Silent Honor by Danielle Steel

like that. And you don't have to wear a kimono either. But yours is really pretty.” She looked like a little Japanese doll to them, and Tami insisted on sitting in the back with her and Ken, while Sally got into the front seat with her parents.
    In a few minutes they were on their way, and Hiroko was instantly overwhelmed by them, as they chatted and laughed and the kids explained to her about their schools and their friends, and Tami told her all about her dollhouse. Reiko tried quieting them down, but they were much too excited about the arrival of their cousin to listen to her. Hiroko was beautiful, and so small, and she had lovely hair, and Sally said that she looked like a doll her father had given her once, and she wanted to know if Hiroko had brought any Western clothing with her.
    “Some.” She explained, “My father thought I would need it for college.”
    “Good idea,” Reiko said. “And Sally can lend you anything you need, Hiroko.” Hiroko was fascinated by her. Aunt Rei, as she wanted to be called, although they were actually cousins, seemed completely American; she had no accent at all, and in fact, she had been born in Fresno. Cousins of her father's had a flower-growing business there, and her parents had come over before she was born to join them. She had been born in the States, and then sent to school in Japan for several years, which made her a kibei. But she had never felt at home in Japan. She was American to her very core, and she had come back to the States and gotten a scholarship to Stanford, where she met Tak, and a year later they were married. A year after that, her parents had retired and gone back to Japan, and they had both been killed in the big earthquake, just after Hiroko was born. The family business in Fresno was still run by her cousins. They were Reiko's only living relatives, except for Takeo and her children.
    “I know how you feel, Hiroko,” she explained. “When my parents sent me to school in Japan, I felt like I had been sent to another planet. Everything was so different there from what I was used to. My Japanese wasn't very good then, and none of our relatives spoke English at all. I thought they were all strange and old-fashioned.”
    “Yeah, just like you.” Sally pointed at Ken as she interrupted, and they all laughed.
    “But I know it's not easy. We probably all seem pretty strange to you.” Reiko smiled at Hiroko then, and Hiroko looked down at her lap and smiled shyly. She had scarcely the courage to look at any of them, and the moment they spoke to her, she looked down, and seemed deeply embarrassed. She was the shyest person Sally had ever seen. But more than anything, Hiroko couldn't believe how American they all were. If it weren't for their faces, she would never have known they were Japanese. They didn't speak like real Japanese, act like them, move like them. It was as though they had no tie whatsoever with Japanese manners and culture.
    “Do you like American food?” Sally asked, curious about her. They were going to share a room, and Sally was dying to ask her if she had a boyfriend. Ken wondered the same thing. He was going steady with Peggy, their next-door neighbor.
    “I have never eaten them,” Hiroko answered hesitantly, and Tami giggled. She'd been answering Sally's question.
    “It, not them. You mean you've never had hamburgers and milk shakes?” Tami looked at her as though she were a Martian.
    “Never. I have read about them. Are they very tasty?” Tami groaned again. They were going to have to do something about her English.
    “They're great,” Tami said. “You'll love them.” They had planned a real American dinner for her that night, a barbecue in their backyard, and they had invited a few of their neighbors, both American and Japanese, to meet their cousin. Takeo was the barbecue chef, and they were going to be cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, and steaks and chicken. Reiko was planning to make corn on the cob, and mashed