[Alaskan Quest 03] - Whispers of Winter (35 page)

“Why did God have to take my mama away?”

She had no answers for such a question—a question she’d asked many times herself. What could she possibly tell him?

“My mama was a good woman. You said so yourself. She loved God and did good things. So why did He take her away? Why’d He do that to her?”

“You make going to heaven sound like a punishment.”

“Well, dyin’ sure sounds like a punishment,” Christopher replied. “Dyin’s no fun. You don’t get to do anything anymore after you die.”

“I don’t know about that,” Leah said, taking the seat directly across from the boy. “I think there are probably all sorts of wonderful things to do in heaven. The Bible says we’ll be happy—that we won’t have any more tears.”

“I still don’t like that God took her away. I need her.”

Leah nodded. “I know you do, Christopher. I wish I could give you answers. We can’t always know why God does things a certain way.” She thought back over her own life. There were so many times she’d questioned God about why things were happening a certain way. Sometimes the answers became clear in time, but just as often situations remained a mystery.

“Christopher, I can tell you without any doubt, that your mama loved God and trusted Him for what was best and good for her life and for yours. She would want you to trust Him now.”

“But God’s scary to me.”

“Why?”

Christopher looked at the cookie in his hand. “I don’t know. He’s just big, and He has all the power. I have to be really good all the time or He won’t love me.”

“Who told you that?”

Christopher shrugged. “I don’t know. Just some people.”

Leah smiled. “He is all-powerful and big. He has to be so that He can handle the entire world. But, Christopher, He will love you always—no matter what. He wants your love and obedience, but He loves you even when you mess up. The Bible says that even while we were still sinners, Jesus came and died for us. We weren’t good—yet God still loved us and sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.”

“He’s still scary to me.”

“Like your father sometimes frightens other people.”

“My pa isn’t scary.”

“He is to some people who don’t know him. He’s big and very powerful. I’ve seen people be very afraid of him. In fact, the first few times I was around your father as a young girl, he frightened me.”

Christopher looked at her in disbelief. “But my pa is good.”

“So is God. Do you have any reason to believe He’s not?”

“Well … He … He … took my mama. That wasn’t a good thing to do.”

Leah felt the boy’s pain pierce her heart. “Christopher, I wish your mother could have stayed, but you know we all have our time to die.”

“Pa told me that. It’s in the Bible that we all have to die once. If we don’t accept Jesus as our Savior, then we have to die twice.”

“That’s right. We would die once in the flesh, and then on the judgment day—if we had rejected Jesus—we would die again. That time it would be forever.”

Christopher nodded. “I remember my mama saying that.” He sighed and got to his feet. “I’m glad you came here, Leah. I like having you around. You remind me of Mama sometimes.” He looked to where Karen’s picture hung beside the fireplace. “I sure miss her, but now I can remember her face.”

Leah fought back tears as Christopher left the cabin to see to his chores.
God, this is so hard. Please help those boys. Help Adrik. They need your healing touch in their lives
. She looked to where the twins were playing. She had thought she might lose them to influenza. She had worried about losing Jayce and Jacob to the Arctic Ocean when the expedition went missing. So many of her friends from Last Chance were dead. Death was just such a hard thing to bear—even the threat of it could be crippling.

Leah tried to shake off the heavy feeling. She began to hum and then to sing aloud verses she’d memorized from the latter part of Romans eight.

“‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”’

Death would always be a natural part of life, but Leah would not let it defeat her. It would not separate her from God’s love. She would not allow it to.

“We have passage booked to Skagway,” Jacob said, holding up the tickets for Jayce to see. “The problem will be in returning. There are only two ships coming into Skagway in October. The
Spirit of Alaska
will leave Skagway on the seventh— probably too soon for us to have concluded our business since we won’t arrive in Skagway until the third. The
Princess Sophia
will be in dock on the twenty-second.”

“That means we’ll have to be gone an extra week.” Jayce’s tone made it clear he didn’t like the idea at all.

“I know. I suppose we can push to get things accomplished as soon as possible. Maybe if we explain to Turner, we can work day and night to see things accounted for and loaded.”

“It sure won’t give us much time. Maybe we should just plan to return on the
Princess Sophia
and leave it at that. At least we can explain it to the girls and then they’ll have time to get used to the idea.”

“Get used to what idea?” Adrik asked as he came in from the back room. “I just left some fresh fish upstairs. Helaina is already hard at work.”

Jacob smiled. “Thanks. Did you have a good catch?”

“Enough to supply us all. So what idea were you wanting the girls to get used to?”

“Well, I picked up our tickets for Skagway and learned that we probably won’t have a chance to head back until the twenty-second. The only other ship that will be available will leave before we’ll have time to load all the stock and equipment we’re purchasing from Turner.”

Adrik frowned. “And you expect me to keep track of the store in your absence? I don’t know that I’m cut out to be a storekeeper for almost a month.”

Jayce looked to Jacob. “I could just stay here.”

Adrik laughed. “I was just joshing with you. I can handle it. The girls will handle it as well. We all do what we have to—right? This is just one of those times when everything doesn’t go perfectly our way. But it will be all right. I’m confident that we can get by without you for a time. Maybe you can go visit some of the old places. I hear Dyea is nothing more than a few abandoned buildings and old-timers.”

Jacob nodded. “I had thought about visiting the cemetery.” “Your father’s grave?” Jayce asked.

“Yes. It’s been a long time. Might do me good to visit.” The thought had been on his mind ever since Turner had invited them to Skagway.

“So the extra time will serve you well,” Adrik replied. “It’ll probably end up being a blessing to you both.”

Jayce looked to Jacob and smiled. “Probably, but I know it’s going to be hard to convince Leah of such a blessing.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

S
kagway proved beneficial for both parties. Jacob and Jayce were quite happy with the inventory and felt confident the supplies would serve them well. Turner even came down on the original price to compensate for the shipping prices. With the goods headed to the dock to load on the
Princess Sophia,
Jayce and Jacob finished up the paper work at the shipping office.

“You fellas want to insure the load?” the agent asked.

“I hadn’t figured to,” Jacob replied.

“If the cost isn’t too bad, Jacob, it might be wise. There have been quite a few storms of late. Remember Peter sent you that letter about the load he lost to heavy water damage?”

Jacob considered it for a moment. “True enough. The weather’s been pretty lousy of late, and with the snows and wind, I suppose it might be a good idea. Why don’t you show us what you have to offer?”

The man quickly explained the details of the insurance and the prices available. Jacob and Jayce finally agreed on the coverage and concluded business with the man. In a few hours they would be on their way.

“I still can’t believe the way this place has changed,” Jacob said as they walked back up the main street of town. “When we lived in Dyea, this place was as busy as Seattle. Maybe not as big, but definitely as busy. People were shoulder to shoulder, and prices were outrageous. Pay was good.” He grinned. “I always said the real money of the gold rush was to be had right here. People often journeyed to Dawson by way of Skagway. Packers and laborers could make great money.”

The area looked rather like a ghost town now. The buildings were still there, but many were in sad disrepair. There were still people to walk the boardwalks, but the numbers were greatly reduced. If not for the railroad that had been built to take people north to the gold fields, Jacob seriously doubted Skagway would have survived.

“I wonder if it will ever revive.”

Jacob shrugged. “I suppose if the politicians in this territory have their way, it will. There’s a railroad already in place and a good harbor. If there proves to be a reason to bring people into the area—even if it’s like last time and this is just a place to come through on the way to some other destination— then I suppose it might thrive again.”

Jayce pointed to the café. “How about we grab some supper? We don’t board until around five, right?”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah. We should eat. Oh, and I want to pick up a present for Helaina. She was really good-natured about our coming here for so long. She deserves something special.”

“What’d you have in mind?” They went into the restaurant and took seats at the first table by the door.

“Well, Turner told me about a woman who has some great handwork for sale. She creates those nice doilies and such for tables and sofas. You know the ones.”

Jayce grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day we’d be buying such things.”

Jacob laughed. “Me neither, but I guess I never was quite sure I’d be happily married either.”

“I know what you mean, but I’m more blessed than I can express. I love your sister more than life itself, and my children run a close second.”

“I can hardly wait to get home,” Jacob admitted. “It’s gonna be good to get on that ship.”

Unseasonable cold dropped the temperature nearly twenty degrees as October moved rapidly toward November. Snow covered the mountains and trickled down into the valley to coat everything with a dusting of white.

Jayce and Jacob had been gone for nearly a month. Malcolm had been cranky and missed his father, causing many sleepless night for Helaina, while Leah and the twins did their best to get through each day without Jayce’s good-natured humor and attention. Had it not been for Adrik and the boys, neither woman would have fared well at all, as far as Leah was concerned.

Leah, now seven months pregnant, could hardly wait for the child to come. Even the twins were curious about where the baby was, insisting from time to time that Leah let them put their ears against her stomach so that they could hear their brother or sister. Their antics kept Leah from being completely lonely, but even they couldn’t keep her from worrying.

A strong storm blew in on the twenty-third, causing Leah to fret about whether this would delay Jayce and Jacob’s return. They were to arrive on the
Princess Sophia
by the twenty-sixth, but weather was always a factor with northern shipping routes. When things dawned calm on the twentyfifth, Leah breathed a sign of relief.
Just one more day,
she told herself.
One more day and they’ll be home
.

“You’ll never believe what I’ve just brought home,” Adrik called from the doorway. “Come have a look.”

Leah put a lid on the pot of stew she’d been working on all morning. “What in the world have you done now, Adrik?” She gave him a good-natured smile and followed him into the yard.

Adrik pulled back a tarp. “We have enough bear meat here to last the winter.”

Leah looked at the mound of butchered meat. “Goodness, but I think you’re right. Where did you get him?”

“Up the mountain. Never seen anything so big in all my life. Here, just look at the fur. You ought to be able to make several things out of this.” He held up a portion of the bloody hide.