Tender Mercies

by Lauraine Snelling

  The tears caused by the wind turned to crystals on her cheeks that shattered when she brushed them away. Just like her heart. He still thinks of Katy first. Until now I never knew that would hurt so much. What difference does it make? We are just friends. And not even that really. I just help with the children at school. That’s all.

  That’s all. Two words almost as sad as if only.

  The schoolchildren weren’t the only ones at the sack house in the morning. If she heard “God bless” and “Go with God” once, she heard them each fifty times. Her arms ached from hugging, or was it her heart?

  Keeping a smile on her face took every bit of backbone she had, and then some.

  “This-s i-s-s for you.” Anna spoke slowly, just as Mary Martha had taught her. The little girl handed her teacher a red apple that had been polished nearly through the skin.

  Mary Martha blinked and blinked again, but the little girl shimmered in a kind of light made brighter through unshed tears. “Thank you, Anna. I wish I could keep this always.” She squatted down so they were eye to eye. “You keep working like you have been, and you’ll be the best speaker we have. All right?”

  Anna nodded and flung her arms around Mary Martha’s neck. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “I know. Me either.” I didn’t even finish sewing her dress. Now I’ll have to mail it to her. Patting Anna’s back, she looked up to catch a sheen in John Solberg’s eyes. Did it matter to him that she was leaving?

  He picked up Anna and held her, murmuring to her as Mary Martha said good-bye to the others.

  “I’ll send you a copy of our Christmas pageant.” Thorliff stuck out his hand and shook hers.

  “Good.”

  Ingeborg pressed a basket into her hand. “Just some things we gathered up so you won’t be hungry on the train and you’ll remember us.”

  “Mange takk.” Mary Martha brought out a few smiles with that.

  “Come home soon,” Katy whispered against her ear. Zeb held her close, and when he stepped back, his eyes too wore that brightness. Deborah clung to her, but Manda just nodded, her jaw clenched so hard it shone white.

  “All aboard.” The conductor shook his head. “Sorry, miss, but you got to board now, or we leave without you.”

  Pastor Solberg took her hand to help her up the stairs. “You’ll write?”

  “Yes.”

  “Promise?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “God bless and keep you and bring you back to us.”

  Did he say “to us,” or did she just imagine it? “You also.” She let go of his hand and mounted the last step to turn and wave as the train began to chug forward.

  “Blest be the tie that binds . . .” Solberg’s voice began the hymn, but the others joined in immediately. “Our hearts in Christian love. . . .” Could angels sound more sweet? The train chugged louder. She could no longer see them, but her heart heard the words. “The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”

  She found an empty seat and sank into it, the tears flowing at last, an apple clenched against her skirt. “Dear Lord,” she whispered, “will I ever see them all again?”

  Chapter 18

  “Go tell your ma that Mr. Drummond is here with the sewing machines.”

  Hans tore out the door as if wolves were chasing him. Penny wiped off the counter and put away the last bolt of wool serge that she’d cut from. She had wanted to tell Mrs. Valders about the sewing machines but had waited. For what she wasn’t sure. It was just that she and Goodie still hadn’t talked about what they were going to do. Was Goodie going to sell sewing machines, or would they become part of the merchandise of the general store?

  So many questions.

  The bell tinkled as the man walked in pushing a handcart with several boxes stacked on it. He parked it by the door and came down the aisle to the counter. “How are you today, Mrs. Bjorklund? I brought your machine.”

  “All that is my machine?” She nodded toward the boxes.

  “No, I got two extra and can have more in a matter of days, once you two ladies decide what you want to do. Now, where do you want me to set yours up?”

  “I cleared a little more space back where you were before. Once you have it put together, it’s not hard to move should I decide differently.”

  “That is true. And how is Mrs. Wold?”

  “She should be here any second. I sent her son to tell her you were here.”

  “Then I’ll just get started, and you can be sewing away before you know it.” He turned back to his handcart and trundled it down the aisle, whistling an off-key tune as he went.

  Since the store was empty but for him, Penny went back to the kitchen to pull the coffeepot forward. Ham and baked beans leant a delicious aroma, and the molasses bread she’d made special for the evening meal was near ready to put in the oven also. She could serve supper to both families if that would make the discussion easier.

  What to do?

  Lord, I’m stuck again. While Goodie and I are back to where we belong, there’s been no decision on this. Please, what is it you would have us do? All the while she prayed, she adjusted the draft so the oven would heat up for baking the bread and put several sticks of wood in the stove.

  A rap at the back door announced Goodie’s arrival.

  “So, he’s here?” Her eyes sparkled. “Olaf said I should go ahead and buy one too.”

  “Goodie, we need to talk.” There, it was out in the open.

  “I know, but I don’t know what to do.” She hung her wool shawl on the peg by the door and pulled out one of the kitchen chairs.

  “The coffee will be hot in a minute or two.”

  “Good.” She studied her clasped fingers, then looked up at Penny. “What do you think we should do? I don’t ever want to get in a stew like that one again. All I could think was that I was going to get rich selling sewing machines to every woman in Dakota Territory. I didn’t sleep good, I snapped at the children, and poor Olaf. He didn’t know what hit us. Then there’s the way I treated you.” She shook her head, her lower lip quivering. “I don’t never want to go through such a thing again. Uff da.”

  “Me either. But we got to look at this with business eyes. Women need that machine. Mr. Drummond needs someone in this area to sell and maybe repair the Singer sewing machines. Women need a supply of different kinds of cloth-I got a few but not very many, really.” She poured them each a cup of coffee and set a plate of sour cream cookies out on the table. After sitting down and dunking a cookie, she continued. “So, I can expand my store on the west wall, been thinking of doing that anyway, and put up shelves, set up a couple of machines, and see what happens.

  “But, I’ve got about all the business right now I can handle, unless I hire someone full time to help me. When the boardinghouse is built, I won’t be serving dinner to the railroad men like I been doing, but that won’t be until spring, and winter is when women have more time for sewing.”

  “I could come work for you.”

  “Or I could hire Bridget. Or you could take over part of the sack house for the winter.”

  “Or I could set up store in my parlor. The sack house office might work too. The big room is too hard to heat. We’d freeze in there.”

  “Olaf could put in another window maybe. But it depends-what do you want to do?”

  “What do you want to do?”

  They both shrugged, tipped their heads to the side, and shrugged again.

  “I been praying about it.” Goodie munched on a cookie.

  “Me too.”

  “Olaf says to do what I want. He’ll help when and where he can.”

  “Hjelmer pretty much says the same.”

  “Either of them could fix those things in a minute. Just give them the instructions and away they’d go.”

  “True.”

  “You want I should come work for you regular?”

  “If you’d like.”

  “I would. Then that’s settled. For now, anyway. We can ch
ange our minds and do something else later if ’n we want.”

  “All right. Let’s go tell Mr. Drummond and get his suggestions on how to go about this. He has three machines with him right now, one for you, one for me, and one for whoever grabs it first.” She put out her hand. “Thank you for solving this thing for us.”

  The two women put their coffee cups in the dishpan and headed through the curtained door just as the bell over the store door tinkled. “You go on and talk with Mr. Drummond while I wait on this customer,” Penny said, guiding Goodie ahead of her.

  “I really don’t have any money to put into machines anyhow. Just the one for me, and I’ll pay for that working for you,” Goodie said.

  If only we could solve the statehood issues this easily , Penny thought. Thank you, Father, thank you.

  “Is Mr. Bjorklund here? I need to put some money in the bank.” The man peered around the corner to the bank room.

  “No, but Mr. Valders can take care of it for you.” Penny pointed him the way, knowing she’d seen him before, but not putting a name to the face. Another customer came in, and she got busy enough to forget about the man setting up machines.

  Until Ingeborg and Kaaren entered at the same time. “I brought you some more cheese,” Ingeborg called, hefting a basket. “Could only spare half a wheel.”

  “And I brought butter and eggs.” Kaaren had a basket on her arm too. They both turned when they heard Goodie laugh.

  “Put those down here and let me show you something.” Penny pointed to the counter. When the baskets were set, she beckoned them down the aisle, stepping aside when she came even with Mr. Drummond. With one machine set up, he was showing Goodie how to thread the needle.

  “These are Singer sewing machines, ladies, the greatest invention yet for women of today.”

  As he went into his spiel, Penny watched Kaaren’s and Ingeborg’s faces. They swapped looks full of questions that soon shifted to delight as they saw the seams the humming machine made. Goodie tried it first, and once she got the treadle moving in the right direction with the right rhythm, the needle went up and down like a charm.

  When Ingeborg tried, she had no trouble. “It’s just like working the spinning treadle, only with both feet.” When she guided the piece of material under the needle and watched the seam form before her eyes, she sat back and dropped her hands in her lap. “Well, I never.”

  When Kaaren tried, she got the treadle pumping and the needle going up and down, but for some reason the thread tangled. “Oh, I broke it.”

  “No, no. That kind of thing can happen real easy. Let me show you how to fix it.” Drummond sat back down at the machine and had it whirring along again in no time. He motioned Kaaren to take the chair again, and this time, she sewed her first seam. When they tried to pull the two pieces apart, they realized how strong the stitching really was.

  “Think how fast it goes.” Kaaren stroked the machine as if it were a perfect rose.

  “Reminds me of the first time I saw a mower work. The way the grass fell so fast. With this we could make a quilt in no time. Or a dress.” Ingeborg fingered the bolt of gingham Penny had laid out.

  “Or the sheets and tablecloths for Bridget’s boardinghouse,” Penny said. “When I think of all I could do with this machine, I . . . I . . .” She raised her hands in the air and let them fall.

  “So, where do we get these machines?” Ingeborg turned to Mr. Drummond, who had sat back and let the ladies sell themselves on the machine.

  “From the store here. Mrs. Bjorklund will have one on display here all the time. We order them from Boston and can have them within two weeks. If you can’t afford to buy this little jewel outright, Singer will let you sign a contract, and you pay a little every month. This is the newest way of doing business. A Singer sewing machine for every woman in America.”

  Within two days every woman in Blessing and from more than five miles out had been by to see the new Singer sewing machine. When she wasn’t helping Penny in the kitchen, Goodie spent every minute she could on the machine. She sewed a log cabin quilt too, and they hung it behind the machine. The calico dress they hung on a hanger by the quilt. The children’s coat and hat lay folded on the shelf, also the boys’ pants and shirt. Napkins for the boardinghouse stacked up.

  Penny let Goodie show others how to sew on the machine. Even her tante Agnes.

  “I sew just fine,” Agnes insisted when Penny pulled her back to the sewing area.

  “I know you do. You taught me how, remember? But this machine will make your life so much easier.”

  “What, you want me to get lazy or something?” Yet Agnes listened and laughed. “Good for you, child. I hope this helps your store get better and better. But I’m just not going to learn to sew on that contraption.”

  Bridget took over Penny’s machine. She came to help in the kitchen, and as soon as the meal was finished, she sat down to sew.

  She started with hemming flannel squares for diapers for Katy’s baby, then progressed to blankets, quilts, and baby things. She sewed shirts for Thorliff and Andrew, a dress for Astrid, and matching dresses for the twins. Her stack of Christmas presents grew daily.

  “Maybe I’ll open a sewing shop instead of a boardinghouse,” she said one afternoon.

  “Oh no, you don’t. We finally got the boardinghouse approved, and now you change your mind?” Hjelmer shook his head.

  “You did?” His mother smiled and nodded. “That is good. Now I start working on sheets.”

  Haakan and Lars came in and bought the first two machines. One would have to be ordered. “Now don’t you tell Ingeborg and Kaaren,” they said. “These are for Christmas.”

  “Pretty wonderful presents, if you ask me,” Penny answered. “You want I should keep them here then?”

  “Good idea! Now, you promised. No matter what, not even a hint.”

  The two men had just left, teasing each other as they went out the door, when another man entered. The scowl on his face sent a chill up Penny’s spine.

  “What you tink you doing?” he shouted.

  Penny was sure they heard him over in the schoolhouse. “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Dat . . . dat sewing machine ting. You make us to go in the poorhouse or someting? You vant all our money?” He shook his fist in her face.

  Penny motioned under the counter for Goodie to go get one of the men. “No, sir, I don’t want all your money, and I don’t want you to go to the poor farm.” She wanted to take a step back, the liquor on his breath made her gag. “I don’t force people to buy the things I have for sale here in the store.”

  “My wife, she vant dat sewing machine. Say we pay little every mont.” He leaned forward and raised his voice again. “Ve ain’t got a little extra every mont, you hear me.”

  “Yes, I do.” Penny wiped the spit off her cheek with her apron.

  “My wife, she not let me in the bed . . .”

  Hjelmer and Olaf came through the front door together, caught the man by his arms, and lifted him right off the floor. He was still yelling and flailing when they sat him down on the edge of the horse trough. He fell in yelling.

  Penny and Goodie watched from the doorway as the man clambered out of the tank and sputtered his way to his wagon. “He’ll catch his death driving home all wet in this cold weather.” Penny spun around and ran for the chest where she stored extra blankets. Grabbing one she ran back outside and up to the wagon. “Here, wrap this around yourself.”

  The man looked down at her, looked at the wool blanket, and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be a . . .” He took the blanket and did as she said. “Tank you, ma-am. I vill bring it back.”

  Penny watched him drive off. Give a man enough booze, and he turned into a raging bull. She shuddered again. He had looked as if he was going to hit her. What if Hjelmer and Olaf hadn’t come when they did?

  “Penny Bjorklund, if you don’t take the cake.” Hjelmer stopped beside her.

  “You shouldn’t have dunked hi
m. Not as cold as it is.”

  “We didn’t. He fell in himself.” He tweaked her earlobe. “And you go giving away a perfectly good blanket to a man who looked like he was going to chew you up and spit you out.” He looked over her head to Olaf. “What are we going to do with her?”

  “Buy her another blanket?” Olaf patted her shoulder. “You got a good heart, young lady, that you do.”

  Penny shivered. “The look in his eyes, like he was half crazy. What if you hadn’t come when you did?”

  “I think it’s time to keep a gun under the counter. Been thinking that for some time now, with the railroad traffic and all. Blessing isn’t like it used to be, you know. Strangers coming through here all the time now.”

  “A gun? I haven’t used a gun for years,” Penny said.

  “Just a little pistol.”

  “I never used one of those. What if someone got hold of it who wasn’t supposed to? Hjelmer, I don’t want a gun.”

  “We shall see.”

  She looked up at her husband. He had that look on his face. What are we in for now?

  Chapter 19

  “Ma, when’s Mary Martha coming back?”

  “She most likely hasn’t even gotten home yet.” Katy reached up to take down the sheets she’d pinned to the clothesline earlier. The north wind made her nose and fingers tingle. Wouldn’t be too many more days to hang clothes out to dry without them freezing stiff. Zeb said the animals had coats thicker than he’d seen for a while. That meant a hard winter. But if God provided extra thick coats for the animals, He surely would provide for them. Besides that, they’d all done their best to get food set by. She had yet to dig the carrots, but the longer they stayed in the ground, the sweeter they grew.

  “I wish she coulda stayed here.” Deborah folded the pillowcases and dish towels as Katy handed them to her.

  “Me, too.” Katy dropped the clothespins in the basket she kicked along in front of her and handed Deborah two corners of the sheet. “You want to help me fold this?” When their hands met, she dropped a kiss on the little girl’s forehead. “You are such a big help. Don’t these sheets smell good?” She buried her nose in the fresh-smelling linen.