A Touch of Grace (36 page)

“I always keep my word. You taught me there is no other way to succeed.”

“Have you looked into other colleges?”

“No, sir. But I will send for information. I thought perhaps you might do the same.”

“Your mother is very much against this plan, and I understand her dismay. You are her favored son, and she has high hopes of a good marriage for you and great success in both society and the business world.”

“I thought that’s what I was looking forward to also, but you sent me to North Dakota, and this is what happened.”

“She fears that Miss Knutson is the reason you want to take up farming.”

“Father, I love Grace, and I want to marry her. As I have not yet spoken to her about this, she has no idea. But that is not why I want to farm. I want to do something that matters.”

“You think what I do does not matter?” His eyebrows rose to arches.

“No, but what Mother sees for me in society does not make any difference to those around unless I commit some misconduct and set the entire gentility into a dithering of gossip.”

“You have a poor view of your peers.”

“I have lived with my peers, and I know their games well. How you manage not to succumb into all that amazes me.”

“That is one of the values of wealth, both earned and inherited. I am free to follow my own interests. I am fascinated by railroads and industry. Money equals power, and power used correctly and wisely can make a big difference in this country and society.”

“You have a son who wants to follow in your footsteps. In Europe, the second son goes into the priesthood or the military.”

“Touché.” His father sat forward. “I will agree to your program. I want monthly reports and high scholastic achievement. You will be asked to join a fraternity and get involved in sports. Whether you want to do either is up to you, but if your grades slide, then our agreement is moot and we will have another discussion. In the meantime, I understand your infatuation with Miss Knutson, but you are both too young to think of marriage, so please do not inform her of your feelings.”

The word
infatuation
stung like a hornet, but Jonathan clamped his teeth on that and heaved a sigh of relief. He had mountains to climb, but at least they were his mountains. “May I continue to write to her as a friend?”

His father nodded.

“Thank you, Father. I will do my best.”

“And I expect no less. I have a feeling you really don’t know what best you are capable of yet. Most young people don’t at your age.” Mr. Gould stood and shook hands with his son. “I will inform your mother—after you leave.”

“Thank you, sir.” He felt lighter already. Even one day spent in the house when his mother was in a disapproving state was more than he wanted to endure.

When he refused to have a going-away party, his mother stared at him. “But don’t you want to say good-bye and good luck to your friends?”

She doesn’t realize how many invitations I’ve turned down in the last
few days
. He smiled at her and tried to resume his old happy-go-lucky attitude, but he could see she didn’t understand. “That’s all right, Mother. I’ve said good-bye to the ones that matter the most.”
Grace
and Mary Anne
. The others had slipped away, since he chose not to go out to the shore for the last round of before fall celebrations. Out of sight, out of mind seemed an apt phrase as far as he observed. Had he gone along and resumed all his old activities, they would have welcomed him with open arms, but since he didn’t … Besides, he’d been busy searching for agricultural colleges to attend after his year at Princeton.

He allowed his mother to oversee the packing of his trunks and making sure he had all she was sure he was going to need, including enough formal wear to warrant an extra trunk. Did she think there were balls every night at Princeton? It was not like Harvard, where Thomas had gone, and even there, that wasn’t the case. Just hopeful thinking on his mother’s part, he guessed.

Once on the train to Princeton, he took out his leather writing case, a gift from his father, and started another page for his letter to Grace. He’d already told her about the agreement between himself and his father. At least most of it.

I’ll have to mail this soon or they will charge extra postage. I am on my way south and relieved to have left all the folderol behind me. I wanted to come see you one more time before I left, but there was no time. I spent one day with my father at his office, and it showed me even more clearly that is not where I am meant to be. How I would have loved to see Mrs. Bjorklund’s face when the cows and young bull arrived on the train. Mr. Burke said she was raining tears and Astrid’s eyes were bright as well.

What have you heard from Blessing? How is your school going? Do you have a tremendous amount to learn? I am full of questions and cannot wait to read a letter written by you. I feel like I’ve known you for years instead of months.

He closed his eyes and sighed. How he would love to tell her how important she was to him, but he had given his word.

I know building close friendships takes time, so ours will be a long-distance one until I see you in New York again—at Christmastide.

Your friend,

Jonathan D. Gould

Grace picked up her pen and dabbed it in the ink. She wasn’t sure when Jonathan was going to leave for college but hoped her letter reached him before he did.

Dear Jonathan,

Since before New York, I had never been five miles out of Blessing. Every day here is a new adventure. The students have not yet arrived, so the teachers and assistants are in classes training to teach. Being with others who communicate only with sign, I am afraid I might forget how to speak, but my signing is improving, and I am learning new things. There are some signs now for whole words, which makes communication easier and flows more quickly.

I hope this finds you before you leave for Princeton, but I am sure Mary Anne will make sure there is the proper address on it if not. I cannot thank you enough for encouraging me to come. I will have so much more to use in our Blessing school from my time here. I promised to write to Mary Anne too. Your little sister is a very special young lady, no matter how hard she tries not to be.

Your friend,

Grace Knutson

Dear Mother,

I know you will be happy that I have pledged with the Chi Phi Fraternity, as you hoped. I almost decided to remain independent, but as both you and Father have said, I will make lifelong friends and contacts here.

I have a full schedule and believe I will go out for the rowing team. That is one of the reasons I pledged with this house. They offer a quality training program. I didn’t get a lot of choices in studies. Freshmen rarely do.

I hope all is well at home. Tell Mary Anne I will write to her soon.

Your loving son,

Jonathan D. Gould

Grace read her first letter from Jonathan. When she saw the masculine handwriting, she thought immediately of Toby but then reined herself in. Toby would not be writing to her. Toby had no idea where she was even if he did want to write to her. Besides, she reminded herself, Toby said he was in love with someone else. Why did her mind keep going back to him? He just popped back up at the oddest times.

Jonathan was at college, and though Princeton didn’t look that far away on the map, there would be no visits. He’d signed his letter
Your
friend
. Somehow she’d had the idea that he would like to be more than just friends, but maybe he had changed his mind. She sure hadn’t given him any encouragement, especially when she realized how out of place she was in his world. Yet being with him brought joy, excitement, and laughter.

Put thoughts like that away
, she told herself.
His mother does not
like you at all
. She had made that very clear. Talk about being icy polite. She had that down to a fine art. She wanted a wealthy and prestigious match for her son, not a farm girl from North Dakota who couldn’t hear and talked funny.

She folded her letter and put it in the drawer with the ones from home. After bundling her hair in a snood, she made her way downstairs to the dining room. Supper was ready for serving, and she was head of the table tonight. That meant she had to initiate conversation, which would have to be minimal because it was hard to eat and sign at the same time.

If only she weren’t so homesick that she sometimes cried herself to sleep at night, it would be almost perfect. At least she had a room of her own—not that a roommate would hear her crying. She hadn’t heard from Sophie, even though Grace had apologized for blowing up at her sister before leaving and again in a letter. She hadn’t heard from Astrid either, who should have had more free time. Only one letter from her mother, not that there had been time to get much mail, but still she thought every hour of getting on a train heading west. She had been just getting used to things at the Gould house when she suddenly had to move to the school. The relief at leaving Mrs. Gould’s politeness had mixed with an onset of the fear of going into a totally new environment. She’d done it, pasting a smile on her face the entire time.
But
. That was always the word. Did she dare tell Jonathan how she really felt? Did she dare tell anyone how she really felt? Especially after the Goulds had been so good to her, showing her around, giving her a new wardrobe, helping her find the school. And there was Mrs. Wooster. She really needed to write a letter to her too.

Blessing, North Dakota

T
HEY’RE HOME.
T
HE MEN ARE HOME.
Ingeborg whipped her apron over her head and ran out the door and down the back steps, waving her apron all the time. Wait until Haakan saw the surprise. She wanted to see his face. Oh, she wanted to see all of the dear him.

The steam engine leading the parade chugged its ponderous way to the bottom of the lane, where Haakan swung down from the cab and, waving to Lars, strode up the half overgrown road. He waved his hat to Ingeborg and then caught a ride in Andrew’s wagon as it turned in.

The wagon had high sides, not the usual grain wagon. Ingeborg met them at the barn and threw herself into Haakan’s arms, hugging him so tight neither one of them could breathe well.

“This is the last year. I don’t want you going away like this any-more. I don’t.” She wiped her eyes on his shoulder and patted his back. “You’ve lost weight.”

“Leave it to my Inge, worrying about me already.”

“Already? You think I haven’t stopped praying for you the whole time you were gone?” She placed her palms on either side of his face and peered into his eyes. “Are you all right? I’ve had this terrible feeling.”

“Just tired. Andrew, show your mor what we bought.”

Ingeborg looked between the slats of the wagon to see three young hogs. “Aren’t they handsome.” She clapped her hands to her cheeks. “You must come see
our
surprise.” She took both their hands and dragged them around to the corral. “Meet Buster. Belle and Bonnie are waiting outside the back door to be milked.”

Haakan and Andrew stared at the bull, who gazed placidly back at them while chewing his cud. “Where? How?”