Page 56 of A New World for the Irish Daughter

“We’reallmoving out,” Maggie replied crisply. “I’ve found us a cabin on 7thStreet. It’s only six dollars a month.”

“What’s wrong with here?” Danny complained. “Three meals a day?—”

“And walls like tissue paper,” Maggie cut him off. “Don’t you want a little privacy, Danny? Besides, Mrs. Compton won’t allow Sheetka to stay here.”

“Sheetka?” His gaze traveled from Maggie to the little girl sitting on the bed. “Aw, Maggie, why do you still have that Indian kid?”

“I’m taking care of her now,” Maggie replied. “I told you that last night. If you chose not to believe me?—”

“Why would I think you were serious?” Danny demanded. “You know what the fellows downstairs are saying?—”

“I really could not care less,” Maggie replied calmly. “Danny, the matter is decided.”

Her brother thrust his lower lip out as he folded his arms. “And what if I sayI’mnot going?”

Maggie sighed. They’d been here before, back in Chicago, when Danny had insisted upon staying in Englewood with Brendan rather than move with Maggie to the Loop. His rejection had hurt, but she’d taken it; this time she couldn’t.

“I can’t afford the cabin without you and Da, Danny,” she said quietly. “And besides that, it wouldn’t be safe, just Sheetka and me on our own. And if we can’t live there, you consign this poor girl to a life of utter destitution. Do you want that on your conscience, just so you can eat a square meal and talk nonsense with some old-timer prospectors of an evening?”

He scowled but said nothing, and Maggie resumed packing.

“What’s this, then?” their father asked cheerfully as he came in a few minutes later, with his usual light step and easy smile. “Hello there, darlin’,” he greeted Sheetka, who eyed him warily. “Maggie, where are you off to?”

“I just told Danny we’re all moving to our own cabin on 7thStreet,” Maggie replied. She glanced at her father, bracing herself for his resistance, and for a moment, he gazed between her, Sheetka and Danny, who was still scowling, before offering a ready smile.

“Well, isn’t that grand!” he exclaimed. “And we’ll have this little one with us, I suppose?” He smiled warmly at Sheetka, who ducked her head.

Maggie nearly wilted with relief. That was exactly what she’d needed him to say, and she was grateful.

“Thank you, Da,” she said quietly, and his smile turned tender, his eyes drooping at the corners, reminding her of the good man he could be underneath all the feckless, easy charm.

“Ah, lass, of course we’ll stay together,” he assured her. “Allof us. At least that is, until your brother and I strike out for gold!”

An hour later, they were standing in the middle of the cabin, their suitcases piled around them. Tomorrow they’d go to the dry goods store and pick out all the supplies they needed, but for tonight they’d have to make do with what they had.

Still, Maggie thought as she settled Sheetka into bed, they’d got this far. And now she had this little one to care for… Maggie gazed down at the girl’s face, her eyelids already starting to flutter, as she wondered how on earth she was meant to raise a child. A child whose language she didn’t even speak! And yet she knew she wanted to do it. Desperately.

Taking care of Sheetka had unlocked something inside her, something that had been so tightly held, she hadn’t realized how much it had been hurting her until it had loosened… and now she never wanted to go back to how she’d been. She was twenty-three years old and suddenly she felt as if she’d become a mother.

When Sheetka was asleep, Maggie ventured out the back door to the scrubby yard beyond, no more than a patch of dirt, but beyondthat…The whole of Alaska glowed under the dusky, twilight wonder of the midnight sun. A meadow bright with lupines and wild iris, cow parsnips and columbines, tumbled down to the bay, a blue-green shimmer in the distance. And in the other direction, it stretched to Mount Roberts, its peak like a slate wall, cutting off the rest of the world.

Maggie breathed in the fresh air, grateful that the cabin was on the edge of town. Instead of muddy streets and dismal, wood-fenced courtyards, they had this magnificent view all to themselves.

“Quite the sight, eh?” her father remarked as he ambled out into the yard, smoking on his pipe. He nodded toward the vista of meadow and mountain, hill and bay. “Can’t beat that, not in a million years.”

“No,” Maggie agreed quietly. She wrapped her arms around herself as she let the cool spring breeze buffet her. The first stars were starting to glimmer on the horizon, but the sun was still shining.

They were both silent for a long moment, gazing out at the vista as the sun sank a little lower. It was still hours before it would set, and then only briefly.

“I know,” Maggie’s father stated suddenly, his tone resigned, yet holding import, “I haven’t been a good father to you.”

Maggie turned to stare at him in surprise. “Da…” she began and then realized she didn’t know what to say.

“There’s no point denying it,” her father said on a sorrowful smile. “I wasn’t a good husband, either. I had so many dreams?—”

“And you still do,” Maggie reminded him with a smile. “You’re going to strike gold, remember.”

“Ah, lass, that’s Danny’s dream, not mine, but I’m glad he has it,” her father told her on a weary chuckle. “It’s good for a man to dream, at least a little. But when it comes to mine… I wish I hadn’t sacrificed so much along the way.”