Fire and Ice (6 page)

“The … the Iditarod?”

“That’s right. Oh, I know it takes years to master it, but I plan to be up there soon with Mackey and King and the rest.”

Robyn swallowed hard. “That’s quite a goal to work toward.” She wanted to say more but decided to leave it alone. If he pursued the matter, he’d soon learn how tough it was to qualify for the Iditarod.

“This fellow is one of my best right now,” she said, stooping to pat Max. She’d really miss him if she sold him, but the price she had in mind would pay for a lot of dog food. “He’s a good lead dog, and he’s strong.”

“Is he … uh … can I breed him?”

“No, but—”

“I want to breed dogs and raise my own team,” Sterns said, his face eager. “I’m serious about that.”

“Mr. Sterns, I’m not really selling breeding stock right now. I raise dogs and train them to race. If I think they won’t make good sled dogs, I sell them as pets. But I don’t usually sell my breeding dogs.”

“When I told your mother on the phone, she said you might need to sell a few.”

Robyn’s chest squeezed. “I’m sorry if there was a misunderstanding. That’s not really my intent right now.”

“Oh. Well … which one is your best sire? I did a little reading up on your kennel before I came. Isn’t Tumble the one? Everyone wants pups with his bloodline, right?”

She hesitated then led him to Tumble’s kennel. He greeted her with a quiet yip and licked her hand. “This is Tumble, and you’re right. He’s our primary sire right now. But he’s not for sale.”

She showed Sterns several other male dogs that did well in harness, but Rounder and the others didn’t seem to impress him. Hero, a big black-and-white Siberian husky, bared his teeth and growled when the man approached him. The other dogs eyed Sterns with indifference. She took him over to the female dogs’ enclosure. Coco ran to the end of her tether and strained eagerly toward them.

“Oh, I like this guy,” Sterns said.

“She’s four years old.” Robyn determined to ignore his mistake. “She’s a good team dog. I use her as a wheeler or anywhere else on the line except the lead. She’s strong, and she has a lot of stamina. With a little more experience, she might work into lead, but right now I use her farther back.”

“Has she had any litters?”

“Yes. One. I’ve got some of her pups I’m working with now.” She thought about offering to sell him some of the female pups, but the idea of putting them into the hands of an inexperienced person for their sled training made her cringe.

After looking at half a dozen more females, Sterns nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I like them all. What do you say I take those three”—he nodded toward Coco and the two others nearest her—“and Tumble.”

Robyn sucked in a deep breath. “Tumble isn’t for sale. I can give you one of his sons—a two-year-old showing a lot of promise.” She supposed she could sell three adult females and be all right. But Tumble was out of the question.

“I’ll tell you what.” He smiled and peered at her through his glasses. “I’ll meet your price on all the females without any dickering. And for Tumble, I’ll give you triple what you’re asking for the two-year-old.”

Robyn’s heart sank. How could she turn down that kind of money when they needed it so badly? If Mom were out here with them, she’d probably accept the offer. But it would set Robyn’s breeding program back years. Tumble’s offspring were becoming known in racing circles. Mushers noticed his pups wherever they ran, which would include the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod this year. She wanted to be ready when they won. She had no doubt more dog owners would bring their females to Holland Kennels for breeding.

She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sterns. I stand by what I said. You can bring your females here to be bred, but Tumble isn’t for sale.”

He studied her for a long moment. “How about if I go back to Anchorage and give you a couple of days to think it over? Talk to your mother about it. I’ll come back Wednesday.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

“Are you sure about that?” He smiled again. “I’m not prepared to take the dogs I buy today, anyway. I’ve got a rental car. I’ll have to come back with a truck.”

“We can crate and ship the dogs for you, if you want. We’ve trucked dogs to the airport for our customers before. It’s no problem. But I really think Max is a better dog for you. You said you’d like a lead dog you can race this spring.”

He shook his head. “I still think we should let this sit for a couple of days. We’ll talk again Wednesday.”

After supper Robyn hitched up six dogs for a two-mile run. The snow was eighteen inches deep on open areas, and the trail conditions were perfect. Mom had gone to Anchorage and would be back later, after Robyn got home.

Half a mile out, just after she crossed onto Rick’s land, Tumble barked and surged forward. The other dogs caught his energy and pulled faster, too. Soon Robyn saw what inspired them. Someone with a flashlight was coming toward them on snowshoes.

She recognized Rick as they reached him. He stepped off the trail and waited for her to stop the team. Robyn set the snow hook and greeted him.

Rick pushed back his hood and grinned at her. “You’re looking good. How’s it going?”

“Well, Mom called a little while ago and said Grandpa did well on his therapy sessions today. But they’re still giving him pain meds for aches and pains.”

“It takes the old bones longer to heal than it does young ones.”

“Yeah.”

“Did the buyer come to look over your dogs?”

She nodded. “Philip Sterns. I don’t like him. He doesn’t know much about dogs, but he wants to race this year and he thinks that by next year he’ll qualify for the Iditarod.”

“Hmm. Does he have someone to mentor him?”

“I’m not sure. He did mention some friends who got him interested in sledding, but he’s not ready to own good dogs, Rick. He’ll ruin them.”

“So you don’t want to sell to him.”

“Not really, but … the truth is, we need the cash, and Mom is pushing me to close the deal. He’s coming back Wednesday.”

“How many dogs does he want?”

“Four in all. I don’t have much problem with selling him three females, although he’ll probably mess up their training. But he wants to start his own designer breeding program, and he knows absolutely nothing about dogs.”

“That’s tough to accept.”

“I’ll say. And he wants to buy Tumble. I told him and Mom absolutely not, but … well, he’s offering us a bundle for him.” The team was restless and wriggled in their harnesses. “I shouldn’t stop long. They want to run, and they deserve it. But thanks for letting me sound off.”

“Sounds like you have a tough decision to make,” Rick said. “I’ll keep praying for you.”

“Thanks. I admit I get riled when I think about selling off our breeding stock. The business would go under.”

“And your mom wants to do that? Does she want to get out of the kennel business?”

Robyn sighed. “I don’t know. But she pointed out today that we may end up having to sell everything anyway, and it would be better to sell the best dogs now at a good price than to wait and have to sell in a hurry at reduced figures when we’re desperate.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea things were that bad.”

“I’m not sure they are, but Mom seems to think that Grandpa’s situation will break us. I don’t know much about insurance and Medicare and all that, but it doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes I wonder if she’s just tired of this life and wants to move into town.”

Rick’s eyes widened. “You mean … sell your house and everything?”

“She’s mentioned it. Please keep that between us. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but when Mom gets fretting about money, she says things like that.”

“That’s a lot to deal with.” He cocked his head to one side. “Do you think maybe you don’t like this Sterns fellow because making a deal with him could signal the end of your family’s way of life, or do you have something specific not to like about him?”

“Besides the fact that he’s green as grass?” She thought about it for a moment. “He came with a pocketful of cash, but that’s not really unusual. People know they can’t always use a credit card or write a check out here in the hinterlands. I guess the thing I like least is the way the dogs reacted to him. They didn’t seem to take to him.” She looked up and smiled ruefully. “That and the fact that he has fancy clothes and is staying at the swankiest hotel in Anchorage.”

“Mmm. Real ‘dog racing’ people don’t usually put on airs.”

“Yeah. Is he a rich guy who fancies getting into a hobby that will make him look rugged to his friends?”

“People like that usually tire of it when they learn how much work is involved.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Then what will become of these beautiful dogs?”

Rick stepped closer to Robyn—as close as his unwieldy snowshoes would let him. He laid his gloved hand on the sleeve of her parka.

“Listen, I don’t know if this would help you or not, but I’ll be in Anchorage all day tomorrow. I have a friend with the state police, and I was thinking …”

Her eyes glistened with what might be hope, so he plunged on.

“He may not be able to do anything, but I could ask him to look into this guy’s background and just make sure he’s legit.”

“Wow, that would make me feel better. Even if they didn’t find anything—I mean, if he doesn’t have a police record, that’s good, right?”

She gave him Sterns’s full name, the hotel where he was lodging, his cell phone number, and the town in California where he claimed he lived. Rick was glad to be able to do something to help her. His concern for the Hollands had grown over the last few days, and he wanted to take away some of Robyn’s anxiety.

The dogs whined, and she reached for the snow hook. “We need to get going. Thanks for listening, Rick.”

“Anytime. And be careful. I saw a moose not far from here yesterday.”

“Okay, I’ll stay alert. Don’t want a moose tearing into my team.”

He watched her and the sled team move down the trail into the trees.
She’ll be okay
, he told himself. Though he’d heard of a few instances where a moose had savaged a dog team that couldn’t escape its wrath, that was a rare happening. Usually the huge animals lumbered into the woods as soon as they saw someone coming. And Robyn knew what she was doing. He was more worried about her financial straits.

He was beginning to care for her beyond friendship, and he didn’t like to think that her family might leave the area. His friend Joel Dawes might not be able to help him out. Maybe he should have broached the subject to Joel before mentioning it to Robyn, but her uneasiness about the potential sale to Sterns had overcome his caution. Assurance that the prospective buyer was honest should help Robyn feel easier about selling some of her treasured dogs to him.

Rick set out once more on his snowshoes, mulling over the Hollands’ situation. If Cheryl seriously wanted to sell the property, he wouldn’t mind adding to his own land. But he didn’t suppose he had enough money for that. Opening his new practice in Wasilla last year had tied up all his savings. He wondered, too, who owned the Hollands’ property. Robyn’s father had died in an accident several years earlier. A plane crash, if he remembered correctly. Was the deed in Cheryl’s name—or Grandpa Steve’s?

An hour later he got home and built up his wood fire. Relaxing with a cup of cocoa and a handful of cookies from a store package, he found that he couldn’t stop thinking of Robyn. When he considered his hours spent at Far North Veterinary, it now bore directly on the amount of time he had available to spend with her. The drive to the city on Sunday for church tired him out and took him away from his Wasilla patients—and Robyn. Definitely time to focus his efforts.

He looked at his watch. She’d have put the dogs away by now and buttoned down the kennel for the night. He pulled out his phone. “Hey, Robyn? It’s Rick.” He felt suddenly like he was back in high school, calling a girl from chem lab and wondering what to say next. “Just wanted to see how your ride went.”

“Good. No moose that I saw. And I’m pleased with the way the dogs are progressing.”

“Glad to hear it.” He loved the way she talked about her dogs—businesslike, but with the pride of a mother.

“I’m thinking of entering a short race next month, after we’re done with the craziness here,” she said. “It’s a great way to get the dogs used to competition and crowds.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Hey, do you remember what I told you earlier, about … about our property?”

“Yes.” He sensed that she didn’t want to say too much over the phone.

“Well, my mom says Sterns is interested.”

“In the whole place?”

“Yes. I’m having a hard time with this. It makes me furious that she told someone like him—someone we know nothing about.”

“Did she talk to him again since this morning?”

“Apparently he called her tonight, after she left the nursing home. She phoned me on her way home. She hasn’t gotten here yet, but … well, you promised to pray for me. Would you pray that I don’t have a rip-roaring, knock-down-drag-out with my mom?”

“Yes. I surely will. I’ll do that right now. And I won’t forget tomorrow. If I can find out anything about this guy for you, I’ll call you.”