A Heart for Home

by Lauraine Snelling

  Glancing up when the doorway darkened, Astrid saw the chief observing their work. Without a word he turned and left. While he had not been frowning, he’d not shown any pleasure either. Didn’t he care if his people lived or died?

  5

  BLESSING , NORTH DAKOTA

  “Grandma!”

  Ingeborg turned from the screen door at the insistent voice. “What is it, Emmy?”

  “Can I go to Inga’s house?”

  “Let me telephone Dr. Elizabeth and see if it is all right.” Grateful for the distraction, Ingeborg picked up the receiver to hear Gerald’s familiar voice.

  “What can I do for you, Mrs. Bjorklund?”

  “Thorliff’s, please. How’s Benny doing?”

  “Our Benny is so excited about that baby coming that he hates to leave Rebecca by herself, afraid he might miss the big event.”

  Ingeborg chuckled. Benny had come to Blessing last winter, after he’d become a patient of Astrid’s in Chicago due to an accident that cost him his legs above the knees. Gerald Valders and his wife, Rebecca, had gone to Chicago to get the little boy and bring him to a forever home. Everybody loved Benny, and he reciprocated with absolute joy.

  “I’ll ring for you. Have you heard anything from Haakan and the rest?”

  “No, and the time is stretching worse than during harvest.”

  “You want Benny to come cheer you up?”

  “If Emmy goes to Thorliff’s, Benny could maybe go too.”

  “Why don’t you come too and bring them all over for sodas? My wife has some new syrups she’s experimenting with.”

  Ingeborg loved the way Gerald said My wife. “This is sounding better all the time. Thank you.”

  “I’ll tell Rebecca you are coming. Make it a party. I’ll ring for you.”

  Ingeborg hummed to herself while waiting for someone to pick up the phone. When the housekeeper, Thelma, answered, they chatted for a bit before she asked to talk with Elizabeth.

  “I’ll get her for you.”

  “Is she far from the telephone?”

  “No. She and Inga are reading on the back porch.”

  Hmm, must not have any patients, Ingeborg thought. That is wonderful. Elizabeth needs the rest. “Good morning. Am I to understand things are slow at the surgery?” she asked her daughter-in-law.

  “They are, so I put up a sign that says Emergencies Only. You would be proud of me. I have a cushion behind my back and my feet up, and Inga is fetching for me.”

  “Would you like some company?”

  “If you mean Emmy, yes. If you mean both of you, I will force myself and my darling daughter to not dance around the porch but wait patiently for your arrival. Oh, Ingeborg, I am thrilled.”

  “Well, that certainly settles that matter. I think we will walk rather than hitching up the buggy, so we should be there soon. Can I bring anything?”

  “Just yourselves. Bye.”

  I forgot to tell her we are invited for sodas. She turned to Emmy.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Both you and me?”

  “Ja, both.”

  Emmy spun in a circle and clapped her hands. “Get sunbonnets?”

  “Ja. But we will wear the straw hats. We shall dress up today. Do you need a clean pinafore?”

  Emmy looked down the front of her white ruffled pinafore, flew to the sink for the dishcloth, and scrubbed at a spot. “No, all better now.”

  Ingeborg hung her apron on the hook by the door, placed a wide-brimmed straw hat on her head, and handed a smaller version to Emmy. She leaned down to tie the bow under the little girl’s chin, then kissed the tip of her finger and planted the kiss on Emmy’s button nose. After banking the stove, she shut the door behind them, and they walked down the lane. Crossing the fields would be quicker, but then they’d have to go through the barbed wire fences of the pasture for the dairy cows. With a happy smile, Emmy took her hand. This little one had changed so much in the months since they’d found her nearly frozen to death in the barn. For months she’d not spoken a word or smiled, but she had watched every move they made and copied what she could. Ingeborg felt like scooping her up and twirling around, covering her cheeks with kisses. Thank you, Father, thank you. Had she been remiss these last few days in sending up her bursts of gratitude? Perhaps that was why she was feeling Haakan’s absence so acutely.

  “Grandma.” Emmy stopped and pointed at a perfect spider web, still dew bedecked in the shaded portion. The sun reflected through one perfect droplet, a dazzling rainbow. “Ooh.” Emmy squatted, her pinafore touching the dust, and reached one finger to almost touch the droplet before pulling back.

  Ingeborg felt doubly blessed, first by the beauty for her own eyes and also for the delight of her little sort-of-adopted daughter. A bumblebee buzzed by, bounced off the spider web, setting it aquiver, and continued on its bumbling way.

  Emmy giggled and watched his flight, then stood and took Ingeborg’s hand again. “Go see Inga.” She added a little skip to their strides.

  When they got to town, they saw Inga swinging on the garden gate, and as soon as she saw them, she jumped off and pelted down the street, her little dog yipping beside her. The two little girls hugged and danced, chattering like the house finches in the cottonwood tree at home. They each took one of her hands and pulled her faster toward the grand two-story house ahead. Other than the boardinghouse, the Bjorklund home was the largest in town to accommodate the needed room for the surgery.

  “Grandma, we have kittens,” Inga told her, dancing in place. “Out in the horse barn. Scooter chased her off the porch.”

  “She tried to have her kittens on the porch?”

  “Uh-huh. In a basket by the swing, where Ma kept her papers to read.”

  “I see. How many kittens?”

  Inga held up her hand with a scratch on the back. “I don’t know. She wouldn’t let me see. My scratch bleeded.”

  “When was this?”

  “Two days ago. Did you know kittens can’t see?”

  “Dog babies either,” Emmy put in.

  Ingeborg was constantly surprised at the things Emmy knew and then disgusted at her surprise. Thanks to Metiz, she knew that the Sioux tribes had great funds of knowledge of the natural world. Her old half-blood friend had shared so much with them, thus making their early years on the prairie far more comfortable than many other settlements.

  “Ingeborg, I am so glad to see you,” Dr. Elizabeth called from the porch. “What a treat.”

  “And no patients?”

  “Not a one. Only three yesterday. It’s like God is giving me time to recuperate, yet be here for those in need. We have Sophie’s baby due in September. She says she’s already as big as a house, then laughs and compares herself to carrying the twins.” While the two girls darted off to the barn to try to catch sight of the kittens, Ingeborg climbed the three steps and hugged her daughter-in-law.

  “You look the healthiest I’ve seen in too long a time.”

  “I know.” Elizabeth locked her arm through Ingeborg’s and led the way to the padded chairs set around a glass-topped table. “Thelma has been cooking up a storm since you called, and if I know her, she will bring out the coffee as soon as it is ready.”

  Ingeborg sat down and inhaled deeply. “Cinnamon, for sure.”

  “Inga showed you her badge of honor?”

  “She did, and if the girls are not careful, they will probably sport more. Whose cat is it?”

  “I think she belongs to the boardinghouse. There’s probably too much coming and going for her over there. I’ll let Mrs. Sam know one of these days.”

  “You know Inga is going to want to keep all the kittens.”

  “Too bad. She has her dog, Scooter, and Mr. Tom, who lives here outside. He is probably the father of half the kittens in town.”

  “That Scooter follows her everywhere.”

  “I know. He hears me call sooner than she does. She was over playing at Sophie’s, and when I called, he yipped at
her and headed for the gate. She got the idea.”

  “A child watchdog. Paws used to watch out for the children too. Andrew needs to find a dog like that for Carl. If you hear of one, let me know.”

  Ingeborg glanced up at the ceiling, following the flight of a sparrow. A nest up in the corner housed three open beaks. Bits of dried grass and white splotches decorated the porch floor. She smiled and glanced at Elizabeth, who was shaking her head. “Inga is enthralled with all creatures young. Thorliff put the board across there just for this purpose. They are above the level of the feline hunters this way. The birdbath is out in the center of the yard so the birds can see the cats coming. You should have heard the scolding Mr. Tom received when he brought a dead bird in and left it for me.”

  “He likes you.”

  “I know. It’s really thrilling when a cat brings you gifts. One of the mice was still alive one time. Mice have never been my favorite creatures. Since we got Tom, though, we’ve never had mice in the house. Thelma used to use the broom on them, along with traps.”

  “You are talking about me?” Thelma set a tray down on the low round table and handed each of them a cup of coffee. “Dinner will be ready at noon. Out here?”

  “Please. This is too perfect to waste.” Elizabeth motioned around the porch. “We need to enjoy it as much as possible before the flies get bad.”

  The girls came running across the yard and pounded up the steps. “There are three kittens!” Inga held up three fingers. “We saw them drinking.”

  “Nursing.” Elizabeth always tried to make sure her daughter used the proper words.

  Inga stopped and Emmy plowed into her. “Nursing? They’re not sick.”

  Ingeborg rolled her lips together to trap her laughter. Leave it to Inga to question and put her mother on the spot.

  Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “That’s what they call it when babies of all kinds suck milk from the mother. Babies nurse. And yes, we call women who assist doctors nurses too. And no, I do not know why.”

  “Can we have a cookie?”

  “May we?”

  “You already have one.” Now it was Inga’s turn to roll her eyes. “Oh, all right. May we have cookies?”

  “You may have one each.”

  Inga looked at Emmy, and they giggled, chose a cookie, and ran to sit on the steps to eat.

  “Mr. Jeffers is bringing his mother here on today’s train. Sophie is already planning to have a tea to introduce her to the women of the town. I hope he is doing the best thing for her, since she is still mourning the death of her husband. Daniel was so concerned about her and yet wanting and needing to stay here to oversee the building of the factory to produce the new part for the seeders.”

  “But since Mrs. Jeffers is in mourning, if she is really proper, a tea might not be a good idea.”

  “You know Sophie. She’ll figure out a way around that.” Elizabeth thought a moment. “I am glad we here in Blessing aren’t as dogmatic over some of the traditions as other places.”

  “Me too.”

  By the time they finished dinner, Elizabeth chose to take a nap, and Inga accompanied Emmy and Ingeborg to the Blessing Soda Shoppe. Benny was waiting for them on the boardwalk that Gerald had made wider so tables could be set outside in the summer. He had built a high counter along the window with stools for people who wanted to sit there and had painted all the tables red and white.

  “You came, you came,” Benny shouted, waving his arms. “Ma, Inga’s here and Emmy and Dr. B’s ma.”

  “You mean Mrs. Bjorklund,” Rebecca remonstrated as she met them at the door.

  “That’s what I said. She’s Dr. B’s ma.” He grinned up at Ingeborg.

  “Okay?”

  “We call her Grandma, and you can too,” Inga told him. “She’s a good grandma.”

  Benny cocked his head to the side, curls bouncing as he did so. “I never had a grandma before I came here. Now I can have two?”

  Ingeborg bent down and kissed the top of his head. “What kind of soda should we order?”

  “Strawberry is best. Pa says chocolate is real good too.”

  “I say you should try some of my experimental flavors.” Rebecca stepped back for them to enter. The inside was bright with red and white, like the tables.

  “This is such a cheery place,” Ingeborg said with a smile. “I need to come here more often.”

  “Me too,” added Emmy, which made them all giggle.

  Rebecca prepared a number of samples for her guests.

  “I think I like raspberry-chocolate best,” Ingeborg said after tasting several syrups. “Although that caramel is delicious too.”

  Rebecca stretched and patted the small mound under her apron. “At least I feel good again. Makes me think about Ma having babies.”

  “I remember when you were born – your mother thought you would never come.”

  “I wish she were here. Guess I’ve been missing her more than ever lately, all because of this little one.”

  “We all miss Agnes,” Ingeborg said, reaching across the counter to squeeze Rebecca’s hand.

  Setting the glasses on the work top, Rebecca got each of their requests and made their sodas, the girls’ eyes growing rounder as they watched the sodas fizz. Each of them carried a glass outside and sat at a table. Benny followed on his scooter. Rebecca shook her head when Ingeborg got out her money but gave in at her insistence.

  When they were all seated outside, they heard the whistle of the westbound train. Mrs. Valders left the post office with the mailbag for the train and waved at them.

  As they heard the train pull into the station, Benny bounced in his scooter. “I came on the train. I came on the train.” His little chant made the women smile.

  “I should go greet Mrs. Jeffers,” Ingeborg said. “You all stay right here, and I’ll be back.” She got up, then looked at Inga. “And don’t you go drinking Grandma’s soda,” she warned, setting both girls to giggling again.

  Mr. Jeffers and the conductor were just helping a black-clad woman down the steps of the train. With her veil in place, she looked the picture of a mourner, and the way she clung to her son’s arm expressed how weary she was.

  Or weak, was Ingeborg’s first thought. She crossed the wideplanked platform and smiled back at young Mr. Jeffers.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Bjorklund. Thank you for coming. Mother, this is the woman I’ve told you about. Thorliff’s mother.”

  Ingeborg gave a little bow of her head. “I am pleased to meet you, Mrs. Jeffers, and to welcome you to Blessing.”

  Mrs. Jeffers bowed also. “I am glad to meet you and to thank you for the welcome you have given my son. He speaks so highly of all of you and of this town.”

  While the voice sounded tired, it was firm. “We are all looking forward to welcoming you here. I hope you find the boardinghouse to be comfortable. I can assure you the food is very good and the people caring.”

  “She is so right in that, Mother. Our luggage will be delivered later. Can you walk that far or . . . ?”

  “Yes, I can walk. Thank you for coming to meet me, Mrs. Bjorklund. Such a friendly thing to do.” She gave a small nod and turned with her son to walk slowly across the platform.

  For a moment Ingeborg watched them go and then returned the way she had come. Perhaps a tonic would help Mrs. Jeffers feel better. That and plenty of sleep. Back at the soda shop, she visited with Rebecca for a while after she finished drinking her soda and then called the girls to return to Elizabeth’s. “Would you two like to go ask Mrs. Valders for our mail? Get Andrew’s and Tante Kaaren’s too.”

  Hand in hand the two bounced up the steps, blond braids and black ones slapping their backs. A thought of Joshua Landsverk slid through her mind. If only he could accept the Indians like these two little ones, who’ d become such fast friends. One of these days maybe he will tell me his story. Please, Lord, help him heal. Especially if he still dreams of marrying Astrid, like he said. She shook her head. Somehow she felt that m
ight no longer even be a possibility, knowing her daughter.

  “You could stay for supper,” Elizabeth said a bit later.

  “No, I think we’ll head on home, thank you. And yes, Inga, you can come tomorrow. I’ll make sure and invite Carl too.”

  “Can we go fishing again?”

  “I don’t know why not. Invite your pa to come fishing with us. He hasn’t been for a long time.”

  “I’ll suggest that to him,” Elizabeth said. “He’s printing the paper now, so tomorrow will be his day to take some time away.”

  “Or to sleep.”

  Emmy skipped beside her, stopping to sniff some blue bachelor’s buttons and pick two clover heads, handing one to Ingeborg so they could suck the honey out of the tiny florets. She commented on some of the things she and Inga had done. “I liked the kittens.”

  After stopping to pick another flower, Emmy said, “Can we have one?”

  Ingeborg was not surprised. She’d been expecting Inga to offer one. “We’ll see.” As they neared the house, they could see someone sitting on the steps. Emmy recognized him first, sent Ingeborg an unreadable glance, and ran ahead to greet the older man who Ingeborg assumed was her uncle. He stood as Ingeborg came up to him and nodded.

  “Welcome,” Ingeborg said around the lump in her throat. Please don’t take Emmy. Lord, please. You know how I love her.

  “She come.” He tapped his chest. “Me.”

  “Emmy, can you tell me this man’s name?”

  Emmy said two Indian words and then translated. “He my mother’s brother. . . .” She squinted. “Wolf Runs.”

  “Wolf Runs, I thank you for leaving Emmy with us.” Ingeborg spoke slowly in the hopes that he understood more than he spoke.

  “Em-my?”

  “I don’t know her Lakota name.”

  He spoke again, in Lakota.

  “Little Sky,” Emmy said, staring at the ground. “I go with him.”