“I have two, along with my guitar,” she replied. “It looks like the bags are coming now.”
They waited in awkward silence.
Valerie spotted her guitar case, markedFragile, and ran quickly to collect it. Then she pointed out her suitcases to Mr.Brown, who picked up both bags and carried them outside to a blue Chevy Nomad station wagon parked at the curb. A woman got out of the passenger seat.
“This is my wife, Carol,” Mr.Brown said as he loaded Valerie’s suitcases into the back of the car.
Carol wore a boxy brown coat and a woolen skirt with sensible black walking shoes. “Welcome to Alaska.” She looked at Valerie from head to foot.
Grateful to hear the wordwelcomefrom these strangers who had agreed to take her in, Valerie said, “I appreciate you coming to fetch me. I had no idea it would be such a long drive.”
“We make a trip to Anchorage a few times a year,” Carol explained, “for medical appointments and such, so it was no problem to work you in to those plans. Hop in. I made sandwiches for the drive home, and you’ll find a bottle of root beer on the seat.”
Valerie got into the car and breathed a sigh of relief to be on her way somewhere with people who seemed to have everything under control.
But did they know why she had been sent to live with them? Were they aware that she was eight weeks pregnant and without a husband? Had her father been forthcoming about that?
Five minutes into the drive, Valerie fell into a deep slumber. When she woke, it felt like not a moment had passed, but suddenly gigantic mountains loomed on each side of the highway. Their sharp, snow-covered peaks seemed to touch the sky.
“Where are we?” she asked groggily. “And how long was I asleep?”
Carol glanced over her shoulder. “You’ve been sleeping for hours. We’re at Thompson Pass. On the homestretch now.”
Mr.Brown drove around the bend, and a massive river of solid ice came into view, sliding downward between two mountains.
Valerie sat forward and craned her neck to look up. “Is that a glacier? I’ve never seen one before.”
“It’s the Worthington Glacier,” Mr.Brown informed her, “and you’ll soon get used to seeing them. You’ll need to learn about them too. Your father told me you were good in school. Good at memorizing things.”
Valerie stared apprehensively at the back of Mr.Brown’s partially balding head. “Yes, but what will I need to memorize?”
She met Mr.Brown’s dark gaze in the rearview mirror. “The script for theWanderer.”
Valerie chewed her lower lip. “Um, I’m not familiar with theWanderer. Is it a play?”
Carol slapped her husband on the shoulder. “You didn’t tell her when she got off the plane, did you!”
“Tell me what?” Valerie asked hesitantly.
Carol turned in her seat. “We got you a job. You’ll be working at Wilderness Lodge and helping out with the boat cruises for the rest of the tourist season until winter comes. You’ll narrate the tour and memorize the information. They’ll probably get you to work in the dining room as well. When the season ends, you’ll clean the lodge. You’ll be living there too.”
Valerie’s breath came short. “Wilderness Lodge? I ... I thought I would be living with you in town. My father said—”
“It doesn’t matter what your father said,” Mr.Brown snapped. “He asked us to look out for you and make sure you were taken care of, and that’s what we intend to do. But you can’t stay with us. We don’t have the space.”
“I see.”
Valerie wondered again if they knew why she had been sent to Valdez. Perhaps that was the real reason they didn’t want her living in their home. Perhaps, like her father, they were ashamed of her terrible secret.
Wilderness Lodge stood five miles outside of Valdez at the end of a long dirt road that passed along the base of the Chugach Mountains. It was an enormous log cabin with forty guest rooms and a restaurant that operated during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. It also had its own private dock with a seaplane and a tour boat called theWanderer.
It was past ten o’clock when they arrived, but the sun was just setting as Mr.Brown drove into the parking lot. Eager to stretch her legs after the long journey from Anchorage, Valerie got out of the car. While she waited for Mr.Brown to open the back, she took in the view of the bay and the enormous mountains on the opposite side. She breathed in the fresh, pine-scented air and listened to the water lapping up against the hull of the boat, which bumped gently against the dock.
Mr.Brown pulled both her suitcases from the back of the station wagon and carried them toward the front entrance of the lodge.
Inside, the lobby was rustic, with a high cathedral ceiling of knotty pine logs. The focal point was a gigantic stone fireplace with a moose head and antlers over the mantel. Bearskin rugs adorned the plank floors, and the furniture was upholstered in red plaid.
Mr.Brown strode to the reception desk and tapped the bell vigorously three times. An older lady hurried out of the back office. She wore her long gray hair in a ponytail and was dressed in a nubby wool sweater and faded jeans.
