Chapter Two
To Sally’s surprise, Tom didn’t erect a tent for them to sleep in, instead, he spread two blankets on the ground six feet apart. Then he added two more blankets, one for each of them.
“Don’t you want to consummate?” Sally asked, simply blurting out what was on her mind instead of thinking first. It had always been a problem for her. She was much too blunt.
“I thought you’d want some time to get to know me first,” Tom replied.
Sally frowned. “Am I not pretty enough for you?”
“You’re very pretty. I know you’re exhausted from your trip, and I’m confident we’ll enjoy ourselves more once we’re both rested from this journey.”
“My mother told me that a man has needs, and I need to plan to fulfill his needs on our wedding night and every night thereafter whether I like it or not. I don’t want you to divorce me for denying you your rights.”
Tom sighed. “You’re not denying me. We’re taking time to get to know one another. That’s all.”
Sally wanted to pout because she’d been looking forward to being close to him, but she didn’t.
It wasn’t becoming for a woman to pout at her new husband.
She was certain her mother would tell her that if she were there.
Besides, he hadn’t even kissed her properly yet.
She wanted to know what kissing a man felt like.
Why didn’t he want to kiss her? Perhaps she had gotten too thin from being so sick on the ships.
Perhaps he didn’t like her for some reason.
Maybe she talked too much. She didn’t know.
Instead of complaining, she sat down on one of the blankets, wishing she’d put them down, because then she could have put them closer. “Goodnight, Tom,” she said after a moment.
“Goodnight, Sally,” he replied, lying down on his own blanket and turning on his side away from her.
Sally was exhausted, and she closed her eyes and prayed for her husband to like her better before falling into a deep slumber.
*****
TOM LET SALLY SLEEP for as long as he could the following morning, but finally, he nudged her awake. They needed to be on their way.
Sally sat straight up in her “bed” and looked around her.
She’d woken up in so many different places in the past couple of weeks, it took her a moment to know where she was.
Then her gaze landed on Tom. The man was nothing like she’d imagined, but she was certain he could learn to be romantic. It was just a matter of teaching him.
She got to her feet, smoothed the skirt she’d slept in, and stepped toward him, tilting her face up for his kiss. Tom stared at her bewilderedly and finally kissed her cheek.
“I thought we’d eat our breakfast while we walked. We’re getting a late start,” Tom told her.
“You should have woken me sooner!”
“No, you needed that sleep. But now we must leave.” He’d already rolled up his blankets and tied them to the mule—he refused to think of the animal as Elmer.
She glanced at the mule and quickly followed his lead, rolling her own blankets so they could be on their way. “Will we always eat while we walk?” she asked.
“Only on days when we oversleep,” he said. Already, they were moving much more slowly than he had on his way to her. They had time to make up for.
To his surprise, she started out walking more quickly than she had the day before. He thought she’d be more tired on their second day, but she had color in her cheeks that hadn’t been there the day before. Perhaps the trip had made her sicker than she let on.
She happily munched on the hardtack and jerky as they walked. “It’s nice to be able to keep something in my stomach,” she said as she finished.
“Was the journey really that bad for you?”
She nodded. “But I knew it would be better once I got to you, and it is. I’m pleased.”
He kept mostly silent as they walked again, and it was halfway through the day before it occurred to her why he was so quiet. He was shy! She was used to the obnoxious men who came to the restaurant at the hotel and the way they ogled her. Tom was...polite. It felt strange.
“I’m surprised we’re not traveling with a group,” she said, well past the noon hour. They’d eaten their lunch as they walked, just as they had breakfast.
“I prefer to travel alone. The first time I traveled this path, it was with a group, and it was chaotic. It’s much simpler this way, and we can set our own pace, rather than moving slowly with the group.”
“I’m happy to have the time alone to get to know one another,” she said softly.
He didn’t look at her as he swallowed hard and nodded. Perhaps she was his wife, but he was having a hard time getting used to the idea that they were allowed to be alone together. His parents had been strict, and they had watched his every move.
He’d been on his own in Alaska for a while, but there were so few women.
She was really the only woman he’d spent time alone with.
He never would have had the courage to send for a mail-order bride if his boss hadn’t done it first. It was an uncomfortable situation, but he was certain he’d get used to it. Eventually.
*****
BY THE TIME THEY REACHED Lake Bennett, Sally was convinced Tom was disappointed in her and wished he could send her back to Massachusetts.
She knew from the letters she’d exchanged with Belle and Maggie that there were plenty of men in Alaska who wanted wives if Tom rejected her, but she didn’t want Tom to reject her.
She wanted to be married to Thomas Harlan, not some faceless stranger.
Tom had been nothing but kind, but he still hadn’t kissed her on the lips, and she gave him every opportunity. She knew he was shy. It was painfully obvious. But...it didn’t make her feel any better about herself.
When they got into their boat to travel up the Yukon River, she decided she would wait until they were out of earshot of everyone, and she would ask him what she’d done wrong. She couldn’t live much longer with the constant silence.
It took them a bit to be away from prying ears, but as soon as they were, she asked, “What have I done wrong, Tom?”
He paused rowing and turned to her, surprised at her question. “Nothing.”
“Then why don’t you want to talk to me? I’ve tried starting at least three thousand four hundred and fifty-three conversations with you, and you only respond with one word when you respond at all.
Have I offended you somehow? Do I need to start wearing a sackcloth over my head?
Do you dislike brown hair? I’ve heard putting lemons on your hair and spending time in the sun will make your hair lighter.
I like it brown, but if you don’t, I’ll find some way to change it.
Please just tell me what to do to please you. ”
Tom sighed and turned back around to face away from her. “I—th-there’s something I didn’t tell you in my letters. I st-stutter. Mostly I’ve overcome it, but s-sometimes I still do it. When I’m n-nervous.”
Sally gaped at his back. “That’s all? You could have written me a note to say that. I’ve been so worried I was doing something you didn’t like...”
Tom swallowed hard. “I’ve learned to speak as little as possible to avoid ridicule.”
“Don’t worry about stammering with me! I’m your wife, and I loved you from the moment I read your first letter. Is that why you haven’t kissed me?”
He looked over his shoulder at her again as if he were trying to decide how to respond to her question. “N-no.” He took a deep breath and willed his tongue to work properly. “I-I’ve never kissed a woman.”
“I’ve never kissed a man! We’ll have our first kiss together. When we camp for the night.”
He stared straight ahead of him at the rich blue water of the river. He didn’t respond. He knew the nerves fluttering through him would make him stutter if he tried, and he wasn’t willing to stutter for her again. Why did she make him so nervous? Perhaps it was her beauty.
As he rowed, he thought about her suggestion of writing her a note. He’d brought paper and a pencil. He could easily write her little notes telling her how beautiful he thought she was.
After thinking about it for a moment, he decided to do just that. That evening, by the fire, he would write her a note. If she liked it, he would write more. That way, his stammer wouldn’t happen, and she would understand how he felt.
As soon as they got off the boat that evening, he asked her to set up their sleep areas for the first time, and he started a fire, planning to write her a note while she worked.
With the fire started, he put pencil to paper and wrote a short note.
Sally,
I apologize for not talking to you much. Your beauty makes me so nervous, I simply know I won’t be able to speak without stammering, and that’s the last thing I want to do. Please understand it is nothing you do wrong. I want nothing more than to be closer to you.
Your Thomas
As he signed the note, he remembered how startled he’d been when they’d met, and she called him her Thomas. But he knew now he was. In every way. He hoped he could make her see that.
She finished laying out their blankets, and he noticed their bedding was touching. He wanted to laugh. She made no qualms about wanting to be closer to him, and he knew deep inside, she was the woman he’d waited his entire life for. She was perfect in his eyes.
Sally sat beside him on the ground, giving him a portion of hardtack and jerky before starting on her own.
“I’m looking forward to eating something other than this when we get to Yeti,” she said.
“I didn’t mind at first because it was food, and it didn’t make me queasy, but now.
..now I want to eat other things. I do hope we arrive in time for me to start a garden. ”
He nodded, quietly handing her the note he’d written. He watched her face as she read it, and when she teared up, he worried he’d said something wrong in the note. Instead of criticizing him, she threw her arms around him and kissed him right on the mouth.
It didn’t take him more than a moment to take advantage of the kiss, drawing her closer, right onto his lap.
Sally smiled as she pulled away. “Thank you for the sweet note. I think you’re very handsome, Tom. When you get over your nervousness about talking to me, it will be a blessing, but until then, I would be thrilled to receive notes from you if you’re willing to write them.”
Tom looked into her eyes, nodded, and pulled her mouth back to his, kissing her more passionately this time.
When they finally broke the kiss, she moved back beside him on the ground and finished her supper. “You’re a very special man, Thomas. I’m glad you’re the man I chose to marry.”
He smiled and nodded, happy she understood and even happier she was his bride.
When they bedded down for the night, she snuggled into his side, and though he wasn’t surprised, he was in awe of this woman, who was willing to bare her soul and let him know how she felt.
*****
SALLY WOKE BEFORE TOM the following morning, and she lay there watching him sleep as the sun rose behind him. She knew she must have done something good in her life to have a man like that feel so much for her, but she had no idea what. She was anything but perfect.
She had never been overly pious, not minding working on Sundays or missing church when she had to. Perhaps God knew she wasn’t perfect and didn’t blame her for it.
Tom woke slowly to find his beautiful wife watching him. Had it been anyone but her, he would have felt bothered by realizing someone was watching him sleep, but it was his dear Sally. How could he complain?
Even if he’d wanted to complain, there was no time, because her mouth was against his as soon as he’d opened his eyes.
That’s when he realized that while he’d slept, she’d moved under his blanket.
He wondered if she’d recently started cuddling with him or if it had happened much earlier in the night.
He hated to stop kissing her, but it was getting light out, and they needed to get started if they were going to be home in time for her to plant a garden. Finally, he broke off the kiss and sighed. “Time to go.” He kept the sentence short for fear of his stammer, but she seemed to understand.
Immediately, Sally rolled away from him and picked up their blankets. “Should we eat on the boat this morning?” she asked.
At his nod, she made preparations for both meals for their day. They didn’t need plates as the foods were eaten with fingers, but she wrapped enough food in cloth so they could have breakfast and lunch as they moved.
They’d boiled the water the previous night, so she removed the lid from the pot and poured two flasks full of water for them to drink as they moved along. She wished he’d brought more, but he’d had to pack lightly.
Once the pot was stowed in the back of the boat, they were ready to go. “Do you ever read books?” she asked as they got into the boat for their day on the water.
He nodded.
“My favorite author is Jules Vern. He writes the best science fiction I’ve ever read.
Have you read Journey to the Center of the Earth?
I love his use of volcanoes and prehistoric beasts.
And the fact that he goes into a volcano in Iceland and comes out in Italy.
It truly sparked my interest in both literature and science.
I’ve read my copy of that book over and over again.
My mother bought me a copy for her last Christmas on this Earth. ”
Tom listened, smiling at her quick information about the book. He could listen to her talk all day, and now that she knew why he didn’t respond, he had a feeling that’s exactly what would happen.