Northern Lights Trilogy (143 page)

His smile grew larger. “Yes, beloved. Pray with me now. Dear God, thank you for this miraculous day. For the sun on our heads and the wind on our faces and the sea below us. But most of all, thank you for the love that Elsa and I share. May it be strengthened with each day we are together, an honor to you as our God. Help me to be a good husband—”

“And me a good wife.”

Karl laughed softly. “And Elsa a good wife. Let us be good parents of Kristian and Eve. We pray that you will grant us long lives to celebrate this love we’ve found. Thank you, Father. Thank you. Amen.”

“Amen. Amen and amen.”

Karl released her and held out his hand. “Come, love. Let us make our vows and begin our life as man and wife.”

“Indeed,” she said, her eyes shining like the most brilliant day on the Pacific. “It cannot begin soon enough for me.”

A year later

E
lsa and Karl had walked out onto the porch to escape the joint squalling of Tora and Trent’s twins. The cool evening breeze off the water and the last vestiges of a sunset’s burnt red and orange—giving way to the deep purple and blue-black of Ketchikan’s night sky—immediately calmed Elsa, and she took a deep breath as Karl enveloped her in his arms. She leaned her cheek against one of his biceps, liking the scent of him, the heat and closeness of him. How good it was to be in love and married to her best friend! Her joy was complete. They were hidden away, in a corner of the porch, while Karl leaned on the rail with Elsa tucked firmly against him, staring out to sea in companionable silence.

Kadachan, James, and Kaatje joined them on the far side of the porch, but surprisingly, they didn’t spot the couple in the corner. Content to share the quiet majesty of the moment, Elsa said nothing, closing her eyes and listening to the hoot of a horned owl and the crickets step up the volume of their evening symphony.

By the time James began speaking, it was too late to announce their presence. Indeed, Elsa was holding her breath, watching the scene unfold before them like a moving oil painting created by a master of old.

“Kaatje, I’ve waited a long time for this moment,” James said.

Kadachan moved to his side and helped him rise from the chair, then slowly, with agonizing effort that made Elsa want to break out into a sweat, James drew near, wobbling with each step it took to reach her at the rail. He shook Kadachan’s hands off his arm, bent one knee, and came down hard. “Oh!” was all Kaatje could say, her hand over her mouth. In the deep shadows, Elsa could not see her face, but her voice conveyed all the joy Kaatje was feeling. “Oh!”

Elsa admired the strength it took for Kaatje not to reach out to help James. She seemed to know that this had to be all on his own, without assistance. And it had to have hurt James to fall that last foot to his knee, but he did not cry out. Instead, he smiled, the broadest smile she had seen on his face since before the accident, visible even in the dark, with his face toward the water. He took her hand in his and kissed each of her fingers in a tender, reverent fashion.

Then he proposed. And Elsa’s hand went to her mouth. Joy for Kaatje made her choke up, and tears formed in her eyes. Karl hugged her close, watching with her. She was sure he was smiling too.

And though they weren’t visible there in Alaska, suddenly Elsa knew that somewhere the northern lights were dancing as never before.

Lisa T. Bergren is the award-winning author of over thirty-five books, with more than two million copies sold. A former publishing executive, Lisa now divides her time between writing, editing, parenting three children with her husband, Tim, and dreaming of her next trip to Italy. She lives in Colorado Springs.