Chapter
25

The next morning, Rune and the women stared down at Einar, sleeping again after breakfast and a dose of laudanum. They had carried him from the porch to the bed the night before, and Rune had spent the night on a pallet next to the bed. Einar had awakened with garbled speech, his usual hostility, and definite weakness in his right side.

“We will have someone with him at all times. That’s all we can do,” Signe said.

“I will stay with him,” Gerd answered.

Rune shook his head. “No, we will take turns. Leif needs to stay near the barn to watch the pigs, so he can do turns here too. The other three boys will go back to limbing and cleaning up brush out in the forest. They can cut firewood too. I have told them to leave the standing trees until I get back.”

“You will have the lumberyard deliver the lumber for the house?” Signe asked.

“Ja. I will bring back what we need for the cellar, so I should be back by early afternoon, if I start right now.” He looked at each of the women. “If he starts to get agitated . . .”

“He should sleep for three or four hours with what I gave him,” Nilda said. “You might buy some more laudanum while you are in Blackduck. We have enough for one more dose.”

“I will hurry.” He shook his head. “If only he would listen to others.”

“He never will.” Gerd wagged her head. “Never has, never will.”

“We’ll do what we can. If he starts flailing those long arms, you just get out of his way,” Rune urged them. “If he gets agitated and falls out of bed, let him lie there until either the boys come back or I do. I do not want one of you to get hurt.”

All three women nodded in response.

“We could tie him down.” Gerd gave Rune a questioning look. “Feet and hands. We’ve got some sheeting we could rip into strips.”

“The laudanum should be enough,” Nilda said. “When we bring him coffee for dinner, I will give him a bit more.”

“Tie him if you must, but do not try to keep him from falling, and do not argue with him. He might be calmer when he wakes, but he might be worse.” Rune thought a moment. “Maybe I better stay here.”

“I could go order the lumber, since you have the sizes and amounts all written out,” Signe volunteered. “Or Nilda could.”

“And when they start asking you questions about the structure of the house, or do we want this instead of that . . .” He shook his head. “And paying for it. I do not have enough money to pay for it all at once, and I can almost guarantee they do not accept installments from women.”

Nilda shook her head. “Shame, isn’t it?”

Gerd stared Rune right in the eyes. “I—we would help pay for it.”

“Nei! No!” Rune said, then caught himself. “Tante Gerd, I would do business with you, but not Einar. Not ever again. My house has to be bought and paid for by me. I appreciate your offer, but please understand why I am saying this.”

Gerd reached for his hand. “I do understand, but you all mean far more to me than money. If I have it, I want to share it with you.”

Signe sniffed. “Gerd . . .”

Rune felt overwhelmed too, but he had two women to thank God for. Thank you, Lord. I asked for a family here, and you have given us one with Gerd and now Nilda and Ivar.

Signe let the tears drip. Easier than fighting them, no doubt.

Rune laid his hands on Gerd’s shoulders. “Thank you. I cannot begin to tell you how much this means to me and to Signe and to our boys too.” He blew out a breath. “Now I will be on my way and home again as soon as I can.” He started to the door. “Remember, Ivar and Bjorn are strong as full-grown men if you need them.”

“Here. Take the eggs and butter with you for Benson’s.” Signe handed him the baskets she had packed.

He gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. “Be careful, hear me?”

He climbed up on the wagon that had become the flatbed used to haul the hay, waved to the women, and set the team at a trot down the lane. The boys had the other team out in the woods, so Rosie was alone with the cows in the pasture.

He waved at Mrs. Benson, sitting out on the store’s porch, as he turned the corner toward Blackduck. Drawing the team to a halt, he called, “I brought you eggs and butter. I’m going to order the lumber for the house today. Can I get you anything?”

“Wonderful. Wait just a moment.” She disappeared into the store, so Rune climbed down and carried the baskets Signe had given him to the front porch and set them in the shade.

“Here.” Mrs. Benson handed him a bag. “Some to take home, and some to eat on the way. Holler when you get back, and I might have something else to send. Should the mister round up the crew?”

“Not yet. We need to get the cellar framed so the foundation is ready to set the house right on it. We are going to have a celebration for certain when this house is ready to move into.”

“That we will. A real party. How is Mr. Strand doing?”

“Worse. He fell again. Can’t get it into his head that he needs time to recuperate. Just because he’s not bleeding and nothing’s broken.” Rune shook his head. “Takk for asking.”

“Can any of us help?”

“Not that I can think of. “ He peeked in the bag and grinned at her when he saw the cookies. “For me?”

“I know Leif and Knute especially like those too.”

“I will share. Lord bless you, Mrs. Benson. You are a true friend. Oh, wait a moment. Do you have any laudanum?”

“I do, order came in just yesterday. I’ll have it ready for you when you get back.”

“Good, saves me a stop in Blackduck.”

“Takk for these.” She picked up the baskets.

Nibbling on the two cookies he’d allowed himself, he took the next five miles at a slow jog to keep from wearing the horses out. They’d been hitching the teams the way the former owner had suggested, one of Einar’s old team paired with one of the green team. Probably he should have hitched up the other team too, but they’d not driven the four together yet.

Sweat streaked the horses’ shoulders as he turned into the lumberyard. He drew them to a stop in the shade, swung down, made sure all his papers along with a good part of the cash he had saved were in the packet stuffed in his shirt, and strode toward the office. If only he knew things were safe at home, he could enjoy this long-dreamed-of day, rather than needing to hurry home.

“Good to see you again, Mr. Carlson,” Mr. Hechstrom greeted from behind the counter. “How did those skis work out? You get them finished?”

“Not yet, but they will be for this winter. I sure have learned a lot.”

“Trial and error can be pretty good teachers. How can I help you today?”

Rune took the papers out of his shirt front. “I’m here to order the lumber for my house.”

“Well, good for you. Congratulations are in order. Hang on.” Mr. Hechstrom called to the back. “Petter, you come out here and run the front while I help this man?”

A young man jogged out of the warehouse bay, his face sweaty. “Yes sir, Mr. Hechstrom.”

“Mr. Carlson, here—”

“Rune Carlson.” Rune failed to mention anything about Einar Strand. He’d learned that the name Strand could bring out bad feelings.

“Okay, Rune, this is my nephew, Petter Thorvaldson.”

When the two shook hands, the young man asked, “Carlson! Are you the Carlson that Miss Nilda Carlson and her brother Ivar came to help?”

“I’m their older brother. My wife and I came last year to help our relatives.”

“Well, I’ll be snookered. I heard a lot about you and your wife and, what, three boys and a baby girl? From Valders, Norway, and Ivar was going to help fell the big trees, and Miss Carlson was so looking forward to seeing her best friend again. We got to know each other pretty well. How are they?”

Rune smiled at the young man’s enthusiasm. “Ivar took the other end of a crosscut saw yesterday for the first time, and we brought down three trees. His shoulders were pretty sore last night.”

Petter grinned from ear to ear. “Well, I am so glad to meet you. Greet them from me, please.”

“I will. If you make it out our way, I know they will be glad to see you again too. They talked of you like friends.”

Mr. Hechstrom nodded. “Perhaps Petter can drive one of the loads. He’s told us a lot about his friends from the ship.” He pointed toward a door along the back wall. “Come to my office, and let’s put your order together.”

Rune took the chair Mr. Hechstrom indicated.

“You want something to drink? Coffee, cold water?”

“Ja, both would be good. My team is in the shade, so they should be good for a while.”

Mr. Hechstrom called for someone to bring the drinks and then sat in the other chair. On the desk in front of him were tablets and pencils, along with pen and ink. “Now, tell me about your house plans.”

“I drew them out, much as I was able. I was trying to estimate how much lumber I’d need, but I know this is nowhere near accurate. I was going to build a one-and-a-half story, but I decided we better go with two full stories.” He pushed the papers over to the other man. “You might have this already figured out, but we need a real second floor, not just an attic like at Einar’s house.”

Mr. Hechstrom nodded, leafing from page to page of Rune’s drawings. Probably in his eyes, the plans were laughingly crude. He nodded. “Pretty standard farmhouse style. Good. This what you’ve dug for the cellar?”

“Ja. Today I need to take home posts and joists and whatever else I need to frame that in so it will be ready for the rest.”

“You got some helpers?”

“My brother and two sons, but the men of the church have said we are going to have a house-raising.”

“That the Lutheran church at Benson’s Corner?”

Rune nodded.

“Those are good people there, some real good carpenters too. This house’ll go up real fast. They know how to do it, raising walls and such. Good for you.” Mr. Hechstrom pulled a list of materials out of the drawer under the table. “How about this: We load your wagon today with the cellar materials like you said, then I get an estimate together and come out to your place so we can make sure we have at least most of it. I will include roofing and siding and doors and windows. We’ll deliver the framing supplies first, and the roofing and remaining supplies when you are ready for them.”

“Sounds good. Can we talk about money?”

“If you want. Tell you what I have done plenty of times. You tell me how much you can pay now, and then we’ll divide the rest up into payments, due when the trees are sold. I figure that is what you will use to pay with.”

Rune stared at the man across the desk. “You would do that?”

“Well, yes, unless you would rather go through the bank. I figure you got enough trees out there to pay off your house in the next year or so.”

“We are not talking Einar’s trees here, but those on my five acres.”

“How many acres already cleared?”

“About one and a half.”

“And the rest is white pine?”

“Mostly.”

“You got enough timber to pay for more than this house, even with furnishing it. You agree?”

“Ja, but what if something happens and . . .”

“And you can’t pay?”

Rune nodded.

Mr. Hechstrom smiled. “I know accidents happen. Sometimes sickness too. But I’m gambling that if you can’t cut trees any more, your sons and brother will take over and make it happen. You Norskies are like that.”

“In spite of . . . ?” Rune hated to bring up Einar’s name.

Mr. Hechstrom leaned forward. “Rune Carlson, I am a pretty good judge of character, and you got plenty of it. You can’t always choose your relatives, but you can choose your friends and those you do business with. I’ve worked with you some already, and I’ve heard really good things from others. So you give me the money you have today and go frame your basement. I will write you a receipt that says what you have is paid on account. This is all legal and frequently done.” He extended his hand across the desk.

Rune took it and nodded before shaking. “Takk. While they are loading, can I water my team?”

Mr. Hechstrom nodded. “You want to come have dinner with the wife and me?”

“Sometime, but not today. I need to get back. Thank you, again.”

Rune watered his horses, and as soon as the lumber and nails were loaded, he pointed the team toward home. He let them rest once before Benson’s Corner and again while he retrieved the baskets, one with several packets in it.

“The laudanum is there along with some other things I figured you could use,” Mrs. Benson explained. “Greet them all from me, please. Perhaps I can get out there for a visit before that sweet baby is down and crawling.”

“She gets up on all fours now and rocks back and forth but hasn’t quite got the idea she can crawl forward. Leif keeps encouraging her.”

When he arrived home, he left the team hitched in the shade and strode to the house. Leif joined him.

“We got two more babies, but she is done now,” he reported. “They all nursed, I made sure.”

“You and Knute are mighty good with the animals.” Rune ruffled Leif’s hair. “How were things at the house?”

“Onkel Einar has slept, mostly. Bjorn helped him sit up to eat dinner.”

“Good. How’d the guys do in the woods?”

“Bjorn said they got two of the trees limbed and the branches stacked. They should be ready for the next one by the time you get there.”

The kitchen was empty when he entered, but he could hear Signe and Nilda down in the cellar. He set the baskets from Mrs. Benson on the table. “There’s some cookies there, but make sure there are enough left for everyone else too.”

“You can take some out when you go to the trees.” Leif dug out two cookies and headed back out the door to check on his piglets.

Signe came up from the cellar. “I thought I heard you here. How did it go?”

“Better than you can believe. I’ll tell you all tonight at supper.” He pointed to the baskets. “Mrs. Benson said to tell you takk for the butter and eggs. She had ordered laudanum, so that is there, along with some other things she thought you could use.”

“Leave it to Mrs. Benson. A jar of honey. Ginger cookies—oh, and three peppermint sticks. Leif didn’t find those, eh?” Signe smiled.

“What about . . . ?” Rune nodded toward the bedroom.

“Been pretty docile so far. He let the boys help him sit up and move to the edge of the bed. He didn’t make an effort to move to the chair. Nilda doctored his coffee like she said.” She brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “It’s nice and cool down there in the cellar. We got it about all cleaned out. The cat helped. The orange tabby must have found a secret place to have her babies, but Gra dispatched a couple of mice when we found a nest. It’s a good thing Leif was at the barn. He’d have wanted to keep the babies.”

Rune smiled. Yes, that was his boy, all right. “I’ll drive the lumber out to the house, and Leif can unharness the team and let them into the pasture. We’ll probably unload the wagon on our way up for supper.”

As he headed for the barn again, he stared out over the fields. The sprouting oats cast a green haze out to the west. The cows were lying down under the one shade tree. What a peaceful scene.

“You think you can get the harnesses hung up?” Rune asked Leif as he drove the wagon out to the big hole.

Leif gave him a patient look. “You want me to come out to the woods?”

“I know you want to, but I really need someone here who can run fast to get us in case something happens with Einar.”

Leif nodded, then grinned at his far. “I should get an extra peppermint stick for staying here.”

Rune laughed. “You take that up with the others.”

“What they don’t know can’t hurt ’em.”

Rune chuckled as he headed farther out into the woods, where he could hear two axes thudding into branches. He swung the bag of cookies in one hand and realized he was grinning like a child with a peppermint stick. He had paid money down on his own house. He and Signe were landowners and would soon have a house of their own. All in one year. Only in America. In spite of what a mean old man Onkel Einar was, they owed him a debt of gratitude for bringing them over.

He stopped at the edge of the clearing to watch the three boys at work and to inhale the fragrance of cut pine. The other team nodded in the shade. There were two new piles of branches, and the earliest piles of branches were now neatly stacked in stove lengths, ready to haul to the house. Einar had been all set to burn those piles, but Leif and Knute insisted that would make good firewood—and they were right.

He called to the boys and raised the cookie bag over his head.

The three planted their axes in a branch near them, and while they weren’t running to meet him, they weren’t staggering either. They all sat on or leaned against the wagon to drink water kept cool in the shade and devour the cookies.

They felled the second tree at the beginning hush of dusk. All fell silent until one branch that caught on another tree crashed to the ground.

“Two trees today, in spite of my being gone. You’ve done well,” Rune said.

Ivar stretched. “Shame Onkel Einar isn’t out here to appreciate this.”

Bjorn snorted and shook his head at Ivar. “All he’d say is, ‘Shoulda had three. You didn’t limb them yet, don’t just stand around.’”

Rune watched his son’s face. Bjorn wasn’t angry or critical, he was just stating the facts. And he was so right.

“Perhaps tomorrow we can do four . . .” Ivar joked.

“Or maybe six.” Knute looked at his far with a grin.

“Bring Nilda out here,” Ivar added. “She is good with an ax and could do the limbing with Knute here.”

Ivar grabbed the axes, and Rune and Bjorn brought the saw. Bjorn hitched up the team and drove the wagon over to one of the stacks of wood for the stove. They loaded the pile into the wagon and hauled the wood up to the house to dump in a pile to be split.

That night at supper, Rune looked at Nilda. “I met a friend of yours today. He works at the lumberyard, says he came over on the ship with you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Petter? Petter Thorvaldson?”

“That’s the one. He was real glad to hear about the two of you. Mr. Hechstrom says he could be one of the drivers to deliver the lumber, so we might see him here soon.”

Ivar waggled his eyebrows at his sister, and Nilda threw a dish towel at him—and laughed.

“This house needs more laughter,” Gerd said softly. “It really does.”