A Promise for Ellie Read online

  He dropped into the swing and took her hands in his. “I-I don’t know where to start.”

  “I’ve always thought the beginning was the best place.” Andrew, what is wrong?

  His face tightened, more so than it had been. “You know how much I love you?” His grip strangled her fingers.

  “I believe I do, but I don’t think that is the beginning.” Ellie kept her voice even, in spite of the arrow of fear that nicked her heart.

  Andrew sucked in a deep breath. “Sorry.” He relaxed his grip on her fingers, then stroked them gently in apology. “Far asked us, or rather Mor and Far have asked us, to postpone our wedding.”

  Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. While she’d not put words to her fear, this wasn’t it. “For how long?”

  “Until after harvest.”

  Ellie collapsed against the back of the swing with an unladylike snort. “Ho, what a relief.”

  “Relief! Did you hear what I said?”

  Now it was her turn to stroke his hand. “In my mind you were dying of some terrible malady or you’d decided you didn’t love me anymore.” She patted her chest. “Be still, heart—this is going to be all right.”

  Andrew shook his head, his eyebrows slashing into a straight line. “Don’t you care?”

  “Of course I care.” She sat up straight and planted her feet firmly together on the floor. “All right, let’s start over before we get carried away. Tell me the whole thing. I know they must have a good reason to ask this of us.”

  “How can you be so calm?” Andrew clamped his arms across his chest. “Far said it was something that came to him, and he and Mor talked it over, and since our house hasn’t come yet and we’ve only started building the barn, he said we would have the summer to get the building done. He just felt this was the best way to do things. When I asked him more about it, that’s all he could, or would, say.”

  “Haakan is a wise man.”

  “I know. Most of the time.”

  Ellie leaned against his shoulder until he relaxed and put his arm around her. “Why does this upset you so much?”

  He jerked away and turned to stare into her face. “I’ve waited for years to marry you.”

  “Then a couple more months shouldn’t make a great deal of difference.”

  “Ellie Wold, I thought you’d feel the same as me. We don’t have to do this, you know.”

  “Oh, Andrew, don’t be silly.” Oh-oh. Wrong thing to say. Be careful, Ellie.

  “So now I’m silly for getting angry when I’m asked to change all my plans? Plans I’ve been dreaming of forever?”

  Ellie rolled her eyes but refrained from saying more. She reached up and kissed his cheek, then took one of his hands in hers. “I don’t want to go back to Grafton for the summer—that I don’t want to do. Even if we aren’t married, I want to be close by.”

  “Far said he was sure Penny would hire you to work in the store. Usually Astrid helps Penny out all summer, but this year she is going to help Dr. Elizabeth.”

  “Then I would have money to buy some of the things we will need for our house.”

  “That’s my job.”

  “What?”

  “Providing things for our house.”

  “Oh, Andrew.” She kept from telling him not to be silly again. He did not like to be called silly. She thought for a bit, letting the evening song of the crickets and peeper frogs bathe her in peace.

  “Are we fighting?” She could feel the weight of his cheek on her hair as she snuggled in the circle of his arm.

  “No . . . yes.” He heaved a sigh. “I thought you’d say we couldn’t—”

  “Couldn’t?” She interrupted him.

  “Wouldn’t want to wait.” He corrected himself.

  “I don’t want to wait. If I had my way, we’d get married the day after graduation. But there has to be a reason for this.” She tilted her head back to look up at him. “Have you prayed about this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, meaning sort of, or yes, meaning a lot?”

  “Well, Far just told me this the other day.”

  She could feel him drawing back even though he hadn’t really moved at all. She sensed sometimes that while Andrew believed all the things they’d said at confirmation, he was not really comfortable talking about prayer, especially when it related to his praying. She tried to think back. Had she ever heard him pray out loud, other than grace? “I think we need to pray about this.”

  “Ja.”

  “Together.”

  Silence but for the sound of his heart thudding. She could hear it clearly through his chest wall. In all their years together, they’d only sat close like this a few times. She fully expected one of their mothers to come and check on them or send one of the children out. The warm, solid feel of his muscles made her want to snuggle closer. But she didn’t, hearing her mother’s comments on what was proper and how Jeanne Smith, a neighbor in Grafton, had overstepped the bounds of propriety and look what happened to her. Ellie wondered what indeed had happened to her friend. She’d gone to visit her aunt in Minneapolis, promising to write, but Ellie had never heard from her. I should have asked more questions. She and Maydell had talked the situation to death but decided it was one of those mysterious things they’d learn about when they were older.

  Ellie was sure she could be content for the rest of her life if she could always sit like this with Andrew. But instead of allowing herself the pleasure, she pulled away and looked up at him. His handsome face with a strong chin and smiling mouth—not right now but usually—and those blue eyes that caught pieces of a summer sky and shared them with her. What would it be like to smooth the hank of hair that always fell over his forehead when he wasn’t wearing a hat or cap? To run her fingers through his thick blond hair not yet bleached nearly white like it would be by the end of the summer in spite of the hats he wore?

  “You didn’t answer me,” she whispered.

  “I didn’t know you wanted an answer.”

  “Andrew, this wait won’t be the end of the world. As long as we can see each other and talk and laugh . . . Just being together is so much better than not seeing you for months, and while I love your letters, they weren’t enough.”

  “I know.”

  “So please, don’t be angry at your mor and far.” She watched his eyes. “Or me, for that matter.”

  She could see his jaw tighten and reached out and laid her hand along his jawline. When he turned his head and placed a kiss in the palm of her hand, she sucked in a breath. Ooh, what was it that shot up her arm? Her skin burned where his lips had touched it.

  “We better go in.” He stood in one smooth motion and pulled her up with him. “I will go along with this, but I can tell you right now it won’t be easy—and I’m not happy about it.”

  Ellie cupped her burning hand with the other. She stared at Andrew as if seeing a perfect stranger. Granted they’d not shared more than a few kisses, in fact she could remember every one of them, but never before had she felt like this. How could a kiss in her hand have burned all the way to her middle? Why it even affected her knees. She took in a deep breath, hoping and praying for it to bring calmness, but like an open door fanning flames, the breath seemed to increase her awareness of the man in front of her.

  Andrew opened the screen door and turned to see what happened to her when she wasn’t right behind him like he expected. “Are you all right? Ellie, is something wrong?”

  “Ah . . . yes . . . um . . . I mean no.”

  “Ma says to come for dessert.” Astrid paused at the door Andrew was still holding open. “Is something wrong?” She looked from Andrew to Ellie.

  “Only if you call postponing our wedding something wrong.”

  Andrew’s curt tone jerked Ellie from the stupor that had attacked her. She forced a smile to lips that quivered. Why did she feel like crying? Lord above, what is wrong with me? And we didn’t pray about this. Is Andrew afraid of praying with me? Isn’t that important in a
marriage? If I tell him how afraid I am of having a baby, will he pray with me or just turn away? Oh, Andrew, maybe I don’t know you as well as I thought.

  “WHAT’S WRONG WITH ANDREW, Mor? He’s ugly as a bear with a sore paw.”

  “Now, Astrid, how would you know what a bear feels like?”

  “I heard that somewhere. It seemed to fit. I thought he’d be all excited today, what with graduation and all.” Astrid wiped the last dish and set it in the cupboard, then draped her dish towel on the rack behind the stove. “I’ll go change now, all right?”

  “Fine.” Ingeborg untied her apron. While she’d known Andrew would not be happy with Haakan’s request, she’d not expected him to be surly. But come to think on it, he’d been glum but not out of sorts like this until he’d talked with Ellie the night before. That was the key. How would she get this son of hers to talk with her, especially since he blamed her too. I’m sorry, Andrew, but I trust that Haakan would not have said something like this if he’d not had a strong feeling about it. Knowing that God had used her husband this way in the past made her trust He would do so again. Lord, please help our son to be patient, to look to you for help in dealing with this disappointment. I know you love him far more even than I do and you want the best for him. It’s so hard for me to believe my sweet little Andrew is really old enough to graduate and to think of marrying. And Ellie has been like a daughter to me for so many years. This will be one more thing to draw us closer.

  Ingeborg checked on the two chickens she had baking in the oven for the community dinner at the school, since the graduation ceremony would be held in the church. Andrew and Ellie had taken the buggy over already. The rest of them would come in the wagons.

  “Anything I can do to help?” Goodie asked after coming down the stairs.

  “You don’t want to muss your good clothes.”

  “Ingeborg Bjorklund, this is me you’re talking to. Can I use that apron?” Goodie pointed to one of the aprons hanging on a peg on the wall behind the stove. “Things ready to be loaded?”

  “You can pack those baskets if you like.” Ingeborg pointed to the table laden with baked pies, rolls, and three loaves of bread. Baskets waited on chairs.

  “Slice the bread first?”

  “Please.”

  Rachel followed Astrid back down the stairs, both of them with their hair gathered up from the sides and front and tied with a bow to flow down their backs.

  “I thought you were going to ask Astrid to braid your hair.”

  “I want it like hers and Ellie’s.”

  “But it will get all tangled when you are playing.”

  “No, I’ll be good.”

  Ingeborg and Goodie swapped mother looks that included smiles ripe with memories—of Ellie and Astrid wanting to wear their hair up, of them coming in muddy or covered with hay or straw dust, their knees dirty from kneeling as they weeded in the gardens. How they’d loved playing with the calves, even the chickens, which had always been Astrid’s specialty, some of the hens her pets. They especially loved the fluffy chicks, cuddling them gently under their chins.

  Rachel leaned against her aunt. “I don’t want Ellie to go away.”

  “I know. Me neither, but she’s grown up now, and she loves Andrew.”

  “He don’t love her much as I do.”

  Again the mothers exchanged looks as Goodie hugged her niece and kissed the top of her head.

  “Andrew could come live at our house. He could have Hans’s room.”

  Ingeborg glanced up at the carved walnut clock on the shelf, both shelf and clock gifts from Onkel Olaf. “We better hurry. Astrid, you and Rachel go bring the team and wagon up. Haakan has them harnessed.”

  Astrid grabbed Rachel’s hand and out the door they went, laughing at something only they knew.

  “Let Astrid comb out the snarls. She’s enjoying being ‘big sister’ to her.”

  Goodie chuckled but used the hem of the apron to wipe away the moisture in her eyes. “I don’t know how I’m going to bear it with Ellie gone.”

  Ingeborg wrapped her arms around her friend. “And here I’ve been so selfishly looking forward to having my other daughter back. Oh, Goodie, I have missed you all so much. Much as I enjoy your letters, there’s been a hole here without all of you.”

  “Grafton just isn’t the same as Blessing. The people are nice enough, and we have a good church. The children have done well in school there, but our family is here.” Goodie leaned into Ingeborg’s arms. “Ellie told me what Andrew said. He seems some upset.”

  “He is—more so I think since he talked with Ellie. I thought that would help, but . . .” She shook her head. “Can’t say as I blame him. He’s talked about marrying up with Ellie ever since he was in short pants.”

  “I know. Andrew is always so sunny, I hardly recognize his face behind the frown.”

  “Mor, we’re ready,” Astrid called from outside.

  “Oh my, and here we stand gabbing instead of packing.” Goodie brushed the backs of her hands across her eyes. “It will all come out all right?”

  Ingeborg knew her friend didn’t really mean that as a question. “I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control. He has a plan, and He holds all of us in the palm of His hand. I believe Haakan is acting on divine guidance, so there is some reason for this.”

  “Yes, I believe so too.”

  While Goodie finished packing the baskets, Ingeborg took the chickens in the roaster from the oven and tied a dish towel across the lid to keep it in place. “There, I think that is everything.”

  “There will be plenty of food. Always is. I feel bad not bringing anything.”

  “Coming on the train like that? I think not. You get to be the guests this time.”

  Astrid and Rachel charged in the door. “We’ll start carrying things out.”

  “Be careful you don’t spill on your dress.”

  Astrid glanced down, and a smile made her eyes twinkle. “Not when we sat hemming it half the night.” The blue-and-white dotted Swiss draped from gathers at her waist, a deep ruffle around the bottom skimming her ankles in the newer, shorter style. The ruffle had made for a lot of hemming. A matching bow at the waist and the one in her hair proclaimed her still a girl, but one right on the verge of womanhood. At fifteen, Astrid was unaware of her charm, but Haakan had noted how she caught the gazes of males of all ages. Young Abner had blushed when he’d seen her at the train station one day.

  Haakan rushed in now as they put the last basket in place. “Sorry I’m late. I’ll be ready in a moment.”

  Ingeborg followed him to the bedroom. “What happened?”

  “The sow is farrowing. I’m so used to Andrew taking care of the sows, I almost forgot to check on her. I put the babies under the bar in the corner. She’d already lain on one.” Haakan changed clothes as he talked. “Don’t tell Andrew, or he might just come home to take care of her.”

  “How many does she have?”

  “Six live. I think she’ll have more. But I can’t miss Andrew’s graduation.”

  Ingeborg handed him his tie and, taking his coat off the hanger, brushed the shoulders and gave it a shake before holding it for him to put his arms in. “Astrid can drive the team while you tie your shoes and put on your tie.”

  He grabbed his fedora from the peg as they went out the door.

  Haakan let Astrid drive the team all the way, nodding to her smiles at him. “You’re doing just fine. I’ll sit here and enjoy the ride.”

  “Your shirt isn’t buttoned right.”

  He glanced down. “You’re right. Thanks for telling me. We wouldn’t want your mor embarrassed that her husband wasn’t dressed right.”

  “I heard that,” Ingeborg called from the back.

  Astrid giggled and smiled again at her pa. They were often coconspirators in teasing Ingeborg.

  It was a good thing that pews had been saved for the families of the graduates, or they would have all been standing against the walls like s
ome of the others. As they came down the aisle, Lars pointed out their pew across the aisle from where Kaaren and the rest of his family sat. Two of the students from the deaf school were graduating, and since their families couldn’t, or didn’t, come, Kaaren stood in for them, as she had for many others.

  Ingeborg patted her sister-in-law’s shoulder when she passed by her. After all they’d been through together, from the beginning of the trip from Norway until now, the two were closer than sisters, especially after both their husbands died in the same terrible winter.

  As soon as everyone settled, Pastor Solberg took his place in the front of the congregation and, with a broad smile, announced, “Welcome to the graduation for our fine young men and women in this year of our Lord, a new century, nineteen hundred.” He nodded, and the pianist crashed into the opening chords of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

  Everyone turned to see the first two, Ellie and Andrew, step through the doors, each carrying the Bible they’d been given at confirmation. Deborah MacCallister and Abner Thorensen brought up the rear. Eight students this year, the largest graduating class of Blessing School. As they marched to the front row, the first two went to the left, the next to the right, and at the final chord they sat as one.

  Ingeborg sniffed. Her second son was graduating. Thorliff, sitting in the row behind them, laid a hand on her shoulder. He leaned forward to whisper, “You did well, Mor. He is a young man to be proud of.”

  Ingeborg patted his hand and let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Andrew looked nervous, but the frown had been left at home.

  “We are gathered here today to bestow graduation honors on eight fine young men and women. They have all studied hard, learned things they were not sure were necessary . . .”

  A titter danced along the rows of those in attendance, from the graduates and from those who’d encouraged them.

  How many times did I hear that, I wonder? Ingeborg wanted to pat Andrew’s shoulder, but she refrained. She glanced at Astrid, who had no compunction about poking her brother in the back. Andrew sat straighter.