Chapter 38
Sitka; Two Days Later
“So that’s it? Everyone is in prison?” Bryony took a sip of water, then helped herself to a second piece of bread sitting in the basket on the kitchen table.
“Yes. At least everyone I could find.” Jonas plunged his spoon into the bowl of borscht in front of him and took a hearty bite.
Alexei watched his family from where he was seated at the head of the table, which seemed a bit too empty, even if they were enjoying a pot of Evelina’s borscht.
Kate’s twin, Evelina, and their two half siblings, Inessa and Ilya, had been in Sitka for about a week and a half.
Usually Evelina taught a half-day school for the Tlingit children in Juneau, but when she’d learned there was trouble with Preston Caldwell and Jonas was needed in Sitka until Secretary Gray arrived, she’d given the students a break and come to Sitka.
Of course, she hadn’t been expecting Jonas to lose his job when Marshall Hibbs arrived before Secretary Gray, but she’d been here when it happened.
But regardless of what had brought Evelina and his half siblings to Sitka, it felt nice to have them home again.
Getting everyone together was becoming more and more difficult.
Going forward, Christmas might be the only time all seven of his siblings and their families were together each year, especially now that they were opening a shipyard down in San Francisco.
The table had felt painfully empty since Sacha and Maggie, and Maggie’s younger siblings, Ainsley and Finnan, left for San Francisco.
And confound it. Alexei missed Yuri more than he wanted to admit. He couldn’t remember the last time Yuri had been gone for so long. It felt almost wrong to go through the day without anyone teasing him about how rarely he smiled.
But this was going to be their new version of normal now, because as soon as Yuri had dropped Rosalind off in Texas, he’d be moving to San Francisco for good.
Alexei pressed his palm to his breastbone. It didn’t seem fair that he should miss the hooligan so much.
“Not everyone was in Sitka,” Jonas continued, still answering Bryony’s question about the arrests.
“And some of the officials and hunters who work for the ACC are only here in the summer. Warrants for their arrests have been sent to the various locations where they live, but we have no way of knowing if anyone else has been arrested yet.”
Alexei didn’t want to think about how long that list of people would be.
They’d spent the past two days poring over the ledgers with Secretary Gray, researching each and every name.
It seemed like the Caldwells had been willing to pay off anyone and everyone to keep their extra seal-harvesting efforts a secret.
But what Jonas said was true, anyone in Sitka involved in falsifying the numbers was now sitting in the jail beneath the old governor’s mansion on Castle Hill, and that included Preston Caldwell and Marshal Hibbs.
“I’m just glad Mr. Caldwell is in prison.
He should have been sent there years ago.
” This from Ilya, the youngest sibling in their family.
He was a child of their father’s second marriage.
Half Aleut and half white, he hadn’t even been two when his parents died.
Raising him had been one of the biggest reasons Alexei had left San Francisco and returned to Sitka—along with keeping the family’s businesses afloat.
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to rest easy until Simon Caldwell is in prison too,” Mikhail muttered. “I don’t like the fact that he’s gone.”
Jonas shrugged his broad shoulders. “A warrant for his arrest has been sent to Washington, DC. It’s only a matter of time before he’s either caught there or shows up back here, thinking he’s still the governor.”
“Yes, we’ll all rest easier once we know Simon has been arrested.” Evelina dropped her spoon into her borscht with a plunk, her gaze moving to Alexei. “But I think we should stop talking about the Caldwells, and Alexei should tell us about the letter that arrived in the mail today.”
Alexei tried to scowl, but he wasn’t quite sure he managed it. “There were several letters. Since when do you care about shipping-contract extensions?”
Evelina settled a hand over her growing stomach and glared right back at him. “I was referring to the letter written in a feminine hand.”
“Did Laurel write him?” Bryony’s eyes lit with excitement, and she turned his direction, her red braid swinging over her shoulder. “What did it say?”
“Let’s see. Does this make the third or fourth one you’ve received since returning from San Francisco?” Mikhail grinned at him.
“I hardly see why it matters.” Alexei wasn’t about to admit that it was, in fact, the fifth letter he’d received.
“So when do we get to meet this woman?” Jonas pinned him with his serious lawman gaze, one that had probably caused a couple dozen criminals to confess on the spot.
Alexei kept his mouth shut.
“Perhaps we should all take a trip down to San Francisco.” Mikhail shifted into a comfortable position on his chair.
“To visit Sacha, of course. We’ll probably be expected to invite the Farnsworths to dine with us at that new hotel down there, which means we’d be forced to meet Laurel. What a shame.”
“Perhaps you should schedule your trip to start in a month or more, maybe you could go down there for Easter,” Alexei suggested.
Mikhail narrowed his eyes. “What are you up to?”
“Wait. Is Laurel coming here?” Bryony nearly dropped her water glass. “Is that why you want to send Mikhail away? Do we get to meet her?”
“Don’t tell me she’s going to be here for Easter,” Mikhail drawled.
Alexei smirked. “She’s aiming to arrive around the middle of March and stay through at least Easter.”
Evelina squealed, the sound so high-pitched he winced. “This is wonderful! Jonas, we have to come visit while she’s here.”
“Is there anything specific she wants to do while she’s here?” Bryony cut in. “Mikhail and I will have several weeks before we have to leave on our next expedition. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Does this mean Alexei’s getting married?” Ilya plunged his spoon into his soup with a scowl.
“Yes!” Bryony and Evelina shrieked in unison.
Alexei resisted rolling his eyes. Barely. “No. It means I invited a friend for a visit.”
Jonas sent Ilya a wink. “They’ll be married before summer ends. Just watch.”
“They better not be,” Mikhail snapped. “I’ve been present at every single one of my siblings’ weddings so far. I don’t plan to miss Alexei’s.”
Inessa jabbed her spoon at Mikhail. “You weren’t at Kate’s.”
“And Alexei got an earful for it, allowing her to be married while I was on an expedition, believe me.” Mikhail sent Alexei a glare.
Alexei threw up his hands. “She was married within eight hours of being trapped in that cave with Nathan. No one was there for the wedding unless they happened to already be in Juneau.”
Mikhail tapped his fingers on the table. “Either you marry Laurel before Bryony and I leave, or you wait until we get back. None of this getting married over the summer while we’re gone.”
He was tempted to try telling Mikhail that he was getting riled up over nothing, but the truth was, there might be a wedding sometime over the summer.
He could see himself being happy married to Laurel.
She didn’t necessarily inspire the same whirlwind of emotions that his former fiancée, Clarise, used to, but maybe that would change with time.
“He can’t get married.” Ilya’s scowl deepened. “Then I won’t have any brothers left.”
Evelina dabbed her face with her napkin. “You can’t expect Alexei to stay single forever. He was engaged before any of the rest of us.”
“Is Laurel coming to visit because she thinks you might be the next governor?” Inessa asked, her dark hair falling over her shoulder.
“Not that I know of.” Though he could certainly see Laurel’s parents supporting the marriage if he were indeed the next governor. “She doesn’t know that I was offered the position last summer, so I doubt she thinks it’s possible for me to become governor now.”
“Are you sure?” Jonas asked. “I bet the paper in San Francisco has run half a dozen articles about Preston Caldwell being charged with fraud, and there being a warrant out for the current governor’s arrest.”
“I still doubt she knows I’m in the running to be the next governor.” Though Jonas brought up a good point. Her father had many connections, and if he’d heard rumors about the next governor, this could be maneuvering on her parents’ part.
But he still remembered the flare of excitement in Laurel’s eyes and the soft curve of her lips when he’d invited her to Alaska. Maybe this was what had been needed to get her parents’ permission for the trip?
“Has Secretary Gray offered you the governorship again?” Inessa asked, now evidently wanting to talk even though she’d remained silent for most of the meal.
“No. I have a meeting with him in the morning, but I don’t know if he intends to discuss that or something else.
” He wasn’t sure when Gray would be returning to Washington.
There were still a lot of things to be sorted through.
The village of Klawock and the new cannery owned by the ACC and fishing rights around Prince of Wales Island were just a few of those things.
Alexei couldn’t begin to imagine how many more messes Simon Caldwell had made that would now need to be cleaned up.
“If he doesn’t ask you, who do you think he’ll ask to be the next governor?” Inessa pressed.
Alexei ran his eyes over his youngest sister, with her dark hair and dark eyes and brown skin. She was lovely and athletic, moving with a grace and ease that few women possessed. And she was suddenly awfully interested in who the next governor of Alaska would be. If only he knew why.