Dawn had managed to keep him secret for years. That ended today. Her mother would turn around to see him, the Chinese boy she had never wanted Dawn to tutor. Then she’d recoil in horror at how far her daughter had sunk. She might even yell and scream at Dawn for daring to bring a Chinese hoodlum to her door.
This forced meeting would be even more satisfying than when he’d outed Dawn to her family nine years ago. And her mother’s upset would make up for any confusion he felt about not only allowing Dawn to leave Rhode Island but also escorting her all the way to Texas.
He braced himself, more than ready for this confrontation.
However, her mother didn’t turn around as they came up the sidewalk. Not even when they stopped right behind her and Dawn called out, “Mom. Mom!”
Eventually, Dawn resorted to touching her mother’s shoulder, which made her mother jump and nearly drop her pruning shears before whipping around to see who had scared her.
Gyeong Kingston was both smaller and more delicate than Victor expected. She was a couple of inches shorter than Dawn, with long black hair that she wore tied back in a loose braid. He now understood Dawn’s story about how her father insisted on calling her mom Doll. If you put an Instagram filter over the fine lines around her eyes and mouth and perhaps added an eyelid surgery, she would look exactly like a doll you’d find in a package.
She gasped when she saw the daughter she hadn’t spoken to in nine years standing there.
“Dawn?” she said, her mouth falling open with utter shock…right before her expression softened, and she threw her arms around her daughter. To both Victor’s and Dawn’s shock.
“Dawn! Why didn’t you tell me you are coming down here to see me?” she demanded, drawing back to sign and speak at the same time.
Her warm brown eyes so similar to Dawn’s landed on Victor. “And who is this man in a suit that you’ve brought with you?”
“I tried to call you, but you never answered,” Dawn told her, ignoring the second question.
“Oh. I didn’t check my phone this morning!” Her mother waved a dismissive hand as if the technology everyone else considered essential was completely optional for her. Then she lamented, “No one ever calls me except for your brother and the doctors anyway, so what’s the point? That’s why you scared me half to death when you showed up here without any warning whatsoever.”
Victor found himself suppressing a smile. Dawn had been right about her mother’s facility with guilt trips. She’d slipped that one in with seemingly no effort.
“I shouldn’t have scared you,” Dawn replied. “I was calling your name before I tapped you on the shoulder. But you didn’t hear me. What’s going on with your implant?”
Her mother huffed. “Oh, that silly ear of mine!”
After a moment of confusion, Victor realized that “ear” must be how she referred to the cochlear implant she received shortly after returning to America.
“Earlier this week, I accidentally got in the shower without taking the external processor off, and it shorted out! Can you believe that?” Her mother spoke-signed to Dawn.
“What?” Dawn’s eyes widened with worry. “Mom, how are you going to get through surgery without being able to hear what everyone is say—”
“What is this?” Gyeong seized Dawn’s left hand, cutting her daughter off. “You got married and didn’t tell me?”
“We weren’t exactly talking,” Dawn started to say with an embarrassed grimace.
She might as well have not wasted her breath.
“You got married and you didn’t tell Byron to tell me,” her mother amended.
Before Dawn could answer, Gyeong’s accusing gaze dropped to Victor’s hand with the laser focus of an Asian mother who thought her daughter was entirely on the shelf. “You got married to a Korean boy without telling me?”
“He’s not Korean,” Dawn answered, rubbing at her temple with the hand her mother wasn’t holding in a death grip. “And we weren’t talking. Remember?”
“He’s Korean!” her mother insisted. “Look at his big boy build. Like one of those Korean YouTubers. How do you call them? Thirst traps!”
“He’s not Korean,” Dawn insisted. “Also, what are you watching on YouTube?”
“Hold on, Dawn’s Husband…” Gyeong glared at Victor, her formerly warm brown eyes now laced with suspicion.
Victor stilled, waiting for her to put two and two together and realize he was the same Chinese boy she hadn’t wanted her daughter to date fifteen years ago.
But then her mother asked him, “Have you had lunch yet? I made bulgogi last night and I’ve got plenty of leftovers.”
Gyeong bounced into the house without waiting for an answer. Leaving him and Dawn to follow.
“My mom and I are nothing alike. Like, we might as well come from two different planets.” Dawn had told him that once when they were teenagers. But at that moment, Gyeong reminded Victor very much of her daughter on their first anniversary.
