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Something swept through Obadiah’s gaze—sadness, perhaps. “Mom’s death tore our family apart. Plus, my sisters never liked Canaan. They thought they were destined to do more than be baby factories.”
“Baby factories?” Andi repeated.
Obadiah shrugged. “That was pretty much the role of women in the community—to be submissive and raise their children while the men led the household.”
“And your sisters didn’t agree with that?” Andi asked.
“Not at all. They were counting down the days until they could leave. And they did.”
A better picture of the village formed in her mind. If Andi had grown up there, she’d want to leave also.
“So, to say the village was religious would be an understatement,” Andi clarified.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s taken me years to stop thinking about religion in terms of rules and more in terms of relationship.”
“I can imagine,” Duke said. “Tell me about the village.”
“Five elders ran the village,” Obadiah explained. “They made all the decisions. Everyone worked together as if they were one family, and everyone had a role. My dad’s role was to maintain a job that would bring in cash for the village. Despite the fact that the land had practically been given to us, there were still taxes to pay. There were also things that needed to be purchased—flour and sugar, for instance.”
“And your dad drew the lucky straw,” Duke said.
“I guess so.” Obadiah let out a long breath. “Only two years after my mom’s murder, dad remarried. Maybe that was a good move for him, but it wasn’t a good move for the rest of us.”
“Who did he marry?” Andi had read something about it while doing her research, but she wanted to hear Obadiah’s take on it.
“A younger woman.” Obadiah paused and took a long sip of his drink. “Belinda. She had one child of her own—a boy who was two years old. Her husband had died in a car accident. And, since I know you’re going to ask this next, she and my father met online.”
“You had internet out in your village?” Ranger asked before taking another sip of his coffee.
“No, but my father stayed in Fairbanks during the week so he could work,” Obadiah said. “That didn’t change after my mom’s death. Anyway, Belinda was from Minnesota and thought she could handle Alaskan winters—and marrying a man with six kids. She was wrong.”
Andi could only imagine what all of those life changes must have been like. “What happened?”
“After a year of marriage, Belinda gave him an ultimatum. If he wanted to stay married, they had to go back down to the lower forty-eight. So he agreed to go with her. I was already out of the house by then, and so were my two sisters. The three youngest had to move with Dad.” He wiped beneath his eye as moisture pooled there. “I remember that day vividly. When my mom died, everything changed. But when my dad moved with half the family, we were literally torn apart.”
Andi had similar moments in her past also—moments that had changed her life forever. Most people experienced something along those lines, she supposed.
Her own mother had died when Andi was only seventeen. She and her father had made the best of things, but her entire world had been rocked.
To this day, she still missed asking for her mom’s advice. Missed her hugs. Her lemon pie.
She just . . . missed her mom in general.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Andi finally said.
A moment later, Obadiah nodded and stood, indicating the conversation was over and that it was time for them to leave. “Thank you for coming all the way out here. But now, unfortunately, I have things I need to do.”
Andi thanked him, then placed her mug on the counter and bundled up for the trek back to the SUV.
* * *
As they walked toward the door, Ranger paused. “You guys go ahead. I’ll be right there.”
Duke nodded and stepped outside with Andi. On the deck, they slipped on their snowshoes and paused, the dogs still barking in the background.
As he glanced behind the cabin, he saw a few of their kennels. Saw the canines sitting on top of the little boxes they called home, looking as happy as could be and eager for another run. He’d been dogsledding on occasion, and he could see why people liked it.
It was primitive but effective, a bond of human, nature, and beast.
