A Heart for Home (23 page)

“All right. Thanks, Mor.” Astrid looked toward Ingeborg and Pastor Solberg. “We can move him together, and then you two take turns at the bath. All clothing must be boiled.”

After everyone had been informed as to the procedures, the immigrant workers moved their things to the schoolhouse and set to work digging cellars for the rest of the houses to be built. That way they had no contact with the folks of Blessing. The boardinghouse went back to normal operations after the bedrooms and back porch had been scrubbed down. Even so, for the next few days, everyone in town was extremely careful, and folks pretty much stayed home.

With the wheat fully ripened, harvest began in the southern fields that Lars and Haakan had acquired over the years, including the acres Joshua had formerly farmed. The two Landsverk brothers, along with the crews from both the hospital and the manufacturing plant, framed and roofed Joshua’s house in two days. Then the crews returned to their respective jobs.

Mrs. Jeffers spent hours at the bedside of the sick man, changing wet cloths to bring his fever down and spooning liquids into his mouth whenever he would cooperate. One night when Daniel Jeffers was on watch, Boris opened his eyes and, with a sigh, gazed around the room. Jeffers greeted him with a smile and a gentle hello.

“Ja, hello,” Boris squeaked with a nod. He nodded again when Jeffers held up the glass of water and drank some before slipping into a quiet sleep, no longer hallucinating and thrashing as he had in the midst of his delirium.

When Astrid came to spell him, Daniel Jeffers smiled. “Look at him. He’s turned the corner. He drank some water and spoke.”

“How wonderful.” Astrid listened to the man’s chest and checked his pulse. “Thanks be to God.”

“I seriously doubted this time.”

“Waiting is always the hardest, especially the longer it lasts. But when he didn’t get worse . . .”

“I thought he might just get weaker and weaker and slip away.”

“He needs to thank your mother for her care. I think she warned him that he better make the effort to get well because people here had invested so much in him.”

“When my mother gives instructions like that, you’d better listen,” Daniel said.

“Even if you don’t understand the words?”

“Even so.”

Astrid chuckled in the gentle glow emanating from the gaslight, turned down as low as it would go. “You are the voice of experience.”

“Me and my sister. She moved into our house when Mother left.”

“You have nieces and nephews?”

“Just one, but my sister is expecting another. Mother is hoping they will all come to visit when we have a house again.”

“Your mother is a remarkable woman. I heard her reading to Boris in English. She said she wanted him to get acquainted with the language as soon as possible. No sense in waiting for formal classes.”

“She has always wished she could have taught school.”

“And here she will. Good things happen to those who come to Blessing.”

“How much longer is the quarantine going to last?”

“If the others are going to catch it, they’ll begin symptoms any day now. For the rest, the vaccinations have already taken effect.”

They had vaccinated all the construction workers, all those who worked at the boardinghouse, and anyone else who had come in contact with the immigrants. They also had notified the railroad but were not sure if there was much they could do. If the immigrants in Blessing already carried the contagion, she and Elizabeth would soon know, and they hoped any cases would not be so severe. Besides, most of them were in better health already, after eating decent food again and being off the ships for several weeks now.

“Did Mr. Gould know of anyone else in New York who had the typhoid?” Daniel asked.

“He contacted everyone he could. I’ve not heard of any more cases.” Astrid leaned against the doorjamb. “You need to get your rest.”

“I know, but I never get to visit with you. All I know is what Thorliff has told me.”

“And you better not trust all of that. He was nine when I was born, and from some things Mor has said, he wasn’t too excited about a squalling baby. Andrew was much more fun.”

“His tales of those years after his father died would tear anybody’s heart out.”

“I know. Mor and Tante Kaaren worked harder than anyone will ever really know. Mor did all the work the men usually do, and they managed to not lose the land. The day they proved it up was a celebration indeed. My far and Lars worked hard too when they joined the family, and others came to Blessing. As someone suggested at the tea the other day, we need to get the history of our town written down before people start forgetting how it all happened.”

“That’s a very good idea.” He motioned to the chair he had vacated. “Why don’t you sit down and be comfortable?”

“Oh, I will. Thank you again.”

“Good morning it is, then.” He removed his hat from the peg on the wall by the door. “If you need anything more, please let me know.”

“I will.” Astrid returned his smile and heard him walk lightly to the door and go out onto the front porch. From there he would see the lightening of the eastern horizon. She went to the window and listened. The frogs and insects had halted their chorus, and the birds had yet to begin their morning chatter. His footsteps sounded loud in the predawn silence as he made his way back to the boardinghouse. The sheer white curtains lifted in the breeze and danced around her. One of the kittens, now nearly grown, entered the room and wound around her skirt, looking up with slitted green eyes and chirping to be picked up.

Astrid leaned over and picked her up, then turned back to the window, the kitten purring under her chin. Was there anything more comforting than a purring cat and a man getting well in the lightening of the day?
Thank you, Father, for performing your loving miracles
in this house again. This could have been so horrible. Thank you for the
vaccines, for Dr. Morganstein, who knew just what to do, for those here
who had already been vaccinated and could help. For bringing Mr. Jeffers
and his mother to Blessing. For your great mercy on us all.

She sat down in the rocking chair and leaned her head back, the cat settling into her lap. Closing her eyes, she continued her prayers of thanksgiving as she rocked gently, the song of the chair now joined by the tentative notes of a song sparrow welcoming the dawn. Thoughts of Mr. Jeffers made her smile. She was going to ask him about his own family, but surely had there been a wife or a fiancée in his past he would have mentioned it. To Thorliff, if not to her. But what did it matter? After the fiasco with Mr. Landsverk, she wasn’t about to consider another man. Even one as nice as Mr. Jeffers.

20

“I’m starting to think we should go ahead and have a girl party, and then have another one after Grace gets home,” Sophie said, clamping her hands on her widening hips.

“Sophie, not right now,” Astrid pleaded.

“Yes, right now. The whole town has been so subdued with the typhoid quarantine. I just feel like we need to have a little fun.”

“I don’t think community events are a good idea right now. It could be asking for trouble.” Astrid studied her cousin over her stepson’s head. “And besides, three stitches in one’s forehead makes for a headache and a cranky child. You don’t need everyone at your house right now.” She placed a bandage over Grant’s stitches and tipped up his chin to check his eyes again.

“It still hurts, huh?”

He nodded, then flinched. “Sorry.”

“Me too. You go home and lie down for a while. When you wake up again, you should feel better.” She transferred her attention to Sophie. “When you change the bandage, spread some honey on the wound. Honey promotes faster healing.”

“I like honey.” Grant almost smiled.

“Then maybe your mother should give you a honeyed spoon to suck on too, don’t you think?”

He nodded again and touched the white bandage on his head. “It was Nathan’s fault. He tripped me.”

“He didn’t mean to.”

“I know, but you said – ”

“Forget what I said. No more running in the house. How many times have we talked about that?”

“Can’t count that high?”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “No. I probably can’t either, but now you know why I say such things.” She stood and took Grant’s hand. “Thank you, Dr. Bjorklund. Stop over at the boardinghouse for coffee sometime.”

“I’ll do that. Bye.”

Sophie sailed out of the room, as only Sophie could sail in spite of her pregnancy, poor Grant dragging along behind.

Rather than bringing the second ill man over to the surgery, they were taking care of him at the schoolhouse to help contain the spread of typhoid. The first man was still recovering but now living at the schoolhouse too. All the men had been vaccinated at the same time as those of the town who had been exposed to the disease.

Since there were no further patients, Astrid shut the door and turned the
Open
sign over to
Closed
. If someone needed her, they would know what to do. A knock at the door was all it took to summon the doctor. She put away the supplies she’d used, placed the things that needed sterilizing in the tray, and closed the door behind her. The two bedrooms were all cleaned and made up again, and she knew Thelma had finished the laundry earlier in the morning. Strolling into the kitchen and withdrawing the pitcher from the icebox, she poured herself a drink of something pink. Pitcher back and cooling glass in hand, Astrid made her way out to the back porch, fully expecting to see Elizabeth working on the supply lists for the hospital.

No Elizabeth and no Thelma either.

Hmm.
Astrid sat down in the well-cushioned wicker chair and put her feet up on the hassock she pulled over. The sound of children laughing and squealing carried over the empty lots. Hammers pounding, wood being sawed, a man shouting instructions were all the normal sounds of the building going on in town. She knew the immigrant workers were digging cellars. Joshua’s house stood a story and a half high, with men on ladders hammering on the siding. She checked to see if thoughts of Joshua bothered her, but all she could sense was a feeling of peace and gratitude that he was getting at least part of his dream – a house.

When she looked over her shoulder, she could see Thelma out picking beans in the garden. Where was Elizabeth? Inga was out at her grandma’s house, another reason why the house was so quiet. The sound of boots on the sidewalk preceded Thorliff’s strolling around the corner of the house. He had papers in his hand and glanced over them when he saw Astrid.

“So where is everyone?”

“I was wondering the same.” She held up her glass. “You want some?”

“I’ll get it. Thelma is picking beans and weeding at the same time.” The door slammed behind him.

Astrid tipped back her head to watch two sparrows arguing on the branch of the box elder tree growing at the corner of the porch. It sounded like the female was scolding the male. Perhaps he’d neglected to feed the children. The thought made her smile. One of the kittens jumped up in her lap. They looked so alike with their dense gray fur that she couldn’t tell them apart. Inga could. One was for Emmy when she returned from her summer with her tribe.

“Watch it!” The shout echoed through the sudden silence. A board clattered to the ground.

“That was close.”

Feeling like she was eavesdropping, Astrid stroked the cat’s back. “Don’t get too comfortable. I won’t be here long.”

“You’re never anywhere very long.” Thorliff let the door slam behind him and sat down in the chair next to her.

“I should be working on the hospital planning.”

“I saw Grant sporting a white bandage on his forehead, and he had blood on his shirt.”

“Head wounds bleed a lot. He split the skin tripping over Nathan. I stitched it up.”

“He’ll be the envy of the younger set.”

“What are you working on?”

“Articles for the paper. I interviewed Pastor Solberg about his time with the Indian tribe. Do you have any comments to make?”

“Other than to thank the people of Blessing for sending supplies, no.”

“What about the two Indian women who are in nurses training?”

“Along with Deborah. You ought to interview Mor and Tante Kaaren for that. They’re the ones doing the training, along with Mrs. Jeffers.”

“You know, you should have put a notice of the class in the newspaper. There might be others from the outlying areas who would be interested.”

“True. I never thought of that. We weren’t really prepared to start an official class. I just thought these two women could be more help to Dr. Red Hawk if they had some training.”

Thorliff scratched some notes with his pencil, then tucked it behind his ear again. “Think I’ll go on out there. Tell Elizabeth where I went, will you?”

“Of course.” Astrid watched him stride off, thinking she should be up and doing something else. Finishing her drink, she set the glass in the kitchen sink, trod softly on the stairs in case Elizabeth was indeed sleeping, which she was, and decided to go get the mail. The train had been through some time earlier.