Page 102 of The Lady of Red River Valley
When they went into the house, Arran laid Miriam down on their bed. The little girl closed her eyes and was immediately asleep.
They quietly left her and returned to the common room.
Despite the commotion in the fort yard, Eleanor felt completely alone with her husband. It was a rare experience, living in a house with Nicolette and Lord Selkirk.
“I think we should enjoy this little reprieve,” Arran said, taking a seat on a chair near the table. He patted the chair beside him. “Would you care to join me, wife?”
She nodded but held up her hand. “A moment, please.” She went to the traveling desk she kept in the corner of the common room and removed her journal.
Arran watched her but did not ask her what she had in mind. When she returned to the table, she sat and opened her journal.
“I ken this is a very special book to you,” he said.
“It’s like an old friend.” She turned the pages until she came to the last one and then she looked at her husband. “All my life, I wrote in my journals because I didn’t have anyone I could trulytrust and confide in.” She placed a kiss on his lips. “But now that has changed.”
He looked concerned. “You’ll not stop writing, will you?”
She shook her head. “No. I will always write. But now it will not be the first place I turn to pour out my heart.”
“I’m happy you can trust me.”
“I have never read my journal to anyone.” The only person who’d ever read her words was Archibald McLeod, but he didn’t matter to Eleanor. She would never have to see him again. “But I want to read something to you that I wrote just last night.”
He moved aside a lock of her hair and slipped it behind her ear. The intimate gesture had become so familiar and dear to her since their wedding, she anticipated it before he even did it. “This book is important and personal to you. You dinna need to feel obligated to read it to me.”
“I want to read it to you.” Her cheeks grew warm, thinking about sharing her words with him for the first time. “When I write in this book, I always know when I’ve hit upon something especially important to me. It always brings tears to my eyes, and when that happens, it confirms for me what both my mind and heart are feeling.”
His hand slipped around her waist and he drew her closer to him as she read.
Fort Douglas
Assiniboia
September 27, 1816
Tomorrow, Lord Selkirk will dedicate a new division in the colony. Everyone will attend and I anticipate a great feeling of community pride and hope will prevail. For many, this will be the confirmation they need that their home is here to stay and that it is, indeed, truly growing.
For me, it has been a long year since I arrived at the Red River colony. When I first set foot in Fort Douglas, it was withoptimism and a misguided belief in my own abilities. I was foolish enough to think that I had come to teach the settlers, when in fact, they have taught me unique and valuable lessons about life, death, and love. I am amazed and honored to be counted among these people, and hope and pray that I will have many years left to see this colony prosper, as I know it will.
Arran has asked me several times if I am happy, and I always answer him the same. I am truly and completely happy. Not because of anything I have, but of what I have to give. God has blessed me with an abundance of love, and it is in giving that I find my greatest joy. Pouring that love out on him and Miriam is a privilege I will never take for granted.
As I sit here and ponder this place I now call home, and I think about all that happened to bring me here, I see God’s hand in all of it. It does not hold the comforts I knew as a child, nor does it contain the society or entertainments, but what it lacks in these things, it makes up for in hope, optimism, and purpose. Those things may all come with time, but how many people can say they were the original groundbreakers of a great city? For whatever reason, God has chosen Arran and me to be the first. I truly believe that God made us for Assiniboia and He made Assiniboia for us.
For me, it’s where my heart has been for years. I simply joined my heart and have now found my home.
She finished reading but did not remove her eyes from the page.
Arran reached up and gently wiped away a tear that had escaped from her eyes.
“’Tis beautiful, lass.”
“It’s my heart,” she said, finally meeting his gaze. “You brought it with you four years ago when you left Scotland. It took me that long to find it again.”
“And you had my heart,” he said. “I’m so happy you brought it with you when you came.”
She leaned into him for a kiss.
“I love you, Eleanor Brooke MacLean.” He placed his hands on either side of her face. “And I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
“I love you, too, Arran.” She embraced her husband, her heart full.
She had found her home in the Northwestern Wilderness, and she’d never look back again.
