As he walked toward her, she moved uneasily. What if things weren’t as she remembered? What if he did not feel this intensity that had overtaken her as soon as the Fair Alaska drew near? What if he did not love her as she loved him? What if things had changed in the three weeks they had been apart?
Yet as he came closer, she could see the love in his eyes. And she knew that all her fears were for naught. Karl Martensen loved her with all the passion and intensity she felt for him. When he reached her, he took her hand and, bending low, kissed it with reverence. Then, before anyone could see, he quickly kissed the inside of her wrist. It sent butterflies to her stomach, and she grinned back at him as he straightened, still tenderly holding her hand.
“I’ve missed you, Karl.”
“And I, you. I told you that you ought to come with me.” He offered Elsa his arm, and they walked up the beach on newly constructed stairs to the Storm Roadhouse.
“It wasn’t the place for children. It being your first voyage with passengers and all.”
“Kristian and Eve are well behaved. And at some point they’ll have to travel with us.”
“At some point,” she repeated, relishing the idea of traveling together and never parting. “Is that when I captain your ship?”
“How about we make a deal? You take her out of port to our destination, and I’ll bring her home.”
“I will be content with any arrangement, Karl. Truly. I agree with you. This last separation proved to me that I don’t want to leave your side again. If we are to be together, let us be together. And soon,” she said urgently, squeezing his arm.
“It can’t be soon enough for me,” he said in a suggestive whisper as they entered the grand house. “Remind me why we’re waiting to marry?”
“Tora waited on me for months. I ought to be able to wait a few weeks for her return.”
“She obviously wasn’t as much in love as we are,” he said lowly, making Elsa laugh. They walked through the front foyer and into the dining hall.
In one corner the small orchestra that traveled aboard Karl’s ship entertaining the guests was setting up as Christina and Jessica—dressed in their finest—brought guests elegant hors d’oeuvres of smoked salmon, caviar, shrimp, and red beef. A waiter served the finest beverages available in the Storms’ crystal wedding flutes.
The clinking of glasses brought Bradford Bresley forward, and he waited patiently for the crowd to quiet. “Thank you for joining us for the thirty-fifth Storm Roadhouse opening. As a joint venture, Trent generously allowed a few of us to take stakes in his roadhouses in Juneau and here in Ketchikan, so it is with some mirth that I now can call myself an innkeeper.”
The crowd laughed obligingly.
“Trent and Tora Storm could not join us today because they are otherwise engaged.” He coughed conspiratorially and again was rewarded with laughs. “But we neophytes at innkeeping will try to get through this on our own. So, a toast.” Every adult in the room raised a crystal flute. “To prosperity and fond memories.”
“To prosperity and fond memories,” the crowd said as one.
“Do I dispute a land claim here?” Soren asked, as soon as he was inside the door of the Juneau land office.
“You can take it up with me,” said a clerk, moving to an open portion of counter and waving him forward.
“I had parcel 1155 registered in my name, Soren Janssen,” he said, spreading out his original deed. “I worked it, had tracer mine materials on site.”
“And?”
“Another man brought in a crew while I was here in town, used my equipment, and found the gold that was meant for me.”
The clerk looked more closely at the deed. “Claim-jumpers, eh? Parcel 1155…Yes, I read about this one. They struck it big, didn’t they?”
Soren only responded with a scowl.
The clerk’s smile faded, and he looked again at the deed. “Says here that your claim was up in November of last year. You renew? Pay the taxes?”
“I was here in town, working. I assumed I could renew it at my leisure.”
“You assumed wrong. When the taxes go unpaid and the claim lapses, it’s fair game.” He turned to a large book behind him and let it slam to the counter, then he paged through until he found what he wanted. “Didn’t you say your name was Janssen?”
“Yes.”
“This mine is registered to a Janssen.”
“I know.”
“Hmm. Cat-gee,” he said slowly, trying to sound out her name. “A brother or cousin? Seen that a time or two. Liable to tear a family in two.”
“Kaatje. My wife.”
The clerk snorted and then hid his smile behind a hand. He swatted the clerk nearest him. “This man lost his claim to his wife.” They both broke out in undisguised laughter. “Not getting along with the missus, eh? I’d suggest you reconcile, or you’re out your gold. There ain’t a lick I can do for you.”
Soren turned and left without another word, ignoring the second peal of laughter exploding behind him. Would the humiliation never end? It wasn’t enough that she blocked his every attempt to make something of himself. Now she had gone and stolen from him. And there was no getting it turned back around.
He placed his hat on his head and straightened the brim. Reconciliation. He and Kaatje had never been further from it. Not that he was ready to pursue it again, after all the embarrassment she’d put him through.
She had taken up with Walker. She’d led Soren on while cheating on him and cheating him of his gold.
Sure she didn’t know about it.
He didn’t buy that explanation for a moment. Soren looked one way and then the other as he stood at the street in front of the claim office. What was there for him to do now? No wife to win, no mine to claim. He felt all tied up inside, like an angry bull brought down and bound at the hooves. It made him want to run or chop down trees or swim back to Ketchikan and give that James Walker the licking he begged for.
Ketchikan. He would go back, and one way or another, set things to rights.
But first he wanted a drink. It had been far too long since he had indulged in a decent pint of whiskey. If there ever was a perfect night for it, this was it.
Karl smiled as he smoked a rare, celebratory cigar with the other men out back of the hotel, and then walked farther out, away from the lights of the house. Kristian followed every step he made, as he had since Karl’s arrival. “Yes, there they are!” Karl exclaimed. He bent to point the northern lights out to the boy, and Kristian hopped up and down.
“Can I go tell the others?”
“Yes. Let’s do. They’ll all want to see them.” It was a remarkable show, in deep red and purple against a black sky. He dropped his cigar to the ground and mashed it with his heel until no spark remained. Then he hurried toward the roadhouse after Kristian, taking the stairs two at a time. Since returning from Seattle, he had been aching to get Elsa alone, to properly bestow his engagement treasure on her. Now was the time—he knew how much she loved the northern lights.
“Hey, everyone!” Kristian yelled. “Come and see. The northern lights are out! The northern lights!”
As Karl knew they would, the people came at once, chattering and laughing, a party en masse. But he grabbed Elsa as she passed. “Not you.”
“But I want to see!”
“And so you shall. But it’ll be a private showing.” He gently took a sleepy Eve from her arms, handing the girl off to Mrs. Hodge, and then offered Elsa his hand. It gratified him as she coyly slipped her long fingers in his. How good it felt to hold even her hand! What would it feel like to hold the rest of her in his arms, with no need to relinquish her again? They walked around the house to the back as the others went to the front, and continued on, climbing the high hill. From the ship he’d seen that there was a clearing at the top—he hoped it was as perfect as he thought it might be.
It was. Elsa gasped as he helped her sit on a wide stump, then knelt at her side. Trees angled down on either side of the
ir private auditorium giving them a perfect view of the mountain range and the colors that climbed the sky in slashes above them. The aubergine lights were vertical as the magenta stripes crossed them.
“It looks like a wild Scottish plaid,” Elsa whispered.
“Or a very rare zebra.”
Elsa laughed, the sound of it like a wind chime in his head.
“Elsa, I bought something for you in Seattle.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” He reached inside his pocket for the velvet-covered box. “It’s a ring. I want to put it on your finger. You can see it once we’re nearer the house. But I wanted to give it to you here, on this perfect night.” He took her hand in his and slipped it along her finger. “We’ll have to get it sized—”
She hushed him with the fingers on her other hand. “It’s perfect.”
“But you can’t see it.”
“Karl, it’s perfect.” She leaned over to him, tilting her head slightly for a kiss, and he gladly obliged.
“We have to wait until Tora returns? “ he asked urgently, as they parted.
“Until Tora returns,” she said firmly.
He rose and nudged her to the side of the giant stump, then sat down beside her. He put an arm around her, liking how she fit in the crook of his arm, and pulled her close. “Have you thought about what we’ll do once at sea? I mean, really thought about it? You’ve been a captain for some time, and, truthfully, it will be difficult for me to stand down as first mate.”
“There needn’t be such conflict. My joy is just being at sea. Let’s begin together, with the children, and see where it leads. I will be content for some time simply to be your wife and the mother of my children, if not forever. I have much to keep me busy between Kristian, Eve, and my painting.”
“It would bring me much joy if it could work that way.”
“And if it didn’t?”
“Then we’d have to reassess.”
“Good. As long as there’s freedom to reassess at any time, then I will feel free to relax and enjoy my lot.”
“Your lot? It sounds like a prison sentence.”
“Hardly.” She turned his chin to her and kissed him. “I cannot wait to begin our life together, Karl. You have brought me such joy—What I feel inside is almost inexpressible.”
“I know what you’re saying. I never knew joy could be so—complete.”
“Our Father in heaven has been merciful in letting us find each other. As more than friends this time.”
“I agree. There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not on my knees, praying for his protection over you and the children. Thanking him for all I’ve been given. Life is rich, Elsa, so rich with you.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder and watched the lights. “They’re waning.”
“Saying good-bye.”
“They can go. I’m content after their show. And eager to see my ring.”
“Then come. I am eager to see your reaction.” He pulled her up and tucked her hand in his arm, taking care as they picked their way down the rocky hillside in the dark of night. When they neared the roadhouse again, they paused underneath the warm light of the kitchen window.
“It is magnificent, Karl. Thank you. I am honored.”
“There are rubies to signify our deep love, sapphires to symbolize the deep blue sea on which we’ll travel together until the end of our days, and emeralds for the trees along the shoreline of our home.”
“I think there are more traditional meanings to the jewels,” she teased.
“You don’t care for mine?” He pretended to be hurt.
She laughed. “Of course. I would take your explanation over a jeweler’s any day of the week.”
“Good. Then come.”
“Where are we going?”
“Why, to announce our engagement, of course.”
twenty-six
June 1889
With each bottle of whiskey Soren consumed, he became more clear of what had to happen. Yesterday’s newspaper story had proved the mine was a roaring success, sending hundreds of others to begin their own mines all around what had once been his. But it wasn’t as if he could go out and begin again. Not after he had been the one to start it all. No. He had to reclaim what was rightfully his, and to do that he would have to win Kaatje back. As her husband, what was hers was his. Her punishment would come later. After they lived again together as man and wife. Then she would understand her place again. Oh, how she would understand!
“Hurry up!” he demanded of the small steamer pilot as they made their way to Ketchikan. After three days on the boat, he figured they were close. All he cared about was convincing Kaatje that they could not tarry any longer. Again he ran through his mind his rationale to convince Kaatje. They had a life ahead of them; it was as God ordained, for a husband and wife to be together; there were the children to think about; and they were set financially. What else did they need? Eventually, love would be rekindled.
As the thickly forested banks drifted by and the small boiler rattled on like a wheezy old man, Soren’s mind drifted back to their days together on the Dakota prairie. They had been happy for a time there. He had sworn off other women and focused on desiring only his wife. And their union had been fruitful; Christina was born within the year. If they had had a son, perhaps it would’ve kept him home—a boy needed his father. But in time, his attentions had drifted, to their French neighbor, so enticing with her long, dark hair, and then on to the promises of Montana, and still later, Alaska.
He hit his fist into the palm of his other hand. His drifting had paid off, had it not? The mine was what he had been led to. All his work, all his wandering, had led him to it! He had worked so hard. For them. For their future. And she had stolen it from him! Yes, Kaatje had two choices. She would return as his wife, or she would sign the claim back over to him. But he didn’t want just the mine. He wanted Kaatje. He wanted his wife. He had worked since last September—nine long months—to win her back. Soren hit his palm again. How could she tease him like that? Pretend she was interested, then run off with Walker? Plot against him? It infuriated him.
“There she is,” the pilot said, the only three words he had spoken in the days they had traveled together. Soren had not minded the silence.
His heart pounded as they got closer. He looked from the roadhouse to the Fair Alaska. He needed a drink, but he had thrown the last empty whiskey bottle over the edge of the steamer the day before. He could see children playing on the banks in front of the roadhouse, collecting treasures from the rocky beach.
He easily picked out Christina and Jess from the others. His eyes focused on his girls. They needed their father now, he told himself, convincing himself with the very words he planned to use on Kaatje. They would soon be of marrying age, and in this land, where there were a hundred men for each woman, they would need him around to protect them. When they saw him, they hopped up and down, waving. He waved back. Kristian sprinted off, to share the good news of his arrival, no doubt. Jessica ran out on the pier to greet him.
The ferry pilot pulled alongside the pier and expertly tied her off. Soren grabbed his satchel, slung it over his shoulder, and climbed the wooden ladder to them. “Hello!” he bellowed, picking up Christina and kissing her loudly, then doing the same to Jess. “How are my girls?”
“Very well, thank you,” Christina said properly.
“We’ve missed you, Father,” Jessica said.
“I’ve told you to call me Papa!”
“Yes, Papa.” She slipped her hand in his.
“Let’s go see your mother.” Jessica kept her hand in his, and Christina walked backward in front of them, chattering about the grand opening of the roadhouse.
“Is the pilot going to stay overnight?” she asked.
“I suppose. I didn’t ask. Watch your step!” he said urgently as they reached the end of the pier. She turned and rushed up the stairs, waiting for him to get to the top. Once there, she took his other hand. So
ren grinned. With one of the girls on either arm, how could Kaatje rebuff him?
Guests meandered about, watching him as if he were a circus curiosity. Kaatje emerged from among them, wiping her hands on a linen apron over her hips. There was no smile on her face as he neared, just an expression of sorrow. “Soren.”
“Kaatje.”
“Girls, would you excuse us, please?” They parted but a few feet. “Inside.” Kaatje looked at the girls, her tone sharper this time. They scurried into the roadhouse.
“Kaatje—”
“Come. Let us walk.”
He offered his arm, but she ignored him, leading the way toward the small grove of cedars that he had hidden in the previous week, as he’d watched his wife and her lover. As soon as they were away from the guests, she whirled. “What are you doing here, Soren? I thought after our last conversation that you would be off to some new territory.”
“Not without my mine,” he groused. Hold, he told himself. Watch it, Soren.
“I have thought about the mine,” she said, leaning against a tree with her hands behind her. “Let us talk this out, Soren. Can we not do that? There was a time—long ago—when we could speak without arguing.”
He nodded, hoping to look conciliatory, and did as she bid. “You have thought about the mine…”
“Yes. And I believe it is good that the mine is in my name. I will use it to assure the girls of an education and the upbringing they deserve. It will not be used for me, not a penny. It will all be for the girls. They have suffered, Soren. Done without too many times. I want to use the earnings to make it up to your girls, Soren. And to…others you’ve hurt.”
Northern Lights Trilogy Page 97