A Tendering in the Storm (Change and Cherish Historical) by Jane Kirkpatrick

Author:Jane Kirkpatrick [Kirkpatrick, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780307550460
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2009-01-15T23:00:00+00:00

18

Emma

Gruel or Guide

I rose in the dark, milked the cows and goat, gathered the eggs and fed the chickens, then woke Andy up to grind the corn for mush. I packed us cheese and venison cakes with berries and a hard-boiled egg for each—good, hearty food for our journey. I even told myself that this was the true calling of a woman, to prepare food for her children and keep the hearth warm and ready, and perhaps that’s all Eve had intended in that garden long ago, nothing tempting at all. The thought—and how Herr Keil would cringe at it—made me smile.

Next I roused the children, dressed them, checked their road-hardened feet for slivers, then put Christian on my back. We could probably get leather shoes if I asked a Giesy, but it was one more “generosity” I wanted to avoid. Instead we’d save for Sundays the thin-soled shoes, or for when the weather changed. Our clogs we saved for muddy days. Kate walked sleepily beside me, carrying a doll I’d made for her out of one of Christian’s socks. I’d wound yarn for curls and painted on the face and given her an ever-present smile. I wished sometimes I could do the same for me.

Dawn lit our river crossing. Sunlight shining through the trees revealed an opaque sky sliced by sharp cedar boughs. At first it looked like giant balls of spider webs hanging as though ornaments in a Christmas tree, but it was bouquets of sky peeking through the branches instead. A small gray bird sang to accompany us and the smell of earthy loam near the river richly marked our way. Christian awoke at the water and then walked partway. But he tired easily and I soon put him on my back. We arrived at Fort Willapa, the schoolhouse, just as other children arrived. Andy walked inside and before we could head to Barbara and Andreas’s, Karl Ruge came to stand at the door.

“By golly, you made it,” he said. “Gut for you.”

“Ja, it took some effort,” I said, “but we are all here for Andy.”

“It makes a long day for the Kinder,” he said. He nodded at Kate, who leaned against my leg. Christian hadn’t stirred so I knew he still slept.

“I keep my commitments,” I said.

“Ja, by golly, I know that about you. Even when they’re tough ones.” He smiled and waved me off as he turned to respond to loud voices I heard coming from inside. Andy nodded at me like a little man and turned toward the sounds of children.

I pasted on a smile as we headed for my in-laws. My exchange with Barbara and Andreas was strained, but we passed an hour or two. I helped Barbara spin while she cuddled with Christian, showed Kate how to thread a needle. “Begin to weave,” she said. “God provides the thread.” It was an old German saying my mother had given me. It once encouraged my days, but I hadn’t thought of it much since Christian’s death.

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