A New Day Rising (43 page)

"Looks to me like he sold you right well." Lars walked around the wagon to help Kaaren down. Turning to Ingeborg, he asked, "You got supper ready? I could eat a mule."

"Onkel Lars," Thorliff protested.

"Not Jack, some other tough old thing."

"Ja, I will just warm it up some. How did it go at the Bonanza farm?"

"They wish we'd come more often is all." Kaaren reached in the wagon bed and lifted out a package. "Mrs. Carlson was right surprised to get your message, but she sent you her blessings. Said you deserved whatever happiness the good Lord had in store for you."

Ingeborg started to reach in to help with the unloading, but Haakan shooed her and Kaaren away. "You go on in and get that supper on the table. We'll take care of this."

"I don't know," Kaaren said in answer to Ingeborg's questioning look. "But, Inge, wait till you see what we bought. Four metal milk buckets, so shiny you can see your face in them, and a separator for the cream. No more skimming the pans for us. The cheese and butter will go much faster now.

"And for you, my little pumpkin"-she grabbed Andrew's hands and danced him in a circle-"we brought-"

"No, don't tell him. Let him open the package," Lars interrupted.

She handed a flat parcel-to- Thorliff. "Use this with our love."

Thorliff carefully untied the string and unwrapped the paper. Both were far too precious to waste. His eyes widened into circles. "Oh, Tante Kaaren, Onkel Lars, mange takk, mange takk." He sank down on a chair, caressing the tablet of lined writing paper. Two pencils were tied to the tablet.

"So you can save your writings, Thorliff. Someday we will all be proud of what you write, and I want to be able to look back and see where I helped you get better." She sat down beside him. "I think if you write on the slate first, and when the writing is the best you can make it, then you can copy your work to the paper."

Andrew reached up a grubby hand to grab the treasure. "Me see."

"No!" At the baby's crestfallen look, Thorliff held his precious tablet down to be seen. "But do not touch. This is not for Andrew."

"But this is." Kaaren handed the child a round wrapped parcel. She helped him untie the string and unwrap the red object. "This is a ball." She showed him how it bounced on the floor. Andrew crowed in delight and tried to grab the bouncing toy. It skittered away from him and away he went after it.

"That should keep him occupied for a while." Lars took a chair at the table. He propped his foot up on his knee and sighed. "Sure is good to be home."

Ingeborg dished up plates of venison stew and slices of bread and set them before the travelers. Just as she finished pouring the coffee, Haakan came through the door. "I can't seem to pry Hjelmer away from the plows, but I guess the rest of us can have a party." He set a package before each of them. "We'll just call these wedding presents."

"For all of us?" Lars stopped the forkful of food halfway to his mouth. "You got it wrong, man. For weddings the groom gets gifts. He doesn't give them."

"Ja, well, I've never been one to follow conventions." He waved his hands. "Open them. Children first."

Andrew was so busy chasing his ball, he ignored the goings on, but Thorliff, eyes sparkling, carefully unwrapped yet a second present. "Books." He looked up at the man leaning against the wall. "Three books. Mor, look, I never had three new books before." He opened one and sniffed the pages. "Wait till Baptiste sees these. And they smell so good." He sniffed again and held the book to his mother.

Andrew came to his mother's knee and dutifully stuck his nose on the page, but Thorliff removed the book quickly. Andrew still hadn't gotten down the idea of sniffing, but he did understand blowing. Haakan took Andrew's hand and led him outside. When they returned, the little boy was riding in a red wagon.

"Merciful heavens, you must have spent a fortune." ingeborg sank back in her chair.

"A man gets married to a woman like you with two fine strapping sons only once in his life. I want us all to remember it."

"I'm sure we will."

"Open yours." Haakan pulled the wagon around the table, bumping into chair legs, which only made Andrew bounce and crow more.

Ingeborg followed Thorliff's care in unwrapping the package. She laid the paper flat on the table, the folded garment in the middle. "A dress! It ... it's beautiful."

"I hope it fits. The lady said that since you was such a good seamstress, you could take it in if you had to." Haakan stopped behind her. "You'll look lovely in it, I know." - - - - - - - - -- - - -- - - -

Ingeborg raised the dress by the shoulders and held the lovely rose-colored garment to her. The lace at the oval neckline and at the hems of the short sleeves felt rich beneath her fingers.

"I was right." Haakan's voice cracked on the words, and Ingeborg felt the familiar warmth curl around her heart once again.

"Man, those plows are the best thing that-" Hjelmer burst through the door. "Oh! Well shoot, if that's going to be your wedding dress, you'll do us all some proud. Sorry for bustin' in like that."

"I brought you a gift, too." Haakan handed the young man a package.

Hjelmer hefted it and cocked his head sideways just a bit. "It's heavy enough I wouldn't want to drop it on my toe."

"Open it!" Thorliff demanded, looking up from his book.

Hjelmer did as instructed, being as careful of the string and paper as everyone else. He held up a vise, the pleasure cracking his face wide. "I've sure needed one of these." He stroked the length of metal. "That'll help when I have to make new parts for them fancy plows out there."

"The man at the machinery store said they'd always carry replacement parts."

"Ja, well, Grand Forks is a mite far to go when the plow breaks down. Unless you plan to keep a full set of extras here, I'll plan on using this to make and repair the old ones." He saluted Ingeborg. "Just the beginning, right?"

She nodded.

"Hey, I did as you asked," Lars said to Haakan when they were ready to leave.

"And?"

"Pastor will be downright happy to marry up the two of you a week from Saturday."

Ingeborg felt her stomach bounce somewhere down about her knees. Nine days till the wedding.

"Lars and I have a gift for you, but you have to agree to it in advance." Kaaren smoothed the papers in front of her.

Lars nodded at the look Haakan gave him. They all focused on Ingeborg.

"We want you and Haakan to take a wedding trip. Now I know it won't be long and far, but we will keep the boys, and between Lars and Hjelmer, the fieldwork will continue." When Ingeborg tried to say something, Kaaren held up her hand. "Now just quit shaking your head, Inge. You are going on a wedding trip, and that's final."

"You make a mighty forceful schoolmarm when you talk like that." Ingeborg took in and released a deep breath. "I take it we all agree on where we will be going?" They all nodded.

"Well, if we don't come back with more machinery and livestock, it won't be for not trying. Grand Forks, here we come!"

But as the days passed, Ingeborg developed what Kaaren called the pre-wedding jitters or a near terminal case of cold feet. She came up with a thousand reasons why they should wait, or not get married at all. Sometimes she couldn't figure out which side she argued on. Instead of smiling and laughing like she had been, she wore a frown that sent even Paws scurrying. She attacked the soddy like a general on a mission. Death to dirt. Unless, of course, it was on the walls or what fell sometimes from the ceiling. Outside, it was death to weeds, and all in the garden fell before the onslaught of her hoe.

When Haakan tried to reassure her, she slumped against his chest, then straightened her spine and shoved upright. "I know, I will be fine when ..." Her voice trailed off.

"When what?"

When she rested her weary head in her hands, Haakan kissed the nape of her neck and held her close. "Not to worry, my dear. As you've said, the waiting is always worse than the doing."

"Or the not doing."

On Sunday, church was held at one of the neighbor's, and Haakan announced that everyone was invited to the wedding the next Saturday in St. Andrew.

Ingeborg tried to smile, but knew it had been a miserable mistake. Accepting everyone's congratulations and best wishes felt like the first stages of labor. Painful.

On Tuesday she donned her britches and went hunting. When she'd taken up her favorite place by the game trail, she rested her chin on her hands and closed her eyes. "Father, God," she whispered, "why am I so afraid? I would rather meet a wild wolf than feel this way. Is it fear? Is it-what is it? What's wrong with me? I know I love Haakan, and I believe he loves me. I should be rejoicing, yet I'm like a bear whose paw is caught in a trap. What is wrong?" The deer started and bounded back the way they'd come, crashing into the brush.

She jerked upright. She saw their rumps going away. Today she couldn't even hunt right!

On the way home, she shot at a grouse and missed. At this rate they'd have to have beans for their wedding party.

She slumped down against a tree, too tired, too frustrated to go any farther. A shadow off to the right caught her attention. Wolf had slipped into the clearing and sat at the base of another tree.

"We're a pair, you and 1. If you were hoping for a handout, I missed."

He whined and lay down.

"You'd fare better on your own. There are plenty of rabbits, but I probably couldn't even hit one of them."

He rested his muzzle on his paws, his yellow eyes unblinking.

"If it isn't fear of being married, what is it?" The tip of his tail wagged.

"I was afraid of you and look what it got me-a crack on the noggin and the loss of a baby. That's what fear does for you."

"Well, I'm not going to be afraid anymore. If something happens to Haakan, I'll just keep on going. God won't leave me." She stopped. That's what was frightening her: those terrible losses and the depth of despair afterward. She let the tears flow. "Can I do that again, God? Would you ask that?"

She raised tear-stained cheeks and looked up at the blue sky peeking between the leaves of the oak above her. A verse trickled through her mind like sweet water in a dry land. "And lo, I am with you always." She repeated the verse and yet again, each time thinking on a different word. Always was key here. He would be with her always. Always meant that no matter what happened, He would be here.

When she rose to her feet and rested the gun on her shoulder, she looked around. Wolf was gone. The sun slid on its downward trek. Cottonwood leaves whispered in the breeze.

And like the wolf, the fear had faded away, too.

When she got home, Joseph had just driven his team into the yard.

"Got you a letter here from Norway." He held out the envelope.

"Can you stay for a cup of coffee?"

"No, thanks. I need to get on home. See you Saturday."

"Thank you for swinging by." She waved again as he trotted the team and his well-filled wagon out on the lane. With one finger, she slit open the envelope flap, careful not to rip the precious paper. Thorliff would use the inside for some of his lessons.

"My dearest Ingeborg and all our family there. I have sad news to share with you. Gustaf has gone home to be with the Lord. It was his heart. It had been bothering him for some time...." Ingeborg could read no further. She stuffed the letter in her pocket and headed for Kaaren's house. Now there could be no wedding after all.

hat do you mean we won't be getting married next Saturday?" _ Haakan fought to keep his voice calm and level.