Chapter 40
JUNEAU, ALASKA
Juneau emerged out of the morning mist as if limned in gold, the harbor bustling with steamers and sailing vessels. In July, word had finally reached the Outside, when the SS Excelsior arrived in Seattle with half a ton of gold.
Since then, prospectors had poured into the city for the treacherous journey north.
So quickly had the area expanded that Dawson City now boasted more than ten thousand souls, and Maggie, Brendan, her father and brother had been able to travel home by boat rather than hiking up the Chilkoot or White Pass.
They’d first gone up the Yukon in a riverboat to St Michael and then taken a steamer all the way to Juneau.
The fare price had been outrageous—five hundred dollars each—but Declan had insisted, saying he was a rich man now.
He wasn’t, Maggie knew, that rich. Their precious pay dirt had ended up giving them the admittedly impressive sum of sixteen thousand dollars. It was certainly a goodly amount, and it meant they could travel back to Juneau in style, but her father and brother were far from millionaires.
Back in June, after they’d found Declan and Danny in their cabin, Brendan had gone into Dawson to look for a doctor and learned that one was coming to the settlement in August. And so they’d waited and Maggie had tended to Danny, helping him to regain his strength, and Declan and Brendan had worked the claim, taking their gold dust and nuggets into Dawson for cold, hard cash.
Dawson had had no church, either, and so Maggie and Brendan had had to wait, much to their frustration, to marry, as they longed to.
Then, in August, Father William Judge, doctor and priest, had arrived to start a hospital and a church.
He’d seen to Danny’s leg and married Brendan and Maggie in a simple service all in the same week, with Danny and her da both celebrating with them.
They’d been making plans to sail in August for Juneau—with the claim played out, Danny and Declan both were ready to return to the comforts of civilization—when an infection started in Danny’s leg, and with it spreading quickly, he’d ended up having it amputated by Father Judge just above the knee.
It had been a bitter blow for Maggie’s brother; he was just twenty years old, now virtually a cripple.
And yet, Maggie discovered, suffering could be the making of a man, and after drowning his sorrows in liquor and self-pity for several days, Danny had finally, truly, turned the page on his reckless ways.
“I’ve wasted my years,” he’d stated, grimly matter-of-fact.
“Wasted! And for what? I’ve been a thorn in your side, Maggie, I know I have.
” He’d given her a wry yet sorrowful smile.
“I know that full well. And Da too… I wasn’t much help to him, on the claim.
I meant to be, but…” He’d shaken his head, his gaze distant, his face drawn in harsh lines of regret.
“I know I’ve said I’ll be different before, but this time I mean it.
I have to. I can’t waste the rest of my life, not now, not after this. ”
Maggie wanted to believe him, desperately, more than ever before. She didn’t know what Danny would do next in life, and at this point he didn’t either, but she hoped it would be something worthwhile. She chose to believe that it would.
“Home at last,” Brendan remarked softly as he joined Maggie at the railing.
They’d been married for almost two months, and yet it still felt both new and wondrous.
Maggie didn’t think she would ever get tired of waking up next to him—they’d been sleeping on the floor of her da and Danny’s cabin, but still—or seeing him smile.
She loved how he’d take her hand or put his arm over her shoulders at random moments, how easy it was for her to rest her head on his shoulder.
She prayed she wouldn’t take him for granted, not ever again.
“Home,” she agreed, and anticipation and anxiety both swirled in her stomach at the thought.
She’d been away from Sheetka for over four months.
It was a lifetime to the little girl, Maggie knew.
Would Sheetka even remember her? Maggie couldn’t wait to see her, and yet the thought of Sheetka being shy or cold or merely indifferent filled her with dread and despair.
Brendan reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers.
“We’re almost there,” he said softly and she smiled in rueful acknowledgement.
No promises that it would all be all right, just the comforting steadiness of his presence.
She leaned her head against his shoulder as the steamer approached the dock.
They’d talked, fleetingly, of what might be next for them as a family. Would the three of them stay in Juneau, move back to San Francisco, or try again somewhere new, maybe Seattle or Victoria?
“In these times, I can start a store anywhere,” Brendan had told her. “We could return to San Francisco so you could get your nursing certificate?—”
“I don’t know if I want to go back,” Maggie had confessed. “It doesn’t feel right somehow. And I’ve learned more at St. Ann’s, where I’m truly needed, than anything I might gain back in San Francisco. Besides, Sheetka will be more accepted in Juneau than anywhere outside of Alaska.”
When Maggie looked back on her days at the Children’s Hospital, she was grateful for all she’d learned there, and yet it almost felt as if she’d been a different person then.
Younger, both more defiant and more na?ve.
She’d grown in so many ways, coming to Alaska, taking Sheetka for her own, and then traveling down the Yukon, with all its dangers.
Grown enough to know how much more growing she still had to do, and to trust that she and Brendan would grow together.
Soon, they were disembarking from the steamer and collecting their cases; Maggie had bought a dress in Dawson for an eyewatering amount, considering how plain it was, but she hadn’t wanted to arrive in Juneau looking like a worn-out prospector who had been out in the goldfields for too long.
She and Brendan, along with Danny and her father, all walked into town under a hazy September sky, Danny making good use of the crutch Brendan had whittled for him, hopping along at a sprightly pace.
Maggie was amazed at how quickly he’d taken to it.
When his amputation site had completely healed over, he’d told them he would get fitted with a wooden leg, like a pirate, and be back to walking properly in no time.
Maggie believed him, for her brother had a new purpose and determination about him which she was very glad to see.
As they headed down Front Street toward the Marks’ house, Maggie’s heart started to beat hard, her breath drying in her throat.
What if Sheetka didn’t recognize her? What if something had happened to the girl while she’d been gone?
They’d all endured so much already, Sheetka included.
Maggie couldn’t bear the thought of things going wrong now, when they were so close to all being together again.
Then they were at the door, with the familiar flowerpots and gingham curtains in the window, and Maggie stopped right on the sidewalk, unwilling to take that final step and go in. Danny and her da hung back a little, while Brendan squeezed her shoulder.
“You can do it, my love,” he murmured softly, and nodding jerkily, Maggie stepped forward. She knocked on the door, feeling strangely numb with the overwhelming anticipation of it all.
After a few moments, the latch was lifted and Diana opened the door, her mouth dropping open in surprise as she took in the sight of them.
“Back at last!” she exclaimed. “Oh my heavenly days!” She pressed one work-roughened hand to her ample chest. “I was starting to fear the worst, truly I was. When we hadn’t had any word?—”
“We sent a letter from Dawson, once the post office opened,” Maggie told her as they embraced.
“But it’s unreliable and slow… it looks like we got here before the letter did!
” She stepped back, looking around anxiously.
“Sheetka…?” she asked, just as Biscuit bounded up to her and she laughed as she knelt to caress the dog’s head.
“And Biscuit, of course. How are you, boy?”
“Sheetka’s just getting ready for school,” Diana told her. “She’s been quiet, the little thing, but I think she’s been happy.” She paused. “Shall I get her?”
Maggie gulped and nodded. “Yes, Diana, yes please.”
Brendan reached forward to hold her hand and Maggie squeezed it tightly. She heard Diana’s voice calling for Sheetka, and then the sound of footsteps. She squeezed Brendan’s hand all the harder, so he winced theatrically, making her smile.
And then her little girl—her daughter—was there. For a second, Sheetka’s face looked blank and Maggie heart’s plummeted. She’d forgotten, of course she had, she was only small…
And then a light entered her eyes, and her mouth curved in the most wonderful, wondering smile.
“Mama!” she exclaimed softly, and Maggie let out a gasp of relief and surprise.
“I’m back, darling,” she said, dropping to her knees and opening her arms. Sheetka rushed into them and Maggie hugged her daughter, closing her eyes as she kissed the little girl’s hair. “I’m home now,” she whispered. “Home with you. And Brendan too. You remember Brendan? And Da and Danny?”
“Hello, lass,” her father said as he stepped forward, smiling at Sheetka. “I told you we’d come back, didn’t I?”
Sheetka nodded shyly before burying her head once more in Maggie’s shoulder. Maggie stood up, hoisting the girl onto her hip, her arms still wrapped around her.
“We’re a family now,” she told her. “A family forever.”
For whatever the future held—whether they’d stay in Juneau or make their fortune in another, unknown place—Maggie knew they would be together, now and always.
She’d traveled across half the world to get to this place, Maggie reflected as Brendan put his arm around her.
She’d searched and striven, struggled and fought, lost and grieved, and somehow always gone on, and at last, at last, she was where she wanted to be.
Here, with Brendan and Sheetka, Danny and her da. Her family.
She was home.
* * *
If you were gripped by Maggie’s story, then you’ll love The Edelweiss Sisters, another epic, heartbreaking and page-turning novel from Kate Hewitt.
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