Whispers of Winter

by Tracie Peterson

  She put aside her worries and smiled. “Don’t forget to take those things by the door.” She pointed to a stack of ready-made shirts, two fur-lined hats, and a muff. Jacob had encouraged her to produce some items for the store since there seemed a never-ending request for such things.

  “These are great, Leah. I know they’ll sell quickly. We had a man in the store just the other day asking for shirts.”

  “I’m glad. It’ll give me a bit of money to buy Christmas gifts.”

  He laughed. “That’s still a few months away.”

  “So’s the baby’s birth,” she countered, “but I’m planning for that as well.”

  He sobered. “It is coming up awful fast. Are you feeling all right?”

  His concern touched her. “I’m just fine. Now off with you.” Leah got to her feet. She was afraid if they talked much more about it that she might voice her real fears. “Having one baby is much different than having two.”

  “How can you be sure it’s just one?” Jayce winked. “It could be twins again.”

  “No, when I was this far along with the twins, I was already out to here.” She exaggerated, joining her hands in a circle and holding them out well away from her body. “Besides, the doctor believes it’s just one.”

  “Well, either way, we’ll take whatever the good Lord sends.”

  Once he’d gone, Leah refocused on her work. The house was quiet. Since Adrik had returned with the boys, Leah had enjoyed pampering and spoiling them. However, this was a school day and the boys would be gone until the afternoon. Adrik, too, was off working on getting special wood for some of the furniture he planned to build. He was already talking about expanding his workshop and teaching Oliver as well.

  Putting her sewing aside, Leah picked up the newspaper Adrik had brought home last night. There were so many sad stories of problems in the world. Czar Nicholas and his family had been murdered by the people who’d taken over his country. This fact troubled Leah greatly. How could it be that royalty could just be murdered without the world rising up in protest?

  There were other worrisome issues too. The influenza had once again reared its ugly head, so while the war seemed to be coming to a close, another crisis arose to claim lives. Leah didn’t understand how so much death could go on without wiping the human race completely from the world. Hundreds of thousands were dead because of the war, and the influenza might claim that many and more. That seemed impossible to imagine. Leah prayed that the influenza would not come to their shores, but at the same time, she’d already gathered quite a bit of devil’s club, just in case.

  “I hope you’ll never have to know war or sickness,” she told her unborn child.

  “Mama,” Wills called. He came maneuvering down the stairs, as was his routine when awakening in the morning. “Let’s eat!” He jumped off the last step and ran for his mother’s open arms.

  Hugging him close, Leah kissed his neck. “I suppose I shall feed you, my little man. Is your sister awake?”

  “Merry playin’,” he told her. This, too, wasn’t at all unusual. Merry often woke up and played in her bed quietly until Wills started making a ruckus.

  “Well, let’s get both of you dressed and ready for the day. I have a feeling you’re going to keep me busy.”

  Hours later, when the boys returned from school, Leah felt a weariness in her body that seemed to grow as the new baby grew. She had worked to reorder the pantry as well as sew on several new pieces. One piece in particular, a new quilt for Helaina and Jacob, was taking more time than she’d hoped. She had planned to have it ready to give as a Christmas present and had patterned it after the quilt Karen had given her in Last Chance. Leah had also noticed that Adrik’s coat was quite worn. If she could get her hands on a good piece of fur, she could make him a new coat as a present.

  “How was your day?”

  “We learned more about the Silver War,” Christopher told Leah as he put his books on the table.

  “The Civil War, you mean,” she said matter-of-factly.

  He nodded. “Civil War. I always forget. Anyway, a lot of people were fighting each other, and it was like if Oliver and I decided to fight a war. It was brother against brother.”

  “I remember learning about that myself,” Leah admitted. She put out a plate of cookies for the boys. “It wasn’t a very good time for our country. There were a lot of hateful people, and a great many innocent people who were hurt.”

  Oliver plopped down on a chair. It seemed he had sprouted up about six inches overnight. Leah was already hard at work making him new shirts and trousers. No doubt he would be as tall as his father.

  “And what of you, Oliver? What are you studying?”

  “Nothing I like. We have to memorize a lot of Bible verses, and I’m no good at it.” He took a cookie and popped it in his mouth.

  “Memorizing is sometimes hard,” Leah admitted, “but your mother taught me a little trick a long time ago. She told me if I could put the verse to music—just make up a little song to go with the words—I could memorize it much easier. I still do that today.”

  Oliver shrugged. “I remember her telling me that too. I never really tried it, though.” He glanced up at the clock. “I have to cut wood. I promised Pa.” He grabbed another cookie and headed for the door.

  Once he’d gone, Leah looked to Christopher. “And what about you? Don’t you have chores too?”

  “I suppose so,” he admitted, “but I wanted to ask you a question.”

  Leah could see the twins were happily occupied with their toys, so she turned her full attention on Christopher. “What did you want to ask?”

  “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 o
f 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

  Skagway 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 te
mperature 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.

  “Adrik, that would make a great new coat for you. I’ve been trying to find some decent fur for just such a project. Your own coat is nearly worn through.”