A Promise for Ellie

by Lauraine Snelling

  ANDREW’S IN JAIL.

  Ellie had to remind herself of that over and over. And over and over she heard the thunk of Toby’s head against the packed dirt. If Toby died, Andrew would die too or spend the rest of his life in prison, which sounded far worse, in her opinion. It was as simple as that. Two days ago she was furious at him. Now she wept constantly, no longer on the outside, for she’d managed to gain some control. But on the inside the tears poured without ceasing, as did her prayers for him, for Toby, and for them all. When she had asked God to teach her to pray without ceasing, she’d never imagined this would be the way of learning.

  “Ellie, time for you to go to bed. I’ll take over.” Ingeborg, with her ever-present knitting in her basket, stepped through the sickroom door on Sunday evening.

  Ellie stood and stretched, remembering to breathe deeply as Elizabeth kept reminding her.

  “Any change?”

  “No, but how long can he live without eating?”

  “That’s not a problem yet if we can keep getting enough fluids into him. Has there been any response when you talk with him?”

  Ellie shook her head. Each time she came in and talked to Toby, she prayed this would be the time that he would blink, would talk, would give some indication that he was still alive in the husk of a body. But if he wasn’t alive, he wouldn’t be breathing, so he was alive. If she understood what Elizabeth meant by coma, his brain was asleep. They’d run out of ice the day before, and he had not had any convulsions. She’d been afraid he’d have them on her watch and she wouldn’t know what to do.

  As Ingeborg began rubbing one of her simples, as she called them, into his arms and legs, Ellie headed for her bed next door. It was time for her to move out of the surgery. She’d felt that way all afternoon. She could go back to Penny’s, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough to help out at the store. Besides, Rebecca was working there now and very happily. She could go visit her family in Grafton, where she would be closer to Andrew, but he’d refused to allow her or anyone to come and visit him.

  “Father God, will I never see him again?” No, don’t even think that, she ordered herself. You’ve prayed for Andrew’s release from jail and Toby’s release from the coma, now believe that God is answering your prayers. She climbed into bed and turned onto her side so she could look out the window. I want to go home . . . to my house, to Andrew’s and my house.

  What would the others say when she told them in the morning?

  “But what if you need help?” Elizabeth studied her patient, who’d become such a good friend.

  “I’ll run up a flag on a post. You know that I am so much better. And if I get out of breath, I shall sit down, just like I do here. Besides, I believe Toby will wake up soon and Andrew will come home. Then we’ll get married, and all will be well.” If he still wants to marry me. The thought kept nagging at her, especially after he told Olaf he didn’t want to see anyone. Her mor had tried to visit him with the same results. Did I thank you, Father, for the telegraph? What a gift that has been for us.

  Andrew, what are you thinking? What is going on in that mind of yours? Why do you cut us all out?

  “I really don’t think your living alone yet is a good idea.”

  “Well, I can’t walk that far out there every day, and there are things I could be doing.” Like harvesting the garden, although Astrid had assured her the beans had been picked and the corn wasn’t ready yet. But she and I can take care of that together.

  Everyone was taking care of her, but she wanted to be taking care of others, mostly Andrew. Her mind always revolved back to Andrew.

  “Let me think on it.” Elizabeth studied her patient. “Your breathing still concerns me.”

  Andrew stood at attention in front of the judge on Monday morning. His stomach flip-flopped, and while he wanted to stuff his shaking hands into his pockets, he kept them at his sides.

  The judge looked up from reading the sheriff ’s report. “Sounds like you lost your temper.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Has this happened before?”

  “Not like this, sir.”

  “You better be praying that the young man pulls through. In the meantime you are remanded to jail until we know one way or another.” He tapped his gavel. “Sheriff, take him back to his cell.”

  Andrew nodded. More waiting. Please, Lord, let Toby live.

  Back in his cell, Andrew picked up his Bible again. I thought . . .hoped . . . He heaved a sigh. The judge had not changed anything. He was still in jail and would remain so. Home. He closed his eyes and sank back on his bed. Home with wide-open fields, a house of his own with wide-open windows. No bars; no stink.

  Lord, I want to go home. I swear I’ll never get in a fight again. Just let me go home. He waited, hoping for some kind of sign. Toby . . .

  Don’t you go blaming Toby, a small voice took up another argument. It’s your own fault you are here behind bars.

  “I know that.” He thought a moment. Do I really know that? I took the first swing. He didn’t. He sat up and forced himself to remember that day. He’d been angry at Ellie. Toby had stuck up for Ellie. He started to say something about the barn, and I never let him finish. What did he know? If he didn’t start the fire, what did?

  This is all my own fault. Lord, is that what you’ve been trying to tell me? He laid the Bible down on the bed and got to his feet. Back and forth across the cell he paced. My fault. I nearly killed a man because I couldn’t mind my temper. All those years Pastor Solberg tried to help me. Sure, chopping wood worked off the anger, but I missed the point.

  But, Toby . . . The other side tried to chime in.

  Lord, forgive me. I sinned not only against you but against Toby. Please let him live so I can tell him I’m sorry. And Ellie and all my family. What a hothead I’ve been. He sat down on the bed again, then leaned against the wall, his knees bent to prop his elbows, his head too heavy to hold up. My fault. Mea culpa.

  A verse that Pastor Solberg had assigned him to memorize floated through his mind. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Pastor Solberg had called that the “Christian’s bar of soap.”

  As he continued to read the Bible and pray, Andrew grew more sure. If he got out of this with his life, he would be the man the Father meant for him to be. If only he could be with Ellie and his family again—in Blessing.

  Tuesday afternoon when Ellie was sitting reading the Blessing Gazette to Toby, she thought she heard something. But when she looked up, nothing had changed. She read an editorial by Thorliff.

  “Huh.”

  She looked again and saw Toby’s eyelids flutter. Dropping the paper onto the bed, she ran to the surgery and burst through the doorway. “I think Toby’s waking up.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Elizabeth told her patient and hurried after Ellie.

  Toby lay as usual, but when Elizabeth laid her hand on his foot, his eyelids fluttered again, and this time his mouth opened. “Huh.”

  Elizabeth took his hand. “Toby, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand.” She waited. “His hand moved . . . barely, but I felt it!” She grinned at Ellie, then looked down at her patient. “Good for you, Toby. Welcome back.”

  A slight smile lifted one side of his mouth.

  “Ellie is going to bring you some broth so you can get your strength back.”

  Ellie flew out of the room and made it to the kitchen before having to catch her breath. She took the broth out of the icebox and poured it into a pan to warm on the stove.While it warmed, her heart sang. He’s alive. He’s awake. Thank you, Lord, Toby is alive. She carried the cup and spoon back to the room, where Elizabeth was flexing Toby’s arms for him.

  “Blink if you can hear me, Toby.”

  He blinked, accompanied by a slight nod.

  “We’ve been exercising your arms and legs to keep your circulation going. Here’s Ellie with the broth. Drink as much as you can.”


  He blinked again.

  Spoon by spoon he drank the broth. He sighed, and his eyes fully opened for the first time since the fight.

  “Welcome back.” Elizabeth set her stethoscope on his chest and listened. “Still clear, which is a miracle in action. I’ve wrapped your ribs because I thought there might be an injury there also. As far as we know, other than contusions, you have no other injuries. If you feel pain anywhere else, you have to tell me.” She stuck her stetho- scope into her pocket. “Blink once if you understand. Twice if you need something more right now.”

  He blinked once, and she patted his hand. “Your mother will be so glad to hear the news.”

  By the time Ingeborg arrived after supper, the news was all over Blessing. Toby Valders was awake again and seemed to be in his right mind. At least he could eat and respond to commands.

  “Ellie,” Elizabeth said the next morning, “I would really appreciate it if you would stay and help take care of Toby for me. Astrid will help too. You can read to him, get him to talk. He will be very weak for a time and still might be in severe pain due to the head wound.”

  Ellie felt her dream of moving to her own house slip away, but what could she say? She never stayed around when Mrs. Valders visited, though.

  “Toby, I am praising our God for you every day.” Pastor Solberg sat down in the chair. He took Toby’s hand. “I hear the girls are giving you muscle therapy treatments.Why, you’ll be going home before you know it.”

  Toby nodded. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and said, “Yes.” Slowly, but it was a word, his first word.

  The next day he sat up on the edge of the bed and rested his feet on the floor. “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome.” Elizabeth sat beside him and gave him a hug. “You are my star patient, you know.”

  He shook his head. “Ellie.”

  “Yes, well, her too. All thanks to our wonderful God.”

  “I’ve come to take my boy home.” Hildegunn stared at Elizabeth, her eyes and jaw both hard as a dirt clod in the winter.

  “I’m sorry, but I cannot allow that.”

  “But I am his mother.”

  “I know, but I am a doctor, and Toby is under my care. I am sworn to do what is best for my patients.” Elizabeth kept her voice gentle in spite of the finality of her words.

  “You think you, a Bjorklund”—she made the word sound like an epithet—“can give him better care than I can?”

  “Listen to me, Mrs. Valders, and listen well.” Elizabeth even managed to keep a half smile in place. “The fact that my last name is now Bjorklund has nothing to do with the quality of my care as a doctor. Toby needs my skill if he is to return to his full capacity, and I deem that here in my surgery is where I can give him the most complete attention. I’m sure you want the very best for your son.”

  “Ja, but . . .” Hildegunn narrowed her eyes. She started to say something, then stopped.

  “You are welcome to spend all the time with him that you can spare. I know he is sleeping now, and he must still sleep a great deal of the time because of the pain in his head. When he wakes, you can spoon-feed him liquids, like we have all been doing.”

  “Humph.” Hildegunn pushed past Elizabeth and entered her son’s room.

  “Are you all right?” Ellie asked. “I hope you don’t mind, but I was just around the corner and couldn’t help hearing.”

  “I saw you. I was about to send you to Penny’s for help,” Elizabeth whispered and took Ellie by the arm. “Let’s go in here so she doesn’t hear us.” They stepped into one of the two examining rooms, where Elizabeth leaned back against the door as soon as it was closed. “That woman!”

  “You were wonderful.”

  “I think I have more sympathy for Ingeborg right now than I ever believed possible.”

  On Friday Sheriff Becker came to visit. He found Toby sitting up in the chair and answering, with a yes or no, Ellie’s questions about what she was reading to him.

  “Well, I can hardly believe this. I thought you for a goner for sure.”

  Toby nodded.

  “Can you answer some questions for me?”

  “I . . . can . . . try.” Toby stared into Ellie’s eyes.

  Ellie tried to smile her encouragement but found herself chewing her bottom lip. Do not cry, Ellie. No more crying.

  “Let An . . . drew go.”

  A huge tear trickled down her cheek and caught in the crease of her smile. Thank you, Lord, thank you.

  “Yes, I will do that, but I had to make sure for myself. That young man has practically memorized his Bible while he’s been in the cell. Reading it all day, every day. I never seen anything like it.”

  Ellie gaped at the sheriff. “But he wouldn’t let any of us see him.”

  “Said he didn’t want you to remember him sitting behind bars. Figured he was doing you all a favor.”

  Ellie glanced up to see a smile stretch Toby’s mouth.

  “Good,” he said, this time with a nod.

  “I’m sure Andrew will be home tomorrow.” Sheriff Becker shook Toby’s hand. “I’d like to hear what really happened to that barn when you are well enough to talk of it.”

  Toby nodded. “Yes.”

  “Got one question now. Did you set fire to that barn?”

  Toby shook his head and winced at the pain. “N-no!”

  “Guess that ties it up, then. You’ll tell me all you know another day. Now just keep on getting strong again.”

  Toby nodded and lifted his hand to be shaken.

  Only Ellie and the Bjorklunds stood on the platform waiting for the train to come in the next day. Ellie wore her straw hat over a scarf made to match her sky blue dress. She kept a hand on her stomach to try to calm the butterflies threatening to fly out of her throat.What if he would have nothing to do with her? What if he was still angry? What if? What if?

  The train whistled in the distance. Her heart took up leaping and twirling. As the train slowed with billows of steam and a screech of iron on iron, she searched the windows for his beloved face.

  Was he not on the train?

  When Andrew appeared and paused on the steps, his eyes locked on hers. He’d lost some of his tan, appearing pale in the shadows. But when he stepped down onto the platform, he strode straight toward her, only nodding at the others.

  “Ellie.” His word sounded like a prayer.

  Her gaze never left his. “Andrew.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded. “Me too.” And threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Andrew I was so afraid.”

  “I thought you might never want to see me again.”

  She thumped him on the arm. “You wouldn’t let me.”

  “I know, but I had to . . .Well, I’m here now, and I’m free. Thank you, Lord God above, I am free.” He swung her around once and then kissed her right in front of God and all who were present. Once he set her down, he looked straight into her eyes. “I have to go see Toby. Do you think he will want to see me?”

  “Oh yes. He is waiting for you at Elizabeth’s.”

  Andrew hugged his family, his father last. “Pa, I have a question.

  Why did you ask us to put off the wedding?”

  “I finally know the answer. You weren’t ready yet.” Haakan stared without flinching into his son’s eyes.

  “Are we now?”

  Haakan nodded. “I believe so.”

  “Thank you.”

  Making his way to Dr. Elizabeth’s surgery, Andrew kept one arm around Ellie, keeping her safe, next to his heart.

  She could hear his heart pounding when they neared the house. Perhaps Andrew wasn’t as sure of himself as he wanted her to believe. Please, Lord, make this go right.

  “In there,” Elizabeth said after hugging him close, stepping back to look at him, and hugging him again.

  Andrew stopped in the doorway. “May I come in?”

  Toby nodded. “Yes, please do.”

  Andrew took the offered hand and hel
d it between both of his. “Toby, if you hate me forever, I’ll understand, but I have to ask you.” He leaned forward. “Will you forgive me?” The silence in the room quivered like an overused muscle.

  The words came slowly, but they were all there. “Yes, I forgive you.”

  “Thank you. I cannot tell you how relieved I am.” Since Toby was sitting in the chair, Andrew sat down on the bed as if all the strength had gone out of his legs. He paused, then asked the question he should have asked before flying off the handle and attacking Toby. “Do you know how the fire started?”

  Toby nodded. “I think there must . . . have been a hot spot. I smelled smoke . . . came from the haymow.”

  “But I checked it every day.” Andrew rubbed shaking fingers back and forth on his forehead. “We were sure the hay was dry enough.” It was my fault, not his. God forgive me.

  “I’m sorry. Those things just happen sometimes.”

  Andrew looked back at Toby. “Why were you there?”

  “I was building nest boxes. Grace asked me to . . . for wedding presents.”

  Oh, Lord, talk about heaping coals upon my fiery head. “You’re a better man than I am, Toby.” Andrew sighed.

  “Then this is over.”

  The two men stared into each other’s eyes and nodded. It was indeed over.

  “Right now Ellie and I are going out to see our house. I’ll come by later.”

  Toby nodded and smiled. “Go.”

  Ellie let Andrew lift her into Elizabeth’s buggy, and together they rode out to their house. With so much to be said, they just sat together, arms locked, and watched their house come closer.

  He stopped the horse by the house. “Will you marry me, Ellie Wold?”

  “Yes.” She gazed into the deep blue pools of his eyes. “As soon as the threshing crew returns.”

  “I promise you, Ellie, that I will never lose my temper like that again. I will never strike anyone in anger.”

  “Oh, Andrew, can you keep that promise?”

  “I can and I will . . . by the grace of God.” He grinned at her. “And by chopping wood.”