“Nice,” Phillip said, then pulled harder on her arm.
Bailey smiled. “The Chinese duped James the First.”
At first he thought she meant James Manville, but then he realized she meant the English king, Elizabeth the First’s incompetent successor. What did an English king have to do with a derelict farm in Virginia?
She spoke again. “James decided to grow mulberry trees in England so he could raise silkworms and make silk an industry in England. The silkworms feed on mulberry leaves, you know. So James imported thousands and thousands of mulberry trees from China. But—” She broke off and smiled as she touched a leaf of the big tree. “The Chinese tricked him. They sent the English king trees that bear black mulberry fruit instead of white. Black mulberries are great for eating, but silkworms won’t touch them.”
Phillip looked at his watch. It was two P.M. Three hours back to the airport, and his flight was at six. Of course he’d have to find a seat for Bailey on the same flight. “Look, why don’t you tell me more about mulberry trees and the kings of England on the way back to the airport? You can—”
“I’m not leaving,” she said.
It was Phillip’s turn to want to burst into tears. Why did all women have to be contrary? “Bailey,” he said firmly, “you haven’t seen the inside of that house! It’s falling down. The door collapsed when I opened it. How can you possibly spend the night here? The place is filthy! It’s—”
“What’s that?” she asked.
At the sound of a large truck on the rarely used gravel road in front of the house, Phillip started chanting, “No, no, no, no,” even as Bailey leaped over two tree limbs and started running down the overgrown path.
The furniture had arrived.