Read Twilight's Serenade Online

Authors: Tracie Peterson

Twilight's Serenade (37 page)

BOOK: Twilight's Serenade
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“I’m glad you were able to go for the doctor,” Yuri told his father-in-law. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage everything.”

Lydia had only returned a few minutes earlier and even now was deep in conversation with the doctor. Laura, meanwhile, had not left her mother’s side. She was so upset that her game of hide-and-seek had caused Britta’s fall that she had cried all the way back to the cabin. Yuri had little chance to comfort her at all, however, because he was burdened with Britta’s unconscious form.

“She should be fine,” the doctor said as he headed for the door. “Just have her rest.”

“I’ll see to it,” Lydia said. She turned back to Yuri. “Laura can stay with us tonight.”

“No! I want to be with Mama.” Laura took hold of Britta’s hand as she stirred and opened her eyes.

She smiled weakly at the child. “I’ll be just fine, sweetheart.”

Yuri went to Laura. “Mama needs to rest, and you would have to be quiet for the rest of the day. Why don’t you at least go play at Grandma’s house? Then if you want to sleep here tonight, you can.”

“We can make your mama a present,” Kjell told her.

Laura looked hesitant. The incentive seemed to work. She let go of Britta and stood. “I’m sorry that you got hurt, Mama. I won’t be a bad girl anymore.”

“You weren’t bad, Laura. It was just an accident. Now have fun with Grandpa, and maybe later you can show me one of your books.”

The girl nodded and scurried off to join Kjell. He scooped her up in the air and plopped her down on his shoulders. Yuri smiled at Laura’s squeal of delight.

“You’ll come for us if you need anything?” Lydia asked Yuri.

“Of course. I’m certain we’ll be just fine.”

“I’ll bring your supper,” his mother-in-law declared. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

He could tell Lydia was reluctant to go, but followed the doctor and Kjell from the room with only one backward glance. Yuri paid her no attention and focused instead on Britta.

“I’m truly sorry about all of this,” she told him. “I was so worried about something happening to Laura that I got rather careless.”

“Sometimes we can allow ourselves to get overly concerned about things that may or may not ever be.”

Britta nodded. “God is truly in control.”

“If wishes could make life simple, then you would never have another worry again,” Yuri said softly. “Because with all of my heart, I wish only for you to be happy and at peace.”

She grinned. “And I’m sure you wish for me to stop falling down the side of mountains.”

“Rescuing you is getting to be a habit.”

“I would hardly call two events in an entire lifetime a habit.”

He chuckled and sat down on the edge of the bed. Reaching for her hand, he pressed her fingers to his lips. “Maybe not, but I do have to confess that I have another habit where you are concerned.”

“Truly? What would that be?”

“I love you. I never thought love was possible for me, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong. This is a habit I welcome.”

“Hmmm, a very difficult habit indeed. I tried to break it once where you were concerned,” she said rather groggily. Yawning, she closed her eyes. “But it was much too big of a task. Loving you is something I am destined to do for the rest of my life.”

“Good thing,” he replied, feeling his heart flood with love for this woman. “Because I feel it is my destiny, as well.”

Dalton was ready to go to bed when a knock sounded on his front door. Opening it, he found one of the hospital orderlies. “I’m sorry to come here at this hour,” the man began, “but the doctor sent me. I’m afraid your brother has died.”

“When?” Dalton felt as if he’d fallen into a great emptiness.

“About twenty minutes ago. We had checked on him at eight-thirty, and he was still with us. However, the nine-o’clock check proved otherwise. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for coming.”

“Doc said you needn’t worry about arrangements until morning.”

“Thank him for me. I know he did everything possible to make Marston’s final days comfortable.”

The orderly nodded, tipped his hat, and left without further ceremony. Dalton waited until the man was well up the walk and headed back to the road before closing the door. He then leaned against the fireplace mantel. Marston was gone. Just like that—his life was over. It was harder still to know that his rejection of God had been so complete. Dalton would have liked to have comforted himself by believing that Marston would have reached out to God at the last moments of his life, but that didn’t fit Marston Gray’s style.

“I heard someone at the door,” Phoebe said, crossing the room. “Is everything all right?”

“My brother has died.”

“I am sorry, Dalton. I know you wanted so much for him to make things right with God. Perhaps he did. You planted the seeds. He could hardly ignore the truth completely.”

“If anyone could, it would be Marston.”

She considered this a moment. “You did what the Lord called you to do. You were there for him. You offered him comfort and the company of family. Given the things he did in his lifetime, I would say you went far beyond what he deserved.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t understand why he would face death in such a manner. God’s Spirit could have offered him a more perfect comfort. Marston would have known real peace had he only accepted the truth.”

Phoebe touched Dalton’s arm. “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s just such a waste. Marston’s entire life was a waste. He was greedy and selfish, longing only to do what would gain him the most benefit. He never extended help to anyone else or even tried to make life better for those around him.”

“He was blind to the truth, but only because he chose to be,” Phoebe replied. “You once told me that such choices are at the very heart of free will. God desires us to come to Him willingly. He won’t impose himself upon us.” She shook her head. “You could not impose God on Marston. He had the right to choose for himself.”

“You’re right of course, but there is still pain in his passing. He is lost to us forever, and I can’t help but wonder if I had tried harder to show him God’s blessings and benefits . . . well, perhaps he would have accepted the truth.”

Phoebe raised a single brow. “Who can say but God? For me, I’m almost angry. Angry that anyone could be shown the truth and still deny Jesus.”

“But Marston didn’t believe it to be truth. He thought his past to be too much for God to forgive.”

“Of course, that could have just been an excuse,” she said, then immediately looked sorry. “I didn’t mean to speak ill of him. It’s just that people are full of excuses when it comes to repentance.”

“You know, you’re right. And that gives me a certain sense of relief. I lived an example of God’s mercy in front of Marston. I forgave the past and tried hard to build a relationship with him when he declared such a thing was important to him. He had every opportunity to change and chose not to. The waste of it all—of a human soul—well, that grieves me. But I did all that I could. The rest was up to Marston.”

“But it’s all right to be sad, isn’t it?”

He gave his wife a nod and reached out to find comfort in her embrace. Death was never easy to face, but given Marston’s defiance of God, Dalton couldn’t help but feel deep sorrow—the sorrow of losing something that was never intended to be lost.

Chapter 30

June 9, 1912

Y
uri waited impatiently for Britta to deliver their third child. Laura played checkers with her little sister Elsa, age four, but from time to time would seek to engage Yuri in conversation.

“When will the baby come?” she asked for at least the tenth time.

“Should be anytime now,” Yuri replied, hoping that somehow his comment might be true.

Elsa looked up from the game. “Papa, why is it so dark?”

Yuri got up and went to the window. A few days before, the town had received word from the navy that Novarupta—a volcano in the Alaskan peninsula northwest of Kodiak—had erupted. Ash had progressively darkened the skies, and now it was even wreaking havoc with the livestock.

“Remember I told you about the volcano?” Yuri explained. “The air is full of the ash that came from the eruption.”

“When will it go away? I want to play outside.”

“Me too,” Laura said with exaggerated frustration. “Grandma said we would go look for wild rice.”

“Well, there’s no way of telling how long it will be like this,” he continued. “The word they brought from Kodiak said it was so dark and the ash so thick that a person couldn’t even see a lantern they were holding out in their own hand. They were fortunate to even get the ship out of harbor.”

“That’s really dark,” Laura said, giving a shudder. “I hope it doesn’t get that dark here.”

“I doubt it will,” her father replied.

“Will the volcano get us here?” Elsa asked, coming to crawl up on her father’s lap. “I’m scared.”

“No, the volcano is far away. It can’t do us any harm here . . . well, except for the ash.”

“I would like to see it,” Laura said, sounding braver than Yuri knew her to be. She had asked about the volcano’s ability to harm them only two days earlier. “The lava sounds so wonderful. I’ve never seen lava.”

“Me either,” Yuri told her, “but I don’t really think I’d want to see it. It burns everything it touches.”

“Are there volcanoes in hell, Papa?” Elsa asked, her eyes wide.

He shrugged. “I would not be surprised if there were.”

“Mama said that Mount Edgecumbe used to be a volcano. Will it erupt, too?” Laura asked, frowning. She got up from the checkerboard and made her way to Yuri’s lap. “It can’t erupt now, can it? It has snow on top.”

“No, it won’t erupt. It’s a dead volcano.”

A cry of agony broke from Britta. The trio looked to the stairway. Laura spoke for them all. “How much longer will it take?”

“Well, it took quite a while for Elsa to be born. If I remember right, it was about twelve hours.”

“But Mama has been hurting for a long time.” Laura shook her head. “I don’t think I will ever have a baby. It must hurt a lot.”

Elsa nodded at her sister’s comment. “She was hurting yesterday, too.”

Yuri smoothed back his daughter’s hair. “Your mother says that the pain is worth the joy that comes when the baby is born. She was so happy when you were born that she quickly forgot about all the work to get you here. The baby will come in due time. You have to be patient. The doctor said it shouldn’t be too much longer. Grandma will let us know when the baby is born.”

“When will Grandpa come back?” Elsa asked. “He promised to play checkers with me.”

“He had to go to Uncle Dalton’s house to pick up some things for the baby. Be patient.”

As if on cue, Kjell Lindquist came into the house without so much as a knock. He wore cheesecloth tied around his head, with a heavier kerchief around his mouth and nose. Both were stained from ash. He also held a gunnysack and looked much like a homeless traveler.

Peeling off the contraption, he smiled down at the girls and Yuri. “I shook as much of this off as I could outside, but it seems the stuff just clings to everything.”

“It’s fine. The girls and I can clean up any mess you make,” Yuri said, motioning the girls from his lap.

“Phoebe sent cookies. She figured you might need something to bolster your strength.”

“Mmmm, Phoebe makes the very best cookies,” Yuri declared, then glanced at the stairs and smiled. “Just don’t tell your mama I said so.”

“Mama said so, too,” Laura told him. “She told me if I wanted to learn to make cookies, I needed to have Aunt Phoebe teach me.”

Kjell laughed. “Your grandmother feels pretty much the same way, and I know she can make a good cookie.” He turned to Yuri. “Dalton had a chance to talk to one of the naval officials. He said the ash is killing fish and animals, and has even caused clothes to disintegrate on the line. The man advised Dalton to keep anything of value inside.”

“What about the horses, Grandpa?” Laura asked.

“I put them in the shed and closed the door tight. Then I covered the window to filter the dust and ash. I think they’ll be fine.”

“You and Lydia should probably stay with us tonight,” Yuri encouraged. “That way you won’t have to go back out in this.”

BOOK: Twilight's Serenade
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