Tracie Peterson - Dawns Prelude

"I know He doesn't. He's let so much had happen to me that I want nothing to do with church and religious nonsense."

"Oh, Liddie, I am sorry. You've been wronged, no doubt about it."

Her niece shrugged. "Maybe, but I've definitely learned my lesson over the years. If I want peace, I have to make it myself."

"And if you want love?" Zerelda asked, watching her intently.

Lydia shook her head sadly. "I gave up on having that a long time ago."

"I'm sorry for all the work I've put on you," Lydia apologized when Kjell came to sit on the porch rail opposite her. "I was overzealous in my purchases."

"There's nothing there that can't be used. You picked wisely. A lot of that will be consumed through the winter. Although I will say, had you bought even one more thing, there wouldn't have been room to store it. Zerelda was ready to ask her former employer, Mr. Saberhagen, if we could use the main house."

Lydia glanced the short distance up the hill to where a twostory log structure stood. That house seemed to have been given more care than Zerelda's smaller cabin.

"Mr. Saberhagen wouldn't have minded, but I think I would have," Kjell said with a grin. "That trek up and down the hill would have been hard on the horses pulling such a load."

"I'm glad you didn't have to resort to that," Lydia replied. She shifted uneasily and pulled her blanket closer. She braved a glance at the blond-haired man and asked, "Have you always lived here?"

"For the most part. I was actually born here. My mother's people were Russian and my father was Swedish. He came here to work in the otter fur trade. My mother's parents befriended him, and in doing so, introduced their only daughter to romance."

Lydia considered how it must have been, growing up in such an isolated place. "This was, no doubt, a very different kind of life. So far away from civilization and big cities."

"Well, you have to remember, Sitka was much larger at one point. There was a great deal going on here, and commerce flowed freely. The Russians used this as their capital in Alaska. People were always coming and going. It was a very busy town.

She considered his comment for a moment, trying her best to imagine such a thing. And what happened to change it' Everything seems… well… run down. The buildings look old and tired. Zerelda said that many of the businesses are gone."

"That's true enough," Kjell said, nodding. "When America purchased the area from Russia, there was a great exodus. For the most part, Russians wanted to return to their own land. Some stayed, of course. Many of the businesses were sold off or closed down. Some folks took their wares with them back to Russia, while others sold them outright to ships coming into the harbor."

His voice sounded sad, and Lydia couldn't help but wonder what had happened to his own people. "And what of your parents?" she finally asked.

Kjcll met her gaze, his blue eyes seeming to see through to her soul. "They're gone now. My father and grandfather were taken at sea. We never found their bodies. My mother died of a broken heart just a year later."

Lydia was sorry for having brought up the subject. She looked away and sighed. "I think I greatly prefer the quiet here to the noise of the city. I've never known anything like this, but I find it has a healing effect."

"Yes," Kjcll agreed. "I find it that way, too."

"Is that why you never left?"

"I think so. After my mother's death, my wife, Raisa, wanted to return to Russia. Her family was there, and she longed for her friends and the familiar comforts."

Lydia stiffened. "I thought you said earlier that you weren't married."

"She's dead. Fell ill and never recovered. She's buried next to my mother," Kjell said with a hint of a shrug. "Its been nearly eight years past."

"I'm sorry." Lydia looked at her hands and tried to think of some way to change the uncomfortable topic. She didn't have long to worry, however.

You two look hungry," Zerelda said, coming from around the side of the cabin. "Can you stay for lunch, Kjell?"

He pushed off the rail. "No, actually I've left the business idle too long. I need to get hack to work. We're putting in a new saw blade, and I want to make sure it goes well."

"Then stop by for supper sometime. You know you don't have to give inc any warning just come on by. Liddie and I will have plenty of food-thanks to her generosity and foresight."

Lydia felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment, but she wasn't really sure why. She supposed it was just her general discomfort with being the center of attention.

"I'll do that, Zerelda. A fella shouldn't pass up too many opportunities to take a meal with such beautiful women."

"Oh, go on with you," Zerelda said, laughing, "or I'll change my mind."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, bounding down the steps. "Good day to ya, ladies. Gud vave zed dig."

"And with you, Kjell," Zerelda called out.

"What did he say?" Lydia asked. She watched Kjcll direct the horse down the road to town.

"It's Swedish. He said, `God he with you.'"

Lydia frowned. Yet another reference to God-that illusive judge who sat on high and did nothing to deliver His children from pain and sorrow. Why would she ever want Him to he with her when He seemed to regard her with such indifference?

Kjell couldn't keep his mind on his work. The sawmill business had picked up enough that he needed to implement new equipment and even hire some extra help, but today that still wasn't enough to hold his attention.

He looked at his ledgers, but it was Lydia Gray he found looking back at him. Her image was firmly etched in his memory. Her dark brown eyes betrayed pain and misery that he couldn't possibly know. Kjell wanted to offer her comfort, but Lydia seemed to have found her own ways to cope. She wanted no one to get too close. She even seemed to hold Zerelda at arm's length.

"Kjell, can we talk?"

A short, squat man stood in the doorway to Kjell's tiny office. He held his hat in his hand and wore a frown on his face that suggested this was not a visit of pleasantries.

"Of course." Kjell got to his feet and motioned the man in. "What's wrong, Arnie?"

The man fingered the edge of his hat nervously before looking up to meet Kjell's face. "I'm not happy about the increase in price."

Shaking his head, Kjell tried to remember what increase the man might he referencing. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Your men told me that the lumber I ordered would he an extra twenty-five dollars. That may not seem like much to you, but I'm just getting my business started. It doesn't seem fair that you should change the price now."

"But I didn't," Kjell protested. "What are you talking about?"

The man seemed to relax a bit when he saw that Kjell was siding with him. "Your men, the Sidorov brothers. They came to deliver part of the lumber and told me the price had been miscalculated. They said I would owe an extra fifty dollars, but only twenty-five if I paid in cash instead of on account."

"That's ridiculous. I didn't send them to tell you that. Hold on," Kjcll said, getting up from his desk. "I'll call them in here, and they can explain themselves."

He walked out to where his foreman, Joshua Broadstrcct, worked at adjusting the new saw blade. "Josh, I need to talk to you for a minute."

The younger man looked up. "What is it, boss?"

"Where are the Sidorovs?" Kjell surveyed the shop but saw nothing of the Russian brothers.

"Delivering another load to the military." Josh straightened and wiped his hands on a nearby rag. "Why?"

"What do you know about them asking Mr. Seymour for an additional fifty dollars?"