“Wait. No. I’m just asking?—”
“It’s all right. We’ll go. All of us.” Alexei clamped a hand on Evelina’s shoulder. “Come on, Lina. You too, Mikhail.”
He didn’t like the thought of leaving without his pack. He carried it with him everywhere, but it was clear that arguing would only cause more problems, so he followed Alexei and the rest of his family down the gangway.
He spotted Bryony in the crowd, moving toward the road that led into town, but once he reached the wharf, the rest of his family was waiting for him, even Kate, who threw herself into his arms with a giant hug.
“I was worried I’d never see you again.”
He wrapped his arms around his younger sister, holding her for a full minute longer than was necessary. “I don’t know why. I’m a good frontiersman.”
She smacked his shoulder. “You know very well why. Leaving on the brink of winter? To face the wilderness alone with the hope you might be able to rescue a lost team of scientists? But here you are, hale and hardy.”
“Here I am.” He looked around to find that Nathan and Jonas, Ilya and Inessa were all waiting to greet him too. “But why is everyone else here?”
She gave him a confused look. “Thanksgiving, you dolt.”
“Thanksgiving?”
Nathan came up and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, a grin on his face. “Did you lose track of just how long you were gone?”
He must have. He scratched his head, then wrapped Kate’s straight-laced husband in a giant hug. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
The man smiled and hugged him back. “Happy Thanksgiving to you too.”
“Thanks. But, ah... is today Thanksgiving?”
Nathan smirked. “Today’s Tuesday. You have two more days.”
Two more days until Thanksgiving. He’d come home at the perfect time for everyone to be together again. Except...
He looked over Nathan’s shoulder to see Bryony being herded even farther up the road, not the one that led toward Castle Hill and the governor’s office, but the one that led toward the Caldwell mansion.
Would he have a chance to see her again before she left? Was it too forward of him to invite her over so she really could meet his sisters?
And there he was, letting his thoughts run away with him again. If the RCS released theAuroratonight, Bryony could be on her way back to Washington, DC, as early as tomorrow morning.
But if she wasn’t...
If she was still in Sitka for Thanksgiving, then maybe...
He slammed his eyes shut and dragged a breath of salty air into his lungs. Then nothing. Their paths were set. Nothing good would come of introducing her to his family.
So why couldn’t he get the idea out of his mind?
28
“Why are you searching the ship?” Bryony looked over her shoulder at theAurora, which was being swarmed with workers from the Revenue Cutter Service. Mikhail stood on the wharf with his family—a family she hadn’t gotten to meet, because they’d been too busy arguing with the men who wanted to search the ship.
She hadn’t even been able to say good-bye to him. Not that they would have been able to have a private conversation, but it still would have been nice to wish him well a final time before leaving.
Governor Caldwell paused and glanced over his shoulder at the ship. “We’re looking for illicit contraband.”
“Illicit contraband?” Her steps faltered. “Does Mikhail’s family have a reputation for smuggling goods?”
The governor’s mouth tightened, but it was his brother, Mr. Preston Caldwell, who answered. “It’s standard procedure. All ships are subject to search by the Revenue Cutter Service at any time.”
“But Mikhail’s family didn’t act like the search was common practice.” She might not have heard everything Mikhail said while talking to one of his brothers and the ship’s captain, but she knew he’d been shocked by the search. The rest of his family had seemed furious.
