The Gilded Fan (Choc Lit) (11 page)

‘Your servants?’

‘Yes.’

Nico shot her a glance. ‘You must miss them. Looking after yourself is surely difficult when you’re used to being waited on hand and foot?’

‘Not at all. My mother taught me not to rely on others more than necessary and I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself. I was never waited on hand and foot, as you put it.’ She gave him an almost mocking bow. ‘But I thank you for your concern.’

Nico marvelled again at how different she was from any other woman he’d ever met, so self-possessed, so utterly unruffled most of the time. He looked up to find her eyes sparkling at him, a smile lurking in their depths, dispelling his bad humour. Had she seen through his ruse?
She probably has.

‘Now, if you have finished teaching me a lesson, I find that I am growing hungry, so I think I’ll retire to my cabin. Thank you all for entertaining me.’ She stood up and bowed, then handed the money she had won to Harding and Jochem. ‘Here, you may as well take this back, then we can play again tomorrow. It’s only a game after all.’ She sent Nico a teasing look.

Touché,
Nico thought and scrambled to his feet. He returned her bow with a more European version and couldn’t help but smile back at her. ‘Minx,’ he muttered.

‘We’d best be gettin’ our rations too, little one.’ Harding gathered up the game and pushed Jochem in the direction of the deck. ‘We’ll be back in a moment, mistress.’

‘Thank you.’ Midori stopped in her doorway and turned her gaze on Nico. ‘Would you perhaps care to have supper with me?’

Nico was torn. This was what he’d wanted, to spend time with her, but now he wasn’t sure. It wouldn’t be a good idea if he wanted to keep his sanity. In fact, it would probably be downright stupid.
But what the hell …
‘Yes. Thank you,’ he said. ‘If you’re sure?’

‘Of course. We can leave the door open and Harding will be back soon.’

Nico hadn’t even been thinking about the impropriety of dining with her alone, but he realised now he should have been. He shook his head and followed her into the cabin.

Damn it all, I’m going soft in the head!

‘So you believe in fate, do you?’

Captain Noordholt was sitting on Midori’s bunk, and looked to be enjoying his meal, although she’d had nothing to offer him except rice and char-grilled fish. She watched as he wielded his chopsticks like an expert, his long tanned fingers not awkward in the least. It pleased her that he’d bothered to learn when most of the other crew members used nothing but a spoon or their fingers.

‘Of course. Don’t you?’ Midori was surprised at his question.

‘I’ve been taught to live according to God’s law and that He governs all things, but to my mind, we can each of us change our fate by working hard. I confess I’ve not seen much evidence that praying has helped me overmuch.’

‘Ah, yes, your god.’ Midori nodded slowly. She had wondered if he would try to convert her to his faith, as Ichiro had warned her the foreigners would surely do. Harding had told her the crew held morning and evening prayers every day and anyone found missing had to pay a fine. So far, that hadn’t included her, but she fully expected to be asked sooner or later.

‘You weren’t taught about the Christian faith?’ The captain regarded her from under swathes of golden hair which had fallen across his cheeks as he bent over the rice bowl.

‘Yes, a little, but I chose to follow the Japanese way in such matters.’

‘I see.’ He seemed thoughtful, then added almost tentatively, ‘You do realise that might cause some problems with your English relatives?’

‘Yes, I’ve thought of that and I decided the best thing would probably be to say nothing. I won’t interfere in their beliefs.’ The captain stopped eating and stared at her, then burst out laughing. It was a lovely sound, low and rumbling, which seemed to send pleasurable shockwaves right through her, but Midori frowned, unsure of its cause. ‘Did I say something wrong?’

She almost didn’t hear his reply because she was entranced by the sight of him smiling so broadly. His teeth were white and even, tiny crow’s feet crinkled the corners of his eyes and there were grooves either side of his mouth, but they only added character to his tanned face and she found them most attractive. The blue eyes sparkled with amusement. As for his short beard, it was more like very long stubble and Midori was torn between a longing to have him shave it off and running the tips of her fingers through it to see if it was soft or harsh to the touch.

‘Not precisely, but I’m afraid it will be the other way round.’

‘What will?’ His words brought her back to the discussion and she tried to focus on what he was saying rather than anything else.

‘About religion. They will certainly try to interfere with yours.’ His smile was contagious, so she returned it. His eyes were still shining with suppressed merriment as he shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. Your way of looking at it was just a little unexpected.’

‘I thought England was a free country? I was told no one is burned at the stake there for their beliefs any longer. The good Queen Elizabeth put an end to such practices.’

‘Not entirely, from what I’ve heard, although she was certainly more lenient than the rulers before her. But even if people are not actually killed for their beliefs, it’s still an offence to be a heretic. And you can be punished severely in other ways, not to mention ostracised.’

Midori sighed. ‘So in England it’s a crime
not
to be a Christian, whereas in my country they are persecuted. That makes very little sense.’

‘Indeed. If you want to avoid trouble, however, you’d do well to at least learn more about the Christian faith. You might have to pretend to adhere to it. Do you remember anything you were taught?’

‘Some.’ Midori was reluctant to disclose just how inattentive she’d been. Although Hannah had never tried to force her daughter into listening, she’d done her best to explain about Christianity. But the stories she told Midori of Jesus and his disciples had seemed strange and unreal in the surroundings of Castle Shiroi and Midori had found it hard to relate to them.

Far easier to believe her father’s tales of spirits and deities in all the natural things around them, of benevolent
kamis
and ancestors watching over them. His teachings went hand-in-glove with the code of the
samurai
and made much more sense. With hindsight, Midori understood that her father had encouraged her not to listen to Hannah because he was afraid for her. Much as he loved Hannah, he’d never allowed any priests to visit the castle except in the utmost secrecy and Midori had unconsciously followed his wishes by having her mother buried according to Japanese custom and not as a Christian.

‘But I don’t see what difference it makes to my relatives,’ Midori insisted. ‘As long as I behave well and perform any duties they require of me, surely that should be enough? I will accept the authority over me of whoever is head of the household.’

‘It may not be sufficient. In England, and indeed other parts of Europe, there are several kinds of Christianity. The people who champion each one are rather, shall we say, forceful in their views and tend to be intolerant of each other. Why, in Holland, there’s been a civil war going on for a long time, which is partly to do with differences in religion.’ He was looking serious now and Midori listened with a sinking heart as he continued. ‘Most of England’s population is Protestant and that probably includes your relatives. That means they’ll be anxious to ascertain you’re not a Papist; that is someone who belongs to the Catholic contingent. If they were to discover you’re not even a Papist, but worse, a heathen, they might be horrified.’ He shrugged. ‘You’ll just have to wait and see, though. I may be doing them an injustice.’

‘What’s a heathen?’

‘A non-believer.’

‘But I do have beliefs.’

He smiled again, distracting her from the seriousness of their discussion. ‘Yes, the wrong ones, in their eyes. I’m sorry, I realise this is difficult for you to comprehend.’

‘It’s definitely more complicated than I’d been led to believe. I wonder what else I was told that will turn out not to be true?’ Midori felt let down, since she’d always taken her mother at her word. She saw now that perhaps Hannah had embellished the stories about her homeland slightly. Or maybe her memories of what it was really like had dimmed with time and to her, England had become a perfect place. ‘Captain Noordholt …’

‘Please call me Nico when there’s no one else about.’

‘Are you sure?’ Midori had a vague feeling she shouldn’t, but she wasn’t sure why.

‘Of course. As long as you remember to call me Captain when there are others present.’

‘Very well, Nico.’ She liked the sound of his name. With its short, sharp syllables it could have been Japanese and a sudden longing for her own homeland swept through her. She sighed, and as if he was attuned to her every mood, his expression immediately became one of concern.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘No, I was just thinking about my country and how everything was much simpler there.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll help you to prepare yourself. Can you read?’

Midori nodded. ‘Both Japanese and English.’

‘Good. Then how about if you read parts of the Bible and I try to explain things to you more fully? There’s an English Bible in my cabin. It was Casper’s, I mean, Captain de Leuw’s; he liked to practise his English by reading it. I’ll lend it to you.’

Midori looked into his indigo eyes and felt his strength flow into her. She relaxed. Of course she could do this, there was nothing wrong with her brain and she was quick to learn, always had been. Ichiro had told her she must try to adapt to foreign ways if she was to survive. Now Nico was telling her the same thing. She knew they were right.

‘Thank you, I would like that. The sooner the better, don’t you think?’ She smiled at him again and watched in amazement when his eyes darkened, as if with some deep emotion. All the noises of the ship faded into the background, making her feel they were in a magical cocoon where only the two of them existed. She sat immobile while his eyes devoured her and she couldn’t even blink. He held her prisoner with his gaze and although he never touched her, her skin tingled as though he was stroking it.

‘Midori …’

The sound of Harding’s voice and loud footsteps in the corridor outside Midori’s cabin broke the spell and Nico jumped to his feet in one lithe movement. His eyes held hers for a moment longer, then he bowed and moved towards the door.

‘Thank you for the meal, it was excellent. I shall send Jochem to fetch the Bible now.’

Midori was left standing in her cabin with an uneven pulse rate and feeling slightly giddy. Something had stirred inside her when Nico had looked into her eyes, something she had never felt before but knew for what it was – desire. She tried to tell herself it was only because this was the first time an attractive man had actually paid her any attention. But somehow she knew that wasn’t the whole truth.

Nico was special and she was looking forward to becoming better acquainted with him.

Nico had marked the parts of the Bible he wanted Midori to read with scraps of torn-off paper, and he went back the next day to see how she was getting on. He ignored the little voice inside his head that whispered it was just a convenient excuse for him to spend time with her. And he was very aware how close he’d come to doing more than just looking at her the previous day, so it was madness to return again.

He went anyway.

Midori invited him in to sit on her bunk, carefully leaving the door open, he noticed, so they were both within view of Harding. The big man was sitting on the steps leading down to her cabin, whittling a piece of wood. She seated herself next to Nico, but with a respectable distance between them.

‘I started immediately with the Gospel of St John as you suggested. Since I’m not used to reading in English, it took me a while to get going, but compared to Japanese
kanji
, it’s almost ludicrously simple, isn’t it? I’m not finding it difficult at all now. In fact, maybe I’ll read the entire book from cover to cover.’

‘Book?’ he queried with a smile. ‘It’s not just any old book, this one is special so you shouldn’t refer to it like that. The Bible with a capital, reverential B.’

‘Really? If you say so.’

‘I do. And what do you make of it so far?’

‘Well, this Genesis bit is very interesting.’

Nico stared at her. ‘You’re reading Genesis? But I only marked two gospels for you to begin with.’

‘I finished those, so I thought I would read some more and I like this better. It’s quite a story, isn’t it?’

Nico shook his head at her, but couldn’t help another smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. ‘It’s not a story, it’s supposed to be accepted as truth. A true Christian would believe that.’

‘
Honto?
I suppose it could be true, but …’

‘Whether it is or not isn’t the point. Believing is key.’ And unless things had changed drastically in England in the last thirteen years, her relatives were probably devout Christians. ‘So even if you don’t think so yourself, you have to respect the fact that others view this as the truth.’

‘Yes, I see.’ She nodded. ‘You know, we have a very similar tale in Japan. It makes me wonder if not all countries have them? My teacher read to me from the
Kojiki
– ‘the Records of Ancient Matters’ – about the birth of the islands of Japan. I don’t know how old your book … sorry, Bible, is, but the
Kojiki
was written more than a thousand years ago, or so I was told.’

‘Hmm, well I think the Bible is older than that, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll need to just accept our ways without questioning them at every turn. Let’s see what you’ve learned so far, shall we? I’ll explain as we go along.’

Nico knew this was going to be a challenge, but he was determined to succeed. He had to teach Midori about Christianity or he might as well dump her over the railing right now. Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but be amused at the irony of him being her religious mentor.
Me, the most un-Christian member of my own family!
Perhaps she was right and there really was a fate, and at the moment, it was laughing at him.