Sharing Spaces by Nadia Nichols Page A

repellent at all and never be bothered by Labrador’s legendary mosquitoes.”
    Senna shook her head, trying to comprehend the magnitude of the project. “How on earth did you get everything out here?”
    â€œFreighter brought it up the coast to White Bear Bay, which is about twenty-five miles due east of here. The locals rigged up a pretty ingenious barge with a shallow draw to haul the bulk of it up the river. When the river froze up, we flew the rest of the stuff in, or dragged it by snow machine. We did whatever we had to do to get the building supplies in here.”
    â€œHow long did it take to build once all the supplies were in?”
    â€œForever, it seemed like. We hired some men from Goose Bay. Good workers. Great carpenters. And an old Scandinavian log joiner from St. John’s supervised the raising of the lodge. Fifty years in the business, a real artisan. Spent time with some of the best log-cabin builders in the world, teaching them the finer points.” Jack shook his head, his eyes faraway. “We worked like slaves, all of us did. Looking at the whole of it all at once, building the damn thing seemed like an impossible task, but the admiral never got discouraged. Somehow he knew just how to get the job done, step by steady step.”
    â€œAll those years of military discipline, no doubt,” Senna remarked, unbuckling her safety harness.
    â€œNo doubt,” Jack amiably agreed, his thoughts returning to the present. He grinned at her as he unbuckled his own harness. “C’mon. I think you’ll like the lodge even better close up.”
    Â 
    A S J ACK STARTED UP THE RAMP toward the lodge he heard Senna’s light footsteps following close behind. “Where’s Charlie?” she asked.
    â€œDunno, but this is the first time we’ve been back here since the admiral died. I think maybe he just needs a little time to adjust.” He glanced back at Senna. “The admiral was the closest thing to real family Charlie had. The two of them were pretty close.”
    Her forehead furrowed in a frown. “That just seems so unbelievable. The admiral was so aloof with us. With me. So distant. So judgmental and so damn unyielding. Nothing I said or did was good enough for him. The fact that Charlie liked him… loved him, even, just seems so…so incredible.”
    Jack stopped in his tracks and turned just in time to grab Senna before she rammed into him, striding up the ramp with her head down, absorbed in her memories. He caught her by her upper arms and brought her to an abrupt halt. Her head snapped up.
    â€œWe all change,” he said, his voice harder than he wanted it to be, but Charlie was up in the lodge searching for something he’d lost and would never find again and the boy’s pain keened on Jack and made him angry with this granddaughter who didn’t seem to understand much about anything. “All of us, every day. We adapt to our environment. We change because we have to, in order to survive. Sometimes that means we have to hide the very best parts of ourselves. Your grandfather was a man who held a position of great importance. Great power. He had to make decisions every single day that could have nothing to do with his emotions, his true feelings. He had to make decisions that sometimes caused other people to die.”
    â€œI know that,” Senna said, her chin lifting slightly but her voice subdued. Her eyes were riveted to his, irises wide, and he could feel the trembling tension of her body.
    â€œHe kept the soft side of himself hidden because he had to in order to survive in the world he lived in. You show a weakness in that world, any weakness at all, and you’re doomed, and everyone else who depends on you is doomed.” Jack felt himself falling into the dark windows of turbulent emotions that stared back up at him. “Don’t hold that against him,” he said. “He loved you, he just