A Promise for Ellie

by Lauraine Snelling

  “I’m not so sure that I like it, not all the time, at least, but it’s something I’m good at. God makes sure of that. People trust me and I trust God, and it works pretty well.” She turned to climb down from the buggy. “Thanks for the buggy ride.”

  “You’re welcome. Should we send Hjelmer a telegram?”

  “Let Penny decide. She’ll be feeling better by tomorrow.”

  Ingeborg paused at the gate to watch Astrid back up the team and buggy and turn around to head back to Penny’s. While so many girls were marrying at fifteen and sixteen, she was glad to hear that her daughter wanted to go on to school. “Good thing we bought those extra cows,” she told Barney as he wriggled at her feet. “We’re going to need money for her to go to school.” She paused and watched the dust swirling up behind the spinning wheels of the buggy. “But I hope not clear to Chicago.”

  Later that week Ingeborg breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it had been almost two months since her episode in church. Better to be done with the monthlies than to have a repeat of before. Ingeborg had set the bread to baking early, and after breakfast, as soon as the dew was off the plants, went out to pick beans. While they’d had one mess for supper, this time there were enough to can. The last of the peas needed picking too, but she’d do that later. With the men eating at Kaaren’s today, she should be able to get it all done. The curds were ready to be drained and poured into the molds over at the cheese house on the morrow. And the raspberries that grew along the back fence of the garden would be ready to pick any day now.

  Since Penny was back on her feet and Elizabeth had no one staying in her surgery, Astrid would have to come home to help her mother.

  “Tante Ingeborg?” Sophie’s voice made Ingeborg smile.

  “In the garden.”

  “Mor said I should come help you for a while.”

  “Bless your heart. I was about to send for Astrid.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “The beans and peas need picking. I’m thinking of drying the rest of the peas.”

  “Mor has a full tray of them drying. I like fresh better, or canned.”

  “Don’t we all? Right from the garden is the very best.”

  “Why don’t I pick the beans and you take the peas?” Sophie suggested.

  “Good.” But all the while she dropped fat pea pods into her basket, Ingeborg thought back to her future daughter-in-law. Ellie had looked so shocked when Penny’s baby was born dead.What had been going through her mind?

  “THORLIFF, WHEN YOU WERE AWAY at school, did you sometimes get so homesick you thought your heart would break?” Ellie asked. She’d been snagged to help Thorliff as soon as she’d arrived from Penny’s.

  Leaving off cranking the ice cream machine for a minute, Thorliff smiled down at the girl feeding the ice chips into the bucket surrounding the canister of cream, sugar, and egg mixture. “Ja, that is to be expected. But I thought Blessing was more your home.”

  “It is, or I thought so too, but I really miss Ma and the little ones.”

  “Why don’t you go for a visit?”

  “I can’t leave Penny right now. She’s not over the birth and loss of the baby. This one hit her real hard. And everyone is canning, so the other women don’t have time to come help her either.”

  “I think we should have a party before harvest starts.” Andrew sat on the top step. “Do they have barn warmings . . . like housewarmings?”

  Ellie smiled at him. “We’ve had barn dances lots of times.”

  “A barn dance. Good idea. Saturday night would give everyone time to get ready.” Thorliff gave the ice cream freezer another crank. “This feels like it is done. Let’s pack it good and put the sacks over the top.”

  “I’ll go see if the sauce is ready.”

  Astrid leaped off the porch. “Oh, I forgot to pick the eggs. Come on, Ellie, you can help me and visit your chickens.” Grabbing a basket off the railing, she waited.

  “Coming,” Ellie said, and together the two headed for the chicken house. “I saw the chicks earlier. They are so cute and already getting their feathers.”

  “I was going to surprise you. When do you think you’ll move them to your barn?”

  “Andrew said anytime, now that he’s living at the house.”

  “Sleeping, you mean, the little he sleeps. I heard him pounding nails last night just before I fell asleep.”

  Ellie turned the handle and held the door open for Astrid to go in first. The two girls stood and watched the hens cackle their way in from outside, sure there would be grain scattered soon.

  “Sorry, ladies, no food this time. Just give us your eggs.” Astrid made her way to the row of nesting boxes and removed the eggs from the straw to her basket.

  Ellie watched her mother hen come in with five chicks following her and pecking about her feet. “Wish I’d brought some oats. Aren’t they cute?”

  “She lost three. One drowned in the water pan.” Astrid straightened. “Two dozen eggs. Penny will be glad when you take eggs back with you.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know I was doing that.”

  “You weren’t until now. Say good-bye to your friends and come on. I want some ice cream before it’s all gone.”

  “Just think, my own chickens.”

  “I’ll give you a couple more. Then you’ll have an even half dozen, not counting the chicks.”

  Ellie closed the door behind them. She’d never had chickens of her own before. Come to think of it, she’d never had any animals of her own before.

  A while later the Bjorklunds, the Knutsons, and Ellie gathered on Ingeborg’s porch to open the ice cream canister. “Two flavors of syrup—raspberry and chocolate.” Ingeborg set the bowls on the table. “Three if you mix them.”

  “Raspberry and chocolate?” Astrid wrinkled her nose.

  Thorliff thumped her on the head. “Don’t denigrate something if you haven’t tried it.”

  “How can I do that—whatever de . . . de . . . that word is.”

  “Denigrate. To make fun of, to criticize.”

  “Why didn’t you just say that?”

  “Because you need to learn new words. A good vocabulary is the mark of an educated person.”

  “One of the marks.” Elizabeth sat on the two-seater swing attached to the beams overhead, using one foot to keep the swing in motion and the baby in her lap content.

  “What’s another?” Astrid laid the spoons on the table next to the bowls.

  “Oh, what books you are reading, the variety of things you are interested in. Getting knowledge is an important part of growing up.”

  “Some people have a lot of book learning and not much sense.” Andrew plunked the ice cream canister on the table and, picking up a towel, wiped the moisture and bits of salty ice off so they could open it.

  “If you mean common sense, I think that is a God-given gift.” Haakan leaned back in his chair.

  “Proverbs says if we want wisdom, all we have to do is ask for it.” Ingeborg smiled at Thorliff.

  “Easier than reading all those books.”

  “If you want to go to nursing school, you are going to have to read a lot of books.” Elizabeth shrugged at Astrid’s frown. “I thought you loved to read.”

  “Oh, I do, but some of it is so boring, like Roman history and Greek mythology.”

  “Do you ever read newspapers?” Thorliff asked.

  “Only yours. And when you used to send us the Northfield News. You write about interesting things.”

  Ingeborg scooped out the first bowlful. “Thorliff, since you did all the cranking, you get the first one.”

  Andrew took the second dish and eyed the syrups. Should he combine the two, just to make Astrid upset? He agreed with her. Who cared about all those big words? Leave them to Thorliff and Elizabeth. He poured his favorite, chocolate, then spooned on some raspberries, smashed and sugared.

  Astrid rolled her eyes.

  He took a bite and grinned at her. “You oug
ht to try it. It’s really good.”

  “You’re fooling me.”

  “Nope.” He held out his bowl. “Take a bite.”

  Astrid shook her head, twisted her mouth around, and reached for a spoon. “If you’re lying to me, Carl Andrew Bjorklund, you will be in bad trouble.”

  He shrugged and held his bowl steady.

  She dipped a tiny bite, then had to dig again to get some chocolate.

  “Our brave Astrid.” Thorliff had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

  “Don’t tease her, you meanie.” Elizabeth nudged him with her toe.

  Astrid waved her spoon in the air. “That is really good. Here, let me have another bite.”

  “Go get your own.” Andrew clutched his bowl close to his chest, half turning away.

  Ingeborg chuckled. “You two. Here, Astrid, hand this to your father.”

  “How come I didn’t get both?” Haakan asked when he took his bowl.

  Ingeborg sighed and shook her head. “You didn’t ask for both, so I put on what I thought was your favorite.” She took the bowl back and made a great to-do of adding chocolate.

  When everyone was served, she sat down and ate her ice cream plain.

  “How come you didn’t try both?” Andrew sat down next to her.

  “I like it this way.” She glanced across the table at Thorliff ’s chuckle. “And no, I don’t have to try something new all the time. There’s value in the tried and true, in keeping things simple.”

  “I didn’t say a word.”

  “No, but you thought real loud.” Elizabeth put in her two cents.

  Andrew leaned back in his chair, back so far it teetered on the back legs. When Ingeborg thumped on his arm, he brought the chair back down and caught a laughing look from Ellie.

  “I’d rather train ten cows any day than one of you stubborn Bjorklund men,” Ellie said between chuckles.

  “Cows don’t train easy.” Andrew reached for the ice cream canister.

  “I know. That’s my point.”

  “Anyone else want more?” When they all shook their heads, Andrew poured the last of the mostly melted ice cream into his bowl, scraping the sides with his spoon. “If my tongue was long enough, I’d lick it clean.”

  “Oink, oink.”

  He gave Astrid a teasing glare and spooned the cold treat into his mouth. Plain, or with one syrup or two, ice cream was his favorite dessert. Maybe worth more because of all the work to make it.

  “Remember all the choices there were at Mrs. Sitze’s Ice Cream Parlor?” Thorliff looked over at his wife.

  “She made the best sodas anywhere.”

  “What’s a soda?” Astrid asked.

  “You put scoops of ice cream in a tall glass, along with a flavored syrup. Then you add soda water to make it fizzy,” Elizabeth explained. She turned to Thorliff. “Maybe we should open a drugstore with a soda fountain next to Penny’s.”

  Thorliff groaned. “Good idea; wrong investors.”

  Half listening to the conversation, Andrew’s thoughts skipped across the field to the house he should be working on right now. But the siren call of ice cream and Ellie’s presence had lured him away. “So are we having a barn dance on Saturday?”

  “You mean the celebrate-the-new-barn dance that we’ve all been talking about?” Ingeborg’s teasing tickled Ellie.

  “I thought we were going to wait until after harvest.” Haakan leaned back against the porch post.

  “I just thought we needed a party now. Ellie and I, we thought that it would be fun.” His comment brought a smile from his intended. He looked to his mother. “After all, you said we needed more socials like the fish fry and the ball game.”

  “I did.” Ingeborg nodded and smiled at Haakan. “And some play before you all leave for threshing would be good.”

  “I’ll finish letting everyone know,” Astrid said.

  By the time Saturday and August rolled around, the men had already cut and shocked a good part of the Bjorklund wheat. Lars had the steam engine fine-tuned, repaired, and greased. The binder was another matter. It broke down the afternoon of the party.

  Lars crawled out from under the binder and held up a part. “I don’t know if Sam can repair this or if Hjelmer has one to sell.”

  “I’ll go find out.” Haakan took the part and studied the broken piece. “I know I can’t repair it. That’s for sure. Andrew, saddle me a horse.”

  Andrew did as asked, all the while calling the machine several uncomplimentary names. He led the saddled horse out to the men.

  “You better see if Penny has any more twine. This should finish ours up but won’t do all the Baards’.”

  Haakan mounted and waited. “Anything else?”

  “Not that I can think of.”

  Andrew shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked a dirt clump.

  “Don’t fret, Andrew, this won’t affect the party tonight.We’ll start cutting again on Monday.”

  “I’ve never had a party at my own place before.”

  “I know. It’s different. Hitch the team up and let’s pull this thing back to the machine shed. You just can’t catch all the problems no matter how hard you try.”

  Andrew swung aboard one of the horses after he’d hitched them to the binder, and they headed on home. Two hawks flew an aerial ballet against the deepening blue of the sky. The harness clanked and jingled, and the binder squeaked and squawked, thumping behind them. Letting his mind run free, Andrew thought to the dancing that night, when he would hold Ellie in his arms, see her laughing up at him, feel her head against his shoulder. Harvest had started, and it couldn’t get over soon enough for him.

  “Hey, Andrew, some place you have here.”

  “Thanks. Lots to finish yet.”

  “There’s always more to do. You never get ahead.”

  “Caught up would be good.”

  The banter between the young men continued, but Andrew paid it only half an ear. Where had Ellie gone?

  “If you’re looking for Ellie, she’s giving a tour of the house.”

  Haakan spoke for Andrew’s ears only.

  Ears turning hot, Andrew nodded. Was he that obvious? He turned back to join the others.

  “Andrew, where do you want the punch table?”

  “On the back wall, I guess.” So many decisions. In the past he’d just done what he was told. “Over by the stall with the chickens would be good.” Since he was staying at the house, he and Ellie had moved her chickens into their new home the night before.

  The memory of the kiss she’d given him after he showed her the small door he’d cut at floor level so the chickens could go outside warmed him top to bottom. Ellie sure knew how to show her gratitude.

  When the musicians had tuned up their instruments and the square-dance caller announced the Virginia Reel, he joined the rest of the men in a long line down the center aisle of the barn, women across from them. The musicians hit the beat, and away they went.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, forward and back, forward again and left arm around . . .”

  While the dance continued, Andrew forgot his responsibilities and gave in wholeheartedly to the beat of the music, the laughter of the dancers, and the giggles of the young girls and boys who were joining the older dancers for possibly the first time.

  “Gents go left; ladies go right; form that arch and pass on through.”

  Andrew and Ellie ducked to get under the hands of two youngsters and on down to the end of the line and back to their positions.

  Everyone mobbed the punch bowl in between dances. When the musicians took a break, Andrew wandered over to where the men were gathered around Hjelmer.

  “You think the mill has any possibility of happening?” someone asked.

  “A real good possibility. We aren’t the only farmers tired of paying such exorbitant fees for shipping. Russell-Miller down in Valley City is thriving. Even bought up the ones in Dickinson and Minot. There’s room for more, as only ten percent of Dakota whea
t is milled here in the state. The rest goes east.”

  “Not to change the subject, but did you see the belt buckle Olson found in the dirt where the fire had been?” Pastor Solberg asked.

  Haakan shook his head.

  “Had a KL engraved on the back.”

  “Definitely not an Indian, then. Sure wish we knew who to send it to.”

  “Better keep it, just in case.”

  Andrew glanced around and noticed that most of the younger men were not in the circle. Nor in the barn. Had not the invitation made it clear that there would be no liquor at this party, just like all the parties at the Bjorklunds’? He stepped back and ambled outside, as if he were only needing a breath of air. Hearing male laughter off to the west, he followed the sound. But by the time he got there, no one was passing around a bottle or a flask. While the jokes were slightly off color, nothing unusual was going on other than a couple of the young men smoking.

  As he approached the group, Andrew said, “The music’s starting up. Let’s get on back. Make sure you put out your cigarettes.” He turned to leave, hoping the others would follow his lead.

  “We’re going to spend tomorrow night here at our house,” Ellie told him sometime later.

  “Ah, we?” His heart leaped into his throat.

  “Me and the girls. That’s all right with you, isn’t it?”

  He didn’t dare answer for a moment, his throat had gone so dry. The picture that had flashed through his mind was not of Ellie and the other girls, but of him and Ellie. He ordered his thundering heart to slow down and took another deep breath. “Of . . . of course. I’ll stay with my folks, then, tomorrow night.”

  “Good, let’s go dance. I think there’s a waltz coming next.” She took his hand and dragged him back onto the dance floor.

  When the dancing ended, Andrew and Ellie stood together thanking everyone for coming and waving them all good-bye. As each wagon drove out the lane, Andrew was even more pleased that he had been staying here. Sleeping in his own house brought more pleasure than he thought it would—even though all he had was a pallet on the floor. If only we were married and Ellie were living here with me.