A Measure of Mercy (6 page)

“Please, just say hello and—”

“Well, hello!” The deep timbre in his voice, his wide smile, and flashing dark eyes caught her attention like none other.

“Astrid Bjorklund, I want you to meet Joshua Landsverk. Several years ago, he sold his cows to your mother and his land to your father, and went back to Iowa. Now he’s returned to Blessing.”

“I . . . I’m glad to meet you.” So tall she had to look up, he had an ice cream soda in one hand and wore a smile that wrapped itself around her heart and gave a tug. Had she dreamed of this man, or why did he look familiar?

“Me too. I saw you the day I met with your mother. You rode off to get your pa. You were wearing a blue calico dress with a white apron with knee prints from where you’d been kneeling in the garden.”

“Ah, hello. Welcome back to Blessing.”
How do you remember all
that? Are you visiting, passing through, come back to stay?
The thoughts darted through her mind like an evening flycatcher diving for insects
.
Where have you been? Why are you here? What is the matter with me
that my heart is racing?

“Do you like strawberry?”

She blinked at the question. “What?”

“Strawberry sodas?” He handed her the one in his hand. “Or I could get you another flavor. I haven’t touched this one. I mean . . .” He glanced at Sophie. “Am I being too forward?”

“Not at all, Mr. Landsverk. We love strawberry sodas around here.” She nudged Astrid with a discreet elbow. “Miss Bjorklund, or rather
Dr.
Bjorklund, needed a break.”

Astrid’s heart tried to skip out her chest, but she sucked in a deep breath along with an order to settle down. “No, I mean, ah . . . yes. I do like strawberry sodas.”

“Mrs. Valders said they are fresh strawberries.”

“Mrs. Valders?” Astrid caught her gaffe. She still had a hard time thinking of Rebecca as Mrs. Valders. That title belonged to her mother-in- law, the woman who for years had tried to rule the town. “Yes, they would be fresh. Rebecca always uses the best of everything in her shop.” Talk about inane. When would her usually quick mind kick into motion? She glanced down at the soda in her hand. She tried to hand it back to him, but he shook his head and took a step backward.

Sophie broke the lengthening silence. “Good seeing you again, Mr. Landsverk. I need to get back to the boardinghouse. Let me know if you need anything. We try to take good care of our newcomers here in Blessing.”

“Of course, Mrs. Wiste.” He touched the brim of his hat, but his gaze never unlocked with Astrid’s.

Astrid sucked on the straw in the soda glass. Strawberry flavor exploded on her tongue. She could feel a smile stretching her cheeks. “This is really good.”

“Let’s go get me one, and then we can sit here and catch up on the last few years.” He held out his bent arm, and she put her hand through the crook as if she’d been doing so all her life.

Good thing the other Mrs. Valders wasn’t here or she’d have spread the news that Astrid was talking so familiarly with a strange man at the soda shop. She thought of backing away, but her hand felt comfortable against his arm. Together they entered the shop, dim inside after the bright sun.

“Astrid, hello. How do you like the new soda?” Rebecca, formerly Baard until she married Gerald Valders a couple weeks earlier, grinned at her friend from behind the counter.

Astrid glanced at the glass forgotten in her hand. She drank from the straw. “It’s very good. I take it you’ve met Mr. Landsverk?”

“I have.” She nodded up at their guest. “Would you like a strawberry soda for yourself? Or some other flavor?”

“Strawberry will be fine.”

Astrid swallowed and let out a breath she’d held so long it was crushing her lungs. She could listen to that voice all day and not get tired of it. Deep baritone, not a bass, with a bit of Iowa twang or accent. Norwegian? Possibly, but not like others she knew.

“So, what brings you back to Blessing?” Rebecca asked as she filled the glass with fizzy soda water.

“Some unfinished business.” He nodded at Astrid. Accepting his glass, he paid Rebecca and turned to leave. “I’m sure you’ll see us often.”

Us? Who did he mean by
us
? Had he brought a wife and family along? That wouldn’t be surprising. What was surprising was the lump in her throat at the thought of his being married
. Now stop
this, Astrid Bjorklund. You’ve not seen this man in three years, and then
only from a distance. Would you begrudge him happiness? What kind of
a woman are you?

He set his soda on the white-painted table and pulled one of the two wire-backed chairs out for her to sit down. The touch of his hand on her back sent shivers clear to the soles of her feet and up to the highest hair on her head.

She hid behind her soda glass, forcing small sips past the lump.
I have to know.
“So, are you bringing your family out to show them where you used to live?”

He stared at her with a line between his eyebrows. “My family? My folks have no desire to come out here and aren’t really pleased that I left. Pa was hoping I would stay there and keep working on the homeplace.” A silence stretched.

So why didn’t you? Look at him, silly, what is the matter with you?
The voice sounded amazingly like Maydell telling Rebecca how to get a man interested in her.

“I guess I just wasn’t cut out to be a farmer. I’m hoping to find another kind of work here.”

She could feel his gaze touching her hair, her chin, her hands. When she glanced up from under her lashes, she was right. He was looking straight at her—not smiling but with a look that could only be titled tender. Astrid swallowed. And closed her eyes. When she looked again, he was leaning back in the chair, sipping his soda and still smiling. She must have been mistaken.

“When did you get here?” Surely that was a safe question.

“On the morning train. I took a room at the boardinghouse. That’s when I talked with Mrs. Wiste. Does she really have four children?

I mean, when I left you were all young girls still in school, and now she is married with four children.”

“Sophie had twins, and her new husband already had two children.” She didn’t give him the long story of Sophie running away with Hamre and being widowed. That wasn’t hers to tell.

“And the boardinghouse?”

“When my grandmother and her husband died, they deeded the boardinghouse to Sophie.” Her straw gurgled on the bottom of the glass.

“Would you like another?”

“No thank you. I . . . I should get back to the surgery in case I am needed.”

“Sophie, er, Mrs. Wiste said you are in training to be a doctor?”

Or was.
The thought brought back all the sorrow of the last few days.

“What is it? All of a sudden you went sad.” He leaned forward and raised his hand as if he were going to touch her cheek.

Tell him. Don’t tell him.
The inner argument picked up again. “I . . . we lost a young man a few days ago to a severe injury. I so wanted him to live.” She looked up to see her sorrow mirrored in his eyes.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Blessing is fortunate to have doctors here in town. So much has changed since I left. The flour mill, new houses, the new building for the bank, telephones. I was surprised when I went into the mercantile and Mrs. Bjorklund remembered me.”

You would be hard to forget.
Astrid found herself struggling to breathe normally. “I remember she was so pleased that you came in and paid your bill before leaving town. Some others hadn’t, I guess. She and her kids just came back to town a few weeks ago, and then her husband, Hjelmer, joined them a week later. There are lots of stories about what has gone on in Blessing.”

“All good, I hope.”

“Not necessarily.” Astrid pushed back her chair. “I need to get back.”
No you don’t
, her heart chastised. She picked up her glass and stood. “Thank you for the soda.”

“I’ll take those to the counter and walk you back.”

“We are having a barn dance on Saturday if you’d like to come,” she said when he returned and they started walking.

“Sophie already invited me. She saw my guitar and mentioned that I might like to play. I hear you have a great piano player now.”

“Yes, Jonathan Gould. He’s here for the summer. He’s attending agricultural college in Fargo this fall. He and my cousin Grace are engaged.”

“Mrs. Wiste’s twin sister?”

“Yes. Grace is back East teaching at a school for the deaf.”

He stopped walking for a moment. “It must have taken a great deal of courage for her to leave Blessing.”

“Yes. We were all surprised she went, even Grace herself.” As they walked along the road, she pointed out the houses and who lived in each one. “See, more changes in Blessing.” When her arm brushed his, she caught her breath. Did he feel that too? Like when one walked on the rugs in the winter and got sparked by touching another person? Only this time it felt good. No,
exciting
was a better word. Every time she looked up, he was looking at her.

When she mounted the stairs to the surgery, he touched the broad brim of his low-crowned hat. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, then?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” His smile made her feel warm all over.

She opened the screen door and went inside before she turned to watch him go whistling down the walk. Jaunty. Confident.

“Now, that is one handsome man.” Elizabeth joined her at the door. “You leave with Sophie and come back with a man. Not a bad exchange.”

“Elizabeth Bjorklund, the things you say sometimes.” Right then Astrid wished for a fan. She could feel her face and neck flaming. “His name is Joshua Landsverk. He used to live here.”

“I see.” Elizabeth removed her apron and tossed it in the laundry. “Thorliff brought the mail. We have a letter from Dr. Morganstein. You want to read it?”

“No.” Astrid felt the anger rising in her again.

“No?” Elizabeth turned to her with a worried expression.

“You read it to me. Out on the back porch. It’s a bit stifling in here.”

As they passed through the kitchen, Elizabeth asked Thelma to bring cool drinks out to the porch, where they took both of the rocking chairs, a round wicker table between them. Elizabeth drew the letter from her pocket.

“Did you hear Grace is coming home?” Elizabeth asked.

“Of course. I was surprised she didn’t come with Jonathan, but he said she had some things she had to finish up at the deaf school first.”

“Oh. Well, so much for surprises.” Elizabeth looked up from the envelope when Thelma set a tray on the table. “Thank you. Would you like to join us?”

“No, I’m right in the middle of baking for the dance tomorrow night. You want we should take two chocolate cakes, or one dark and one light?”

“Two chocolate. You make the best chocolate cake.” Astrid reached for her glass. “And please put the fudge frosting on one.”

“I will do that. Anything else?”

“Mor says we are frying chickens tomorrow,” Astrid added. “You want to come help?”

“No, thank you. I draw the line at butchering chickens. Too much blood.”

Elizabeth stared at her retreating housekeeper and then at Astrid, and the two of them fought to hide their giggles. Thelma was not one to be funny. With all the blood Thelma cleaned up out of the surgical rooms . . . They laughed again, well aware of each other’s thoughts.

“I’ll practice my surgical skills on eviscerating and cutting up
chickens.”

“Are you all right after our last surgery?”

Astrid paused.
Should she tell her?
Instead of answering she just shrugged.

Elizabeth drew the paper out of the envelope.

“My dear Elizabeth,

“What a blessing it was to receive your letter. I so look forward to working with Astrid, or shall I say Dr. Bjorklund? I have a feeling that her coming here is not strictly necessary, but I am sure there are things we can teach her. I understand your concern that she be allowed to study a cadaver. I well remember the hours you spent in the dissecting room. I want you to know that we have improved the ventilation since you went to school here.

“Our next rotation begins the first week of September, but I recommend she comes in August to have the time needed in the anatomy hall—the sooner the better. Also, we will need several days for her to take all the written exams so that I can see where her strengths and weaknesses lie.

“Mrs. Issy Josephson, who has aged considerably since you saw her, inquired about you and your practice the other day. We still meet weekly for tea, along with several of our other benefactors. I do wish you could come along and meet with all of them. As you know, the more they believe in you and see firsthand your successes, the more they will donate to the hospital. Attending events like this are very important for long-range planning.

“Again, I so look forward to meeting your protégée. Let me know when we can expect her.

“Sincerely and with great joy,
“Dr. Althea Morganstein”

Elizabeth laid the letter on the table, set her glass on it to weight it down, and looked across the table at Astrid. “Why are you shaking your head?”

Do I tell her?
“Do we have to make a decision right now?”

“No, but soon. You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?”

“You said it wasn’t absolutely necessary that I go to Chicago.”

“And it isn’t. I just believe that is the best plan. Especially after all the work you have done here. You are gifted, Astrid, and this will improve your skills.”

So more patients can die?
Astrid pushed the thought away as she slid back her chair. “I need to go home, get back to the farm to help Mor.” She stood up and walked down the stairs. Looking back over her shoulder, she added, “We can talk later. You and Thorliff are coming to the dance, aren’t you?”

Elizabeth hesitated as if she wanted to say something more but then grinned. “Wouldn’t miss it. Besides, we have to bring all the chocolate cake you asked Thelma to make. You want to take the buggy home?”

“No. I’ll walk. It is cooling off some.” Astrid opened the gate of the picket fence, waved once more, and strode down the street that would connect with Bjorklund Road, as everyone now called the road leading out to the Bjorklund and Knutson farms. Cutting across the fields would be faster, but she didn’t want to fight the barbed wire that fenced off the pasture.