Infant and toddler females were often unwanted, abandoned, and discarded like refuse. The same could not be said of girls purchased for the purpose of prostitution.
After analyzing several plans, Will and James had based their rescue operation on the American Underground Railroad abolitionists had created to smuggle black slaves from southern slave-holding states to safety in the north and Canada using trusted associates and safe houses as stops on the “railroad.” The plan was not without flaws and was a constant work-in-progress, but it was the best they had. The safe houses and identities of the conductors on the Silken Angel railroad were closely guarded secrets, known only to Will, James, and Jack O’Brien. The identities of the men who pretended to be husbands come to claim their brides were also kept secret for their protection and for the protection of their “brides.”
Will tapped lightly at the first door on the right, then eased it open and peeked inside. One glance told him that at least two of the other bedrooms would be empty, the beds unoccupied. Inside on the single bed, huddled together like puppies in a litter, were little sisters Ling Yee and Ling Tsin and older sister Ling Lau. He and Jack had put the Ling sisters in adjoining bedrooms so the two youngest girls would be close to their older sister. Will had purposely left the adjoining doors open so Ling Yee and Ling Tsin could move back and forth between their bedrooms and that of ten-year-old Ling Lau. He wasn’t surprised to see that sometime after he had bidden them good night, the little ones had crowded into bed beside their sister.
Smiling in spite of himself, Will quietly closed that door and moved on to the next one. He opened it. The coverlet on the bed had been thrown back and the sheets were mussed, but the room where he’d tucked Ling Tsin into bed was empty. He entered the room, walked across to the connecting door, and stepped inside the third of the adjoining bedrooms. He expected to find Ling Yee’s bedroom empty, but there were two girls curled together on the bed. He thought they might be Ah So and Ah Woo, but he couldn’t be sure. They might just as easily be Ah So and Ah Fook, or Ah Woo and Ah Fook. The room assigned to Ling Yee was now home to two of her cousins, but without a much closer look, Will couldn’t tell which two.
The girls all bore a remarkable resemblance to one another. Not that he found that surprising. While listening to Li Toy bark instructions to them in their native tongue during the contract signings, Will had learned that they were family. His group of seven girls was two sets of sisters, first cousins to one another, who had been sold to Chinese “bride” brokers by their parents, whose farms had been devastated by drought. In danger of starving, unable to feed themselves, their livestock, and all their children, the parents had decided to keep their sons and sell their daughters for cash that would enable them to buy the rice and grain they needed to survive.
Will wondered whether the girls’ parents felt as guilty about selling them as he did about buying them. He wondered whether his motives were as pure as theirs, or whether it mattered. The girls’ parents had sold them to pay debts and to keep the rest of their families from starving. Will was fighting to keep from drowning. They were trying to save their families. He was trying to save himself. And still he dreamed of Jamie’s wives. . . .
Continuing his check on his charges, Will exited Ling Yee’s bedroom through the main door and moved to the last room at the back of the building on the south side of the hall, which belonged to Ah So. He knocked on the door, then gently eased it open. He expected it to be empty, expected Ah So to be the sister sharing the bed with Ah Woo or Ah Fook in Ling Yee’s bedroom, but the room was occupied. Ah So was in bed. Her back was to him, the coverlet on the single bed pulled up close over her
After analyzing several plans, Will and James had based their rescue operation on the American Underground Railroad abolitionists had created to smuggle black slaves from southern slave-holding states to safety in the north and Canada using trusted associates and safe houses as stops on the “railroad.” The plan was not without flaws and was a constant work-in-progress, but it was the best they had. The safe houses and identities of the conductors on the Silken Angel railroad were closely guarded secrets, known only to Will, James, and Jack O’Brien. The identities of the men who pretended to be husbands come to claim their brides were also kept secret for their protection and for the protection of their “brides.”
Will tapped lightly at the first door on the right, then eased it open and peeked inside. One glance told him that at least two of the other bedrooms would be empty, the beds unoccupied. Inside on the single bed, huddled together like puppies in a litter, were little sisters Ling Yee and Ling Tsin and older sister Ling Lau. He and Jack had put the Ling sisters in adjoining bedrooms so the two youngest girls would be close to their older sister. Will had purposely left the adjoining doors open so Ling Yee and Ling Tsin could move back and forth between their bedrooms and that of ten-year-old Ling Lau. He wasn’t surprised to see that sometime after he had bidden them good night, the little ones had crowded into bed beside their sister.
Smiling in spite of himself, Will quietly closed that door and moved on to the next one. He opened it. The coverlet on the bed had been thrown back and the sheets were mussed, but the room where he’d tucked Ling Tsin into bed was empty. He entered the room, walked across to the connecting door, and stepped inside the third of the adjoining bedrooms. He expected to find Ling Yee’s bedroom empty, but there were two girls curled together on the bed. He thought they might be Ah So and Ah Woo, but he couldn’t be sure. They might just as easily be Ah So and Ah Fook, or Ah Woo and Ah Fook. The room assigned to Ling Yee was now home to two of her cousins, but without a much closer look, Will couldn’t tell which two.
The girls all bore a remarkable resemblance to one another. Not that he found that surprising. While listening to Li Toy bark instructions to them in their native tongue during the contract signings, Will had learned that they were family. His group of seven girls was two sets of sisters, first cousins to one another, who had been sold to Chinese “bride” brokers by their parents, whose farms had been devastated by drought. In danger of starving, unable to feed themselves, their livestock, and all their children, the parents had decided to keep their sons and sell their daughters for cash that would enable them to buy the rice and grain they needed to survive.
Will wondered whether the girls’ parents felt as guilty about selling them as he did about buying them. He wondered whether his motives were as pure as theirs, or whether it mattered. The girls’ parents had sold them to pay debts and to keep the rest of their families from starving. Will was fighting to keep from drowning. They were trying to save their families. He was trying to save himself. And still he dreamed of Jamie’s wives. . . .
Continuing his check on his charges, Will exited Ling Yee’s bedroom through the main door and moved to the last room at the back of the building on the south side of the hall, which belonged to Ah So. He knocked on the door, then gently eased it open. He expected it to be empty, expected Ah So to be the sister sharing the bed with Ah Woo or Ah Fook in Ling Yee’s bedroom, but the room was occupied. Ah So was in bed. Her back was to him, the coverlet on the single bed pulled up close over her
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