A New Day Rising (40 page)

"The question is, do you love me? Or do you think you could learn to?" His voice came softly through the late afternoon stillness.

Ingeborg didn't say anything. She couldn't. The incredible joy that welled out when he said he loved her took her breath away. The thought of being alone again had been almost more than she could bear. But is that all she felt? Fear of being alone again? The thoughts ran through her mind as the silence lengthened. She glanced back to check on the children. Andrew still slept soundly in the back of the wagon, and Thorliff was now curled up sleeping on the quilt, also. Birds chirped and twittered in the weeds by the track, and the horses snorted and picked up the pace as they neared home.

"Well?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you.,,

"And?"

"Yes, I love you. The reason I hesitate to say it is because I feel so different this time than I did with Roald."

"That is good."

"That is good?" Ingeborg looked at him, wondering if he heard her right.

"That is good because I am a different man than Roald, and after all you've been through in the last years, you are a different woman. Our love will be good and will only get better."

Ingeborg slipped her hand under his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. The air felt incredibly sweet and gentle, the shoulder under her ear strong and secure.

Haakan pulled the horses to a halt, and turning on the seat beside her, he grasped her chin with his fingers. He pulled her to him carefully, slowly, as if fearful of breaking the magic of the moment. When she faced him, he tipped his head and fitted his lips to hers. Her sigh of wonder melded their mouths together.

"I think we should be married soon," he whispered when he finally released her mouth.

"How soon is soon?" She leaned into him, resting her forehead against his chin.

"Next week."

"Next week!" Her eyes flew open, and she bolted upright.

Andrew whimpered from his bed in the quilts.

"Next week! Are you mad?"

n hree days later, Haakan headed for Grand Forks to settle the deed - for his property. The previous day he had spent hassling over the details with Polinski. When he finally convinced the man to accept a lower offer, he also had to volunteer to pay Abel's way to Grand Forks and back on the riverboat since he wanted the deal done quickly.

More than once he'd already regretted that decision. Abel Polinski only knew one tune, "poor me." Haakan wanted to stuff a rag in the man's mouth. Tossing the lazy brute overboard would have been doing his wife and young'uns a favor. Twice Haakan excused himself and made his way to another part of the noisy vessel, but each time Polinski found him and resumed his litany of despair.

By the time they'd been to the land office and finalized their deal, Haakan gave the man a brief handshake and left him in the middle of the street. Afraid to look over his shoulder in case Abel followed him, Haakan ducked into a men's clothing store and stood looking out the window. When the other man finally turned and ambled toward the river again, Haakan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can I help you, sir?" a quiet voice behind him asked.

"Ah, no, no thank you. I'm ... ah ..." Haakan started for the door and then thought the better of it. He'd be getting married in just a few days. Wasn't a man entitled to a new suit for his wedding? "Ah, yes, I guess you can, if we can find something that you can have ready by morning when I catch the paddle boat back upstream. I'd like a new suit."

"And what color would you like?"

"Black."

"We have a navy blue one that would look very good on you." The man looked over his spectacles. "I think I have one in that color that can be made to fit. Here, let me show it to you."

A few minutes later, Haakan stared at himself in the mirror. A spanking white shirt complemented a navy jacket with sleeves above his wrists and matching trousers with the same problem. "You can make these fit?"

"Surely, sir."

"Then I'll take them." Haakan stood patiently while the man measured his arm and leg lengths. After counting out what was getting close to the last of his money, he promised to return in the morning. Checking to see if Polinski was in. sight, he stepped out the door when he saw the coast was clear. Now the bank.

With the deed in hand, getting a loan was easy. Haakan left that building and headed for the ladies' dress shop. If he got a new suit, Ingeborg needed a new dress. By the time he finished shopping, he had also purchased two sulky plows that would be loaded on the paddle-wheeler in the morning, three books for Thorliff, a red wagon for Andrew, a vise for Hjelmer, ten peppermint sticks, and a white enameled teakettle for Kaaren and Lars. Never in his life had he felt so wealthy. He now owned a half section of land, had money for the needed machinery, and if he had anything to say about it, he'd buy lumber for a new house for his intended the next time he came to town. He knew how much the darkness of the soddy oppressed Ingeborg, and he intended to remedy that situation as quickly as possible.

He fell asleep dreaming of her rocking in front of a sun-filled window, knitting the socks she turned out so neatly.

Just before boarding the next day, he found his final gift.

Lars had the raft ready when the riverboat reached the Bjorklund homestead. He poled out to the paddle boat and Haakan lowered a package to him before swinging down the ladder. The raft tipped a bit when he stepped onto it, and Lars shifted to redistribute the weight. They waved the captain on, and with the toot of the whistle, the swish and thump began again, and the boat continued downstream.

"So, how was it?" Lars asked.

"The land is mine." Haakan thumped his chest where the deed burned a hole in his breast pocket.

"What about Polinski?"

"I'm not sure. He wasn't on the boat." Haakan looked at Lars and groaned. "He wouldn't take the money and run out on his family, would he?"

"I have no idea." Lars poled them into the shore, then stepped onto land and tied off the raft. Together the two men climbed the low bank to the field above. "I've always thought the man a weasel but never dreamed he'd do something like this."

"We could be borrowing trouble."

"Let's hope so." Lars snagged the metal open toe of his boot on a clump of grass and winced.

"Still sore?" Haakan hefted his package up onto his shoulder.

"Some."

Haakan clapped him on the shoulder. "Well, I've got good news for you. You can go back to working in the fields as soon as someone makes a trip to St. Andrew."

"You bought the plow?"

"Two of them. We have a lot of sod to break. Everything I bought I shipped through to St. Andrew, so we need to make a trip up there to pick it up right away." As they neared the soddy, Paws charged out from around the barn, barking to warn the family that strangers were on the land. When he saw who it was, he lowered his tail and bellied out to them.

"Good dog. You just got to improve your eyesight, that's all." Haakan leaned over and stroked the caramel-colored muzzle. One white ear stood back up, and Paws leaped to his feet, rejoicing as if he was forgiven his gaffe.

Thorliff came around the corner of the soddy and catapulted himself into Haakan's surprised arms. The package he carried fell to the ground, but he ignored that and hugged the boy close.

"I thought you weren't coming back."

"I'll always come back, understand? Until the good Lord calls me home, I'll always come back. You hear me?"

"Ja, I hear, but my far didn't come back."

I know. Do-you-still miss him?"

"Ja." Thorliff nodded. "But I can't see him so good anymore." He dug one grimy toe in the dirt. "Are you going to be my far?"

Haakan nodded. "Yes, _1 am. That okay with you?"

Blue eyes met blue. Thorliff nodded.

"You've done a fine job taking care of your mother since your far left, and now, if you don't mind, I'll take over some of that. Give you more time to go fishing."

"You come, too?"

"Sometimes."

Thorliff nodded again and a sigh escaped as if the load of responsibility had just sprung a leak and lightened with each passing moment. He glanced up at Haakan from the corner of his eye. "Good."

Haakan hugged the boy again and looked up to see the mother standing by the soddy.

He felt like the sun had just burst forth from behind heavy clouds, sun he hadn't seen for what seemed forever. If only he dared to fly to her like Thorliff had come to him. Or she would run to meet him. Instead, she stood waiting, her forehead wrinkled as if in doubt.

"What are you waiting for, woman?" He spread his arms and braced his feet.

She hesitated, then skirts aflying, she ran and threw herself at his chest. With both arms around his neck, she clasped him to her as if he might let go. When she raised her tear-stained face to his, he kissed her with all the warmth and passion he'd been storing since they met.

When she pulled away, she noticed Lars standing a few steps away, a grin on his face that said he'd probably tease her about this unseemly public display of affection for the rest of her natural life and beyond. She buried her face in Haakan's broad shirt front, the heat of the blush scorching his chest.

"I cannot believe I acted the hussy like that." She muttered the words into his third button.

"It's okay. Lars and Kaaren, they gave us their blessing, remember?"

"Ja, but-"

"But nothing. I am not so proud I cannot kiss my wife-to-be in front of our family. Now, I promise to behave in public, but Lars and that grinning son of yours are not the public." He dropped a kiss on the end of her nose and tucked her next to his side, an arm over her shoulders as if afraid she might step away.

He bent over and picked up the paper-wrapped package that had fallen to the dirt in Thorliff's onslaught. "I have a present here for you." He handed her the bundle. "Careful."

Ingeborg flinched when something stabbed her finger. "Ouch."

"I warned you."

"Ja, but not soon enough." She looked from him to the packet and back again.

"Open it, Mor. Open it!" Thorliff fairly danced beside her.

"Thorliff, run to the barn and get a shovel." Haakan took back the package Ingeborg hadn't begun to unwrap yet, and with his jackknife he cut the string.