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  “Hurry.”

  Ingeborg dressed as quickly as possible, considering all the winter layers for warmth, and was lacing her boots when Astrid looked in her mother’s bedroom door. “He sounded pretty upset.”

  “Andrew is calm with all the animals, but when it comes to Ellie …” She grabbed a shawl off the bedpost and followed Astrid back into the kitchen. “My bag is in the cupboard.”

  “I know. I got it out.” Astrid donned a coat and handed one to her mother. “Interesting that she didn’t tell him about her pains earlier.”

  “Maybe this baby is in a hurry. Some are like that.”

  The two of them stepped out the door when they heard the jingle of the harness bells. The wind grabbed at their scarves and bit their noses, so both of them covered their lower face with a length of knit scarf. They climbed into the sleigh and were barely seated before Andrew hupped the horse and they flew across the frozen snow, not bothering with the lane, as all the fences were covered with snow.

  “Easy on the horse,” Astrid called, the wind whipping away her words.

  “Hang on,” Andrew called back.

  He stopped right at the porch, and Astrid and Ingeborg, catching his urgency, didn’t wait for him to help them out. “I’ll put the horse in the barn and be right up.”

  “You better blanket him,” Astrid called over her shoulder as she followed her mother into the house.

  They could hear Ellie groaning and panting as they strode to the bedroom.

  “Thank you.” Ellie scrunched up her face and rode out another contraction. “For coming so quickly.”

  “You have no idea how fast we came. The sleigh flew from one drift to another.” Astrid shucked her coat and stopped beside the bed. “Have you been walking?”

  “No. I just woke up with one huge cramp. Andrew said to stay in bed because he had to leave.”

  “How close are they coming?”

  “A couple of minutes perhaps, but—” She clenched the sheet in her fists. “Here’s another.”

  “All right, let’s get you sitting up. I’ll wash my hands while Mor helps you.”

  “Andrew has water heating.”

  “It’s boiling. Put the things in to sterilize while you wash.” Ingeborg kept her voice calm and smiled to both her daughters. “We’re going to have a new baby pretty soon.”

  “I was scared he or she was going to come when I was here all by myself.”

  “Good thing we live close by. You didn’t have any contractions earlier?”

  “Not that I knew of.” Ellie took a deep breath and let it all out, clasping Ingeborg’s hands so she could sit up. “I feel like a huge pumpkin.”

  Astrid returned to the bedroom. “Let me check on you, and then we’ll get the padding on the bed.” With Ellie lying back, she did a quick examination and grinned at her sister-in-law. “Let’s walk. That will help you relax. This baby is coming soon.”

  With one woman on each side of her, Ellie marched across the room.

  The sound of the door opening and slamming shut barely preceded Andrew’s appearance in the doorway. “How is she?” He threw his coat toward a chair. “Here, let me do that.”

  “Ellie is doing fine, and this baby is in a big hurry to meet the new world.” Astrid stepped back and let Andrew have her place. “We won’t be walking very long.”

  Andrew put his arm around Ellie’s back. “You can lean on me if you need to.”

  “Oh, Andrew, I always lean on you.” She clenched her eyes and leaned in to the contraction. “Except for right now. Ooh. They’re getting worse and closer together.”

  “Let’s pray so. The sooner the better.” Ingeborg waited while Ellie panted and they resumed the walk. She glanced over to see Astrid laying the folded sheets in the bed and making sure the blankets were warming in front of the stove. Thank you, Lord, for this daughter of mine who is so capable and caring and for this daughter who is so strong and loving. Please let this be a normal birth and a healthy baby. So far, all is well, and let it continue to be. She could feel the peace that filled the room, from the corners clear to the ceiling.

  “Oh!” Ellie stopped walking and a puddle formed at her feet. “I’m sorry to make a mess.”

  Ingeborg chuckled. “Not a mess, my dear, just part of the process.”

  “That should speed things up.” Astrid knelt to dry the floor.

  “As if she hasn’t been in a hurry already.” Andrew stopped as another contraction gripped his wife.

  “I … I think I better get to the b-bed.”

  Andrew and Ingeborg half carried her back to the bed. Then Andrew took his position with his back against the headboard of the bed, legs spread wide so that Ellie could lean against him. “You comfortable?” He pulled her back against his chest.

  Ellie glared over her shoulder at him. “No, but …” Her words turned into a thin scream that she tried to bite back.

  “You yell if you want to.” Ingeborg checked on the process while Astrid scrubbed her hands again. “We have hair.” Her voice broke, and she blinked around her smile. “I love to see a baby being born.”

  “Ohh.”

  Astrid knelt between Ellie’s raised knees. “You go ahead and push for all you’re worth, Ellie. With the next one … okay, now bear down. Push.”

  “Ellie, dear, you are made for having babies.” Ingeborg watched as Astrid slightly turned the arriving baby so the shoulders would slip through.

  “Now. One more push, Ellie, and we’re done.”

  With another cry and a groan, Ellie pushed her baby daughter right into Astrid’s waiting hands.

  Astrid grinned up at her brother. “You have one of each now, Papa.” She laid the already yelling infant on her mother’s chest. “And she’s a determined one.” Astrid wiped her streaming eyes with the back of her wrist. “What a beauty.” When the afterbirth was delivered and the cord stopped pulsing, she tied it off in two places and cut between them. Then she massaged Ellie’s now flaccid belly.

  Ingeborg laid a flannel baby blanket over the baby while Andrew and Ellie murmured to each other and their new life. Thank you, Father, thank you. The words kept circling through her mind as she helped Astrid exchange the soiled sheets for fresh ones.

  “You want to clean her up?” Astrid asked.

  “Ellie or the baby?”

  “The baby. I’ll take care of Ellie.”

  Ingeborg smiled and nodded. Such a privilege to give her new granddaughter her first bath and dress her for the first time.

  “Look at her. She’s ready to nurse already.” Andrew looked up at his mother, who nodded as she watched the baby rooting around, already seeking the breast.

  “Let’s get her washed and diapered. You help get Ellie cleaned up and then your daughter can have her first meal.”

  “The wash pan is on the reservoir,” Astrid said. “It should be about the right temperature. I left the belly band and the diaper right there to warm.”

  Ingeborg wrapped the blanket around the baby and, after checking the water temperature with her elbow, unwrapped the little body and lowered her into the warm water. Holding her head with one hand, she used a bit of flannel to wipe the eyes and ears clean and smiled when the little one flailed her tiny fists. “You like this, don’t you? I don’t blame you a bit. Warm water after the shock you just went through. God loves you, little one, and I’m so thankful He sent you to us. What a gift. Maybe they will name you Delight, for that is what you are.”

  When she was finished, Ingeborg wrapped the baby in another blanket and took her to the table, where they’d laid a folded towel along with diapers, soakers, shirts, and gowns. After drying her carefully, she wrapped the belly band, diapered her, pushed the tiny fists into the sleeves, and tied the gown in the front. Then she laid her on a flannel blanket, wrapped her snuggly, and with a kiss on the tiny forehead, carried the baby back into the bedroom.

  “Here she is, ready for her first meal.” Ingeborg put the baby in Ellie’s arms and smiled a
t Andrew, who stroked his daughter’s head with one gentle finger.

  “For a baby, she’s right nice.”

  “Nice!” Ellie rolled her eyes. “She’s beautiful, and you know it.”

  “Well, I guess.” The twinkle in his eyes said he was teasing. “But if she was a calf or colt, she’d be up on her feet and bopping her mother’s udder for milk. None of this lying around stuff.”

  “I’ll bop you.” Ellie settled her baby at the breast and held her nipple to the tiny mouth. The little one didn’t need a second invitation. She latched on and started sucking immediately. Ellie flinched and stroked her baby’s cheek. “You are one bright little girl.” Looking up at Andrew, she asked, “So what are we naming her?”

  “I thought you wanted to name her after your mother.”

  “I do, but we need a middle name too.”

  “She seems like a delight to me,” Ingeborg said as she brought in a cup of tea. “Thought this might taste good to you. Then you can rest. I’ll take Carl home with me, and Astrid can stay and watch over her patient for a while.” She held the saucer under the cup so Ellie could sip without dampening the sheet.

  Andrew yawned and eased himself from behind Ellie. “I know I didn’t do any of the work here, but I’m tired. If you’re ready to leave, Mor, I’ll go get the horse and sleigh. Do you want me to drive you home?”

  “Whyever would you need to do that? You sleep here for a few hours. The cows won’t mind if you are a bit late.”

  Andrew stood and stretched. “Well … if you’re sure you don’t mind …”

  “I’m sure. Now, you go and get some sleep.”

  He kissed his wife and daughter before heading out the door.

  “I can’t believe both Carl and Maydell slept right through all this,” Ingeborg commented.

  “Maydell’s not here tonight. She’s spending the night at Deborah’s to work on the lists,” Ellie murmured. “None of us thought this baby was planning to arrive tonight.”

  “What lists?” Ingeborg asked.

  “I’ll explain later, Mor, but you will be sworn to utmost secrecy.” Astrid sat down in the rocking chair near the bed. “I have the cradle ready for her. That way you can sleep better, Ellie. I even warmed the bedding.”

  “She’s sound asleep.” Ellie handed the baby to Astrid. “Thank you for taking such good care of us.”

  “You made this one easy.”

  Ingeborg watched her girls and let her rejoicing prayers float heavenward. Such a difference between this one and poor Elizabeth, who had already lost two babies. She who helped so many others had trouble carrying her own. Lord God, this isn’t fair. Couldn’t you do something about healing whatever it is that keeps Elizabeth from carrying her babies to full term? I know so well her heartache. Thank you for the ease of this one. Lord, I praise your mighty name.

  Bismarck, North Dakota

  Rebecca awoke to find a young girl beside her bed.

  “You finally got awake,” said Linnea, nearly eight, her dimples peeking out as she grinned.

  Rebecca yawned. “Sorry, but I got to bed so late.”

  “Ma said breakfast is ready.”

  “All right. Tell her I’ll be down as soon as I get dressed.”

  “She said to put on a dressing gown and come now.”

  “Where’s your pa?”

  “Gone to work.”

  “And Little Gus?”

  “Filling the woodbox. Can you hurry?” Linnea, one front tooth missing, asked. “I’m hungry.”

  “Me too. I’ll hurry.”

  “You know the way?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, I’ll come find you. Now scoot.” Rebecca waited until her young cousin was out the door, then threw back the bedclothes. Rather than taking time to wash, she dressed quickly, tying the ribbons of the layers of petticoats and fetching a wool serge skirt from the chifforobe where she’d hung the clothes from her trunk before she fell into bed last night. She added a waist that needed ironing and a sweater, bundled her hair in a snood, and hurried down the stairs, enjoying the fragrance of coffee, ham, and some kind of bread. And she hadn’t had to fix it all.

  The children were already at the table, and Penny turned from the stove. “Well, good morning. Sorry Linnea went and woke you.”

  “I don’t mind. Little Gus, is that really you?” She grinned back at him. “You’ve grown a foot since you left Blessing.”

  “No, only four inches.”

  “Amazing, you both look so different.” She turned to Penny.

  “Can I help?”

  “No. Just sit down and pretend you are company, at least for today. I thought we’d go for a drive through town since the weather is nice.”

  “Couldn’t we just stay here?” The thought of more travel was not appealing, much to her surprise.

  “If that’s what you’d rather. I thought seeing the ice-cream parlor would be at the top of your desires.”

  “It is, but do you know how long I sat still yesterday?” She thought a moment. “Maybe this afternoon?”

  Penny set bowls of oatmeal in front of each of them. “True, you never have been one for sitting still.” She set a bottle of milk on the table. “Pass things around now.” When she opened the oven door, the smell of corn bread filled the room. “I should be baking bread today, but I can buy a loaf at the store. Another feature of life in the city.” She returned to the table with the pan and set it down to cut it.

  “You take after your mother in that—I mean having a hard time sitting still. Remember how she and Ingeborg would delight in sitting on the porch, but they were never without something to do with their hands. They’d be working away, talking a mile a minute. Those two, and Kaaren too, were my heroes. When I told them I wanted to start a store, they thought it was a wonderful idea. They even helped me get together enough money to open it up.”

  “Who built the store?” Rebecca scooped out a square piece of corn bread and set it on Linnea’s plate. Linnea had insisted she sit next to Rebecca so Penny sat on the other side. “Pass the syrup, please.”

  “Everyone. They had a store raising, just like a barn raising. But I was in Fargo, working at the Headquarters Hotel while it was being built. Hjelmer promised to bring me back to Blessing when it was finished.” Penny started the syrup pitcher around. “And he did. How I loved that store.”

  “I would have run it for you.”

  “Perhaps.” Penny swooped over to mop up a glass of milk that Linnea bumped with her elbow.

  “Sorry.”

  “You know better than to set that near the edge of the table. Get the rag from the back of the stove and clean up the floor.”

  Rebecca caught the sharp tone in her cousin’s voice. Maybe she shouldn’t be talking about the store. She poured the syrup over her corn bread and forked a bite into her mouth. At home Penny would already be at the store, and most likely she would have been the one caring for the children, although Little Gus at nine was pretty independent.

  She turned to Linnea. “What would you like to do today?”

  “Go to the ice-cream store.”

  “You should never ask her. That’s what she always says,” Gus said around a mouthful of mush.

  “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” his mother admonished.

  “Sorry.”

  “So what do you want to do?” Rebecca turned her attention to Gus.

  “I want to go sledding.” His voice picked up. “There are hills here, and you go down so fast you can’t breathe.” He flashed her a grin. “Pa bought us a toboggan.”

  “When he gets home, he can take you out there.” Penny shook her head at his hangdog look.

  “We could go over two streets and sled down there. All the kids are going there.”

  “You could, but it is too rough for Linnea.”

  “But—” At her look he clapped his mouth closed.

  “Sledding down a hill. All we ever had at home was when the snow drifted up to the barn roof, and we slid down that.�
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  “But remember hitching the sled behind the wagon?”

  “Or Bjorklunds’ mule.”

  “And ice-skating on the river.”

  “We have a skating pond here,” Little Gus said, getting back in the conversation. “But I’m not very good at it.”

  “Then you need to skate more.” Rebecca glanced over at Penny. “Do you still have your skates?”

  “Ma does,” Linnea chimed. “Ma is a good skater.”

  “So is Pa.”

  “All right.” Penny raised her hands. “How about if we get the breakfast things put away, get dressed really warm, and go skating for a while. Then we go to Benson’s.” She turned to Rebecca. “It’s Benson’s Soda Emporium.”

  “It sounds like a perfect day, but I need a warm hat.”

  “I have one for you. Linnea, please clear the table, and Gus, you find all the skates. I’ll use Hjelmer’s.”

  With the chores done and everyone bundled up, they slung their skates over their shoulders and headed out the door. While it was plenty cold, the wind had died down, so the sun felt warm for a change. By the time they walked the four blocks to the skating pond, there was a group of boys at one end with hockey sticks, slapping a puck back and forth between two lines.

  “I want to play hockey,” Gus informed her, his eyes dancing, “but I don’t skate good enough.”

  “Well,” his mother said.

  “Well, what?”

  “Well. You don’t skate well enough.” Penny’s voice took on the “I’ve said this before” tone.

  “You don’t let me come very often. That’s why.”

  Penny rolled her eyes, and Rebecca almost laughed aloud. All the years in Blessing, Penny had been so busy that someone else was usually caring for her children.

  They sat down on benches lining the pond, which had already been swept free of snow, and strapped the skates to their boots. Gus got done quickly and bent to help his little sister.

  “I haven’t skated for so long, I might fall down.” Rebecca pushed herself to her feet.

  “I’ll help you,” Gus said as he took her hand. “Come on.”

  Rebecca watched a man and a woman, their hands locked across their fronts, skating by smoothly, as if they were dancing. She wondered if she would ever find someone who cared for her. She sighed. “You and Hjelmer used to skate like that.”