This morning as Brandon slid out of bed, he thought of Rose across the hall. He had never wanted a woman permanently in his life. Long ago he decided marriage and settling down was not for him. He was content to drift around the world. He enjoyed his work as a carpenter. Something about working with his hands gave him a keen sense of satisfaction. But Rose stopped him dead in his tracks. She had his attention the first night he met her. She was beautiful, but there was something else about her. It was something he could not quite put his finger on it. He loved the fact she feared nothing, loved a challenge, and most importantly to Brandon, she had a good heart. But there was a fire about her that drew him to her. People would have thought him crazy had he told them his feelings, but that was the only way he could describe it. She had a fire burning deep within her soul and Brandon was drawn to it like a magnet. 'Well, enough with thoughts of Rose,' he thought to himself. He could waste a whole day thinking about her. He put on a pair of black trousers and stood bare chest and barefoot in front of the window. He silently thanked God for the new day and began stretching. With his hands in prayer, he bowed and began his cota.

Rose tip-toed across the hall to Brandon's hotel room. It would be scandalous for a single young woman to be found in a young man's hotel room, but Rose could not resist the thought of waking him up. It was dreadful and that's why she had to do it. She quietly pushed the door open and peered through the crack. Standing in the sunlight was Brandon. He looked like a Greek God, the sweat on his bare chest gleaming in the sun. He was beautiful. Rose thought he was doing ballet, but then she could not remember seeing ballerina dance like that. She watched mesmerized as he gracefully glided across the floor. His arms were moving as graceful as his legs. As delicate as it looked there was something strong and masculine about it. Rose was aware Brandon was very much in tune to his body. He considered it a temple a gift from God and took very good care of himself. She had seen him do two finger push-ups with one arm, but this was something she had never seen before. Brandon moved across the room and turned abruptly, startling Rose. She blushed from her toes clear up to her forehead.

"I'm terribly sorry," she stammered and quickly turned to run back to her room, but Brandon caught her arm.

"Come back in here and sit down," he said gently.

"It is not proper."

"That didn't bother you a few minutes ago," Brandon replied, gently pulling her into his room.

Rose sat down on the bed. For the first time she wondered just how much she knew about Brandon Calvert. 'Maybe traveling to California with him was not such a smart idea,' she thought silently.

"I am not the devil," he said, reading her thoughts.

"I never said you were."

"But you are wondering what I was doing. Was it some form of devil worship? That is what you are afraid of," he replied.

"I most certainty am not," Rose started to say, but before she could finish Brandon interrupted her.

"What you just saw is Gung Fu. It is an ancient Chinese martial art. My Grandfather taught it to me when I was a boy. I never spoke of it to you; I didn't want you to get the wrong idea like you just did," he said quietly.

"Well explain it to me," she said, trying to sound confident but not really sure it was coming across that way.

"All right," Brandon said his voice was barely a whisper. "Gung fu is a special skill, a fine art rather than just a physical exercise. It is a subtle art of matching the essence of the mind to that of the technique in which it has to work. The principle of Gung fu is not a thing that can be learned, like a science, by fact finding and instruction in facts. It has to grow spontaneously, like a flower, in a mind free from emotion and desires. The core of this principle of Gung fu is ‘Tao.'"

Rose could hear the passion in Brandon's voice and wanted to understand more fully what he was saying. "What is Tao?" she asked.

"There is no English equivalent for it. The closest word I can think of is truth."

"What you are saying is Gung Fu helps you stay true to yourself?" Rose asked, trying to understand.

"In a very simplistic way of putting it, yes that is what I am saying. I guess what I am trying to say is it's a very spiritual thing to me. I must accept myself by going with and not against my nature," he explained, more passionately than before.

"I understand."

Brandon looked at her. It was the moment of truth. Rose needed to know his heritage was important to him. When he had children he had every intention of passing his heritage on to them.

"Look, Rose, this is who I am. I am part American; but I am also part Chinese. It means a lot to me. I am not ashamed of who I am or what my nationality is. I understand if you could not handle being with a man like me. If you were to leave this room now, I would not hate you. I would understand," he said, sounding totally exhausted.

Rose was startled. She was shocked at what she saw. Not because it frightened or appalled her, but because she simply did not understand what he was doing.

"Brandon Calvert, I think you're the most marvelous man I know. Could you teach me some Gung Fu inner peace thing too?" she asked, grinning at him.

Brandon was shocked at her response. He had thought for sure that he had lost her. Before he could say anything, Rose said quite seriously, "Brandon I would never leave you for being you; I would leave you if you tried to be someone you I thought I wanted you to be. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly," he said, reaching for her. They kissed long and passionately.

"Jack, you are awful?" Tommy said.

"Why, because I want them to grow closer, because I want Rose to know what a good and honorable man he is?" Jack replied.

"No, because you woke the poor girl up early with a silly notion of surprising poor Brandon, especially after you made her wait up late for you to come listen to tales of her day last night," Tommy said grinning.

Both men burst out laughing.