A New Day Rising (39 page)

Haakan stopped the wagon next to the young man and followed his gaze to see the silent interchange. Just as he'd thought, Hjelmer was suffering the same pangs as he. Ah, spring fancies that turn to summer love. He stopped himself. He, Haakan Bjorklund, thinking poetry? He swung down from the wagon and, after lifting Andrew down to the ground, helped Ingeborg over the wagon wheel.

"Come help me unharness these beasts." He clapped Hjelmer on the shoulder. "She'll wait a few minutes more for you."

Hjelmer shot him a startled look.

"Come on, son," Haakan lowered his voice, "you think we haven't noticed? Don't get your back up, she's a wonderful girl, and you are a fine strapping Norwegian man. What more could a future uncle-in-law ask?"

"He could ask that the man have money or at least a livelihood to support his niece."

"Ah, that. You have a skill, several in fact." He swung the heavy harness off Belle's broad back. "You can go west and homestead."

"Ja, I've thought of that." Hjelmer leaned his hands on the wagon side. "But I would like to stay around here and open a blacksmith shop."

Haakan paused in tying Bob to the wagon wheel. "Would you now?" He nodded. "If you begin at a crossroads where the settlers can stop, you might have a good idea there."

"1 thought by the schoolhouse. That is, when a schoolhouse is built."

"Have you mentioned this to Ingeborg?"

Hjelmer got that squared-jawed look that told anyone watching he'd either bit a sour lemon or someone said something he didn't like. "What would be the use?" He slapped his hands on the wagon sideboard and turned and strode off across the packed dirt toward the sod house.

Haakan stared after him. Whatever had rubbed a hot spot under his collar? He finished giving each of the horses and Jack the mule a measure of oats, and then with hands in his pockets, he strolled across to the gathering. Greeting the others, he kept an eye on Hjelmer. While his jaw had relaxed, he still kept as far from the remainder of the family as possible, being a bit more civil to Kaaren and Lars, but not much. It looked to be about time they took a certain young man to task. Perhaps that was a job for him and Lars. Maybe they could handle it without causing either of the women any further grief or concern.

He looked out to see another wagon nearing the farmstead and groaned when he recognized the woman sitting so upright beside the driver. The Strands. He'd heard they'd camped on another neighbor's land, seeming to be in no hurry to travel farther west or north to where homesteads were still available.

Another wagon, this one with a wheel that looked about to fall off, arrived from the north. Haakan glanced over to Ingeborg to see if she recognized the family. Sure as shooting, it had to be the Polinskis. While Ingeborg hadn't told him all the story of the Winter of Death as he'd heard it called, she'd mentioned the Polinskis. Her jaw had tightened at the name.

He caught the look of concern that Agnes shot Ingeborg and the way the woman edged closer to her friend. Kaaren, too, found her way to her sister-in-law's side. A hush fell over the group as Abel Polinski looped the reins around the broken brake handle and climbed to the ground. Instead of helping his wife down and removing the harness from his team, he left them and ambled toward the gathering. Mrs. Polinski climbed over the wheel. Her brood tumbled out the back of the wagon, and though she tried to straighten the hair of one girl and smooth the youngest's dress, it didn't do much for the look of them. They were a sorry lot indeed.

Joseph and Agnes welcomed the newcomers as they had all the others, only this time their greeting was more than a mite forced. "You know all the others here?" Joseph asked.

"Other'n those two over there, and by the look of them eyes, they must be Bjorklunds." Abel pointed to Haakan and then Hjelmer.

Joseph finished the introductions and called the meeting to or der. Everyone began singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" as if their lives depended upon it.

Haakan felt a deep ripple go through his chest. He looked down at the woman beside him, her contralto voice carrying the alto line as if she had a hymnbook in front of her. She held Andrew on one hip and her other hand rested on Thorliff's shoulder. Dear Lord, make this my family, please. Why else did you bring me out here. It certainly wasn't in my plans. He laid his hand on Thorliff's other shoulder and joined in the next stanza.

By the time the service was over and dinner had been set out, it was obvious to everyone that Hjelmer had a problem. Mary Ruth Strand picked up real quick that Hjelmer and Penny Sjornson had eyes for each other, and she didn't like it one bit. Though she smiled sweetly and her trilling laugh could be heard frequently, all was not well.

Haakan caught the surreptitious glances between the adults and the gentle snickerings behind hands and handkerchiefs.

Polinski soon revealed the reason he'd driven this far to join the worship, and it wasn't because he longed to hear the Word and sing the hymns. "I just want to know if any of you here are interested in buying me out. I'm asking two dollars an acre, and I got half a section there with about twenty acres broke."

"Twenty?" Joseph asked. "Looks to me more like maybe ten and part of that ain't backset."

"Wa-11 there's a sod house on it, and that ought to be worth something, too. Dowser said there was water, but I ain't had time to dig me a well." Abel pushed a felt hat back on his head that looked like the dog had used it for a pillow. "It's good land, nary a rock on it, and we ain't too far from a crick."

"Is the crick on your land?" Haakan asked.

"Don't rightly think so, but since that section belongs to the gov'ment fer schools, nobody never said I couldn't draw water from it. It went purty close to dry last summer, anyhows."

Haakan leaned close to Joseph's shoulder so only he could hear. "Seems a bit much for unbroken land."

Joseph gave a barely perceptible nod. "And the soddy ain't worth nothing but pulling down. The man never did put a weatherproof roof on it. Miracle they didn't all freeze to death last winter." He turned his head slightly toward Haakan. "I thought he had a full section so he had timber rights like the rest of us."

Haakan nodded. "1 see."

"You thinkin' on it?"

Haakan nodded again. He looked up to see Ingeborg watching him with one eyebrow raised, curiosity rampant in her gaze.

"Better not wait too long. IN he gets to the bank, they'll snap those homestead rights up in a minute and jack the price out of sight. I'd buy it if I didn't think I'd do better investing in more machinery right now. I bid on more land and Agnes is gonna make me sleep in the barn."

"Let me tell you, it's fine for a time, but come winter, I'd rather be back in a real bed."

"That so?" Joseph glanced over at ingeborg and back at Haakan. He tipped his hat back. "'Pears to me that spring has bit more'n just the young sprouts here."

"Just keep your 'pears' to yourself." Haakan slapped the man on the shoulder.

"Ja, well, let me give you some advice. You take good care of her or you got others to answer to. If'n I were you, I wouldn't want to get on the bad side of these women here. They might tear you limb from limb if you hurt our Ingeborg. She's seen hurt enough." He glanced over at the other men grouped together where a laugh had just erupted. "Let alone the men."

"You'll know soon enough if she accepts me." Haakan joined the others around the table, and they sang the grace together. After filling their plates, everyone found a place to sit and enjoyed the visit as well as the food.

After they were all done eating and Polinski was herding his brood back to the wagon, Haakan stopped him just before he slapped the lines over the sorry pair they called a team of horses. "How about if I come over tomorrow and look your place over?"

"Wa-11 now, that would be right fine, you know." Polinski shot a gob of tobacco over the wheel. "I'm right glad to know there is someone here who is interested. We'll be seein' ya, then."

"Are you serious?"

Haakan had been staring after the rickety rig and didn't hear Ingeborg come up.

"Yes, I am. Guess I've grown to like the flat prairie after all, much to my surprise. Of course, the people here might have something to do with that." He gave her a look fit to set the fires burning inside.

"You'd give up logging?"

"Yes and no. Yes, I wouldn't go back to the north woods unless I could do that in the winter to make some extra money. But I think I would do better setting up a mill of my own. There's plenty of hardwood along the riverbanks, and if we cut and sawed that into lumber instead of just firewood, might be a pretty good cash crop."

"Sounds like you've given this some thought?"

"Guess you could say that, yes."

Ingeborg reached down and picked up Andrew, who was tugging at her skirts. "I wish you all the best." She turned at a call from Agnes. "Let me know when you are ready to leave for home."

Haakan strolled over to a group of men gathered by the corral.

"So, you heard any more about when the railroad is coming through?" asked one of the men.

Haakan shook his head. "Nor where. If you look at a map, a good line would be right through this area on the way to Drayton, if they go this way rather than straight north from Grafton and due east. Of course, they might skip Drayton, too."

"Who knows?" The fellow shook his head. He made more a statement than -a question.

Haakan looked across the group to Oscar Strand, who had their attention and was asking about available land.

"There's that piece of Po-" Joseph gave the man a sharp jab to the ribs.

The man coughed, "Excuse me for a minute." He turned and spit, at the same time looking toward Joseph, who gave a brief shake of his head.

"What was that?" Strand asked.

"Oh, nothing."

Joseph turned the tide of the conversation to haying, which for most of the farmers was still in full swing. "You want my nephew, Petar, to come cut for you with our new mower? As you can see, all our hay and that of our partners, the Bjorklunds, is stacked and ready for winter."

Within minutes Petar had more work than he could manage.

Haakan looked over to where Hjelmer stood talking with Penny Sjornson and Mary Ruth Strand. If he'd had his head out of the clouds, he could have gotten some extra work, too. Sometimes joining in with the men was important.

So he will be going away. Ingeborg kept her thoughts veiled behind her eyes, attempting to appear perfectly normal. And sooner than I dreamed-or feared. At least it isn't as far as the north woods, but I'll lose my help once again. Good thing Hjelmer will be here. But the thought of having to depend on Roald's youngest brother didn't bring a leap of joy to her heart. Only Haakan did that. Of course he wouldn't be so far away he couldn't come help in an emergency. Her thoughts seemed to be having a discussion of their own. So much for having thought they might ... they might ... She took in a deep breath and swallowed the tears burning at the back of her throat.

There was no chance he could work both places. Cleaning up the Polinski mess would take more time than starting from scratch. She hiked Andrew farther up on her hip and leaned her head against the soft down of his hair. That was all right. She and her sons, they would make it. She wouldn't lose the land, and she'd do what was needed-herself.

"Thorliff!" She looked around for the group of boys who'd been running and playing all afternoon. "Thorliff, time to go home."

"I could come with Hjelmer." He came to a stop in front of her, blue eyes pleading for a few more moments of play, something he so rarely got to do.

"No, he might ride home after dark. You say good-bye to your friends and come now."

Thorliff did as asked and joined them in the wagon. Haakan clucked to the team and turned them in a wide circle to head east for home. The jingle of the harness, the clupf, clupf of the horses' hooves in the dust, Thorliff whistling and swinging his legs over the tailgate of the wagon-sounds emanated from everywhere but from the man and woman sitting on the plank seat. ingeborg had laid Andrew down on the quilts in the back to continue his nap.

"So, what do you think of my taking over the Polinski place?" Haakan finally asked.

"Fine, I guess." She stared at the swaying rumps of the horses in front of her. Even to her own ears, her response sounded about as lukewarm as dishwater sitting all morning and about as appealing.

"Does that mean you like the idea or you don't?"

"I don't know." She tried to be flippant but knew she failed even as the words came from her mouth.

"Ingeborg, what is wrong?" The words dropped into the stillness.

"Nothing."

A bird tweeped and twittered on a thistle by the side of the trail. Another answered. A horse snorted. Thorliff continued to whistle.

"Ingeborg, I won't leave you to work again the way you have in the past. I just thought that if you would marry me, we could join the two pieces. I'm not going to homestead it, so I won't have to remain on the land. I'll buy the land outright-I think I have enough saved-or I will use some of that for machinery and take out a loan at the bank, like all the other respectable farmers around here." He waited for her answer, then glanced over to search her face. She kept her gaze straight ahead, chin lifted and shoulders rigid like she didn't dare move for fear she would crumble or crack. Oh, Inge, my darling Inge. You don't have to bear it all alone anymore. I am here, and I won't leave you. Only if God calls me home will I leave.

He continued to wait, the lines to the horses' bits easy in his hands.

A bolt shot through her at the word marry. Marry! He wants to marry me. Haakan Bjorklund wants to marry me. How can I marry him? I don't love him.

You don't? The gentle questioner prodded. Are you sure?

"But you don't love me," she finally blurted out.

"What makes you think I don't? You think I would stay around and work like I have been for just anyone?"

She stared at him with her mouth open. She hadn't thought along those lines. She was just grateful for all he did.