In Denial (8 page)

*  *  *

Adam gazed through the windscreen and let his mind drift back over thirty years.

‘
I suppose my first recollection of Hong Kong was the Star ferry crossing between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The hustle and bustle, the crowds, the smells, seeing hens and other livestock in wicker baskets, their owners with wide brimmed wicker hats on their heads, wearing what I thought were black pyjamas. Then there were the weather-beaten faces, brown teeth and constant chatter. I remember as a three-year old sitting next to my mother and trying to take in everything that was going on around me: it was the real world and utterly mesmerising. I had no idea I was any different. I didn’t know these fascinating people believed I belonged to another world over ten thousand miles away. We lived on Hong Kong Island. My father worked on both the Island and in Kowloon. That was when his business hadn’t yet taken him away to places I didn’t even know existed. All I did know then was that there were times when he was home almost every night and then he would be away for what seemed like forever. When I was a little older I remember sitting at the top of the stairs when my father was away, listening to my mother crying. There were times when she cried night after night. I thought I ought to be crying as well but I never did. I didn’t know what there was to cry about. Other than knowing that my mother was a very pretty woman and always smelt as though she was made of roses, I can’t really describe what she was like in those days, but having said that, for some strange reason Doris reminded me of my mother.’ Adam looked across the water and tried to make out the opposite shore. ‘My mother and my father, who was really a stranger to me, were killed in a plane crash just before I was five. It wasn’t until years later I was told what happened. In fact the immediate years after I became an orphan went by in a blur and to a great extent they remain a blur. Obviously I’m aware now of some of what happened, but so much transpired so quickly I just didn’t seem to be able to take any of it in.’

He paused.

Gabrielle said very softly, ‘Your early childhood was very different from mine. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened to me or my family.’

‘
I wish I could tell you everything,’ he said pensively, ‘but there was probably a lot more going on that I wouldn’t have known about then, and I suppose I’ll never know now. Some people I wouldn’t even have known, let alone could have guessed what they and my parents would have been doing and saying and thinking.’

Hong Kong - 1973

‘
Now, Adam, you must understand that you are going to live with us,’ Joseph Yong said as reassuringly as he could. His wife Christina was standing just behind him, and their own children, Patrick and Lucinda, were either side of their mother. ‘Your Mummy and Daddy asked if anything ever happened to them that I, I mean we, would look after you. You have a new family now. There are a few things to sort out with the authorities -’

‘
Joseph,’ Christina scolded, ‘there’s no need for him to know about what the authorities have to do. All he needs to know is we will take care of him. He has a home.’

Joseph turned to look at his wife. ‘It’s not a question of what the authorities have to do, Chrissie. There are two sets of grandparents in England who just might want their grandson with them.’

Christina looked down at Patrick. ‘Why don’t you and Lucinda take Adam and show him his room? Then you can take him round the house and let him see where everything else is.’

*  *  *

Christina Yong watched the three children disappear before she spoke again. ‘But I thought that was all sorted. Stuart even wrote in his will that we should have Adam if anything were to happen.’ She crossed over to the chair beside the glass veranda doors and sat down.

‘
It’s not as simple as that. People normally leave money, possessions and property in their wills, not children. And anyway, Maggie didn’t leave a will, so other than what she said to us we don’t know whether it will be accepted that she was in agreement.’

‘
But the child was born here. He’s only been to England once and that was just for a few weeks. He speaks Cantonese as well as our two do. He’s as much Hong Kongese as they are, as you are.’

‘
You’re not including yourself?’ Joseph asked teasingly.

‘
You, Patrick and Lucinda, and now Adam were born here. I was born in Colombo. I was Sinhalese then but I suppose I’m Sri Lankan now.’

‘
I think I have noticed.’ This time Joseph let a broad grin cross his face. ‘You are still Sinhalese and proud of it.’

‘
Well, I am.’

‘
And you have every reason to be.’

‘
You’re mocking me. Stop it.’

‘
I wouldn’t dare, but anyway, back to the point. It’s only been a matter of days since Stuart and Maggie were killed. That poor child has to come to terms with their deaths before he becomes a mere pawn in some legal battle.’

‘
That poor child, as you call him, doesn’t have the faintest idea what has happened let alone what is going on.’ She stopped as she listened to a sudden burst of giggling coming from outside at the pool. ‘You see what I mean?’

‘
It will take time but one day soon he will understand.’

‘
Fortunately he is so young. One day he might know and he might question, but maybe he will never understand.’ Christina tucked her legs under her, letting her light blue sari brush against the tiled floor. ‘Have you heard any more about the cause of the accident?’

‘
All I know is the Cessna was serviced only two days before it happened and the chief engineer has assured me whatever is done on such occasions was all done properly and recorded in the servicing log.’

‘
But the plane went into the side of Lion Rock on a clear day. There was hardly any wind and it was broad daylight. Surely -’

Joseph shook his head. ‘Accidents happen under all circumstances. It could take weeks before something is known.’ He thought for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t put down to pilot error. Jack could be a bit of a show-off on occasions and you know he fancied Maggie Harrison, he -’

‘
I don’t think now is the time to be suggesting -’

‘
Why not, Chrissie? When Stuart was away he was always going over to see if she was all right. I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t -’

‘
No, you’re very wrong there. Maggie was my best friend and I won’t have you saying such things.’

‘
Even best friends can stray.’

‘
She wouldn’t.’

‘
That was the wrong tense, dear.’

‘
All right, she didn’t, and stop being so superior. Maggie loved Stuart and she wouldn’t, didn’t, ever stray with anybody.’

‘
You’re sure?’

‘
Of course I’m sure. Anyway, with Stuart and Jack gone you’ve lost your two co-directors. What does that mean for you, for us?’ There was more laughter from outside and Christina craned her neck to check that the children weren’t too close to the pool edge but she was pleased to see Ah Ho, the live-in amah, was outside with them. Ah Ping, their cook and wash amah, hadn’t yet arrived.

Joseph sat down and gave a big sigh. ‘I don’t know, Chrissie. Jack and Stuart were the brains behind the company. I certainly won’t be able to do three men’s work.’

‘
Is there nobody?’

‘
Not anyone who’s ready for such responsibility, no. With Stuart, Maggie, Jack and Laura gone, we’ve lost so much. Young Adam is all that’s left. I don’t want to rush into anything but I think it might be best if I put the company up for sale. We’ve had so many offers in the past. As soon as some of our competitors get a sniff that it might be for sale they’ll be knocking at our door.’

‘
Is it ours to sell?’

‘
Yes. It was in the Company charter that if any one of the three of us died then their share would automatically go to the remaining directors. None of us ever expected that two would go together.’

Joseph wandered over to the veranda doors next to Christina, pulled back the net curtain and looked out at the children playing with Ah Ho only a few yards away. ‘Little Adam may one day ask me why I even contemplated doing such a thing, but at the moment I don’t think I have any choice.’

‘
And what will you do if you do sell?’

‘
Not me, Chrissie. Us. What will
we
do?’ He sat on the arm of the chair and picked up his wife’s hand. ‘What about something you’ve always wanted to do.’

‘
And what’s that?’

‘
You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re probably one of the best chefs in Hong Kong and what a combination - Sinhalese and Cantonese cuisine. I’ve even thought of a name for your first restaurant - SinCan!’

‘
I don’t think so, Joseph. A name like that will put people off. But are you serious?’ She gripped her husband’s hand not really believing what she was hearing.

‘
Never more so, Chrissie. I couldn’t run the company on my own. I provided the local contacts and kept the Triads at bay. What good will that be without Stuart’s selling and marketing expertise and Jack’s business acumen. No, selling has to be the right thing to do. Afterwards it’ll be your turn.’

Christina moved over so that Joseph could slip into the chair next to her. ‘You really are serious, aren’t you?’

‘
I am and I bet you already have a name to replace SinCan, haven’t you?’

‘
Yes,’ she said mischievously, ‘I have.’

‘
And what is it?’

‘
Colombo Dragon,’ she said with a smile.

*  *  *

Adam’s and Lucinda’s birth dates were only days apart so it was decided to have a joint celebration. It was the fifth year of celebrations after Adam was legally adopted by the Yongs, and as each birthday occurred they looked forward to them more and more.

This was therefore their tenth birthdays and they were already inseparable.

The legal aspects of adoption had gone remarkably smoothly. Neither set of grandparents suggested Adam should return to England. Although he was their flesh and blood he was a child they had each only met for a couple of days when he was less than three years old. Stuart’s parents never forgave him for moving to Hong Kong in the first place and Maggie’s parents also never forgave him for luring their daughter to the other side of the world, and neither did they forgive her for agreeing to go with him. When Stuart and Maggie died in such tragic circumstances both sets of parents grieved for a while but wanted nothing to do with the product of a relationship that was conducted out of their reach. They eventually went to their graves still believing they had been in the right.

So Adam became the adopted son of Christina and Joseph Yong and they and Lucinda and Patrick were the only family he ever knew. Christina, a brown-skinned Sinhalese beauty and the youngest of three daughters born to Rohini and Dilip Navarajasingham, met Joseph while she was on an exchange visit for students between universities in Hong Kong and Colombo. Joseph was an unusually tall Hong Kong Chinese man, the son of very wealthy parents, and their wealth had allowed him to start his own import/export business when he was only nineteen years old. He joined forces with Stuart Harrison and Jack Pennington when he was twenty-three, and they, being well-established businessmen in Hong Kong, saw Joseph as a bit of a threat. The offer they made was one Joseph could not refuse.

So when Christina - her name was Salani when she left Colombo - met Joseph he was already a US dollar millionaire, very young and the best looking man around. She received a lot of grief from her parents when she wrote home to tell them she was giving up her studies and marrying Joseph. There was also the religious aspect to consider because Christina had been brought up in the Hindu faith and Joseph was a Christian, but there was also a significant cultural difference. Although Christina’s father was a doctor and her mother a nurse, they wouldn’t earn in a lifetime what Joseph could earn in a year.

But after meeting Joseph they mellowed considerably and eventually gave the union their blessing. Joseph’s father, Henry - western forenames had become the norm in the Yong family after Joseph’s grandparents embraced Christianity prior to World War II - was smitten with Christina’s beauty the moment he met her, and Helena, Joseph’s mother, took only a little longer to follow suit.

Harrison, Pennington and Yong Inc. thrived and by the time Joseph was thirty, with Patrick and Lucinda born before Christina was twenty-three, he was looking at his second US dollar million.

After his parents’ tragic deaths, Adam moved from the luxury of a six-bedroom mansion in Repulse Bay - a select area on the south coast of Hong Kong Island - to equal luxury close to Clear Water Bay to the North East of Kowloon.