The Alaskan Rescue (3 page)

Sashi could see her friend was still madly in love with him.
“Okay, we’ll do it. I’m just glad Blake isn’t coming.”

“Me, too. I think Freddy is finally choosing me over Blake.
She’s been my biggest competition all summer.” Kendra reached over and gave
Sashi a hug.

Sashi hugged her back. “It’s all going to work out fine,” she
said, but doubted it.

* * *

C
OLE
SUTURED
A
NASTY
CUT
on his patient’s forehead. “Cid, my friend, you really need to listen. Take it
easy and lay off the booze. They have to bring you in here way too often.”

“I feel your love for me right here in my heart, Doc.” The
tough fisherman pounded his chest with his fist. The blue eyes of the
bar-brawler met the no-nonsense of Cole’s rich amber eyes.

“Yeah, Cid. I’m thinking you must have a thing for me by now.
Asking for me by name? It’s touching.” Cole shook his head. “Come on, let’s get
more personal. I’ll even get you a bed here on the rehab floor.”

At that comment Cid’s fisherman buddies, who’d brought him in,
started laughing. “Doc, Cid’s a good fisherman
if
he
could ever stay out of a bar. More importantly, out of a bet!” His captain, Lee
Jarvis, always vouched for him.

Cole turned back to his patient. “Cid’s got a drinking problem.
I’m worried that one night he might walk off one of your crabbing boats in a
drunken stupor straight into the ocean.”

“We all have a drinkin’ problem. Just sew him up,” Lee said,
getting testy. “He’s too good of an engineer to lose for the season. I’ll look
into his problem after we catch our quota.”

Cole turned around in his chair. “Is that a promise?”

“No. It’s a maybe.”

Cole got up and began to strip off his sterile gloves. “Cid, I
truly hope to see you in the spring. It would make my Easter dreams come
true.”

Lee jumped in. “We’ll do our best, Doc.”

With that Cole left the room and began the long walk from the
patients’ rooms to the hub of the E.R. He stripped his long body of the rest of
the protective clothing and turned his smile on one of the new nurses.

“Stacey? The patient in room three needs another round of meds.
Take either Heather or Mildred in with you. The boys can be a rough crew.”

Stacey just stared at him.

Cole turned to Mildred, who said, “Come on, Stacey. Let’s get
you used to the crabbers.” But she looked back at Cole and shook her head.

“What?” he said.

“You and that amazing smile of yours. If I were twenty years
younger, you’d be mine, Cole.”

“I
am
yours, Mildred,” he said.

“Don’t flirt with me, big boy, even if it still works.”

Cole walked away, chuckling to himself. He was looking forward
to tomorrow’s reunion with Sashi.

* * *

“W
E
’
VE
ARRIVED
,
LADIES
,” Joe Running Bear exclaimed from the cockpit. Speaking into
the enormous headphone, he began discussing landing procedures. The plane
circled the lake one time, then made its descent toward the pristine waters of
Red Bay. The landing was as smooth and soft as silk.

As the plane taxied the two women stared out the cabin windows.
A bald eagle who’d stood proud on a tree took off, its magnificent wings spread
in flight. Sashi spotted startled Sitka deer moving back from the shore, robins
flying to and from their nests, squirrels scampering into the undergrowth.
Ancient trees stood in various states of decay. Cedars and spruce covered in
moss and lichen peeked out of the morning mist hovering just above the
ground.

The sun poked through the clouds, casting a blanket of diamonds
over the water. The diamonds shimmered as the plane drew closer to the dock of
the Pan-Abode cabin, one of many prefab cabins dotting the Alaskan bush.

Sashi lifted her eyebrows, trying to decide if she dared ask
their pilot-cum-tour guide the question on her mind: Had the trees been planted
on purpose to look like a wreath around the lake, or had nature created its own
perfection? But where questions about Alaska were concerned, she’d learned to
keep her mouth shut in case she sounded too naive.

Over the past three months Sashi had learned Alaska was a land
of mystery. It was hard to believe that it was just last March her best friend
from childhood had begged her to come up here.

It had all sprung from Kendra’s falling in love with Freddy,
which had happened when both she and Frank Marshall’s son had attended school
together in Washington, D.C. Freddy had asked Kendra to come up to the resort
and spend time with him. She went because she believed she had found the man she
was going to marry, and this time with him would make for a perfect summer.

Kendra had asked Sashi to come because she knew her friend
needed the money to make her dream become a reality.

Sashi took in Kendra’s silhouette up front. They’d been best
friends since they were three years old. Sashi couldn’t believe the past
twenty-five years had gone by so quickly. During that time Kendra had become a
tall, striking woman, one just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the
outside. She was one of those rare types of people who would hold some
fund-raiser or another for a cause no one had ever heard of
just
because she cared. Sashi never knew
Kendra to be unkind to another soul.

If people thought Kendra was odd, it was only because she was
so smart. Kendra had a different way of thinking from most people. Sometimes it
made her seem snobby, but nothing could be further from the truth.

“My friends,” Joe said through the headphones in his deep, rich
voice. “It appears Mother Nature has looked kindly on us this morning. We had
the bald eagle to welcome us and the sun to shine on us. We will be docking
momentarily. Since no one has arrived yet, we will prepare for a wet docking and
hike to the cabin.”

“Uh, Joe?” said Kendra. “Can you elaborate on what a wet
docking is?”

His eyes twinkled as he looked back. “The parks department
hasn’t kept up the dock here at the lake. So we have to wade to shore.”

Kendra poked Joe in a friendly manner. “Please tell us you have
waders.”

He laughed. “Nothing to worry about, ladies. Joe takes care of
everything.”

Kendra and Sashi looked at each other and smiled. On their tour
yesterday, Joe had been quite a character, providing them with anecdotes about
his ancestors. Then he’d made fun of Kendra’s pronunciations of some Tlingit
words and told story after story until their stomachs hurt from laughing so
hard.

Sashi loved this man’s company and thought it was a shame they
were cutting their tour short, all because of Freddy. But it wasn’t her place to
say anything. After all, Kendra was the one paying for this three-day adventure
trip with Joe.

For some reason, Sashi feared that this last hurrah in Red Bay
would be a disaster. She’d told Kendra that if Freddy Marshall had been serious
about her, he would have wanted to be alone with Kendra. But her friend had
refused to listen. She had insisted she needed to see Freddy and the group one
more time before they left Alaska.

All these thoughts filled Sashi’s mind as she watched Joe exit
the plane first and walk up the slope to the split-level cabin. Once he felt the
area was safe, he called to them. They put on the fishing waders Joe had given
them, then grabbed their night packs.

Kendra got out of the plane ahead of Sashi, visibly bursting
with excitement and the knowledge that Sashi, whose waders were two sizes too
big for her and whose pack weighed half as much as she did, was going to need
help. Sashi watched her friend walk up the moss- and rock-laden hill.

After throwing down her pack, Kendra returned to the shore and
stood half in, half out of the water. She grinned as Sashi was planning her next
move.

“Sashi, what are you doin’?”

“I’m sitting here thinking of all the predicaments I’ve been in
this summer. I have to tell you
this
is a classic.”
Still clinging to the edge of the plane’s opening, Sashi could tell Kendra was
trying hard not to laugh. Kendra knew Sashi hated depending on people in any
way.

“Would you mind if I go get my camera?” Kendra asked. “We’re
lucky that it’s such a nice day for the end of August.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Sashi said drily. “Go ahead, then
maybe you can help me get off this plane.”

In a minute Kendra was back with a camera, took a few shots,
then helped Sashi wade to shore. They were both laughing as the waders kept
smacking Sashi in the face.

Finally the two of them made it into the cabin. Joe had made a
fire and had coffee brewing for the three of them. While Kendra kept a vigil at
the window waiting for Freddy’s plane to appear, Joe took Sashi to the back of
the cabin.

She eyed her wily comrade. “What’s all this?” He’d been up to
something. The old chief possessed the wisdom and the walk of a great tribal
leader from the past.

Joe’s voice grew hushed as he placed his hands on her
shoulders. “
You
remind me of a lone wolf pup. It’s
in your eyes and in your wild red hair. Just learning about its power and
strength is what makes you so strong.”

He picked up a small, rectangular handheld device. “My daughter
and her husband gave this to me for my birthday. It’s a personal locater beacon
if there’s an emergency. Don’t leave the cabin without it.”

“But, Joe, don’t
you
need it?”

He pulled another one out of his vest.

“Are they connected?” Sashi asked.

He shook his head and his eyes danced with laughter. “To
satellites, yes. Me, no. I have a good friend who is a doctor named Cole
Stevens. Like you he is a wolf, also a loner. He never leaves home without one.
He got it for me. Same birthday, I think.”

“I’ve met Dr. Stevens. I’m supposed to meet up with him again
tomorrow.”

Joe’s face broke out in a radiant smile. “Ah. He has finally
found his mate.”

Sashi’s face reddened. “Oh, that’s a little bit out there, Joe.
We just met.”

“No, Joe is usually right.”

“You’ve got to be making this up.” She loved the way he
referred to himself in the third person. She tried not to laugh while she held a
hot cup of coffee in her hand.

“I laugh about Joe all the time,” he said. “But I never laugh
about safety. Never.” He held the device in his hand and showed her how to turn
it on. With care he explained how each device was coded by its own transmitter
signal.

“Here’s the funny part,” Joe said. “Cole and my daughter are
very good friends, but they don’t know Joe has
two
devices.” By his smile, she knew he enjoyed telling the story. “Since
they know I have little faith in modern technology always working, they offer to
pay the yearly fee.”

Sashi bit her lip, trying to understand this man. “But if you
don’t trust the devices, then why carry them?”

“Now Joe never said he didn’t
trust
the devices.” His finger shook, but his smile was back. “I like an extra one in
this land of the Raven. Because of this old body, it gives me peace of mind in
the back country.”

“Where will you be tonight? I don’t want to take your peace of
mind.”

Joe shook his head. “You
want
to
take a piece of my mind and keep the device on you.” He tucked it into a pocket
on her padded vest. “Now let me give you another piece of my mind.” For the next
ten minutes he told Sashi about bear mace and how to survive in bear
country.

“Thank you,” she said, then hugged him. “Where are you flying
now?”

His eyes lit up. “I’m going back to Ketchikan to be with my
daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law.”

“Until tomorrow, then.”

“I will be here early.”

Sashi followed him out of the cabin and down the steep slope.
“Can you give me an idea of what time exactly?”

“Depends on the weather.” Joe looked up at the sky, then back
to her. “As you know, Mother Earth is going into her rainy season. I’ll be here
about nine.” He smiled, waved goodbye and made his way down to the plane. “You
worry about me too much, little wolf. I’m the one who’s worried about you out
here without a gun. I wish you ladies would take one.”

“Joe, Freddy’s coming and I know he always carries at least two
guns. Even so, we know bear safety. Everything will be all right.”

With his long, salt-and-pepper hair and beautiful jewelry that
shook as he moved, Joe cut an elegant figure out here in nature. He eyed her.
“You talk so tough I almost believe you. Then you turn sideways and I forget you
even exist.”

She put her hands on her hips and laughed.

He gave her one last wave, then began to wade to the plane.

Deep down Sashi wondered if Freddy was really going to come or
if he was going to let Kendra down like he’d done so many times. Her heart ached
for her friend, but when she remembered tomorrow when she’d see Cole again, the
emptiness that had filled her life for so long seemed to fade.

* * *

C
OLE
LOOKED
AT
THE
LITTLE
GIRL
seated on the edge of the
hospital bed holding her mom’s hand tightly. Her blond hair and big blue eyes
reminded him of Jake’s daughter. His friend was a lucky man. Cole wasn’t a
pediatrician, but he’d learned a few tricks to get kids to cooperate.

“So I hear your name is Maggie the Magician.” His expression
was kind as he looked at this cutie.

The girl shook her head, but then she smiled.

“Let’s try again. Is your name Maggie the Magnet?”

“No! You’re silly. I’m Maggie Johnson.” Her tiny voice had come
out in a whisper.

“Wow. I wish my name was Maggie Johnson. Then I’d be really
cool like you.”