“All that time, he was already devising a plan to get me out of Xiamen. He knew that my in-laws would have alerted the police as soon as they discovered that the baby was missing, and police would be searching for a woman and her baby. So he insisted on coming with me so that we could pretend to be a couple. We bought two tickets on the six o’clock train, which was the busiest train, and we sat in the most crowded car, trying to blend in with all the other families. Thank goodness no police ever came on board the train. Kao Wei took me all the way to my home village in Guangdong Province, and made sure I was safely with my parents before he left. That was the kind of man he was. I will always be glad that your real father was the one who rescued us, and that he at least had the chance to spend a few days with you.”
“But didn’t he mind leaving me?” Rachel asked, her eyes welling up with tears.
“He didn’t know you were his, Rachel.”
Rachel looked at her mother in shock. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
Kerry sighed. “Kao Wei was already far too mixed up in my problems — the problems of another man’s wife. I didn’t want to burden him with the knowledge that you were his child. I knew he was the type of man who would have wanted to do the honorable thing, that he would have wanted to take care of us somehow. But he had a bright future ahead of him. He was very smart and was doing well at school in science. I knew he would get into university, and I didn’t want to ruin his future.”
“You don’t think he suspected he was my father?”
“I don’t think so. He was eighteen, remember, and I think at that age, fatherhood is the last thing on a boy’s mind. And besides, I was now a criminal, a kidnapper. So Kao Wei was worrying about us getting caught more than anything else. My awful husband and my in-laws used the situation to blame me for everything and plaster my name in all the newspapers. I don’t think they really cared about you — they were glad the baby girl was out of their lives — but they wanted to punish me. Usually the police didn’t get involved in family matters like this, but that politician uncle of Fang Min’s put pressure on the police, and they came looking for me in my parents’ village.”
“What happened then?”
“Well, they put my poor mother and father under house arrest and subjected them to weeks of interrogation. Meanwhile, I was already in hiding. Your grandparents sent me to a distant cousin of theirs in Shenzhen, a Chu, and through her, the opportunity came up for me to bring you to America. A Chu cousin in California had heard about my situation — your uncle Walt — and he offered to fund our way to America. He was the one who sponsored us, and that is how I came to change your name and my name to Chu.”
“What happened to your parents? My real grandparents? Are they still in Guangdong?” Rachel asked nervously, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
“No, they both died rather young — in their early sixties. The Zhou family used their influence to destroy your grandfather’s career, and it destroyed his health, from what I know. I was never able to see them, because I never dared to return to China or to try to make contact with them. If you had flown to China this morning to meet Zhou Fang Min, I would not have dared to follow you. That’s why when Nick found out about your China plans and told me, I flew straight to Singapore.”
“And what happened to Kao Wei?”
Kerry’s face clouded over. “I have no idea what happened to Kao Wei. For the first few years, I would send him letters and postcards from America as often as possible, from every town and city we lived in. I always used a secret name we had devised together, but I never got a single response. I don’t know if my letters ever got to him.”
“Aren’t you curious to find him?” Rachel asked, her voice cracking with emotion.
“I’ve tried my hardest not to look back, daughter. When I got on that plane with you to come to America, I knew I had to leave my past behind.”
Rachel turned to face the window, her chest heaving involuntarily. Kerry got up from her chair and walked toward Rachel slowly. She reached out to put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, but before she could, Rachel leaped up and embraced her mother. “Oh Mom,” Rachel cried, “I’m so sorry. So sorry for everything … for all the terrible things I said to you on the phone.”
“I know, Rachel.”
“I never knew … I never could have imagined what you were forced to go through.”
Kerry looked at her daughter affectionately, tears running down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I never told you the truth. I wanted so much never to burden you with my mistakes.”
“Oh Mom,” Rachel sobbed, clinging to her mother ever more tightly.
The sun was setting over Bukit Timah by the time Rachel walked out into the garden, arm in arm with her mother. Heading slowly toward the poolside bar, they made a detour the long way around the pool so that Kerry could admire all of the golden statues.
“It looks like mother and daughter have reconciled, don’t you think?” Peik Lin said to Nick.
“Sure looks like it. I don’t see any blood or torn clothing.”
“There better not be. That’s Lanvin Rachel’s wearing. Cost me about seven K.”
“Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s guilty of being extravagant with her. She can’t blame it all on me anymore,” Nick said.
“Let me share a secret with you, Nick. As much as a girl might protest, you can never go wrong buying her a designer dress or a killer pair of shoes.”
“I’ll try to remember that.” Nick smiled. “Well, I think I’d better be off.”
“Oh stop it, Nick. I’m sure Rachel would want to see you. And aren’t you dying to know what they’ve been talking about all this time?”
Rachel and her mother approached the bar. “Peik Lin, you look so cute standing there behind the bar! Can you make me a Singapore Sling?” Kerry asked.
Peik Lin gave a slightly embarrassed smile. “Um, I don’t know how to make that — I’ve never actually had one.”
“What? Isn’t it the most popular drink here?” Kerry said in surprise.
“Well, I guess if you’re a tourist.”
“I am a tourist!”
“Well, then, Mrs. Chu, why don’t you let me take you out for a Singapore Sling?”
“Okay, why not?” Kerry said excitedly. She placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Are you coming, Nick?”
“Um, I don’t know, Mrs. Chu …” Nick began, glancing nervously at Rachel.
Rachel hesitated for a moment before responding. “Come on, let’s all go.”
Nick’s face lit up. “Really? I do know a good place we could go.”
Soon the four of them were in Nick’s car, approaching the island’s most distinctive architectural landmark. “Wah, what an amazing building!” Kerry Chu said, gazing up in awe at the three soaring towers joined at the top by what appeared to be a huge park.
“That’s where we’re going. At the top is the world’s highest man-made park — fifty-seven stories above ground,” Nick said.
“You’re not seriously taking us to the SkyBar at Marina Bay Sands?” Peik Lin grimaced.
“Why not?” Nick asked.
“I thought we’d be going to Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling was invented.”
“Raffles is too touristy.”
“And this isn’t? You’ll see, it’s going to be all Mainlanders and European tourists up there.”
“Trust me, the bartender is brilliant,” Nick declared authoritatively.
Ten minutes later, the four of them were sitting in a sleek white cabana in the middle of the two-and-a-half-acre terrace perched in the clouds. Samba music filled the air, and several feet away, an immense infinity pool spanned the length of the park.