The Fiddler's Secret (6 page)

Near the end of the concert, Mr. Kadosa no longer turned in a circle. Each time he looked up, he faced one direction. Libby glanced that way to see what was there and saw her father looking too.

Once more the man stood near the door to the deck. Dressed in a long black coat and hat, he seemed to melt into the shadows next to a pile of stacked chairs. Libby still could not see the man's face, only the back of his hat.

Trying not to attract attention, Libby walked back to
Caleb and Jordan. “There's something bothering Mr. Kadosa,” she whispered to Caleb.

When he nodded, she whispered again. “Do you see that man along the wall?”

Again Caleb nodded. “We'll take care of it.”

So slowly that they seemed not to move, Caleb and Jordan separated. Both of them edged sideways, but in different directions. Caleb took the left side of the room, while Jordan moved along the right. By the time Mr. Kadosa announced his last number, Caleb stood far forward in the upper left of the room. Jordan stood close to the stack of chairs and the man in dark clothing.

Staying well back, yet close enough to see and hear, Libby followed Jordan toward the mysterious man in the shadows.

In the silence after Mr. Kadosa's last note, the audience burst into wild applause. As if to give the violinist a message, Caleb moved forward. The man in the black coat stepped from the shadows. Suddenly the heap of stacked chairs crashed to the floor in front of him.

Libby gasped. The audience turned to see what had happened. The man from the shadows turned on Jordan. “How can you be so clumsy?”

“Let me pick them up, sir,” Jordan said quickly. “I'll have them out of your way in no time.”

“
You
get out of my way,” the man said rudely. Stepping to one side, he started around the chairs scattered across the floor. But passengers already filled the aisle.

CHAPTER 5

S
oon after Libby returned to Pa, Annika, and Aunt Vi, a tall young man joined them. With brown hair and blue eyes, he wore the finest suit of clothes that money could buy. Stretching out his hand to Pa, he introduced himself as Oliver White III.

“Captain Nathaniel Norstad,” Pa replied. “What may I do for you?”

“Will you or the first lady kindly introduce me to your lovely friend?”

“The first lady?” Pa asked. It was a term often used for the captain's wife, but Pa was widowed.

“Your wife.”

Pa still looked puzzled. The young man glanced toward Aunt Vi.

“Oh!” Pa said. “This is my sister-in-law, not my wife.”

“I beg your pardon.” Mr. White tipped his head toward Annika. “This is the young lady I would like to meet.”

“Of course.” Pa's mouth twitched, his eyes showing the humor of it. “I have the honor of presenting to you Miss Annika Berg.”

Annika stretched out her hand, palm down. Mr. White
took it and raised it briefly to his lips. “May I have the pleasure of a walk upon the deck?”

Annika's quick glance took in Pa's face. “I'm sure that would be just fine with the captain and his first lady,” she said smoothly. But her eyes held the look of mischief Libby had come to know.

The moment Annika left with Oliver White, Libby managed to escape from Aunt Vi. As she passed through the boiler deck on the way to her room, Libby saw Annika walking and talking with Mr. White. The thick fog closed in around them but hadn't spoiled Annika's enjoyment of a good time. Her laughter filled Libby with despair.

Once again the boat was tied up, and the ship's bell rang. This time the pilot, Mr. Fletcher, had managed to bring the
Christina
into the backwaters. Libby was glad to see the boat out of the main channel behind an island. “Where are we?” she asked the first deckhand she met.

“Minnesota Territory,” he told her. “About eighty miles from St. Paul. Near Wabasha and Read's Landing.”

On the way to her room, Libby stopped at Pa's cabin. His bed was tucked against the wall on one side. Nearby was a stand with a pitcher of water and a basin. The rest of the cabin served as a sitting room and place to bring guests when Pa needed to talk business. When necessary, the cabin also became a classroom.

Libby found her father sitting in his large rocking chair. As she sat down on the low stool beside him, he said, “One of these days you'll be so grown-up that you'll leave me.”

Libby smiled. “No, Pa. Not for a long time yet.”

But he was serious. “It will happen much faster than I'd
like. Look how you've changed in the time since coming to live with me. You did something really special last night. In a time of danger you acted quickly and got yourself and Annika to a safer place. I want you to remember how important that was.”

Pa stood up and walked over to his desk. There he opened a secret drawer and brought something out. Returning to Libby, he took her hand and laid a chain in her upturned palm.

As Libby picked up the chain, she saw a cross attached to it. The cross was small and simple, of a gold that shone in the lamplight.

“It was your mother's,” Pa said. “I gave it to her when we made an important choice.”

Pa stopped and waited until he could go on. When he spoke again, his voice was gruff with emotion. “Your mother knew that if we ever had a disaster on the boat, I wouldn't leave until all the passengers were off. That bothered her.”

Libby swallowed hard. She could understand how her mother felt. From the time she had come on board the
Christina
, Libby had dreaded all the things that could happen to a steamboat. Already the boat named in honor of her mother had run years longer than usual. It frightened Libby that the average life of a steamboat was only five years.

“Your mother and I never wanted to be apart,” Pa said. “We knew that only death would part us. In the end it was her death, not mine, that separated us. But when your mother was a young bride, afraid of being a captain's wife, we chose a symbol that would help both of us. We wanted that symbol to be the cross.”

Libby felt glad that she understood. “The symbol of Jesus dying for us. He didn't have to make that choice, but He did so we can live.”

Pa's smile was gentle. “Your mother made a choice to live with courage. Last night you did the same thing.”

“I did?”

“I'm grateful for your quick thinking,” Pa said. “Getting away from that railing in time. Pulling Annika along with you.”

“It happened so fast. I didn't think about it.”

“That's better yet, isn't it? That you did the right thing, even without a lot of thought?”

Her throat tight with emotion, Libby looked at the cross Pa had given her. In her time on the
Christina
, she had learned what that cross meant to her personally. Now she would also see it as a symbol of the life her mother and father had together.
Their spiritual life
, Libby thought.
Besides loving each other, they shared the same beliefs
.

“Here,” Pa offered. “Let me help you put it on.”

When the chain hung around her neck, Libby held up the cross to look at it again. “I'll cherish it and what it means,” she promised her father. “I'll cherish the double meaning.”

“I knew you would,” Pa said. “That's why I want you to have it.”

Libby still longed for the talks they used to have.
Ma always knew what it meant to feel like a girl. Maybe part of me will miss Ma all my life
.

Now Libby felt strange, even surprised. For some reason the meaning of the cross reminded her of Annika. Once, Libby had wondered why the teacher hadn't married. Annika had made it clear:
“I don't want to marry until I find a man of God who cherishes me the way I would cherish him.”

As though hearing Libby's thoughts, Pa spoke again. “I've needed all this time to grieve the loss of your mother. She
would want me to go on with my life. We talked about it.”

His words startled Libby. Knowing it was her fault that Pa and Annika had a bad start, Libby felt afraid to speak. More than once she had leaped into something before thinking about it. Nearly always that got her into trouble.

“Annika is a very special young woman,” Pa went on. “She plans to leave the boat when we reach St. Paul. I'm trying to decide what I can do to change her mind.”

“She could help you teach us,” Libby said.

Pa smiled. “That's exactly my idea. Even though it's August, we'll have school again. Tell the boys to come to my cabin after breakfast. I'll ask Annika to help me.”

Libby jumped up with one thought in mind.
I can hardly wait to see what happens with Pa and Annika
.

At the door Libby turned back. “Thanks, Pa.” Taking hold of the chain, she lifted the small cross. Pa nodded, his eyes soft with love.

That night Libby had a hard time going to sleep. Staring up in the darkness, she kept thinking about Oliver White.
Are he and Annika still talking together? What if Annika loves him instead of Pa?

When morning finally came, Libby dressed and went out on the hurricane deck. The fog was milky white now, and she still could not see more than a few feet beyond the front of the boat. Finding Pa in his cabin, Libby asked about the man in the shadows.

“After you left last night, I talked with Mr. Kadosa,” Pa said. “I offered to help, but he seemed afraid to talk.”

“He watched the Shadow Man as if he didn't trust him.”

“I know.” Pa looked troubled. “Mr. Kadosa wouldn't explain to either Caleb or me. If he doesn't want my help, I can't force him to take it.”

On the big table, Pa set out the inkwells, slates, and books they needed for school. Over the summer he had purchased the largest blackboard Libby had seen. Looking around, she remembered how she felt when she came to live on the
Christina
. At first she thought she wouldn't have to attend school. Then she discovered that Pa taught Caleb, and she would be part of that class. To Libby's surprise Caleb told her, “Your father makes learning fun.”