She joined her voice with the others, noticing after a few bars that singing took strength too. Like several others, she sat back down at the end of verse one, waving away Haakan’s concern.
After a sermon, short by normal standards since Pastor Solberg had been one of those struck down, and communion had been served, he leaned on the pulpit and took a deep breath.
‘‘I never thought leading worship would wear me out, but thanks be to God, I am still here to do so. Our thanks to each one of you who helped us through this vile illness, and special thanks belong to Dr. Rogers. Please stand and accept our hearty thank you.’’ He nodded to Elizabeth, who rose and returned his smile. When he began clapping, the others joined in—hesitantly at first, after all, they were in church—then with full accord.
When Elizabeth sat back down after nodding her acknowledgment, she whispered to Thorliff, ‘‘Why didn’t you warn me?’’
‘‘I didn’t know.’’
Pastor Solberg raised his hands, the tremors visible only to those closest to the front. ‘‘Now the Lord bless and keep thee, the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and give thee His peace, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, amen.’’
Ingeborg felt herself swaying and caught hold of Haakan’s arm.
‘‘I told you that you shouldn’t be out yet.’’ He wrapped his other arm around her waist.
‘‘Maybe not, but I wouldn’t miss church this morning for anything. To think there was no service at all last Sunday.’’ She shook her head. ‘‘Pastor must have been terribly sick.’’
‘‘Not as sick as you were.’’
‘‘That’s because she took care of everyone else until she keeled over.’’ Elizabeth moved closer to Ingeborg and lowered her voice as they made their way out of the sanctuary. ‘‘You might want to consider taking it easy.’’
Ingeborg both smiled and nodded in a small motion and leaned more heavily on Haakan’s arm. She caught a look between Elizabeth and Haakan. ‘‘And don’t you two go ganging up on me.’’ When Thorliff cleared his throat, she added, ‘‘You three. It feels wonderful to be out and about.’’
‘‘Mor.’’ Astrid skidded to a stop. ‘‘Can—’’ She stopped at the look her mother gave her and started again. ‘‘May Ellie come home with us? We are working on a play for school, and I thought maybe Thorliff would help us.’’
‘‘I s’pose. Ask Goodie if—’’
Haakan squeezed her arm. ‘‘Not today. You are not cooking for a group today.’’
‘‘Oh.’’ Ingeborg glanced up at her husband to see concern wrinkling the space between his eyebrows. Usually they had a houseful of company on Sundays, but not since the flood. She caught a sigh before it flew to other ears. Lord, please give me the patience to get well at your speed, not mine, and thank you for a man who cares like my Haakan does.
They stopped to talk to several other families on the way to the wagon. Kaaren was still home nursing young Samuel, who’d been the sickest in their family, and Penny stopped to visit for only a minute.
‘‘I told Bridget I would come help serve dinner. Mrs. Sam still isn’t as well as she could be, and Henry is still doing poorly too. I do hope we never go through anything like this again.’’
On the ride home Ingeborg turned to Elizabeth. ‘‘Isn’t it strange how the cholera attacks one person and not another?’’
‘‘Like with other diseases, usually the very young and the very old go first. The human body can throw off a lot of disease if it gets enough rest, good food, and clean drinking water. I think we are just beginning to learn where illnesses come from. The more I read about the germ theory, the more I wonder how much we don’t yet know.’’
Haakan cleared his throat. ‘‘I, for one, want to say again our thanks. Not just for us but for the whole community. This cholera epidemic just shows even more clearly how much we need a good doctor close by. You saved lives here, and we will never forget it.’’
Ingeborg slid her hand under his arm and leaned slightly against his shoulder. She knew he was thinking of her when he spoke. Thinking back, she realized how close she had come to death. The light had beckoned her, but Haakan’s voice had called her back. She’d heard the pleading, the agony as he called her name. How could she leave him if she had a choice? If she spoke of this to Elizabeth, would she understand, or was it all a figment of her imagination? Sometimes illness brought on delirium. One day I’ll know the answer, she promised herself. When God figures the time is right.
On Tuesday the men took a break from cleaning up the mudencrusted machinery.
‘‘Good to see stock back in the pasture.’’ Lars leaned on the fence rails.
‘‘Ja.’’ Haakan lifted his hat to stroke his hair back and resettled it where it belonged.
Lars glanced over his shoulder. ‘‘We got a lot to be thankful for.’’
Haakan nodded, but the furrows remained between his eyebrows.
‘‘Can’t keep stewing over what might have been.’’
‘‘You been talking with Ingeborg?’’
Lars shook his head. ‘‘No need. How many years we been working together now?’’
‘‘Ja, I know.’’ Haakan sucked on his teeth. ‘‘Just that—’’
‘‘Pa!’’ Andrew called from the barn. ‘‘Old Maple, she’s starting to have her calf.’’
The two men turned and ambled over to the open barn door and into the box stalls where the old caramel-colored cow, one of the earliest they’d bought, paced the stall, tail twitching. She lay down, then pushed to her feet again.
‘‘You think she’s all right?’’ Andrew stroked the cow’s muzzle and rubbed her throat. She stood a bit for his attentions, then resumed her pacing, checking out each corner and the stall door. ‘‘She’d rather be out in the pasture, I think.’’ Andrew dipped pieces of hay out of the water bucket in the corner rack.
‘‘She’d pick the muddiest low land and get herself all mired in. Perhaps even lose the calf. No, she stays here,’’ Haakan said.
‘‘Well, I better be getting on home. Kaaren will have supper ready. You take good care of that cow, Andrew. She’ll calm down the way you keep petting her.’’ Lars headed out the barn door.
Just then Ingeborg called them for supper.
‘‘I’ll stay here,’’ Andrew said.
‘‘No. She’ll be a while yet. She knows what she’s doing, not like a dumb young heifer.’’
The two of them walked up to the house.
‘‘Will be good to have a cow to milk again, huh, Far?’’
‘‘Ja, that it will.’’
After washing up, Haakan sat down at the table where Thorliff was already seated and waiting, something apparently on his mind. ‘‘Far, you know how you and Pastor Solberg always say there is a Bible verse for everything?’’ Thorliff laid the Bible on the table next to his father’s place.
‘‘Ja, and I’m about to hear one, right?’’
‘‘Right.’’ Thorliff pointed to the page. ‘‘It says here that God will restore all that the locusts devoured. I figure if you substitute flood for locust, the meaning stays the same.’’
‘‘Ja, well . . .’’ Haakan stirred in his chair and glanced at the others. ‘‘Elizabeth still out?’’
‘‘Ja, she might be there all night. That baby must be thinking it’s too dangerous to try his way in the outer world yet.’’
Astrid looked up. ‘‘You think babies have a choice on when to be born?’’
‘‘Seems that way at times.’’
‘‘I read where a wild mare can be having her colt and if something spooks her, she can stop the birthing to run, then have her baby when it is safe.’’ Andrew wiped his hands and sat down.
When everyone was seated, Haakan bowed his head. ‘‘Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this food we have and for the health to eat and talk and work. Amen.’’
‘‘So you think that verse might be a good one to chew on?’�
�� Thorliff glanced at his father with one eyebrow raised.
‘‘Please pass the potatoes. Good thing your mor canned so much last summer.’’
Ingeborg shook her head with just the smallest hint of a smile. ‘‘He heard you, son.’’
After a rather silent meal, Andrew headed back out to the barn. When Haakan finished smoking his pipe, he followed. Thor-liff finished a letter to Benjamin before joining them.
Maple lay on her side, two small hooves protruding from under her tail. Andrew sat in the corner, his back against the wall. He smiled up at Thorliff when he joined his father leaning on the stall’s half wall.
‘‘She’s doing just fine.’’
‘‘I see.’’ Thorliff returned his brother’s smile.
With each contraction, the hooves emerged farther, retreating less with each relaxation. With a final push from the cow, the calf slid out onto the straw. Andrew picked up a handful of straw and wiped the mucus from the calf’s nose to make sure it was able to breathe. The calf shook his head.
‘‘Strong one, eh?’’
‘‘Ja, and a heifer.’’ Andrew used the straw to clean the sac away from the calf. He glanced over his shoulder to catch his father’s eye. ‘‘The first in the new herd that God will bring us. Like Thor-liff said, to repair what the locust has eaten.’’
Haakan looked from one son to the other. ‘‘You know, eating one’s own words is never easy, but when it is your own son pointing out the error of your ways . . .’’ He shook his head. ‘‘Like your mor says, ‘I give up.’ ’’ He raised his hands and let them fall to his sides again. ‘‘Sometimes accepting forgiveness is harder than giving it.’’
Maple surged to her feet and began licking her calf, emitting soft moans encouraging her baby to get to her feet so she could nurse. On the third try, the little heifer tottered to her mother’s side and, after bopping the full udder, latched on to a teat, her metronome tail flashing in the dim light.
Two weeks later Thorliff and Elizabeth stood at the Blessing train station.
‘‘You could stay longer.’’ Thorliff looked down at her, his eyes sending a message not yet uttered.
‘‘I know, but I am not needed here any longer.’’
Yes you are. I need you. He reached for her hands. ‘‘You are going back to Chicago, then?’’
‘‘For now. When will you return to Northfield?’’
‘‘Soon.’’
‘‘Will they let you graduate?’’
He nodded. ‘‘I have to take the examinations, but they will let me graduate with the others.’’ Tell her. Tell her. He sucked in a deep breath. ‘‘I love you, Elizabeth. With all my heart.’’
Her eyes widened, and she stared into his. ‘‘But . . .’’
‘‘I know you have always said you cannot be both a doctor and a wife, but I believe we could make it work. I believe God has brought us together, and with His guidance and help, Dr. and Mr. Bjorklund could become a family.’’
‘‘I . . . I . . . Thorliff, I . . .’’
‘‘Please think about it, about us.’’ The arriving train filled the air with screeching and steam hissing.
Lord, please change her mind. Let her love me as I love her.
‘‘All aboard!’’ The conductor stood at the open door of the first car right behind the coal carrier.
‘‘I . . . I have to go.’’
‘‘God be with you.’’ He fought to keep a smile on his lips. ‘‘I’ll write to you.’’ And plead and plead until you give in. Whatever it takes to win this woman, Lord, I will do it.
Instead of letting her hand go, he drew her into his arms and held her close. ‘‘Go with God.’’
Eyes glittering from the tears that spilled over and glistened like diamonds down her cheeks, Elizabeth stepped back and accepted the conductor’s assistance.
Several other passengers mounted the steps as Thorliff waited to see where she would sit. Would she wave good-bye? But all the window seats were filled with other passengers, and he resigned himself that this was good-bye—for now.
‘‘All abo—ard?’’ The conductor’s call sounded as sad as the train whistle when it wept over the prairie.
Thorliff blinked several times and straightened his shoulders. Well, Lord, the battle isn’t over yet, is it?
The train chugged forward, the screeching of the gears and the pistons that turned each wheel laughing in derision. She was leaving.
He stood until the last of the four passenger cars showed no Elizabeth at the windows. Thorliff raised a hand and turned to go. At least at home he was still needed.
‘‘Thorliff!’’ The call rang out.
Was he hearing things? He spun back around. ‘‘Elizabeth!’’ He leaped the tracks and swept her up in his arms. ‘‘What did you do? Get off the other side?’’
‘‘Yes. It was too crowded on your side. And yes.’’
He set her back on the plank platform. ‘‘What?’’
‘‘I said yes.’’ She put her hands on both sides of his face. ‘‘Yes, I will marry you.’’
‘‘You will?’’ He dropped his arms and took her hands. ‘‘But— you said—what changed your mind?’’
‘‘I guess I never before knew what love felt like. And I had to tell you something.’’
‘‘What?’’
She stared into his eyes. ‘‘I love you, Thorliff Bjorklund.’’
‘‘And you will marry me?’’
‘‘I said yes.’’
He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. Ah, Lord, she is indeed more than a dream. Thank you. Thank you. ‘‘Thank you!’’ That last one he shouted so even the angels would hear.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book is a community project, although the actual writing is mine. When I get stuck or frustrated, I call or e-mail my Round Robin supporters or those on ChiLibris, and help comes. How blessed I am. Thanks also to Kathleen for reading my roughs and giving me excellent suggestions.
In addition to these people, Jeff Sauve, the assistant archivist at St. Olaf College, provided books, papers, and copies from their archives describing early life at St. Olaf. Otherwise I would have had little idea of what went on there besides classes. Thanks, Jeff.
No writer is her best without good editors, and Sharon Asmus and the others are the greatest. Thanks to everyone at Bethany House Publishers for your excellent work. I thank you again for the thrill of holding a new book in my hand.
My friends and family not only support me but listen to me grumble when the words are hard to come by. They remind me that this too shall pass and we’ve been here before. I love you all. And as Tiny Tim said, ‘‘God bless us everyone.’’
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