Chapter Two
After weeks of journeying, on trains and then two different ships, Maggie woke early on the day she knew she would meet the man who would be her husband.James had said he would be waiting for her in Skagway, and then they would walk together to Lake Bennett and then up the Yukon River by boat.It would be an arduous journey, as she had read in Belle’s letters.
When she disembarked the ship, she had all of her belongings in one carpet bag.She felt as if she was an orphan, trying to find a home...a family.Having experienced just such a thing, it was hard to do it all over again.
She stood looking through the crowd, wishing she knew exactly who she was looking for, but it didn’t take long for a man to approach her.“Maggie?”he asked.The man was tall with dark hair and brown eyes, and he was just about the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
She nodded, feeling shy and more than a little afraid.“I’m Maggie.”
“James,” he said simply, reaching to take her bag from her.“I have a preacher waiting for us.”He didn’t offer his arm, or say anything else, and she immediately worried she wasn’t what he wanted in a wife.She wasn’t pretty enough.She wasn’t smart enough.No matter what, she wasn’t enough.She never had been.
She followed him docilely to the preacher, who didn’t waste a moment on small talk.Two minutes later, she was married, and her husband was kissing her cheek.
Immediately she knew he must be repulsed by her, or he would have kissed her lips.What had she done?She knew she hadn’t bathed since Ketchikan, but that wasn’t her fault.Baths hadn’t been available on the ship.
Without a word, he turned and led her toward a forest path.“We’ll walk this until we get to Lake Bennett and take a boat from there.I know you must be tired, but we don’t have time to waste if we want to make it to Yeti before the first freeze.”
“It’s only September...”
“We usually have frost by mid-September.”
“September?”September was usually still warm in Massachusetts, and the idea of living in cold so much of the year wasn’t exactly appealing.
He nodded, stopping to untie a mule from a tree.He put her bag with his own and tied it to the pack animal.“I’d like to cover at least fifteen miles before sunset.”
“Fifteen miles?”she asked, shocked that he wanted to walk that far in a single day.
“It’ll be twenty per day after today.We really can’t dawdle.”
Maggie felt like it was all she could do to keep up with him as they trudged along the trail that had obviously been traveled by many before them.
He had them walk for a short while after sunset, until it was too dark to keep going, and then he stopped, immediately setting up camp without a word.
While he set up a piece of oil cloth as a covering, she found some sticks and made a campfire.She had just gotten it going when he sank down beside her.“I’m sorry today was so hard.This journey is going to be difficult.Don’t worry about cooking on our journey.I have some hard tack and some jerky for us, and that will get us through.”
It was the most he’d said to her.“All right.I’ll happily take the night off cooking.”
He grinned.“I’m sure you’re exhausted.How did you do on the ships?Everett told me that Belle spent the whole time sick.”
“Oh, well, it wasn’t that bad for me.I was a little queasy for the first day, and the rest was smooth sailing.”
“Glad to hear it.”He opened a packet of something covered in oil cloth and gave her some of the meal he’d planned.“I know this isn’t exactly tasty, but I think you need rest more than a three-course meal.”
“I would agree with that.”She took a deep breath.“How is Belle doing?I haven’t heard from her since she wrote me and told me to see the matchmaker.”
“She’s well.In the family way, and she seems very happy about that fact.”
Maggie smiled.“Belle has always wanted at least a dozen children.We always said we’d live close and our children would be each other’s best friends.”
“Well, that’s what will happen, I think.Everett and I are good friends.We started the lumber operation together, but I was stupid and ran off to make my fortune from gold.Then I returned to him and had to beg for a job.”
“That’s not stupid!”she said.“You were seeking your fortune.There’s no harm in that.”
“I’d be much better off if I’d stayed in Yeti.I can’t undo the past though.”
“I don’t need a fortune,” she said softly.“I’ve never had much.I was orphaned as a young child, and I never had much after that.The orphanage where I was raised was good to us, but...it wasn’t the same as having a family.”
“I was orphaned as well.I ended up being fostered to an older couple who needed help with the farm chores.They provided food and shelter, and I worked to pay them back.”He shrugged.
