Across a Thousand Miles (10 page)

“Yes. A black horse with one white stocking and a snip on my nose. I honestly believe I could take you to the exact spot where I was killed.”

“You have spent
thousands
on that plane, Sam,” Ellin was saying to her husband. “Thousands! And I'm not even considering the enormous amount of money you squandered on purchasing it in the first place!”

“Oh, now, Ellin…”

“I believe I was in the Seventh Cavalry,” Sadie continued, “being ridden by a man named Captain Richard
Randolph Allen. He used to stroke my neck and call me Stump.”

“Stump?” Mac said, lifting his glass and draining it in one deep swallow. His booted foot shifted and touched Rebecca's. She moved hers away.

“Over fifty thousand dollars when all is said and done! You can't deny it! That's what you'll have spent on that dratted hunk of scrap metal. I've kept records!”

“Yes, but, Ellin, when it's finished it will be worth five times that,” Sam said weakly.

“I believe it was a minnie ball that killed me,” Sadie reflected, gazing sadly into some distant place. “It was quite sudden, and I could hear Dickie saying, ‘Oh, my God, Stump, they've killed you!' And there was such noise as I've never heard, explosions and gunfire and men crying out in pain and horses screaming, but I never screamed. I never did!”

“You were obviously very brave,” Mac said, eyeing the wine bottle and then reaching for it decisively. His foot nudged Rebecca's again under the table, and she kicked it away with a vengeance.

“Five times that? Five
times
that? Good heavens, Sam, who's going to reap the rewards?” Ellin asked. “We'll both be dead and buried long before you ever get that decrepit old thing into the air!”

“Well, with Mac's help…” Sam began.

“We'll definitely have her flying by spring,” Mac said, abandoning Sadie's conversation. “That old girl is ready and raring to go. Believe me, ma'am, she'll fly.”

“There. You see?” Sam said triumphantly.

“I don't believe it!” Ellin said with a wave of her hand. “I've heard these stories too many times before, and that plane has been sitting in the hangar for over
two years now. That's two years too long, as far as I'm concerned.”

“Why, Ellin Dodge,” Mac said, sitting back in his chair with a look of hurt disbelief. “I always figured you for a romantic.”

“A romantic!” Ellin snorted derisively. “Hah!”

“Ellin,” Rebecca said, pushing her dessert plate away. “That was without a doubt the best Christmas Eve supper I've ever eaten.”

“Amen,” Mac said.

“My dear girl—” Ellin peered at Rebecca with concern “—your cheeks are quite flushed. Are you feeling all right?”

Mac leaned over in an exaggerated study of Rebecca's face, and she glared back at him. “She'll be fine, Ellin,” Mac said, delivering his prognosis with a slow, maddening grin. “Too much wine!” Still holding the wine bottle, he refilled first Rebecca's glass, then all the others. Ellin looked at them both with a certain smug satisfaction as she stood and began reaching for the dessert plates. Mac rose and took her hand in both of his. “There's an old tradition in my family,” he said. “The hostess never washes the dishes. Allow me.”

Ellin looked up at him, surprised. “You know, for a man, you're not a bad sort,” she said. And to Rebecca she added, “He's washed them once already today! Prepared most of the meal, too, truth be known.”

Sadie jumped out of her seat. “I'll help you, Mac,” she volunteered. “Between the two of us we'll make short work of it!” She bent to the task of gathering the dishes from the table, and Rebecca stared at the sight of Mac and Sadie engaged in the very domestic task of cleaning up. There was no doubt in her mind that Mac and Sadie were perfect for each other. She took another
sip of wine, unaware that she was wearing a troubled frown but very aware that she was unsettled by the thought of Mac and Sadie setting up house together.

 

T
HEY OPENED
the presents next, Sam playing Santa Claus. Rebecca had given Ellin an Icelandic sweater, Sam a book on tail draggers in which the Stearman figured prominently, Mac a comprehensive first-aid kit he could pack in his sled to deal with any medical emergency, and Sadie a selection of hand-milled soaps. From Sam and Ellin, Rebecca received a new arctic headlamp, thirty-six D-cell alkaline batteries to power it, and a pair of deluxe musher's mitts. They gave Mac the same things, and Mac and Rebecca exchanged pleased grins, realizing how useful these gifts were.

Mac, though virtually penniless, was not without his talents. In his spare time, sitting beside the woodstove in his little cabin, he had whittled small figurines out of odd pieces of wood. He presented Sam with a fox, Ellin with a raven, Rebecca with a wolf, and Sadie with a rabbit. Rebecca wondered briefly at the symbolism but didn't dwell on it. Sadie gave Ellin a wool scarf, Sam a pair of wool mittens, Rebecca a fleece hat, and Mac a brand-new dazzlingly high-tech yellow, black and red musher's parka with a wolverine ruff. It must have set her back at least six hundred dollars.

Mac was flabbergasted when he unwrapped the enormous gift. He stood up from his chair, bringing the parka with him and turning to Sadie with an expression that bordered on panic.

“What a beautiful parka!” Rebecca said. “Sadie, you sure hit the nail on the head with that one. I don't know of anyone who needs a decent parka more than Mac does.”

Sadie blushed prettily. “I sure hope you like it,” she said to Mac.

“Oh, yes!” Mac blurted, staring down at the bright colors. “Thank you.”

“You'll be lit up like a neon sign on the race trail,” Rebecca said. “You probably won't even need to use your headlamp.”

Sam was filling his pipe, and Ellin was gathering the gift wrappings when Mac suddenly announced that it was his bedtime. “Have to run a team bright and early,” he said, rolling the parka in his hands like a sleeping bag and gathering up his other gifts. “Thank you all for these great presents, and for one of the best Christmas Eves I can remember.”

Sadie stood. “I'll walk you out,” she said. “It's time I was going, too.” She made the round of hugs and kisses, and just as she was slipping her arm possessively through Mac's, the phone rang. Ellin answered, spoke briefly, then hung up and turned to Sadie.

“That was for you, dear,” she said. “There's been an accident up near the Inuvik road. Single vehicle, driver and three passengers, possible injuries.”

Sadie's face fell. She gazed up at Mac wistfully. “I've got to go,” she said. Mac nodded, so clearly relieved that Rebecca was amazed Sadie didn't see it. Love was indeed blind. Sadie gathered her things and rapidly departed, leaving Mac standing near the door with the look of a man who had been granted a reprieve moments before his execution. Sam lit his pipe and chuckled audibly. Ellin patted her husband's shoulder as she passed behind him and shook her head with a faint smile.

Rebecca stood and gathered her things. “Ellin, Sam, you're the greatest. It's been a wonderful evening.”

“I was wondering,” Mac said, as she shrugged into
her parka, “could you take a quick look at Merlin's foot before you go?”

Rebecca hesitated. “You've been running him for a while. I assumed his foot was healed enough to warrant that.”

“I think it is. He seems fine on it, no lameness at all. But he's my ace in the hole, and you have a lot more experience than I do. I'd appreciate your opinion.” He looked at her hopefully. “It won't take long.”

She followed him out to the hangar and waited while he lit the propane lights. The dogs, curled on their beds of straw, stood and stretched and yawned. Merlin wagged his body and gave a mellow howl as Mac singled him out for individual attention. Freed from his picket line, Merlin whirled and raced from one end of the hangar to the other, causing a ripple of excitement to pass through the other dogs. He spun and jumped in ecstasy, circled the Stearman several times at full speed and came instantly to Mac when summoned.

Mac and Rebecca knelt to examine Merlin's paw. Mac switched on his brand-new headlight and illuminated the injury, which had healed so well that Rebecca could scarcely find the place where the pad had been cut. “It looks great,” Rebecca said. “Just keep him bootied and watch him for any signs of soreness.”

“I always do,” he said, rubbing Merlin's shoulder. He glanced up at her suddenly, his eyes unreadable. “Rebecca, I—”

Rebecca stood abruptly. “I've got to go. It's getting late.”

Mac stood with her. “Thanks for the first-aid kit.”

She nodded. “Thanks for the wolf.”

“Thanks for the kiss.”

She drew her breath in sharply. “I didn't give you that. You took it.”

“Thanks for not slapping me.”

“I should have. You deserved it.”

He hunched his shoulders and ducked his head. “My apologies if I offended you, but I'd be lying if I said I was sorry. I'm not.” He reached impulsively for her hand. “Come outside. I want to show you something.” He led her into the stillness of the night, and they stood side by side in the darkness. The cold was keen and crystalline, and the sky was brilliant with stars. “I saw them earlier, just before supper,” he said. “I was hoping we might see them again.”

“What?” she asked. His hand still held hers, strong and warm. It felt good to her, so good that she drew it away and moved to put some distance between them. Her inner voices were at war with one another. Emotions fought with intellect. She would not allow herself to feel good with him, to fall in love with him. She could not. Would not! No! Yet her heart raced as she struggled to steady her breathing. “See what?” she asked again.

“The northern lights. They were spectacular! Purples and greens and yellows, broad bands of light shimmering and moving across the sky.” The night was so quiet Rebecca could hear trees snapping with the cold along the river. “You know, when I first came to this land,” he murmured, “I didn't care whether or not I lived or died. I thought this would be a good place to just disappear. Vanish off the face of the earth. And then something happened that changed all that.”

Rebecca, startled by this unexpected revelation, changed her focus from the stars to the profile of his face. She found it hard to imagine him depressed. Hard to picture him as anything other than brash, arrogant and
irrepressible. “Look!” he said suddenly, startling her again. She turned her gaze back to the sky to watch the beautiful and mysterious light show known as the aurora borealis. As many times as Rebecca had seen the phenomenon, it never failed to take her breath away. “We're so insignificant in the grand scheme of things,” Mac marveled as the streamers of light gradually faded from the sky. “There's so much we don't know.”

Rebecca smiled in spite of herself. “That's how it makes me feel, too.”

“This is a great land.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “It grows on you and in you, and in many ways, living in it becomes the very best part of your life. Sometimes I think if I were taken away from this place, I'd die.”

“Why did you come here?”

“Bruce thought it would be the ultimate proving ground. He thought if he could survive here, he could somehow justify his existence in a very crazy world. I came because Bruce came, but I stayed because I grew to love it.” She paused and then asked, “Obviously you didn't come here just because you wanted to run your brother's dog team.”

“Not exactly,” he admitted. “I was running away from everything. My failed marriage, my failed career, my failed life. I'd hit rock bottom. I was drowning, and my brother threw me a lifeline. I didn't know whether I should bother grabbing it or not, but in the end I did.”

“I can't imagine you failing at anything, Mac.”

He was quiet for a few minutes, and then she heard him sigh. “My ex-wife, my father and my commanding officer would all disagree,” he said. “But that's all in the past. I've tried hard to put it all behind me. Being here has helped.” He looked directly at Rebecca, and
she sensed that he didn't want to discuss what had happened.

“Living in the wilderness is good medicine,” she said.

“Yes. But it was more than the wilderness that changed things for me, Rebecca,” he said, turning to face her in the darkness and reaching out to clasp her shoulders. “I know you don't have a very high regard for me and I don't blame you one bit, but from the moment I first laid eyes on you I felt that maybe there was something left to live for, after all. No, wait.” He raised his finger briefly to quell her rebuke. “Let me say this! I promise I won't kiss you again, not until you ask me to. And I promise I won't chase after you like a lovesick pup. I just want you to know that this has been one of the most perfect days of my life. I saw a sun dog this morning just before it snowed, three wolves at noon, the northern lights on Christmas Eve, and best of all, I stole a kiss from a truly beautiful woman. As far as I'm concerned, my life will never get any better than this.”

He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze through her thick parka, and she saw the flash of his teeth in the starlight as he grinned. “
Never,
” he repeated, releasing her abruptly and stepping back. Without another word, he turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness, leaving her feeling very much alone.

 

T
HREE WEEKS LATER
Mac and Sam were working on the Stearman's brakes when Rebecca stormed into the hangar. She banged the door behind her and stalked directly to where Mac crouched beneath the plane. “Okay, let off!” he called up to Sam, who was sitting in the cockpit working the brake pedals. “Hello, Rebecca,” he said, concentrating on his work in order to avoid her obvious bad humor. “Good to see you…I think.”