A Promise for Ellie Read online

  “. . . and discovered new worlds through their reading and discussions. The Bible says to train up our children in the way they should go, and they will not depart from it. I say to you that even if they depart for a time, although we pray they won’t, God will not let them go. He has promised that His own will not be lost.”

  A shiver ran up Ingeborg’s back. She tucked her hand under Haakan’s arm, needing the feel of his strength beside her. He laid his other hand over her fingers and squeezed. Thank you, Lord, for this man you have given me and for all those gathered here.

  “Let us pray.” Pastor Solberg waited for silence and continued, “Heavenly Father, we come to honor these young people, your children, and to ask your blessings on all of us as we grow in grace and learn to walk in your ways and remain in your will. Be with us now as we are gathered in your name. Amen.”

  He looked up and smiled across the room. “I have asked each of our young people to share with us a Scripture that they feel God has given them for this moment in their lives. Andrew, we’ll begin with you. . . .”

  After all eight of the graduates had shared their verses, Pastor Solberg returned to the podium. “I have invited a former graduate to bring us a message today. Thorliff Bjorklund will share some words of wisdom he has learned in his years at college and while working in the newspaper world. Thorliff?”

  Ingeborg thought she might burst with joy.While she knew pride was a sin, she couldn’t help the tears and didn’t try to stanch them.

  Thorliff smiled at each of those in the front row. He’d filled out in the years since he left home to attend St. Olaf College in Minnesota. His blond hair had darkened because he no longer worked out in the fields. Instead, he published a biweekly newspaper, the Blessing Gazette, and wrote as a stringer for several others, including the Northfield News, where he’d learned his trade.

  “Graduates, families, friends, and neighbors, I thank you for this honor and privilege. If someone had told me when I was sitting where you are”—he smiled at those in the front row—“that these years would fly by so swiftly, I would have perhaps laughed. After all, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to go on to college, I wanted to write, and I dreamed of marriage to a fine young woman.”

  Ingeborg knew he meant Anji Baard, now Moen, who had been his sweetheart for his last year before college and a good friend since they were young. But that had not been in God’s plan, it seemed. Perhaps that is why Andrew wants to marry now, in case something happens as it did with his brother. That thought made her want to say something to Haakan, but she kept still. He was right. Both Andrew and Ellie were young and would have many years together. The wait was not for long. She brought herself back to listen to Thorliff, know- ing she’d missed something. Sometimes her mind just took off without her permission, and she’d know she missed something or forgot something, and the thought would drive her crazy.

  “I believe it is important that we have dreams and plans, and if we are reading God’s Word and searching for His will, He gives us dreams to follow. Our dreams become plans, and when we work hard at them, our plans can come to pass. But perhaps not all of them. When we pray ‘Thy will be done,’ we are stating that we believe God’s will should supersede our own. We must trust that His will is perfect. He has a plan for you, a plan ‘for good and not for evil.’ As children we sang the song ‘Trust and Obey.’ Trusting and obeying are not always easy. In fact, there will be times in your lives when those two will be the hardest things you will ever do. Trust and obey.” He looked each graduate in the eyes. “Trust and obey God, and I promise you that He will fulfill His part. I know He did and is still doing so for me, for my family, and for each of us. His grace is sufficient. It is new every morning. May God bless your dreams and plans and keep you until the day He comes again.”

  He sat down to the applause and more than a few tears from the congregation.

  Ingeborg clung to Haakan’s hand. Plans, so many plans they’d had, and God had blessed them in ways beyond measure. Not all exactly when they wanted, but . . . Another thought popped into her head. Some He ignored or changed, like her desire for more children. She and Haakan had had no more children after Astrid. She’d wanted lots of children, but that dream had been denied. While she’d quit asking why and most of the time was content, the loss was there. But now she would be having children in a new way. Grandchildren. And the first would be coming at any time. Elizabeth and Thorliff would have a baby, and she would be there to assist that baby into this world. Thank you, Father.

  She brought herself back to the moment and saw that Pastor Solberg was again at the podium.

  “And now, as I call your name, please come forward for your diploma. Andrew Bjorklund.”

  Andrew stood and walked up to Pastor Solberg. Taller than his father and Thorliff, with squared shoulders and an easy confidence, Andrew wore the suit his mother had made for him for this day. He took his ribbon-tied diploma, along with the envelope containing Mr. Gould’s gift of a hundred dollars, and shook the pastor’s hand.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Go with God, Mr. Bjorklund.”

  “I will.” As he returned to his seat, the next name was called and the next until Pastor Solberg said, “Ellie Wold.”

  Ingeborg heard Goodie sniff when her daughter stood and walked to the podium. Ellie glowed like the sun shone just on her. Her smile brought an answering one from Pastor Solberg. “Thank you for letting me be part of this celebration.”

  “You are so welcome. Go with God.”

  “I will.” Her sweet voice carried to the corners of the room. Her eyes sparkled with tears as she made her way back to her seat.

  The ceremony closed with the singing of “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” and Pastor Solberg’s benediction. The graduates lined up at the door so they could accept the congratulations from all those congregated.

  “I’m so proud of you,” Ingeborg whispered, hugging her son.

  “Thank you, Mor. You didn’t cry too much, huh?”

  “No. I did well.” She hugged Ellie. “You looked so beautiful up there. Your ma nearly melted into a puddle.”

  “I did not,” Goodie protested and dabbed at her eyes again.

  Inside the schoolhouse the food was set up on tables, and outside, tables draped with cloth waited for the people to sit and enjoy themselves. Small children played tag among the groups of adults, and the older boys gathered in one group, eyeing the girls gathered in another.

  At Pastor’s instructions they sang the grace, and lines formed for folks to help themselves to the bounty spread in celebration of the graduates.

  “Hey, Prince Andrew, thought you was goin’ to announce the big wedding.” Toby Valders looked up at Andrew. While the smile said this was friendly, the eyes held no warmth.

  “That’s none of your business.” Andrew smiled too, but the curt tone didn’t.

  “Now, ain’t that a shame.” Toby shrugged and narrowed his eyes. “Maybe everything in life ain’t going your way all the time.”

  Andrew clenched his fists but stepped back when Ellie laid a hand on his arm.

  “Thank you, Toby. I know you wish us the best.” Ellie smiled from one man to the other.

  “ ’Course I do.”

  “Toby?” Grace stopped beside him. “I was hoping you would sit with Sophie and me.”

  “Ah . . . well, thank you, but I—”

  “Oh, come on.” Grace had learned to talk in spite of her deafness, but her fingers formed the signs as she spoke.

  “All right.”

  Ingeborg caught her breath. Toby was blushing. Was something going on here? No, of course not. Grace was just being Grace, the peacemaker of the family. But still . . .

  “ANDREW, DON’T LET TOBY get under your skin like that.”

  “I try not to, Ellie. I really do.” He shook his head slowly from side to side, as if his head were too heavy to hold up. Or something were too heavy to hold up.

  “I know.”

&nbs
p; “No, you were gone the last year he was in school. We chopped enough wood to power the Great Northern from coast to coast. But he wouldn’t leave off pestering the weaker ones, and it made me so mad.”

  “And you’d hit him, and he’d yell and bleed, and you’d both be out chopping wood. There must be another way.”

  “Well, if you can figure it out, you let me know. I’ll tell you one thing—if he ever gets any idea about Gracie, I’ll beat him into the ground.” Andrew glared over at his cousin still talking to Toby. “Why is she so good to him? He used to tease her too.”

  “You and Grace do the same thing, only in a different way.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Stick up for the underdog.”

  “If we don’t get in line for ice cream, it’ll be all gone.”

  Ellie smiled up at him. Ah, Andrew, I wish I could help you. But she let him change the conversation and take her over to the ice cream line, where the ladies were ladling ice cream out of one freezer while the Knutson boys were out cranking two more.

  “So you finally came over here.” Kaaren Knutson, Andrew’s tante, was pouring more of the egg, cream, and sugar mixture into another mixer while her husband, Lars, using the flat side of a heavy axhead, bashed a gunnysack that had once held a block of ice. He’d made sure it was now in small enough pieces to feed around the cylinder holding the future ice cream.

  “Doesn’t look like there is any chance of running out.” Ellie grinned up at Andrew.

  “We shouldn’t. I have another one done, waiting in the ice pack,” Kaaren said.

  “Do you know that in cities they have machines that make ice?” Thorliff stopped beside Andrew. “They have refrigerated cars for the railroad and rooms cold enough to freeze meat, and I heard that some inventor is dreaming of ways to bring a machine like that into homes. No more iceman in the cities, no more icehouses like we have here.”

  “I s’pose that goes along with the electricity that is replacing gaslights, not that we have even that here.”

  “I’ll never forget seeing all the light bulbs at the Chicago fair. Near as bright as day.” Thorliff stuck his hands in his pants pockets. “Wish you could have come.”

  Andrew shook his head. “Nah. I just don’t care for cities like you do. Not even to go to the World’s Fair.”

  “I wanted to go. I read as much as I could find in the papers. The Ferris wheel—wouldn’t that have been something to ride on?” Ellie smiled at Thorliff. “I’d love to see Chicago.”

  “I’d rather ride a horse any day.” The grump had returned to Andrew’s voice.

  “How do you know? You never rode something like that or ever went into a building that tall,” Thorliff insisted. “There’s a lot of world out there beyond the farm.”

  “I’ve been up in the grain elevator. That’s tall enough for me.”

  “Thank you.” Ellie took her dish of ice cream and spoon and, after savoring her first spoonful, smiled in bliss. “I don’t think anything tastes better than ice cream.”

  “Mor’s apple pie is better.”

  “Andrew Bjorklund, if I said the sun was shining, you’d say the moon was. What is the matter with you?”

  “Why would I say that?”

  “I think I’ll take a dish of ice cream back to my wife.” Thorliff winked at Ellie. Good luck, he mouthed before he turned and left.

  Ellie looked up to see Andrew staring at something. She followed his gaze and saw why his jaw was tight.

  Grace was still with Toby, and they were laughing about something.

  “Hey, Andrew!” Pastor Solberg called. “Bring Ellie and all the others. The man is here to take the graduation pictures.”

  Andrew waved in acknowledgment. “We will.” He glanced around to find the others. “Come on. You find Deborah.”

  “Of course.” Ellie finished her ice cream as she crossed the grass. While some of the people had already left, most were still visiting in groups in the shade of the schoolhouse and church. Some of the younger mothers sat with the babies and very small children, many asleep on blankets under the growing cottonwood trees. So much had changed in the years they’d been gone. She and Deborah had been good friends all through school, ever since Deborah and her sister, Manda, arrived in Blessing with Zeb MacCallister. He’d found them in a dugout, alone since their mother died and their father disappeared. Deborah had been living with the Solbergs, who took over the MacCallister ranch when Zeb moved west.

  After Toby fell in step beside her, Ellie asked, “Did you go on to college with your gift from Mr. Gould, Toby?”

  “Nope. I never cared much for school. Never graduated.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “My pa said I should go to work for the railroad, laying track, but I don’t know. If there was a war still going on, I’d go fight.”

  “Oh, how awful. Look what happened to your brother.”

  “You better quit talking to me. Here comes almighty Prince Andrew.”

  Ellie made a face. “Toby!”

  He arched his eyebrows at her and, hands in his back pockets, strolled off.

  “All right, let’s get started here.” The photographer pointed his camera, already set up on a tripod. “Line up there on the steps. You boys in the back, young ladies in front.”

  Andrew stood behind Ellie. She could feel the brush of his jacket through her dress and knew if she leaned her head back, she could touch him. Why all of a sudden did she have this need to touch him? Ever since that kiss on the palm of her hand, she’d wanted to be as near him as possible. Thoughts of the way he was acting flew off like a bird winging away, leaving only sensations. The touch of his hand on her shoulder, the sound of his voice, his smile, the love light in his eyes.

  “All right now, everyone look right here, and when I say ‘hold it,’ don’t breathe, don’t move.” The man ducked back under his black drape and raised a hand. “Look here. Now hold it.”

  Ellie had the most necessary urge to rub the itch on her nose, but she held her pose.

  “Okay, you can breathe now.”

  They all sucked in breaths along with nervous giggles. Ellie looked beyond the photographer to see Rachel making faces at her.

  She shook her head and shot her cousin a warning look. Laughing, Rachel ran off with two other little girls, and those on the steps settled in for another picture. Andrew tapped her shoulder when the man ordered them to not move again. She felt a giggle rising and ordered her lips to remain at the half smile. Ellie Peterson Wold, you will do as you are told. You will not giggle or move or breathe.

  “Good. You can breathe now.” The man popped out from behind the camera. “I’ll move this inside now, and we’ll take the individual shots. One of you big strong men want to give me a hand here?”

  “Leave it to the prince,” Toby, standing off to the side, muttered just loud enough for Ellie to hear as Andrew stepped forward.

  She snapped her head around and gave him a glare, icy enough to freeze a flowing river.

  He raised one dark eyebrow.

  Ellie could hear Pastor Solberg’s voice as if he were standing right behind her. “If you ignore his teasing, he’ll quit, because it’s no fun to tease someone who doesn’t respond.” Ellie pasted a smile on her face, sweeter than caramel candy, and cocked an eyebrow back at him before following the others inside the church.

  “Miss, would you like to be first?”

  “Me?” Ellie pointed to herself.

  “Yes. Just sit right here.” The photographer pulled the chair closer to a drape he had hanging on the wall.

  Ellie sat down and allowed him to arrange her skirts, place her hand in her lap, and cock her head just so. While nerves made her want to squirm, she held still. Feeling the heat of Andrew’s gaze, she resolutely watched the photographer, ignoring the heat blossoming up her neck and onto her face. Andrew Bjorklund, don’t look at me like that.

  “Now, miss, look right here, and let’s have a bit of a smile. Think ab
out your nice young man. Keep your back straight . . . there you go.” The photographer swapped out plates. “Hold it again, please. Look over here . . . that’s excellent. Good. Now breathe.” He ducked out from under the drape and smiled at her. “If all my subjects were as easy as you, this business would be a delight.”

  “Thank you.” Ellie stood and moved off to the side as another of the girls took her place on the stool.

  “I want one of those pictures.” Andrew stopped beside her.

  “Why? You’ll see me every day.”

  “Because someday when we are old and gray, we will look back and see how lovely you were back when we were young.”

  “What about you? I want one of you for me.”

  He shrugged. “If you want.”

  “And in the fall we will have a picture of us after we get married. My dress will be similar to the one I have on, only in different material and white.”

  “I want us married in one month, not three or four.” The frown carved a line between his eyebrows.

  “I know you do. So do I. But this will turn out for the best, I’m sure. You wait and see.” When Andrew didn’t answer her, she peered up to his face. She wished he’d not brought up the subject when it did nothing but make him unhappy. “Smile,” she whispered, “so you look happy in the picture.”

  When his turn finally came and he stood posed for the picture, it was all she could do to not dance around singing, “That’s my Andrew, and I’m going to marry up with him.” The phrase that Andrew had used the first time all those years ago had stuck. Marry up. Oh, Andrew, I cannot begin to tell you how much I love you. A thought caught her. Had Andrew ever really asked her to marry him?

  They gazed at each other across the space until the photographer ordered Andrew to look at him. Sensations coursed up and down her body—not shivers but tiny bursts of heat like slender flames licking the underside of a log. The urge to touch him poured through to her fingertips, setting them to tingling. She looked away and then back, catching his eyes watching her. The tip of her tongue sneaked out to water lips gone dry.