The Reaper's Song

by Lauraine Snelling

  “Toby.”

  “Toby what?”

  “White and him’s Gerald. We call him Jerry.”

  “Toby and Gerald White, huh?” She turned to Hjelmer and Anner, who stood ready in case the boys bolted. “So, what do you think? The Baards, or Olaf and Goodie, or—”

  “Why can’t they come to our house?” Anner asked. “We got room, and when we build the new house, they can have a room all to themselves.”

  “We can collect some clothes for them.”

  Anner shook his head. “No, we can buy some, and my wife will make the rest.” He looked at Penny, then Hjelmer. “Unless, of course, you . . .”

  Hjelmer leaned forward just a hair. “I think you’ve already made the best suggestion possible. The gift of two boys is something mighty special for one afternoon.”

  Penny started to say something, then stopped. This reminded her far too much of her own situation years earlier. Only then it had been relatives splitting up the children, never again to all be together. There could have been room at their house for these two. She loved them already. But Anner and Hildegunn needed these boys as bad as the boys needed them.

  “Well, Mr. Valders, I get to help with something. Come on, you two. The boots are right over here, and from the looks of your feet, you need some right bad.”

  “Why don’t you go on home and talk this over with your wife,” Hjelmer said in a low voice. “We’ll bring the boys later.”

  “No need. She’ll be scrubbing them clean and fixing clothes all night. I can’t give her anything better. Don’t you see?”

  “I do see. And even more, I see that you have come a long way, Anner, and I’m proud to call you my friend.”

  Anner hawked, almost spit, then remembered where he was and drew out his handkerchief. “Thanks to the good Lord above and all you men who kept coming to care for me even when I spit in your faces. I can never repay what I owe.”

  “Ain’t that the truth for all of us?”

  The bell over the door tinkled.

  Anner turned to the newly arrived customers and asked, “Can I help you?”

  As Hjelmer headed back toward his office, he heard Penny and the two boys laughing over in the boot section. Maybe he should have claimed the boys for their own. But surely God was going to bless them with children soon as He deemed the time was right, wasn’t He?

  August 1887

  They’re here! They’re here!” Andrew and Deborah shrieked the words together.

  “Who’s here?” Ingeborg wiped her hands on her apron.

  “Katy’s home! With horses. Lots’a horses.” Andrew fairly danced in place at his news.

  “Glory be to God, they’re safe.” She followed the children out the door and shaded her eyes with one hand. It sure enough did look like lots’a horses. “Come on, Andrew, Deborah. Let’s go open the corral gate.” She grabbed the children’s hands and ran with them across the yard to the corral by the old sod barn. She flipped the rope loop off the gate post and pulled it open wide. Latching it to a rail, she took the children to stand in the door of the sod barn.

  “Pretty horses,” said Deborah, her mouth and eyes matching O’s.

  “I get to ride?” Andrew tugged on her skirts. “Mor, can I ride now?”

  “No, son. Those horses aren’t tame enough to ride yet. Zeb has lots of work to do with them first.”

  “Oh.” He leaned against his mother’s side, letting her pat his curls with an absentminded gesture.

  With a whoop and a swirl of dust, the horses streamed through the open gate, following the lead mare that Zeb had snubbed to his old faithful mount. Katy brought up the rear, swinging a rope and hollering at the stragglers. In a broad-brimmed hat and men’s britches, she reminded Ingeborg so much of herself that she laughed out loud. No wonder people were scandalized at her men’s clothing.

  With the last horse in, Katy swung the gate shut and latched it. “There now, you broomtails, you’re trapped for sure.” Then turning to Ingeborg, she said, “We did just that, Inge. We trapped them. Zeb figured it out. We drove them into a box canyon that we’d fenced off. Worked so perfect we could choose which to keep and which to let loose. The stallion was the only one left out, and he tried to get his mares back a couple of times. You should have seen him.” She swung to the ground as if she’d been riding all her life. “He was happy when we let the ones we didn’t want loose again. He rounded them up and hightailed it out of there as if to say ‘so there!’ ”

  “You look like range life agrees with you.” Ingeborg could feel her smile nearly touch her ear lobes.

  “Oh, it does. We saw the mountains, and all I could think of was Norway. They were so rugged and majestic, they made my heart ache.”

  “Who has a heartache?” Zeb led his mount out of the gate, making sure none of the wild horses were following.

  “No one, silly.” Katy tossed her long braid back over her shoulder.

  The three of them crossed their arms on the top rail of the corral. Andrew and Deborah scrambled up to sit beside them, bare feet hooked around the lower rail.

  “You sure got pretty horses.” Andrew patted Zeb’s shoulder.

  “Glad you like them, young sprout.” Zeb looked around at Ingeborg. “I think he grew three feet while we were gone.”

  Andrew looked down at his feet, shaking his head. “No, I only still got two.” He stared from one adult to the other, bewilderment written all over his face, but started to laugh just because they did.

  “Andrew, my boy, I sure did miss you.” Katy tousled his hair, knocking his hat into the horse pen. When Andrew started to climb down to get it, she grabbed his arm. “Oh no, you don’t.”

  At the same moment Zeb bent over and reached inside for the hat, straightening and plunking it back on Andrew’s head. “You stay out of there. Those horses would stomp you right into the dirt.”

  Andrew looked at him as if he’d taken up telling tall tales.

  “All horses aren’t gentle like ours.” Ingeborg turned from watching a particularly fine filly. “But give Zeb time with them and they will be. You just remember to do as he says.”

  “Yes, Mor.” Andrew laid his arm across her shoulders. “You going to ride?”

  “One day.”

  “So what all has gone on while we’ve been gone?”

  “The usual.”

  “We got new calves. Belle had a baby. Paws is a pa.”

  “There are new chicks.” Deborah held out her hand to show a scabbed spot. “That hen near to tore my hand off.”

  Katy and Zeb both looked to Ingeborg, who shrugged and grinned at the same time. “A lot of love and she’s healthy again. She can talk your arm and both legs off.”

  “But, Mor—” Andrew started but Ingeborg cut him off.

  “I know, you got two legs and so does Zeb. You and Deborah go crank up a bucket of water. I’m sure a cold drink would taste mighty good to these travelers.”

  The two leaped to the ground and ran off yelling, “Race you!”

  The look the newlyweds shared brought a lump to Ingeborg’s throat.

  “Shall we ask her? Tell her? What?” Katy locked her arm through her husband’s.

  “What now?” Ingeborg raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, we want the girls to come live with us. Since they started out with Zeb—”

  “I guess I think they should be mine—er, ours,” Zeb finished.

  Ingeborg dropped her chin on her hands. Both Manda and Deborah had become like daughters to her. “G-guess we’ll have to talk about this later.” The wrench of losing them already knotted her stomach. “Manda should probably have the say in it.”

  “We wanted to ask you first,” Katy whispered.

  One of the horses snorted. Another one got nipped on the rump and squealed. Ingeborg kept her gaze on the horses. She couldn’t bear yet to look the two young people in the eye.

  After a bit Zeb broke the silence. “Have Anner and Hildegunn moved to town yet?”

 
“Just last week, in fact. They have two boys now.” Gratitude for his changing the subject flowed through her.

  “They were surely busy while we were gone.”

  “Zebulun MacCallister!”

  Smiling at the shocked look on Katy’s face, Ingeborg turned to Zeb. “Penny caught two boys stealing crackers in her store. Come to find out, they came in hiding on a train car. Anner volunteered to keep them, and now they’re one happy family.”

  “Well, I’ll be.” Zeb tipped his hat brim back with one finger. “I s’pose you’ll be tellin’ me old Anner is the manager of the bank by now too.”

  “Close. He’s taken over the bookkeeping. For both the bank and the store.”

  “So what other news have we missed out on?”

  “Bridget is planning on building a boardinghouse this fall. And, let’s see . . .” She tapped her cheek with one finger. “Kaaren had a baby boy June fifth. They named him Samuel. Sam fits him perfectly.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Katy sneaked a peek at her husband. “Shall we tell her?” At his nod, she turned to Ingeborg. “We’re in the family way too. Or at least I’m pretty sure.”

  “Wait until your mor hears that. She’ll be over the moon with joy.” The three linked arms and meandered up to the house. They waved at Metiz coming across the field and gratefully sank down on benches in the shade of the house.

  “Fields look like it will be a good harvest,” Zeb said, stretching his hands over his head. “We got back just in time.”

  “Ja, Haakan and Lars plan on starting here next week. Joseph already began cutting.”

  “And here I was hoping to go get us a heavy stallion before harvest begins.”

  “You should be able to do that. A couple days each way on the train. Joseph has a cousin near Cincinnati, Ohio, who raises draft horses. He’s got everything all laid out for you, just waiting to make sure that’s what you still wanted to do.”

  “What he’d really like to do is go homestead some of that Montana country.” Katy leaned close to Ingeborg. “We saw valleys that were break-your-heart beautiful. Maybe someday we will do that.”

  Ingeborg wanted to ask if Zeb had ever confided his secret to his wife, but she refrained. That smacked of being downright nosy.

  That next night after the children were in bed, the Bjorklund families, the MacCallisters, and the Wolds gathered around the table at Ingeborg’s house. After Zeb and Katy regaled them with tales of rounding up wild horses, silence fell for a moment.

  Zeb cleared his throat. “Well, I talked with Anner, and we are set to buy his place. He’s agreed to let me get a team trained and sold to make the down payment. Then he’ll take a portion of every harvest to pay it off.”

  “That sounds real fair,” Lars said.

  Murmurs of agreement came from the others.

  “Also I talked with Joseph, and I’ll be leaving to get the stallion soon as I can get things moved over to the other place and settled.”

  “I can take care of everything else once we get the horses moved,” Katy said.

  “You need a bigger corral. They’ll go right through a barbed wire fence, don’t you think?” Hjelmer asked.

  “You’re probably right.” Zeb sucked in a deep breath.

  “We can get that corral enlarged in a day or so.” Olaf looked to Lars, and he nodded.

  “Got the poles all cut. Was going to make a new one at my house, but it can wait.”

  “I’ll replace ’em for you.” Zeb nodded and ticked off another finger. “Looks like I can leave on Saturday, if all goes well.”

  Again nods of agreement circled the room.

  “That brings us to the girls.”

  Ingeborg clamped her teeth together and shut her eyes. She’d hoped he’d—they’d changed their minds. Andrew would be heartbroken again. First Ellie and now Deborah.

  “I wish we could get that thing about their homestead straightened out. Sure hate to see them lose that.” Kaaren continued rocking Trygve, who would rather sit and watch than go to sleep as he was supposed to.

  “I thought about going back and raising horses there, but—”

  “But I didn’t want to leave all of you if we didn’t have to.” Katy spoke up, her voice as soft and gentle as the looks she sent her husband.

  “If we could get a clear title to the place, then you could sell it and bank the money for the girls’ future,” Hjelmer said.

  “So speaks our resident banker.” Olaf’s smile took any sting from his words.

  “Ja, that is a good idea,” Haakan agreed. “But we don’t seem to get answers to the letters Penny has sent.”

  “Maybe that is a job for the banker.” Hjelmer rolled his eyes.

  “Get on with you.” Bridget nudged him with her elbow, but the look she gave him spoke of her pride, even though she still thought he made a better blacksmith than banker.

  Haakan nodded. “Maybe so, but it will have to wait until after harvest.”

  Again sounds and nods of agreement.

  “I can write another letter, though. Maybe they’ll pay attention this time. I’ll warn them that we are thinking of turning the matter over to a lawyer,” Penny added.

  “A lawyer!” Bridget’s tone shouted horror.

  When the chuckles quieted, Zeb leaned forward. “So we all agree that Manda and Deborah will come to live with me and Katy?”

  “If they want to.” Ingeborg held out a last bit of hope, even though she knew it was futile.

  “Yes. If they want to.”

  The next day Zeb brought the subject up to Manda.

  “You mean we’d live with you and Katy forever?” Manda turned a suspicious eye on Zeb. “You won’t be going off to Canada?”

  Zeb nodded. “We are buying the Valders’ place.”

  Manda looked from Ingeborg to Katy to Zebulun and back to Ingeborg. “You want us to stay here?”

  “Yes, if that is what you want. You will always have a home here with us.”

  Manda scratched her chin. She shifted from one foot to the other. “What I want most is to go home to see if my pa came back.” She watched Zeb shake his head. “I knowed you’d say that. Sure them folks said he’d left for home, but nobody ever saw his body or nothing. Maybe he got hit on the head and forgot where he was going.”

  Ingeborg shut her eyes. Heavenly Father, how well I know how she feels. Help this girl to accept that her pa is gone just as I had to accept that Roald would never return. Give me the words to help take her hurt away.

  But no words came to her mind, so she kept silent. Another time perhaps.

  “I got one condition,” Manda said.

  Zeb rolled his eyes. “Dear Lord preserve us.” His mutter brought a smile to those around.

  “Now don’t you go takin’ the Lord’s name in vain, or I ain’t goin’.”

  “Manda Norton, I wasn’t takin’ the Lord’s name in vain. I need every bit of strength He’s got to send.”

  She studied him, checking to see if he was teasing. When she seemed assured that he was serious, she cleared her throat. “We will come live with you if . . .” She paused. Cleared her throat again. “If when my pa comes, we can go with him.”

  “Oh, land, of course you would go with him.” Katy reached out and gathered the girl into her arms. “But in the meantime, we can pretend you and Deborah belong to us, all right?”

  Manda nodded and finally relaxed her shoulders.

  With four men and the boys digging postholes and erecting the corral fence, they finished in one day. While the men did that, the women scrubbed the already clean house from roof to cellar. They laid pallets in the upstairs bedroom for the two girls and hung their clothes on wall pegs.

  Someone gave the new family a table, and Olaf promised to help build chairs when he had time. Meanwhile, Haakan nailed together two benches. That was the extent of their furniture. Finally, Katy brought in her trunk that had carried her things from Norway.

  “Thank God they left the cookstove here.” Kat
y gave the cast-iron range a last polish with the blacking rag.

  “Let’s go see how the corral is coming.” Ingeborg stepped out onto the front porch. Andrew and Deborah sat together on the top step.

  “Now, you got to show that biddy who’s boss,” Andrew was saying. “I ain’t here to do it for you.”

  “You could come on the horse.”

  “No, you got to do it.”

  “I will. But I don’t like being pecked.”

  “Then ask Katy to help you, but—” He turned to look up at his mother. “You tell her, Mor.”

  “You have to move fast, Deborah. Just go right up to the nest and grab her and throw her off. Unless you want her to set, you know. Then you’ll get chicks if she has eggs under her. We brought a rooster too.”

  “And he’ll chase me.” The little girl propped her elbows on her knees. “I wish we didn’t have no chickens.”

  “Maybe Manda will help you.” Ingeborg sat down by the children and, reaching over, brought them close to her side with a loving arm.

  “All Manda wants to do is work with the horses.” Deborah leaned closer. “Maybe I could go back and stay with you.” She looked up at Ingeborg, hazel eyes trusting.

  “Then who will stay with Katy if Manda is so busy?”

  “Oh.” Deborah thought a moment. “She could come to your house too.”

  Katy laughed and sat down on the other side of Andrew. “Moving is hard, I know, and you two been through a lot together. But I heard Olaf say that a lady on the other side of town has a little dog that needs a home. Maybe you and me could ride over and see about it. What do you think?”

  “We had a dog at our real house. But it run off after we left.”

  “Manda said it stayed at a farm where you rested for a few days.”

  Deborah nodded. “I forget some stuff.”

  “That’s ’cause you were real sick.”

  “Yup.” Deborah leaned some more against Ingeborg. “Just me and you get the dog?”

  “Yup.”

  “Guess I better stay, then.”

  The next day they brought the horses over.

  “Keeping them fed and watered is your job,” Zeb told Manda. “When I get back we’ll see about getting a cow.”