by Zuri Day
“I want you to meet my grandparents,” he told her after she’d sat down.
“Your emaaq and apaaq? I’d love to meet them.”
“Good. We’ll go tomorrow.”
The next day, Atka took Teresa up in his shiny black-and-silver helicopter. She enjoyed the trip more than she’d imagined she would, and from this unique vantage point gained a healthy respect for Alaska’s beautiful terrain. Both wore headsets, but the two-hour trip was mostly silent, Atka and Teresa each lost in their thoughts, enveloped in the beauty and serenity around them.
When they landed, Atka introduced Teresa to Xander, who was smitten at once. “You live in California? Close to Hollywood, the beach and all that?”
“No,” Teresa said, smiling at his wide-eyed enthusiasm. “For the most part, those places are in Southern California. I have cousins who live there. But I’m from Northern California, by San Francisco. Lots of mountains and wide-open spaces, some of which remind me a little of places I’ve seen here.”
“Man, I’d love to visit San Francisco, all those places.”
“Well, I think that’s a trip that can definitely be arranged.”
They left the airstrip and drove one of several trucks parked there to an area that for Teresa was the wilderness for real. Beautiful, to be sure, but Atka’s grandparents’ cabin was in an area more isolated than Teresa could ever imagine living. A line from a childhood ditty danced in her head. “Lions and tigers and bears!”
After a soft knock at the door, it opened. A woman whose weathered face exuded warmth and wisdom appeared. Tendrils of long white hair that had escaped the neat bun at the nape of her neck danced like a halo around her round face. Teresa loved her on sight.
“Epaaq.” Atka spoke in the Yupik language once they’d entered the cozy abode. “This is my friend Teresa.” He turned and spoke in English. “Teresa, this is the love of my life.”
His grandmother put up a finger and wagged it before him. “Your first love,” she said in her native language as Atka translated. “But not your only one.”
Soon after, Atka’s grandfather arrived home. He was somber, and quiet, but welcoming, too. For the next four hours and for the first time in a dwelling other than Atka’s or a designer shop, Teresa felt at home. Though they mostly spoke Yupik, with Atka translating, his grandmother engaged Teresa in steady conversation, and in those moments when she’d share something with Atka obviously meant for just the two of them, she’d look at Teresa and smile. When the time came for dinner, Teresa, Atka and the grandparents all gathered in the small kitchen—laughing, talking, slicing and cooking. The meal was simple, venison stew and corn cakes, but one of the most satisfying meals Teresa had tasted. As they prepared to leave, the women hugged, and it was genuine. Teresa fought back tears.
“I love them,” she said simply as they headed back to where the helicopter awaited.
“The feeling is mutual,” Atka replied. He took her hand. Neither spoke of it, but it was clear. Something settled between them. The possibility of happily-ever-after.
Had it been possible for them to stay in that feeling—how they felt at the home of his grandparents or twenty thousand feet in the air as the sun set—their lives would have been perfect. But they couldn’t stay there. They had to land, come back down to earth. And trouble was waiting.
Chapter 26
“Atka, she’s your mother. You have to take care of her, make sure she’s all right. I understand.”
It was the day after they’d returned from his grandparents’ to the news that Atka’s mother had been rushed to Emergency. The doctors who treated her found elevated blood pressure and heart palpitations. When Atka asked why, he was told simply, “Any number of reasons could have caused this.”
While a heart attack had been ruled out, the doctors wanted to keep her in the hospital for seventy-two hours for tests and observation. Several of her children were there by her side, but she depended on Atka, asking him to do every little thing. Out of respect for Atka and to avoid confrontation, Teresa stayed at the penthouse. Now she was packing. It was time to go home.
“I want you here. I need you with me, papoota.”
“You don’t need me. You have your family. And right now, your needs aren’t what’s most important. What matters most is your mother’s health and getting well. We both know that will happen more quickly if she finds out I’m gone.”
His shoulders slumped. “That was cruel, Teresa.”
“Truth often is.” Her voice softened. “Besides, I’ve been gone for three weeks. It’s time I check in with my own family, have a talk with my dad about the business and, if possible, meet with Gloria to make sure we’re on good terms. It’s a small world, and while I don’t know if she defended me as hard as she could have, she gave me a chance, my first shot in journalism. I want to let her know how much I appreciate it.”
“When will you be back?”
“When will you come to Paradise Cove?”
He shook his head. “I can’t say. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, how everything goes.” He watched her close the last of her luggage. “Are you sure I can’t drive you to the airport?”
“It’ll be easier for me to leave you here. I hate airport goodbyes.”
They hugged and kissed, long and soulful, until the doorbell rang.
Teresa broke away. “My chariot awaits.” She reached for her purse and a carry-on, while Atka took the remaining two suitcases. They quietly descended the stairs.
“Alaska won’t be the same without you,” he whispered, taking her in his arms once again.
She kissed him and cupped his cheek gently. “I won’t be the same without Alaska.”
* * *
After three weeks away, Teresa’s return to what she and Terrell had dubbed the Tee Wing was bittersweet. Her feelings for Atka had grown with every moment she’d spent with him, but the saying about no place being like home was also true. She’d missed her family immensely, and spending time with her friends. She’d missed the familiar comforts of her hometown and all of her things. As much as all that meant to her, it was a scheduled doctor’s appointment that truly made her smile. For the past week and a half she’d felt back to normal, completely free of pain. An X-ray would confirm what she knew intuitively, that she was finally healed.
She’d just finished unpacking and was headed downstairs, when her mother appeared in the doorway.
“Teresa, you’re back!”
“Yes, Mom.” She walked over and into Jennifer’s embrace. “Did you miss me?”
“Terribly. Are you hungry?”
“No, Atka and I shared a nice brunch before I left for the airport.”
“Any errands to run or articles to write?”
Teresa frowned. “No. Why?”
Jennifer grabbed her hand and walked them toward the sitting room. “Because I’m dying to hear all about your time with Atka in Alaska, and whether you believe this can all work out!”
“Mom!” Teresa protested, but secretly she was happy to be able to talk with her mother, who’d also become one of her best friends. “Well, I can say... I no longer hate Alaska.”
“Ha! It’s growing on you?”
“Now, wait. Slow your roll. I’m not ready to pack bags or anything. But I did gain an appreciation for the beauty of the state, and the serenity. And I was relieved to see that Anchorage, while not San Francisco, is a city with a lot of what I thought did not exist on the frontier. I couldn’t live there year-round, but for a month or two...maybe.”
“So it sounds like you and Atka are getting closer to...making things more official maybe?”
“Not if his family has anything to say about it.”
Jennifer was taken aback. “His family was not accepting of you?” Surprise became attitude and then morphed into ang
er.
“His parents and older sister would rather he marry a native.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. We’re going down that road?”
“Yes, even though his father is black.”
“What? His dad is African-American?”
Teresa nodded. “Actually, I think he may be mixed, but still, it’s pretty crazy that she’d be so against me. Atka has tried to get me to see it from her perspective. They are already a very small community. With each mixed marriage, they lose a little more of their heritage, and history.”
Jennifer crossed her arms, leaving no room for compassion. “What did Atka say? What did he do?”
“Defended me at every turn. And he wasn’t alone. I get along with half of his family. And his grandparents? I simply adore them. But his mother? I sent her to the emergency room.”
Over the next hour, she filled her mother in on the trip to Alaska. Midway through the conversation, the two changed into workout clothes and walked the neighborhood.
“Meeting some of the women from other metropolises, with similar backgrounds, was probably the best thing that happened. I’ve started a blog, Mom. And I’m really excited.”
“Sounds like you’ve rebounded from the Chronicle mess.”
“Yes. It didn’t end the way I would have liked, and I still plan to speak with Gloria. I hope we can maintain a professional relationship. But I’m done with the Campbells and backbencher Bill is also in my rearview mirror. I appreciate the experience that working at the Chronicle gave me, and the perspective. I no longer believe that a traditional journalism position is the best route for me. I’m going to come back and work part-time for the business, and spend the rest of the time developing my blog.”
“Speaking of developments, there have been a few around here that you might find interesting.”
Teresa frowned, clearly perplexed. “What?”
“Let’s just say that the Drake men and some of their close business associates have taken a very close interest in the Anchorage mayoral race. They want to ensure that the salmon filling our lakes is indeed the best, as Atka has planned, and that the waters in and around Bristol Bay remain unpolluted.”
“Mom, what are you saying? What did Dad do?”
“Honey, Paul’s opponent was being outspent by almost ten to one. He and some of his business associates have simply leveled the playing field. That’s all.”
Her mother kept talking and Teresa kept trying to listen. But every time her mother said the word Alaska, Atka’s image came to mind, blocking out everything else, including her mother’s conversation.
Back in Alaska, Atka wasn’t faring much better.
* * *
“Atka! Just the person I was looking for!” Sinclair Salmon’s CFO walked into Atka’s office and casually tossed a report on his desk. “Take a look at those numbers and tell me what you think.”
Atka shifted his attention from the window to the paper in front of him, the one containing a couple numbers and a whole bunch of zeros. He nodded. “Nice work.”
“Nice work? Nice work is when the neighbor boy properly cleans snow from the driveway. Nice work is getting within two feet of the ninth hole. Nice work is the job the painter did on your living room. A report like the one you’re reviewing, with the type of growth projection and company profit, is a bit more than nice, don’t you think?”
“Of course. My mind is preoccupied right now. I’ll look at this and get back with you.”
Atka watched his CFO slink out of his office. He didn’t blame him for being disappointed in his boss’s reaction. He’d probably worked very hard on the information contained in the document, undoubtedly crunching numbers until the wee hours of the morning. Atka would make it up to him later. After he figured out what to do about Teresa, and the fact that he’d fallen in love with a woman his family didn’t feel his best match. Theirs was a close-knit bunch whom he rarely went against. Until now. He saw a side of Teresa that his family couldn’t grasp, and that he couldn’t explain to them. Heck, he couldn’t even explain it to himself. He’d barely known her a month. Their physical locations were miles apart and social circles equally distant. With a million-dollar business to run in Anchorage, he couldn’t relocate. Yet it didn’t look as though Teresa would move, either. An improbable union. An impossible situation.
And Atka couldn’t see himself spending his life without her.
His ringing cell phone interrupted his musings. He looked at the caller ID and smiled. “Teresa! I was just thinking about you.”
“Oh? What were you thinking?”
“About how I could somehow convince you to come to Alaska for the rest of your life.”
“Funny, but I was thinking the same thing about you and Paradise Cove.”
“Speaking of, I just scanned the figures of the projected profits, should the national lakes project be realized. Let’s just say it would definitely warrant my having a residence in Paradise Valley, not Paradise Cove.”
“How do you figure?”
“It’s beautiful out there where your brother lives. We already discussed it, while you and Charlie were otherwise engaged. If I build there, Warren and I will be neighbors.”
“Oh? And where will I be?”
“Right beside me, baby.”
“I can see it now, me on one side and your mother on the other, deftly placing her arm around you to try to stab my back! How is she, by the way?”
“She’s fine. The doctors couldn’t find anything seriously wrong with her.”
“Nothing that my leaving your life wouldn’t cure.”
Atka chose to ignore the comment. Had it been the other way around, he’d be frustrated, too. “They attributed her symptoms to stress, diet and lack of exercise. We’ve enlisted some of her older grandchildren to visit after school and force her to go walking. My sister is making sure she eats healthier. We’re all encouraging her to step back and trust the children she’s raised, now adults, to make the right choices as we live our lives.”
“I’m sure that comment sent her pressure right through the roof.”
“She got a little testy.”
“I’m glad she’s better.”
“Me, too. How is your family?”
“Everyone’s fine.”
And they were, until twenty-four hours later, when the Paradise Cove Chronicle newspaper hit the stands.
Chapter 27
The morning started out as a typical Tuesday. Teresa got up, had a quick bite, then with her ankle back in working order, joined Monique for a morning jog. They’d gone back to her house for orange juice and a quick bit of girl talk. Niko had left for the office. Monique went upstairs to change. Teresa scrolled her phone, ending up on her newspaper account, reading the feed.
A new question-and-answer column caught her eye, added since she’d quit the paper. She wondered if it had also been added to the print edition or only online. It was a good idea. She was a bit envious that she hadn’t thought of it herself. She became even more intrigued when she saw that the first question contained her name.
I really enjoyed the series on Alaska written by Teresa Drake, and have noticed her absence in the last two issues. Please tell me she’s just on vacation!
Signed,
A Traveler, Too.
Had she stopped there, the day would have continued to be lovely. But she read on:
Dear A Traveler, Too:
It would seem that you are not the only one who fell in love with Alaska. A little birdie told me that Ms. Drake became quite cozy with a certain businessman who happens to live in the last frontier, and boarded a plane headed to that very destination almost a month ago. No one at the paper, or in Paradise Cove, has seen her since. So if she’s on vacation, it would appear to be a permanent one, with benefits.
<
br /> Signed,
A Babbling Brook.
As if Bill Brook’s inappropriate answer wasn’t enough, a clear, color picture was beneath his response. It was one of her and Atka, snuggling and laughing, at the Glacier Brewhouse. Teresa immediately remembered the moment. It was when they’d gone to dinner with Ryan and Jake, a natural-born comedian. He’d made a joke, and she’d cracked up, leaning against Atka in the process. Ryan and Jake had been cropped out of the picture. The lighting had been shopped to look subdued. At a glance, it looked as if Teresa was staring into Atka’s eyes lovingly, and smiling like a schoolgirl. There was probably a time or two during her stay when this actually happened. But this night, in this picture, was not one of them. When it came to how she was feeling, livid was too kind a word.
Monique came downstairs.
“That asshole!”
“Who? What?”
Teresa slammed the phone into Monique’s hand and walked away. A moment later, Monique joined her by the patio doors.
“Why is he doing this? What business is it of his or anyone’s where you are or what you’re doing?”
“Bill is an angry, bitter old man. It wasn’t enough to hijack my article. It wasn’t enough for me to quit. He’s still punishing me for something that is not my fault.” She whirled around. “He’s been angry at me since I left for Alaska. I’m getting ready to go over and give him a real reason to be angry with me. I’m going to go over there and—”
“Teresa? What is it?”
“That’s what he wants.”
“His butt kicked courtesy of Teresa Drake?”
“Maybe, he might be bitter and kinky, too.”
Teresa was not amused. Her eyes narrowed as she turned around. “I know what he wants.”
“What’s that?”
“What all journalists want—the story. He wants me to confront him, go off, to say things that he can capture on a hidden camera with tape rolling. He wants the town to know about me and Atka, and for the way we met to be seen as unprofessional. He wants to try to ruin my reputation. That’s what this is all about. That backbencher is trying to take me down or, better yet, get me to a point where I lose it and say something he can misconstrue to take myself down, get me bad-mouthed or blackballed in the industry.”