‘She became pregnant. I didn’t care. I loved her and the child. I didn’t even care if it was his and not mine.’ He shoved his cup away from him, the disgust plain in his face. ‘He made me pay though. More and more demands. Bad product, high prices.’ He shook his head. ‘I was working for the East India Company. I had superiors.’ His voice grew tight. ‘It wasn’t a situation they would tolerate.’
‘They recalled you?’
He nodded. ‘I was replaced. I tried to talk to her one last time. Hell, I even tried to buy her freedom. Nothing worked.’
‘That’s awful.’
‘It took me two years to get back to China. Then, when I finally made it, I had to bribe his seventeenth concubinefor answers. I had been told that mother and child died in childbirth. I didn’t believe it at first. There were so many lies and no way to find out the truth.’ His voice trailed away. ‘Seventeenth concubine said that the babe had survived, but she did not. Another concubine said she had killed herself and the babe.’ He shrugged. ‘I didn’t know what was true, but they all said the child was a girl.’
Cedric frowned, trying to put the pieces together in his mind. ‘But you found your daughter a few months ago. Grace is your daughter. You found her.’
‘Not then. I had to leave, and I was too disheartened to keep pressing. I thought I would forget her, but I never did. I managed to return every five years or so to look again. Five trips in all, and I only heard about the temple this year.’
Cedric couldn’t imagine a love that strong. To last for twenty-five years and still burn bright? That was the kind of love that changed a man completely.
‘Where is this temple? If there are women there, it cannot be in the Thirteen Factories district?’
‘No. It’s in Canton proper, but it’s where the unwanted children go. Assuming they’re not killed at birth.’
Cedric shuddered at the very idea.
‘I knew if my daughter was alive,’ Lord Wenshire continued, ‘she would be there.’
‘But how did you get there? If the temple is inside the city?’
The man shrugged. ‘I couldn’t. But I got a message to the monks. I explained about my daughter. I knew her probable age. I promised to take care of her, if they had her.’
‘And they did? She had survived?’
‘They arranged a meeting. And when they arrived, I met both Grace and Lucy. I knew the minute I saw Grace what had happened.’
‘They just brought them? And handed them over to you?’
‘Do you know what kind of life a half child has in China? Of course, I took them. I offered them a future in England with me. I didn’t force them.’
‘I never thought you did. But it’s such a big change for them.’ He couldn’t imagine it. To have the monks who had reared you take you one evening to meet a white man. And then to blithely go with the foreigner, not knowing what the future held.
‘They’re both smart. You see that, don’t you?’
He did.
‘They knew what their future would be in China. Best to roll the dice on me.’ He smiled. ‘And they both refused to leave without the other.’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘They wanted out of China. I offered to take them. The rest…’ He shook his head. ‘We’re figuring it out. I have no other children, you know. Nothing but the memory of a seventh concubine from two decades ago.’
‘What was her name?’
‘Yue E. It means Moon Beauty.’
‘And now you are adopting two daughters from China.’
‘I am. Yue E would want me to.’
And that was it, apparently, because the man stretched his arms over his head before slowly straightening to his feet. ‘I’m for bed. Thank you for the Aarack.’ Then he paused. ‘I mean to dower them, you know. I mean them to have good lives in England.’
And on that note, he departed, his last words ringing in Cedric’s head.
Cedric had tried all the different ways to earn money. He’d gambled like his father with very mixed results. He’d tried working for it with the East India Company, but their methods turned his stomach, and the income wouldn’t come fast enough. It took money to make money in that company, not to mention aruthless disposition. That left one traditional route which he had disdained so far.
He could marry it.