Chapter 2

(Four years later)

The knock caught Jenna off guard and brought her upright from a deep sleep. She sat on the carpet in front of the fireplace looking at the front door through the rocking chair in the living room. Had someone knocked on the door, or was it just Rosy playing upstairs? She turned her head up and looked at the ceiling above her to better hear into Rosy's room.

Knock, knock, knock. Came three hard thumps on the front door.

Jenna jumped to her feet and barked four times in response. She rushed from the fire to the front window by the door and peered out through the lace curtains. A young boy with blond hair under a wool hat wearing a thin sweatshirt stood on the step looking in at her. Jenna barked at the boy and he smiled in response.

Rosy's father came down the stairs in his socks and pants holding a smoking pipe in one hand. "Jenna calm down." He said stepping to the front door and grasping the knob. He opened the door.

"Excuse me sir." The boys said. "I was told to bring you this telegram."

Jenna watched the boy hand Rosy's father a yellow slip of paper with writing on it.

"Well thank you very much." Rosy's father said taking the paper. He reached into his pocket and jangled some change before coming up with one. "Here's five cents."

"Thank you sir." The boy said taking the coin and stepping off the porch.

Rosy's father closed the door and looked at the telegram.

"Who was that honey." Said Rosy's mother from the top of the stairs. She had a dirty rag in her hand and an apron tied around her waste.

"It was just a boy brining by a telegram." Rosy's father responded.

"Well, who's it from?"

Rosy's father reached into his shirt pocket and produced a set of reading glasses. He unfolded them and put them on and looked at the paper. "It's from my older brother William." He read more of it. "He say's him and his wife are coming on the eleven o-clock steamer to visit for a few days."

"Oh that's good. It's been a while since we've seen them." Rosy's mother said going back into one of the upstairs rooms.

Suddenly Rosy stood at the top of the stairs in jeans and a red wool sweatshirt. She had her reading glasses on and a pencil in her hand. She had been doing homework in her room. "Who's visiting?" She said.

"Oh just my older brother."

"You have an older brother?"

Rosy's father looked up from the telegram. "Why yes, I do."

"Does he have anyone my age?"

Rosy's father took his glasses off and put them back in his pocket. "You know. I really haven't talked to him in a long time. I'm not sure. I doubt it though. But he say's they're bringing their dogs Cleo and Benson. Do you remember Benson and Cleo sweetheart?"

Rosy shook her head no.

Rosy's father looked at Jenna. "They're Jenna's parents."

"Well that's nice to know. I bet Jenna can't wait to have a family reunion. I bet Jenna's going to be so excited. But old dog's aren't any fun." Rosy's face turned sour with the prospect of just adults and old dogs coming to visit and she went back to her room. Rosy's father moved up the stairs with the telegram in his hand and his pipe hanging loosely from his lip.

Jenna suddenly felt a ting of fear roll up over her spine into the back of her head. It had been so long since she had seen her father. It felt like a hundred years ago, a lifetime ago. She honestly couldn't remember much about her father. The years had been long and many things in Jenna's life had changed. But she remembered one thing her father would not understand no matter how much time had passed, and that was the fact she loved a half-breed who looked like a wolf.

How would she ever explain it to him? How would she go and say, 'Here's my son's Kodi, Dakota, and … oh what's that dad? Who's their father? Well, he's kind of exotic; he's kind of a loner. No mom he doesn't live in town. I'm pretty sure he's not a purebred dad. You want to meet him? I don't think he's around right now. No I don't think he's seeing other girl's mom. You say that we should go see him now then. But dad you just got here. No I'm not stalling. No dad, I'm not trying to hide anything from you. Oh wait, here he is. Mom, dad, I would like you to meet my mate Balto. No dad don't hurt him! Dad come back! Stop chasing him. Dad no!'

The terribly play went on in Jenna's head like a second-rate movie she wished she could walk away from. But now she had to face the awful truth. She was in love with a half-breed who looked like a pure wolf. And her father's job for his entire life had been to hunt wolves down and kill them.

Jenna looked out the window at the early fall weather. A black cloud signaled the possibility of a rain storm. She sat in the window and waited to see if the rain would come. She had to go see Balto.

The rain shower never came and the black clouds passed over the town on little more than a wispy breeze. The sun came out and shined in the front window, it was time to go.

Jenna waited for Rosy's mother to come down the stairs. It didn't take long before she strolled down – she had been going up and down them all morning between the bedroom and the kitchen doing extensive cleaning of the upstairs bedroom. Jenna quickly stood and followed her into the kitchen where she scratched at the back-door and yipped. Rosy's mother turned from the sink and opened the back door and let Jenna slip out without a word.

A light breeze blew through the streets and ruffled Jenna's fur as she stood on the concrete step by the wood pile. Several dried leaves blew by like noisy tin wheels down a hill. The air had a distinct chill in it, and the brutal smell of ice on the way. It probably wouldn't be more than a day or two before a big storm hit and dumped two or three feet of snow, signaling the onset of winter. But Jenna had other, more pressing issues to deal with.

She turned off the step and made her way for the southeast edge of town. She cut through alleys and moved along the streets past people and other dogs braced against the wind and hardly aware of her presence. She made it to the telegraph office and wasted no time as she set out for the last mile-long jaunt to Balto's boat.

Nearly quarter of the way out to the boat Jenna noticed a wolfish form traveling towards her. She knew right away it had to be Balto. They met about halfway between the boat and the town with the wind whipping off the sea and ruffling their fur. Balto instantly brushed up against Jenna's neck and nuzzled her for a moment. She nuzzled him back in return and then they broke apart and stood looking at each other.

"You must have been thinking about me." Balto said with a coy smile. "Because I was just thinking about you."

Jenna wasted no time. "Balto, I have a problem. My parents are coming to Nome and I don't know what to do."

Balto turned his head sideways to hear her better against the wind. "What's wrong with that? I can't wait to meet you parents."

"You don't understand Balto. My father is … well… um." The wind suddenly started to pick up and whip their fur around like flags on a pole. Both of them couldn't hear the other without yelling. Jenna felt a cold cutting through her fur and a shiver beginning to work under her skin.

"Jenna, I can't hear you." Balto yelled. "Let's get out of this wind."

They moved towards the town and stood on the leeward side of the telegraph office under the drip-line of the roof. The wind blew with a beastly violence around the edge of the building.

"Now what was it you were saying Jenna?"

"My parents are coming to Nome and I don't know what to do about it."

"About what?" Balto asked. But before she even had to say anything Balto already knew and his face sunk. "Oh, about me."

"No!" Jenna barked. "Don't even think that."

"It's alright Jenna. I'll just lay low for a couple days. You can tell them I'm off in some other town until the snow comes. We'll get the kids to play along and-"

"No!" Jenna barked. "I don't want to lie to my parents. …" She remained quiet for a long moment, letting her head hang low between her shoulders as she composed herself. "It's just that you don't understand it."

"I don't understand what." Balto said leaning his head down close to hers. "If you feel you're parents will think less of you because you love a wolf, then let's take me out of the picture. I really won't mind."

"No." Jenna said flatly. "The thing is my dad, Benson, has been very hateful towards wolves his whole life."

Balto found a faint smile on his face. "Lot's of dogs are spiteful of wolves for one reason or another."

"Not my dad. For his entire life his only job has been to hunt wolves down and kill them and get their fur." Jenna looked up at Balto. "I just don't know what's going to happen when he meets you. I don't want to lie to my dad; we've always shared a special thing together. We promised each other that we would never lie to the other. So I just can't lie. I'd feel like I was breaking the only thing special between us." Jenna dropped her head again.

Balto looked at his mate and thought deeply about it for a minute. "I see the problem. …What if we just went around the truth?"

Jenna looked up. "How?"

Balto looked up at the sky in the far distance. White fluffy clouds blew over the distant mountains topped with caps of snow. A mosquito buzzed in his ear and a bird struggled to launch itself off the ground in the wind. "I don't know. I thought maybe you might have an idea."

"If I did I would have already done it." Jenna lowered her head once again between her shoulders.

Balto leaned into Jenna and let his head slide over her back in a comforting way. "Don't worry about it Jenna. I don't think you're dad is going to do anything, and I don't think he'll look down on you for loving who you choose."

Jenna didn't say anything for a long time. The two of them sat side by side for and listened to the wind. Finally Jenna spoke. "We'll just have to break the news to him easy."

"Okay. How?"

Jenna raised her head up and looked at Balto. "With as much finesse as we can."