Summer of the Midnight Sun

by Tracie Peterson

  He turned and found Helaina looking at him quite earnestly.

  That she would join him on this search for Leah and Jayce touched him deeply. “You don’t need to do that,” he said softly, “but you are kind to offer.”

  She shook her head, bits of blond hair pulling away from the haphazard bun she’d secured only minutes before they’d come into town. “You shouldn’t go alone. This is a difficult enough situation when you have someone at your side to help bear the load. I won’t let you do this by yourself.”

  Jacob saw her determination. He wouldn’t try to stop her. He still didn’t know who she really was or why she’d come north, but there was no doubt she felt sympathy for his situation. She might even feel some sense of responsibility, given she’d stepped into Leah’s shoes for the past few months.

  “All right. We’ll go together. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, though. If you need to make your way back to the expedition headquarters, I’ll understand. If we haven’t found Leah and Jayce, however, I’ll have to say no to helping Captain Latimore until I figure out what’s happened.”

  “I’m sure he’ll understand that, Jacob. Your family should come first.”

  Helaina waited impatiently for Jacob to return with their tickets to Sitka. She was angry with herself for pretending to care about Jacob’s situation, while at the same time she knew it wasn’t entirely a facçade. She didn’t want him to face the possibility of his sister’s death by himself, yet she was really more interested in knowing the fate of Jayce Kincaid. Jacob had already told her that Leah’s letter mentioned she and Jayce would return together on the ship Orion’s Belt out of Ketchikan. This had intrigued Helaina, who was still trying to figure out how it was that Jayce could have been north with Captain Latimore, while also being in Ketchikan with Leah. She had just about convinced herself that there were two men—both using the name Jayce Kincaid. But which was the real one—who was the criminal that she sought? She had wanted to ask Jacob about the matter, but she feared bringing up the fact that she’d opened and read his letter. And besides, she couldn’t be sure what side he might take if he knew the truth of why she’d come to Alaska.

  Helaina sighed. She would just have to ponder the matter alone.

  Kincaid had never been photographed, but the man who had tried to kill her brother was the spitting image of the man she’d known as Jayce Kincaid. She’d even written to Stanley on the subject. His reply was simply Bring him back.

  “We can’t leave until the day after tomorrow,” Jacob said in frustration. “I tried everything, but there’s nothing. We’re lucky to get this one—it’s a freighter headed to Seattle. We can get off partway and try to get a ship headed to Sitka after that.

  “There aren’t as many ships coming north—pretty soon there won’t be any. The weather has been much worse than usual, and everyone thinks it’s going to be a real danger to keep sending ships up here. The days are slipping away fast, and before you know it the ice will keep captains from risking their livelihood.”

  “I heard ships often come here and dock out in the unfrozen portions of sea. Then people are sledded across the frozen water to Nome,” Helaina said, looking out across the gray waters.

  “True enough, but nothing is ever predictable. Sometimes the ships can make it through and sometimes they can’t. Eventually the risk is too great and they wait for spring. So many elements are in play. But it doesn’t matter. We’ll leave when we can. If there isn’t a ship home, John and Oopick will see to our things and the dogs. Nothing is as important as knowing whether Leah and Jayce are safe.”

  “But, Jacob,” she said, hesitant to bring up the subject, “what if . . . well . . . what if you don’t find them? Ships go down all the time and lives are lost and never accounted for.” Helaina had already been struggling with this thought. If they had no account of Jayce’s death, she would always wonder if he hadn’t just slipped away again.

  Jacob looked at her for a moment, and the anger shone clear in his eyes. “You always have to look on the bad side of everything, don’t you? If you would just stop trying to be God in your own life, you might realize He has the ability to bring things around right.”

  Jacob stalked off down the street, leaving Helaina to watch after him in frustrated silence. She wanted to call after him or even run after him and tell him how wrong he was. She wanted to declare for all around that she didn’t always think the worst. But instead, Jacob’s words about God troubled her more than her desire to have the last word.

  He’d accused her of trying to be God in her own life. How ridiculous, she thought. How silly to imagine that anyone would attempt to take on a job like that. But in refusing God’s direction in her life, she supposed there was a certain element of truth in what Jacob said. And for reasons beyond her ability to understand just yet, that bothered her more than she could explain.

  ————

  Leah awoke to stillness. Absolute stillness. There was no wind—no rocking motion. Startled, she sat up to find they had actually beached on land. She thought for a moment that she might be dreaming.

  Heavy clouds overhead began to sprinkle down rain. Leah looked for Jayce, but couldn’t find him anywhere. More startling was the fact that Bethel was missing. Had she passed on during the night? Had Jayce simply slipped her body into the sea to keep from causing Leah to endure another funeral?

  A sort of panic welled up in her. “Jayce!”

  She got to her feet and realized that the boat was empty of their few supplies, including the tarp. “Jayce!”

  Then she saw him. He came bounding out of the woods, waving his arms. “I’m here. It’s all right. I’m here.”

  She ran to him as rain began to fall in earnest. “I thought I’d lost you,” she cried against his neck. “Oh, where were you?”

  “Putting the finishing touches on our shelter. I just got Bethel secured and was coming back for you. Come on, we’re getting wet.”

  Leah let him lead her into the forest of spruce and alder. “Bethel’s all right, then?”

  “She’s resting again. I think she’s just suffered such a shock that it’s been hard on her heart. Watch your step here.” He helped her over some fallen trees.

  “Yes, I thought that too. Perhaps I can find some plants here to help her.” Leah looked around the shore. “Where are we, by the way?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’m thinking it might be Baranof Island.”

  “Then we’d not be far from Sitka,” she said, looking as far down the shore as her eyes could see.

  “If it is Baranof, we’re probably well away from Sitka. Probably the south end of the island. I was here for a time eight or so years ago. It looks somewhat familiar to me, but I can’t be sure.”

  “Well, at least it’s land,” Leah said. “That’s fine with me. I know how to survive here. Out there,” she said, motioning back toward the water, “is another story.”

  They came upon the small camp. He’d done well, Leah thought. He’d placed them in a protected area where large rocks created a natural wall and willows made it easy to implement the tarp to make a shelter. She shed her life jacket and tossed it inside.

  “Bethel, how are you feeling?” Leah asked as she crawled under the canvas.

  “I’m better, but so very weary. I feel as though I haven’t eaten in months.”

  “We plan to rectify that situation soon,” Leah said. “I can make a trap and set it out to catch us something to eat. Plus there are all sorts of berries on this island. They are probably very picked over by the wildlife and natives, but we’ll find food. You’ll see.”

  Jayce smiled at her. “I knew we were in good hands,” he said teasingly.

  Bethel eased back on her bed of spruce boughs, using her life jacket for a pillow. “I can rest now, knowing that we’re all safe.”

  The rain poured down but there was no wind, and for this Leah was very grateful. She looked around the little camp and found Jayce had tried to secure what few things they
had. The water pot was there, half full with rainwater, and Jayce had shed his coat to let it dry over another stack of boughs.

  “So how are we set for supplies? I see you must have a knife, because you’ve cut down the branches,” she said, meeting his gaze.

  “I have a knife, a compass, a comb, some money, and a belt. And, of course, my clothes,” Jayce said. “Not really much to speak of.”

  “At least we have a knife. That means a lot,” Leah said, reaching into her mukluks. “And we have these.” She took out the matches and held them up.

  “You brilliant girl,” Jayce said, a grin spreading across his face. “Now we can keep warm.”

  “And cook food,” Leah added. “If we catch some.”

  “We’ll find something. I’ll see to that.”

  “One thing we can get relatively soon is fish,” Leah said. “If you make a circle of rocks on the tide floor, stack them high, but not so high as to be out of the water when the tide is in, we can trap fish. When the tide comes in, the fish will collect in the trap, and when the tide goes back out, they will be unable to swim over the rocks.”

  He got up and took his coat. “I can get to work on that right now. The tide is out and the rain isn’t so bad as to keep me from accomplishing the job. Can you build a fire?”

  “Yes. I can do that. Bethel will be resting anyway,” Leah said, noting that the old woman was already snoring.

  They each went to their separate tasks. Leah knew how to dig out dried kindling from beneath the heavy forest ground covering. Here she also found logs, dried and brittle from years of hidden neglect. Before long, she had a fire blazing between an opening in the canvas and the rocky outcropping. The smoke climbed the wall of stone and was smothered in the rain.

  Jayce returned just as Bethel was awaking. Leah couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of him with his rolled up wool trousers. He carried his boots and socks in hand. “I hope that works. I’m soaked to the bone, and my feet and legs are frozen. If we don’t get any fish, it won’t be for lack of effort.”

  “Could I have a drink?” Bethel asked.

  “Certainly. Here, let me help you sit up,” Leah offered. Jayce took up the little pottery bowl and handed it to Leah. “We all have to share one vessel, I’m sorry to say. But after what we’ve all come through, I’m sure this is the least of our worries.”

  Bethel drank her fill, then let Leah help her reposition in order to sit up for a while. Leaning back against the rock, Bethel offered them both a smile. “I have lived through worse, but not much.”

  “Where are you from, Bethel?” Jayce asked, settling down to warm himself by the fire.

  “I was actually born and raised in California. Then I married a man of God who desired to come north to preach the gospel to the natives of this new territory. We lived most of our life near Prince of Wales and Kotzebue.”

  “I know that area well,” Leah replied. “I live in Last Chance Creek, not far from Cape Woolley. My brother and I often go to that area to trade and collect furs.”

  “Why, we were practically neighbors,” Bethel said with a nod.

  “Is your husband still living?” Jayce asked.

  “I’m sorry to say I lost him last year. We had just celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary not but the day before.” Tears came to the old woman’s eyes. “I’m afraid it is still difficult to talk about. I miss him a great deal.”

  Leah patted the woman’s arm. “You needn’t cause yourself pain on our account. Tell us instead about your life as a missionary. How fascinating that must have been. When did you go north?”

  Bethel composed herself a bit and then spoke. “We married in 1864. The Civil War was going on, and people were fighting bitterly in the east. In California, gold fever and other problems consumed the minds of men. My husband suggested we get involved with ministering to the poor souls who came to pan for gold only to lose everything, including the shirt off their backs. We spent a time in California and Nevada, but it was never what my husband really wanted. One day in the late 1870s he came in to me. He had heard about a man who was setting up schools and missions in Alaska. Have you heard of Sheldon Jackson?”

  “Of course,” Leah said. The man had been responsible for starting many missions and schools in her area as well. There had also been an interesting experiment with introducing reindeer stations that had caused quite a stir among the natives.

  “Dr. Jackson encouraged us to come to Sitka first, and then he persuaded us to go west to Teller and the other places I mentioned.”

  “So you’ve been in Alaska all these years,” Leah said, shaking her head. “You’ve seen the gold rushes come and go but have remained to outlive the sensation of it all.”

  “True enough,” Bethel replied. “We raised three lovely girls up there. Caroline is the oldest. She loved the land and remained, whereas the others went south. I was just returning from a trip to see them. That’s why I was on the ship.”

  “We were heading home too,” Leah said, unable to keep the longing from her voice. “My brother and I have lived in Last Chance for over ten years.”

  “Do you know the Kjellmann’s, then?” Bethel asked.

  “They are dear friends. Emma is like the sister I never had,” Leah admitted.

  “What do you do there?”

  “In the past, my brother ran the mail in the winter. He was awarded the contract for several smaller villages, but this year he decided to forego it.”

  Bethel looked to Jayce, asking, “But why would you do that?

  What else will you do for a job?”

  Jayce laughed. “I’m not her brother, but I think I can speak for him. He’s been asked to help with an Arctic exploration. I was to be a part of that as well. I think Jacob plans to put things in order so that he can attempt that trip next year.”

  “We also run a trading post of sorts,” Leah threw out. “We’ll still have that, and Jacob will no doubt have to run for supplies throughout the winter.”

  Bethel seemed to consider this a moment, then turned back to Jayce. “If you aren’t the brother, then who are you?”

  “I hope to be the husband,” he said, throwing a wink at Leah.

  “I haven’t asked her yet, but I’m working up to it.”

  Bethel laughed. “I promise not to say a word.”

  Leah looked at Jayce in dumbfounded silence. Surely he hadn’t just said what she thought he’d said. Did he just say that he planned to marry me?

  Her heart pounded in her ears, blocking out Bethel and Jayce’s conversation. After all they’d been through—all the pain and years of absence—had Jayce really just proposed in his roundabout way?

  Chapter Twenty-three

  What do you mean we can’t go out and search?” Jacob asked a man at the Sitka docks. “I’m willing to pay you good money.”

  Their trip from Nome hadn’t been easy or fast, and now he was feeling the stress of not knowing if Leah and Jayce had survived. There had been no word. Bodies had been recovered, but identifying them was difficult. Jacob had gone to the makeshift morgue to see if any of them were Leah or Jayce. To his relief, they weren’t among the dead, but that relief was short-lived.

  “Look around you, mister,” the older man declared. “This weather ain’t right for being on the water. I know you’re worried. Other folks here are worried as well. We’ll go when things calm down.”

  Jacob knew the man was right. The ocean was pitching and roiling; he’d never have attempted such a sea at home. The chill in the air offered him no comfort as he thought of Leah being lost out there on the water—or worse. He tried not to think of all the possibilities.

  For several moments he just stood staring at the angry gray waters. Somewhere out there, he fervently believed, Leah and Jayce were struggling to survive . . . and he couldn’t help them. It had been nearly two weeks since Orion’s Belt went down. How could he not know what had happened? How could he just stand idly by and wait?

  When he came back to t
he hotel, Helaina was there to meet him. “What happened? Any word?”

  “No,” Jacob said. “The weather has made it impossible to search. Short of those boats that made it into various ports, there haven’t been reports of other survivors. They aren’t finding any more bodies. The search has pretty much been called off.”

  “I’m sorry, Jacob.”

  They sat down in the lobby of the hotel and said nothing for several minutes. Jacob didn’t like the feeling of helplessness that washed over him. He had fought so hard to get this far, and now there was nothing he could do but wait.

  “Have you had any word from your family?” Helaina prompted.

  “Adrik is searching with some of the men from his area. He plans to work his way up the island coast and then in Sitka after that. He thought we could work together.” Jacob stared off into space. Leah was smart and very capable. Jayce too. If they’d made it to a lifeboat, they would be capable of surviving. He was sure of it. He prayed for them—for all the passengers of Orion’s Belt—but it didn’t feel like enough.

  “So where is God in all of this?” Helaina’s tone told him that she wasn’t merely trying to stir up trouble; she really wanted answers. Answers Jacob wasn’t sure he could come up with.

  “Sometimes it’s hard to understand why things like this happen,” Jacob said, trying to relax in the chair. “I know I’ve questioned God several times in my life, and I always see the answer later, or else God gives me a peace about it. Like when my ma died. I didn’t see any good purpose in that, but later, I realized she’d always been kind of fragile and weak. She might have lived on like that and my pa would never have been able to endure it. I figure he would have left all of us—not because he didn’t care about us, but because he wouldn’t have been able to watch my ma die day by day. That would have broken my mother’s heart. At least she died feeling loved and cared about.”

  “I still see no good reason for my parents and husband to be murdered. I know you say there is probably a good reason—something God wants to teach me in all of this—but I don’t see it. Those kinds of lessons are cruel. Like now.”