And the longer he had time to think about it, the more it hurt—like a knife in his gut.
Not that he wanted Christopher to be a part of their family again. He’d moved his family to Alaska to get away from the man and the memory of him. Chuck flat out didn’t want the guy around. But did he have a right to keep Christopher Powell from his own flesh and blood? The girls had a right to know their father—to forgive him if they chose to.
Christopher said he’d turned his life around. Shouldn’t Chuck give his son-in-law a second chance? Just like God gave Chuck?
Chuck looked down at the paper and pencil in his lap. He’d gotten a lot better at writing lately and was beginning to utter some sounds—even words. But most of the time they couldn’t understand him yet. Well, tonight, during the family meeting, he’d have a letter ready for them.
One that he needed to write immediately.
The fire in the fireplace crackled and popped. Madysen rubbed her hands together. “It’s much chillier tonight. Please don’t tell me the first snow is on its way.” Taking her seat on the settee, she looked around at her family.
Chuckles echoed around the room.
“This is September in Alaska, Maddy.” Whit shot her a smile and winked. “No guarantees.”
Granddad sat in his wheelchair, and there was a good bit of color in his face. Madysen’s heart lifted just looking at him. He’d begun to heal. Finally something joyful!
On his lap, he held his box, which contained paper and pencil so he could communicate with them all. He worked on exercises every day with John to regain his speech, and there had been marked improvement.
Whitney walked over to Mama’s favorite wingback chair and curled up in it with her feet tucked under her. Havyn sat on the other settee cuddled next to John. The sight of the sweet love between them almost made Madysen long for a romance of her own. Something her family would love too, especially if she settled down here.
A lovely thought. Kind of what she’d always expected. But something inside her hadn’t been satisfied for quite some time. In her dreams, she’d seen herself in fancy dresses, taking a bow in front of a concert hall packed with people. Was it selfish and prideful of her to dream of performing to the masses? Was it childish and silly to long to travel? Or was she just unsatisfied . . . with everything?
The past summer had brought all the unsettled feelings to the surface. She loved her family more than anything, and if she really thought about it, the idea of leaving them and this place they called home ripped her heart in two. So what was the answer?
What was wrong with her?
“Maddy?”
“Hm?” She focused on their faces. They all stared at her. “I’m sorry. My thoughts must have been elsewhere. What did you say?”
John gave her an understanding glance and put his arm around Havyn. “We’re discussing the farm. Would you like to update everyone on where we are with the sheep?”
“Oh. Of course.” John had implemented this new meeting each week since Granddad could join them now. They each talked about their respective responsibilities and brainstormed ideas for how to make things better. She cleared her throat. “Well, John and I ordered supplies this morning for the new kitchen. We’re hopeful that we can get it in before the last ship and agreed to pay to telegraph the order, but Judas Reynolds included it with his wire free of charge. Since his freighting company is so large, he seemed assured that we would get it all in time since it’s with his order.”
Whitney tapped her pencil against her paper. “Certainly he’s expecting his order before the harbor freezes, so we should be safe to plan on it.”
“We should bake him one of those apple cakes he likes so much to show our appreciation.” Havyn leaned forward and scribbled on the paper in her lap.
“Oh! What if we gave him some cheese?” Ideas popped into Madysen’s mind faster than her words came out. “He loves the mozzarella we make, and Granny Beaufort suggested her grandson Daniel might be able to help us with some recipes for the sheep’s milk cheeses. Apparently, he made a lot with his mother. I didn’t have time to talk to him about it, but he said he would help us.”
“Whoa, slow down.” Whit could never keep up with her once she got going. But in her sister’s defense, she did tend to talk too fast when she was excited.
“He did offer to help.” John’s support of her boosted her confidence.
“What a relief,” Whitney said as she wrote on her paper, “to have someone else with knowledge should help us save time in the research department. Not that we really had time to spare for it anyway.”
Havyn leaned forward and patted Madysen’s knee. “Good for you, Maddy. If you can enlist Daniel’s help, that should get us up and running even faster. Anything else about the sheep?”
“Gracious, yes.” She bit her tongue to keep from sharing too fast. “All of the ewes have now given birth, some of them even had twins, so the flock has more than doubled. We’re going to try and wean the lambs in thirty days—a new technique that John heard about—and then we will stagger the breeding so that we should have milk all year to keep cheese production steady.”
“We’ve been doing that with the cows and found it successful, we just have to be very careful in the dead of winter.” John tipped his head toward Granddad. “Chuck has been writing out details on what he’d like to see for our expansion as well.”
“Oh!” Maddy leaned forward and pointed her hand to her brother-in-law. “Don’t forget that you ordered a ram from Judas, which hopefully will arrive before the sound freezes over as well. If not . . . well, I guess we won’t have to worry about breeding at all. At least until spring thaw.”
“Good point. I’ve started building a creep pen for the lambs similar to the ones that Chuck made for the calves. That will aid us in weaning the sheep.”
Whitney squinted her eyes—a sure sign she was thinking through all the possibilities. “How much cheese production are we expecting from the sheep?”
Maddy made a face at her sister. “That we’re not quite sure about since we aren’t sure how much milk production we’ll have for certain. But we’ve already received orders, so we’re hoping to keep up with the demand.”
Her older sister nodded and turned to John. “And how much of the dairy milk will we be putting toward mozzarella?”
His brow furrowed, and he ticked things off with his fingers. “With all the new cows and calves, we’re selling about eight hundred gallons of milk a week. In addition to that, we made fifty pounds of butter a week, and this last week, we did fifteen pounds of mozzarella. So that’s my best guess for the time being.”
“That is quite amazing. And we’ve had enough hands for all this so far?” Whit was always into the details.
Havyn beamed up at her husband, pride clear on her face. “John has hired ten more hands from Amka’s people. They are hard workers and know the farm.”
Hiring the natives was always their first choice, since the trustworthiness of men who came to town to dig for gold was always questionable.
“So far, so good,” John confirmed. “But I’m sure it’s going to get busier and busier. That’s why it’s good we’re talking about each step. Just make sure that you each let me know how things are going and if you need any more help.” John patted his wife’s arm. “That brings us to the chickens. Would you update us, honey?” The look he sent Havyn made Madysen’s heart soar. The man really loved her sister.