“She and Kirstin are taking a nap,” Signe said.
He shrugged and made a face. “Sorry.” His grin returned as he handed her the letter. “Oops, almost forgot. Knute needs something to eat.”
She gave him a sandwich, and he dashed back out the door, pausing to shut it carefully.
Signe shook her head and smiled at the same time. Oh, to be young like that again. Studying the letters, she realized they were both from Nilda. Guilt beating her about the head and shoulders, she propped the one for Einar against the empty bowl in the center of the table. She slit the other envelope with her fingernail as she pulled out a chair and sat.
Dear Brother Rune and my still best friend Signe,
Signe sniffed and rolled her lips together. Such a simple thing to make her teary-eyed already.
We are so excited. My temporary job with Mrs. Sieverson turned into full-time when her regular assistant, Matilde, decided to live with an aunt in Malmo. Ivar got a small job too, and we could afford his ticket at last. The tickets have arrived, and I take them out almost daily to make sure the dream is coming true. I really am coming to Amerika. I should make myself write this in English, but it would be a very short letter. We have been following your advice, and both Ivar and I are taking English lessons from an old gentleman up the road who lived in Amerika for five years. He finally decided he would rather live in Norway after his wife and their two children died in a house fire in the middle of the winter. That is such a tragic story, and he has never really become himself again. But he agreed to teach us, and we go three times a week, and he gives us homework. So we are all learning to speak English. Are you not amazed?
Since Ivar promised Mor he would make sure she gets to Amerika, she goes with us for lessons too. Mor is doing her best, but she cannot make Far want to ever go there nor learn the language. He says Norwegian he is, and Norwegian he will remain until the day he dies. He will be buried here next to his far and mor and the other relatives in the home plot. I know that is a rather depressing thought, but it has not deterred the rest of us from dreaming, including Mor.
We are packing the trunks, and I am including the list we are working from, so if you can think of something else, you better write back quickly.
Again Signe sniffed.
“Is something wrong?” Gerd asked, gently closing the door behind her. “Kirstin is still sleeping, so I banked pillows around her so she can’t tumble off.”
“Nei, just a letter from Nilda and a list of the things they are packing in their trunks.” She motioned to the letter on the table. “That is for you both, I think. Would you like to hear this one?”
Gerd stepped to the stove. “Coffee will be ready in a minute.” Waving a hand to signal go ahead, she stuck a couple more pieces of wood in the stove and pulled the pot to the hottest place. “Uff da, I slept too long.”
Signe shook her head and returned to her reading, continuing out loud. “‘We are arriving in Duluth on May the twenty-ninth and will take the train to Blackduck. And then I will see your dear faces. I know the boys have grown so much, and the baby—oh, I am so excited. Please greet everyone from those of us at home and know we think about you and pray for you every day. Your sister and friend, Nilda Carlson.’”
She went back and read the first part aloud to Gerd, then laid the letter aside.
The air seemed so heavy. She knew why. Rune and Einar would both come back this evening. She had heard the terrible argument that morning, except that Rune did not argue. He simply stated what he would do, and then he did it. She thought how stubborn those two both were and wondered if her family would have a roof over their heads tonight.
Kirstin was making noise in the other room, so Signe brought her to the kitchen. She was very wet, of course, so Signe changed her and set her to nursing.
Gerd spoke. “I should have started bread last night.”
Signe frowned. “We still have yeast, don’t we?”
“Ja, but that will be the last.”
“Go ahead and use it. I will add yeast to the list for the boys. Anything else for the list? We have butter we can send along.”
“Good.”
“Gerd, do you know where to pick chokecherries?”
Gerd nodded. “If we take the horse, I will be able to show you. Maybe we will get enough strawberries from the garden to make jam, if they made it through the winter. Did you see any raspberry bushes out there last summer? One year I got juneberries too.” She wagged her head gently. “So many berries grow in the areas logged off a few years ago.”
“We used lingonberries at home.” Signe glanced down at her daughter, who grinned up at her, milk leaking out the side of her mouth. “You’re just playing now, you silly. I think you are ready for porridge, my girl.” Tucking herself back together, she sat Kirstin on her lap, and at the healthy burp, shook her head. “Uff da, such manners.” Kirstin waved her fist and chortled to her mor, her two gleaming white bottom teeth flashing bright. “I know, you. Showing off those teeth. You bite me again, and you will end up eating from a spoon.” She stood and turned to hand the baby to Gerd.
The door slammed open. Einar glared at her. “Are you packed? You’re leaving, you know.”
“I heard the argument this morning.” She did not answer the question he asked.
“You lazy, selfish people have disobeyed me for the last time. Pack your things, or I send you off without them.”
Gerd stood up, casually walked over to Signe, and handed her the baby. Just as quietly and casually, she walked over to Einar and stood immediately in front of him, nose to nose. “I live in this house too. They will live here until their house is built because I want them to. Signe helps me; there is so much I cannot do yet. I need her. You need the men, and they work hard for you, for long hours. So you are just going to have to stuff that abominable, haughty pride back into its tiny box in your heart and shut up!”
She walked over to Signe, took the baby back, and quietly sat down.
Einar’s face turned purple. His mouth worked, but no sound came out. He wheeled and slammed out the door.
Gert muttered, “Prideful, thick-headed old goat.”
There were tears in her eyes.
Chapter
11
Two days later, they woke to the song of spring, icicles dripping from the roof. Signe lay in bed for a few extra breaths just to listen. “You hear that?” she asked Rune.
“Ja, perhaps it will stay this time.” He threw back the covers and dressed, still buttoning his shirt as he disappeared down the stairs to start the fire.
By the time Signe was dressed, Kirstin gurgled at her. Scooping her up, she called to the boys as she went downstairs. April already, and even though dawn came earlier, they still woke when dawn was only a trace on the horizon. At least the boys could get to the barn without stumbling in the darkness.
Rune nodded to Signe as she laid the baby down to change her. He settled the stove lids back in place and adjusted the damper. “Do you need anything from the well house?”
“Ja, that last slab of bacon and the jug of buttermilk. We have enough eggs for bacon, eggs, and pancakes, for a change.”
The boys, their eyes still heavy with sleep, slouched out the door, headed for the barn. Einar strode out the door with nary a word, in spite of her “good morning.”
Signe refused to let the way he acted bother her anymore, so she greeted him anyway. Someday he would have to give in. “Kill them with kindness” had been one of her mor’s favorite sayings.
By the time the men and boys trooped back inside, a stack of pancakes waited in the oven, and the bacon took up the warming oven. Signe cracked eggs in the frying pan. “Only two eggs each this morning so everyone gets some,” she announced as the guys took their chairs.
Gerd, pouring the coffee, nudged Einar’s shoulder, earning a glare for her efforts. She glared right back and filled Rune’s cup.
“Tante Gerd, I can drink my coffee black now,” Knute told her.
“The cream is in the pitcher,” she said after filling his cup the usual halfway.
Leif grinned at her and held out his cup, which was already half full of cream and a hefty teaspoon of sugar. “Takk.”
“You are welcome,” Gerd said in English.
Signe had not been practicing her English enough.
She slid the eggs onto a plate and passed it around the table. When it came to Einar, he hesitated, took only two, and passed it on to Rune. He ate without a word. Signe loaded more pancakes on a platter, and for a change he did not put half the platter on his plate. Tante Gerd, you are one wise woman. Maybe he can be taught after all.
As always, Einar finished wolfing down his breakfast and poked Bjorn as he stood up. “You’re done. Go to work.”
Bjorn looked sadly at his plate, only half emptied.
“Finish your breakfast,” Rune said quietly.
With gusto, Bjorn shoveled in the eggs and bacon, then hurried out the door with his pancakes in his hand.
Signe wagged her head and refilled Rune’s cup. “How is the arrangement going?”
“All right. Yesterday I sent Bjorn back to help Einar while Oskar and I loaded logs. Bjorn says Einar was grumpy but did not abuse him. I warned Bjorn never to say, ‘But Mr. Kielund does whatever-it-is.’ They got two loads to the railhead—that’s six logs.”
“Do you know how many loads he took on the day you and Bjorn were not there?”
Rune smiled. “Bjorn keeps count. Only one.”
Gerd plunked the big dinner basket down beside him. “I put extra snacks in for Mr. Kielund. He seems to like to eat.”
“He loves to eat homecooking, especially your cooking, both of you. He lives alone and doesn’t like to cook.”
“So he’s not married.” Gerd sat down with a cup of coffee.
“His wife died in November. Pneumonia. Two children.”
Signe’s heart lurched. “Oh, I so wish we could invite him to dinner. But that would never work.”
Gerd nodded sadly. “I agree. Einar is still too angry. Not that he would ever invite someone to dinner under any circumstance. Rune, how many logs do you have to move yet?”
“Only four. He will be done today.”
Signe smiled. “Hiring Mr. Kielund, then, was a godsend.”
“It was. And I think he will be a good friend.” Rune picked up the basket and left.
Signe untied Kirstin from her seat in the rocker and put the baby on her lap. Kirstin waved her feet and fists, grinning from ear to ear when she saw Gerd.
“She is becoming quite a talker,” Gerd said after taking the baby and conversing with her.
“Ja, that she is. I don’t remember the boys being so lively. She notices everything.” Signe finished two sandwiches for Bjorn and poured the warmed coffee into a jar for him. At the jingle of the harness, she threw her shawl around her shoulders and headed outside to hand the sack up to him. “Here’s your dinner, in case you get stuck in long lines. Thanks to Gerd.”
“Takk. Good thing the lines at the yard aren’t always so long now.” He secured his sack and flapped the lines to signal the team forward.
Signe waved and, tucking her arms around her waist, watched him head down the lane. Lord God, please keep him safe.
The snow level dropped every day.
With Rune and Bjorn both working with Einar, they were able to take three loads a day. But Bjorn announced at supper one evening, “I don’t think we can do any more loads. I almost didn’t make it there today. The main road is near to bare, and it gets soft wherever the sun hits it.”
Einar grimaced. “Woulda had more logs out if I’d had the help I needed.”
And we would not have had nearly enough to pay for our house. Once in a while, Signe knew, Rune regretted crossing Einar and hiring Oskar. Neither of them liked friction. But now she was very glad he had. “Is this typical for Minnesota?”
“Ja, some years. Some we’ve had snow in June. But once the frost starts to leave the ground, the roads become impassable in places. Sometimes weeks before wagons can be used again.” He pushed back from the table. “We’ll start blasting stumps soon as we can dig down to plant the dynamite.”
“Shame we can’t blast a hole for the cellar,” Rune thought aloud.
Einar snorted and headed out the door.
The nights still froze, but the days grew warm. Two days later, it rained.
“It is Sunday today.” Signe sighed as she watched the rain drip off the eaves. “How I wish we could go to church.”
Rune shrugged and finished his pancakes. “Roads just aren’t passable for either sledge or wheels. It’s a muddy mess out there.”
“I know. So what are you going to do?”
“Take out a couple more trees so we can build our house where we really wanted to, a bit beyond where it was already cleared.”
“Are you leaving any trees for shade?”
He blinked at her. “I guess I could.”
“I know which one,” Bjorn said. “I’ll mark it. Deciduous trees will work better for shade.” He looked at Signe with a smile. “We can find some birch saplings, too, and maybe a maple. Plant them anywhere you want.”
Gerd looked hopeful. “I would like a shade tree here by this house too.”
Bjorn nodded. “We can do that.”
“A cottonwood grows the fastest.” Rune pushed back his chair. “Soon as the ground thaws, we will do that.”
Gerd nodded to the boys. “I will even bake you cookies in exchange.”
“Today?” Leif grinned at her.
“There’s no trees yet.”
“Payment in advance?”
Gerd shook her head, but surely that was a twinkle in her eye. “We shall see.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but that stack of wood on the porch is nearly gone.” Signe hated to have to ask.
“We will do that today too,” Rune assured her.
“Takk.” She knew Rune would prefer working in the shop, but all the other work had to come first. “Leif, how about bringing up a basket of shavings? They make the house smell good, besides being a great fire starter.”
Gerd nodded. “When you get some cedar shavings, we can put them in bags in the trunks and cupboards. They keep moths away.”
“Far said we will have cedar shakes for the roof on the house. Me and Knute get to split them.” Leif slid his arms into his coat sleeves. “Oh, Mor? Mr. Jahnson wants to come out to visit you and Far. He said he visits all the families of his pupils.”
Signe gulped. Her gaze darted to Gerd. Would Einar try to drive him off too?
Chapter
12
Stop your fussing, everything looks very nice.” Gerd jiggled Kirstin on her hip and made her chortle. Nothing could be as contagious as a baby’s laughter.
“But it’s the boys’ teacher. The place should look decent.” Signe’s trepidation lifted as she grinned back at her daughter.
The sound of horse hooves splocking in the mud made her suck in another breath. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know who was coming. The boys had told her about Mr. Jahnson. If he was as good a teacher as they described, her boys were fortunate to have him. Even though Knute would rather be here working or out in the woods, he still seemed to be doing well at school. Leif loved every moment of it.
She answered the knock at the front door. The steps were now free of snow and ice, so they could use that door again. She made sure her face wore a smile as she pulled the door open. It still stuck a bit, but Rune had worked on it for some time. “Good afternoon, Mr. Jahnson. Welcome.” Signe spoke her English carefully.
“Mrs. Carlson?” He held his hat to his chest.
“Ja, come right in.” She stepped back and beckoned him inside. Taller than Rune and some rounder, he seemed to fill the doorway. Stepping back, she held out a hand. “May I take your coat and hat? It is much warmer in the kitchen.” She hung them on the coatrack by the door and led the way to the kitchen. “As I said in my no
te, my husband and the boys are all out working in the woods until near dark. Hopefully we’ll be able to return to church now that the roads are more passable.”
“I was hoping to meet Mr. Carlson too, but I do understand. Work has to come first when the weather cooperates.”
As they entered the kitchen, Gerd nodded and jiggled Kirstin, who eyed the stranger with a bushy mustache. First the baby hid her face in Gerd’s shoulder, then looked at him again and screwed her face into a scowl that turned to a whimper. She reached out her arms for her mor, who took her immediately.
“Sorry. Mr. Jahnson, this is Mrs. Strand. Gerd Strand.” As they both murmured the proper responses, Signe swayed Kirstin from side to side. “Please sit down, and we will have a cup of coffee and dried-apple pie.”
He took the chair she indicated. “Dried-apple pie, really? My mother used to make that, brings back good memories. You didn’t need to go to so much bother. I apologize it has taken me so long to come to meet you. Today Mr. Larsson is teaching, so I am free.”
“I am glad you are here. The boys say you are German.”
He nodded. “On my mother’s side. I spoke German growing up. That makes it easier to understand those who speak Norwegian. Did you know that your Leif has a knack for learning languages?”
“I know he has picked up English faster than any of us. Even on the ship, he did.”
While Signe sat talking with Mr. Jahnson, Gerd took Kirstin and settled her in for a nap. After setting the pieces of pie on the table, along with a pitcher of thick cream, she filled the coffee cups and set them around. “There is sugar for your coffee too, if you want.”
“No, thanks. I take mine black. I’m glad you are going to join us.”
“Takk.”
Signe sucked in a bunch of courage to ask, “Are both of our boys doing well?”
Mr. Jahnson nodded. “I am glad to say they are. I think Knute would rather be somewhere else, but he is one of my better math students. I know Mr. Larsson, the man who teaches them English, is pleased too.” He savored another bite of pie. “Let me give you an example of a problem I posed to the upper grades. I asked them how many board feet of lumber could be cut from a thirty-foot log. Knute looked at me for a moment and raised his hand. What size boards, he asked. That was the kind of answer I wanted. No one could figure out board feet without more information. I want my students to not only love to learn but be able to think for themselves.” He forked the last bite of pie into his mouth. “Do you have any questions you would like to ask me?”
A Breath of Hope Page 9