After Ingrid had placed her wedding bouquet on their grave, she began to speak. “Momma, Daddy. This is Dr. Ray Wallace, my husband. We just got married, and I wanted you to meet him.” She motioned for him to step up. “And he has something he wants to say.”
The young man in the new blue suit cleared his throat and began. “Uh, hello, I’m awfully sorry we didn’t have a chance to meet, but I just wanted you to know how much I love your daughter. Ingrid is the grandest girl in the world, and I want to thank you for having her…and to tell you that you don’t have to worry about her. I’m going to take very good care of her for you from now on.”
Ingrid stepped up and took his hand and said, “He will, too. Guess where he’s taking me on our honeymoon? Sweden! And we are going to see where you and Uncle Olaf grew up. I still have the handkerchief you left me, Momma. I had it with me at the wedding as something old. Well…goodbye for now. I love you.”
After they left, Katrina said, “Oh, Lordor, just think, our baby is married. And didn’t she just look beautiful? I can tell she’s happy. And the boy seemed very sincere, don’t you think?”
“He seemed all right, I guess.”
It was a typical reaction. Katrina knew that daddies never think anybody is good enough for their daughters, and a little while later, she said, “You know, Lordor, there was something about that young man that reminded me of you.”
“You think so?” asked Lordor, brightening up a bit.
“Oh, yes. He seems very strong and steady, and very smart. Just like you.”
Lordor didn’t say anything more, but he did feel a little better. If Katrina liked him, he couldn’t be all that bad.
—
ANDER SWENSEN NOT ONLY owned the Nordstrom dairy, he had inherited his family’s adjoining farm, and was now in charge of a very large dairy operation. He rarely had time to go anywhere, but, of course, he had attended his friend Ingrid’s wedding.
Romance must have been in the air that year. Ander had known Beatrice Olsen since she was a little girl, but somehow that day, when he saw a very much grown-up Beatrice walk down the aisle in her pretty pink bridesmaid dress, something happened. Cupid shot an arrow that hit poor Ander right between the eyes, because all at once, he was in love. Weddings have a way of doing that.
As for Ingrid, right after the honeymoon, she and Ray moved to his hometown of Mansfield, Texas, right outside of Dallas, and started a veterinary practice together. Although they treated all animals, Ingrid, not so surprisingly, had a special interest in cows. And she loved the wide open spaces of Texas and got to wear cowboy boots every day.
Very soon after Ander Swensen had seen Beatrice Olsen at Ingrid’s wedding, he began asking her out. Ander realized that at age thirty-two he was a little older than most of her other boyfriends, and she might be uncomfortable about it. So he always made it a point to include her friend Elner in all of his invitations. And that suited Elner just fine. That summer she got to go for a lot of rides in Ander’s new car, eat in several fancy restaurants, and see a lot of good movies. The three friends had a lot of fun together that summer. As it turned out, Ander could be as silly as Elner. One time he picked them up wearing a blond curly wig. Another time he drove them all the way to Springfield and back with the top down.
On the afternoon of August the twelfth, at Beatrice’s big eighteenth birthday party in the town park, people were squealing with laughter, watching all the ladies and young girls running in the “egg in spoon” footrace. The object was to see who could reach the finish line without dropping the egg. And as usual, Elner won. She ran in her bare feet, holding up her dress with one hand and the spoon and egg with the other. For a big girl, she could move fast.
Later Ander and Beatrice entered the sack race together but two eight-year-olds beat them by more than five feet. Ander supplied all the food and the ice cream for the party, and as a special treat, had brought in a barbershop quartet from Joplin to serenade the birthday girl. After the birthday cake was cut, Beatrice opened all her presents. Ander had given her a nice ladies’ leather traveling case she had admired in Springfield. And even though it wasn’t her birthday, Elner got one too. After the party was over, Ander quietly handed Beatrice a small white box, and said, “Don’t open it until you get home, all right?”
Elner was staying in town with Beatrice that night, and after they got back to Beatrice’s room Beatrice sat down on her bed and shook Ander’s present. “I wonder what it is?”
“Well, open it up, Silly.”
When she did, to her surprise, inside was a large diamond engagement ring, with a note that read “I adore you. Will you marry me?”
“Elner, look! Ander wants to marry me. Oh no. I knew he liked me, but I didn’t realize…I mean I like him a lot…but…what am I going to do?”
“Well, you could marry him.”
“But, Elner, he has that red hair and all those freckles. What if I had children with freckles all over them?”
“I wouldn’t let freckles stop me. I had a speckled hen once, and she was my favorite. But you know me. I like Ander.”
Beatrice smiled and nodded. “He is awful cute…isn’t he?”
“Cute as a bug in a rug.”
“I sure would hate for some other girl to get him. I don’t think I want to say no, but I’m not ready to say yes. I want to go to college.”
“Then maybe you can just tell him that. But in the meantime, I’d hang on to the ring.”
“Oh, I couldn’t,” said Beatrice. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“Well, he won’t take it back. I know that.”
“How do you know?”
Elner looked up to the ceiling. “A little red birdie told me.”
“Oh, you devil, you knew about this all along, didn’t you?” Beatrice said, hitting Elner with a pillow.
Elner laughed and covered her head. “I’m not saying I did, and I’m not saying I didn’t.” But she had known. She had helped Ander pick out the ring.
Beatrice took Elner’s advice and told Ander the truth—that she really wasn’t ready to commit to anybody yet. She asked how long he was willing to wait for an answer.
Ander thought about it for a moment, then said, “Oh, just a lifetime. How long is that?”
In September, as planned, Beatrice went off to St. Louis to a two-year girls’ college, but at Ander’s insistence, she kept the ring.
Ander knew when she left that he might lose her for good, but he also wanted her to be happy.
After his wife, Nancy, had suddenly disappeared from Still Meadows, Henry Knott was feeling very lonesome. But thankfully, their three daughters, Elner, Gerta, and Ida, came out to visit often. The last time Elner had come to Still Meadows, she had Will Shimfissle with her. Henry had laughed and said to Katrina, “I wonder what she’s doing with that little peanut. I hope she ain’t thinking of marrying him.”
Katrina said, “But Will’s a very nice boy and a very good worker, Henry.”
“That’s true. Oh, well. Whoever marries Elner is getting themselves a mighty fine gal.”