ALASKAN BRIDES 01: Yukon Wedding

by Allie Pleiter

  “Leo?” Mack had steered clear of Leo expressly to let things simmer down. Had that angered the young man? More importantly, had Leo become enraged enough to take it out on Lana? “Leo stabbed Lana?” The words seemed too horrible to even speak. He tried to push his way past Teena into the dwelling, but the feisty healer held her ground, planting her small hand squarely on his chest with glowering eyes. “It was a small cut, not meant to kill. It will heal with the balm I’ve put on it. But her head worries me more. Thomas and several others were up by the waterfall and found Lana farther down the trail. She was lying near several large rocks, and she has a gash behind one ear where I am sure her head struck one of them.”

  The thought of Lana lying unconscious and bleeding up on the Chilkoot was enough to shred Mack’s chest from the inside. He could barely breathe, and yet he seethed with anger at the same time. He’d sworn never to kill in vengeance, but… “So help me, if I find Leo Johnson I’ll…”

  “Leo is long gone, Mack. I fear he is lost to us. I fear he was lost to us long before this. Do not let your heart wander down that path. Your heart is needed here. Lana is asking for you. And Georgie.”

  In his desperation to get to Lana he’d nearly forgotten no one knew Georgie’s whereabouts. “Georgie…” he moaned, pulling his hands down his face and pacing the ground. He’d failed as a husband, a father, a protector.

  “Georgie is a smart boy. God’s hand kept him safe, Mack.”

  Mack spun to look at Teena, air finally finding its way into his lungs. “He’s safe?”

  “Georgie hid from Leo under the bed. Lucy went to your home once Thomas told us Georgie was not with Lana. And thank the Lord he wasn’t. Georgie is safe. Frightened, but safe. The Tuckers are keeping him for now. Lana must rest.”

  Right now the most important thing in the entire world was to get to Lana and see her open her eyes. To ask her forgiveness for believing what he never should have believed, to beg her to allow him the chance to restore her trust. He squared himself at the Tlingit woman, pulling himself up to his full height over her tiny frame. “I must see her. Now.”

  She looked at him for a long moment, eyebrows knit together as if examining his face. “I had to be sure your heart was right before you saw her. But I see that it is. You may see her.”

  Mack made to duck past her into the tent. Again the tiny hand shot out to block his way.

  “Say only what is most important. Everything else can wait until she is stronger, can it not?”

  Even in the shadows of the room, Mack treasured every detail of Lana’s features. Her hair was down and mussed, her neckline ripped on one side, and he could see where Teena had tried to clean off the mud and blood as best she could. He thought of her lying alone and injured in the rain, and regret stabbed his chest. What a sorry pair he and Lana made. They had done such a miserable job with each other, deepening wounds God had meant them to heal. Redeem us, Father, Mack prayed as he took Lana’s hand. He could still see the blister from where she had burned herself last night. He also saw the shiny coating on Lana’s thumb where Teena had dressed the blister again, reapplying the healing salve onto the red raw edges of the wound where Lana had tried so hard to scrub it off. We have both made such a mess of the healing You meant to do. I beg You, grant me a future with her, he prayed. The strength of his affection for Lana—his love for Lana—swelled up inside with a power he didn’t know how to control or contain. My plans have only led to pain. When did I forget to seek Your plans? Give me a life with her, Lord, a future with her and Georgie. Only, grant me a new heart with it. The change is too big to do on my own.

  Lana stirred, opening her eyes with a wince of pain. “Easy there, love, go slow.” He brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “You’ve a nasty bump.”

  “Mack?”

  “I’m here.” The lump in his throat choked any further words.

  She began to rise. “Georgie…”

  “Is safe. Lucy Tucker has him. Your son was smart enough to hide from Leo but knew to come out of hiding for a Tucker cookie.”

  “Oh, Mack, you were right about Leo. I thought he would kill me for the gold. He got so fearsome when he couldn’t make your pin work the map.”

  “My pin?”

  “Well, of course, your pin. You told me the pin I loved the most would work the map.”

  His pin. In his jealous rage, he had yelled at her to take the pin she loved most. And she had taken his pin, not Jed’s. He’d turned those brooches into some kind of test, forcing her to choose between him and Jed. That was so far beyond wrong, and all his scheming had made his pin a trap instead of the gift it should have been. Lana had selected his pin, even when she should never have been forced to choose. She did love him. Heaven above, Mack lamented, feeling his heart break, I have been the king of fools. “The pin I gave you doesn’t work the map, Lana. Jed’s pin does.”

  “But you told me to use the pin I loved the most…” Her eyes brimmed over. “And you thought that was Jed’s pin. You just couldn’t see I’d come to care for you, could you?” Her smile was sad. “And I’ve been terrible at showing you, haven’t I?” She sighed and brought her hand to rest atop his. “At first I wouldn’t wear it, that’s true, but then I couldn’t bear not to keep it safe. I didn’t want it bent up like Jed’s. It’s such a beautiful thing. And now it’s ruined.”

  “I don’t care,” Mack said fiercely. “You’re safe.” He shook his head. “I should never have believed Nicky Peacock when he said you were in league with him. I was too hurt to see how impossible that was. I’m sorry I suspected you when I should have trusted you most. With everything.”

  “We hurt each other, Mack. But I don’t want either of us to hurt anymore. You were right about so many things. About Leo. About the danger. About Teena. If the Tlingit hadn’t found me…”

  He put a finger over her frown. “Don’t. You were right. I’ve never trusted you. Not completely, even when you earned it. I told myself I’d never lose another partner after I lost Jed. After we lost Jed. I thought I could outsmart every danger on my own.”

  She moved to rise further, and Mack held her by the shoulders to help her upright. She seemed at once all too frail and amazingly strong. She narrowed one eye at him. “You’re a very smart man, Mack Tanner, and I expect you could do every job in Treasure Creek. But there’s one even you can’t do.”

  I love her. It seemed as clear as day, as close as breath, as if his heart had known it all along, but it only just reached his thick head it this very second. “What’s that?” he said, feeling a broad smile spill over his face.

  “You can’t be God. You can’t master the future anymore than you can master people. Believe it or not, you taught me that.”

  “How can I teach you something I don’t seem to know?” She reached a hand up to cup his cheek, and he felt the stubble of his unshaven chin prickle her tender palms. Glory, but she was a wonder. The perfect woman for him. How could he have ever thought her an obligation? Lana was a gift. “I’ve been such a stiff-necked idiot.”

  “Every teacher knows the best way to fully learn a subject is to teach it to someone else. And we’ve both been terrific fools, Mack. But I’m ready for things to change. I think God has a wonderful future laid out for us, fortune or no. And I don’t think we have to be wealthy or crafty and clever to get it. We never had. We’ve just had to be faithful.” She reached up with her other hand, so that she held his face in her hands. “And honest. And to be honest, I love you. I think I’d been too hurt to really see it before. But I see it now. The night we kissed…”

  “The night we fought because I…”

  She stopped her words with a hand to his mouth, and the touch washed through him, a torrent of grace. “Shh. I see it clearly now. I love you and I love our family. I thought God cruel to force us together, but now I think Him wise beyond anything I could dream.”

  God was, in fact, wise beyond anything Mack had ever given Him credit for. “I love you. I was just too a
fraid of losing you to let myself admit it. When I think of what all my conniving might have cost me…” Mack pulled her up onto his lap with incredible ease, wrapping his hands around her delicate waist and feeling as though God had crafted her uniquely to fit in the circle of his arms. In the darkest corners of his heart. “How did I miss that my real treasure is you?”

  She didn’t bother to answer. Only let him kiss her like the wondrous, precious treasure that she was. As she wrapped his hands around his neck and kissed him back, Mack felt his heart break open and change into the new one he’d asked of God only moments before.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Lana spent the next hour convincing both Mack and Teena—who put up a unified opposition to the notion—that she was perfectly fine and able to return to Treasure Creek. Her head throbbed, but her heart would continue to throb much worse until she held Georgie safe and sound in her arms. Finally, the pair of them relented, but only when she threatened to walk back on her own, with or without their consent.

  Wearing the enormous smile that had not left his face since their reunion, Mack set Lana gently in Bolt’s saddle and swung up to settle in behind her. Lana had lived in Treasure Creek for almost five months, yet it felt as if she were entering the town for the first time. The clarity of the summer sun, the blinding green lushness of trees and grasses, the gleam of the snowcaps that never left the mountains; she took all these in with a new vibrancy. As if she saw her place in the world with new eyes. She leaned back into the warmth and strength of Mack’s chest, and it struck her that despite all that had happened, she actually felt safe. Thank You, Lord, she prayed, feeling the words chime in her heart like a bell. I haven’t felt really safe in so very long.

  She must have sighed, for Mack tipped his head down to look at her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, really.” She meant it in ways she never had before. “I’m just glad to be home.”

  She felt a chuckle tumble through his chest. “Teena walks this path every day. You were never far from home.”

  Lana turned to look at him, even though it made her neck twinge to do so. “No, it’s more than that. Lying in the forest, I hollered at God for all He’d taken from me. I was hurt and angry for not getting the life I’d wanted. The splendid life my parents always made me feel was my birthright—you know, fine things, grand adventures, influence in high places.”

  Mack stared at her, puzzled by the words. “Those things aren’t up here. It always did make me wonder why you came here with Jed in the first place.”

  “I came to find the shortcut to the fine life. Don’t you see, Mack? I realized I wasn’t much better than those foolish men up on the trail. Hunting for something I think will make me happy, when in reality it’s not the thing that will make me happy at all. Even if Leo had pulled up the gold and handed it to me, I wouldn’t have wanted it.”

  “It wasn’t there anyhow, Lana. I meant what I said when I told you I was digging it up to buy land. To build a big new house someday for our family. I thought by taking the gold away I could protect you better. Instead, I left you in danger.” She felt his breath catch at the thought.

  “But you were right about the gold. In some ways, Mack, I did want it. But only because I believed that lie that it would secure my future. Only it’s just that—a lie. More trap than treasure, because the life I thought it would buy me—well, it isn’t what I really wanted after all.” She let herself snuggle in against him. “Listen to me, I must sound silly.”

  “Lana Bristow Tanner preaching that money doesn’t buy happiness? You did take a large knock to the noggin.”

  She grinned. “Don’t you stop buying me pretty things. I never said I didn’t still like them.”

  “Oh no?”

  “Well, I know now they’re not what makes life work.” She slid a hand onto Mack’s sleeve, running it down the muscles of his arm until it rested atop his the back of his hand. “God’s given me other treasures. I don’t want a big fancy home outside of town, Mack. I have my home—and the life I really want, here with you and Georgie in Treasure Creek.”

  Mack twined his arms tightly about her and kissed the top of her head. “Does that mean I can cancel that order of china from Seattle?”

  “Absolutely not. In fact, we might need to double it.”

  “Double it?”

  “Just because I know what’s really important in life doesn’t mean Mr. and Mrs. Treasure Creek won’t keep a full social calendar. You can add on to a house just as easily as you add on to a church, you know.”

  Mack moaned. “I thought Teena told you to rest for at least a week.”

  “She did, but you’re forgetting the Midsummer Festival is only two weeks away. I have no intention of postponing, so you’ll have to help. I take it the General Store’s ready to open on schedule?”

  Mack blew out an exasperated breath. “Anything but. And the renovations to the church are a full three weeks behind. It’ll take an act of God to keep things on plan.”

  “Maybe that’s exactly as it should be.”

  For the next two weeks, dozens of Treasure Creek residents pitched in on the school construction while Mack did double duty supervising a huge crew of workers finalizing the General Store. Treasure Creek had never seen anything like it, and Lana couldn’t have been more proud. Once the saw blades arrived from Seattle, the little log church would grow in size and gain siding, a real steeple and other improvements. Treasure Creek was fast on its way to becoming a real town, not just a settlement sprouting up at the root of the Chilkoot.

  Finally, tonight Treasure Creek’s First Annual Midsummer Festival was at hand.

  Everyone was decked out in his or her finest, gathered around a collection of tables in the church yard. Lanterns and ribbons hung from the tree branches, blue and white-checkered tablecloths fluttered, and all kinds of food sent spectacular scents wafting through the evening breeze. The MacDougal plaid did indeed make its appearance. The biggest surprise of the night, however, was the Tucker sisters. It took a full ten minutes for anyone to recognize them. Viola Goddard had managed to make them dresses that suited each of their king-size personalities perfectly. Mack nearly gasped when he figured out who they were, making Lana laugh out loud. “Hang me,” he muttered, his gaze shifting back and forth between the trio and his grinning wife. “There really are ladies under those Tuckers!”

  Mack’s gaze was only exceeded by Caleb Johnson’s, whose mouth actually fell open when Lucy strolled—and gracious, she did indeed stroll—by him. No one ever did see Leo again, which left a mile-wide hole in Caleb’s heart. Lana suspected God had plans to heal that wound—plans that just walked by in an unexpected swish of calico. “Mack,” Lana said with a sad smile, “Treasure Creek needs a preacher now.”

  “I’ve been trying to convince Thomas Stone for weeks, but he won’t budge.” Mack glanced down at her, his eyebrows lowering suspiciously. “Why?”

  Lana pointed over to Caleb, who was currently bent over Lucy Tucker’s hand, kissing it. “I give it three weeks. Two if I’m persistent.”

  He crossed his arms across his chest. “Good thing I asked Margie to watch Georgie for the night, not Lucy. She looks a mite preoccupied. I don’t know, though, Lana, Tuckers don’t marry.”

  Lana jutted her chin at her husband. “Tuckers don’t marry yet. Caleb deserves some happiness after all he’s been through. And what do you mean Margie’s watching Georgie tonight?”

  Mack laughed and pulled on her arm. “Oh, I’ve one final scheme up my sleeve. But I promise this is one you’ll like.” Tugging her to a shady corner on the other side of the church, he pulled out a small velvet pouch. “While I’ve no intention of stopping the purchase of pretty things for my wife, I decided tonight would be a good time to start over.”

  She didn’t know quite what that meant, but when she pulled the drawstring on the little pouch, a beautiful jeweled gold cross emerged. Set with, she realized after a moment, the stones that had been in both brooches.


  “I had them both melted and made into this. Don’t hide it in your jewelry box, Lana. I want to see it around your neck every single day.”

  “I’ll never take it off. Oh, Mack, it’s so beautiful. And perfect.” She turned so he could fasten the clasp, luxuriating in the kiss he planted at the base of her neck once he did so.

  “There’s more.” He had the oddest look on his face as he reached into his coat pocket. “I’ve written a little something.”

  Lana’s hand flew to her chest. “A love letter? Mack, you outdo yourself.”

  He actually flushed. “Not exactly. But I suppose you’re close. Read this.”

  He held out two pieces of paper. One was the deed to a large parcel of land just north of Treasure Creek—the one he’d gone off to purchase the night everything had gone wrong. Only Mack’s name had been crossed off the document, replaced by “Whomever Holds This Deed.” The other was a small folded note. Lana angled it toward the patches of lavender light still left by the evening sun and read:

  “This map should be used to find the buried treasure only in dire times. Dire times brought the contents of this box to you. This is your treasure. In the finding. In the hoping, in the faith.

  Yours, Mack Tanner.”

  Lana looked up at him. “But, Mack, that means anyone could claim that property.”

  “That’s right. Anyone. You or Georgie. Our children or our grandchildren. Anyone. I figure God has someone perfect in mind at the perfect time.”

  Lana was stunned. “So you’re leaving it up to Him, are you?”

  The pastel light caught a distinct gleam in his eye. “Well, I intend to help a bit on the children and grandchildren part.” He pointed to the church where a blanket, lantern and small basket of goodies lay stashed. “After the party, we’re going treasure-hiding tonight. Just you and I. Together. That way you’ll always know where to find it if you need it. No secrets. No schemes…except the one giving you and me a whole lot of time to treasure ourselves.”