Sophie's Dilemma (44 page)

‘‘We’ll take care of that.’’ Grace brought the brush and comb from the top of the chest of drawers. ‘‘Can you sit up more?’’

‘‘With help.’’

Kaaren and Ingeborg helped her to sit on the edge of the bed with her feet on the stool.

‘‘I don’t have much bend in me. Almost slid off here during the night.’’

‘‘Here, this will be easier.’’ Kaaren brought a chair over and helped Sophie put her feet on that. ‘‘Better?’’

‘‘Yes.’’

Grace knelt behind her and brushed through the long locks, using her fingers to work out some of the tangles.

‘‘Oh, that feels so good.’’ Sophie tipped her head back to make reaching the top of her head easier. ‘‘I just bundled it back in a snood earlier, but that’s not comfortable to lie on.’’

‘‘How about we braid it?’’ Kaaren drew up the rocking chair and sat down. ‘‘Elizabeth said those two dresses I sewed for you are getting too tight.’’

‘‘I suggested we sew two sheets together. I’m bigger than one of the cows.’’

‘‘I saw an elephant once,’’ Astrid announced as she came through the door. ‘‘Mrs. Sam is making the swizzle. A cow maybe,’’ she said, her grin impish. ‘‘But you’re not as big as an elephant.’’

It felt so good to laugh.

‘‘Sophie,’’ Astrid said, lowering her voice. ‘‘Jonathan Gould has arrived.’’ Her eyes sparkled like there was a story to be told.

Ingeborg and Kaaren both rolled their eyes. ‘‘Just because he is handsome . . .’’ Ingeborg began.

‘‘Well mannered. . . .’’ added Kaaren.

‘‘And has a charming New York accent . . .’’ Astrid piped in.

‘‘Are those any reasons for all the girls to swoon over him?’’ Inge-borg finished.

‘‘I didn’t swoon.’’ Astrid insisted, frowning at her mother.

‘‘All right. We exaggerated a teensy bit. But it was fun to watch.’’

Grace finished braiding Sophie’s hair and tied a ribbon on the end of the braid. She sat beside Sophie on the bed. ‘‘Jonathan says he is looking forward to his summer here in Blessing.’’

‘‘Wait until he gets up to milk tomorrow morning.’’ Astrid plumped up the pillows and set them back against the headboard. Then she climbed up to sit against them. ‘‘Can we bring you books or anything?’’

Sophie shrugged. ‘‘If I can work on these baby things, that will take me plenty of time.’’

‘‘Do you remember how to thread a needle?’’

Ah, Astrid was quick. Sophie grabbed a pillow and thumped her cousin while Grace and the others chuckled. ‘‘I’ll have you know I sat still long enough to read the paper here, and I read one in Seattle.’’

‘‘One or once?’’ This time it was Grace, a slight smile sneaking over her lovely face.

Mrs. Sam carried in a tray holding a tall pitcher and glasses with ice. She set the tray down, poured the glasses full, and handed them around. ‘‘Congratulations to the both of you,’’ she told the girls. ‘‘You all growed up now.’’

When Mrs. Sam left the others filled Sophie in on all the doings she’d missed hearing about, including the rebuilding of the flour mill and a letter Elizabeth had received from the woman who had been interested in building a hospital in Blessing.

‘‘She is still pursuing the idea, she wrote, and is looking for investors.’’ Ingeborg’s fingers kept up her knitting.

‘‘Blessing would be blessed with a hospital,’’ Sophie said.

When Sophie began to yawn moments later, Ingeborg put her knitting away. ‘‘It is time for us to be on our way home. I’ve been thinking.

Perhaps we should have the men build a place for you to lie down out on the back porch. That way you could enjoy the breeze and not feel so cooped in. Pad it with quilts, a feather bed. Make something easy for you to get on and off.’’

Later, reminiscing about the wonderful visit and rejoicing that she had people who cared about her, Sophie thought about Ingeborg’s idea. ‘‘A bed to roll the cow off and on.’’ She giggled, her words getting wispier. ‘‘But not as big as an elephant. So there.’’ Sophie was almost asleep when the thought hit her. She’d not told Grace about Garth’s proposal.

37

T
HE NEXT MORNING, thanks to Grace’s help, Sophie was sitting on the back porch next to Grace with her hair combed, face washed, and wearing the blue calico dress with new inserts in the sides so it was comfortable when a knock came at the door. Her heart leaped. The knock sounded male. So Garth had not abandoned her. ‘‘Come on out.’’

‘‘Pardon me, but I would like to meet the other Mrs. Bjorklund before I leave.’’

The deep voice was like none she knew.
Oh, do I look all right? How
can I look all right?
She trapped her dithering and put a smile on her face. ‘‘Mr. Gould, come join us.’’

‘‘Thank you.’’ He stepped through the door and tipped his head. ‘‘I couldn’t leave without meeting you, and now I’ve met all the family.’’ He nodded to Grace, acknowledging her too.

Crossing the porch, he stopped at Sophie’s side and held out a box wrapped in white with a yellow bow. ‘‘This is for you.’’

‘‘Why, thank you.’’ She smiled up at him, noticing that his silver hair was set off by dark eyes. ‘‘You look just like I imagined. Tante Ingeborg has told us the story of meeting you so often. Please, have a seat.’’

‘‘I cannot stay long. I have a train to catch. I want to thank you for your hospitality and commend you for your fine establishment.’’

‘‘This is all thanks to Grandma Bridget. I just run it now. Well, actually, Mrs. Sam runs it. We’d be lost without her.’’

‘‘She is a fine cook. You are fortunate.’’

‘‘I know.’’

‘‘I hear that you dream of traveling.’’

‘‘I always have.’’

‘‘Well, if you travel to New York, we would be honored to have you stay with us. I tried to convince your mother and Ingeborg to come too. They might have new and better memories of the city if they came again.’’

‘‘Thank you for the invitation.’’

‘‘Well, I must be on my way. Thank you again.’’ He held out his hand, and she laid hers in it. He bent over and kissed the back of her hand and then repeated the action with Grace. ‘‘Good-bye, Mrs. Bjork-lund, Miss Knutson.’’

‘‘Good-bye.’’ They watched him leave, the door clicking behind him, then swapped astonished looks. ‘‘I think we should all go to New York,’’ Sophie told Grace.

‘‘Me too.’’

Sophie felt her mouth drop open as she stared at her sister. ‘‘Would you go to New York?’’

‘‘If I went with all of you, yes.’’ Grace fetched the stool and put it in front of her sister. ‘‘Put your feet up.’’

Would wonders never cease? Sophie thought a bit more. Garth had said if she wanted to have adventures first before she made up her mind to marry him, it was all right with him. Perhaps a trip to New York would be a good way to start. Remembering how she’d felt when he didn’t come back from Minneapolis as soon as he’d said made her wonder. And sigh. So many decisions to make.

Two weeks later Sophie woke in the middle of the night frantically trying to decide whether to throw up or to scream for the pain knifing into her back. It rolled around to her front as she heaved into the washbasin. When she finished, she wiped her face with a cloth dipped in the water pitcher and returned to the side of her bed, debating if she should ring her bell or just go back to sleep. Lily Mae had spent the night on a cot in the kitchen, hadn’t she?

She wiped the back of her neck with the cooling cloth and drizzled some of the water down her front. Feeling restless she made her way to the window and let the breeze flow over her. Had one of the babies kicked her wrong, or what had happened? When she turned back to the bed, her stomach roiled again, and she staggered back to the basin.
But I’ve nothing left in my stomach
, she thought as nothing came up. She’d not felt like eating supper, so hadn’t. Was that the problem? She was hungry? No, hunger wasn’t it. The knife struck her in the back again. She stumbled to the bell and rang it, then opened the door and rang it again. Please, Lily Mae, hear this.

She leaned against the doorjamb, waiting for the pain to subside as it had before. When it did, she heard feet pounding down the stairs. Garth burst into the hallway.

‘‘What is it? What’s wrong?’’

Never had she been happier to see someone. ‘‘I don’t know, but I need Lily Mae or Mrs. Sam or Dr. Elizabeth.’’

‘‘I’ll get her. You sit down, lie down, however you can be most comfortable.’’ He charged across the vestibule and through the dining room. She could hear his shoes thumping on the floor all the way. Panting now, she leaned against the wall.

When the pain came for the third time, just as Garth got back to her, she knew she’d better see the doctor. Something was terribly wrong.

‘‘Go for Dr. Elizabeth.’’

‘‘I think we better get you over there.’’

‘‘I can’t walk that far.’’

Garth paused for a moment. ‘‘Can you sit in the chair?’’

‘‘I guess so.’’

‘‘Fine. I’ll get one of the men and we’ll carry you.’’

‘‘But I can’t . . .’’ She might as well have saved her breath. He was now taking the stairs two at a time.

‘‘What do I do?’’ Lily Mae asked, her eyes wide in the lamplight she’d brought with her.

‘‘Go tell Dr. Elizabeth we are coming over there.’’

Nightdress flapping about her dark legs, Lily Mae ran out the door.

The men Garth recruited—four instead of two—must have leaped into their clothes as they came flying down the stairs.

‘‘All right, Sophie, skip the chair. You lie down on the bed, and we’ll carry you by the corners of the sheets.’’

‘‘I-I can’t.’’ She gripped the doorjamb and let the pain roll over and around her.

‘‘Then sit on the edge of the bed and we’ll do the rest.’’ They entered the room, all of them trying to be mannerly and not look directly at her. They loosened the sheets and, as Sophie sat down, bunched them up around her. On the count of three, they lifted. She let her head fall back and tried to relax as they jostled their way through the bedroom door, the hall door, and finally out the front door and down the steps.

‘‘All right, in step will make it easier on her. Right foot, left.’’

Already beginning to puff, they marched up the street and down the block to the doctor’s house, the full moon throwing their shadows ahead of them.

‘‘Thank you,’’ Sophie said to all of them as they mounted the ramp to the surgery.

Thorliff pushed open the door and held it.

‘‘In here,’’ Elizabeth called. She stood by a narrow birthing bed.

‘‘On the count of three now.’’

With great care they laid the sheets and their cargo in the center of the bed.

Sophie grabbed Garth’s hand and dug in as another wave rolled over her. She gritted her teeth, fighting to not moan, and when it passed, she collapsed back against the bed.

‘‘Sophie, if we can get you up and walking, this will be easier.’’

‘‘Are . . . the . . . babies coming?’’

‘‘Looks like it.’’ Elizabeth listened to the heartbeats and palpitated the abdomen. ‘‘Sorry, Mr. Wiste. I forgot you were here. You want to wait outside? Or you could return to your bed. I’m sure this will be long hours from now.’’

‘‘Could I be of assistance in helping her walk?’’

‘‘We can get Thorliff—’’ ‘‘Would it offend anyone if I stayed to help?’’

‘‘Not anyone here. Sophie?’’

‘‘Is it going to get worse?’’

‘‘Oh yes.’’

‘‘Will it make Mrs. Valders shriek?’’

‘‘Oh yes.’’

‘‘Good, then stay.’’

With all of them laughing, they got her back up and her feet moving. They staggered up and down the hall, into the kitchen and out onto the back porch, where they sat Sophie on a bench to let her rest for a bit. When the sun burned its way loose from the horizon, her water broke, leaking down her legs and onto the porch floor.

‘‘Well, this was as good a location as any for that to take place. Now don’t be embarrassed, Sophie. Things will really begin to happen now.’’

‘‘You don’t call all this happening?’’ Sophie leaned into Garth’s side, her hand locked on his wrist.

‘‘You are doing wonderfully for a first-time birthing.’’

‘‘These two are in a hurry to come into the world.’’ She could feel another contraction coming. ‘‘Here we go again.’’

‘‘Okay, let’s walk.’’

They paced, half carrying and half dragging Sophie for another hour until Elizabeth finally said, ‘‘Let’s get her back to the bed. Now is when you can really be a help, or I’ll ask Lily Mae to come back.’’

‘‘You don’t need to ask anyone. I’m here.’’ Kaaren stopped in the hall. ‘‘Why didn’t you send someone for me earlier?’’

‘‘For us,’’ Ingeborg said from right behind her.

‘‘I knew there was nothing you could do up until now,’’ Sophie said.

‘‘We could have been praying.’’

‘‘You’re right,’’ Sophie said. ‘‘I’m sorry but glad Thorliff took it upon himself to do what was right. I am really glad you are here. Mr. Wiste, thank you for your help.’’

‘‘If you can’t call me Garth by now . . .’’ He squeezed Sophie’s hand. ‘‘I’ll be out on the porch. If you need me, let me know.’’

Sophie nodded and clamped her hands on the sides of the bed, her teeth gritted so hard her jaw was screaming too.

‘‘I’ll get behind her.’’ Kaaren waited while Elizabeth and Ingeborg held Sophie up, then Kaaren took her place, braced against the headboard, and eased her daughter back. ‘‘Now, you push against me, for when you are half sitting, the baby comes more easily.’’