“I miss running the store. I didn’t think I would but I miss it terribly,” he said.
“Do you want to reopen it? I have no problem with that. I’ll go back with you. I do warn you though that if I ever see Yvonne anywhere near you I might be difficult to control.”
Joseph was flattered that Alice would feel jealous about Yvonne, but he had lost all feelings for Yvonne. He was certain that Jefferson would never see her the way he had just seen Alice on the table, beautiful, passionate and calling out his name.
“First, you never need concern yourself with Yvonne again. I could pack up the entire store and the specialty items and move it all up north. Mining supplies and such and ship them up. But it’s not about what I want.”
“Could you teach me how to work in the store? And I don’t mean just dusting, but to run it like I did with the hat shop?”
“Your hat shop looks pretty successful.”
“It is, but it’s not hardware,” Alice said.
“You probably know mining better than most women. That’s what it’s about. A new prospector comes in and wants to know what he needs. You would know. The rest you could learn from me.” Joseph sat back in his chair. “Why are we talking about this? You don’t want to go all the way back to Alaska. What about your own business?”
“Would you be happy if we did? Honestly, do you think we could be happy? The towns are probably huge by now. You’d have a lot of business and we could do it together. We could get up on those cold mornings. I’ll make you breakfast like I did in the cabin, after I have my way with you, of course,” she said. “Could you be happy that way? We have all the money we’d need to start out.”
“You would do that?” he asked.
Alice took his hands. “The only time I ever felt happy, or safe was with you. The night you fell in the creek I did get in bed with you. I remember putting my head on your chest and thinking it was the most perfect place in the world. It was silent with the snow outside and we were far away from the rest of the world. I could love you and nothing else mattered. We could go back. Jack wouldn’t mind.”
Joseph scowled. “You have to marry me first and Jack will have to keep his hands to himself.”
“Alright. We’ll marry right away, today if you like, but I have a rule of my own.”
“Oh?”
“No beard. At least not as big as the last one.”
He laughed hard. “I love you, Alice. I can’t believe we’re going back to Alaska!”
They sat at the table for hours making a list of how they would carry out their plans. Joseph knew that most of the land in the area was staked and claimed, making his mine worth even more. They decided that, for the time being, they would not sell the mine. Alice would make the shop girls owners of the hat shop. She was certain they would be ecstatic.
“The best thing would be to go as quickly as possible,” Joseph said. “We’ll need to find a place, or buy one for the store. Then we can spend the winter back here packing up my inventory and start shipping and ordering for the new store. If I can find Jack I can set him up and he can receive the shipments and get them into the store. Then we’ll go back up and open up in the spring.”
“Would we live in town or at the cabin?” Alice asked.
“Why not both? We could close down for a few weeks in the winter and live at the cabin. I think we might like the solitude.”
“I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone hearing me when you make love to me like I do here.” Alice winked at him.
“You did that?” he asked.
“Of course. Didn’t you notice I was whispering your name?”
“Then it’s decided,” Joseph laughed. “We have to spend plenty of time alone at the cabin!”
Alice stood him up and kissed him warmly. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Alice changed her dress and brushed her hair neatly. “I’ll meet with the girls and then we can go next door and have something to eat.”
Joseph tucked in his shirt and checked himself in the mirror. There was something different. Something about him had changed.
Alice watched him looking at himself in the mirror. It never failed to amaze her how much a man’s face changed after the first time. She had never seen it affect a woman, but on a man it had a profound effect. He would carry himself differently now, especially a man like Joseph who had saved himself for so long. He’d be more confident, more self-assured, more at ease. She was thrilled that she had been the one that brought about that change in him.
She stepped behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “I love you,” she whispered and he turned and kissed her. Alice was sure that he could not possibly kiss her enough times.
When Alice entered the shop with Joseph at her side Stephanie nodded to Melissa and both girls smiled.
“Ladies,” Alice said. “This is Mister Southers. He’s a very good friend of mine.”
The sales girls nodded.
“Since it’s quiet in here right now could we talk in my office?”
“If you don’t mind Alice, I’d like to wait out here. If anyone comes in I’ll entertain them.” Joseph smiled and the girls giggled.
“I wouldn’t mind him entertaining me,” Stephanie joked as she closed the office door behind them.
“Do you think Mister Southers is handsome, Stephanie?” Alice smiled.
“Don’t you? We’ve never seen you with a man, Miss Ellis, but he’d be perfect!” Melissa said.
“That’s interesting,” Alice said. “As a matter of fact you’ve never seen me with anyone because once I set eyes on him I wanted no other.”
“Really?” Stephanie said.
“Mister Southers has asked me to marry him.”
“That’s wonderful!” Stephanie exclaimed.
“Congratulations!” Melissa chimed in.
“Because of that I need a couple of things from both of you.”
“Anything!” Stephanie said. “We’re so happy for you!”
“I need two witnesses for our marriage. Tomorrow morning at nine.”
“Yes, of course,” they agreed.
“And one other thing.” Alice looked at them seriously. “I am going to give you the shop. You will both be equal partners. There are no debts on it and I will give you a sizable account to help you maintain the business. That is, if you both are willing?”
Stephanie and Melissa looked at each other in shock. They had even had conversations about how one day they wanted to have their own place together.
“How can you do that?” Stephanie asked.
“I met Mister Southers in Alaska, before I came here. We found some gold up there together and now we’d like to go back. I’m sure you will do a wonderful job with the business.”
“Are you going to look for more gold?” Melissa asked.
“No,” Alice laughed. “We’re going to open a hardware store.”
The girls looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
“I have one other thing I need to mention. I’ll set up the paperwork at the bank, probably tomorrow, but what about the house upstairs? You could rent it out. It’s very nice and you could get a good amount out of it. Or one of you could move in as soon as I am gone. You decide. It’s completely furnished.”
The girls looked at one another and then to Alice and nodded enthusiastically.
As soon as Daniel Parker saw Alice enter his cafe on Joseph’s arm he knew why she had never taken him up on his offers. The man was handsome and tall, with an easygoing manner about him. But more than that was the way she looked at him. There was no question that Alice was plainly in love. Daniel had wondered where the fellow was that had taken her smile. Wherever he had been, it was clear he had returned.
He stepped up and smiled. “Miss Ellis, always a pleasure.”
Joseph offered his hand to the man. “Good afternoon. I’m Joseph Southers. Alice says you have the best sandwiches in the city.”
“I always like to hear that,” Daniel said. “Alice said that this would be her home away from home when she moved in.”
Joseph thought about how Alice knew no one except him. She’d gone into a rather large city completely alone, set up a very successful shop, made a home and friends entirely on her own.
They ordered and Joseph took Alice’s hands across the table.
“You’re an amazing woman. You made a whole life for yourself here. Now I’ve finally come to my senses and I’m going to take it all away. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Joseph, I did all that to stay alive. That’s all. I thought I’d go mad when you got off the train that day. I had to do this or simply give up. In one way or another it was still about you.”
“That’s not helping,” he laughed dryly. “I should have never let you go. We should have stayed at the cabin, where I had you all to myself.”
“You will again,” Alice smiled. She reached under the table and slid her hand up his thigh. Joseph thought he’d jump out of the chair. She could feel his reaction and she winked at him provocatively.
Their exchange did not go unnoticed by Daniel behind the counter. He thought Alice was the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on. Mister Southers was a very lucky man.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Joseph looked at the unusual rings in the shop window and stopped suddenly. He ushered Alice into the shop and spoke to the man at the counter. Alice looked up at him, puzzled.
Joseph and the jeweler walked to the window and returned and Joseph asked Alice to put out her left hand. Alice raised her hand cautiously and watched him slip a ring onto her finger. She peered at it curiously.
Joseph watched the grin spread across her face and heard her squeal of delight. “That’s amazing!”
“You like it?” Joseph asked.
“It’s perfect!” Alice threw her hands round his neck and kissed him openly.
Joseph looked at the jeweler a bit embarrassed.
“I love it!” Alice looked at the ring again. It was delicate with a simple thin band and two small diamonds. What made the ring very distinctive was a tiny lump of gold in the center, a raw nugget that had been fashioned into the piece. Alice loved it immediately.
The jeweler took the piece into the back of the shop and polished the nugget to a bright shine and slipped the ring and the matching band into a box.
When they got outside Joseph walked Alice to the park and suggested they sit on the bench.
He set their packages on the bench beside her and got on one knee. Alice’s hand flew to her face.
“I know you’ve agreed to marry me in the morning. We’ve talked about so many things. So I’ll give you one last chance to say no. Alice, will you marry me?”
“Yes, Joseph, I will marry you.”
Alice hugged him fiercely as several passersby smiled at the handsome couple.
They gathered their bags and hurried home. It would be their first night together and Alice had dreamed all day of how wonderful it would be to sleep next to Joseph once again, but this time he would belong to her.
Alice bathed and dressed for bed, glad she had bought something seductive and not just something for the courthouse in the morning. He had been distracted in the men’s department just long enough for her to get a pretty nightgown.
When she slipped into the gown in front of the mirror she was surprised at how sheer it was, revealing every curve in her body. She hoped that Joseph didn’t find it too provocative and considered finding another but all of her nightgowns were plain and tonight would be special. She took a deep breath and let down her hair.
When she emerged he was undressed and lay on the bed with the sheet pulled across his lap. Alice stopped in the doorway and waited. It was the first time she had felt shy in many years. When she saw the look on his face and noticed his excitement under the sheet she decided the sheer nightie was not too much after all and she went to him.
When he pulled her to him she forgot the gown completely. He was there, in her bed, and he wanted to be there. It was her Joseph and she had him all to herself. She felt sensual and erotic and all her shyness melted away. She knew many things about sex and how to please a man. Now he wanted to please her as well. Alice took control of their lovemaking and Joseph surrendered to her touch. She enjoyed every inch of him, touching him in ways he never imagined a woman would touch a man. She knew all the ways to move slowly or quickly, keeping him on the edge of perfect pleasure. She heard him moan a deep low sound when she moved a certain way. She watched his pupils dilate when he became more aroused and she touched and kissed him boldly over nearly his entire body.
She excited him. It was as if she knew him better than he knew himself. But more wonderful than anything was that she loved him. Her touch was more than sensual, it was hungry and passionate and when she decided it was time, his pleasure was explosive.
Joseph knew that if he had not found her again he would never have felt these things at all. He lay beneath her, slick with perspiration and whispered that he loved her. Alice knew he did and that when he set his mind to something it was very hard to change.
In the morning she peeked through the doorway and saw his reflection as he shaved in the mirror. She stopped dressing, captivated by his motions. Alice thought it was funny that she’d fallen in love with a wildly bearded prospector, yet underneath he was young and handsome and exciting to her. He was a wonderful package that she wanted to unwrap again and again.
He took his suit downstairs to finish dressing and Alice had the upper floor to herself. She heard a tap on the door downstairs and heard the voices of Stephanie and Melissa as they called up to her.
“We’ve decided to come and help you dress and we brought something for your wedding.”
Melissa held up a large hat box, smiling.
Alice opened the armoire and showed them the dress she had chosen. It was simple, for a simple ceremony. A soft white brocade, fitted in the bodice with a square neckline and slim, fitted sleeves.
The girls helped her with her corset and into the dress, buttoning the tiny buttons down the back. Melissa arranged Alice’s hair, piling most of it gently up, with soft tendrils of curls falling over her shoulders. Then they took out the box.
Inside was an elaborate white bonnet adorned with fresh camellias and bits of green ferns. The ribbons woven through the flowers were wide and sheer and sparkled in the morning sunlight. Beneath the wide brim was a very sheer white veil that pulled over her face.
When Melissa set it on Alice’s head she nearly burst into tears.
“I’ll never worry about you two being successful with that shop,” Alice smiled. “This is the most stunning hat I have ever seen. It’s amazing!”
“We thought,” Stephanie said, “that if the Millinery Madam was getting married she better have the most amazing bonnet ever!” Both young women beamed with pride.
The hat suited Alice perfectly. It was elaborate yet elegant and perfectly proportioned to her size. She looked like a fashion magazine cover, slender and graceful. But nothing she wore was as beautiful as the happy smile upon her face.
“We had better get going,” Alice said. “The judge is meeting us in his private chambers at nine.”
Stephanie and Melissa hustled downstairs and Alice stopped for a moment to check her reflection in the mirror. She was no longer a child being sent out for an experience that terrified her. She was not a prostitute for someone else’s use. At this moment she was not without a home, relying on the kindness of a prospector with his mind set elsewhere. She was her own person. She was successful and happy and in love and, for the first time in her life, making her own choices. She was a bride. It was something she never imagined for herself. Alice Ellis nodded at her reflection in the mirro
r pleased with what she saw and went down to meet her groom.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Joseph paced the living room nervously. He was certain about his feelings for Alice. He wasn’t nervous about his wedding, he’d wanted to be married as long as he could remember. He did, however, have reservations about taking Alice back to the Klondike.
He vowed they would never hike the White Pass again. Although he had read about how many changes the Canadian Mounted Police and the government had made, the memories of their passage through it were still too raw. They would book passage from the Pacific Northwest and then disembark from the ship in Tutchone as Alice had done when she first arrived. His biggest concern was time. If they ventured up first and set up shop it would be another year before they opened. Joseph wanted to start his business while the rush continued. He knew that once the prospectors were gone Tutchone could become a ghost town. He was not certain where they might go from there. Alice needed to understand what could be in store for them.
The sales girls returned without Alice and Joseph continued his contemplations, thinking about how much of the store he would ship and when they might leave.
When he heard her soft step on the staircase he looked up and stopped. It was as though he was seeing her for the first time. He had seen how beautiful she was from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her but he had refused to let her into his heart. Then she became familiar to him and he had taken her for granted. The girl that descended the stairs before him now was stunning.
“Alice,” he said quietly.
“Do I look alright?” she asked as she stepped to him.
“Far beyond alright. Magnificent would be closer to the truth. You look very beautiful.”
Alice smiled with joy. “I’m ready,” she said.
When they walked out to the street Alice gasped at the elaborate carriage that Joseph had procured. Stephanie and Melissa were already inside waving happily. Several people on the street called out congratulations and wished them well. Alice noticed Daniel among them and waved to him. She saw he was happy for her. He had been a kind companion and, even though he had hoped for more, had never pressed her, sharing only his friendship.
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