Wild Heart on the Prairie (A Prairie Heritage, Book 2)

by Vikki Kestell

  Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott,

  Ein gute Wehr und Waffen;

  Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not,

  Die uns jetzt hat betroffen.

  Der alt’ böse Feind,

  Mit Ernst er’s jetzt meint,

  Groß’ Macht und viel List

  Sein’ grausam’ Rüstung ist,

  Auf Erd’ ist nicht seingleichen.

  A mighty fortress is our God,

  a bulwark never failing;

  our helper he amid the flood

  of mortal ills prevailing.

  For still our ancient foe

  doth seek to work us woe;

  his craft and power are great,

  and armed with cruel hate,

  on earth is not his equal.

  Singing the familiar hymn, even with different words, strengthened Elli somehow. She drew a great breath when the song finished and clasped Amalie’s hand. They were both encouraged.

  Elli tapped Heidi on the shoulder and handed the book back to her. “Tusen Takk!” she whispered. Heidi, smiling and full of such good will, clasped Elli’s hand, and Elli beamed in response.

  But Heidi’s companion offered no such welcome. Rather, she turned and stared at Elli. She said nothing, offered no smile, but examined Elli from head to toe. With a small sniff, she turned and sat down, her back straight and rigid. Elli’s smile faded abruptly.

  “Goodness,” she breathed. Amalie looked at Elli and shrugged.

  The minister, the old man with such amazing white brows, then stood before the people with his Bible opened. He read a Scripture and spoke calmly and directly on the passage. Elli and Amalie, again, understood only a few words. They listened as attentively as they could.

  The message lasted an hour. Elli looked down. Kristen was slumped against her side, sleeping soundly. As the congregation rose for the final prayer, Elli smiled and gently woke Kristen, helping her to her feet.

  Kristen involuntarily yawned and Elli smiled again. When she looked up, the woman in front of her was staring as before—but this time she was also frowning her disapproval. She gave another sniff and turned toward the front to pray.

  Elli was disconcerted by the woman’s cold reception. Fortunately, as soon as the prayer ended, Heidi reached for Elli and Amalie, giving them hearty hugs and taking time to touch each of the girls and say something in a kind voice.

  As the service broke for the shared midday meal, the men took up the benches the congregation had been sitting on and carried them outside to where other men were setting up long tables in the yard. Jan and Norvald went to help. Elli saw Karl across the room having a conversation with one of the men.

  Amalie and Elli had brought food to contribute to the meal, Elli a strudel and Amalie two pies. Inge showed them where to put their dishes and was called away.

  The two women stood about, uncomfortable and wishing to help. Elli spied Jan carrying one end of a wooden table. The other men were taking to Jan immediately, Elli saw.

  Lord, Jan is so cheerful and easy to talk to; no one stays a stranger long around my husband, she smiled happily to herself. Soon one or two of the men were joking with Jan and clapping him on the back.

  Karl stepped out on the porch. The man Karl had been speaking to stood next to him. He was not a large man, but he had an air of authority. Unlike the other farmers, he wore a proper suit of clothes and shiny boots, both dark and somber. The man looked around as if to see that the business of setting up the meal was going properly.

  He is very serious looking, Elli thought. The man noticed Jan’s easy interaction with the German men and watched intently. His expression did not change but something about it concerned Elli.

  She was relieved when Jan reclaimed her and took them to sit at one of the tables. Amalie trailed behind with Sigrün and soon Norvald and Inge claimed seats across from them. Søren and Ivan grinned and kicked each other under the table until their mothers intervened.

  Karl slipped into the seat Amalie had saved for him. “Who is that man you were talking to?” Jan asked.

  “Adolphe Veicht. His father is the minister, Tomas Veicht.” Karl pointed to the women bringing food to the tables. “That is his wife, Rakel.” Elli and Amalie looked to where Karl was pointing.

  “Oh, dear,” Elli hardly realized she had spoken aloud. Adolphe Veicht’s wife, Rakel, was the woman who had reproved her with a glance and a sniff. She was dressed as plainly and somberly as her husband.

  “Eh?” Karl asked.

  “It is nothing,” Elli murmured.

  Rakel Veicht was clearly in charge of the women providing the food. Although she spoke few words and made few gestures, she watched with that same cool air of authority Elli had noticed in her husband. Elli shivered.

  “So? Are you cold, wife?” Jan asked, surprised.

  “Nei, husband,” she muttered.

  They ate and chatted as they could with those at the table with them. Elli did not eat much and wished for them to leave as soon as possible.

  When cleanup after the meal began, Elli and Amalie watched the other women don aprons. The Thoresen women had packed aprons in their wagon and immediately followed suit. They stayed close to Inge Bruntrüllsen, helping wherever she was working.

  Inge introduced them to many friendly and welcoming women. Soon Elli and Amalie were ferrying dishes to the kitchen with the others, feeling helpful and included.

  Elli almost tripped over Heidi Veicht, who was sitting next to the minister on a bench near the house’s kitchen door. “Elli! Kommen sie, bitte,” Heidi beckoned her.

  Elli put what she was carrying down and dried her hands on her apron. Heidi took her hand and introduced her to the nearly bald minister.

  So Heidi was the minister’s wife! Elli was pleased and gave her name, gesturing to Jan as her husband and to Søren and Kristen as her children.

  Tomas Veicht was as kind and gracious as his wife. Right then Elli determined that the minister’s son and his odd, cold wife—both of them so different from Tomas and Heidi Veicht—would not influence her decision to be part of this church.

  Still, as they pulled out of the Veicht’s yard that afternoon, Elli felt as though a weight had dropped from them. Amalie expressed it. “It was hard meeting so many new people, ja? All their ways so different from what we are used to. Everything was a little confusing, but I liked their singing.”

  “I liked Fru Veicht,” Elli murmured. “She was very welcoming.”

  “You met Adolphe Veicht’s wife?” Karl asked.

  “Nei; we met Tomas Veicht’s wife,” Elli replied. “Adolphe’s wife was sitting next to Fru Veicht, but she did not introduce herself.” Or even indicate that she was interested in meeting us, Elli thought.

  “I met many of the men today,” Jan commented. “I liked them. We will have good fellowship. They love their minister—that says a lot about a church, ja?”

  “I am glad, Jan!” Elli responded. “We were meeting some of the women as we cleaned up. Inge was very helpful.”

  As though Jan and Elli had not even spoken, Karl turned to the women in the back of the wagon. “You must both make an effort to meet Rakel Veicht next time and be courteous to her,” Karl said. “I had a good conversation with Adolphe. He is an important man in the church. I was glad that he can speak a little Swedish.”

  Jan closed his mouth tightly. There goes Karl again, now ordering my wife around. I do not like it, Lord, but I will not say anything right now. Later, perhaps, when I am calm.

  Jan had determined to keep his temper in check. He had been able to restrain his tongue just now because he was praying for the Lord’s guidance and timing to talk to Karl.

  Man-to-man, Lord. I must have your wisdom and words to speak my heart clearly, he prayed.

  With cold weather beginning to set in, Jan moved Elli’s stove into the soddy. He cut a hole in the sod wall and piped the stove through the hole. It would not take much to keep the soddy warm in the winter.

  Jan and Karl t
urned their energy to building a foundation for the barn. In the morning, as soon as they had light to do so, Jan and Karl hitched both teams of oxen to empty wagons and loaded up pick ax, crow bar, and shovel.

  Frost rimed the fields, but it would burn away as the day warmed. Jan, Karl, and Søren were dressed warmly for the day’s early start.

  “Here.” Elli handed Jan a heavy tin pail.

  “Takk,” he replied, grinning. Elli and Amalie would have packed them a hearty lunch, enough to feed them all day.

  Karl pointed his oxen toward the river, some five miles away. Søren drove the second wagon, following Karl. Jan sat back, observing his sønn’s driving and offering occasional suggestions.

  When they returned at sunset, weary and sunburned, the wagons groaned under the weight of large stones for the foundation of the barn. Two days later the men repeated the process and again a few days after that.

  For two weeks the men worked on the barn’s foundation and floor. The weather was increasingly cold until the ground froze, but by then they had dug the footprint of the barn and laid the stones, cementing them and smoothing the floor with lime mortar. After planting crops in the spring, they would host a barn raising.

  Now they hunkered down for the winter. In November Amalie gave birth to a boy. Elli and Abigael helped Amalie with the birth. Karl and Amalie named the baby Karl after his pappa. Almost immediately everyone called him Little Karl.

  As the winter nights wore on, Jan held Elli in his arms. “Why haven’t we had another baby, Jan? I don’t understand.” She kept her voice low but he could hear her tears.

  “We will have more children, you’ll see,” he assured her. “We still have lots of time.”

  ~~**~~

  Chapter 13

  1870

  Another spring! Jan rejoiced. Lord, this is our year!

  Karl and Jan had worked their land four years now and had added a few cattle, some goats, and several milk cows to their livestock. They had grown their herd of Landrace pigs and made good money from them. They had enlarged and improved the barn they built their second spring to include a milking shed and additional pens for pigs and goats.

  And Elli and Amalie had picked apples from the two trees Jan had planted on the slope to the south of where Jan and Elli would build their house.

  After four years, the Thoresens were still living in the soddy even though it was an inconvenient distance from the barn. As their livestock grew, it had made more sense to shelter the hay and grass to feed the animals each winter than to make room for the two Thoresen families; it had made no sense to spend precious money making over part of the barn for them to live in temporarily.

  Instead both families had agreed to stay in the cramped soddy—even though Karl and Amalie had added another baby boy, Arnie, to their family. They were determined to save the money needed to build the first house.

  The Thoresens and Henrik had built a bridge across the creek. Jan and Karl had plowed more fields on both of their properties to grow corn, wheat, hay, and oats.

  In another month their fields would again be planted. Afterward Karl and Jan and the rest of the community would have a few weeks to spare for other tasks.

  “We have but a year more to prove up our claims, Karl,” Jan said, his excitement barely in check.

  Karl answered slowly, “Ja, we have the soddy, but it is on my property.”

  Karl alluded to the government’s requirement: For every 160 acres claimed under the Homestead Act, the claimant must build a dwelling, make improvements on the property, live on and farm the land—and prove they are doing so—by the end of five years.

  “Just so, Karl. Now we must be building a house on my property. Thank you, God in heaven, we have money from our hogs to pay for the lumber!” Karl and Jan would soon be taking their wagons to pick up the lumber Robert Bailey would have off-loaded from the train for them.

  A tiny town had grown up northwest of the railroad’s water tower prompting the railroad to move its water tower and build a small siding at the town. The people had attached the name RiverBend to their village, because the town was near the river as it turned toward the Platte.

  RiverBend—and the railroad—were closer to the Thoresens’ homestead than where they had first arrived and left the train. Even better, the railroad had hired Mr. Bailey to manage RiverBend’s little station.

  For a minute Karl didn’t say anything more and then, “We spoke of building a house close to the barn first. That makes sense, eh? Later we will build a second house and maybe even a second barn, but first we must prove up our claims.”

  “This is so,” Jan replied. “We have talked about this many times. I have paid for the lumber. This month we will lay the foundation. It is time to build the house. We should set a date and, when we build the Gustav’s barn in two weeks, ask our neighbors to come to the raising, ja?”

  Karl dithered for another minute. “I have been thinking.”

  Jan turned toward Karl, something setting him on his guard. “Thinking of what?”

  Karl looked away, a little uneasy in his manner. “I was thinking maybe you wouldn’t mind if we . . . switched claims. Traded?”

  Jan stared at his brother. “Trade land? Why do you say this?” For a moment he was puzzled. “Oh, I see. If we switch claims, then the first house we build will be yours, ja? Is that it?”

  “It is only because Amalie . . . we already have three children and . . . she is pregnant again.”

  Jan said nothing. He did not trust himself to speak. Of course he was happy about another baby coming, but . . .

  “No, Karl. This is my land.” The words came out before Jan even had a chance to think of forming them. Of course he would not trade. This was his land! Hadn’t he stood on it that first day and thanked God for it?

  Jan added slowly, “If we could build on your land first, I would gladly agree to that, but we don’t have a choice, ja? We must build on mine to prove up. This is what we agreed on when we decided to build out the soddy and live there, is it not?”

  He was leery of Karl’s suggestion. The conversation that Elli had suggested Jan have with his brother, now several years past, came back to him. The discussion had been tense and uncomfortable.

  It had not been easy for Jan to talk of his feelings and do so calmly. It also hadn’t been easy for Karl to listen. He had struggled to see Jan’s perspective.

  It had taken patient explanation on Jan’s part for Karl to realize their relationship was being damaged. Jan had to point out where Karl unconsciously treated Jan not just as a younger brother but as a brother under Karl’s authority—when in fact they were both grown and the heads of their own families.

  In the end, Karl had responded well and changed toward him in many ways. In turn, Jan had let the anger go. Jan had worked hard to keep his heart free of offense and had learned to assert himself—calmly—when he felt it was necessary.

  Jan swallowed. “You know, Elli and I wish to have more children, too. Who knows? We could have another barn by next spring!” Jan thought of Elli and the disappointment each month brought. If I trade, Elli will believe I have given up hope for us to have another child.

  “I’m sorry, but I won’t trade with you,” he repeated quietly.

  Karl just nodded. “Ja, all right. I thought I would ask.”

  Jan hastened to add, “We will build the house as we planned, Karl. The house will have enough bedrooms for you and Amalie and the children to live with us while we build your house next spring. Isn’t that what we planned?”

  He rushed on. “It is but a year. Next spring our neighbors will testify that we are building a new house for your family on your property to replace the soddy, eh?”

  “Sure, sure. You are right, Jan.” Karl wandered off to work in the barn, but for some reason Jan was still uneasy.

  Elli stared at the incontrovertible evidence. She was not pregnant. Again.

  O Lord! she moaned. I’m not too old! I still have regular cycles! Plea
se!

  Only last evening Amalie had announced that yet another baby was on the way. Karl and Amalie already had Sigrün, Little Karl, and Arnie—and now another was coming!

  Lord, I am only thirty-one, Elli begged. She had become pregnant the first time right after she and Jan had married. Søren was born when she was nineteen years old. She hadn’t had any difficulties with her pregnancy or the birth.

  After that, it had taken only a year before she became pregnant with Kristen. But then . . . nothing. Søren was now twelve, Kristen was almost ten, and Elli’s arms ached to hold another baby.

  Elli wanted to ask, Lord, do you hear me? Do you not care? But in her heart she knew that God heard her prayers, even her very thoughts. Nothing was hidden from him!

  She cried herself to sleep in Jan’s arms when each month ended in disappointment. He comforted her by talking of the home they would build, and they dreamed together of the day they would finally have their own roof over their heads.

  With more children, please, Lord! Elli cried out to God.

  Jan and Karl began work on the house’s foundation as soon as their last field was planted. The two men and Søren again took both wagons to the river to gather rocks.

  As he and Søren drove toward the river, Jan was sober, thinking of Elli’s most recent disappointment. They still had no child on the way, and Elli was increasingly despondent.

  Why, Lord? he asked. Søren and Kristen are healthy! Elli is healthy! Certainly our love life is healthy, ja? He chuckled aloud, drawing a curious look from Søren, seated beside him.

  Lord, we would like more children. We are still young, so would you please bless us with a house full of them before I am too old to be a new pappa?

  The Andersons, Bruntrüllsens, Kappels, and many other families from the German church came to help them raise the house. Jan could scarcely sleep the night before. By noon the full frame of the two-story home, raised upon the foundation he, Søren, and Karl had laid, was standing.