“She’s strong. Ma creating a fuss didn’t seem to faze her too much. She accepts we’re bears. I suspected she’d run in terror then, but we found her asleep, cuddled up to Runt in his bear form.”
“Ma has seen her?”
Leif propped himself up against the headboard. “Ma came around one last time, trying to persuade us to go out on the ice with the rest of the pack. Fiona came downstairs and things zapped downhill from there.”
Josef cursed. “We can’t let her leave. We can’t let Ma drive her away.”
“No chance of Ma getting to her. Kirk and I stood up to Ma for a change instead of backing down. She’s hoping one or all of us will come to our senses. Ma is the easy bit. It’s Fiona that’s the problem. She’s talking about returning home soon. Her life is in Florida.” Leif’s sigh held a heavy weight. “She has a life away from Churchill and us.”
Josef pulled a face. “We wouldn’t do well in that hot climate. Not long-term.”
“True. It’s a dilemma. We’re taking a week off from driving. From what Kirk and Runt said, I figured you and Arve would want to get to spend time with her too.”
“Can we afford to take the days off?”
“We still don’t have any orders—apart from Wapusk Kennels. Although I figure the locals might get past their distrust if they get another load of fresh produce.”
“True, we can tell everyone we’re still open for orders and see what happens. We always planned on a slow build.” Josef yawned. “Man, I’m knackered. I’ll grab a quick shower and hit the mattress. Every bone in my body is bruised after we bounced through those ruts. It might be a good idea to take the cat over the road. Some ruts have frozen and they’re big enough to lose a sled inside, or at least overturn it.”
“Kirk and Runt said the same thing. I decided they were fussing over nothing.”
“The ruts are bad,” Josef confirmed with another yawn. “See you in the morning.”
“Sleep in,” Leif suggested. “I’ll take care of the unloading. We want to get the produce to the shop as soon as possible. We sold everything in one morning.”
Josef’s brows rose. “Really? That was quick.”
“Fiona’s presence seemed to alleviate the mistrust. The produce flew out the door, and no one quibbled about price.”
“Because we sold it at cost?”
“No. I decided to hell with it and added a slight profit margin. We assumed the risk to ship it here and we should gain the rewards.”
Josef paused in the doorway. “If you need Fiona to help sell, how are you going to get her away from Arve?”
Leif frowned then smiled. “I bet Fiona can handle his stubbornness. She’ll want to help because she enjoyed selling stuff yesterday. She doesn’t like sitting around while others are working. Watch and learn, young polar bear. Watch and learn.”
