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man glanced again at Braden, then turned his cruel gaze on her.
    Amy shuddered to think what might have happened if she’d come here alone.
    The man gave her one last wild glare, then stepped back and slammed the door in her face.
    A cry ripped out of Amy’s throat, and she launched herself at the door. Braden caught her around the waist and swung her away.
    “Stop. We have to get out of here. You heard what he said about a gun. Let’s go. I’m sorry about your da, but you can’t stay here.”
    Amy looked up at Braden and met his sad eyes. She’d known he carried a weight, though he’d carefully avoided talking about anything personal. His sadness came from grief. She recognized it because it echoed everything she felt.
    “You have lost someone, too,” she whispered.
    Braden’s eyes darkened as if a cloud had gone over the sun and turned the blue sky gray. He held her gaze silently, then at last, as if it hurt to move his head, he nodded.
    She had no one in the world who cared if she lived or died. Nowhere in the world to call home.
    “Papa.” Her knees buckled, the world swirled around, and her vision faded to black.
    ❧
    Braden caught Amy as she collapsed, and swung her into his arms. He held her close, saw the utter whiteness of her skin. The frail woman weighed next to nothing, so he lifted her a bit higher in his arms.
    “You’re my strength, Braden.”
    His strength hadn’t been enough for Maggie. Now, without any wish to provide it, he’d have to be the strength for Amy. He turned back toward the river. Ahead, he saw Wily disappear around a curve in the ever-narrowing water. The days were nearly split twelve hours of dark, twelve hours of light this time of year. It was just past noon, the sun high in the sky. They had miles to go, and darkness would catch them soon enough.
    Alaska, the land of the midnight sun. What had he been thinking to come here?
    Ian expected him. There’d been time to write, assuming a letter got out this far, but no time to get a response. Braden hadn’t left immediately after Maggie died. He couldn’t abandon his father that way, even though every day spent in the house where he and Maggie had lived with his parents and little sister was pure torture. Braden had stayed three months, finishing spring work; then he’d walked away before he could fail anyone else. Deep inside, he knew walking away added to his failures.
    When he announced his plans to live in Alaska, his mother cried and scolded. Da turned quiet and spent a lot of time in the barn. His sister, Fiona, harangued him with her quick Irish tongue. Still, he’d left. Staying hurt too badly.
    When he rounded the river bend, he saw Wily ahead, pulling his umiak as if it were a well-trained dog. The river flowed slightly deeper here. Braden couldn’t see any rocks through the crystal clear water. He could ask Wily to let Amy ride, but he wouldn’t. As much as he resented the burden she’d added to his life, her grief was too new. Only a monster would expect her to endure it alone.
    Just for today, he’d be her strength.
    ❧
    “Your brother’s house is up that slope.”
    Braden’s head came up and followed the direction indicated by Wily’s gnarled finger.
    He’d made it. They’d been walking for nearly twenty hours now, with only the most meager moments to rest. But they were here at last. Wily had taken him nearly to his brother’s back door.
    In the full moonlight, Braden made out a cabin barely out-lined against the trees.
    “I’ll see to the load. You get the little one out of the night air.” Wily had smeared some flat, strong smelling leaves on his skin and insisted Braden do the same and also use it to protect Amy. Though the swarm of bugs didn’t bite, they buzzed around Braden until the air was thick with them.
    Amy, her faint changing to a more natural slumber, had slept the afternoon and evening away in Braden’s arms.
    “Thanks. Come on up to the house for the night.”
    Wily shook his