Alaskan Sweethearts. Janet Tronstad

when he had his teddy bear in his hands.

      “Come with me, then,” she said and they began to walk across the café.

      She hadn’t planned to bring Joey with her for this trip. But last week she’d gotten an anonymous letter telling her that someone was going to kidnap him if she didn’t find the forty thousand dollars her ex-husband, Victor, had stolen from his drug supplier and return it. She couldn’t tell if the letter was a warning or a threat, from a friend or a foe. She didn’t doubt that Victor could have made off with some money. He’d led a double life in the years they’d been married, selling drugs when she’d thought he’d been working on a fishing boat, and she believed he would steal from anyone who was handy. But she didn’t know about any money and certainly not where it was. The police had come to search their house looking for drug money before Victor had left. They hadn’t found anything then and they had searched Victor again before he’d flown out of Nome.

      Scarlett arrived at the door to the restroom and settled Joey on the chair. Then she leaned down and adjusted her son’s shirt before kissing the top of his head. He was precious to her. She patted the stuffed bear a little awkwardly. She noticed there was a torn seam along the back of the bear, a safety pin keeping it all together. Her grandmother must have put it there, but Scarlett decided to mend the bear when they got back to Nome. It was important to her son.

      “Wait here for me,” she told Joey as she straightened. “I won’t be long.”

      She wasn’t sure she’d leave her son outside if they were back in Nome.

      She’d taken the letter to the police and they’d tried contacting Victor at the Florida phone number he’d left for her, but it had been disconnected. The police in Florida cruised by his address and said the place looked deserted. She had no contact information for Victor’s new wife. The officer finally said the letter was likely a prank after she admitted some older boys in town had started to knock on the door of their house when Scarlett was at work and taunt Joey, telling him he needed to come outside and face them. They’d even joked about him and his teddy bear, so Scarlett knew they had seen her son outside playing. Joey’s grandmother was always in the house with the boy, though, and when she appeared in the doorway, the boys would scatter. Still, Joey was clearly anxious about them.

      They weren’t in Nome, though, Scarlett told herself as she turned the knob and opened the door to the restroom. They were perfectly safe here in Dry Creek.

      She wasn’t inside the restroom for long, but when she opened the door to come out she glanced down at where Joey was supposed to be and realized that he was not there.

      Scarlett gasped and frantically stepped out into the main part of the café.

      “Joey,” she called.

      “I’m here, Mommy,” her son said.

      She turned and followed the sound of his voice until she was facing the Jacobson men. Joey was sitting on a chair at their table, his legs barely touching the floor and a half-emptied glass of water in front of him. The stuffed bear was lying on its back next to him, seemingly forgotten on the top of the table.

      Hunter stood as she walked toward them.

      “The boy was thirsty,” Hunter said by way of explanation before she reached them. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”

      “I wasn’t scared.” Scarlett denied it without thinking how ridiculous that sounded.

      “Any mother would be,” she added defensively.

      Hunter nodded. “Of course.”

      “Please, join us,” the older man said from where he sat. “I’m Colin Jacobson.”

      He was the one she’d come to see, she reminded herself. Her grandmother had whispered to her that Colin was good-looking and Scarlett still saw vestiges of it around his eyes. He didn’t look like what she expected, though. His face seemed soft and almost wistful.

      “I’m pleased to meet you,” she said, taking a step closer. She’d talk to him and ignore Hunter. She needed to be brave herself so Joey could see how it was done. The boy had grown more anxious since his father had left them. Scarlett knew life was not always easy. She’d lost both her parents when she was young, her mother to cancer and her father to desertion. That was probably whey she’d hung in with Victor for six long years. But she couldn’t believe there was any purpose in living a life of hesitation and fear. She suspected, though, that her ex-husband had taunted Joey about not being brave enough. Maybe that was the reason for his anxiety. He’d always wanted to please his father.

      Scarlett pulled a chair away from the table.

      She couldn’t help glancing over at Hunter again. This man certainly didn’t seem to have any fear in him. He still had his hands resting on the back of the wood-spindled chair in front of him and his steel-gray eyes were defiant and unrepentant. His face had a faint red mark on the left side. He wore a rancher’s long-sleeved shirt, open at the neck, and there was another red mark along his collarbone. They looked like burn scars. She could tell by the damp patches on his shirt that he had already done a full day’s work before coming here.

      She gave the man a frosty look before she sat at the table.

      She had patted a damp paper towel over her face when she was in the restroom, but she still wasn’t comfortable. It was hot in here, too. Her turquoise silk suit jacket felt tight across the shoulders and the humidity was making it worse. The band of her grandmother’s old engagement ring stuck to her skin as it hung around her neck on a chain. She probably looked younger than her thirty-two years of age.

      She’d made a mistake in dressing so formally, she realized. Denim jeans and Alaskan-made mukluks on her feet would have made this man look at her with more respect. Her fishing knife strapped to her belt wouldn’t have hurt, either, especially since anyone could tell it had seen plenty of use. At least the ring gave her confidence. Since childhood she had known her grandmother could always pawn that ring if times became too hard. It had been their family’s safety net.

      “Can I order you something to drink or eat?” the older man asked as he smiled.

      “Thank you,” Scarlett said. “We’ve come a long way. Coffee and maybe some milk for my son would be nice.”

      She hadn’t had time to buy breakfast when they’d gotten off the plane in Billings this morning. She’d given Joey a breakfast bar and an apple, but she hadn’t eaten anything.

      She finally noticed that Hunter was standing and looking at her son. “You must be hungry. Would you like a muffin with your milk? Taking a trip always makes me want to eat something.”

      Joey had always been shy with strangers, but he was so keyed up that he nodded vigorously. “We flew in a plane. It took a long time.”

      Hunter stepped around the table and crouched until he was at eye level with the boy. “I know. Nome, Alaska. My grandfather told me. Did you like the plane ride?”

      Scarlett stood, ready to demand Hunter stop talking to her son. But she realized she had no good reason. She doubted her son would say anything more in any event. Joey was much more likely to talk to a woman than a man. Still, she stayed by her son’s chair.

      Joey shrugged, his eyes cast down at the floor.

      Scarlett expected Hunter to move away since it was obvious her son had finished talking.

      Then she heard Joey’s voice. “My dad flew away in a plane. We watched him. He’s going to Florida ’cause he’s got himself a new boy. He ain’t ever coming back unless...”

      Scarlett was so astonished she barely noticed when Hunter looked up at her with panic in his eyes. At least he didn’t move away. Victor would have.

      “He says he’ll come back if I’m a brave boy,” Joey continued, his voice small and his eyes downcast. “But I’ve tried and he doesn’t come.”

      Joey had been eager to fly to see his father last month when