But not today. “Everything I’m doing for Rosalind, I’m doing because I learned it from you.”
Alexei’s brows drew down. “I don’t understand. I had nothing to do with Rosalind. That’s what I just apologized for.”
Yuri swallowed. “I’m not talking about Rosalind. I’m talking about how you sacrificed your dream of living in San Francisco and marrying Clarise so you could come home and take over the shipyard and trading company after Father died. James chapter one, verse twenty-seven says, ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.’ And I watched you do just that after we were left fatherless. You raised five siblings, took on a business you never wanted, paid for medical school for Kate and law school for Evelina. Did you think I didn’t notice? Of course I noticed. You’ve been defending the fatherless and delivering the afflicted ever since I was a boy.
“And you don’t just do it for our family,” Yuri continued. “You do it for the tribes too. Most traders would have stopped by the village of Klawock, realized they were moving, then sailed down to San Francico to try and procure a shipping contract for the new cannery going in there. Instead you came straight back to Sitka and confronted the governor, then sent word to the secretary of the interior. That’s seeking justice for the afflicted.”
Alexei stared at him for a long moment, his eyes misting for a fraction of a second before he blinked the moisture away. “I don’t suppose I ever thought of it that way. The Bible says to protect the needy, and so I do. It says to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, so I do. That’s all I can say.”
“Well, I’ve noticed what you do. So have the rest of us. Look at Evelina taking free cases for the Tlingit or that woman whose husband was hitting her. Look at Kate administering medicine to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they’re white or Indian or if they can pay. Even now, you wanted me down in San Francisco by early March, and yet you’re letting me take Rosalind to Washington and Texas first. And all I have to say isjust...” His throat felt scratchy, and confound it, his eyes felt hot too. “Thank you. Just thank you. You’re the best big brother a person could ask for.”
He threw himself at Alexei, wrapping him in a hug and not letting go as the burning sensation turned into tears.
Alexei stood there for a moment, not quite stiff but not exactly warm either. He awkwardly patted Yuri’s back then tried to extricate himself.
Yuri just held on tighter.
“‘Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ,’” Alexei finally whispered, a bit of the stiffness leaving him. “That’s the verse I try to live by. I know of the one about defending the fatherless and delivering the afflicted from the hand of the wicked too, but ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens’ is the verse I pray over every morning. I took it to heart after Father and Amika died, and that’s all I’m trying to do is bear the burdens of you and others in our family. I must have taught you well, though, because now you’re doing the same thing for Rosalind.”
“Yes. I suppose I am.” Yuri leaned back, then dropped his arms from around Alexei. “The only thing I can say is that you do all of this out of duty. And I understand that. You’re one of the most responsible people I know. But I don’t just want to act out of duty. I want to act out of gladness too, because ‘a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.’ There’s so much darkness and hurting in this world, and I want to give people merry hearts almost as much as I want to solve their other problems. Look at Rosalind. It will feel amazing to take her away from her father and put her somewhere safe. But the thing I want most is to see her smile. She didn’t do it nearly enough before she was injured, and she’s smiling even less now. I’ll know I’ve helped her the way God wants when she starts smiling freely again. And if I canspend my life helping people like her, people who no one else sees, then maybe I’ll have lived it well.”
“You’ll have lived well indeed.” Alexei exhaled, and the action seemed to lift something in both of them. Then he clasped Yuri’s shoulder and turned him toward the door. “Now dry your tears, and let’s go tell your temporary wife about the plan you’ve come up with.”
31
“Ros? Are you awake?”
Rosalind blinked at the crack in the door, then raised herself up higher onto the bed.
Yuri stepped inside, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. “I was hoping we could talk, but I can wait if you’re tired.”
She yawned into her hand. “It’s all right. I can talk.”
“Did I wake you?” His brows pinched together with that familiar look of concern she was becoming accustomed to seeing.
“No. My mind was too busy to sleep.”
She wasn’t sure how long ago Kate and her husband had left the room so she could sleep. All she knew was that sleep wouldn’t come. Alexei’s suggestion that she and Yuri marry—followed by Yuri’s swift refusal—had been the only thing she could think about.
Yuri pulled the chair that was sitting against the wall over to the bed and sat down. “Alexei and I talked about his idea, and we came up with a plan that we think might suit the two of us a little better than rushing into a marriage.”
She swallowed. Did he realize they were discussing marriage as though it were some sort of business contract? It almost seemed like something her father might do. “What’s your plan?”
“After we go to Washington, DC, and straighten out your money, I was planning to take you to the Woman’s Commonwealth down in Texas. The one you support that Mrs. McWhirter runs?”
Her mouth opened, but it took a few seconds before any words would come out. “You are?”
His shoulders rose and fell on a loose shrug. “It seems like a good place for you to go and recover, not just from your father’s most recent beating, but from spending so many years of your life with a man who thought so little of hurting you. I doubt your father would think to look for you there either, and we can’t have him finding out where you are until after he’s put in prison for his seal-harvesting crimes.”
“All right. Yes, that makes sense. I’d like to go to the Commonwealth, actually.” She’d never once seen any of the charities she supported. To spend time at any of them seemed wonderful, but to specifically see one that helped battered women? That was better than anything she could have hoped for.
Yuri sent her a tender smile. “That’s what I thought. But in the meantime, we still need a way to protect you from your father and Leeland, to legally make it so they can’t do anything to harm you or find a way to take your money. And the best way for us to do that is to temporarily marry.”
She searched his face. What was he saying? “So you want to marry me now? I thought you said you didn’t want to marry me? And what do you mean by ‘temporarily marrying’ me?”
He reached out and wrapped her hand in his, his palm large and warm. “We’ll marry in a private ceremony before we leaveSitka but have everything set up so we can file for an annulment as soon as you’re in Texas.”
“Oh.” She carefully eased her body back against the pillows, once again not certain what to think. “That’s... That’s awfully...” She wasn’t sure what word to use.Severe, maybe.Calculated?Well planned? “What if?—”
