Chapter 22 #2
And, in truth, Maggie acknowledged as the steamer came toward the wharf, Danny and her da had not been all that forthcoming about how they were going to make their fortune.
They talked about prospecting for gold, but the area around Juneau had already been played out by the giant Treadwell mine, and Maggie was quite sure neither her father nor brother wished to labor there, for wages.
She’d heard enough speechifying this last week about being their own men, accountable to no one, to understand that, but she worried about what they would get up to.
But even with her extremely limited knowledge of this new and rugged land, she suspected they would have to travel much farther north and inland to find the undiscovered gold they were looking for.
The thought made her uneasy; they hadn’t even stepped off the steamer yet, and already she was wondering when her da would move on and leave them, the way he always did.
“Ah, lass, don’t you trouble your pretty head about your old da,” her father told her, patting her on the shoulder. “I’ll do my best to keep out of trouble. I’m making my fortune, remember.”
“First we need to find somewhere to stay,” she reminded him.
“Then we can think about our fortunes.” She had some savings, enough, she hoped, to live for a few weeks until she’d found some work, hopefully nursing.
She may not have her certificate, but she hoped her experience would count for something, especially here.
As for her brother and father, she knew they had some money put by, as well.
And as for Brendan…
Maggie looked around the crowded deck, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
She’d barely seen him all week, and after their painful conversation it had been something of a relief, but now she wished she could at least catch sight of him.
Surely he wasn’t planning to leave the ship without them?
Despite the distance he’d kept during the voyage, she had assumed they would all stay together once they arrived in Juneau.
Soon enough, the steamer had docked, the gangplank was lowered, and passengers were disembarking amidst a jabber of excited conversation, hauling cases and finding their trunks, eager to step onto solid ground.
“Call on me when you’re settled,” the mine manager’s wife told her with a friendly smile. “Mrs. John Marks, on West 5th Street. Ask anyone, they’ll know where I am.”
“Thank you!” Maggie exclaimed, touched by the woman’s kindness. It was comforting to think she might have already made a friend in this strange new place, and she looked forward to visiting her.
Once they were out on the wharf, Maggie breathed in the smell of brine and coal smoke, sawn wood and damp earth.
All around her, things were happening—sailors hauling crates, passengers gathering their cases to head into town, seagulls circling overhead, their caws mingling with the clatter of the ore hammers a steady racket in the distance.
“Well, then?” Their father smiled at Maggie and Danny with his usual cheery, bright-eyed optimism. “Shall we find a boarding house? I reckon there will be plenty on Front Street. And then have a wander around and see what’s what!”
Danny was already starting off down the wharf toward the jumble of buildings that made up Juneau’s downtown, such as it was, when Maggie flung out her hand.
“Wait… what about Brendan?”
Danny stopped and wheeled around, and Maggie saw him and their father exchange an uneasy and loaded glance. Neither of them spoke.
“What?” she demanded. “Do you know something?” Her stomach hollowed out as she looked between them. No matter what Brendan had said on the boat, they were all in this adventure together… weren’t they?
“Well, lass…” her father began slowly, giving her a sympathetic, droopy-eyed smile.
“He’s coming with us,” Maggie insisted. She heard a raw note of panic in her voice and she didn’t care. “He’s come all this way,” she said, her voice growing more strident. “He’s coming with us,” she said again.
Her father scratched his cheek, giving Danny a questioning glance, which her brother returned with a shrug. “Well, a man’s got to find his way,” her da stated. “Don’t he, though?”
“Find his way?—”
“That’s right, Maggie.”
She whirled around to see Brendan standing on the wharf, suitcase in hand, smiling at her tiredly.
“What’s right?” she demanded, and she sounded furious when what she really felt was scared. “Brendan?—”
“This is where we part ways.” Brendan’s voice was gentle but unbearably firm. “You belong with your family, and like your da said, I need to find my way.” His face hardened a little as he kept her incredulous stare. “It’s better like this.”
Maggie wanted to argue, but a busy dockside was hardly the place, and in any case, she knew she wouldn’t convince him of anything. In a town of two thousand, she told herself, they were likely to run into each other, anyway. It wasn’t as if she’d never see him again.
And yet… that was exactly how it felt.
“I’m sure I’ll see you all around,” Brendan said, and tipping his hat to them, he started down the wharf toward the town.
“Sometimes,” her father remarked reflectively, “distance is the only way for a broken heart to heal.”
A broken heart…! Maggie bit her lip hard to keep her tears at bay as she watched Brendan disappear into the crowds heading into town.
Her father might believe—and maybe Brendan himself did too—that he was suffering with a broken heart, but right now, as she blinked back more tears, Maggie couldn’t help but feel that the person with a broken heart was her.