arriving at the San Francisco Airport and told her she would love to see her as soon as they could visit. Ophelia answered her right away and told her that she would pick her up, and asked what it was that was bringing her home. Natalie considered telling her for a moment, but they had been best friends for more than fifteen years, and she knew that she should wait and tell Ophelia in person. Natalie only sent a quick message back saying that it was a surprise and she would fill her in when she saw her.
The rest of Natalie’s day was turned toward the villagers around her and the work that she was doing. She had a lot to do to finish the piece she was working on, and not much time to do it all.
***
Two days later, Natalie got on an airplane and flew through a couple of other cities before she finally got to San Francisco. She was exhausted, even though she had slept as much as she could on the airplane.
Ophelia was waiting for her right at the International Arrivals gate with flowers and balloons and a brightly colored welcome home sign. They both cried out with delight when they saw one another, hugging each other tightly for a long while before they finally let go and began talking.
“I can’t believe you’re here! It’s not Christmas, so what’s the surprise?” Ophelia was never one to wait; when she was excited about anything, patience was usually in short supply.
Natalie could hardly believe the words as they came from her mouth. “My mom is getting married.”
Ophelia gaped, staring at Natalie for a few long seconds before she could respond. “You’re kidding! Married? To who, to Wilson?”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. She just called me earlier this week and told me.”
A frown formed over Ophelia’s mouth, and she furrowed her brow. “Didn’t she just start dating him a couple of months ago?”
“Yeah, it’s fast. Not quite three months yet. I was really surprised too.” Natalie sighed. “But I guess we have to trust her judgment, right? I mean, no one has their feet on the ground more than my mom. She must know what she’s doing, even if it sounds crazy.”
Ophelia shook her head. “Wow. I never would have seen that coming. That’s not like her at all! I hope that she’s really happy though!”
“Me too. I think she will be. She’s a smart lady.” Natalie shouldered her bag, and Ophelia popped the handle up on the suitcase that Natalie had brought back with her.
“Where are the rest of your bags?” Ophelia asked, looking around.
“This is it.” Natalie smiled at her. She had one suitcase, one small carry-on-sized roller bag, and her laptop case.
Ophelia shook her head. “How you fit your whole life into these couple of bags is beyond me. I’m never going to understand that. I would need a trunk if I was going to travel as much as you do.”
“If I traveled with a trunk, it would be heavy and cumbersome, and it would only slow me down. There’s not much that I really need, and to be honest, that suitcase is mostly filled with presents for you and Mom.” She laughed a little, and Ophelia laughed in surprise with her as they began to walk out of the airport together.
Strolling side by side, they could not have looked more different. Where Natalie was a little taller and slenderer with an hourglass form and long straight hair that reached the middle of her back, Ophelia was only as tall as Natalie’s shoulder and seemed to be round everywhere, from the carefully sculpted fluffy curls of her afro to her round face and her round body. Her whole form shifted and moved as she walked, and it seemed almost like a dance. Natalie was more like a tall blade of grass, bending slightly and swaying in a gentle breeze, willowy and fluid.
They reached the car, talking all the while about the upcoming wedding and Charisse. Their conversation drifted from the wedding to Natalie’s work and time in Vietnam, and then to Ophelia’s work and dating life in California. The car rolled along the road from the airport southward to Silicon Valley, where after forty-five minutes, Ophelia double-checked the map to make sure that she was in the right place and then pulled into a set of big metal gates that were open.
A long and winding road led from the gates through a perfectly manicured landscape sprawling out over the top of a hill, and as they crested the hill, they both saw Wilson Brooke’s mansion for the first time.
It was nestled into the lush greenery and towering redwood trees on the west side of the hill, just out of sight of the public road to the east. The massive home faced the ocean, which was just at the bottom of the hill, where a golden sandy beach was fit snuggly between the deep blue sea and the rolling green hillside. It was as picturesque a place as either of them had ever seen.
“Wow.” Ophelia stared, and Natalie stared right along with her.
“Mom didn’t tell me the house was this big. I mean… I guessed that it was big, but this is huge.” Natalie couldn’t take her eyes off of the impressive edifice before them.
It was white brick and wood with a distinctly Victorian style, featuring a central core that was larger than any other part of it, and two slightly smaller wings that spread out to each side and arced slightly toward the sea, almost in a crescent.
“Are you sure this is it?” Natalie asked, amazed at what was before her. She and her mother had always lived so simply that it seemed completely unreal that her mother would be living in such a grand home.
“I checked the map. This is it,” Ophelia said quietly as she pulled up slowly to the front door.
Just then, the front door opened, and a woman who looked very much like an older Natalie swept out from the house and practically flew down the few steps from the wide front porch toward them.
“Natalie!” Charisse cried out excitedly.
Both girls got out of the car, and Natalie rushed to her mother and wrapped her in a tight hug as they both laughed and cried just a little, overwhelmed with joy at being able to see each other at long last.
When Charisse finally let her go, she hugged Ophelia and kissed her cheek. “Thank you for bringing my baby home!”
“You’re welcome, Charisse.” Ophelia grinned at her and headed for the trunk to pull Natalie’s bags out. “Congratulations on your engagement and wedding!” She beamed at Charisse.
“Thank you! I still can’t quite believe it’s happening, but it is!” Charisse practically glowed.
Natalie knew then in that moment that her mother was doing the right thing, and that she had never seen her happier. Ophelia saw it too, and they shared a quick smile and a nod.
“Ophelia, you’ll have to come back and spend some time here at the house with me after I’ve slept for a couple of days and had a shower.” Natalie hugged her best friend, and Ophelia agreed.
“You bet. I am looking forward to it! It’s so good to have you home.” She grinned and hugged Natalie once more before waving goodbye to both of the Davidson ladies and driving off down the long lane again to the road beyond.
“That was really nice of her to give you a ride.” Charisse smiled wide as she helped her daughter carry her bags into the house. “I’ll show you your room, and then I want you to get some rest. I know you must be exhausted. I’ll have the cook send some food to your room, and then when you’re vertical again, you can come out and visit with me and meet Wilson, okay?” Her mother looked as if it wasn’t as much a suggestion as it was a gently worded order.
“That sounds really good, Mom, thank you. I am tired.” Natalie gave her a grateful smile.
Charisse walked her through a large foyer and down a big open hallway that led off into other rooms. At the end of it, there was a sitting room with a big glass window that looked out onto the beach and the ocean beyond. The room, like the hallway and the foyer before it, was mostly white. There were pretty white wicker chairs and sofas thickly cushioned and all turned to face the breathtaking view out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. A variety of plants were set about here and there in the corners of the room and on a couple of tables, lending a natural feel to the space. Two doors led off of the sitting room, and Charisse took the one to the right.
“This is your room in here,” she said lightly as she walked through the doorway, and Natalie followed her.
She found herself in a big room with windows all along the side of the room facing the sea, complete with a set of glass doors. The rest of the room was elegantly decorated, leaning toward a minimalist style. There was more than enough to be comfortable, with a king-sized bed and a beautiful wingback chair and matching ottoman, a small sofa, and a few tables set in recessed places, accessorized with vases of fresh flowers. On the side of the room furthest from the wall of windows, there was a walk-in closet and a big bathroom with a sunken jetted tub, a stone walled shower, and a double sink. There was also a small steam room and a small sauna.
“I feel like I’m in a hotel with a spa!” Natalie marveled as she gazed in wonder at all of it.
“I know just what you mean. I’ve been here almost a month, and I still can’t quite get used to it, though it does feel like home to me now.” Charisse set the bags down and pointed to a large drawer in the closet. “That’s for your laundry. The maid will be in later to get all of your clothes that need laundering. Just put it there, and she’ll take care of them and put them away for you when they’re cleaned.”
“A maid?” Natalie asked in surprise.
“Yes. We have a small staff of people who work around here. I know it must seem otherworldly to you. I’m still getting used to it too. There are two maids, a butler, a chef, a gardener, and a chauffeur and pilot on call. I think that’s it. There may be more that I am unaware of yet, but that’s what I know right now.” Her mother laughed.
“Mom… how are you living in a place like this?” Natalie asked, looking around the room and then meeting her mother’s gaze again. “It’s so… different from everything we’ve ever known.”
“I know,” Charisse agreed. “It is different, but I’m not here because of any of it; I’m here because I love Wilson, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. The rest of all this… the big house, the staff here, the cars and plane and boats and things… that’s all just part and parcel of it, I guess. He comes with it, so here we are.” She gave her daughter an encouraging hug.
“You’ll get used to it too, in time,” Charisse reassured her.
“If you say so.” Natalie laughed a little then. “I don’t care where you’re living, as long as you’re happy, Mom.”
“I’ve never been so happy with any other man.” Charisse was glowing again. “But we can talk about all of that later on. Right now, you need to rest. I know how tired you must be. Go shower; it will make you feel nearly human again, and I’ll have the chef whip something up for you. Then, you get some sleep, and I’ll see you when you wake up.” She hugged Natalie tightly again and then held her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“I’m so glad to have you home, my darling.” She grinned and kissed Natalie’s cheek and then let her go.
“I’m glad to be here with you; thank you, Mom.” Natalie waved as her mother disappeared out of the door, and then she turned and looked incredulously at the huge room she was in, turning slowly in a circle as she took the whole thing in, wondering how any of it was real.
Then, with a tired sigh, she followed her mother’s direction and headed for the stone walled shower. She was really glad to see that there were shower heads and body misters on three sides of the shower walls, and as the hot water and steam sprayed out at her from almost every direction, she felt her weariness begin to wash away right down the drain.
Her muscles loosened quite a bit, and when she stepped from the shower and toweled off, she found a thick, soft robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door, and a pair of cushy slippers nearby. It felt like a wonderful indulgence to put them on.
She walked back out into the bedroom and saw a tray filled with healthy food, sitting on one of the tables nearest her bed. There was a small salad, a plate of cheese and another of fresh fruit, there was a bowl of hot soup and a turkey and cheese wrap, and a few small squares of dark chocolate to one side.
Natalie grinned and laughed. “I could definitely get used to this,” she said quietly to herself as she picked up the wrap and took a bite. She sat in a chair at the table and ate a good portion of the food before she was satisfied. Then, she brushed her teeth and headed to the bed, pausing only a moment to smile as she noticed that the bed had been turned down for her. Sliding under the duvet, she nestled her head down into the thick, soft pillow and fell fast asleep.
When she woke, she felt totally disoriented, and she had to think for a moment to remember where she was. She had woken up in various places in Asia for two years, all of them humble, all of them the basic offering of what could be had. It was surreal to her to be surrounded by so much wealth and comfort, and she felt almost like a princess in a dream as she stepped from the bed. She had been asleep for more than fourteen hours, and she felt as if she hadn’t been so rested in longer than she could remember.
Looking out of the window, she saw that the morning sun was shining brightly and that there was hardly a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. The view out of her window looked like a postcard, and she could barely believe that she was in it.
Natalie stopped in surprise as she found that all of her laundry, which she’d dumped quickly into the drawer before she got into the shower, had been done and was not only washed and pressed, but was either neatly folded and set on shelves in her closet or hanging crisply there.
She selected a pair of pants and a light sweater and dressed. Giving herself a cursory look in the large floor-to-ceiling mirror beside her closet, she gave herself an approving nod and headed for the door. She was rested and fed, cleaned and dressed. It was time to meet her new stepfather.