But now,allthe chickens were riled up, and the noise from each one of the hen houses was deafening.
“Oh,hushnow!”
Of course, they didn’t listen.
When she made it through the outer gate, she searched the yard for the three rebels. Dumb chickens. They were probably buried in the snow, waiting for rescue.
She finally caught sight of them and couldn’t help butlaugh. Angry Bird was leading the others in some sort of crazy game of chase as they zigzagged their way over the top of the snow. Apparently, they weren’t heavy enough to sink into it. The problem was, the snow was as high as the fence, which meant the chickens could go wherever they wanted.
Oh brother.
As soon as she gave chase, she realized it was futile. The chickens were headed down toward the pond.
Now what was she supposed to do?
Whitney and Peter made it back to Nome a couple hours after dark. Every muscle in her body ached, and exhaustion threatened to take over. Even with her nap earlier in the day. Breaking the trail had been much harder than she’d expected, especially for a storm that had only lasted a few hours.
When she dropped Peter off, he objected to her traveling the rest of the way home alone, but she pulled out the pistol to assure him she could take care of herself. She promised to take him back to the village first thing the next morning with fresh supplies, then headed home.
The lights of the farm greeted her at a little past six. The dogs barked their excitement to be home and pulled the sled straight to their yard. As she unharnessed them, Daniel and John made their way to her.
“Glad you’re back!” John rubbed the heads of each of her dogs.
“Did you get stuck in the storm?” Daniel carried a bucket of water.
“We did.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m just glad it didn’t last for days.”
“What did the storm front look like? Was there a lotof wind before it?” Daniel was always fascinated with the weather.
“Just a big wall, to be honest. We were caught in ice fog before that, and it was calm as day. Then the wind picked up and blew out the fog, and we saw it. Peter and I were coming back for supplies when it barreled its way through.”
“I bet the trail was a beast after that.” John grabbed fresh straw for the dogs to bed down while Daniel filled the feed bowls.
She leaned back and stretched out her shoulders. “Yeah. And we need to go back tomorrow. Probably should head back tonight, but we’re both too tired. More people are sick, and Peter ran out of supplies.”
John put a hand on her shoulder. “Let us finish with the dogs, then. You go on in and we’ll be right there.”
With a nod she headed to the house. A few months ago, she wouldn’t have allowed John or Daniel to touch her dogs. But now, they were family. It was good to have help.
She walked into the house and glanced around. The bottle in her pocket was empty. She needed to refill it before she headed out tomorrow––
Havyn and Madysen came to greet her at the door with hugs and smiles. “We’re so glad you’re back!” Maddy bounced on her toes. “I made your favorite for dinner. Just in case.”
Havyn helped her out of her coat. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up, and we’ll get everything on the table.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.” That would give her the perfect opportunity to sneak into Granddad’s office.
Listening to her sisters move around in the kitchen, she padded her way to the office and lifted the key from where she kept it on a chain around her neck. Maybe sheshouldmove the bottle into her room. That would be easier.
She took the bottle of whiskey and went to her room. She set it down and changed her clothes. The dogs had been cuddled up next to her, so the smell of wet pup clung to her.
But it wasn’t nice for her to delay everyone’s dinner, so she made her way back to the dining room.
To her surprise, Ruth, Bethany, Eli, and Granny were also there.
“It’s good to see you, Whitney.” Granny placed her napkin in her lap.
“You too, Granny.” While shewantedto like the fact that the dear woman was with them, she was too exhausted to care.
