Alexei threw up his hands. “She was married within eight hours of being trapped in that cave with Nathan. No one was there for the wedding unless they happened to already be in Juneau.”
Mikhail tapped his fingers on the table. “Either you marry Laurel before Bryony and I leave, or you wait until we get back. None of this getting married over the summer while we’re gone.”
He was tempted to try telling Mikhail that he was getting riled up over nothing, but the truth was, there might be a wedding sometime over the summer. He could see himself being happy married to Laurel. She didn’t necessarily inspire the same whirlwind of emotions that his former fiancée, Clarise, used to, but maybe that would change with time.
“He can’t get married.” Ilya’s scowl deepened. “Then I won’t have any brothers left.”
Evelina dabbed her face with her napkin. “You can’t expect Alexei to stay single forever. He was engaged before any of the rest of us.”
“Is Laurel coming to visit because she thinks you might be the next governor?” Inessa asked, her dark hair falling over her shoulder.
“Not that I know of.” Though he could certainly see Laurel’s parents supporting the marriage if he were indeed the next governor. “She doesn’t know that I was offered the position last summer, so I doubt she thinks it’s possible for me to become governor now.”
“Are you sure?” Jonas asked. “I bet the paper in San Francisco has run half a dozen articles about Preston Caldwell being charged with fraud, and there being a warrant out for the current governor’s arrest.”
“I still doubt she knows I’m in the running to be the next governor.” Though Jonas brought up a good point. Her father had many connections, and if he’d heard rumors about the next governor, this could be maneuvering on her parents’ part.
But he still remembered the flare of excitement in Laurel’s eyes and the soft curve of her lips when he’d invited her to Alaska. Maybe this was what had been needed to get her parents’ permission for the trip?
“Has Secretary Gray offered you the governorship again?” Inessa asked, now evidently wanting to talk even though she’d remained silent for most of the meal.
“No. I have a meeting with him in the morning, but I don’t know if he intends to discuss that or something else.” He wasn’t sure when Gray would be returning to Washington. There were still a lot of things to be sorted through. The village of Klawock and the new cannery owned by the ACC and fishing rights around Prince of Wales Island were just a few of those things. Alexei couldn’t begin to imagine how many more messes Simon Caldwell had made that would now need to be cleaned up.
“If he doesn’t ask you, who do you think he’ll ask to be the next governor?” Inessa pressed.
Alexei ran his eyes over his youngest sister, with her dark hair and dark eyes and brown skin. She was lovely and athletic, moving with a grace and ease that few women possessed. And she was suddenly awfully interested in who the next governor of Alaska would be. If only he knew why.
“I don’t know.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. The whole family now knew why he’d turned down the governorship over the summer, but it wasn’t something he’d ever intended toshare, especially not with Inessa and Ilya. This conversation was turning awkward fast.
“Do you think he might ask you to be governor again in the morning?”
Alexei just shook his head. “I already said I don’t know. Do you have another question to ask? If so, get to the point.” He shoved a spoonful of borscht into his mouth.
“It’s just...” Inessa licked her lips. “If Secretary Gray says you need to send Ilya and me to an Indian boarding school to be governor, I’m willing to go. In fact, I want to go.”
He choked on his borscht. “You don’t mean that.”
She raised her chin. “I mean every word of it. I want to see what they’re teaching my mother’s people firsthand. The entire point of these schools is to assimilate us so we can learn the ways of the Americans. And I want to learn their ways. I want to see what they are teaching and doing. And then I want to go to college and learn law like Evelina, so that I can help the Aleut in court. I want there to be a day when the ACC refuses to pay my grandfather for the seals his village kills, and I file a lawsuit in court. Or file a lawsuit for the Tlingit down in Klawock, saying they shouldn’t be forced from their homes and shouldn’t have to give up their ability to fish in the waters around Prince of Wales Island.”
“That doesn’t mean you should be that person,” Alexei growled.
On the other side of the table, Evelina sat quietly, tearing off a bit of bread and dipping it into her borscht.
Alexei narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t look surprised by this.”
Neither did Jonas.
Evelina exchanged a glance with Inessa. “We’ve been discussing the boarding-school idea for a few months, actually.”
Alexei pressed his eyes shut. “Does Kate know too?”
“It was her idea,” Inessa said.
“Of course it was.” He should have seen this coming. His first two sisters had insisted on being educated in men’s professions, so why would Inessa be any different? “Wait, you discussed going to a boarding school on your own, without knowing about the ultimatum Secretary Gray gave me?”
Inessa nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it at first. I just asked Lina if she could start teaching me law so I’d have less to catch up on when I went to Boston to study, but once I told Kate why I wanted to study law, she suggested I go to a boarding school for a year.”
“Right.” He pressed his fingers to his temple.
