A Touch of Grace (16 page)

“Will you miss the boardinghouse?” Grace signed.

“I’ll still be here a lot of the time. And Lily Mae will come for me if there’s a problem in the evenings.”

“I know, but …” Grace motioned around the bedroom with her hand. “You won’t sleep here, and you’ll be making a home for Garth and his children.”

“I know. They are such good little ones. When the Larsons arrived with the children, Grant asked if he could call me Mama.”

“And you said?”

“Yes, of course.” Sophie picked at the hem of the sheet. “Sometimes all this scares me.”

Grace made a face. “Nothing scares Sophie.”

“You have no idea. Being alone in Ballard and sick to death pregnant. No Hamre. You can be very sure that I was terrified.”

“But you knew you could come home.”

“Did I? What if none of you would ever speak to me again?”

“But we sent letters. Of course we’d speak to you.” Grace shook her head. “And look how well everything turned out.” She peeked at the sleeping babies and crawled back under the sheet. Leave it to Sophie to make her feel … feel what? Irritated? Frustrated? “Good night again.” She rolled on her side, away from her sister, and tucked her left hand under the pillow. Morning would be here before they knew it.

“What is Garth’s sister’s name?” Grace signed.

“Helga, and her husband is Dan. Garth is so relieved they arrived in time.”

Mor had arrived early enough to join them for a cup of coffee and some of the coffeecake Mrs. Sam had made special for the wedding day. With Garth living at his new house now, they had not had to figure out how to keep Garth from seeing the bride before the ceremony, which was scheduled for ten o’clock at the church.

“I put the bouquets of snowball blooms on the altar, and Ingeborg is taking care of setting up for the dinner, so all we need to do is get you and your groom and Grace and Dan dressed and to the church on time.”

“That’s hardly a problem, since the church is only two blocks away.” Sophie cocked her head. Sure enough, one of babies was crying. “I’ll be right back.”

I’ll never be able to hear my baby cry
, Grace thought.
How will I
know if my children need me? But then, I most likely won’t be getting
married, so there is nothing to worry about. After all these years of praying
for Toby to love me, he doesn’t. I guess you just can’t make someone love
you
. Tears burned, and she both sniffed and rolled her eyes to keep them inside.
God, couldn’t even you make him love me?
But God was silent, not that she’d ever heard Him speak to her like her mother said He did. Did one need to be able to hear for God to speak? He’d healed both deaf and blind people in the Bible, but she guessed He didn’t do such miracles any longer. At least not in her case.

Later that morning Grace stood beside Sophie at the front of the church, filled with people, and watched Pastor Solberg carefully so she would know how the service was progressing. When he said Garth could now kiss his bride, she turned to watch. Love shone from his eyes as he leaned forward to kiss Sophie.

A little barb of jealousy made Grace clamp her teeth together. Sophie had now been married for the second time. Two men loved her. And she couldn’t even have one. As her mother often said, life is not fair, but right now that wasn’t much of a comfort. Grace turned to follow Sophie back down the aisle, nodding at the man who held out his arm for her to take. Garth’s brother-in-law smiled at her, making the exit easier. If Toby had only cooperated, perhaps she and Sophie could have had a double wedding, something they had talked about what seemed like years ago.

Would she ever stop thinking of Toby?

As the town gathered to celebrate the wedding, she put on an apron and helped set the food out. Sunny skies and a gentle breeze helped make the day perfect. She could see people laughing and talking but decided not to watch. If she stayed in her own little world, she could almost pretend the party was for her—and Toby. She knew she didn’t even need to keep an eye out for him because her heart always told her when he came near. When everyone had been served and sat down, she took the filled pitcher of lemonade and made the rounds to fill glasses. Astrid carried the coffeepot.

When she came to Jonathan Gould, his friendly smile made her sniff.

“Mange takk,” he said carefully.

“Velbekomme.” She nodded her approval as he signed an English thank-you at the same time. She’d never signed in Norwegian, but here he was using both of the skills she and Astrid were teaching him.

“Come on. It’s our turn to eat.” Astrid set the coffeepot down.

“No, I’ll—”

“No you won’t. I know you’re mooning over Toby, but—”

“I am not mooning!”

“Sorry. Feeling sad, then. If he comes, I swear I’m going to sic the boys on him.”

Grace almost smiled. She knew
the boys
meant Trygve and Samuel. She shook her head. “That’s right. Have a fight going on right here at Sophie’s wedding.”

Astrid grinned back at her. “Would sure give some excitement.”

Grace put a slice of chicken and some other things on her plate just to keep Astrid quiet. She glanced up to see her mother swaying gently with a baby on each arm. Ingeborg reached to take one of them, and the two grandmas swayed in unison, talking about the wedding. Sometimes there was an advantage in lipreading. You didn’t need to be close enough to hear.

After the food was cleared away and the cake served, Grace was left without anything to do again. Sophie and the two grandmas took the babies over to the house to be nursed. Lars was tuning up his fiddle while the piano from the school was rolled out onto the porch. Grace looked around just in case Toby had arrived and she’d missed him. At least if he wasn’t there, he wouldn’t have to worry about dancing with her.

Dr. Elizabeth sat down at the piano, and Haakan announced that the dancing would commence.

Trygve appeared on one side of her and Jonathan on the other. She glanced from one to the other. Trygve bowed, motioned to Jonathan, and with a wink, left her.

“I hope that means you will dance with me?”

She caught the last part of his sentence and nodded. He took her hand and led her out for the first waltz.
I will not think of Toby. I will
not think of Toby
. Keeping a smile in place took effort until she lost herself in the smooth motions, counting the beat she could not hear so that she would not step on Jonathan’s feet. As they turned and swirled, she smiled up at him. “You are a good dancer.”

“Mange takk. I had lots of lessons. So are you. How did you learn?”

“Thorliff taught Astrid, Sophie, and I together.”

His smile made her neck warm. Astrid’s insistence that Jonathan was interested in her made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she decided to ignore that and just enjoy herself. She could feel others watching them, and the thought made her break stride and stumble. Jonathan held her firmly, paused to let her get the correct foot going again, and gave her a smile that caught in her throat. Didn’t it seem a lot like the one that Garth gave Sophie? Could Astrid be right?

I
F HE COULD HOLD
G
RACE
in his arms forever, it would not be long enough.

“My turn.” The male voice interrupted Jonathan’s reverie, as did the tap on his shoulder.

Jonathan paused in the dance, smiled at Grace, bowed, and handed her off to one of the Geddick sons. He didn’t smile at the interloper. At least Toby hadn’t shown his face. If that man hurt Grace’s feelings again, Jonathan wasn’t sure what he would do, but remaining silent wasn’t one of the options. He moved out of the way of the dancers and turned to search the circling couples for Grace. Cutting back in immediately, which he’d like to do, was not proper, nor polite.

“So how are you enjoying the festivities?”

He turned to smile at Thorliff standing beside him.

I’d be enjoying it more if I were still dancing with Grace
. But he kept his thought to himself. “People here know how to celebrate. Looks like the entire town turned out.”

“Most likely. How is your summer going?”

“Very well. Far better than I thought it would in the beginning.”

“I wondered if you were as enthusiastic about coming here as your father was for you to come.”

Jonathan smiled again and raised one eyebrow, which made Thorliff clap him on the shoulder.

“I hear you are a great help in the cheese house especially, but everyone has been complimentary.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I never had any idea of all the intricacies of farming or how hard farmers worked. Reading about it in a book doesn’t begin to detail a day that starts before sunrise and doesn’t end until you collapse in a bed so tired you are sure you won’t be able to get up in the morning and go again.”

“What have you liked about it?”

“Everything.”

Thorliff turned to stare into Jonathan’s eyes. “Really?”

“Really. The thought of returning to the life I used to lead in New York no longer appeals to me at all.”

“Does your father know this yet?”

Jonathan shook his head. “I’ve been very honest with my parents about the things I’ve learned and the experiences I’ve had, but I know that I am committed to go to college whether I want to at this point or not.” He turned as the dancers clapped at the end of the song, automatically searching out Grace.

“Are you thinking of staying?” Thorliff lowered his voice, surprise having raised it.

“I wish I could. I wish I’d thought fast enough to buy Penny’s store. But I just wasn’t thinking quick enough. Not that I’d planned on being a storekeeper, but—”

“Let me get this straight. You want to stay in Blessing?”

“Or come back here.”

“Why?”

Jonathan raised his hands. “See these callouses? The hardest thing my hands ever had to do was grip a tennis racket, turn book pages, or write an essay. That first day, when Astrid taught me to milk a cow and I learned to dig in the garden, I thought my hands and arms were killing me. At home I would have told a gardener to do the digging had I wanted a hole in the ground, not that I ever wanted such a thing. But here you live on the food produced in that garden and the animals I’ve learned about taking care of …” He paused a moment. “Somehow this seems far more important in the grand design of life.”

“But you haven’t gone through haying or harvest yet. That might change your mind.”

“I don’t know, but I doubt it. Life has purpose here, and I like that.”

“Is it the farming or—” Thorliff paused and nodded toward Grace and Astrid, who were teasing Trygve—“the people?”

Jonathan followed Thorliff ’s glance. At least Grace was smiling now. “Pardon me, I’m going to ask her to dance again and turn the other way if someone tries to cut in.” He left Thorliff chuckling and stopped beside the girls.

“Go dance with him and leave me alone.” Trygve nudged his sister with his elbow.

“You can hand it out, but you can’t take it.” Astrid laughed at Trygve. “Just because she’s a new girl in town.”

“Well, Maggie’s not really new. She and her family came last fall,” Trygve said after a moment’s thought.

“See? What did I tell you?” Astrid grinned at Grace. “He’s been keeping track. Go over and ask Maggie to dance. Don’t be so bashful.”

Jonathan smiled at Grace. “If you would come dance with me, you wouldn’t have to endure your brother’s miseries.”

Grace nodded and then said to her brother, “Go ask her.” She let Jonathan take her hand and lead her back to where the dancers were fanning themselves and waiting for the next dance. “Thank you.”

“For saving you?”

“No, for saving Trygve. He is such fun to tease. Even his ears get red.”

The music started and they swung into a schottische, following the same pattern as the other dancers. Cottonwood trees lent their dappled shade, encouraging the party with whispers stoked by the breeze. Jonathan wished he could just spend the time watching Grace, but making sure no one jostled her and that they didn’t bump into another revolving couple took too much concentration. At the final flourish they followed the rest to the table where ice chunks still floated in a tub of lemonade.