The Ronin’s Mistress

33

Reiko and Ukihashi rode in a palanquin up the highway toward the Hosokawa estate, escorted by Sano, Hirata, and troops. Ukihashi wore a rich burgundy padded silk coat over a moss-green silk kimono with pine boughs embroidered around the hem, and high-soled black lacquer sandals. Her hair was brushed into a sleek roll anchored with lacquer combs. Finished off with white powder and red rouge, she was the beautiful samurai lady she’d once been.

The new clothes and accessories were gifts from Reiko, brought when she’d returned to Ukihashi and told her they were going on this trip. Ukihashi had balked at first, even though she was overjoyed by the thought of seeing her son.

“How can I face my husband?” she’d cried. “After what I did?”

“You must,” Reiko said. Sano had decided that bringing Ukihashi and Oishi together was crucial to the investigation.

Given no choice, Ukihashi had let Reiko help her fix herself up. She wanted to look good for the husband she still loved in spite of her anger at him for dragging their son into an illegal vendetta. Now Ukihashi grew nervous as she and Reiko drew closer to their destination.

“Don’t bite your lips,” Reiko said gently. “You’re chewing off the rouge.”

Ukihashi gnawed her fingernails instead. “What if Oishi won’t see me?”

Reiko recalled the disastrous trip with Okaru, but she said, “He will.” Sano wouldn’t give Oishi the option of refusing. “He loves you. He said so.”

“What will I say to him?”

“Just tell him what you told me about Kira.”

“Will it help Oishi and Chikara?”

“My husband thinks it’s the only thing that can,” Reiko said, although when Sano had broached his plan, he’d said he couldn’t predict the results.

The procession arrived at the Hosokawa estate. Reiko’s own anxiety mounted as she and Ukihashi climbed out of the palanquin. Sano escorted them through the gate. Hirata went ahead to fetch Oishi and Chikara. Reiko walked beside Ukihashi. The woman ignored the Hosokawa troops staring at her while she moved up the steps to the mansion. She looked straight ahead, as if her world had narrowed to the path that led to her husband and son. Emotions worked her face, pulling it into a joyous smile one moment, a mask of fear the next.

Sano brought Reiko and Ukihashi to a reception chamber. Ukihashi stood rigid, her clasped hands twisting inside her sleeves, all her attention focused on the door. Hirata brought in Oishi and Chikara, who was a younger, softer version of Oishi. When father and son caught sight of Ukihashi, their faces went blank with surprise.

Ukihashi uttered a sob wrenched from her depths. “Chikara!”

“Mother?” the young man said.

He rushed to her as she rushed to him, as if an invisible cord that had joined them since his birth had snapped them together. Ukihashi clung fiercely to Chikara. Tears streamed down her face while she murmured, “How tall you are! You’re a man now.”

Chikara sobbed against her shoulder like a child. Reiko felt her own eyes sting. She looked at Oishi. His ferocity had dropped away like armor discarded after a battle. While he watched his wife, his face was a naked display of anguish and yearning. The thunder deity had become human.

Chikara stepped out of Ukihashi’s embrace. Ukihashi trailed her fingers down his arms, reluctant to let him go. Turning to Oishi, she looked blinded, dazzled, like a woman who has been living in a dark cave and sees the sun for the first time. The emotion on Oishi’s face deepened. Chikara backed away from his parents. Reiko envisioned their past as a river running between them, full of turbulent rapids, shoals, and whirlpools.

Ukihashi fell to her knees. “Husband, I’ve done a terrible thing. I dishonored our marriage. I was unfaithful to you.” She was sobbing so hard she could barely gasp out the words. “It was with Lord Asano.”

“Mother,” Chikara said, horror-stricken.

Reiko remembered how Oishi had violently spurned his mistress. Would he spurn Ukihashi now, because of her confession?

Oishi gazed tenderly down at his wife. He knelt before her and spoke in a gruff, abashed voice. “I know.”

Reiko and Sano looked at each other, amazed. They’d thought the story about Ukihashi and Lord Asano would be news to Oishi, but it wasn’t.

“You do?” Ukihashi raised streaming, bewildered eyes to her husband. “But how?”

Oishi exhaled; he spoke with resignation. “You’ve made a clean breast. I owe it to you to do the same.”