Treasured Christmas Brides by Cabot Amanda; Germany Rebecca; Hake Cathy Marie

Author:Cabot, Amanda; Germany, Rebecca; Hake, Cathy Marie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-09-14T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 2

Jean Thoreau bounded up the steps of the Dixon home, paused on the wide, covered porch, and stared down the hundred-foot cliff that overlooked Ketchikan. A wave of thankfulness swept through him. How he loved the comfortable, weathered log house! “Lord, I will never tire of looking across Tongass Narrows to the forests of Pennock Island. I love those green carpets edging the salt chuck of the Narrows.”

He closed his eyes and breathed in the briny November air. Visions of changing seasons, each unique and treasured, danced through Jean’s head. Quaking aspens, whispering secrets in summer, turning gold in autumn, dropping their leaves to shiver in winter. Wild roses, bluebells, and columbine that nodded in the breeze. Forget-me-nots, bluer than the summer skies.

A pang went through him. Would he ever see a forget-me-not without remembering? He fought familiar pain and muttered, “No use crying over what can’t be changed.” Yet the desire to board the first plane out of Ketchikan and snatch Ariel Dixon from a future foreign to everything she had known and loved threatened to overwhelm him. Why had her father allowed his sister-in-law to take Ariel to the States a few months before Jean came home and hired on as Big Tom’s cannery superintendent?

Jean scowled. It had been long enough for the girl to whom he’d remained true to betroth herself, in spite of their vow to always be together. Jean’s sense of fair play rose in Ariel’s defense.

What could you expect? You were gone for twelve years.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Jean protested.

“What wasn’t your fault?”

Jean gulped and turned. He hadn’t heard the door open but Tom Dixon stood in the doorway, grinning like a well-fed husky. The uncrowned salmon king brushed a tawny lock of hair back from his green eyes and waved a yellow piece of paper. The excitement in his face made Jean’s heart beat double time.

Tom didn’t wait for a reply. “Listen to this:

“TROT OUT THE FATTED CALF Stop. COMING HOME Stop. BRINGING AUNT REBEKAH Stop. WILL SAIL ON…”

Ariel, coming home? Jean leaped into the air and let out a bellow that brought Molly, the Indian cook, running. He swung her around until her dark braids bounced. “She’s coming home, Molly.”

White teeth gleamed in the dark face. “God is good.”

A lump rose to Jean’s throat. “Yes, but I wonder why she didn’t mention her fiancé.”

“Pah.” Molly waved a dismissive hand. “She will forget him when she comes and finds you are here.”

Jean felt he’d been kicked in the gut. He stared at Tom. “All these months, you never told her?”

Tom shrugged his massive shoulders. Deep lines creased his forehead. “By the time you came back, she was already promised.”

“She had the right to know,” Jean ground out between stiff lips.

“I’ve told myself that a thousand times,” Tom confessed. “The important thing is what to do now.” A gleam came into his eyes. “How would you like to fly to Seattle, take care of some business for me there, and sail back up the Inside Passage?”

Jean’s heart leaped.

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