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Excerpt:
Elizabeth didn’t see it until it was too late.
One
moment she was planning a painting of the snowy scene, then the dogsled
she was riding in careened around the corner. The play of shadows and
light, the glittering frost on the trees, vanished when a team of dogs
slammed into theirs.
Papa shouted as he fell off the back of their sled, “Hang on!”
She held tight to her sister Victoria. Their sled ran off the trail,
rolled onto its side, and the icy snow surrounded her. Dogs yelped.
Victoria cried out.
The stinging cold took Elizabeth’s breath away. They fell into the thick alders.
Elizabeth
untangled herself from a fur robe and pulled Victoria out of the
branches. Her fur hat was askew, but she looked more frightened than
hurt.
“Are you all right, Sis?” Elizabeth brushed the snow from her sister’s dark curly hair.
Victoria looked up at her, blinking tears from her eyes. “I think so.”
A young man’s voice rose over the dogs yelping and barking. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t know yet,” she called over her shoulder. She turned back to Victoria. “Nothing hurts?”
Victoria shook her head. “No.”
Elizabeth
took a shuddering breath. The barking grew louder, and she turned to
see the dogs lunging at each other. The teams had to be separated before
they injured each other. She ran as quickly as she could through the
deep snow, raising her long wool skirts out of the way. A man in a fur
parka stood in the midst of the flurry of fur and snarls, trying to
untangle the teams by tugging at their lines.
“Why weren’t you on the right side of the trail?” she called to the man, irritation rough in her voice.
“I’m sorry, Miss.”
Elizabeth
grabbed the harness on the furry husky next to her and pulled him to
the side, ignoring his excited whine. She moved the stocky dogs easily,
even with her petite frame—she guessed it was necessity that gave her
such strength. Mama always said, “You do what you have to do.”
“It’s
all right, Blackie,” she said to calm herself as much as the dog, and
grabbed the next one. Three dogs to go. Good thing she liked dogs. Back
home she’d been the only one who could handle their wolfhound, and here
the dogs responded to her easily.
The young man grabbed the dog nearest him. “I apologize, miss!” he shouted over the cacophony of barking.
Elizabeth
nodded toward him, but didn’t speak. She wouldn’t know if damage had
been done until they could look at the dogs more carefully, and the
temperature was too far below zero to stand around talking anyway. Blood
rushed in her veins as she grabbed the next dog in line and pulled him
backwards away from the fight that erupted between her lead dog and one
from the other team. This was the first time she’d jumped in to do
something without being told to, and she stood a little taller when she
straightened. Elizabeth turned toward the lead dog.
“Libby! Vicky!” Papa’s voice called through the alder thicket.
“Over
here!” Elizabeth moved the next dog back, stepped over, grabbed Comet
by his back legs and hauled him away from the other dog. Comet wiggled
in defiance, but stopped snarling.
“Now,
calm down. You need to set an example here,” Elizabeth said to the lead
dog. She pulled on Comet’s lead until the team was a safe distance
away.
“I
reckon I was going too fast and didn’t see your dogs in time. I’m glad
you’re not hurt.” For the first time Elizabeth looked directly at him.
His parka hood fell back as the young man shook his head. True concern
shone on his face. Light brown hair and forget-me-not blue eyes showed
above the wool scarf wrapped around his neck and chin.
Her heartbeat had slowed to a dull thump until she saw those beautiful eyes.
“Well, the teams are untangled now,” she said as a sign of forgiveness.
“Are you all right, little one?” he called to Victoria.
“I’m not little. I’m six!” she called back over the racket of dogs.
The young man chuckled and pressed his right hand to Elizabeth’s.
“James Garrett, headed for Fairbanks.”
“Elizabeth
Robinson, and this is my little sister Victoria.” She matched his grip,
firm for one who looked to be only a year or two older than her
seventeen. “We’re headed to Fairbanks, too, with my parents. My father
is the new manager at the NCC store. My mother and his assistant are
ahead of us on the trail.” She pointed.
His brow furrowed. “It seems I headed in the wrong direction after my last stop.”
Elizabeth started to laugh.
Papa’s
large frame burst through the willows, then he slowed. He swept
Victoria up in his arms and plowed through the snow toward them.
“Anyone hurt?”
“No, Papa.” Elizabeth indicated her companion with a tilt of her head. “Mr. James Garrett.”
Mr. Garrett made a slight bow. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Robinson.”
Papa’s normally smiling face was bright red. “Do you realize what you just did?”
“Um, well, I accidentally ran my dogs into yours,” James said as he brushed snow off his fur parka.
“My girls could have been hurt, or even killed!” Papa bellowed.
Elizabeth had never seen Papa so angry.
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