Anna stopped abruptly, staring up at the captain in frustration. She fought the urge to stomp her foot like a child. It seemed that they were being led on a useless chase.
Ben fell into stride with them. “Did he have anything helpful to add?”
Captain Pavitt nodded. “He said his ship was just commissioned the year he took the helm, but he does know another ship that’s been running that route for the last twenty years, and there have only been two captains, so the log has probably been well maintained. I’ll take you to the current captain.”
Once again, Anna had hope. She hurried to keep up with the three men who were more experienced in dodging fishermen and equipment on the docks; none of them had to wrangle skirts. A misting rain began again, and she pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders, the rain soaking through.
Ben started to unbutton his coat. “Anna, would you like my coat?”
“No, I’m fine, thank you.” She concealed a smile at his thoughtfulness.
When they reached the boat, Captain Pavitt explained what they were seeking, and the ship’s captain pulled a large book from inside his desk and glanced up expectantly. “What name?”
“Dmitri Ivanov,” she said.
The Russian captain laughed, then looked apologetic. “This is a common name, I’m afraid. Like John Smith in English. Do you know anyone else he traveled with? A relative, perhaps?”
She thought of the clue: Remember well the ship that brought us to this wondrous place. It said us. “Yes, Natalya. I don’t know her last name, but I know they were on the ship together.”
“And approximately how many years ago?” he asked.
She squared her shoulders. “I’m not sure exactly, sometime before 1880.”
The captain grumbled under his breath as he skipped over about fifty pages. He scanned the ledger with his finger, and after two minutes, he turned the page.
“This may take a while, I’m afraid.” He glanced at Captain Pavitt. “You’re lucky I owe this man a favor. Is there an address I can send word to if I find your man?”
Anna’s heart sank. Levi scribbled down their address, and they said their thanks and goodbyes to both captains. As they left, she could feel Ben’s eyes on her.
“Let’s be hopeful,” he said. “The records should be fairly complete—it’s just a matter of time. And if he doesn’t, we can see if there are any public records like you mentioned.”
She admired his positivity. “That might be wishful thinking. But yes, let’s be hopeful.”
Shouts came from a building nearby, then more yelling from down the street. Without warning, and with great force, a cannon shot toward the water from near the docks. Anna shuddered, grabbing onto her brother’s arm, and the two men exchanged looks. Ben approached one of the men and asked what happened.
The man merrily patted him on the back. “President Harrison has signed the bill admitting us as the 42nd state!”
Soon, people began to spill out of buildings and into the street, sharing the news.
“I wonder if Grandfather knows?” Anna asked.
They hurried home and found him playing his harmonica and dancing around the living room while the cat watched suspiciously from the corner.
“There’s gonna be a great celebration in Olympia next week,” Levi said to his grandfather. “Should we take the train down to celebrate?”
The older man grabbed Anna and started dancing and singing an Irish folk song. “Why travel when we can celebrate right here?”
He twirled her, and she tossed her head back, laughing. When Greta rushed in from the kitchen, he ran to pick her up off the ground in a hug—and right there in front of everyone, he kissed her.
Levi whooped and took over on the harmonica. Greta’s face flushed light pink as he whisked her into his arms to dance, and she laughed. Ben smiled at Anna, and her heart soared in anticipation of him asking her to dance, but instead, he scooped up the cat, sat near the fire, then motioned for her to join him.
“Thank you for your help today with the captains,” she said over the music.
“It was nothing.” He pet Esther slowly then looked up at her. “Read me a poem from your book.”
She swallowed. All the poems were about love and passion. She pulled the book off the shelf and carefully thumbed through the pages. She had dog-eared and underlined her favorite lines, but none felt appropriate for sharing at the moment. Clearing her throat, she began.
“The meadow and the mountain with desire
gazed on each other, till a fierce unrest
surged beneath the meadows seemingly calm breast,
and all the mountain’s fissures ran with fire.
A mighty river rolled between them there.
What could the mountain do but gaze and burn?
What could the meadow do but look and yearn?”
“That’s beautiful,” Ben said, holding her gaze steadily.
The moment was too much.
“I’m finished with it, if you still wanted to borrow it.” She thrust the book toward him, which he took. “And, I know I didn’t say anything specifically about it at the time, but please don’t tell anyone about Heather.”
He winked. “Don’t worry, I can keep a secret.”
“Oh really? Me too.” She studied him. Did he fancy her?
With a sweet smile, she raised her eyebrows slightly, daring him to share something.
His expression became serious as he focused on the cat’s fur.
“Hmm, Esther, what secrets should I share with Miss Gallagher?” Then he whispered, “I always keep a letter with me, even though it makes me sad.”
Anna frowned empathetically, then she shifted uncomfortably. “From a woman who loves you?”
“Technically yes, but—”
“Well, my friend Emily is going to introduce me to a man,” she blurted out. She regretted it immediately, but there was no turning back. “He’s a banker and supposedly he’s successful.”
She said the last word with sarcastic emphasis.
His face darkened. “Is that what you want?”
“It’s what I’m supposed to want, isn’t it?” She searched his eyes. “Love isn’t as important as a proper match and a stable respectable home according to most people around here.”
She exhaled. “Have you ever been in love?”
“I did fall for a gal in my British literature class. Did I tell you literature was my major?”
She felt her face blush with jealousy, both for the education and that he loved someone else. “Is that why you left Berkeley?”
He grinned. “No.”
He paused suggestively, as if withholding precious information, which he was. “She wasn’t for me. A difference in dreams, I guess you could say.”
“What are your dreams?” She was afraid he could read her growing interest in him.
His expression softened as he studied her face. “Traveling, hunting, being among the trees under the stars.”
Her stomach jumped at his answer. She imagined being on his arm as they traveled the world. “There’s something I want to share with you, but promise never to tell any—”
“What are you guys talking about?” Levi dropped to a squatting position and put his head between them. Esther startled and jumped out of Ben’s lap with a low hiss.
Ben stood and straightened his shirt. “Talking about you, of course.”
Anna sighed—the moment was gone. Her grandfather and Greta joined them all in the living room, and the celebration continued, ever louder.
She took a deep breath. She had been under the spell of those brown eyes, the color of tree trunks, and now that it was broken, she was relieved she hadn’t revealed anything. If he knew, he might try and stop her, or tell her brother. Or even worse, he might think her incapable.
Later that night after everyone else was sleep, Ben sat in front of the fire with Levi who was about to finish off the wine. Levi had seemed glum in the days following their visit with Emily.
Ben nudged his friend. “Did you…ever kiss that girl, Emily?”
Levi’s face turned red, and he sat up straight. “We were close when we were younger, but she’s married now.”
Ben nodded. He likely wasn’t going to get any more than that out of him—a sore subject, apparently. So, his mind drifted to Anna, as it often did.
“Your sister doesn’t seem to be having much luck with her courtships.” Ben fixed his eyes on the fire, hoping he didn’t seem too interested. He imagined her peach-colored lips and the curve of her neck. What was it she was about to tell him before Levi interrupted?
“She’s young still. She needs to realize that men want a certain thing in a wife, and she’s not being it.” Levi glanced sideways at him.
Ben nodded once, not so much in agreement, but to acknowledge his friend’s words. “What does she want in a husband?”
He hoped the nearly empty bottle in Levi’s lap would keep his suspicion at bay. After all, many random subjects come up late at night while drinking. He wanted to be more direct, but now wasn’t the time, and he wasn’t sure if Levi would approve.
Levi scowled. “Money and success! What else would a lady want?”
“Of course.” Ben raised his glass. “Two things with which you overflow, my friend.”
Levi laughed and took a long drink to empty the bottle. “She wants to marry a man who makes more than fifteen dollars a week at a saw mill like us. That’s what I’ll insist on anyhow.” Levi shifted in his seat and waved the thought away with a flick of his wrist. “But enough about that—how are you liking Seattle? I’ve never seen you stay in one place for long.”
“I like it very much. But yes, I do love traveling.”
He had certainly spent much of his life on the move, but not necessarily because he wanted to. He simply needed novelty in his life, and without it, he felt like he might disappear. If he didn’t feel the salty ocean breeze in his hair, or smell the tall fir trees in the middle of the forest, did he even exist? Besides, California wasn’t home anymore.
Levi squinted and pointed a wavering finger at him, betraying how much wine he’d had. “Ben, did you ever kill a man?”
“There it is.” He shook his head. “I’m guessing you heard the rumors? I’m surprised you’ve waited this long to ask.”
“Well?” Levi leaned forward, his face curious.
“Of course not.” He grimaced. “A few years ago, when I was hunting in Oregon, I rented a cabin along a lazy river. One of my neighbors was an Indian man, went by Ed. One day, two men came to his door and started making demands—saying they needed the place and he had to get lost. I heard shouting and went to investigate. When I got there, they were both on top of Ed.”
Levi’s mouth went slack. “So, you killed them to protect an Indian?”
“No, I shot one of them in the leg with an arrow, and they both ran. One faster than the other.” He chuckled. “The next day the sheriff came over to question me. There was talk of locking me up and having a trial for attempted murder.”
He smirked and glanced sidelong at Levi. “But you know, if I’d been aiming at his heart, I would’ve hit it. Plus, they were attacking my friend for no good reason.”
Levi scratched his head and nodded. “That’s a relief. I mean, I’d still be your friend if you killed someone, if it was a good reason, but I’m glad to know you’re the upright man I know you to be. Wouldn’t have been right if they’d stolen the Indian’s house, I suppose.”
“Have you…told this rumor to your family?” Ben scratched his neck nervously.
Levi leaned his head back into his chair and closed his eyes. “Nah.”
Ben sighed with relief and rested his head against his chair the way Levi had, thinking of the worn letter in his pocket.
His life in California seemed so long ago. His parents had been proud of him when he’d graduated from university, and he thoroughly enjoyed the reading and writing his degree had required. He was glad for his love of poetry and that he could share that with Anna. Surely, she saw him differently than the other eligible bachelors in Seattle, but he was fairly certain that wasn’t a good thing.
He was no stranger to luxury. Glass wine goblets, maids preparing meals, and three-story brick houses downtown—these were familiar things. The sounds of clinking glasses and drunken laughter while his parents mingled with the Berkeley elite still made his skin crawl—as a child he had always been stuck upstairs alone.
As he grew up, his true desires came into focus, and he decided that as much as he’d grown to love stories, a vast world existed out there, and the time had come to explore it. His parents had suggested a semester at Oxford, which had been a wonderful and much needed adventure for twenty-year-old Ben, but it had only lit a fire inside him.
He wanted more—more travel, more newness. After graduation, he’d practically run home to pack his things and board the next train out of Berkeley. His parents had planned an extravagant graduation party, but pressure squeezed around his chest, making it harder to breathe by the minute. He knew that if he didn’t leave the city right then he would have exploded, so he’d left town before the party, leaving his parents upset and confused.
Levi’s soft snoring brought him back to the present, and he snuck out to walk back to his apartment. He tucked Anna’s book of poems under his arm with special care, and as he passed through town, the celebrations continued. He returned the smiles of every person he passed, all the while thinking of Anna, eyes flashing with determination, and how she’d given everything she had when learning to shoot a bow.
She spent a lot of time in the woods and was good friends with a Duwamish woman, and she’d thrown herself heart and soul into solving a mystery from an old book. It was endearing. He imagined her lips and how they parted delicately whenever she was deep in thought—which was often. What would her kiss taste like?
He shook the thought away—she definitely had a spark of adventure inside her, but no doubt her brother knew her best. If Levi said she wanted a successful man to give her a peaceful city life, then he wasn’t going to be selfish and tempt her away. Even though he had plenty to offer.
That she had agreed to meet the banker betrayed the fact that Levi was probably right. She had been interested in a doctor before—perhaps that was the only type of man she wanted. He remembered the night of the dance, finding her in the hands of a worthless drunk, and his blood ran hot. He squeezed his fists until they ached. If he ever saw Connor again, he’d have to work hard not to let his anger get the better of him.