SNOWSWEPT

by CuddleFae

Dr. Lauren Lewis has been assigned to oversee the opening of a new hospital. Overwhelmed by all there is to know and learn in an unfamiliar land, she crosses paths with a mysterious woman with a dark past - a past that has caused her to live by one rule. Trust no one. Thrown into a desperate struggle, can they overcome the barriers between them in their fight to survive?

38. Chapter 38: The Gift

A/N: It wasn't planned, but this chapter is titled 'The Gift', so considering the timing, consider this my gift to you all this holiday season - another double chapter post and big wishes for you all to have a very happy and healthy 2022! The big race will come after the holidays. Stay safe everyone and thank you again for your reviews and DM's. I so appreciate you sticking with this story while I procrastinate (my outline is a mess!) yet again on the sequel to FOW. May you all find someone to cuddle with if - like me - you're in those cold winter months of the year!

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Chapter 38: The Gift

The Homestead, Four Hours Later

Rudy ran out into the garage with Elise not far behind. She shouted to Bo and Lauren before they had barely gotten the last dog unhitched from the line,

"Mom is so mad at you guys! You're in BIG trouble! You didn't tell her you were leaving and you didn't leave a note, didn't text and didn't even call! It was very…" she turned to Elise, "What was that word they used?"

"Inconsiderate," Elise replied, hands on hips, her scolding eyes and pursed lips swinging between Bo and Lauren.

"Yea, inconsiderate!" Rudy agreed with Elise.

The two elder women stood, mouths agape as they searched for a reply while the two children stood on the kitchen doorstep, arms crossed with looks of scorn on their respective faces.

Bo looked up, "Hey! I thought we were sisters!"

"What's that got to do with it?" Rudy asked.

"Sisters are supposed to cover for each other! You know – say something like, 'I'm sure they're fine, Mom' or 'Bo probably just wanted to get a light training run in and took Lauren along' or 'Bo probably just took Lauren for a romantic midnight ride on the sled so they could be all kissy and stuff'. You didn't have my back!"

The blame game wasn't working and Bo should have known it wouldn't by just looking at the pair. Mary wasn't the only one who was angry. They left two mini-mushers behind after a whole night spent talking about having them get right back on their sleds to overcome their fears.

"Ah, come on Roo. It was really late. You guys were all asleep and I was working through some stuff," Bo explained as she unhooked Harper.

Rudy's eyes went wide, "OHMAGOSH! YOU RAN HARPER? ARE YOU CRAZY! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HER?"

Lauren shook her head, "It was my idea to give her a chance to walk the sled. She wanted to run, but we held her back, Roo. She's fine. I promise.

Nevertheless, Rudy ran to Harper and started unwrapping her legs, "I'm putting her right into an ice bath, then Elise will do her special massage and then we'll put her into dry sleeves and her new fur sleeves. Then she's resting the rest of the whole day!"

Bo and Lauren could barely contain their laughter as the two protective girls took their angry faces and Harper into the house.

"Well, at least we know her post-run treatment will be thorough, and she'll be well cared for," Lauren smiled.

Bo shook her head, "You mean she'll be pampered like a Disney Princess."

"That too," Lauren laughed, "Did you have fun?"

"Until that tongue lashing, yes. Lauren, I'm calling Path and Slate today. We're going to renovate the cottage pronto. You onboard?"

Lauren smiled, looking up at the house, "Yes."

Bo sighed, placing her hands on her hips as she stood and surveyed her garage, "This was my dream house…"

"I'm sorry, Bo. If you want to stay…"

"Let me finish, Babe. This was my dream house and I'm really proud of it. I'm proud that I built a home for my mom and my sister to live in even though that wasn't the intention at the time. I'll update it as they see fit, but in the meanwhile, I'm looking forward to renovating the cottage to be our dream house," she smiled "So, start thinking of everything you want, remembering we're in Alaska and trying to live a relatively off-grid life, and I'll find a way to incorporate it into the cottage. I'll also need to know about cabinets and general design elements for the inside by the time the Iditarod ends."

"Bo, the wedding…"

"We'll split our efforts. You handle wedding planning with mom and the kids, I'll build us our house. We share ideas during our down time. We're a team, Lauren. We can do this."

Lauren smiled, "We can do anything."

"Good. Well, let's get these dogs taken care of and then we'll head inside to pay the piper."

"Maybe I have to go to the clinic," Lauren said, pulling her phone from her pocket, "Hmmm… no such luck."

Bo laughed, shaking her head, "Like I said – we're a team."

"Yea, well I'd prefer to sit the bench for 'angry Mary' team events," Lauren said with a raise of the brow.

"Coward," Bo said with a smile.

Lauren laughed but didn't deny it. The pair got to work, wanting to get inside as quickly as possible. They figured the sooner they got this over with, the sooner they would be able to make a meal. The salmon they had to share with the dogs was not enough to last them long.

With the chores behind them and the dogs out in the yard for their playtime with Rudy and Elise, the couple braced themselves for the wrath of Mary and entered the house, but instead of finding a worried mom sitting at the table, the found Molly - phone in her back pocket, headphones attached – jamming to some apparently dance-worthy music. The pair stood watching for a few minutes, unable to resist the unbridled moment from the usually stoic and serious Molly Morton, pistol toting, kick ass, all-business store owner and chief family cook.

Eventually, she turned towards the sink and caught the couple watching her. She immediately pulled out her headphones and stuttered out a,

"Uh… I ya… was… um… hi," she began, but found her feet, planted a fist firmly on her cocked hip and pointed the other finger at the pair, "You won't be laughing once Mary gets hold of you two. You scared her half to death. She had no idea if you were out there in the wilderness frozen half to death or not."

Bo laughed, drawing attention from both Molly and Lauren which only made her laugh harder. Molly scowled,

"I fail to see the humor in giving your mom such a scare!"

Bo shook her head and replied with as much sarcasm as she could muster, "First off, great dance moves. As for the rest, you know, I walked into this house feeling apologetic. But I've been apologizing to my family since I learned that I had one. I think I'm done with that."

Mary entered the room, "Done with what?"

Bo turned to Mary, "Have a seat, Mom. Please," she pulled out a chair and then turned to Molly, "You too, please."

The two women sat before Bo moved back to the head of the table near the door to stand next to Lauren. Bo took a deep breath,

"First, I am sorry that you were worried, Mom but I am not to blame for your worry. Since the day you left me to fend for myself, I've been doing just that. I realize I have a family now, but if you recall the conversation we had soon after my return from my Vision Quest, I told you that family has brought both positive and negative aspects to my life. I promised myself…" she turned to Lauren, "We promised ourselves, that we were going to live the lives we choose moving forward. We are both adults and we have not had accountability for our whereabouts since… well, I can't speak for Lauren, but for me, it was when you left."

Bo lowered her eyes and shook her head, "I have no desire to dredge up the past and I am not assigning blame. Events happened as they were meant to - but I will not allow myself to resort to the stress I felt before I left for my quest. I left because the constant need to please all of my new family members every minute of the day, to juggle all of my businesses and to give Rudy the attention I want to give her was just… well, too much."

She sighed, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. Lauren stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder as she continued,

"I am very happy to have a family, to have my mom back in my life and to have the opportunity to build a relationship with the little sister I didn't know I had… and Elise – our unexpected addition. I love you… all… so much… but I was a lone off-gridder before you came and then suddenly, I was expected to behave as a normal, functioning member of society – to do and follow the rules of what everyone else wanted me to do to the point where…" her voice cracked and her eyes welled with tears, "I'd lost myself."

She shook her head, a small chuckle escaping, "It's ironic, really… that you can be surrounded by so many people and so much love, yet feel very much alone… I felt… like an alien in my own body."

She sighed, "Look, I am happy to have a family again. I feel the spirits have blessed me and I'm truly incredibly grateful - I really am. But I feel like you're trying to make up for missed time by treating me like a twelve-year-old again. I built this house so that I could live here – my way - on my terms. It was a compromise I made with myself. I wouldn't be hiding away in a room in Kenzi's hotel attic, and I wouldn't be living with animals in the woods or on the tundra."

She turned to Mary, "Mom, most nights I lived in a barn behind Lauren's clinic with my dogs. When I needed a shower or to thaw out, I stayed in the attic hotel room that Kenzi held for me – windows to the roof wide open."

She felt Lauren's hand squeeze her shoulder, so she reached up and covered the hand with her own for strength as she continued,

"It was in that barn where Lauren and I got to know each other because it was the only place she could really spend any quality time with me. I didn't realize it at the time, but other than entering places for trading or dropping off furs and game, that barn with its massive doors wide open was as close to inside as I got. Gradually, as we began to fall in love, I spent more and more time inside – the clinic, her apartment and eventually, I set my mind to the task of building this place,"

She chose her next words carefully, "I had barely had a chance to live here on my own… to figure out who I was inside walls like… well, normal people… when I suddenly had you and Rudy here, then family dinners and family lunches and… well, you get the idea."

"We're intruding…" Molly began, but Bo shook her head,

"No. You just didn't know me and you didn't think to consider who I had been and what it might be like for me to suddenly be surrounded by people. You pulled me into the fold like I was one of the Morton's and…. while that was a kind, generous and supportive environment for me, it was – at times – a bit suffocating."

Molly began again, but Bo stopped her,

"Please. I'm not very good at conveying my feelings, so hear me out?"

"Of course," Molly nodded.

Bo took a deep breath, placing a hand on Lauren's. The blonde pulled a chair over and sat next to Bo, holding her hand as she continued,

"Imagine I picked your house up and dropped it into the tundra on the North Slope, then removed all of the walls. In your house with no walls, you had a broken sled and the tool bag that was attached beneath it, you had one dog, you had the clothes on your back, you had one axe, you had a lighter and it was December."

A whispered, 'great spirits' slipped across Mary's lips as she lowered her eyes and shook her head.

"Mark, LJ, Elise, your dogs, your store… they were all gone and no one in the community was coming to your rescue because they believed you were a murdering ill-bred half-breed. What do you do first?"

"What?"

Bo leaned in, "This will be hard for you to hear but Molly, your husband stood in a circle of men with his brother and grandfather and helped them burn my dogs alive along with almost all of my worldly possessions…"

Bo stood and walked to the kitchen sink. She opened the cabinet below and pulled out a floorboard, then a large round tin can. She turned and placed it on the table between the two women before she continued,

"That space in the floor is my fireproof safe – just so you all know. That cookie tin…"

"I recognize this…" Mary said, her eyes filling with tears, "… the cookies we baked…"

Bo nodded, her eyes welling up, "It was with Dyson when they took me from the jail cell. He kept it in evidence one he saw what was inside. He would tell me later that he wanted to keep my most prized possessions safe from anyone that would wish me harm. He promised that if you were ever found, that he would be sure you got it. We both thought I would die that night."

Mary sobbed while Molly shook her head and turned to Bo,

"I don't understand… what did Mark have to do with this?"

Bo nodded to the tin, "That's all that I had in addition to my dogs, blankets, sled gear and sled which all belonged to my mom. Other than what's in that tin, the men gathered at that fire burned it all. Luckily, they walked away while I still had time to pull what was left of my mom's sled from the fire. The man that was holding Harper tossed him just short of the fire and she ran to me right away. She was just old enough to run with the team and not strong enough to pull a loaded sled let alone a sled with me onboard. Of course, none of that mattered because I was in jail just a few minutes later."

Bo looked towards the window as the tears finally fell. She calmed herself and swallowed hard before turning back to Molly, speaking through glassy eyes,

"It's hysterical really. Dyson and Hale watch them burn my dogs alive and I'm the one that ended up in jail while they all walk away – no punishment. I was so angry, but once they had me locked up, Hale explained that jailing me was the only way they could keep me safe until they could get help from Judge Payne. They hid my sled and Harper from the public until I was finally set free. That's when Dyson told me…"

The tears fell hard now. She couldn't hold them back nor did she feel a need to. She was tired of rehashing her past over and over again and she refused to shield her family from their role in her pain any longer,

"…he told me to run," she shrugged, "So I ran. I hid Harper under a blanket that I tied to the top of the sled with bungee cords Dyson gave me… and I pushed the sled until I couldn't feel my legs anymore. We slept under a tree, then I ran again. When Harper wouldn't stop crying from hunger, I used my axe to kill rabbit, squirrels or anything else I could find. My life became sleep, kill, cook, feed Harper – and myself if there were leftovers, run, repeat."

She looked up at Molly, "If you were me, would you be a fan of any person in Talkeetna after living that way for six months?"

It took a moment, but Molly finally raised her head enough for Bo to see the tears in her eyes as she replied,

"I had no idea…" she began, "Bo… I'm so…"

"Sorry?" Bo asked, "Yea, whatever. Sorry isn't why I'm telling you this, Molly. You don't get it."

"Then explain it to me, Bo."

"You can't possibly understand! On the North Slope, I was a good kid. The village was my family. My people, my teachers - they loved me. I was attached to my mom's hip! She was my best friend! It was the two of us against the world," the words caught in her throat, but she swallowed hard again and continued,

"She taught me everything and what she didn't teach me, I learned at school! She wanted me to be someone… someone important! She wanted me to be happy! She wanted me to be smart! She made me want all of that for myself! I wanted to know everything. I wanted to go to college. And then, one day, I came home, and she was gone. My world was suddenly empty. The woman she entrusted with my care was killed soon after that, so I cleared out my mom's kennels taking every dog the two of us had raised and set out to find her. There was nothing left for me in our village."

The tears fell harder as Bo pushed herself to remember, "I lost two dogs the first week… they froze to death because I didn't have enough straw to put down for all of them. I was hypothermic and didn't wake up until Mom's lead started tugging at my hood. We were all covered in snow. If it weren't for Yuji…"

"You would have been dead," Mary concluded, wiping her eyes.

I lost another dog to a bear fight, another slipped its lead and ran… you get the idea. They didn't have enough food and I wasn't their true master, so they weren't listening. They were fighting amongst each other," she looked up at Mary, "Raz and Roe got into it and… well, Raz always was aggressive…"

Mary nodded, "Raz killed Roe."

Bo nodded, "I remembered seeing a place on a map in school called Mary's Igloo. I was a stupid child, so naturally I thought that maybe my mom went there. But it was February, and the ice was melting. Mom's sled got stuck. The dogs were hungry. It had been two days since we'd eaten, and we were all weak. I couldn't pull myself out even with their help. I fell against the sled and decided death was better than allowing the dogs to suffer for another day, so I released the center line and offered myself to the Great Spirits. At least the dogs would have each other and without me holding back their instincts, perhaps they could hunt and survive. It wasn't right for them to die because I was an idiot."

"Ysabeau…" Mary whispered.

"I woke up in a bed. The dogs were on the floor around me. There was a fire in a fireplace," she sat back in her chair, glancing at Lauren when she felt a squeeze of her hand, "I sat up and turned towards the sound of a voice. It was an old woman. Her name was Sunali. She had found the dogs, put them in her barn, hooked Yuji to her leads and told her to find me. She did."

Bo leaned forward, placing her chin on top of two stacked fists. Lauren placed a hand on her back and moved it back and forth. The motion was soothing to Bo as she continued,

"I stayed with her for a month… maybe a little longer. I really don't remember. It was until we were all strong enough to travel. She asked me where my family was and when I explained, she began to teach me how a person can survive on their own. She warned me to meet people… to keep room for humans in my heart… to remember what my mother's love felt like…" she felt a surge of pain through her nose to her eyes as tears formed again, "… but it hurt too much to remember love… to connect with people only to have to leave them. The more distant I became, the more mistrust I held for others and they for me. The less trust, the more I withdrew… until I met Lauren."

Bo lifted her eyes to her mom and Molly, for the first time seeing that they were now sharing a box of tissues. She wanted to feel bad for them, but she couldn't. Now they knew and, if she knew her family, soon they would all know.

"Lauren taught me to open my heart again and eventually – after a long-fought battle – to trust again. She's been kind and patient and has never once expected anything from me. My extended family, on the other hand, who did not come to me first out of love, has continually placed expectations on me. As I've said, I'm grateful for your presence in my life. I'm happy to have a family. I love you all very much."

She paused, turning towards the window, "But, I have to be permitted to come and go as I please. I must be able to make my own choices for how I spend my day. If you need me, I just want to be asked, not expected to help or participate. I've never held any of you to the expectations you hold me to. Why am I somehow on the short leash in this relationship – especially after the hand you all had in negatively impacting my life?"

She sat up, leaning towards Lauren, "With that said, and I don't want to speak for Lauren here because her circumstances and feelings on her experience with the family may be very different. I need a little space. So, we are not going to wait until after the wedding to build our new home. We have decided that we are going to renovate the cottage down river and move into that as our permanent residence."

"Ysabeau, I know what this home means to you. This should be where you live. I can find another place…"

"Mom, don't be ridiculous. You are my mother, Rudy is my sister. I'm very happy that the first home I've ever built suits the two of you so well. If Rudy stays in this area, it will be perfect for her as she grows into adulthood. She can take the upstairs and you can keep the first floor. You'll still have a common area and we can still have family dinners here. This room… this table, holds a lot of memories for the Dennis-Morton clan and I don't want that to change. It just feels like this place is perfect to be your home and it's central to all of the other homes we're building on the river."

Bo ran her hand back and forth over the table before she stood and pulled her knife from its sheath. She inserted the tip of the blade into the split at the center of the table and pried it open,

"I had thought about putting a leaf or two in the table so that it could be expanded, but then decided I probably wouldn't have more than four to six people here at a time. Of course, when I built this piece, all of those people would have been Lauren's friends since I didn't have any other than Kenzi and Vex."

She smiled and pulled the two ends apart, Lauren pulling back the two chairs on her end while Molly and Mary lifted their arms from the table surface and watched as Bo revealed a hidden compartment the length of the table,

"These are the blueprints for The Homestead. As you can see – there's two expansion wings. This one attaches the main house to the large barn. This one attaches the great room to a corridor that leads to two more bedrooms and an extra bath. If Rudy chooses to stay, the plans are already here to add on. If Rudy leaves this area, Elise will be next in line to take over the property after you die, Mom."

Bo moved to the head of the table opposite where Lauren stood and gave her a nod. The two pushed the table closed again,

"Of course, I can still fashion leaves for the table to make it longer as the family grows," Bo took a seat, this time Lauren taking the seat next to her, "When I designed this home, it was just the great room. As my relationship with Lauren grew, I wanted something that was more conducive to a family home so she would have a room to go to when she needed to get away from me. When she started staying overnight here, I started to think about how I could add some east coast elements. When you and Rudy came… well, you get the picture."

Bo heaved a great sigh leaning into Lauren, "My world was like looking through a microscope. My focus was about me and my dogs surviving from one minute to the next. In a little less than eight months, I was suddenly surrounded by people with no people skills. I was in love and in a committed relationship for the first time in my life, I had learned that the man who had hunted me for a decade was my father, I had learned that he had birthed a very large extended half-family… people who had just been business associates for my Iditarod and trading businesses. Then, my Mom and – surprise – little sister were suddenly back in my life… with the FBI. I mean… the magnitude of it all…"

Molly nodded, "I understand."

Bo looked at the woman, "Do you, really? Do you understand that I love you and want you in my life? Do you understand that I've left my past in the past and want to move forward? Do you understand who I was before you knew we were family and why I will likely never function as the normal human you probably wish I was?"

Molly sighed, "I must admit, it was shocking to hear a small bit of your past. I had no idea… I mean… I can't imagine and I haven't even heard what happened after you left the tutelage of Sunali. I'd imagine it was lonely at first, but I can also imagine that eventually, being around people must have been… loud."

Bo smiled and nodded, "Physically and figuratively. It's why I struggled to be around Rudy at first. She was… a lot. But then she started to remind me of a good time in my life… of the good parts of my childhood… seeing her with mom. I was so much like her and… well, now I find it comforting to be around her. It's almost like I can imagine growing up like a normal kid and I'm seeing that life through her eyes."

Mary dabbed at her eyes before choking out her words, "I'm so sorry you could not have the experience for yourself. I'm so sorry for the damage my absence caused your soul."

Bo sighed, "I suppose part of me – that young Bo - will always blame you. I wish that wasn't the case, but I think – while the adult in me can mentally process why you made the choices you did, there's a child in me that will never forget and therefore, may never forgive. What I do know is that we will have more years together than apart by the time we reach the end of our destined lives and that is worth moving forward to see."

Mary nodded, offering a smile through sad eyes, "Indeed."

The two women were silent and for Bo, the silence was deafening, "I know I've said a lot and there's a lot to unpack. I honestly don't know how I ended up revealing all that I did… young Bo's subconscious anger over you suddenly caring for me, maybe? Anyway, I just know that I need you to lower your expectations. I need to be able to go when I want to go and so does Lauren. That may not be how a normal family functions, but it's how I need to live. I've spent almost a year trying to ignore my need to be spontaneous and it just didn't work for me. Last night, I did what I had to do for Harper. It was a very last minute idea and – as it turns out – a very good idea."

She leaned into Lauren, "I feel like I can run the Iditarod without Harper if I must…"

"If you must?" Mary asked.

Bo nodded, "You should know that win or lose, I may carry Harper in my basket during the race. As long as she starts standing, I can carry her until I want to drop her from the race."

She smiled up at Lauren before turning back to the two women, "I put her at the lead and held back the team to go at her pace. She walked most of the way, but for a few minutes at a time, she ran, Mom. She ran. Her tail was wagging…" tears trailed as she continued, "… she was so happy. I'm going to take her and if she jumps into the basket or steps to the center line, I'm going to do as she asks. It's the right thing to do. She's done so much for me… saved my life more times than I can count. She knows what she can handle. She knows what lining up for the Iditarod means and I believe she should be able to make her own decisions… run, walk, lay… or die… on her own terms. I owe her this."

Mary nodded, "I'll start making more fur leggings for her."

"Thank you, Mom."

Molly chimed in, "I'll order more of the neoprene material so that Cassie can fashion more sleeves for her."

Lauren replied, "Betsy will make them if you give her the material – I'm sure of it. Cassie will be too busy prepping the medical equipment for the race."

Molly nodded, "Very well. You will speak with Betsy?"

Lauren nodded, "Of course."

Bo sighed, "One more thing. I don't want things to get weird. If anything, I'm going to need you to talk to me more than you did before. To ask me about coming to dinners, to ask me to watch Rudy, to ask me to meet you at the General Store and the same for Lauren. We still want to maintain our roles in this family. We just need to have a life where we can nurture and grow our relationship and that means – on occasion – doing something spontaneous," she turned to Mary, "But Mom, we will try to leave notes as a courtesy to you and Roo."

Nodding, Mary smiled, "Thank you, Child."

Molly was chuckling as she replied, "I understand."

"But you find it funny?" Bo asked, slightly offended.

Molly smiled, "You do realize that my Father-in-Law, your brother, lives in Point Siku with his eldest son and previously, with his Father Big Jim, right?"

"Of course… and your son Michael."

Molly nodded, "Yes, but I suppose you've never thought of why."

Bo shrugged, "Actually, I haven't."

"I told Mark that I would only marry him if we lived here where I was raised so that we could be near my parents and away from Big Jim. He agreed. Big Jim wasn't happy about it, but Mark stood his ground."

"Wow. About time."

"Excuse me?"

Bo shrugged, "Well, I've done the math. You and Mark were married not long after my dogs were put to death. Mark wouldn't stand up to him that night," she paused before adding, "I'm happy to hear he grew a pair so the two of you could have the life you wanted."

Molly nodded, "I'm sorry he didn't…"

"Not your job to apologize for him, Molly," Bo cautioned, "Mark and I have already had that talk."

Molly nodded, "I know. It was not long ago – at the General Store after you got back to town. He told me."

"I figured he would tell you we had words that night."

Molly shook her head, "I meant he told me what happened that night… and many other nights. After you confronted him that night, he was beside himself. I couldn't calm him down. I haven't seen my husband cry often, but that night… he was inconsolable… said he didn't deserve your kindness. He told me everything that he knew… everything he told the FBI and testified to… you know that I wasn't permitted in the room…"

Bo nodded, "Of course. Tosh had told me you were each alone when your statements were taken. He thanked me for not pressing charges. Of course, I told him I'd never even considered it."

Molly nodded, "Mark feels he should be behind bars and since he's not… well, let's just say that if you ask him for anything, it's safe to say he would be agreeable."

Bo shook her head, a scowl stretching across her brow, "I would never take advantage of him that way."

"I know you wouldn't Bo, but I think part of him wishes you would. Tosh too, although I think we can all agree that he successfully distanced himself from Big Jim most of his life. He was his mother's son and I think that was a convenience for Big Jim since it kept his "legal" wife too busy to catch on to his nefarious dealings," she looked up at Mary, "Sorry."

Mary just shrugged as Molly continued, "Then he got his hooks into Tosh's two sons… that's when things started to spiral for your brother. Big Jon and Mark were grown men when they became partners with Tosh in the business and when they started to expand so Mark and I could move up here, they ran into some financial issues. Big Jim helped them out, opening the door for him to use is "you owe me" position over them."

She sighed, "So, Big Jon and Mark never really learned to stand up to their grandfather and Tosh blames himself that they became intertwined with some of his misdeeds. He was their father, after all. He could have sent them both away out of Big Jim's reach, but he just couldn't bear to part with them."

Bo cocked her head, considering the events her brother's life, "I'm guessing that about the time when his mom died and his wife not long after?"

Molly nodded, "He wanted to send Big Jon to Talkeetna when we moved here, but Big Jon was afraid Big Jim would just follow them here."

"So Big Jon set himself up as bait to keep his grandfather in Point Siku?"

"Essentially and Tosh stayed with him. That tiny cabin behind our property was to be Tosh's house. Big Jon and his wife were going to move to the property across the street and build their house there. He actually still owns the deed to the land, but I don't think he'll move there now that he's able to run the store down in Point Siku as he sees fit."

Bo nodded, "Do you mind if I ask why Michael spent summers down south with Mark's brother, Tosh and Big Jim?"

"Michael wanted to switch places with LJ so that his cousin would have a break from Big Jim's whoopings."

Bo nodded, looking up at Mary, "I'm familiar with the feeling, but didn't that just put Michael in the line of fire?"

Molly shook her head, "Big Jim would never dare lay a hand on Michael. He knew that if he did, I would have found him and killed him without question. Unfortunately, Big Jon never drew the line with Big Jim where LJ was concerned. His love for you made him a special target for Big Jim's ire and Big Jim's hatred for you kept Big Jon from confronting his grandfather. He knew Big Jon would kill you and LJ would hate him forever for letting him. So, Tosh ran interference whenever you were around, Big Jon treated you like… well, like he did – to keep up appearances and LJ just tried to avoid all three of them."

Bo shook her head, "That's truly fucked up."

"Agreed," Molly replied, "But… that was your Father, whether you knew that version of him or not."

"And that's why I'm glad he left us…" Bo lowered her eyes, "I just wish he'd left my brothers behind. Things may have been very different for them."

Lauren moved her hand back and forth over Bo's back again, knowing how deeply she had felt the youngest Dennis brothers' death. There had been weeks of nightmares after last years' Iditarod, so Lauren was grateful this year would be different.

Mary remained silent, though Bo knew there were memories behind the silence that she would never be privy to. She'd seen enough to know that in the privacy of their room, things must have been horrible for her mother. The only question that remained for Bo is how her mom ever married him to begin with – not that she was sorry he did since she wouldn't exist if they'd never met, but still… she felt a need to know.

"Mom? You okay?"

Mary nodded, looking at her daughter, a forced smile on her face, "Of course, Child. The past is past. Let's all move forward, shall we? Now, tell us of your plans for life in the cottage. From what I've seen on my walks, it seems in ill repair on the exterior. Do you have plans for a large-scale renovation?"

Bo nodded, looking at Lauren. She smiled, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze as she welcomed the change in topic,

"After wildlife control comes in and moves the small animals, it will be a total renovation. Then again, if I just tear down three walls, they'll probably get the hint and move out on their own. This house will be up to Lauren to design."

"And Lauren has zero home-building experience," The blonde laughed, "Though she has built a very sterile hospital."

They all laughed before Lauren smiled and looked to the two women, "So I'll be looking for advice, Ladies."

Molly nearly jumped out of her seat, "Oooh! I would love to help! I've always wanted to build my own home, but Mark insisted we could just attach our home to the General Store. It's not exactly the dream I had for our nest egg. At home one moment, then a customer bangs on the store door downstairs screaming because you're opening two minutes late. I know you want your space, but I wouldn't mind living just a tiny bit of my dream through the two of you!"

Lauren couldn't help but laugh, "Of course, Molly. You can help me design the kitchen. Yours is so… accessible. It's like everything is exactly where it should be when you're cooking over an open-fire stove."

"That's because I threatened Mark with divorce in our first week of marriage if he did anything in the kitchen without consulting me. I knew he would never touch so much as a spoon in the kitchen unless it was to feed himself."

"Typical man," Mary laughed.

Bo, however, had a frown on her face as she asked, "So you're saying this kitchen is bad?"

Mary smiled, "Ysabeau, the kitchen you grew up in was designed by your father who knew as much about kitchens as his grandson. Beyond that, your kitchen was an outdoor kitchen and that's how this is set up."

"But it's inside? I mean, we have an icebox, a sink, a fire oven with a stovetop, cupboards, a big window over the sink with a view of the river and a good chunk of the yard where the dogs are…"

Mary nodded, "It has all of the necessary appliances and views, I agree."

"You mean it doesn't have electricity and running water?" Bo asked.

Mary shook her head, "Not at all. We're all accustomed to that…"

"Some of us," Lauren snarked,

"But if you were to spend two hours in this space preparing a meal for twenty people, you would understand."

"Fine. I'll help cook the meal for tomorrow night."

Molly looked at Mary, then back to Bo, "It's okay, Ysabeau."

"What? You don't think I can cook in a real kitchen?"

Molly smiled, "Of course, but you misunderstand us, Dear. Begin capable of cooking in a kitchen and cooking in a kitchen that is capable of helping you cook are two different things."

Bo nodded, "Well, the only way I'll learn to design a better kitchen is to shadow you cooking a meal – hearing you when you float the occasional F-bomb because something isn't where you need it to be."

Molly blushed, "You can hear those?"

Lauren laughed, "The girls giggle and then we just remind Elise to get the money for the swear jar. She doesn't mind. She said your mouth is single-handedly paying her tuition for veterinary school."

"She's a smart one, our Elise," Molly smiled, "She said vet school eh?"

Bo grinned, "She seems pretty determined."

"Honestly, I hope it sticks. She's a perfect fit for working with animals and she loves them so much," Molly smiled.

"That's very true and she's got the smarts for it too," Bo added, "So, can I cook with you?"

Molly sighed, "Fine. You can clean and cut the vegetables, clean and trim the filets."

"Easy peezy," Bo smiled.

"Agreed. Then you can watch as I cook with your mom. Hopefully, you'll see what works and what doesn't in this kitchen."

"Fine," Bo replied, turning to Lauren, "Do you want to eat?"

"I thought you'd never ask," the blonde smiled, "I'm starving."

"There's muffins in the tin on the counter that I just baked this morning. They may still be warm," Mary said, returning her attention to the cookie can Bo had opened a short while ago.

"Excellent!" Lauren smiled.

"And I brought freshly churned butter from town," Molly added.

"Even better!" Bo said, following Lauren to the counter.

Mary nudged Molly, nodding towards the living room. The two left the room, Mary taking the tin with her. They left Bo and Lauren to eat their breakfast in peace. For the couple, the rest of the morning was light-hearted banter with Lauren eventually pushing Bo to call Path and Slate about the possibility of adding the cottage to their workload. The hospital would be finished by the end of next week, so when they returned from the Iditarod, the to-do list would grow once again.

The Hospital Gala and Grand Opening was coming up, their wedding, the start of Bo's new store and the opening of Lauren's new trauma center. While Lauren was grateful that weather had forced them to postpone the gala until after the Iditarod, it did make for a crowded schedule in March and April. There was also Kate and Anna's wedding. Kate had told Lauren that their respective families had been quite upset by the news that they would hold the wedding in Alaska, so they were now considering a flight home for a wedding with the family and then a second wedding here for all their new friends.

Betsy and Anna had stepped into the conversation at that point, leading Betsy to explain that Lauren had a similar situation for her first wedding. Once Lauren had gotten past the cringe-worthy statement, she found Betsy asking her to offer the couple advice for planning. Try as she might, those words did not come.

Instead, she reminded the couple that their wedding day was just that – theirs. They needed to do what they wanted to do no matter who it may offend. Eventually, they would go home or their relatives would come here to visit and they could celebrate the occasion just the same. She also mentioned that they could use any of several video conferencing apps for people to attend the ceremony virtually if they really wanted to allow family and friends to witness the event. She also explained that while they would always want to keep their parents and siblings close, their social circle would be changing and their friends from back east would likely fade away.

It was a reality Lauren had gradually come to accept. Her friends that had spent many years with her at the beach house had stopped texting or calling. It was an odd feeling. She started to wonder if they had been friends for the sake of friendship or friends because she had the house at the beach. Of course, she hadn't put in much effort to keep in touch either. Everyone was busy with their own lives, and she had to admit, that applied to her as well. She had new friends and a new family in addition to Bo and a new career, even if she didn't really know what that career would be just yet.

By afternoon, Bo had called Path and Slate who had agreed to meet with them tomorrow. Molly and Mary wanted to see the cottage, so they gathered up Rudy and Elise before taking three sleds up river to the property. Rudy and Elise drove one sled together, sandwiched between the two adult sleds on the narrow riverside trail. Honestly, Bo was just grateful to see them happy on a sled again. When they arrived, they wandered around the property, checking for any potential hazards on the land before hammering in thin metal orange spikes to mark the outline of the expanded greenhouse, a new widened dock, and the newly renovated home.

Lauren wanted to expand the existing cottage so that she had an office, lab, and treatment room. Having that equipment here would allow her to do a great deal of hospital administrative work from home while also saving them from having to use a chopper or delay emergent care for friends and family along the river. Lauren didn't like pulling resources from the rest of the counties when she could likely stabilize any patients here who could then be transported by a family snow machine or truck.

Bo wanted to have a workshop to build her furniture in addition to a woodshed, fishing shed and a place for all of her sledding gear. The garage was much smaller, so the kennels would have to be built into another addition. The greenhouse was already five times bigger than the one at the Homestead, but the hopeful smile on Mary's face was all it took for Bo to agree to double the size of the existing greenhouse,

"Mom, you realize that you'll have to come and tend to your half."

"Half?" Mary asked.

Bo laughed, "We're doubling the size so it's only fair that you and Rudy handle half since I can't say no to that incredible grin of yours!"

Mary wrapped her arms around Bo and squeezed her tight, "Well, I want to give you and Lauren your space…"

"Oh no you don't! You don't pull that line to get out of doing the work."

Mary smiled, "You know this will not be work for me, Ysabeau."

Bo grinned, "I know, Mom. Besides, I think Elise and Rudy will love it. They really love working with Faith in her growing houses."

Mary's eyes went wide, "You don't plan to build…"

Bo shrugged, "Eventually, when I'm too old for driving a sled and my body is too crippled to swing a hammer and axe I'll find peace in daily greenhouse work but for now, I don't think I could handle more than what we're planning. Honestly, without you and Rudy, I don't think we could handle it."

Molly chimed in, "I'll be happy to help when I can. If the entire family is eating meals born of the greenhouse, it's only fair that the rest of them chip in when you call for help."

Lauren looked at Bo, "You know I'm going to have to go back east or into Seattle on occasion. You'll have Iditarod training and the two may overlap. With the dogs to care for and our jobs taking us away, it will be nice to know we can call on friends and family to help out. They're going to need lessons."

Mary waved her hand, "I'll be happy to help and I'm sure we can get Faith here to help us get the saplings planted. Some of these trees will have to go in two or three years, Ysabeau. You should start growing replacements now."

Bo looked around, giving a nod, "It was pretty dark when we were here earlier, but I can see the bad trees now. Just too much weight on the boughs and years of not being tended to. Those two behind the house are of the biggest concern. I may take those out during the renovation unless Path and Slate can get their tree guy out here to see if he can save them."

All three women nodded their agreement. Mary asked about clearing land for a new path to The Homestead so that Rudy and Elise could visit without having to travel along the river – particularly when the spring melt came, and the river ran higher and faster. She didn't trust them traveling by rowboat or canoe since paddling back up against the current would be too difficult. Bo agreed and also added that she would put up a three-rail fence on either side with the added protection of wire fencing to deter wildlife from entering the trail. It would also help if they traveled during the dark months. Lauren suggested solar lighting attached to the fencing and Bo agreed to look into it.

Once they had an idea of what would be needed for the outside, they ventured into the old home, Rudy and Elise holding tight to the hands of their mothers. Once inside, Mary and Molly placed their hands on their hips and stared at the scene before them,

"A little cleaning… touch of paint… it'll be fine," Molly said, sarcastically leading everyone to laugh.

"Ysabeau, this place will need to be gutted," Mary said in all seriousness.

Bo nodded, "Now that I'm seeing it in the light of day, I suppose you're right."

"You don't have to tear it down completely, do you?" Lauren asked, her fingers running along the corner of a door where names and marks ran the length from just above the floor to a distance over her head, "It would be like losing a piece of history."

"What is that?" Bo asked.

Lauren turned to the others in the room, "You don't know what this is?"

Mary moved closer and shook her head, "Not at all."

Lauren nodded, "I suppose it's a lower forty-eight thing. In many homes, kids will stand against a door frame, a closet, a long pipe and parents will mark their heights every year or so with their name and date. It's sort of a timeline of their growth."

Bo and Mary smiled as the elder Dennis explained, "My first home was more or less and igloo and Ysabeau's home only had a front door."

Rudy slid under Lauren's arm and traced the names, "Aria, nine, twelve, nineteen fifty-one. Jacob, nine twelve, nineteen fifty-one. Aria was taller than Jacob."

Lauren smiled, pointing to another name, "Yes, but Jacob was smaller than Cooper and Ranna."

"Wow! Four kids! That's a lot," Rudy said, "Can we make marks like this, Mom?"

Mary smiled, "Of course. We can put both you and Elise at The Homestead."

"But what about Bo and Lauren?" Elise asked.

"I don't think we'll be growing any taller, Sweetie. I've been the same height since I was about seventeen," Lauren smiled, putting a hand on Elise's shoulder.

"Right," She nodded before a smile stretched across her face, "But we can do the puppies in the kennel, right?"

Bo smiled, "I think that would be a great idea."

"Cool!" Elise smiled, "Does anyone have a pencil?"

"What do you say we wait until the renovations are finished? Anything we put up now will likely come down," Lauren explained.

"But you're not going to take this away, are you? It's like you said, it's a piece of history!" Rudy urged.

Bo smiled, "We'll do our best to keep it right where it is – even if we have to remove it and put it back after we renovate, okay?"

Rudy and Elise nodded in unison as the group ventured further into the cottage. Bo looked up at the ceiling,

"You know, we could build up to a second floor or loft. That would give us more outdoor space for a larger kennel. We could add on to these bedrooms, taking down some walls to make the extra rooms you're looking for."

"Any chance my office and our bedroom could have big windows that looked out over the water to my mountain?" Lauren whispered in Bo's ear.

The brunette smiled, placing a soft kiss on the blonde's cheek, "This is your dream home too, my love. I will make it happen."

Lauren grinned, "In that case, can we have a gazebo in the front yard? Actually, a pergola off the steps into a garden with pavers that go all the way down to the gazebo – and the path should also go to the greenhouse. The greenhouse is where we grow and the gazebo is our nice little romantic spot. We can sit and watch the river go by for hours."

Bo smiled, "With an outdoor kitchen not far from the water's edge?"

"Perfect," Lauren smiled.

"What about the bathroom? Do you want running water?"

"Bo…"

"No, Lauren. I want you to be completely happy here. If you want electricity and running water, I will figure it out. I know you're accustomed to…"

"Living like we've been living for the past year, Bo. I don't know if it's spending so much time in the wilderness or just a growing concern for what's happening to the tundra, but I'd like to keep things as they are."

Bo nodded, "Then solar it is. The technology is just going to keep getting better according to Path and Slate. He said the system at The Homestead is already outdated. Don't worry – we'll take care of ours first. Mom and Rudy have more than enough power for just the two of them since I upgraded it to handle power for four or more."

"Good," Lauren smiled, "Besides, I'll still be able to take a shower before I come home from the trauma center if I'm that desperate for one."

Bo leaned in, "Call me if you want me to join you if I'm at my shop in town."

Lauren smiled, before noticing that Bo was still looking at her, "Wait. Did you get the store?"

Bo smiled, "Penelope sent me a text about ten minutes ago. She finished the deal with Little Jon. I thought about saying something to Molly, but it's really his place to tell them. Anyway, I have to go to town to sign the papers but then it's done."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

Bo shrugged, "I didn't want you to be upset if I didn't get it. There are always other stores."

Lauren smiled, "Well, you're right. I would have been upset if you didn't get it, so I'm glad you did."

"I'll need your help with designing the layout. I want it to be user friendly… that's what they call it, right? When people come in, I want them to feel like they're walking into their own home… that I'm like the friendly handywoman… not Bo Dennis, the murdering freak."

Lauren sighed, "Bo, I think you've done a fabulous job rehabilitating your image. People are getting to know you now and everyone speaks very highly of you."

"I suppose," Bo said, "But there's only one person's opinion of me that I care about and that's yours."

Lauren grinned, "Well, my opinion is that you are an irresistible, unstoppable sex machine… among other things and I am eternally, madly, deeply in love with you."

Bo smiled, "And you, are the most intelligent, beautiful, erotic, compassionate, generous, patient, accepting woman the earth has ever created and it is my honor to love you for the rest of eternity."

Pulling the blonde to her, Bo whispered, "Even in death, I'll never leave you, Lauren Lewis."

She slid her hand up Lauren's neck, her thumb grazing her bottom lip while her fingers slipped beneath her hair. Leaning in, she stole a deep, passionate kiss until…

"Ahem. There are children present, ya know," Rudy said, turning to Elise and rolling her eyes, "They're so gross."

Bo and Lauren laughed, taking a step back, Bo asking her little sister, "Well, if we're so gross, maybe you want to stay with Dyson's receptionist while we're all at the Iditarod."

"No!" The pair said in unison, "You're not gross at all," Elise added, "You just… you kiss… a lot. A whole lot."

Lauren laughed, poking Elise's nose, "One day, you'll fall in love, and we'll all think the same thing."

"Ewww. Never!" Elise said, wiping her mouth and walking away.

Rudy looked up at Elise, watching her walk away, then looked back at Bo, "Can a person never fall in love?"

Bo laughed, "Why? Are you worried Elise doesn't love you?"

The brunette began to laugh again, but Lauren gripped her arm and shook her head, nodding towards Rudy whose eyes were following her best friend. Bo's eyes went wide as she turned back to Lauren, the blonde shrugging and taking a deep breath before she responded to Rudy,

"Is that true, Rudy? Are you worried that Elise doesn't love you?"

Rudy shrugged, "I'm sure she loves me like a sister and a best friend. She just didn't say it back when I said it to her."

Bo froze, but Lauren knelt down in front of Rudy and smiled, "I'm sure you're right. Don't you worry about it, okay? There is nowhere Elise would rather be than by your side."

Rudy smiled, "You think so?"

"Roo! Come and look at all these books! There's like a million of them! We can read for our whole lives and never read them all! We can put a big bean bag chair in here so we can sit together and read!" Elise shouted to her friend, before looking at Bo and Lauren, "I mean… if it's alright with our big sisters. Can we make a big bean bag chair we can sit on together?"

Bo smiled, "I'm sure our moms can figure out a pattern for that. You'll need a strong material like leather, so it's going to be tough to sew, but I have tools to help."

Rudy turned to Lauren, "Maybe she does love me."

Lauren smiled, "I know she does, Roo. You know, life and time change things, but I think you and Elise will always be a part of each other's lives. Even if you run off and marry some wild and spontaneous musher like your big sister."

Rudy hugged Lauren before running off to find Elise. Lauren stood, turning to Bo,

"Don't say it."

"Do you think she has her first girl crush?"

"I said don't say it!" Lauren sighed, "Gawd I hope not. For now, let's just go check out this secret library they found. Did you see books the last time we were here?"

"Not a single one. Where are they?" Bo asked, looking around.

"Ysabeau? You'd better come down here!" Mary called out.

Bo turned to Lauren, "There's a basement? Damn I wish I knew where Sharynne left the architectural drawings and blueprints to this place. Judge Payne said she left them for me."

Lauren shrugged, "I thought her husband never built the full house."

Bo shook her head, "No idea how far he got. She stayed in two rooms because she couldn't heat the place. If there's a basement, there's more to this house than she let on… or knew."

Lauren nodded, "I suppose there is. Come on then."

The pair followed the sound of the voices beneath the floor. They wandered around, until they found a trap door that had been pulled back,

"What the hell?" Bo said, looking down the opening to see a staircase.

"Creepy," Lauren said nervously.

Bo laughed, "If Rudy's in there, we're going in so put on a brave face. She'll eat us alive if we show fear."

The pair made their way down the staircase to find a room that had to run beyond the visible walls of the house above. There were torches lit around the room and books lined the walls. Below their feet was an ornate marble floor,

"Check out this tile," Bo replied, "It looks…"

"Italian… maybe… definitely imported tile. We had similar tile in our foyer at the house where I grew up," Lauren replied, looking up at the ceiling, "Crown molding? This place looks like a palace. I expected a dirt floor."

Bo moved to the walls, "Stone walls, yet no moisture. How is that even possible given that this is built inside the permafrost?"

Lauren nodded, "Why isn't it freezing cold down here? I don't see a heater and there is no electric in the house."

Bo cocked her head, "You know, I just realized that it wasn't very cold upstairs and hot air rises, so…"

"There has to be heat coming from somewhere," Lauren concluded, "I thought you said Sharynne stayed in two rooms because she couldn't heat the whole house."

Bo shook her head as she examined the joints and joists in the walls and ceiling, "Well, we're healthy individuals and she was thin as a rail. Isn't that reason enough for her to feel cold? I mean, down here it's toasty because there's no drafty windows. I think we felt warmer upstairs in contrast to being outside."

Lauren nodded, but didn't have a chance to speak before they heard Bo's mom,

"Bo? Come down here," Mary called again.

"There's another floor down?" Bo asked, though she already knew the answer. Again, she followed the sound of her mom's voice until she arrived at a spiral staircase in the corner of the room. Lauren followed her down until they came to a similar room as the one above, only this one had dark wooden pillars.

"Oak. Solid oak pillars two floors down," Bo examined them carefully, "Hand carved. This must have taken a year or more. It looks like he brought it down unrefined and did all the work here. This is a really hard wood. No mold or mildew, again, no moisture, so no warping of the walls or floor. No bowing of the ceiling. This is an engineering marvel. Path and Slate are going to have a blast with this place."

"Bo? Bo are you coming?" Mary called.

"Mom?"

"Down here?"

Bo looked at Lauren, "No way! Another floor down?"

The blonde shrugged, "It's even warmer down here, Bo."

"Another floor down, then," Bo replied, searching for access to the lower floor, but Lauren was already pointing to the next spiral staircase down.

The couple descended yet again to find Molly, Mary, Rudy and Elise in a room that had some sort of large metal vents on one side. The other held two very large safes and there were tools of all types laid out on perfectly organized work benches and peg boards.

Molly smiled, "We've already agreed this is going to be your dream room."

Bo ran her fingers over a hammer with an ornate handle, "These are amazing… and old… very, very old. This place is like something out of that Jules Vern novel I read as a kid. What was that called, Mom?"

Mary smiled, "Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. You loved that book."

"Me too!" Rudy added before Molly suggested this place was more like ten thousand leagued under the ice.

Bo nodded, walking towards the safes on the opposite side of the room, still reminiscing about her childhood book,

"I read it until the cover fell off. You made a new one out of elk skin. This safe has a note on it…" Bo said, pulling the envelope from between the two large metal structures and flipping it over, "Oh my… it's to me."

"Really?" Mary asked, "Did you know the person or persons who lived here?"

Bo nodded, "Sharynne Windwalker," Bo replied, though she was carefully trying to open the letter. The paper was very old and she didn't want to tear the contents. When she finally had it open, she sat down beneath a torch and carefully unfolded a letter that was of significant length. The others gathered around her as if it was story time, Lauren coming to sit beside her,

"Are you okay, Sweetie?" The blonde asked.

Bo placed a hand on Lauren's thigh, "I can't believe she left me a letter."

"She cared for you, my love. It was obvious from all you told me and the fact that she left you this house and this property so that no one would be able to cause you any trouble. Her heart was always on your side."

Bo nodded, "I suppose."

"Are you going to read it, Sister?" Rudy asked.

Bo nodded and began,

Dear Ysabeau – Life has not been kind or fair to you. I cannot imagine what it has been like to walk even a town block in your mukluks. The stares, the whispers, people avoiding you rather than welcoming you despite all the good deeds you have been known to do. Yes, Child, I knew much more than I let on but that was so that you would not feel uncomfortable around me.

I remember one particular story of a small child who had fallen through the ice during a hockey match. The children in town described it as if you were a superhero. You ran towards the water, stripping off your clothing as you closed in, then dove in without regards for your own safety or the winter water temperature. You came up with the child and made it to shore, laying her on the ice. You told young Timmy Gordon to run and get help, then began pressing on her chest and forcing air into her lungs through her mouth. You saved her life that day and – as Timmy recalled the tale to me – he did not hear one person say thank you… not even the child's parents. He said they just stared at you as if they were wondering if you had a hand in the near drowning of their child.

There are more such tales of the deeds of Bo Dennis – all with the same silent response. So I decided some time ago that this town needed to step up and give back to you for all that you have given to us. That is the reason for this gift. I hope you will cherish it as I have and I have no doubt you will. It cannot be returned, only care for and tended until you pass it on to yours when you move on from this world. And so, her and now with this letter, I give to you this land, this house and – now that I'm apparently gone – all of its contents and wonders. Yes, there are wonders that you will find – things that I was not at liberty to disclose for fear of those who may try to lay claim to the hidden beauties created by my beloved William and the hidden talents from his incredible imagination. Please enjoy the gift I bestow on you and have no regrets of my actions. This is my decision – respect it, honor it, Daughter.

Bo took a moment, her eyes too blurry through the tears to read on as she whispered, "Daughter."

She thought of her own Mom sitting not too far away and swallowed hard, gathering her emotions before she continued to read,

Judge Payne called me today. Now before you get angry with him, I've sworn him to secrecy until you showed interest in entering the property. I know the feeling of entering a space where one you cared for once lived, for I've been entering this space without my beloved since he passed. I'm glad the day has finally come where you have come to read to this letter. I can only hope – not expect – that you will find a home here despite the grand castle you have built for yourself (I hope that reference made you smile).

Bo looked up at the group in the room, "She called The Homestead a castle because it was bigger than her cottage. She would mock me – with affection – telling me that my building a big cabin on land showed I felt a need to make up for some smaller ability. She would tell me the beauty of her cottage is that it was an iceberg. You only see a small portion of the grand love that was inside. I always guessed she was referring to the love that she and her Willie shared here.

Bo turned back to the page and continued,

I'm gone because of the influence of others. Funny how that seems to be a theme in your life and mine. Judge Payne told me that the town busy bodies have informed him that I am a danger to myself… that I can no longer care for myself. Well, I know what that is all about. I assume that since you are reading this letter, you found the key to the trap door in the floor. I'm sorry it was so heavy, but Willie had his reasons. He had one friend who knew of our sub floors, and he feared that he would swoop in and take that which he did not deserve… something Willie never wanted him to have.

Somehow, my Willie knew that I would outlive him, and he knew that I would find the person who was deserving of the contents of our home - a person who possessed a heart filled with love and a soul sent from the good Spirits.

From our first meeting by your fishing wheel, I knew you were the one, Ysabeau. Your generosity, your kindness to an elderly stranger, our talks about your search for your mother, the fun we had talking ill of Big Jim – oh, Child if there was anyone who filled just a small part of the hole left by the loss of my Willie, it was you. I'm forever grateful for your presence in my life.

By now you've come to realize that the jerky and berries I was surviving on were not from your fishing wheel. Please don't fret as I am sure you have already. I was a proud woman, Ysabeau and taking fish that you cooked for me was about all the charity I could handle. You really should try my jerky. It's not half bad. Even rodents taste like chicken when you cook them long enough.

"Oh, that's disgusting!" Rudy said, but Mary scolded her,

"If your legs would not carry you on a sled and you had no one around to hunt for you, what would you eat if your belly was so empty that it ached all day long?"

Rudy lowered her eyes, "Yes, Mamma."

"Yes what, Child?"

"I'm a spoiled brat who has never known hunger."

"That is your truth and don't you forget it. I'm sure if you look hard enough, you will see that there are children in your class at school who do not have enough to eat."

"Yes, Ma'am." Rudy said, her eyes lowered.

Bo continued,

As I was saying, the Judge called. They're going to check on me and if they determine that I am not fit to care for myself, I will become a ward of the state and be placed in a nursing home. Honestly, I'm debating other alternatives, but I keep seeing your face, so – nursing home it is since I'm fairly certain they will see the condition of the house and deem it unsafe. Maybe they'll tell you where I am and you will have a moment to pay me a visit. It's okay if you don't, but if they will disclose the location to you, of course you would be welcome.

Bo looked up at Lauren, "I have to find her, Lauren."

The blonde smiled, "I will find her, Bo. I'm a doctor – this is my wheelhouse. Nursing homes call the clinic all the time. I'll get Carolyn on it tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Is that all she had to say?" Lauren asked.

Bo shook her head and continued,

If you find her, I wish for your mother to have my quilts. I know you don't recall, but all North Slope women learn quilting skills. She will be able to follow the patterns and hopefully she will enjoy the challenge of making repairs. Time has not been kind to them. The long cloth rolls are sections I had begun, but never put into finished products as my fingers were worn to the numb and my arthritis prevents them from being as adept as they once were. Perhaps she could finish them and you could sell them with one of your benches. It may be a nice touch for one of your customers.

Bo looked up at Mary, "You'll be amazed by her work, Mom."

"Look at me. I don't even know this woman and she has me in tears. She sounds like an amazing woman, Child."

"She was, Mom," Bo smiled as she continued,

Take the plans that Willie drew for the cottage and do what you wish. Please don't feel obligated to rebuild exactly as he had planned for us, but if you wouldn't mind adding the reading cove – well, since you've made it this far, I'm sure you've noticed the rather large library I've amassed. That spot was where I would sit and read for hours – especially after Willie passed. The last pages of the plans will explain how the lower floors were built. It's quite the engineering marvel as I'm sure you've already realized. You see, there are thermal vents that extend up from a geothermal tunnel. It's a vent from one of the volcanic areas in Anchorage with backflow prevention gates. I'm no engineer, so it's up to you to draw your own conclusions.

Bo shook her head, "Great. I'm going to need Path and Slate. They're going to be in architectural engineering heaven down here," she laughed, scratching her head before reading the final passage,

There are vents from this room to the land above to keep the air circulating through this room - fresh and clean. I'm sure you'll figure everything out.

Finally, if you wouldn't mind keeping the Adirondack chairs, I would appreciate it. Even if they just sit down by the water so our spirits can enjoy the view of the river and the mountain sometimes, it would help us to find peace. They may need repairs, but I'm sure you can handle those with your skills.

My heart is heavy as I end this letter. I guess this is goodbye, Child. I know you seek your true mother, but know that you have been as a daughter to me. Having you in my life has been quite the highlight of my twilight years. Please remember… you are more than what the people of this town believe you to be. You are more than a musher, more than a trapper and hunter and more than their opinion of you. Keep walking your path to greatness, Ysabeau. I believe in you and know there is enough love in your heart to fill the river that flows before us. Trust the Spirits, trust your heart. By doing so, you will find your way along the Great Path. I'm sure of it.

With much love,

Sharynne Windwalker

36-24-36 (That was Willie's idea, not mine)

Bo looked up at Lauren, "Those numbers - what do they mean?"

Lauren chuckled, "Some men consider those the idea measurements for the perfect woman's body. I suppose it was a private joke between the two of them."

Bo frowned, "But why would she tell me something that personal?"

"Three numbers, Bo. The safe," Lauren hinted, expecting Bo to catch on.

"I still don't know what you mean, Lauren," Bo replied, a hint of frustration in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie. I believe it's the combination to the two safes."

"I've never used a lock before," Bo admitted.

"Do you want me to…"

"Yes, please," Bo said, her eyes avoiding the two youngsters at her feet and the two older women to her right.

Lauren used the dial on each safe to enter the sequence of numbers, then turned the handle until it popped open. She stepped back, not wanting to see what was inside before Bo had a chance to do so. When Bo had barely opened the doors, she covered her mouth and gasped,

"Oh my… Spirits surround us and give us help."

"Bo?"

The brunette turned to Lauren, "Call Patrick."

"What?"

"Call Patrick. Now."

"Why?"

Bo pulled open a door and all three women let out a collective gasp. Mary shook her head, "Close the doors and lock them. Lauren, call Patrick. I'm going to call Judge Payne."

"I don't understand," Lauren said, "You have the letter. The contents of the two safes are yours."

Rudy and Elise looked at each other, then back to Bo, "Sister? What's the big deal about a bunch of golden dusty blocks stacked up in two big black metal boxes?"

Bo turned to the girls, "You cannot tell anyone about this, do you hear? Absolutely no one. Not even the family. Mom and Molly will handle that. It's very important. Do you understand?"

Rudy and Elise nodded, "Sister? Are you in trouble?"

"No, Roo but people may not believe that this was left to me. We have to be sure that we do all of the proper legal things before anyone finds out about this, particularly Willie's friend."

"But who is Willie's friend?"

Bo shrugged, "I don't know, Roo which is why it's so important that we keep this secret. Willie did not want his friend to have this, so we must honor Willie's wishes no matter what - do you understand, girls?"

Both girls nodded their head, zipping their mouths shut and offering Bo their pinkies, which she took,

"Thank you."

Bo turned to Lauren, "I think it's going to be even more important that we try to find out if Sharynne is still alive."

The doctor nodded her agreement, "I just hope she is still of sound mind. Once I find her, I can have Anna do an exam if they haven't got her on too many medications."

Bo sat down, feeling overwhelmed, "I leave day after tomorrow. How am I going to get this taken care of by then?"

Lauren shook her head, "You're not, but Betsy, Penelope and Patrick will. They don't have to be at the race until week after next."

Bo nodded, "I don't want to put anyone in danger."

Lauren nodded, "Then call Tamsin, Acacia and Adam in on this."

"Good idea."

Bo closed the safe, locking the handle. Lauren stepped forward and spun the dial before folding up the letter, putting it back in its envelope and putting it into the inside pocket of Bo's jacket,

"For 'safe' keeping," Lauren smiled.

"Ha. Ha." Bo replied, "That needs to go into a waterproof bag. It's in delicate condition."

She turned to the group, "Let's get out of here before someone who knows there's something of value hidden here starts wondering why we're here."

"Slow down, Bo. We need to go upstairs and call Tamsin first. I'm sure she'll have advice for us on all of this."

"Right. Tamsin," Bo sighed, following the group upstairs after she doused the torches, "Sharynne, what the hell have you gotten me into?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Next Day at The Homestead

Tamsin entered the house and pulled off her outdoor gear as she spoke,

"Okay, Bo. Path and Slate have installed steel trap doors in every floor of the cottage. They've done an inspection of the foundation and it is sound. The geothermal tunnels and vents are functioning as expected and they asked me to mention that the system is ingenious."

"I guess everything Sharynne said about Willie's engineering skills was true," Bo said.

"You doubted her?" Tamsin asked.

Bo shrugged, "I thought you said you went to the cottage. The place is practically falling down and it's only about fifty years old."

Tamsin shrugged, "It's a cottage, Bo. They're not exactly built to last – especially under the weight of Alaska winters. The heavy snow and falling branches… what the hell am I explaining this to you for? You're the native for crying out loud."

"I guess he was more concerned about the lower levels."

"That's where all the stuff that matters is. Smart man," she nodded, taking a seat, "Slate found notes on the back of the fourth page of the plans. He built it as a doomsday shelter."

"Another room?"

Tamsin nodded, "If anyone took down the cottage, they would assume that anyone who was buried or burned in the collapse would be dead. In fact, they could have survived for years down there. They found a hidden door in the library…"

"Not another room!"

Tamsin nodded again, "…mystery movie bookcase style entrance."

"What?"

Tamsin smiled, "Another movie we'll have to watch. Anyway, Path did something to the books or the bookcase and it opened into a tunnel that led to an underground cavern. There was a narrow river fed by glacier water, a garden and plenty of canned and frozen goods."

"Frozen? How?"

"No sun means no solar so he used hydropower. I'm telling you, Bo. This guy Willie was a genius."

Bo nodded, "The plants will filter the air, the food will last a while depending on how much there is, but the water could be contaminated."

Tamsin shrugged, "Lauren already sent water and soil samples off to Amelia."

Bo nodded, "Good. Good."

"What's on your mind, Bo?"

"The Iditarod. Maybe I should pull out of the race."

Tamsin shook her head, "Uh… no you shouldn't."

"Let's face it, Tamsin. My focus has been split all year and with this thing at the cottage… how can I leave now when all of this is going on?"

"Sounds to me you're looking for an excuse to bail on the race. What's the problem? Afraid of not winning? Lost your nerve? Come back to town and you go soft again? 'Cause I'll tell you something, the Bo Dennis I saw at the Quest was balls to the wall, baby. That woman couldn't lose a race if every musher cheated to win. You should have seen you at the end of that race. When that a-hole cracked his whip and you caught the end in mid-air and ended him… shit, that was something to see. The crowd was going crazy. Hell, I was going crazy. Then you braved a herd of giddy reporters. Shit, woman - where did that Bo Dennis go?"

Bo sighed, "You're right. I got back here, and I got all domesticated."

"I thought that's not who you wanted to be anymore?" Tamsin said, "Come on, Bo. We've always been blatantly honest with each other. What are you afraid of?"

Bo looked up, heaving a sigh, "What if I go out there and don't want to come back inside again?"

Tamsin smiled, shaking her head, "Oh that old chestnut. Bo, why are you worrying about something that hasn't happened yet? And even if it does, Lauren got you through it the last time, you'll get through it again."

"Yes, we will."

Tamsin bowed to Lauren, "And since I got her to open up, you can take it from here, my Captain, my Captain."

"Get out of here," the blonde laughed, tossing Tamsin a small package, "Take that to Amelia, please?"

"Sure thing. Later Bo."

The brunette nodded, turning to Lauren, "So you heard all of that?"

"I did. I asked Tamsin to talk to you because you weren't talking to me. Everyone was milling around at the cottage, and you sat outside on the Adirondack chairs. At first, I thought you were just contemplating how you were going to fix them, but after an hour, I knew that was not the case."

Bo nodded, "Yea. I guess after I signed the papers for the store and met with Kyle and the team at the Kennel, I just realized that… well, I had fallen right back into the same old pattern. Actually, I haven't done that. I'm just sort of living day to day without any real purpose."

"Being between jobs will do that, but listen, we're on vacation right now. Tomorrow, you'll be working as a musher again and I'll be… well, I'll be volunteering my medical skills but after the race, I'm back to being Doctor Lauren Lewis, hospital owner and administrator, trauma surgeon and occasional cardiothoracic consult. You'll be opening your furniture showroom and spending your days building the furniture of your clients' dreams."

"But what if I can't go back inside again?"

Lauren shrugged, "Then we take it slow, but I think if you go down into that cavern, you're not going to worry about that anymore. Honestly, Bo, it's like the outdoors is inside. There's a whole new world under our cottage."

"It's really that different?"

"I mean, it's not Journey to the Center of the Earth big, but it's significant. It's very cool. I'm more concerned that we'll go inside and never again be seen by civilization."

Bo grinned, "Well, I have time to go see it if you're up for another trip back."

Lauren jiggled a set of keys in front of the brunette, "I have the keys to the castle."

"Keys? You could push on the walls and knock it down."

"Not the floors that matter and the locks are hidden. Your boys are almost as ingenious as Willie was. I have a feeling his creativity is going to rub off on them. They were so excited."

Bo smiled, "If my mom hadn't been calling my name over and over again yesterday, I would have spent hours there."

"Well, we don't have hours since you have to get prepped to leave tomorrow and you need a good nights' sleep, but we do have one or two hours to spare."

Bo leaned in, gripping Lauren's face and kissing her hard before pulling back, "Waste not, want not."

"Let's go," Lauren said, grabbing Bo's hand and dragging her towards the mud room to get dressed.

"So, we'll see you in time for dinner?" Mary asked when she walked into the kitchen and found the two getting dressed to go outside.

Bo nodded, "Just running down to the cottage for some final decision making. We'll be back in time for me to honor my promise to help Molly cook."

"Ysabeau, I really don't think she'll hold you to…"

"Nope. I'll be here. I made a promise."

"Very well. Is there anything you need any of us to do while you're gone?"

Bo looked up as she pulled on her gloves, "Just be sure you double check what Rudy packs. I already pulled ten books out of her pack."

"Ten?"

"I've tried to explain the concept of weight and how it impacts the dogs, but she doesn't seem to understand she'll be traveling further than she ever has and there's no turning back. Can you…"

"I've got it, Ysabeau."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Of course. You two be safe out there," Mary replied, moving to the counter to make some tea.

"Will do. See you soon, Mom."

Bo and Lauren headed outside and in a matter of minutes, were hitched up to Lauren's sled and heading down river to the cottage. Once on the property, they pulled in and took the dogs right inside the side door, parking the sled in the living room. The dogs immediately made themselves comfortable on the old furniture while Bo and Lauren moved to the trap door, opening the lock and sliding the steel door into the floor behind it. Once down the stairway, they pulled it closed,

"Look at that. They put a lock on the inside as well," Bo said, locking the door.

Lauren wandered down the row of bookshelves, "Rudy took a few of these today. Two were on dog sledding. She figured the old books could teach her things that you don't know."

Bo smiled, "Good for her. She's a curious one and that's a great trait in a musher if you know how to be safe."

"When you get to these three books, Moby Dick, War and Peace and – ironically - Journey to the Center of the Earth, you push on all three books, tip them towards you onto their bindings and slide them to the left. Voila!"

Bo watched as the floor opened beneath them, revealing another steel trap door. She inserted the key and opened the lock before sliding the heavy metal back again.

"Wow. I can smell the fresh air already."

Lauren nodded, "You first."

Bo headed down a narrow metal spiral staircase and when she reached the bottom, she stopped, her eyes not believing what she was seeing. The cavern could fit the entire Homestead… and then some,

"This is… unbelievable."

Lauren walked up behind Bo, "It was their own little paradise. I'm surprised she never told you this was down here."

Bo smiled, "She did… I just didn't know it at the time."

"You didn't read that in the letter," Lauren said, confused.

Bo nodded, "Well, what I didn't tell you about our time together is that she loved my word-a-day calendars… and I loved her puzzle books. We would trade when she came to the wheel. She told me that one day, she would gift me the greatest puzzIe of my life - a puzzle that would reveal knowledge beyond what I'd learned in school."

"Well, I think this certainly qualifies as a puzzle. I wonder how many other things are hidden beneath this house."

Bo shrugged, her eyes growing wide, "The iceberg."

"What?" Lauren asked.

"Remember? While I was reading you the letter, I told you how she would compare The Homestead to the Cottage and tell me the cottage was just the tip of the iceberg! I thought it was a metaphor for her love of Willie, but it was literal, Lauren. She told me! The cottage isn't really the home – what's beneath is the true home full of love and wonder. He poured his heart, mind and soul into this place. This is the iceberg – the part that no one sees!"

Lauren smiled, "It certainly is. She was a smart one."

"Incredibly smart. I wish you could have known her. I wish… well, no sense in wishing. I just can't believe she left this to me… to us. It will probably take us a lifetime to figure all of this out."

"Well, luckily we have that lifetime," Lauren smiled.

Bo turned, taking Lauren's hands in her own, "We do."

Lauren leaned in, slowly taking Bo's lips with her own. The kiss was slow and soft as she explored her lover's mouth for the first time in what felt like days. She pulled away and led her down to the grass by the glacial river. It was a stark contrast to the river above. This was more like a babbling brook, just wider.

"This must come from the river above," Bo thought about the lay of the land above them, "Upstream must be the mountains across the river, so I would think it comes from there."

Lauren nodded, "We'll know more after Amelia comes back with the environmental studies."

Bo pointed up stream, "Looks like this is where the water supply in the house comes from. There's an old pump there with a pipe leading up through the rock. I believe that's the kitchen, right?"

"I think so. Look – there's large bottles there."

Bo nodded, "I've never seen bottles that big."

"They sit on top of water coolers in big office buildings," Lauren explained.

Bo scrunched up her nose, "Wait – so you have running water coming out of faucets all over the building and you still need a big bottle on top of… what did you call it?"

"A water cooler. It's a machine that cools and filters the water before it goes into the cup or mug you put beneath it. The water can come out cold or hot."

"Filters? Why filter water that already goes to that place that you showed me in Boston. What did you call it?"

"A water treatment plant. It cleans the water so it's safe to drink."

Bo shook her head, "I don't understand why you don't just drink it as nature intended."

"You've seen all of the cars and storm drains and dirt in the streets. If you drank that straight up, it could make you very sick – or kill you. The water you tend to drink is filtered by the mountains and goes straight into a fast-moving river."

Lauren thought about it for a moment, "So you've never – in all of your life – filtered a bottle of water?"

Bo shrugged, "Why? If the animals are drinking it, why can't I drink it?"

"Because you don't have an animals' immune system, Bo."

"Then why don't I get sick?"

Lauren nodded, "That's a good question. Actually, a better question is why haven't I gotten sick?"

"Clean water here, Babe… or at least less pollutants."

Lauren sighed, "I suppose, but I'm still going to have our water checked at The Homestead and in town. We have set up filtration systems at the hospital and clinic. We can't run the risk of people getting infections after surgeries because they took a damn shower."

Bo smiled, "And if I were to swim in this water, would you worry that I would get sick?"

Lauren turned to see Bo pulling off her mukluks and stripping down her lower layers, "Bo, you'll get hypothermia."

"You feel the temperature in here, don't you?"

"Yes, but the water itself is clearly from a glacial source… from snow and ice."

Bo smiled, "Take of those boots and dip your toe into the water, my love."

Lauren sat down in the grass, "I can't believe there's grass here when snow is falling above us."

Bo stood, lifting her sweater, a long-sleeved shirt and finally her tank top over her head. She stood naked over the blonde,

"Don't take too long," she smirked, wading into the cool water. As predicted, it was cold, but tolerable… especially since she hadn't had a shower for a few days.

She laid down in the river, allowing the water to rush over her body. She lifted her head and turned when she heard Lauren approach. Looking up, she saw the dimly lit flesh of her lover, her slender form outlined by a single torch behind her,

"My god, you're beautiful, Lauren."

The blonde looked down, taking in the full form of her fiancé beneath the clear blue water, "I would say the same about you, but you're beyond beautiful to me."

She stepped into the water, relaxing when she realized the water was not as cold as she expected. She slowly laid down beside Bo, the chill of the cool water brought out the familiar tiny bumps across the surface of her skin. When Bo touched her thigh with the back of her hand, a different kind of chill hardened her nipples and forced a surge of warmth through her core. Her breath hitched as the hand traveled over her hip and up her torso.

Bo rolled over onto the blonde, inserting her thigh between her legs, "I hope there's nothing in this water that will make us sick."

For a moment, Lauren imagined Bo falling ill in the middle of the Iditarod, out in the middle of the course with a fever and no one around to find her for miles, but when soft lips met her own, the thoughts melted away into the river, swept away with the current. She could give Bo a broad spectrum antibiotic to take along the way.

"I've missed you, Lauren. It's been over a day since I had you and it will be weeks until we're together again. I just want to…"

The blonde didn't give her time to finish, instead she captured Bo's mouth with her own, pressing a firm kiss against her lips that deepened as her passion for her lover rose within. Lauren pulled back, staring into the dark eyes of the woman she would soon marry and smiled,

"You will go to the Iditarod, Bo Dennis. You will win that race. We will celebrate and when you come home to this cottage it will become our home. Soon after we will be married and we will have our honeymoon – wherever Rudy and Elise send us," she smiled, rolling her eyes, "And when we come home, I will take you and this body in every room of this house, branding it our own."

Bo smiled, "And then?"

"Then I'll probably want to read every book in that library, but that's a thought for another day."

Bo laughed, rolling Lauren over before lifting her onto the riverbank, "Soft grass – much easier on the back than the gravel on the bottom of the riverbed."

"Agreed," Lauren said, pushing herself up further onto the grass, her legs separating under the effort.

Bo crawled from the water lifting one long, slender leg over her shoulder and laying her head on the other. Her fingers traveled down the inside Lauren's thigh, her lips following like slaves to do their bidding until they found the place where they were needed most.

Her eyes moved to Lauren's hips, mesmerized by the movement brought about by the wonderful things she did with her tongue. Her gaze moved up to her twisting, writhing torso until she saw the heaving chest that filled deeper with each breath when she headed towards her climax. The muscles of Lauren's arms flexed as her fists tugged on the grass above her head and finally, as she came, their eyes met and for a moment, time stood still for Bo… the beauty that was Lauren Lewis and the deep bond they shared tugged at her very soul. Her eyes brimmed with tears as the blonde called out her name. When she fell silent and breathless, Bo scaled her body, throwing herself into waiting arms.

All the emotions that had been bottled up inside her came flooding out. Lauren held tight allowing Bo the moment to have her release, then whispered,

"Talk to me, Sweetie."

"I'm afraid to go, Lauren. I'm afraid to race."

Lauren pulled back, "What? Why?"

Bo rolled over onto her back, arms above her head, "Expectations."

Lauren smiled, "Winning?"

"The two go hand in hand."

Lauren propped her head up on her hand, "So you're worried about letting down the family?"

Bo nodded, "You heard them while we were prepping the trucks, kennels and gear. Big payout's coming and all that they plan to do with the money… all that they need to do with the money. New roofs, new water heater, new porches, new this, new that. For years, all of their winnings went to Big Jim – that son of a bitch. This would be the first year the money they earn is theirs. They do so much - loading and hauling my gear from here to Anchorage, along each checkpoint all the way to the west coast and back again. Taking care of the dogs I don't use, picking up the ones I drop and getting them the care they need even if it means taking a chopper all the way back here. They've waited a long time for this, and they need the money, Lauren. What if I let them down?"

Lauren shrugged, "You cash in some gold and pay them in bonuses. We have the money, Bo."

"I'm not taking your money, Lauren."

The blonde smiled, "The gold was left to you if you want to get technical about it. By the way – Judge Payne…"

"I know. He knew about it, so it's making things easier for Betsy, Penelope and Patrick."

Lauren nodded, "Well, you're the one who keeps saying 'what's mine is ours and what's yours is ours'. There will be no double standards in our marriage, Miss Dennis."

Bo nodded as Lauren placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "Now, what other fears do you harbor that would keep you from going out on that course and doing what you absolutely love?"

"Losing you."

Lauren smiled, "And how, my love, would you lose me?"

"You heard me talking to Tamsin. What if I can't come back inside again?"

"And you heard me when I told you that we got through that little problem twice before, we'll get through it again. If you can't stand to be outside, then we'll be down here."

"There's no sky."

Lauren shrugged, "Then you focus on the outdoor elements that are here. Earth, water and the fresh air being pumped in from the surface."

"You promise you'll get me back inside?"

"I promise," Lauren smiled, kissing Bo's forehead, then her cheek, "You just promise me you'll run your best. You'll be smart, fast, and safe."

Bo smiled, "Of course."

Lauren sighed, "I've never run that race, Bo. Hell, I've never even run an eighth of that course, but I know enough to know that you cannot go out there with doubts in your mind."

Bo nodded, "I know."

"Then run it or don't run it. Make up your mind and choose. Then live with your choice."

Nodding, Bo closed her eyes for a long moment before she spoke again, "I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't put everything I had into this race."

"Then you run. But before you do…" Lauren leaned in and took Bo's mouth fully, her body mounting the brunette's, "I will have you."

Bo watched as the blonde slid her hand down her torso, over her hips and between her legs. She parted swollen folds and slipped one, then two fingers into the brunette, thrusting in deep,

"The one word I want you to think about at night when it's cold and dark is 'mine'… when you think of me touching you… mine… when you think of me kissing you… you're mine… when you think of me gazing upon your body, you're mine. When we marry, you will be mine for life."

"Yours," Bo said, her nails practically digging into Lauren's back, "Yes, Lauren… yours…"

"Don't you forget it, Bo Dennis. No one can make you feel what I make you feel. No one can love you like I love you. You will run for me. You will run until your legs burn and you're too tired to go another day for when that day comes, you will see me standing at the finish line and that night, I will give you everything you need."

She thrust faster and faster until Bo's hips arched up, her breath catching as her climax rocked her body. Lauren skillfully brought her immediately to a second before the brunette relaxed into the grass, her breathing heavy and fast as she spoke,

"No one can do what you do to me."

Lauren laughed, "Like I said."

"I love how modest you are," Bo laughed, flipping the blonde over, "Now, let me remind you that I am the only one who can satisfy you, Doctor Lewis."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Talkeetna, Bo's New Store

It had been a busy day, but Bo and Lauren had managed to meet with Path and Slate about the cottage renovations. They split up when they made the trip to town. Bo went to sign the sale papers for the store, then Kenzi came in to help her with the store layout. They had decided on where showcases would go for small, one-of-a-kind pieces such as animal carvings and toys. Kenzi also suggested an area for small useful daily items like wooden cooking utensils, small display shelves and picture frames. Bo decided on an area for building supplies – prepared lumber, window frame kits, cedar shakes for roofing, cabin kits and sheds of varying sizes.

They discussed keeping at least one sofa frame, dining table and chairs, Adirondack chairs and benches in the store with a catalog on a pedestal so that people could choose to order a product from Bo's design book or even pieces that they could design from scratch with Bo.

Once finished with design items, they sat down and talked renovation needs, the outdoor workshop and display area for spring, summer and fall, then talked business plan.

"Okay then – you should be ready to present your plan to the council," Kenzi smiled, "You're really going to do this, huh BoBo?"

"What? The store?" Bo asked.

Kenzi shrugged, "All of it. The store, the wedding, the new house…"

"The baby…"

Kenzi's eyes went wide, "The what now?"

Bo smiled, "Lauren wants kids and I said yes to a baby sometime next year."

"What? Did she brainwash you?" Kenzi said with a chuckle, "You don't want kids."

Bo shrugged, "Actually, I decided I do. Seeing the kids at school, Ciara's kids, the little kids that come to the mushing lessons LJ's running… since I've been back, there seems to be kids everywhere and – well, Rudy and Elise… I love spending time with them. I want kids of my own… of Lauren's."

Kenzi stood, running towards the window until she fell back against its pane, one hand on her chest and the other pointing at her friend,

"Okay. I'm gonna call a… a Priest… right? Yea, a Priest… or… holy water… I need holy water," she looked around frantically, finding a stray piece of wood and holding it up, "… a wooden stake…" staring at her choice of weapon, she stuttered as she looked back up at Bo, "… no point on the end, but that's just semantics…" she considered her options, watching her friend carefully, "Okay… so… call a Priest… of course, we just don't have one of those in town, so…"

"Kenzi, what are you talking about?" Bo said, standing and walking towards her friend, but Kenzi shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut tightly,

"Who are you and what did you do with my bestie!?"

Bo laughed, "Kenzi, it's me… I assure you."

"No. No way. A baby? A mom? You're not my BoBo. You just want to implant your evil demon seed in Lauren so that you can take over the town again… then the state… then the country… then what… the U.N. and the rest of the world?"

"Kenzi! You're being ridiculous! I just sat here with you and went over a business plan and my store set up! I think you'd know by now if I was possessed by Big Jim's demon!"

Kenzi shook her head, gripping the wood of the window frame, "You swore you would never – ever – have kids! You said it multiple times since finding out that they could inherit Big Jim's bad blood! Of course, there's also the shitty childhood you had and the whole 'how I live is no way to raise a child, Kenzi' thing! And speaking of the way you live, that seems to be changing and, well, of course, that is also suspicious."

"Why, Kenzi? Why is it so suspicious? I'm getting married. Married couples have kids every day. Hell, unmarried couples have kids every day!"

"I know! And you know I lurve me some Doctor Lauren, but moving out of your dream house? Choosing a business where you're working inside? Giving up fishing, trapping, climbing, trail deliveries and your freakin' construction company? It's like you've been selling off pieces of your old life and pushing all of it into a suitcase that you're going to zip shut, shove in a closet and forget about."

Bo stepped towards her friend as she slid down the wall and sat, arms crossed and wrapped around her legs,

"Kenzi, I've changed. After everything I went through with Big Jim, with my Vision Quest… you knew I would change. I've finally know what I want – what will make me happy. I want a life with Lauren and I want a job that I look forward to but doesn't require me to work eighteen hours a day."

"I'm just saying… it's a risk."

Bo shook her head, her eyebrows raised showing the sense of hope she felt, "Kenzi, I'm tired of working ten different jobs and running from place to place, never having a moments peace. When it was just me, that was fine because I didn't care about money – I didn't have to!"

"You have plenty of moola, BoBo! What's the big deal?"

"College for Rudy is going to be expensive and we may have to help Molly and Mark with Elise's education too. She wants to be a veterinarian and if Rudy ages out of her love for mushing, I don't want her to be stuck hustling to find a way to survive. I want more for them than I had, Kenzi. I don't want money or stability to be the reason they don't have access to what they need to do what they love."

"Oh, Geez! You're building a nest egg?"

Bo frowned, "I'm going to provide for the people I love just like you will if you ever agree to marry Hale! You don't know what it's like, Kenzi. You have your dream! You own that hotel free and clear now since everything went down with Evony. If you decided today to leave it behind, you could sell it and retire living on Hale's salary and your savings."

Bo stood, walking across the front showroom and gazed out across the open plot of land where she might consider building a greenhouse to sell produce. The thought made her smile as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned into the window frame,

"My Father blew up my life, my mom's life and half this town. Now, he's gone and people are starting to see me for who I am. That means I don't have to run anymore, Kenzi. That means I can have the things I always wanted as a kid, but lost in the path of Big Jim's destruction."

She faced her friend, "I know this business may fail. Hell, the kennel could have failed… it still could when I'm no longer Bo Dennis, Champion Musher."

"You'll always be a champion, Bo. No one can take that from you."

Bo shrugged, turning back towards the window, "No, but they can forget when someone better comes along. My point is, regardless of what happens, I have to try, Kenzi and I want Rudy to see me try. If I succeed, she'll see that. If I fail, she'll see me get back up and try again. I want her to see that there are a lot of ways to make a living, but that she doesn't have to be stuck living a life she didn't choose. Her life doesn't have to be like mine."

Bo sighed, turning back to her friend who was now walking towards her,

"Bottom line, Kenz, I love woodworking and I'm really, really good at it. Before, people didn't trust me enough to walk into my store and talk to me. I'm hoping that now, they are. I know some people still think that I'm no more than an animal, but maybe if I open this showroom, people will come in and meet me – actually talk to me…" she mumbled, "get to know the real me."

"So, you're giving up the wide open spaces? How will you handle that?"

Bo shook her head, "I don't have to, Kenz. Like I've said a million times since we walked in that front door, I'm going to make this a showroom, not a store. A store is where people walk in and buy things. This is going to be a place where people can walk in and see my work. They can order things exactly as they are on the showroom floor, or they can talk to me about what they need and I can make them a custom piece – we can design it together. Because I'm making custom pieces, I'll spend most of my time in the workshop."

She turned to the space, speaking her vision once more, "This foyer becomes the main window display that will rotate with the seasons. Front and side windows on either side of the feature space will hold all of my other pieces with their corresponding product numbers. They can follow the trail around back to the workshop if I'm not in the showroom, they can call in the product number or they can email me. Then, I'll draw what they ordered, email it back to them for their approval and once I have that and a materials deposit, I'll build their order. Anything I have in stock, Molly and Mark can continue to sell or I'll open a spot over at the barn to sell with my sleds. Maybe I'll even hire a delivery person or two eventually. We'll have to see how things go."

"Kyle said you're running low on space over there. Is that a problem?"

Bo shrugged, "We've got a ton of sleds in stock right now because it's race season. Once we sell off the stuff on the floor, there will be plenty of room. The sleds we have for sale will be hanging on the walls."

"What happens when race season comes around again next year?" Kenzi asked.

Bo shrugged, "I'll be taking less orders because I'll be training, so there will be more room for sleds. If I run out of space, there's plenty of room to build on this lot. I can expand to the side or in back. I mean – look at you. When you were continuously overbooking your hotel, you used the old railroad tracks to make grand suites out of railcars. I'll figure it out just like you did."

Kenzi slid down the wall and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking up at her friend, "So, this has really been your dream and you never told me?"

Bo shrugged, "Well, as you know, my mom dreamed that I would go to college. I did too, but I gave up on that dream decades ago," she sat on the floor beside Kenzi, leaning back against the wall. "You know, when I was a kid, I used to love to carve things from driftwood. I'd carve whales, igloos, dogs and seals. I was pretty good. My mom showed me how to use whale oil to make paints and eventually, I was carving toys for the little kids at school. I made miniature sleds with a dog or two attached with string, spirit animals, pendants and even spinning tops. Those were really hard to make since they had to be perfectly balanced."

Smiling at the memory, Bo sighed, "I've always carved things – that is one thing I never left behind. It just became carving things that I needed to survive. Sleds and sled parts, ulu's, axe handles, spears, eating utensils and… well, you know. I've made half the pieces in your kitchen."

Kenzi smiled, "And the benches outside the hotel, the markers on the runway, the furniture inside the train cars, bedframes in the hotel rooms, the frames for all of the pictures hanging in the hotel lobby and restaurant…"

"And that awesome banister that leads up the grand staircase to the guest floors."

Laughing the younger woman nodded, "I can't go up those stairs without having my hand on the wood. It just makes the place feel like home."

Bo shrugged, "I'm finally going to do something that I love all day, Kenzi. I'm going to wake up excited to be with the woman I love in a house that we both built. When I leave her – whether it's to train or go to work – I'm going to run into the wild or to town with my dogs onboard a sled that I built with my own two hands. When I get to town, I get to see all of the people I love while doing something that I love to do all day long."

Kenzi nodded, "I'm happy for you, BoBo."

There was something about the tone of Kenzi's voice that led Bo to ask, "What's wrong?"

"I just feel like I'm one of the things being thrown into that suitcase that will get shoved into the closet," she replied with a sigh.

Bo smiled, wrapping her arms around her friend, "Never. Not unless I was trying to stow you away on a trip to Boston."

"You're going to Boston?" Kenzi asked.

Bo laughed, "Not if I can help it, but I'm sure at some point I'll have to go back there. Lauren will have monthly meetings on the east coast. She's planning to do most of them by video chat, but sometimes she'll have to go there. Rudy is dying to see the east coast and the big city, so there's that, too."

"Well, your bestie wouldn't mind seeing Boston either, so buy an extra ticket and I'll have Vex send one of his many assistant managers to my hotel for the week."

Bo smiled, "Deal."

They sat quietly for a moment before Bo asked, "There's something else bothering you. What's going on?"

"I just haven't seen you, Bo. I mean, LJ's doing your trapping and fishing runs, you have a house by the river so don't stay here and you have family now. I mean, I get it. I just…"

"Kenzi, you will always be my family. You're more a sister than a friend to me and you know that. No matter how much time we spend together or apart, we will always share that. You were the first person to trust me – you always had my back. Hell, Big Jim was terrified of you."

Kenzi laughed, "He had good reason."

Bo's head spun around, "What?"

Kenzi stood, "That's between me and Dyson. Let's just say, I didn't have anything I could use to help anyone else, but my hotel stayed open because I had just the right type and amount of leverage to keep him at a distance."

"That's why he never came after me when I was in your hotel," Bo suggested, "That's why you always insisted I hang out at your hotel when I was in town."

"You see? I don't care what anyone says. You're not so dumb after all, BoBo."

"Hey! I'm super smart!"

Kenzi laughed, "And so easily offended. Look at that adorable pout."

She squeezed Bo's cheeks, drawing her a slap of the hand. She laughed and headed for the front door,

"Lock up your property, Miss Dennis. Let's get this paperwork to Penelope so that we can get everything approved for your boys."

"Yes, Ma'am," Bo said, following Kenzi. She took one last look at the space, the corners of her mouth turning up as she pulled the key from her pocket and headed outside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings…

After Path and Slate were finished meeting with Lauren about the final plans for the trauma center, they walked the property line so that she could get an idea of how they had mapped out the land. Once finished, they met up with Bo at the hotel restaurant to grab a bite to eat and review their financial statements and employee records with Bo. She was happy to see that everything was in order and even happier to hear they had reviewed everything with their mom. Apparently, she was keeping tabs on the whole lease-to-own business process.

Lauren met up with the hospital staff before she met with Stephen and Betsy. They talked about individual staff members, reviewed the first month's performance evaluations, and then reviewed the final plans for the rescheduled Gala. When Lauren was finished her meetings, she headed to the Kennel to join a meeting with Bo and Kyle about last minute race decisions.

Once they got back home, Lauren played in the yard with the kids while doing a last check of the dogs to make sure their paws and general health was good. Bo kept her promise to Molly and helped with dinner prep. Naturally, Mary helped out as well, but Molly whispered to Bo that she was pretty sure it was a pre-departure bonding event with her daughter.

The whole family was there as well as Bo and Lauren's closest friends. It was by far the biggest family dinner they'd ever had. Bo was quite happy to see everyone and the post-dinner prep meeting went well, but she was still a little uneasy around large groups of people. Mary took note of her discomfort and suggested she and Rudy do a little pre-departure prep of their own out in the garage. Bo was grateful for the chance to get outside and Lauren was happy to jump in and help with cleanup in Bo's absence.

Bo threw open the garage doors so that the fresh air came in. She walked Rudy through a full sled and line check, then reviewed the packing list having her pull each item out and double check for safety. Then they looked at the food to be sure that every bag and bin was properly sealed. Rudy questioned why they were checking all of this stuff for the 'hundredth time' and Bo responded with several stories of times when things went wrong because she had failed to triple check her gear. Where they were going, there was no room for error and no backup equipment. Everyone who would usually help in an emergency would be driving to the race start in advance of them, so they were on their own.

Finally, they reviewed emergency procedures, particularly what Rudy was to do if anything were to happen to Bo. That's where Kenzi would come in since she always remained the constant. Since last year, one of the train cars had become the dispatch center for the emergency crews and Kenzi would call them if the team ran into trouble.

The sisters took a seat on the sleds side by side and stared outside,

"The weather looks good for the week," Bo said.

Rudy nodded, "Are you worried about the storm that's supposed to come during the race?"

Bo shook her head, "The forecast will change mile to mile in and around the mountain passes so I tend to rely more on the thermometer/barometer hanging from my sled handle than what they're sending out via the media."

Rudy nodded, "That's a good idea."

Bo smiled, "Are you nervous?"

"A little, I guess."

"I know you haven't spent many nights sleeping away from mom…"

"I'm not a baby," Rudy snapped.

Bo chuckled, "I'm not saying you are, Roo. I'm just saying that it's okay if you miss her while we're gone and it's also okay if you're nervous about being way from home for so long. It's an unfamiliar experience but remember, this is how I lived for over ten years. I think you'll like it."

"There's a full moon on Wednesday."

Bo smiled, "You'll be able to get some great pictures with your new camera using that… what's that technique called for shooting pictures at night?"

"Time exposure," Rudy replied, "I'm hoping that we're near water and I can get a picture of the moon with the moonlight reflecting on the water right when the moon comes out and the sun goes down."

"I'll do my best to get us to a good spot on Wednesday night."

Rudy nodded, "LJ told me that we have to stay on schedule so that you're not late for the race, so it's okay if you can't stop for the picture. The ones I'm most excited about taking are live action shots. If you see me with my camera, can you do something funny for me?" Rudy asked, "Just for me?"

Bo smiled, "What do you have in mind?"

Rudy shrugged, "I don't know. Something like sticking out your leg and arm and waving them around or something? Just don't crash while you're doing it, or it will be really embarrassing."

"Yes, it would be," Bo said with a laugh, "Do you have any other questions for me?"

"This may be stupid, but is it okay if I bring bedtime story books? Mom made me take them out of my basket. She said you wouldn't have time to read to me, but I thought I would ask what you think anyway."

Bo smiled, "Actually, I thought I would tell you new stories by the fire at night. Native stories that mom used to tell me when I was young. When we would travel to other villages for holidays or visits there was always time for mom stories at night."

"That sounds cool," Rudy smiled, "Mom told me stories about Alaska when we would watch sundown at our beach in Hawaii. Still - can I just bring one book just in case?"

Bo nodded, "Of course, Roo. What book is it that you cannot live without?"

Rudy put a finger up to her lips, considering the question carefully before she answered, "We're so close to finishing The Story of Captain Nemo. Do you think…"

"Absolutely! I really don't want to miss the ending either, but do you think Lauren will be upset if we read it without her?"

Rudy shrugged, "I'll mark the spot and read it again with her while you're on the racecourse."

"Good idea," Bo smiled, "Tuck that book into a plastic bag and then throw it in your backpack."

"Thanks, Sister," Rudy smiled.

"Of course, Roo," Bo replied with a smile, "Are you ready to go back inside?"

"I don't mind sitting outside longer if you want to."

"Are you sure?" Bo asked.

Rudy nodded, "I could tell you weren't really comfortable with all of those people in there."

"I love them all, Roo. It's just a long time to be in such close quarters with so many people."

"That's what I thought."

Bo smiled, "You're very perceptive for a little Roo."

"What's perstive?"

"Perceptive is someone who is very aware of how people are feeling when they're not telling you how they feel."

"Teacher says that you should always be con-sid-er-ate of how the things you say make other kids feel. I'm just doing what my teacher told me to do so I don't act like a bully."

Bo smiled, "That's very kind of you, Roo. I'm so incredibly proud that you are my sister."

"I'm proud of you too, Sister," Rudy said before adding, "And I just want to say that if you don't win the Iditarod this year, I'll still be super proud of you. I think I'll be even more prouder when I'm actually out there seeing what the race course is like. I'm trying to be calm so I don't get you nervous, but really, I'm super stoked to see the race and help with your stuff. Will we get to talk at all?"

"A few times, but not for really long. When I do my required long stops, it's really important that I get sleep, so please don't be offended if we don't get to talk much, okay?"

"I won't but I can't promise I won't take pictures of you sleeping," Rudy giggled, "Especially when your mouth is wide open and you're drooling and stuff."

"I do not drool!" Bo protested, wrapping her arms around her little sister, and tickling her.

"Yes, you do! Remember in the summer before you left when you fell asleep at the dinner table and there was a puddle on the table when you finally woke up?"

Bo laughed, "I woke up because you and Elise were throwing peas at my head!"

"It was funny."

"I'm sure it was, for you. For me it was just embarrassing as hell," Bo smiled.

"Sister?"

"Yea, Roo?"

"Can we lay on your sled together and just watch the snow fall?"

"Sure thing, Roo. Lauren will come and get us when it's time to say goodbye to everyone."

"I think I might take a nap," Rudy said.

"That's fine too, Roo," Bo said, making room on her sled for Rudy to lay in front of her. She propped her head up on her hand, wrapped an arm over her little sister's torso and pulled her close. She watched her eyes close before she moved her gaze to the world outside, heaving a big sigh. Everything was ready and the best part was that for the first time in her life, she would have her little sister by her side on the ride to the unofficial starting line in Anchorage.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Homestead, Next Morning

Bo sat on her sled, everything packed and ready to go. She had taken her top dogs out for a fifty mile run at 3:30am so they could have one last strong workout before she left for Anchorage with Rudy. It was a tough choice, but Bo had decided to take the questionable dogs on this trip so that she could see how they would run. Her plan was to arrive two days before the race so she would have time with her top dogs once more. She didn't want them to think she'd left them behind even though that was essentially what she was doing.

The run to Anchorage was about 113 miles on a straight route, it was about two hundred miles with the route they were taking. She was hoping Rudy could go fifty to seventy-five miles each day but if she couldn't, she would put her in the basket or on the bench, drag her sled and combine the two teams.

Rudy had been training sandwiched between LJ and Mary regularly this week and Mary felt fifty miles a day was a daily good mark for the youngster. LJ agreed, so that was all Bo needed to hear.

"There you are. Too crowded for you inside?" Kyle asked.

Bo nodded, raising her mug to her friend, "There hasn't been much quiet around here the last few days and I'm used to a good amount of solitude the week before the race. I've just got too much junk bopping around in my head. I'm not sure if you'll have any control over it, but if you can get the team to give me some distance once they get to the race, that would really help. I'm not quite in the right mindset for this yet, so if we want to win, I'm going to need a little help getting there."

Kyle nodded, "Understood. You want some space right now?"

Bo shrugged, "Not if you have questions, ideas or solutions."

Kyle handed her a jar, "Rail slick. This has been tested. LJ's sled ran seven minutes faster over the same three miles with the same dogs on the same amount of rest."

"What is it?"

"Do you really want a chemistry lesson right now?" Kyle smirked.

Bo sighed, "Temperature? Weather conditions? I don't need something that's going to freeze up and slow me down."

"Rain, sleet, snow, deep snow, mud and powder. He didn't notice a difference among them other than the fact that he felt faster. Because the rails aren't gripping the way they would with the usual gunk, you will tend to slide on tight turns a bit more, but if he handled it, I'm sure you can as well."

"How much weight was he carrying on his sled and how many dogs?"

"He intentionally matched both to what you would be driving in the race and he used the same dogs for each test. All of his dogs and even our test sleds ran faster."

Bo nodded, "I'll try it out tomorrow before I load my sled. Anything I need to know about application?"

Kyle shook her head, "There's an application tool taped beneath the lid."

"Great. Thanks for taking time to research this stuff. I can always count on you to give me that extra edge at the finish line in a close race."

"You know how much I love tinkering with this kind of shit. It was fun experimenting… and it was fun driving LJ crazy with all the different samples," Kyle laughed.

Bo smiled, "You do love torturing that poor boy. Go easy on him. If he quit working at the kennel, you'd be in deep shit for help."

"True. You know, he mentioned the other day that he had been helping with your dogs for years and he's never had a pay raise. I mean, I asked what he made when he started and realized he'd never had a raise. What do you think about upping his pay?"

Bo shook her head, "Wow. I didn't realize… I should have…" she hung her head, the guilt hitting her hard. When LJ was young, she'd treated him like a burden. When he started taking on odd jobs, she'd felt smothered by his constant questions. When he started working for her, she thought he was making decisions for the dogs and the business he wasn't qualified to make just because they weren't the choices she would have made. Then, because it was convenient for her to have someone to cover the business, she took him for granted. He was right. She had put little to no effort into their relationship over the last eight months. The least she could do is pay him what he deserved as a part of the business.

She lifted her eyes to the horizon, "What would you think about giving him a salary and a percentage ownership in the business?

"What are you thinking? Ten percent?"

Bo lowered her eyes, "He takes care of all of the dogs all day except the twenty to thirty I have with me. That's daily exercise, two to five feedings depending on the dog, vet records, sled maintainance and eventually breeding…"

"Breeding?"

Bo turned to Kyle, "What? Do you think I snap my fingers and end up with a kennel of almost fifty dogs?"

"No. I mean, of course not. I just…"

Bo chuckled, "Sorry. You know, we've been hanging out for so long, I often forget that you didn't help me breed this kennel."

"Bo, I've got to be honest here. I know very little about breeding except the basics. That's Kurt's department."

"I think he told me that a while back. What do you want to know?"

"Who would you breed?"

Bo shrugged, "Well, know your history…"

"History?" Kyle asked.

Bo smiled, pointing to her kennel, "There are a lot of Alaskan Huskies over there but that is not a breed. They're named for their purpose and their state or origin, that's all. They'll bring ten to fifteen thousand dollars each based on their blood line."

"That's all? I would think that in her prime, Harper would bring a lot more than that."

Bo nodded with a smile, "Because she's from a champion bloodline and had pups who became champions and sired champions in turn. Remember, I've got four generations in my kennels which I why I haven't been willing to partner in that aspect of the business. The canine bloodline comes from my mom's bloodline. The pups that Tosh found that Big Jim had bred from my mom's line… well, I don't know who the male was that sired them, so I won't use them to stud until I see how they perform. From what I saw of the dogs his men used, they're just work dogs – nothing special."

"Of course, I'm sure they weren't training them, feeding them or treating them properly either."

Bo nodded, "Very true. Very true indeed."

"So, Rudy and Elise's pups…"

"We'll see. Down the road, they may choose to start a line of their own, but I won't use my dogs to stud with theirs if I need them to grow my own line."

Kyle smiled, "You want Rudy to take over your line."

Bo nodded, "Of course. She's my blood… my mom's blood. The irony is that whether we're a Dennis human or a Dennis canine, we all have different fathers."

Kyle nodded, "It's the females that give you your strength."

Bo smiled, looking at her kennel again, "Alaskans can be bred with Siberian Huskies like mine or Greyhounds or even German Shorthaired Pointers. I like breeding with Siberians because of their physical size and strength compounded with their great endurance and tolerance for the cold. Breeding with Greyhounds and Pointers gets you more speed which is what LJ was going for in his team. That's great for shorter races, but for the Quest and Iditarod, I wouldn't put money on those mixes."

"So, you used Hercules and Ares to stud?"

Bo nodded, "They sired most of my two-to four-year-old dogs, but let's face it – a good chunk of my kennel is pushing eight to ten years of age now, so the females will only have one or two more chance to breed. With everything going on with Big Jim the past few years, I was just afraid to have pups around, so I'm behind schedule."

"So, when do we start?" Kyle asked.

"Two weeks after the race we'll start watching for the females to come into heat. When they do, we'll let the appropriate males into the female kennels and let nature take its course. I'd like to teach LJ the ropes in breeding so he can start his own line from one of my males. The dogs he bought are great, but they're not going to be champions."

"How old can the females be? Can you breed Harper again?"

"Technically, females can breed at any age, but it's not really a safe birth after age seven. For that reason, I won't breed her again unless Cassie can figure out in vitro fertilization."

"You'd breed Harper's line in a test tube?" Kyle asked, surprised, "Why on earth…"

"When she was in college, Cassie was a professor working with the team that did the first successful canine in vitro. The research was being used to save endangered species. With the ice melting around here…"

Kyle nodded, "We're going to need a way to save a lot of animals."

Bo nodded, "She needs to refine her process and so she's looking for candidates. She asked if she could use Harper and I said yes."

"You don't want to think about it?"

Bo shrugged, "What's to think about? Did you hear about the otters we relocated?"

Kyle nodded, "Are you kidding? LJ couldn't stop talking about it. Apparently you thought they were river otters…"

"Of course I did. They were on the river in fresh water. Turns out it was a bevy of sea otters, not river otters. I didn't realize until we had them in the crates on the plane."

Kyle scrunched up her face, "And that has what to do with our conversation about in vitro?"

"The southwest population of sea otters is endangered. I think that might be why. I called Kat and told her."

"You voluntarily called Kat?"

Bo sighed, "Yes. You can talk to Lauren about that later. She's well aware…"

"Well aware and okay with it are two different things…" Kyle cautioned while Bo began losing her patience. She didn't need any drama right now – least of all with past lovers,

"Kyle! Talk to Lauren about Kat!" she sighed, "Polar bears, wood bison, albatross… all endangered – among others. All of these animals serve a purpose in controlling other populations, Kyle," Bo stood, walking to the edge of the garage. She took several deep breaths before she was able to speak in a calm voice,

"So back to LJ – did you add him to the group health insurance plan?"

"He didn't give me the paperwork back yet," Kyle explained.

Bo sighed, "Can you mention that to Mark so he can have a conversation with him about it? He's out on a sled every day. If he ever had to be picked up by chopper, he would have a bill that he couldn't afford. I don't think he realizes that health service stuff isn't free."

"He sees Lauren and thinks he has freebies for life," Kyle agreed.

"Yea, unfortunately, she can't do that as the owner of the hospital or as a doctor. Family could sue her just as easily as any other patient. Of course, she hopes that wouldn't be the case, but she's been burned by friends before so she doesn't take chances. Besides, I want to be sure she's paid for the work she does – especially now that she's trying to do less medicine and more of everything else."

"Smart," Kyle replied, "That's why we sell family their gear and sleds and just discount it a bit."

"Business is business unless it's a special occasion gift. He'll have free health care through his policy except for small deductibles." Bo nodded.

Kyle smiled, "We have a great plan. I was uninsured until we put this business together. If the bills hadn't been covered by the law, I'd be paying off my hospital and rehab facility bills for the rest of my life."

Bo nodded, "I wouldn't have thought to open that policy for all of us if it weren't for Lauren having to fight for all of the fire victim's bills to be paid before the survivors were paid for pain and suffering out of the settlement. I still don't understand where all of that money came from."

Kyle nodded, "Tamsin said Big Jim was a wealthy bastard. When the state confiscated his assets, it all went into a trust to pay the legal fees they knew would be coming."

Bo was silent for a long moment, but finally said, "Glad they were paid."

The conversation hit a lull and Kyle knew Bo was now working to free herself from the memories of her past. She cursed herself for mentioning the fire and her injuries, deciding she'd just leave well enough alone rather than try to talk Bo out of her current thinking,

"Well, I'll see you next week. Safe travels, my friend."

Bo offered a nod, turning sideways, but not quite making eye contact with her friend, "Thanks, Kyle. Safe travels to you as well."

Bo waited for the door to close before she moved back to her sled and sat in silence for a long moment, clearing her head of all things business. She stared down at the jar between her legs, curious as to what was in the jar that would have her running faster, but quickly pushed those thoughts aside. All that mattered is that it worked. She would give it a trial run on the way to Anchorage and let Kyle know if she would carry it with her when they arrived.

After about twenty-five minutes of very welcome silence, the door opened as everyone began to leave, each stopping at Bo's sled to offer her their wishes for a safe, strong race. It was about thirty minutes of small talk until finally, she sat in silence once more. That was when Lauren came out,

"Do you want to do Rudy's bedtime story with me?"

Bo shook her head, "If it's okay with you, I need some time to clear my head. Besides, she may have some things she wants to discuss with you and mom without me there."

Lauren nodded, "Okay."

She turned to head back inside, but stopped, "Bo? Are you okay?"

The brunette smiled up at Lauren and nodded, "I'm okay. Just trying to get mentally right for this."

"Got it," Lauren nodded, "I'll give you some space. See you upstairs for bed or did you want to sleep outside?"

"Inside is fine. See you there."

"Okay. If I'm asleep, wake me, okay?"

Bo nodded, "I will. See you soon."

She reached up and took Lauren's hand, the two sharing a long glance before they slowly released each other's hand, Bo holding on until only fingertips were left to grasp,

"See you soon," Lauren smiled, "Don't fall asleep out here."

Bo nodded, turning back to the blackness as Lauren headed inside. As she looked out across the familiar snowswept landscape surrounding her home, she took a deep breath, the cold moving deep into her lungs and chilling her to the bone,

"Dry air, maybe a smidge below twenty degrees Fahrenheit, starry sky, wind gusts up to maybe forty-five miles an hour every three to four minutes," she shook her head, "It's going to be a cold week, Roo. I sure as hell hope you have what it takes, baby girl. I don't need you losing your confidence just when you're starting to get it back. I really hope I'm doing the right thing taking you with me."

She sighed, getting to her feet, Harper coming around the garage from the back yard to greet her,

"Hey Harp. Time to pray to the Spirits, my friend. Put in a good word for our sister Rudy, okay?"

Bo watched as her loyal canine companion bent her right front paw and lowered the knee joint to the ground before lowering her head, then righting herself and sitting down beside Bo who stretched her arms out to the sides and looked up at the sky above,

"Great Spirits, guide us in our journey as we travel with young Rudy Dennis. Help us to find the right words in her moments of doubt to spur her onward in her quest to find her confidence again. Fly across the lands you've given us, keeping pace with our canine workers who we rely on to drive us forward to our destination. Keep them strong, smart, aware, healthy and safe as we travel. Finally, Great Spirits, give me the patience and wisdom I need to lead young Rudy and our teams out of harms way. Guide me in my decisions and give me the strength I need to protect them should the need arise."

Bo looked down at Harper, "Anything you want to add?"

Harper stared up at Bo before turning to the sky and releasing a loud, long howl. Bo smiled when she heard the dogs in the back yard echo Harper's sentiment,

"I'll second that request… whatever it was," Bo smiled, giving Harper's head a rub, "Let's head around back and get your kids, cousins and siblings. Nice to have your whole family here, huh? The kennels will be crowded tonight, so I'm going to need you to make sure there's no fights. If there are, you give me a nudge if you're inside. If you're outside, give a good strong howl and I'll come running. The last thing we need right now is an injured dog or three."

Bo shook her head when she saw the backyard. She laughed at the sight of the puppies darting around the older dogs. Some were clearly more patient than others. She was surprised to see Aphrodite and Hercules laying next to each other near the fence staring out at the river through the gate. The larger male was constantly trying to hump her and it annoyed Aphrodite to no end. She'd actually bitten him on two occasions, so Bo had always made a point of separating them in the yard. Most of the time, she kept Hercules with LJ so Aphrodite could relax.

Now, as she watched the two together, she wondered, "Damn you two would make some great babies. Still… don't get your hopes up, Herc. She's not your biggest fan. Maybe we'll give you a shot, but you'd damn well better bring your A-game, Romeo."

Bo laughed, "Note to self, if those two have pups, the first male shall be named Romeo. What do you think, Harper? Is he good enough for your baby girl?"

Harper groaned, laying down in the snow at Bo's feet causing her to laugh, "Okay, we're not staying out here. I'm hardly dressed for it. We came to get the family together so we can all get a good nights' sleep. Early morning tomorrow, Harp. It's race time again."

Harper immediately stood, wagging her tail, "Let's get 'em to bed. Bedtime. Come on."

She watched as Harper ran around the yard, nudging each dog towards Bo and barking orders. Before long, all of the dogs were on their way to the side entrance of the garage. Just as the kennels were filling up, Nike, Diana, Aphrodite, Jenna and Muk all jumped the rails and moved to the area where Rudy and Bo's sleds were lined up. Bo watched as they circled around together until they made themselves comfortable on the sleds. She smiled,

"I know how you feel, girls. Sometimes you just need space."

She turned to see Gaea, Hestia and Iris whining at the fence, staring at her friends. They were her most obedient dogs, so Bo knew they would never jump the rail even though she knew they could all do so with ease. She leaned down, picking each of them up, setting them free to join their companions. Gaea immediately snuggled into Aphrodite who placed a paw over her besties shoulder,

"You know, Lauren is convinced you two are a couple. I've gotta tell you, you have me believing she might be right. Maybe this thing with Herc is just Aphrodite picking the best father for her pups. Is that it? You know I'd like you to have some pups?"

Bo sighed and whispered, looking over at the kennels, "I'll never stop wishing you could all speak English."

It only took about ten minutes for everyone to be watered and settled. Once things were quiet, she locked the side door, lowered the garage doors and headed towards the kitchen. She took the stairs, pulling on the handle before taking one last look back,

"Good night, kids."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

LOFT BEDROOM

"Lauren?" Bo whispered as she crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over her lovers' shoulder.

She waited for a moment, wrapping her arms around the blonde, but the only response from Lauren was when she rolled into Bo, curling up against her chest and heaving a heavy sigh. Bo smiled. She really didn't want to wake her, but since she was leaving early in the morning, she was fairly certain Lauren would be upset with her if she didn't try a little harder.

"Hey Sweetie. Do you want to wake up for a second?" She asked, her voice a little stronger.

"Mmmm… Bo."

"It's me, baby. You asked me to wake you when I came to bed."

"Thanks."

Bo giggled, "You're welcome. Did you want to talk before I leave?"

"No talk. Just hold me."

Bo smiled, "I can certainly do that."

"Did you pack your hand sanitizer… wood glue… chopping wood… secret library… Darwin…"

Bo laughed, "You're not making any sense."

"A quarter is twenty-five cents. If you have four quarters, how much do you have, Roo?"

"One dollar," Bo smiled.

"Good girl. You're super smart just like your big sister," Lauren smiled, "She's so smart and strong and super sexy."

"I hope you don't tell my sister I'm super sexy," Bo laughed, pushing stray blonde strands of hair from the corner of Lauren's mouth.

"Shhh… secret."

Bo was fairly certain there wouldn't be any productive conversation tonight, though she did find this light and comical exchange relaxing. She leaned in and placed a kiss on Lauren's forehead, lingering for a moment. She sighed, smiling down at the woman she loved and whispered,

"When I get back, we're getting married. I talked to Rudy and Elise at dinner – they're going to get some help to take care of all the details. I hope you're happy with the plan. I love you, Lauren Lewis."

"Isotopes."

Bo smiled, laying her head on her pillow. She watched her lover sleeping until she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Her last thought was of Lauren smiling at her as she became her wife.