When the Cherry Blossoms Fell by Jennifer Maruno Read Free Book Online Page B

States.” Eiko looked up from the photograph and smiled at Michiko. “He wore European clothes for the first time. Then he returned to his village to marry his childhood sweetheart.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you wear a
kimono
on your wedding day?” Michiko asked.
    â€œI was a modern woman,” her mother responded. She sifted through the papers and brought out the photograph of her wedding day. The edges of it were uneven and jagged.
    Michiko remembered this picture in a silver frame, on top of the mantelpiece. “Where is the frame?”
    â€œIt was too heavy,” her mother said quietly. “I left it behind.” She took the photograph from Michiko. “I wanted a store-bought hat and coat for my wedding.” She traced the folds of the gown. “But my mother wouldn’t hear of it. She insisted on making my dress.” Her eyes glazed over. “The church at the corner ofPowell Street was full. There was even a crowd of children hanging around the doors.”
    â€œThat’s because they wanted to see the baseball players. Your father knew everyone on the Asahi team,” Sadie chimed in from the sink. “They were all at the wedding.”
    â€œWere there flowers?”
    â€œOh yes,” sighed Eiko. “The church was full of them. She turned to her sister. “Do you remember, Sadie? I carried white lilies and scarlet snapdragons.”
    Sadie stopped drying the teacups. “I was the maid of honour,” she said. “I wore a yellow dress. My hat had a little short veil at the back. It matched my dress perfectly.” She sighed. “Our mother was a wonderful seamstress.”
    Eiko smoothed out a worn piece of newsprint. “Look, Michiko,” she said, “this was what she drew first. Then she made the pattern.” She held a faded pencil sketch of the dress in the photograph.
    â€œThat’s where you get your drawing talent,” Sadie remarked. “Your grandmother went to one of the most famous dressmaking schools in Japan.”
    Eiko traced the drawing with her finger. “Each sleeve had fourteen lace-covered buttons. Do you remember, Sadie?”
    Sadie smiled. “I had to do them up.” She mimicked wiping her brow. “There were thirty of them down the back.”
    â€œThe women in your mother’s class talked about that dress forever,” Sadie told Michiko.
    â€œMy mother’s class?” Michiko repeated.
    Eiko rustled through the papers again and unfoldeda rectangular document with a dark green border and a shiny red seal in the corner. “My official certificate,” she announced. “It’s from the Kawano Women’s Sewing School, in Vancouver.”
    Michiko peered at it. “Do you have one too?” she asked her aunt.
    â€œWe went to different schools,” Sadie said. “I went to dancing school. Look,” she said, “here’s the newspaper article about your mother’s school.” She read from it out loud.
“Girls, it is noticed, come from all over the province to take courses in tailoring, dress design and dressmaking.”
    Michiko picked up the photograph of her parents’ wedding. “You wore your pearl necklace.”
    Her mother’s fingers went to her throat. “Your father gave it to me as a wedding gift,” she whispered. “The pearls came from a very special place.”
    â€œI know,” Michiko cried out in excitement, “I know where your pearls came from.”
    â€œYou do?” her mother said. “Where?”
    â€œThey came from Pearl Harbor,” Michiko said with a smile. “I heard about Pearl Harbor at school.”
    Both women gasped. They looked at each other with wide eyes.
    â€œNo,” her mother said crossly. “My pearls were harvested by the lady divers of Mikimoto.” She packed up the box. “Your father had my necklace sent from Japan.”
    â€œWhere is it?”