Chapter 58

  

San Francisco, 1906 and beyond

  

The earthquake on the eighteenth of April wasn’t the worst part of the disaster.

It was the fire that followed.

Flames ripped through large swaths of the city, especially destructive to buildings that were too close together -- which included most of Chinatown.

The water supply failed, leaving nothing to stop the flames.

Mai had been living with her parents in a section of Chinatown that had enough warning for them to escape. Li, however, lived in an unsafe building on the edge of the neighborhood.

  

Two days after the earthquake, Mai was camping at Golden Gate Park when she heard the news. Her brother Li was dead.

She had escaped with one bag, which included Anand’s map and letter. She and Li had been arguing about whether Li should risk jail by returning the stolen treasure he and Anand had stolen back. Mai needed him, but Li felt honor-bound. They were at a stalemate. Neither had taken any action that week since Anand’s death.

And now the earthquake. Mai had lost both Anand and her brother. What could she do?

Mai would have mailed the letters and map then, if not for the chaos of the city following the earthquake and fire. So she waited for the postal service to return to normal. Days seemed surreal.

She didn’t know how he did it, but Samuel found her. He cried in her arms like a babe as he spoke of his regrets. He wished he could take back his actions. Mai knew he was a good man, deep down. That’s why, when he told her he would take care of her and her child, she gave him a chance to prove himself. She didn’t have any options. Anand was dead. Her brother was dead. Her parents wouldn’t support her having Anand’s child. What else could she do?

Samuel took a job at the shipyard where Anand had worked. He gave up his fantasies about striking it rich, instead working hard each day to support Mai and her child. He did not ask anything of her in return. He came to love the child as his own. That was when Mai forgave him.

Mai put the treasure behind her. It had caused too much heartbreak already. Samuel was a good man, but she did not want to tempt him with the treasure and upset the balance in their lives. She never told him that Anand had left her with a map she was supposed to send to Anand’s brother. Instead, she wrote to Anand’s brother Vishwan, telling him that his brother died a heroic death in the earthquake. It was true enough. Her beloved Anand had died heroically. There was no need to upset Vishwan. People were more important than treasures. She wouldn’t ruin her and her son’s life by involving them in returning the Heart of India. Instead, she would leave the map and letter to her grown descendants when she died.

As her son grew up, Mai saw so much of Anand in him. His sense of adventure, his curiosity, his loyalty. As Anand had often told Mai, life does not follow the course we expect. But looking at their beautiful son, she knew he was right that it was enough.