Katy, would you take Grace for me?” Kaaren asked.
“Of course.” Katy took the little girl off the dresser where Kaaren changed her diapers. Sophie had by now learned to use the potty chair, but Grace had no great inclination to imitate her sister in this way. Katy swung the pink-cheeked child up in the air, loudly smooched her on both cheeks, and set her on the floor. Grace lifted her arms to be picked up again.
“Me too!” Sophie ran over and pulled at Katy’s skirt. “Me up too.”
“How about if I come down there?” Katy crossed her legs and sank down to the floor, her skirts flaring about her and settling down around her like swirling leaves. She settled Grace on one leg and let Sophie climb onto the other. “Now then, Grace, Sophie, let’s play the naming game.” Touching one of her own eyes she asked, “What is this?”
“Eye,” Sophie said loudly, and both she and Grace touched their own eye.
“We have two?” Katy asked.
“Eyes.” Sophie covered both eyes. Grace watched her sister and immediately copied what she did.
“Eyes, nose, and so it goes.” Katy hugged both wriggling little bodies. “You girls are so smart.” She squeezed and rocked them back and forth, her slender body swaying like a sapling in the wind.
“You are so good with them,” Kaaren said, settling into the rocking chair with Trygve so he could nurse. “You will make a wonderful mother.”
“I hope so. Since I was the youngest, I didn’t have babies to care for like the older ones did. Oh, I cared for other people’s children, like Hamre, cousins, and such, but you know that’s different some-how. Maybe because you can go home and leave them behind.”
Katy nuzzled the soft hair of the girls perched on her legs. “How could anyone go away and leave precious little ones like this behind?”
Grace reached up and patted her cheek, the smile that she bestowed clenching Katy right in the heart.
“So you want babies of your own?”
“Of course.”
“And who do you have in mind for a father? Or rather husband first, then father.”
Katy could feel the heat start in her neck and burn its way up to her hairline. “Whew, it got warm in here all of a sudden.” She clutched the two little ones in a big hug before they wriggled off her lap to go play. “Is it so obvious?”
“Ja, to me it is. Zebulun MacCallister is handsome enough to steal any young woman’s heart.”
“And he is as fine a man as he is good-looking.” Katy’s tone turned to dreamy. “He is gentle and laughs at the right things. Look at the way he took Manda and Deborah under his wing. A lesser man would have ridden off and left them to starve.”
“Or taken over their homestead.”
“That too. And even though we take a long time to say much since my English isn’t good yet . . .” She glanced up from looking at her hands while she talked. “He’s even learning Norwegian. That surely says something for him.”
“Ja, it says he is interested in one Katy Bjorklund. But what does your mor say?”
“You know what she says. The same thing Lars and Haakan and everyone else says.” She parroted their words. “ ‘He is a man with a secret or has committed a grave sin.’ ” Her eyes flashed fire. “But isn’t that what forgiveness is for? The Bible says no sin is worse than another, that sin is sin.”
“True, and I believe that if he has asked for forgiveness for any sin, God has done just that. But there is a consequence in this world if the sin is also a crime, a legal issue. Then it becomes a matter of the law.”
“I know. But if he asked me to ride off with him, I would do so.” She glanced up to see the horror on Kaaren’s face. “Of course we would have to stop by Reverend Solberg’s on the way out for the marriage ceremony.”
“I certainly am glad to hear that. And I’m sure your mor will be too.”
“You won’t tell her about our talk?” Katy tried to appear unconcerned, but the look she cast Kaaren’s way was colored in worry.
“No, but . . .”
“But what?”
“But promise me you won’t ride off without telling me.” Kaaren sat Trygve up in her lap and patted his back for a burp. At the gargantuan belch, the two women laughed.
They stood and made their way into the kitchen, where the two-year-old twins quickly ran to the cradle Lars had made for their rag dolls.
“Well, Katy? Are you going to promise me?”
“Would you like a cup of coffee? That sounds good to me.”
“Katy!”
“Oh, all right. I won’t leave in the middle of the night or anything. Besides, he hasn’t asked me.”
“Reverend Solberg asked your mother if he could call on you.”
“I know, but he’s just a friend, besides being our pastor. Can you see me as a minister’s wife?” She poured two cups of coffee and set them in their saucers on the table. “Sophie, Grace, you want bread and jam and a cup of milk?”
Sophie immediately scrambled to her feet and, grabbing Grace’s hand, dragged her to the table. The two climbed up on their chairs and onto the burlap-covered blocks of wood Kaaren had set on the chairs to make it easier for them to reach the table.
“Gracie might not hear, but she sure doesn’t let that slow her down any.” Katy tied a bib around each little neck and pushed their chairs in. “Now, you be careful with the milk, Sophie. You’re not in any hurry.”
“That child is always in a hurry.” Holding Trygve, Kaaren handed him a bread crust to chew on and sat down at the end of the table.
“You want bread and jam too?” Katy asked Kaaren. After fixing it for both of them, she glanced out the window on her way back to the table. A team pulling a sledge caught her attention. She would recognize that jaunty wave anywhere. She tossed the bread on the table, ran to the door and leaned out to wave, calling “God dag, ah, hello” at the same time.
When Katy got back to the table, a self-conscious smile tickling her cheeks, Kaaren just shook her head. “Ja, girls, she has it bad. Our Katy is caught hook, line, and sinker.”
Sophie shook her head, just like her mother. “Bad.”
Reverend Solberg stopped by the Bjorklunds’ and asked if Lars and Haakan could come to his house to meet with several others the next evening.
“Of course,” Haakan said. “Is there a problem?”
Solberg turned his head to reveal a blackening eye. “Ja, I guess you would say so. I tried to talk with Anner Valders.” He raised a hand to his cheek. “This is what it got me.”
“Uff da.” Ingeborg shook her head. “Did you put a snowpack on it?”
Solberg shook his head. “Never thought of it.”
“Would keep the swelling down. Good thing there was no school today. The children would have teased you for the shiner.”
“What all happened?” Haakan pulled out a chair and turned it so that straddling the seat he could rest his crossed arms on the back.
Reverend Solberg shrugged. “I went up to the door, knocked, and when he peered through the barely cracked opening, I asked if I might come in.” He fingered the swelling on his face. “Next thing I knew, his fist connected with my eye. If it hadn’t been for the post on the porch, I mighta fallen down to the ground. Acourse the snowbank woulda saved me. Mrs. Valders screamed and I guess that shocked him enough that he slammed the door and ordered me not to come back.” He wiped the hair off his forehead with one hand. “I don’t know what to do. It was obvious he’d been drinking. I could hardly understand a word he said, he slurred so.”
“I didn’t know he was this bad. Ephraim goes out there to help with the farm work, and he’s not said anything like this.”
“Maybe I just got him on a bad day. Nevertheless, we got to help that man whether he wants help or not. I know his wife does. She called out ‘I’m so sorry’ after he hit me.”
“We’ll be there at the meeting,” Haakan said. “Anything you want us to bring?”
“Not sure at this point. I’ll put the
coffee on.”
Word got around church the next morning, and Anner Valders became the center of attention whether he wanted to be or not. Reverend Solberg’s eye was still swollen halfway shut and colored red with black underneath.
He preached on Jesus admonishing His disciples to turn the other cheek if struck on one.
“Looks like Reverend Solberg didn’t get a chance to do that,” Haakan whispered to Ingeborg.
“Shhh.” Ingeborg tried to look reproving and failed.
But at the meeting that night, levity soon faltered behind the sobering weight Reverend Solberg was laying on them.
“I believe God is calling us to help our brother. Anner Valders is not listening to God calling him, so we must be God’s hands and feet. We must be His ear that listens to an angry man. We must be the means to draw this man back, because the way he is going, he will not last a long time.”
Haakan thought of adding, I wouldn’t want to be God’s cheek in this situation, but he knew that was uncalled-for. “So what are we to do?”
“I don’t know. Do you have any suggestions? I have been praying that together we will come up with some ideas.”
“Well, we already got his fieldwork taken care of for fall, and Ephraim is doing the barn chores. We could go over there and go over his machinery, I guess.”
Haakan blinked. Was that the still small voice of God he heard? No, couldn’t be. But he repeated what he’d sensed anyway. “Does anyone know if Anner paid his debts this fall? I know Olaf paid him for the wheat, but did it get to the bank? I’m sure he has borrowed against his harvest. We all have.”
No one knew the answer to that.
“I can see that having our own bank will be a good thing.”
“You really think that will happen?” Mr. Johnson asked.
“If our wives have anything to say about it, we’ll sure enough have a bank.” Joseph Baard kept a straight face, but chuckles went around the room.
“Well, we can be sure Anner isn’t going to tell us anything so private. If we can get him to talk with us at all.”
“I’ll move my small forge out there so we can repair whatever needs it. I’m sure his wheel rims need refitting,” Hjelmer said.
“You would do that?” Mr. Johnson looked at Hjelmer in surprise. “After what he’s done to you?”
Hjelmer held out his hands. “I still have two good arms.”
Haakan nodded, pride softening his gaze. His young cousin was indeed growing into a man, or had already grown into one, as the case may be.
Joseph added, “He ain’t brought his cows over to the bull this fall either. I shoulda thought of that. I’ll ask Ephraim to let me know when they come in heat, then I can walk Bruno over there.”
As the discussion wore down, Reverend Solberg said quietly, “I have one more favor to ask of you.”
The men all stopped what they were saying and looked at him.
“We must undergird this mission of ours in prayer. That means each of us must covenant to pray for Anner every day, to pray for him every time God brings him to our minds.” A silence stretched, several of the men squirming in their chairs. “Now, your womenfolk pray regular. I think this is God calling us men to do the same. I’m not saying you don’t pray already—please don’t get me wrong—but this is separate and . . . private.”
He looked each man in the eyes. “Now, are you in? There is no shame in refusing if you do not believe you can make this commitment. All you got to do is come tell me that you’ve reconsidered.”
Joseph cleared his throat. “Two things. Can we ask our wives to pray too, without going into all the ins and outs? And will the rest of you pray for me? This is a hard thing we are agreeing to do, and I want to be faithful.” His voice cracked on the word “faithful.”
“Indeed.” Again Reverend Solberg looked around the room. When all the men nodded, he nodded again. “Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Gracious heavenly Father, we come before thee now with a heavy burden. Thou hast called us to help our struggling brother, Anner, and we have to depend on thy wisdom, for this is a touchy subject. Thou alone can bring a stop to his drinking, for man is without power over some things. Father, give us a love for this man, that he truly sees thee shining through us. And give each one of us the will and the faithfulness to pray daily, both for Anner and for one another, that we may be faithful in our calling. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Lars and Haakan didn’t have a whole lot to say on the way home. They rode side by side, but each spent the ride thinking of the meeting and the days ahead. Would God indeed bring about a miracle? For that was what they knew it would take. If Anner would strike a man of God, what would he do to the rest of them?
“Where’s he getting his liquor?” Lars finally asked.
“Must go to Grafton.”
“Funny, no one can remember seeing him out of his house since he come back from the hospital. You think he goes at night?”
“Whyever would he do that?”
“I don’t know, but if he were makin’ it himself like he used to, Ephraim would know. Think I’ll ask him.”
“Mighty interesting way to bring in January, ja? See you tomorrow,” Haakan said when they reached his yard. He rode on out to the barn and, after opening the big door, led the horse inside. The warmth of the cows and horses flowed around him as he lit the lantern and unsaddled his horse. Nothing smells as good as a barn, he thought, dumping a small measure of oats in the grain box. Unless, of course, it’s the resin smell of a newly felled tree. He stopped for a moment, stroking the horse’s neck. Did he miss the north woods of Minnesota and the lumbering there?
“Not with the wife I’ve got waiting for me up to the house.” He slapped the horse on the rump and strode out the door. Overhead and to the north, the northern lights flickered and danced on the horizon. Stars seemed close enough to touch, at least if he stood on the roof of the barn. His breath froze to the scarf around his neck.
“God, you surely have given us a big order. I admit this ain’t my first idea of a wonderful thing to do with my time. How can I show your love to that man when right now I don’t even like him? Anner Valders never has been one of my favorite people. You know that.” He watched the stars as if waiting for God to move one of them aside and talk directly to him.
Ingeborg would say God already spoke to him once tonight. Did he want to be selfish?
He broke into a trot. The cold air burned down into his lungs. What was he doing standing out here in the cold when he had a warm house and a warm wife waiting for him?
“What in the—” A string of profanity followed. Anner stood on his porch, screeching at the men who drove up to his barn with wagons, unloaded tools and a forge, and went inside the big doors. He spun around and disappeared into the house.
“What do you think he’ll do?” Lars asked.
“Probably get his gun and shoot us,” Haakan returned. “Here, help me carry this box, will you?”
“We could hole up in the barn.” Lars kicked open the door with his foot.
“I was fooling.”
“I ain’t. I don’t trust him any farther than I can throw that big team of his.” They set the box of tools down and looked around. There was no sign of a liquor still. Of course it could be set up in the old sod barn.
A jingle of harness and a “whoa” told them Hjelmer had arrived. The three of them carried the forge just inside the door so the smoke would go outside and no sparks would burn down the barn. When Joseph Baard and David Johnson got there, they looked over the plows, the harrow, and the rake.
“I’ll take the harnesses,” Joseph said. “They need some work for certain.” He held up a broken trace. “This surely ain’t like Anner.”
Noon came. The only sign of life in the house was the smoke rising from the chimney.
“Bet his curiosity is near to killin’ him,” Joseph said before taking a bite of his beef sandwich. “I sure could use a hot cup of coffee.”
“I s’pose you
want me to go up and ask,” Reverend Solberg said with a grin.
“Nei. We’ll live. But something else I just thought of. Splitting wood one-handed wouldn’t be no easy thing either. I could go see.” Mr. Johnson looked about as eager as a ten-year-old boy ordered to the washbasin.
“Difficult but not impossible,” Haakan said, remembering the pull of the muscles when hefting his ax. It used to be almost a part of him, but no longer. “Besides, they might be burning coal—getting it in Grafton.”
“You want I should check?” Clearly he hoped someone, anyone, would say no.
“I think not.” Reverend Solberg sucked in a deep breath. “If anyone needs to go up there, it should be me.”
Hjelmer got to his feet. “I better get the forge hot again. That plowshare looks like it’s been plowing rocks. Ephraim might work pretty good in the store, but he’s no great hand at sharpening the plowshare.”
They were all back to work, talking and laughing when the barn door swung open. Anner stopped in the doorway, the right arm of his black wool coat tucked in.
“Why are you all here messing up my barn?” he roared, catching their attention. He leaned against the jamb as if holding up the coat he wore took all his strength.
“Good afternoon, Anner. How good to see you.” Haakan walked forward, hand outstretched. Realizing he’d extended his right hand as usual, he quickly shifted to his left.
Anner ignored the peace offering. He glared at Haakan, spun on his heel, and marched back to the house.
What was it he’d seen in the man’s eyes. Rage for certain. Hurt? Or was it relief?
Anner broke on the third day.
“Why? Why are you here?” He looked as though he hadn’t slept for the last three nights. Standing there in the barn, swaying from either an excess of liquor or a lack of sleep, he looked as if death hung right over his shoulder. The skin that stretched tautly over jaw and cheek needed sunlight to warm the blood back into it. Newly gray hair straggled from under the tromped-on fedora.
“Because we care,” Reverend Solberg said simply.
The Reaper's Song Page 28
