They hauled the deer together, resting when needed, moving again without comment.Back at Lula’s cold house, Ella laid out the cloth and twine, taking charge without being asked.
“For sale,” she said softly as she tied the last bundle.“These too.”
“And those?”Lula asked.
“For winter.”
Lula exhaled, rolling her shoulders to release the tension.“Thank you.”
Ella kept her eyes on her work.“It won’t keep itself straight.”
When Lula returned home, dusk had already settled.Sebastian was inside, tending the stove.
“You’re later than usual,” he said, relief clear in his voice.
“I got a deer,” she replied.
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.“I didn’t doubt you would.”
“Ella and I field dressed it, and it’s in the cold house, all labeled.She told me what to keep for winter and what to sell.I don’t know if I’d be able to do it all without her.She’s organizing Belle’s cold house as well.There’s no doubt in my mind she’ll move onto Sally’s when she’s finished.Her ability to organize surprises me sometimes.”
He nodded and served the beans he’d cooked for their supper.They ate together, the silence not uncomfortable—but heavy.
“I’m thankful Ella helped today,” Lula offered.
“I’m glad she was with you.”He paused.“I don’t like when you’re alone for too long.”
She reached for his hand.“I came back.”
“Yes,” he said gently, squeezing once before letting go.“You did.”
That night, as Lula lay awake listening to the familiar sound of his breathing beside her, she wondered how the man she was growing to love could feel farther away with each passing day.
And for the first time since arriving in Alaska, she worried that the greatest danger was not the cold, nor the wilderness—but the truth she was not yet ready to share.
*****
Lula decided on thesupper invitation almost on a whim.
“You look like you’re thinking too hard,” Sebastian said as he finished splitting kindling outside the cabin.
Lula closed the door on the cold house, shivering in the harsh wind.“I am,” she admitted.“Which is usually when I decide to do something else instead.”
He smiled faintly.“That sounds dangerous.”
“Ella and David,” she said.“They should come over.For supper.And cards.”It would be good to have someone else there, so she didn’t feel so uncomfortable with her growing feelings for Sebastian.
Sebastian paused, then nodded.“That’s a good idea.”
Ella arrived exactly when she said she would—five minutes after dusk—with David a step behind her.David smiled easily, thanking Lula for the invitation as he stamped snow from his boots.
“I made stew,” Lula said.“And bread.It isn’t Myrtle’s, but it’s edible.”
“That’s a high standard,” David said, grinning.
Ella nodded once.“It smells good.”
They ate close together at the small table, bowls refilled without comment.David complimented the stew.Sebastian relaxed enough to tell a story about a winter storm that had trapped half the millworkers indoors for three days.Lula laughed more than she expected to, the sound easing something tight in her chest.
