A Song of Joy

by Lauraine Snelling

  “Wonderful. Bring it in. Surely there is good news in there.”

  “Is a letter for Miss Nilda from her mother good news?”

  Nilda reached for it. “That is always good news. Thank you.” She slit open the letter while Gertrude sorted the remainder. Drawing two separate folded pages out, Nilda read her mother’s letter first.

  Dear Nilda,

  First of all, thank you again for my trip to Blackduck. I treasure every memory. Now, here is the letter from Ingeborg that I forgot in all the excitement of our visit. It was still in my bag when I came home.

  We are in full canning and preserving here, as you know. So far we have good crops, the peas are done with jars in the cellar. Our strawberries became jam and some have been canned for future drinks. The raspberries are on now. We are canning, drying, and will be shelling beans. The corn, both sweet and field, is ready to be tassled. Leif said that is his job, but Knute is helping him.

  Kirstin is learning new words nearly every day. Oh, and I have written back to Ingeborg. To think that we can at last talk again.

  Love from

  Your Mor

  Nilda handed the letter to Gertrude. “You’ll enjoy this.” She unfolded the other piece of paper.

  Dear Gunlaug,

  It was wonderful to receive your letter! I praise God that Onkel’s edict of having nothing to do with us did not permanently destroy any contact between us. Thank you for telling me about Einar. What a sad end. Please know that when I knew him he was not the bitter, dishonest man you described. I wonder what made him change.

  We are doing well here in our town of Blessing, all the praise and thanks goes to our Heavenly Father. It sounds as though you are doing well. I remember Rune as the little boy who worked hard all summer in the seters. To think that he has children approaching adulthood! And Nilda, an adult now. In my heart she is still a tiny girl in braids.

  If God allows, I will come to visit you, or you can come to visit me. Either way, the person visiting must bring photographs! Notice I put an exclamation point on that for emphasis.

  May blessings abound for you and all yours, dear Gunlaug.

  Love always

  from your cousin,

  Ingeborg Bjorklund

  “Oh, my. This is beyond belief.” Nilda shook her head. “Me in braids.”

  Gertrude smiled. “Do you mind if I read that?”

  “Of course not. Here.” Nilda handed the letter across her desk. “I wonder if they have telephones in North Dakota yet.”

  Miss Walstead arrived at the same time that Stella brought the tray from the kitchen.

  “I’d say that is record time.” Gertrude greeted her. “Thank you for coming.” She smiled at Stella. “And tell Cook the same, please.”

  “Oh, I will. Welcome, Miss Jane.” Stella set the tray down, smiled at Nilda too, and shut the door behind her on her way out.

  Gertrude raised her glass and nodded for the other two to do the same. “Cheers, and thank God for great ideas.”

  “Does skol work here?” Nilda grinned as she tapped the other two glasses. “I do hope it is a good idea. Thank you for coming, Miss Walstead. This has been an amazing morning already.”

  “All right, tell her.” Gertrude nodded to Nilda.

  So Nilda did, with Miss Walstead nodding all the while.

  “Interesting. So what do you need from me, since obviously I think it is a good idea also?” Miss Walstead reached for a cookie.

  Gertrude explained, “I think we need a way to phrase this so it is not offensive to anyone.”

  “Other than Mathew? Or Heinrik?”

  “You know me so well. In a word, yes.” She passed the plate of tiny sandwiches around.

  “Simple. Just say an anonymous donor has offered to match the donations of money to the fund.”

  Nilda and Gertrude looked at each other, heads wagging. “Of course.”

  “The answer was too simple, that’s all.” Nilda sighed and shrugged at the same time.

  “If the information goes public from Mathew, then no one will ever be sure, even if they think they know.” Miss Walstead reached for another cookie. “Leave it to Cook, these are delicious. She whipped them up in such short order? Amazing. And I will not eat another, since I am sure this is not to replace dinner.”

  When Mathew Amundson arrived at three o’clock, the three women greeted him with wide smiles. “I have a suspicion that I am not going to like what you are hatching up now,” he said.

  Gertrude grinned. “Now, Mathew, how could you think such a thing? We’ve devised a solid plan, and we just need you to put the first step into motion.”

  “I’m listening.” He turned as Charles handed him a glass of lemonade.

  “Unless you would rather have coffee,” Charles said.

  “No, thank you, this is fine.” He took a swallow, nodded, and stared at Gertrude. “Let me have it.”

  “We have received notification that an anonymous donor has offered to match all other donations of money.”

  “I see.” But he was shaking his head. “An anonymous donor. And you do know the veracity of this rather dubious offer?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I may assume that this oh-so-generous donor is none other than you.”

  “Assume what you will. All I ask is that you give this information to the newspaper for this week’s edition. Our dream is that this will cause an increase in donations.”

  “Of course that is what you desire. And the donations will be coming to the bank?”

  “Of course.”

  “And you expect us to take care of all the bookwork?”

  “Isn’t that what banks do?”

  He chugged his lemonade.

  Gertrude pressed, “And you’ll take care of this?”

  “I hope I have to hire on extra help, is what I hope.”

  All three women sucked in breath and released it at the same time. “Thank you,” they chorused.

  “Well, it’s not like I have much choice.” He looked from face to face. “And to whom do I give my congratulations on a good idea?”

  The other two women looked at Nilda, who shrugged. “I just hope it helps. Donations have been a bit slower than I hoped.”

  “Hope springs eternal in the human breast?” he said.

  “Man never is, but always to be blest,” Miss Walstead finished.

  “Yes. Thank you. I had best be off to get to the newspaper. By the way, that was some party out at the site.” He nodded to each of them. “I just hope this helps.”

  “Probably better to pray than just hope.” Miss Walstead smiled sweetly, causing him to roll his eyes.

  When the newspaper came out on Thursday, there was a box in the lower left-hand side of the front page with the word Announcement at the top, and below that, “Exciting News!”

  Nilda read the short article aloud. “It covers all the information. Now we wait.”

  By the end of the next week, there was enough money donated to pay for the lumber of another house. When Gertrude matched it, that covered supplies, including the cooking range. Mr. Renborggen at the mercantile put in an order for four more—just in case, he said.

  When Fritz returned on Sunday evening, he congratulated them on all the efforts. “The people of Benson’s Corner are gathering donations also. I have a list here of things, other than money, that will be coming in. Rune Carlson has offered three butchered hogs to be divided among the residents and will bring them in after butchering, which depends on the weather. He plans to cut them up and freeze the meat.”

  “I have a feeling Leif had something to do with this, as the pigs are his responsibility.” Nilda jotted herself a note to send him and the family a thank-you letter, just as she was doing for all the other donors.

  Another letter from her mother said that she’d heard back from Ingeborg. Nilda sniffed. Tears of joy felt better than tears of sorrow—or frustration. The letter said, They have a donation box at the Bensons’ store, and Reverend S
karstead has preached on giving and caring for the less fortunate. I’m proud of my people.

  The next morning Nilda walked with Fritz over to the building site. “It’s beginning to look real.”

  Mr. Haglund greeted them. “You don’t look dressed for work, young man.” He shook Fritz’s hand.

  “Sorry, but we stole him from you.” Nilda grinned at the older man. “This looks so beyond belief.”

  “We have two houses completed. The first family will be moving in before school begins, the second one not long after that. The next two houses are ready for the finish work—mainly painting, moving the stove in, that kind of thing. We’ve ordered the lumber for the next two. And we’re waiting for enough funds to proceed from there. That man giving orders over there, Yousef, is now the owner of the first house. He is one hard worker. I hate to see him go out to the lumber camps when we can sure use him here.”

  “Is there a paying job here for him?” Fritz asked.

  “I have no answer to that. Of course, all his crews will be gone.”

  Fritz nodded. “I’m sure there is a way to work this out. We need to bring it before the committee.”

  “What are you thinking?” Nilda asked as they walked home.

  “I’m thinking that if they weathered in a couple more houses, he could spend the winter finishing the insides.”

  “The committee meets Saturday morning. Would you please introduce this idea?”

  “Gladly. But I have to tell you, I won’t be back like this again. I need to get ready to teach, as school starts soon and I will be back on my fall schedule.”

  She heaved a sigh. “I know. But I can’t tell you how much I—we have appreciated your help.” But I like having you here. I love my piano lessons, playing badminton and croquet, listening to you make that piano sing in the evenings.

  She found the invitation to the Schmitz ball in the mail later that morning. She handed it to Gertrude without saying, I would rather tear it up.

  Chapter

  24

  I have something I must tell you before we leave.”

  Nilda looked up from packing her briefcase. The look on Gertrude’s face did not bode well. She pointed to the chairs in front of the crackling fireplace. The weather had turned autumnal with October first.

  “Should I call for coffee?” Nilda asked. Tea would obviously not be sufficient.

  “I already have.”

  The knock on the door backed up that statement. Charles entered and set the tray between them.

  “Thank you, Charles, and tell Cook the cinnamon buns are a perfect antidote for a gray day.” As Charles left the room, they both picked up their coffee cups and settled a cinnamon bun on the napkin in their laps, as if they’d choreographed the scene.

  Gertrude set her coffee back down. “Before he left, Jeffrey asked for permission to court you.”

  Nilda could feel astonishment followed by frustration. She blew out a breath. Drinking coffee through gritted teeth was impossible, so she set her cup down very carefully, so as to not shatter it. She nodded. “Now the way he is acting makes at least a little bit of sense. Except that if he wanted to court me, he would have to behave a whole lot differently.” She thought a moment and, eyes widening, stared at Gertrude. “And you answered him?”

  “I said that was your decision to make, not mine.”

  Nilda snorted. “I wouldn’t marry him if he were the last man on earth.” She shook her head. “No, calm down, Nilda.” She took a big bite out of her cinnamon roll and stared into the crackling fire while she thought. “This does not make sense to me. I’m not the kind of woman he needs to marry.” She raised a troubled look to her employer. “He knows what I think of the society life. Well, maybe he doesn’t. I don’t think he is especially perceptive.” She poured herself another cup of coffee and then filled Gertrude’s cup as well. “I think I am developing a more suspicious mind. There has to be something behind this.”

  Gertrude nodded. “I have a feeling I know the answer to that, but I have a big favor to ask. Can you just be yourself with Jeffrey as we get through this meeting, and try to enjoy the ball?”

  “I will feel like a princess wearing that gown, and now that I know how to waltz and do some other dances, I will have a good time. And you?”

  “Oh, I will be there, and each of my brothers will fulfill their duty and dance with me, and otherwise I shall enjoy watching you. After all, I will be your chaperone to make sure there are no unwanted advances. I have a feeling you will be the belle of the ball.”

  “Mrs. Jones, as usual, amazed me. She finished my ball gown so quickly.”

  “She is a treasure,” Gertrude agreed. “So we are ready to leave tomorrow morning?”

  Nilda nodded and pointed to a stack of envelopes. “All the correspondence is caught up. Fritz wrote a letter of thanks for the books and had all his students sign it. Knute just signed his name, but Leif wrote, ‘Thank you for more books to read. I already started on them.’ We have made at least one boy extremely happy.”

  “What happened with bookshelves?”

  “Rune and the boys built the shelves for their school and said that if no one here would do so, they’d build more for this school.”

  “But someone here took care of that?”

  Nilda nodded. “I would not be surprised if Mr. Haglund doesn’t form a new construction company, putting a couple of those lumberjacks to work year-round. He mentioned his barn again and what a good place it was to work in.”

  Gertrude wore her thinking face. “I believe if he does that, I will look into—that is, we will look into building a house out on the lake like Arvid dreamed. After they finish these houses, of course.”

  Nilda mused, “I thought of building an apartment house as an investment but keeping the rent low for people of lesser means.”

  She took plenty of work with her on the train so she wouldn’t be able to dwell on Jeffrey. This time, they had a trunk along to bring the ball gowns. By now she knew the routine, so she wasn’t intimidated by the train station and all the bustle and noise. When they arrived at the hotel, she talked with Mr. Burns at the desk and greeted the maids in their suite.

  “Would you please press the ball gowns and have someone here to do our hair on Saturday?”

  “Of course, miss. We are glad to see you back. Will you be doing any shopping this trip?”

  Nilda looked to Gertrude, who shrugged. “Possibly we will have some free time on Friday afternoon.” Nilda thought a moment. “I know I would like to go to the bookstore on Fifth Street.” She wanted to meet the man who had overseen the shipment of all the books they’d ordered.

  The morning of the board meeting she woke with butterflies flitting around in her middle. She’d prayed for wisdom and grace to ignore the shenanigans of Jeffrey Schmitz, Esquire, and do her very best to make Gertrude proud of her, and confirm that she had made the right choice in bringing Nilda into her life and business.

  When they entered the boardroom, she nodded and responded to those greeting her, then took her place next to Gertrude at the head of the long table. Heinrik did not smile at her as did some of the others. So that was the way it was to be. She smiled anyway and placed her shorthand tablet on the table, along with several sharpened pencils.

  Heinrik opened the meeting with the briefest of prayers, obviously doing so because of his father’s tradition that Gertrude had resurrected. He then welcomed everyone and turned the meeting over to Gertrude, which probably taxed his graciousness.

  Now, Nilda, behave, she told herself. The interesting thing was that Jeffrey was not in attendance. He—or they—had not deemed his leaving school for this meeting of importance. So be it. At least he realized his schooling was of great value, or his father had told him not to bother. My, what a suspicious mind you have, Miss Carlson.

  “Like the rest of you, we have studied all the proposals and made lists of the strengths and weaknesses of each.” Gertrude paused to look around. “You have all done
so, correct? And you have your reports with you?”

  Nilda looked around. No negatives, although Jonathon didn’t look up. Hmm.

  “Then let’s begin the discussion. Which do you see as the most possible? And the best for the company?”

  Nilda did her best to keep up with her notes in shorthand, but after a while, her hand cramped. She laid the pencil down and stretched her fingers in her lap. Good thing she dared to ask Mr. Jurgenson for his notes now.

  Finally, Gertrude nodded and said, “Then we agree to our long-range proposal and the processes can begin.” She looked around the room. “Since we are all aware that we are running out of timber in Minnesota, anyone want to offer an estimate as to how much time we have?”

  “I’d say five years max,” Jacob offered. “We already have options on timberland in western Washington, mostly to lease instead of purchase, unless we are forced to. Alaska is, of course, the last great frontier, but that mountainous land will create difficulties beyond anything we’ve dreamed of.”

  When they adjourned for dinner, Nilda made her way to the necessary down the hall, grateful she would not have to type all of her notes. She flexed her fingers under the hot water tap.

  Gertrude joined her at the next sink. “This meeting is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s almost farcical. This afternoon when we go over financial reports . . .” She shook her head. “I have so many questions, but this is not the place to bring them up.”

  When they joined the others in the dining room, Gertrude asked, “Heinrik, you’ve met Andrew Carnegie, have you not?”

  He nodded. “Yes, of course. A great philanthropist and a good businessman.”

  She added, “But he has a bad reputation for the way he deals with his workers. You can’t read the newspapers without reading about brutality to the miners and the steelworkers.”

  “He gets the job done.” Heinrik appeared finished with the conversation.

  Gertrude turned to answer a question from someone else and continued eating. Nilda could tell she was pondering something.

  Before they returned to the boardroom, Heinrik stopped his sister. “I would like a meeting with you alone after we are finished here today.”