Pleased he had remembered this from the days of early summer when they had lain in the dark whispering of such dreams to each other, Anna beamed and turned pleasantly rosy. But she hung back yet, wondering if this meant a reconciliation. The way he gazed at her, the way he stood with the light from the doorway behind him making his hair into a golden halo, the way he reminded her of those whispered secrets from long ago ...
"So, Mrs. Lindstrom," Karl said, "why do you not try out your new door?"
Flustered now, she hastened to do so, saying, "Well, come on in, both of you. I'm
certainly not going to take the latchstring in against my two favorite men, leaving them on the doorstep for the first time!"
Karl and James went inside to join her. James closed the door. Karl raised the bar and dropped it in place. Anna pulled at the latchstring, finger over finger, until a little round ball filled the hole and dropped inside.
"Did you carve this?" she asked Karl, holding the small wooden ball in her fingers. It was so perfectly round!
"No. It is a hazelnut. I promised I would show you a hazelnut."
She smiled mischievously. "But the squirrels will eat it right off the string."
"The squirrels must eat, too. So, let them. I will get another. I have plenty."
She looked up into Karl's face, keeping her own carefully expressionless, yet sincere, as she said, "Yes, Mr. Lindstrom, I believe you do."
James observed the way both Karl and Anna seemed to have forgotten he was there. Suddenly, with high heart, he believed he would have trouble getting Karl away from the clearing, but not for the reason Anna had predicted. He broke into their reverie, suggesting, "Karl, why don't you get that stove stoked up and then we'll go down and have a swim?"
"A swim? When we only just got into the log cabin? A man needs time to get acquainted here first."
"But I'm in kind of a hurry, Karl."
Karl was reluctant to tug his eyes away from Anna, but the boy was persistent. "You are in a hurry? What is it that makes you hurry? All these days we rush to finish the cabin. Now it is done and it is the time to ease up and enjoy it."
"Well, I want to--I got something I need to ask you."
"Ya, well ask then." Anna had turned away and had started fiddling with the stove lids. She'd probably never built a fire in a stove either, Karl thought, seeing what she was doing. So he went to do it.
"Could I take the team down to Johansons by myself?" James asked.
Karl turned around from the stove, genuine surprise on his face. "The team?"
"Yeah ... I ... I wanna go calling on
Nedda."
"Today?"
"Well, yeah ... what's the matter with today?" James had his thumbs hooked in his rear pockets again.
"But this is the day we are going to have our first supper in the cabin. Anna's going to cook on the new stove."
"Today's the first chance you give me to set down, too. We've been working on this cabin practically all summer. And when it wasn't the cabin keeping us busy, it was harvesting or trimming hooves or something else. What else have you got for me to do today?" James sounded genuinely irked.
Anna turned away, smiling at her brother's ingenuity, thinking, good for you, James! You can be a little shyster if you want!
Karl was truly surprised. He hadn't realized the boy had been hankering to get away from the place. If there was one thing Karl was gullible about, it was about James' deserving some time away. Without realizing it, James had tripped upon the weakest spot in the big Swede.
"Why nothing," Karl admitted. "There's nothing for you to do here. We are finished with everything."
"Then why can't I go?" James actually managed to sound persecuted.
"I did not say you could not go."
"Is it the team, Karl? Don't you trust me to take 'em out alone?"
"Sure, I trust you with the team."
"Well, can I take 'em, then?"
"Ya, I suppose you can. But what about supper?"
"I'd just as soon eat with the Johansons if it's all the same to you. That way I can get an early start over there."
"But, Anna was maybe planning something on the new stove."
"No offense, Anna, but if it takes you as long to get used to cooking on the new stove as it did to get used to the fireplace, I'd just as soon eat at Katrene's. Do you mind?"
Anna almost giggled out loud. Here all this time she'd thought her brother had forgotten how to be a little con man, but James was a genius at it!
"No, I don't mind. There'll be other meals at home."
"I don't think Katrene will mind either, and I sure do like her cooking."
To herself, Anna thought, all right, brother, enough is enough!
"I'd like to go as soon as possible, Karl, but first I need to talk to you. I thought maybe you'd come down to the pond with me. I want to clean up before I go, anyway."
"I was not planning on going down to the pond. Could we talk here?"
"I ... I wanted to sort of ... you know, talk man to man."
Bravo! thought Anna.
"Well ... well, sure." Karl looked hesitantly at Anna.
At the look Karl gave her, Anna encouraged, "Listen, you two go. The water is too much for me now. I don't think I could stand getting into it when it's that cold. I'll stay here and play with my new toy," she said, indicating the stove.
Karl could only go along with the boy's request. "Get your clean things, James. We'll go now and you can get to their place before supper, like you want." James climbed the ladder to the loft where his articles were neatly laid out, next to his own rope bed with its new tick of cornhusks.
Downstairs, Karl turned his eyes again to Anna. "I wish you would come with us today, but I think the boy has something on his mind."
He's not the only one, Karl, thought Anna, before she said, "It's his first time going to call on a girl. He's probably nervous and the swim will calm him down a bit. You remember your first time, Karl."
There was something different about Anna today. Something almost provocative as she laid that seemingly innocent reminder on her husband. She merely continued doing little things around the stove while she said it, but at her words Karl certainly did remember his first time, quite vividly. His first time with Anna. The incredible wonder of his first time with Anna.
"Ya, I remember," he said. "I was plenty nervous."
"Tell him that then, Karl, so he'll know he's not the only one to feel that way," Anna said.
At last she looked at him. Was it a challenge in her eye now? The words were spoken in simplicity, but what ulterior meaning was behind them? She was talking about herself and her first time with him, Karl was sure of it. She had kindling in her hands, a look of utter artlessness upon her face. With all this talk, that fire had never been built. That first fire in the stove had never been built.
"I will build the fire before we go," Karl said, breaking the invisible grip that had him clutched by his windpipe. He reached out, and she placed the pieces of kindling in his hand. He turned to build the fire in the stove which he had brought home for his Anna, thinking to her, I will build my fire always for you, Anna. What a fool I have been to keep it banked for so long.
James came clattering down the ladder and crossed to Anna. He put an arm loosely around her shoulders, casually, in a grown-up brotherly way.
"So, you have your stove at last. I just hope it does the trick."
Anna thought, don't you worry, baby brother, it will. I'm sure of it!
When the fire was going strong, the two left the cabin. Karl had carefully refrained from eyeing his wife too much in the presence of the boy. Things had suddenly kindled in himself, things that he was sure would show if he wasn't careful.
She watched them walk across the clearing. When they reached the far side, Anna called, "Karl?"
He turned to see her standing in the open cabin door with a hand shading her eyes.
"Ya, Anna?"
"Would you take a little water with you and water my hop bines as you pass them in the woods?"
He raised his hand--a silent salute of consent--and went to the spring for a pail. Anna knew that the hop bines had already taken root out there in the woods.
Chapter Twenty-One
Anna sprang into action the minute their backs disappeared up the trail to the pond. Her stomach hurt with the old familiar ache of unsureness. Every nerve in her body, every muscle, every fiber wanted this to work. All she could think about was pleasing Karl. How much time did she have? Enough to wait for the water to warm on the stove?
She listened for the first sizzle of the kettle while she put their house in order. She hurried to hang the curtains at the windows on arching willow withes. Next she laid a matching gingham cloth upon the table, then their dishes, knives, mugs. She used precious minutes to pick the wildflowers, running all the way out to the edge of the field where they grew. These she placed in the center of the table in a thick pottery milk pitcher: clusters of Karl's beloved
But time was fleet-footed; the water was warmed now. She bathed, using the fragrant camomile soap for the first time. Then she hurried to don the new dress. Her stubborn hair thwarted her fingers, its willful curls resisting her efforts to bend it to her will. But she persisted with trembling fingers.
When at last both she and the cabin were in order, she gave herself one last look in their tiny mirror. Peeping into it critically, she closed her eyes, feeling the blood raddle her cheeks. She put the mirror down. She pressed both hands upon her stomach, fighting for calm, for reassurance that what she was doing was the right thing. Again doubt assailed her. Suppose Karl was not wooed by her efforts? How could she ever face him again? Suddenly, she thought about James entering the cabin and seeing the evidence of her attempted seduction, and knew she couldn't face him while he took in the curtains, the table, her dress.
When she heard them returning, she hid behind the curtain in the corner. She sat down on the trunk and pulled her feet up off the floor so they wouldn't know she was back there. Agonized, she hugged her knees to her chest, waiting with closed eyes to hear what was said when they first walked in.
James was speaking as they entered. "... because it gets dark earlier these nights, so I'll be sure to start back-“ She didn't need to see him to know that James came up short at the sight of that table. The silence spoke volumes before James said in an awed tone, "Gosh, Karl, look at that!"
Not a word came from Karl. She imagined him, stopped in the doorway, holding his dirty clothes, maybe with a hand on the edge of the new door.
"Flowers, Karl," James said almost reverently, while Anna's heart threatened to choke her. "And the curtains. She hung the curtains."
Still not a word from Karl.
"I thought she was kind of silly to spend all that time on curtains, but they sure look good, don't they?"
"Ya. They sure look good," Karl said at last.
Anna leaned her head against the wall in her little corner, breathing as shallowly as possible so they wouldn't suspect she was there.
"I wonder where she is," James said.
"I ... I guess she is around somewhere."
"I ... I guess she is. Well, I better get my hair combed before I leave."
"Ya, you do that. I will get Belle and Bill harnessed for you."
"You don't need to, Karl. I can do it myself."
"It is all right, boy. I have nothing else to do until Anna gets back from wherever she is."
"Okay, I sure appreciate it."
An eternity passed while James whistled softly through his teeth, going up the ladder, coming back down. When Anna thought she couldn't stand it a minute longer, she heard his footsteps echo across the floor toward the door, then disappear. From outside came their voices again.
"Thanks, Karl."
"Ya, it was nothing. You have harnessed them plenty times for me. It was nothing."
"Well, this might be, too, but here goes."
They laughed together, then Anna heard Karl say, "Just remember what I said." She smiled to herself.
"Now you say hello to Olaf and everybody for Anna and me."
"I will. And don't worry, I'll take good care of Belle and Bill."
"That is one thing I do not worry about. Not any more."
"See you later then, Karl."
"Ya. Have a good time."
"I will. Bye."
Now is the time, thought Anna. Now, while Karl is still outside, I should go out and maybe be waiting by the stove when he comes in. But she couldn't make her limbs move. I've wrinkled my skirt by sitting here hugging my knees too tight, she thought wildly. I should have an apron like Katrene's. Oh, why didn't I think of making an apron?