Chapter 1

Suki was born and raised in Japan by her Japanese mother Matsuni. Her father was a U.S. Navy man named Thomas who was serving overseas during the last days of the Vietnam War. Thomas was on shore leave one weekend looking for some “action” like most of the servicemen there were. He went to one of the bars approved for U.S. military personnel and after knocking a few back, he was on his way back to his ship when he came upon this woman standing in a doorway. It was raining, as it often does there and she looked like she needed some help.

The two hit it off right away and before long, a strong friendship had begun. Thomas found himself spending more and more time with Matsuni and they got very close. He was a perfect gentleman, however, never pushing Matsuni to do anything she didn’t want to do herself. The two spent many wonderful times together and their friendship developed.

Then one day the time seemed right, and Matsuni and Thomas moved their relationship from platonic to physical. Thomas spent the night with Matsuni, despite both her culture and the U.S. military frowning upon it. They made love and had a beautiful experience. Everything went along wonderfully and they were enjoying each other immensely. Thomas was having the best deployment he could hope for, and Matsuni was enjoying her U.S. boyfriend.

But one day it all came crashing down when Thomas got word that his ship would soon be returning to the States. The war was over and all military personnel were being recalled back to the States. Both Thomas and Matsuni were heartbroken that their relationship would end and Thomas did everything he could think of to try to stay, even to the point of trying to get out of the military.

Failing that, he tried to get Matsuni into the U.S. but that too didn’t work. It seemed that no matter what they tried to do to stay together, it was quickly thwarted. Thomas even went to his ship’s Commander to ask for his help, but his Commander only told him that he knew the risks of getting involved with a local and that he knew they wouldn’t be long in Japan to begin with. His Commander was unable to help him. The military had their rules and thier way of doing things.

Matsuni had her own problems. She had gone to the doctor a few days after they got word of his leaving because she was sick. But it turned out she was much more than sick - she was pregnant! However, Matsuni knew how Thomas would react if he found out - he wouldn’t be able to leave and would probably do something rash in order to stay with her and the baby. She didn’t want him to go to jail or ruin his life so she never told him about the baby.

They spent what time they could with each other and when the day came for his ship to sail, she went to the dock to see him off, all the while holding the secret life inside her from him.

The two wrote letters back and forth for a bit when he got back to the States, but the letters eventually slowed to a trickle and then stopped as each went on with their lives. Thomas went on to serve another four years in the military before getting out. Half a world away in a cold, lonely bedroom, a poor mother gave birth to her daughter, both of them setting out for a very uncertain future.

Life for Matsuni and Suki wasn’t easy. When word got out that Matsuni had had a child from a U.S. serviceman, she was shamed and ostracized by the others in her village. This was compounded by the fact it was a female child - female children were less desirable than male children because they couldn’t carry on the family name.

Matsuni did the best she could - she did laundry, she worked the rice fields, she gathered firewood to sell, whatever it took to earn a few yen (a few cents) to buy something for her and her daughter to eat. And more times than not, it was only enough for her daughter.

But they survived and although it was very hard for her, Suki went to school. She was picked on and jeered at, but she learned to ignore the mocking of her classmates and focus on her studies. And she was a good student too - she may not have been well-liked by her peers, but she earned the respect of her teachers!

Time went by, and Suki grew into a beautiful young woman. She graduated high school and had even gotten a decent job. Suki seemed to have overcome her unfortunate past. Matsuni was very proud of the woman Suki had grown into. But supporting the two of them had taken a heavy toll on the woman, and when Suki was only twenty one years old, Matsuni died, her body so worn out from the hard life and work she had done, it simply gave out on her.

My life, by contrast, was considerably more pleasant. I was born to Alice and David Henderson, a well-to-do family in Philadelphia. I was an only child so I got all of the attention from both my parents. It was a wonderful childhood and I blossomed. I went to very good schools and excelled in them. But just before I graduated high school, tragedy found me. My father was killed by drunk driver on his way home from work. I guess that even the most charmed life isn’t immune to heartache.

My mother and I were understandably devastated, but one of my father’s best friends stepped forward and helped Mom through it all. They had been friends for a long time and as he helped her put her life back together, he found himself taking a more important role in it - both for Mom and for me as well. He and Mom eventually married and he became my stepfather, which I thoroughly approved of. He was a good man and made Mom happy and that to me was all that mattered.

I went on to college getting a degree in Business Administration and got a very good job at a leading company with an office there in Philadelphia. I seemed to have everything under control in my life.

There was only one thing lacking to make my life perfect, and that piece of the puzzle would soon reveal itself.

I was attending a meeting with a potential client one day when the client called in his secretary to take some notes. When she came into the room I was instantly awestruck - into the meeting room walked the most beautiful, amazing, woman I had ever seen!

“Suki, dear, would you take some notes for me on this meeting?” the client asked her.

“Certainly Sir,” Suki said, and sat down with her pad and pen. I couldn’t stop looking at this vision of loveliness. Until then, I had never really showed an interest in Asian women - I mean they were attractive enough usually, but I didn’t have a preference for Eastern women. However this lotus flower had me completely captivated! It was all I could do to focus enough on my meeting to get through it!

Mr. Baxter, the client, was aware of my predicament, however. Several years my elder, he saw the effect his young and very beautiful secretary was having on me. And it seemed she was more than a little interested in me as well, because at the close of the meeting he turned to Suki.

“Suki, our company and Mr. Henderson’s will be working closely together now, and I would like you to make yourself available to him to help in any way he needs you. You know our company inside and out, so you will serve as our representative in this endeavor,” he said, smiling. The old codger was setting us up!

“Yes Sir,” Suki said, glancing over to me. Our eyes met and she instantly looked down, but I caught a brief glimpse of a smile on her lips.

I was pleased with the arrangement as well and looked forward to working (and getting to know) this beauty more. Mr. Baxter strategically excused himself to go to the restroom leaving Suki and I alone for a few minutes. So I took advantage of the window he left open for me.

“Suki, if we are going to be working closely together on this project, I think it would be a good idea if we got together over coffee or lunch sometime and discussed things,” I suggested.

“Yes,” she paused for a moment, “I would like that.”

Her response surprised me a bit. I figured she would be dutifully agreeable to getting together to work on our project, but she said she would like that. Was I to assume she would enjoy getting together with me ... more than just as a business deal?

The first time we met, it was just a lunch meeting. Nothing too formal and nothing too personal. We were feeling each other out and trying to find out what the other was looking for. We kept it pretty businesslike, but each of us was testing the waters, trying to find out what the other one wanted. We had a nice lunch and talked some about the business venture.

After lunch I took care of the bill and walked her to her car, opening the door for her and being the consummate gentleman. She seemed to like the special treatment, because as she sat there in the car, she watched me walk to my car before pulling away. I enjoyed seeing her again as well, and I was looking forward to many more of these little rendezvous in the future.

It was after four or five more “lunch meetings” that I got the nerve to take the next step. While I enjoyed our short lunch times together, they always seemed far too short and we had to get back to our respective offices. So one Tuesday I called Suki’s office up and when I got her extension, I asked if she would like to get together for dinner that Friday.

“Hello Suki? It’s Jack Henderson. I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner on Friday night? I have some new ideas I want to run past you and our lunch meetings never seem long enough to get much done.” It was a thinly veiled excuse, I’ll grant you, but I was hoping it would be enough.

“I would like that very much. What time on Friday?” she asked.

“How does 7:30 sound?” I asked.

“That sounds wonderful,” she said.

“Great, now what kinds of food do you like?” I asked her.

“I like just about anything ... you pick,” she said.

“Well there’s a pretty good steakhouse over on Chestnut Street.” I said.

“Okay then, I will see you at 7:30 on Friday,” she said. She gave me her address and I hung up the phone. My stomach was already in knots and our “date” was still three days off!

Friday came soon enough and I took off an hour or so early to get ready for my date with an angel! I hurried home and shed my business suit, jumped in the shower and got cleaned up. I put on some nice clothes - a nice pair of slacks, a white shirt and sportcoat - and then made sure I had my wallet, checkbook and car keys. I looked at myself carefully in the mirror in case I missed anything and satisfied with the results, I headed for Suki’s.

I drove to Suki’s house, taking my time. I was a little early and wanted to give her adequate time to get ready. I arrived right at 7:30 and I rang the doorbell. I heard her call out “Come in!” so I opened the door and heard her in the back bedroom. “I’ll be right out, make yourself at home!” she said.