Sunflower (19 page)

“Ja,”
Kase added with enthusiasm, his eyes shining bright with the memory of the treats he’d received. “I left my shoes outside the door, and Sinterklaas left me some candies inside. Jon made me some skates, too, for Sinterklaasdag, but they were from him, not from Sinterklaas.”

“Well, these are from me, and a good friend of mine whom I will tell you about later. Why don’t you open yours now while I finish this delicious meal?” Caleb nodded his appreciation to Sophie, who beamed at his recognition.

“Analisa cooked most of the meal, Caleb. Jon and I just brought out the goose early in the day and sort of invited ourselves to dinner.” As Caleb continued to eat, Sophie explained further how she and Jon had moved to Pella and were without family in the area. “So, you see, even though Jon’s family is Dutch, they all live in Minnesota. I am a Canadian, and a Catholic, so you might say I haven’t too many friends here yet.”

Analisa turned to her friend. Before she spoke she realized her shyness in front of Caleb was ebbing slowly. Still, she could think of nothing to say to him directly. “You’ll have plenty of friends, Sophie, as soon as Jon’s business is opened and everyone gets a chance to meet you.”

Kase had soon unwrapped his parcel and tossed the brown paper and string to the floor. Impatiently, he lifted the lid off the box and gazed at the small newspaper-wrapped bundles inside. Removing one, he unrolled the paper covering and soon held a tin soldier in his hands. The figure was perfect, painted carefully to represent a United States Army officer. He stood the toy soldier on the table and continued to unwrap each figure in turn, exclaiming over the uniforms as he stood them one by one on the table. Jon was nearly as excited as the boy and examined each figure as it appeared. Caleb explained the rank and duties of the soldiers as Kase lined them up. Analisa listened in amazement and realized that Caleb must have served in the army at one time. She wondered if he’d been in Indian campaigns like the ones that plagued the army now. Had he fought against his own mother’s people, then?

Caleb soon cleaned his plate as he alternately watched the boy unwrap the soldiers and took bites of food. In no time at all, the goose, creamed potatoes, beans, and honeyed bread disappeared. Analisa moved his plate to the sideboard and replaced it with a dessert dish. As she refilled his coffee cup, Caleb suddenly looked around the room as if seeking a missing detail. His eyes met Analisa’s as she sat back down on the bench across from him.

“Where is Edvard?”

He asked the question quietly, his voice nearly a whisper, but Sophie caught his words. She drew Kase’s attention from Caleb and his mother, giving Analisa a chance to explain.

Caleb knew immediately by the sadness that filled Analisa’s eyes that Edvard was dead. He wished he had waited to ask.

Leaning forward, her arms folded against her rib cage, her voice soft yet steady, she told him of her grandfather’s disappearance during the snowstorm. Quickly, with as little detail as possible, Analisa explained how the minister had brought the volunteers, Jon among them, to search for Opa, and how Sophie and Jon had taken Kase and her in as guests until the burial was over. She didn’t tell him that the four of them had been the only ones to attend the old man’s funeral, nor did she tell him of the way the townsfolk chose to ignore her loss.

“Caleb?”

He had failed to hear Kase call his name the first time, but now turned to the boy.

“May I open another gift?”

“Only if your name is on it. I want your mother to open the one I brought for her, too.”

“I found another one with my name,” Kase explained, then added, “a big one!”

“Then go right ahead.” Caleb turned to Jon, who was seated next to Analisa. “Jon, why don’t you pass Analisa that big box?”

Suddenly, unbidden color stained Analisa’s cheeks as Sophie, Jon, and Caleb watched her take the large gift. Slowly, trying to calm her shaking fingers, she untied the twine and began to pull off the thick brown wrapping.

Kase was exclaiming over his gift, a suit cut to his size with long wool trousers, a finely tailored jacket of matching tweed, and a round-collared white shirt. A pair of black suspenders was tucked into the box as well. In his eagerness to try on the new clothes, he jumped up from the bench and carried the box to his mother’s bed and began to unbutton his cotton flannel shirt and tug it off.

“Don’t look until I am ready,” he called over his shoulder, giving the adults the opportunity to study Analisa’s package once again.

She lifted the lid and then the thin paper inside to reveal the gift. As Caleb took a sip of warm coffee, Analisa stared at the contents of the box while Sophie leaned over the table to get a closer look.

“Oh, Anja!” Her friend spoke with a swift intake of breath. “It’s beautiful.”

Analisa slowly pulled the delicate rose-color dress from the box, relishing the feel of the soft, expensive wool. The dress was cut in the latest style, much like the ones she’d made for the women of Pella. Her eyes deftly took in the tucks and stitches and knew that this dress had cost no little amount. It was cut for a bustle in the back and fell into a sweeping ruffle across the front near the knees. Tucked inside the box was a pair of the finest kid gloves, dyed a matching shade of rose. Analisa recalled with a sharp twinge of feeling that the dress she’d worn on the day Caleb left was the simple cotton of the same shade, the plain dress she called her best.

“Analisa, stand up and hold it up to you. Let us see,” Sophie pleaded. “That color will be lovely on you. Caleb, it is perfect. You have to teach Jon how to shop ... and soon!”

Caleb laughed, his eyes glowing appreciatively as Analisa stood up and held the dress before her. He could see that she was embarrassed by all the attention, and so smiled encouragement to her. She sat down quickly, carefully folding the dress back into the box. He pointed to another package, which Sophie was quick to push toward him. “This,” he said in a tone that would brook no argument, “is to open later. But this one is to open now.” He pulled the last box toward Analisa.

“Caleb, I don’t know what to say.” She shook her head.

“Say, ‘Merry Christmas,’ and open the gift.”

Analisa made swift work of opening the present. Inside a deep nest of straw was a fat china teapot hand painted with a bouquet of violets in shades that varied from the deepest purple to the palest lavender. She found the small lid wrapped in paper and tucked into the package beside the teapot.

Smiling up at Caleb, she let her fingertips play over the painted surface of the porcelain teapot. “It’s too beautiful to use.”

“I had a feeling you would say something like that. I want to drink tea made in it tomorrow.” He laughed, knowing how thrifty she Was and how she used only serviceable goods for herself.

Tomorrow.
The word rang in Analisa’s mind.
Tomorrow.
He planned to be here tomorrow ...but what of tonight? Suddenly, the room seemed to close in on her, and she sat in silence, a smile frozen on her lips, her mind racing miles away from the activity around her. Kase was parading in his new clothes. He looked quite the gentleman, a smaller version of Caleb, who also wore a fine wool suit.

“Play us a tune, Jon,” Analisa heard Sophie say, and watched while Jon and Caleb stood to admire her son in his new outfit. Caleb knelt down on one knee and adjusted the boy’s suspenders, as if he’d been taking care of children for years. Both men made quite a fuss over Kase and his new finery until Sophie asked the little boy for a dance.

All at once the noise and movement in the small, warm room were too much for Analisa. Caleb, standing with her new friends, was a sight she’d thought never to see, no matter what her heart might have wished. Happiness was an illusion she was afraid to indulge in. Why had he come back? Could she possibly hope that time had healed the rift between them? Would he be able to stay with them now and leave the mystery of his life behind? The questions crowded in on her like the suffocating air in the room. Analisa knew she had to slip away and be alone. After so many years of facing her problems on her own and living in the quiet soddie with only Kase and Edvard, she found the merriment of the evening, coupled with Caleb’s return, unnerving. Quickly reaching for the coal bucket she used for carrying in dried cow chips for the fire, Analisa stood up and slipped from the room unnoticed, welcoming the solitude of the darkness outside.

The cold night air was a shock against her skin, yet it brought Analisa welcome relief from both the warmth of the soddie and the suffocating intensity of her own thoughts. She left the house without a wrap of any kind, knowing the trip outdoors would have to be short, but she welcomed the few moments to herself. She needed time to think about Caleb’s sudden appearance and what it meant.

She noticed Caleb still rode the huge black horse, but she spared Scorpio only a glance as she turned to make her way around the house. She would share the warmth of the animals in the cow shed and extend her time alone a while longer. Analisa stopped just outside the lean-to in order to fill the bucket with cow chips for the fire, hoping to use the task to cover her sudden departure. She heard the muffled sound of the fiddle music through the thick sod wall and knew that Jon still entertained the others. With a glance around the darkened yard, Analisa stepped inside the shed where Honey and Tulip-the-Ox stood, ever patient as they awaited the morning, when they would be turned loose outside to wander the hard-packed yard. In the far corner, Jon Allen’s well-bred carriage horse nickered softly.

Absentmindedly petting the cow’s smooth nose, she stared out through the open doorway at the scattering of stars in the dark sky. Slowly drifting clouds passed by, reminding her of wisps of smoke on a silent journey across the otherwise clear sky. The slow sprinkling of snow had stopped, leaving the air crisp and clear. Analisa sighed as she looked out on the peaceful scene, trying to regain control of her pent-up emotions.

She knew she needed to sort out her own feelings rather than question Caleb’s return, Analisa would never forget the intense pounding of her heart that had begun the moment she saw him standing in the doorway. He had not changed since September; if anything, he had grown more handsome. His raven hair was neatly trimmed, the uncontrollable waves above his forehead and at the nape of his neck still refusing to be tamed. His skin had retained its warm hue even though his dark tan, like Kase’s, had faded during the winter months. His clear blue eyes seemed to look through her to the very core of her soul. Caleb’s clothes were a silent complement to his strong, well-muscled body and did little to hide his easy movements and natural grace.

Analisa wondered about his clothes and the expensive gifts he’d brought them. When she saw the quality of the dress and the care he had obviously taken to choose it for her, she was assailed by questions, realizing again how little she knew of him. Where did his money come from? Her mind still held a picture of the man who had ridden into the yard last summer, a man carrying few possessions, unwilling to tell her where he was from or where he was going. He had assured her he was not doing anything against the law, and she had chosen to believe him, listening with her heart rather than her common sense. Would she care, even now, if she found out that he had lied back then? She tried to convince herself she would have to turn him out if she learned he was an outlaw, but even as she thought those words, Analisa felt her heart trip as she remembered the touch of his hands and the feel of his kiss on her lips.

Reason fought with her emotions, and as she began to feel the chill of the evening, Analisa knew that she must face Caleb with her doubts and questions before she could resume their tenuous relationship. She was determined to do so before the evening was over, but whether or not she could send him away was another matter.

The frosty air began to seep beneath her skin, chilling her to the bone. Analisa rubbed her hands together and blew on them for warmth, then picked up the bucket of chips and returned to the house.

When Caleb straightened from where he’d knelt on the earthen floor after adjusting Kase’s suspenders and rolling up the new trousers, he noticed that Analisa’s place at the table was empty. His first inclination was to go to her, but instead he decided to give her a few moments alone. Kase was trying to guide Sophie around the room by making up the steps to a dance while Jon set the pace on his fiddle. The three of them seemed content to amuse themselves, and so Caleb paced to the window above the kitchen sideboard and tried to look out into the blackness beyond. Condensation on me windowpane prevented him from seeing outdoors. He glanced once more at Sophie, Jon, and Kase, then quietly opened the door and slipped outside. He knew the time had come for them to face each other alone.

Lifting Scorpio’s reins, he led the horse around the Aliens’ rig toward the shed behind the house. There was no sense in leaving the animal out in the cold any longer, now that Caleb knew he intended to stay the night. He hoped that he would not have a problem convincing Analisa, for he had no inkling as to her feelings. She had looked shocked and disbelieving rather than pleased when he’d arrived, but he knew he could not really blame her for her startled reaction to his sudden appearance. Caleb took a deep breath as he rounded the corner to the shed, determined to let her know that he could be as stubborn as she if he chose.