And the Bride Wore Red

next time. We don’t want you to be a miserable old maid, do we?’

‘I suppose there are worse things than being alone,’ Olivia observed mildly.

‘Oh, no, my darling, I promise you there aren’t.’

‘I’m very happy for you, Mother.’

‘You did promise not to call me that.’

Olivia’s sense of humour came to her rescue.

‘If I can’t call my mother “Mother” on the day she marries my father, well, when can I?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Never mind. Goodbye, Mother. Have a happy marriage.’

Soon it would be the twenty-third of the month, the day on which Biyu had wanted her and Lang to marry. They had laughed at her determination, but now Olivia’s heart ached to think of it.

‘She’s consoling herself with Wei’s wedding,’ Lang told her. ‘He and Suyin were going to wait until autumn, but she ordered them to make it the twenty-third, so they did as they were told.’

Olivia dreaded the arrival of the day but it started with a pleasant surprise. Opening a parcel delivered by the postman, she discovered a butterfly brooch that exactly matched the one Lang had given her. On the card he’d written,

Do you need me to tell you that it’s all still true? Call me as soon as this arrives, any time.

It was midnight in Beijing but he was there waiting for her.

‘Thank heavens!’ he said fervently. ‘I’ve been praying I wouldn’t miss your call.’

‘You should be getting some rest,’ she chided him fondly. ‘You look tired.’

‘I can’t rest until I’ve talked to you. Tell me that you like it.’

‘It was exactly what I needed.’

‘Tell me that you still love me.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she said, giving him a mocking salute. ‘I obey.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He grinned. ‘I don’t change, do I? Still giving orders.’

‘Giving direct orders isn’t really your way. You’re better at pulling strings from behind. I guess you’re just practising an autocratic manner for when you get the job. Has anything happened?’

‘It’ll be any day now. Darling, you still haven’t told me that you love me.’

She was feeling lighthearted for the first time in weeks. ‘Well,’ she teased. ‘Let me see…’

She was interrupted by the sound of his phone. He snatched it up, and immediately became angry.

‘What, now? All right, I’m coming.’ He turned back to the screen. ‘That was the hospital. I have to go. We’ll talk again tomorrow.’

‘Lang, I-’

But he had gone.

She sat very still for a while, looking at the blank screen. Then she went to bed.

Next morning the doctor said to her, ‘Norah can’t be left on her own, but if you’re going to live with her then I think we can send her home.’

‘Yes, I’ll always be there,’ Olivia assured him quietly.

Norah was sent home that very afternoon. They hugged each other joyfully and settled down to chat, but almost at once Norah was too tired to continue. Olivia put her to bed and sat with her for a while, feeling the responsibility settle around her shoulders.

Lang came online early that night. One look at his beaming face told her everything.

‘You got it!’ she exclaimed.

‘Yes, they confirmed it today. I now have a three-year contract at more money than I was earning before. I can afford a really nice home for you.’

Out of this only one thing stood out.

‘You’ve already signed the contract?’

‘I took the first chance before they changed their mind. I only wish you could have been there with me to make everything perfect.’

So that was it. He’d committed himself finally and, by a cruel irony, he’d done it on the day Norah’s return home had made her frailty even clearer than before. If anything more was needed to confirm that their feet were set on two different paths, this was it.

She smiled and congratulated him, told him of her happiness and then of her love. His look of joy was the same she’d seen before, as though nothing could ever change.

‘I love you so much,’ he told her. ‘I can’t wait for our life together to start.’

He parted with the words, ‘Give Norah my love. Tell her to get well soon.’

‘I will,’ she promised.

To her relief, the connection broke. In another moment he would have seen that she was weeping, but he didn’t see it, nor the way she reached out to touch the screen as though he were really there, then drew away quickly because he would never be there.

An hour later she looked in on Norah, who’d just awoken and was cheerful.

‘Come and sit with me,’ she said, patting the bed.

As Olivia sat down the light from the bedside lamp fell on the silver butterfly pinned to her shoulder.

‘That’s such a pretty brooch. I’ve noticed that you always wear it, so I guess it must be special.’

‘Yes, it’s very special,’ Olivia said.

‘Did he give it to you? Don’t worry, I won’t pry if it’s a secret.’

‘When have I ever kept secrets from you? Yes, Lang gave it to me at the airport when we said goodbye.’

She removed the butterfly and laid it in Norah’s hand. The old woman drew it close and studied it intently.

‘It’s so beautiful,’ she whispered. ‘It must have a special meaning.’

‘Butterflies are a symbol of eternal love, because of an old Chinese legend.’

She told the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, how they had loved each other and been forced apart.

‘When she stood before his tomb, it opened and enfolded her. A moment later two butterflies flew up and away into the sunset, together for ever.’

‘Together for ever,’ Norah whispered. ‘Even death couldn’t divide them. Oh, yes, that’s how it is.’

‘How have you endured all these years without him?’ Olivia whispered.

‘But, my dear, I haven’t been without him. In my heart he has been with me always, waiting for me as Shanbo waited for Yingtai. When my time comes I shan’t be afraid, because we will take wing together. You’re very lucky to have Lang. He’s a man of great understanding.’

‘But what can come of it? How can I ever marry him? How could I have engaged myself to a man I’d known only a week or two? Of all the people to do such a daft thing, how could I?’

‘But you mustn’t give up hope. You’ve got your whole future ahead of you. I couldn’t bear it if you sacrificed it for me. Please, my darling, don’t spend your life in bitter regrets, as I have, always thinking how different it might have been if I’d only-’ She broke off.

‘But you couldn’t have changed anything,’ Olivia protested. ‘He died in the army.’

‘Yes, but…’ Norah was silent a long time, but then she seemed to come to a resolution. ‘I’ve told you so much about my love for Edward, but there’s one thing I’ve never spoken of to you or anyone. Things were different fifty years ago. Couples were expected to wait for marriage before they made love.

‘I loved Edward so much, and when he wanted us to make love I wanted it too, but I was afraid that he’d despise me afterwards. So we didn’t. I was sensible. I could tell he was hurt, afraid I didn’t love him enough. I told myself that I’d make it up to him when we were married.

‘But in those days we still had National Service, and he had to finish his time before we could marry. He was sent abroad suddenly. It should just have been a short tour of duty but he was killed by a sniper, and the world ended for me. Night after night I wept, but it was too late. He’d died without really knowing how much I loved him. Oh, Edward, Edward, forgive me!’

Suddenly it might have happened yesterday, and she sobbed without restraint. Olivia gathered the old woman into her arms and her own tears fell. For years she’d thought she understood Norah’s feelings, but now she realised she’d never guessed the yawning chasm of grief that had turned her life into a nightmare of emptiness.

When Norah’s sobs had subsided Olivia controlled her own feelings and managed to say, ‘But things are different these days. Lang and I have made love.’