Page 1 of Twice the Love
Chapter One
Cherry McNair shook her shoulder-length dark brown hair off her face and pushed her luggage trolley out of the customs area and into the arrivals hall at the BeijingCapitalInternationalAirport, ready to start her new life. Well, sort of ready.
I’m almost thirty years old. All my remaining possessions are in two suitcases. I’ve quit my job, left my country and my friends, and am about to start a whole new life in a new land where I don’t even speak the language, and be the “wife” of two men. Well, it’s what women have been doing for centuries, after all. Although they probably didn’t have two husbands.
Lee and Harry had promised to meet her, and they’d all exchanged plenty of photographs in their emails. But she was still feeling rather dazed after the long flight, and the huge size of the airport, and she worried about recognizing them in such a large crowd. They’re part-American, part-Chinese, but to me they look quite Chinese. Will they look like their photos? Lee’s hair, sort of shaggy and a little bit longer, Harry’s skin a slightly darker brown?
Sheesh. I thought LAX was big, but having to catch a train to get to your luggage? Sheesh.
Nevertheless, the crowd was very well behaved. People were talking and laughing, but they were standing in neat lines, waiting politely for others to pass. There was no pushing or shoving or screaming as there had been back at LAX. I’ve never travelled so far before, through so many time zones. It’s all so very big. But I like it. It’s friendly and welcoming and totally fascinating.
Lots of people were holding up signs with names on them.
And there they were, Lee and Harry, Lee holding a sign saying “Cherry” and Harry holding a bunch of bright yellow sunflowers.
Cherry pushed her trolley down the aisle then into the arrivals hall proper, and stood to the side as Li Chang and Song Hao made their way through the crowds to meet her.
Both men bowed slightly then broke into smiles.
“Welcome to Beijing, Cherry,” said Harry.
“I hope your journey was not too tiring,” added Lee.
“The flight was smooth. I made all my connections without any worries. Everything went well. Thank you for coming to meet me,” replied Cherry, her tone rather disjointed.
Harry handed her the flowers, bowing slightly again, as Lee took charge of her trolley.
They’re lovely flowers. How sweet of them to have brought them for me. So welcoming.
“Come this way. I’ll go and get the car while Harry waits with you and the luggage.”
Cherry nodded, trying to pull herself out of her daze as her blue-gray eyes looked around at the spectacular building, filled with light from its high glass walls, with lots of interesting metal shapes in the structure and huge artworks dotted around the floor space. And flowers. Lots of flowers, and plants in planter boxes.
“I can’t believe how big the airport is. I’ve never seen so many flowers inside. And thank you for the sunflowers, too. They’re so pretty.”
“Third largest building in the world by area,” said Lee. “That two-minute train trip to get your luggage took you two kilometers.”
“More than a mile,” nodded Cherry, too tired to do the math accurately.
“One and one quarter miles,” said Lee helpfully.
Lee effortlessly pushed the luggage trolley loaded with her two large suitcases and her wheeled carry-on, up a long slope to the exit. Cherry carried her purse and her flowers. They turned to the right where there were vehicle loading bays and Harry took charge of the trolley as Lee jogged off to retrieve their car.
“Please, sit down,” said Harry, gesturing to one of the benches. “Are you very tired from travelling?”
“I’m fine standing. I’ve been sitting for way too long. It was two hours to LA, twelve to Tokyo then a little over four to here. But it’s the jet lag I think that’s confusing me. My stomach tells me it’s one time, while the clock is saying something quite different.”
“We’re sixteen hours ahead of Los Angeles, so that’s quite a big change.”
“And at home we were ahead of LA, and Tokyo is ahead of here so it’s all very confusing,” sighed Cherry. “But I’m glad to be here. And this is a stunning building. All the amazing shapes in the structure. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the other places you built for the Olympic Games, like the Bird’s Nest Stadium, too.”
“It’ll be our pleasure to take you to see whatever you wish. And we’ll show you ‘Big Underwear’ too. That’s what we call the CCTV headquarters building. It is not quite such a visual success as the National Stadium, the world’s largest steel structure,” Harry replied, calling the Bird’s Nest by its official name.
Just then several cars pulled up and people began loading their luggage, and right behind them was Lee in his and Harry’s car.
Cherry sat wide-eyed in the backseat of the car trying to absorb the atmosphere of Beijing, her new home. Everything was very clean. There was no trash, no dirt, not even any fallen leaves anywhere on the streets or sidewalks. There were a lot of bicycles though, and motor scooters, and strange little one-person cars with an enclosed luggage area at the back where sometimes an elderly person or other family members sat with whatever was being delivered.
The bicycle riders seemed to be totally fearless, zipping in and out around cars and trucks and through intersections instead of staying in their own traffic lane. And many of the bicycles also carried passengers.
I’m glad they have a car. I can’t see myself riding a bike here, she thought. I would never have enough courage to move through four lanes of cars and buses to make a turn into the street I wanted to enter. And there are no turn lanes at intersections. Everyone just sort of pushes their way across. Scary… I’m definitely not going to try that…
****
Almost an hour later, they’d left the busy Ring Roads and huge multistory tower buildings behind. They were in an area of narrow streets with high gates and walls, but no house windows, stoops, or gardens visible.
“We have arrived,” said Song Hao, or Harry, jumping out of the car and opening a gate. He pulled the double doors back then laid a double-ended wooden ramp up and over a step at the gateway and down the other side.
Li Chang, or “Lee”, drove slowly up the ramp and down into a narrow courtyard, while Harry pulled the wooden ramp inside and closed the gates.
Cherry’s eyes widened as she gazed at several pomegranate trees, some shrubs and flowering bushes, herbs in pots, and a small, covered fishpond with carp swimming around in it. So much, in such a small space. A long building stretched from the street to the back of the area, extending across the back of the allotment, in a sideways L-shape.
Lee and Harry collected Cherry’s luggage, then indicated she should follow them toward the back of the courtyard.
“Wang’s house,” said Harry, pointing to three steps leading up to a door. “Zheng’s house,” he said as they passed an identical entryway.
“Our house,” he said, stopping at the final door.
“You are most welcome into our home. Now it is also your home,” added Lee. He opened the door, bowed, and ushered her inside.
Cherry stepped into a living room with a couch and easy chairs, a large chest of drawers topped by a flat-screen TV, bookshelves against another wall, and a floor-to-ceiling storage cupboard beside the door.
A rectangular dining table was folded up and placed on its side behind the couch, and half a dozen straight-backed chairs were stacked one on top of the other beside the bookcase.
A small kitchen was through an archway to the left and a door into a bedroom was on the right.
“Come,” said Harry, leading Cherry into the bedroom. A king-sized bed occupied most of the room and three chests of drawers were against the far wall. “This one is for you.” Harry touched the one nearest to the door gently.
“The bathroom is through here,” added Lee, indicating another doorway.
“Thank you. Should I unpack now?”
Cherry knew exactly what she’d done. She’d left her home and agreed to come and live here with these two men. Men she’d just now met for the first time, but who she felt she knew well enough to trust. Certainly they couldn’t have been kinder to her, but it was all very new and strange and just a little bit frightening, too. Although maybe that was the jet lag talking.
“Would you like to do it yourself, or should we help you?” asked Harry.