Blake gave her a grin. “You’re going to be a wonderful doctor, sis!”
Jumping out of her chair, Kristin danced around the table, hugging each of her family members. It was a happy moment. But Blake glimpsed the veiled sorrow in his parents’ eyes. They had wanted her to stay close, to marry and raise her future family here in Montana. Now, when she left home, it would most likely be for good.
* * *
The moon had climbed to the peak of the sky. Its rays silvered the stalks of growing wheat as they rippled in the night breeze—so fragile and holding so much hope.
The tar paper shack that sheltered the Anderson family was bigger than most. But finding room for seven people to sleep was still a challenge. The parents slept on their makeshift bed at one end, behind a quilt that was hung each night from the ceiling. The three younger children, Britta, Axel, and Gerda, shared a blanket laid on the rough plank floor with a single quilt to cover them. It was left to Alvar and Hanna to fit wherever they could. For Hanna’s older brother, on these warm summer nights, that meant sleeping outside in the wagon.
Even without Alvar needing space, comfortable sleep could be little more than a hope. Wide-awake, Hanna lay wedged between Britta and the wall, with the frayed edge of the blanket between her and the floor. The day’s lingering heat was stifling, her father’s snores a steady drone in her ears. Alvar was the lucky one—sleeping in the fresh night air with the stars overhead. A girl wouldn’t be allowed to sleep outside. That would be both unsafe and improper.
But surely Hanna could sneak out long enough to get some air. Getting caught would mean a scolding. But anything would be better than lying here like a sardine in a tin, too miserable to sleep.
Squirming backward, she eased away from her sister, rose to her feet, and tugged the hem of her cotton nightgown down to cover her legs. There was no need for shoes. Her feet had been toughened by a summer of working in the wheat field and the yard.
The makeshift door was a flap of cowhide nailed to the top of the frame. Pushing past it, Hanna stepped out into the night.
In the yard, she took a moment to fill her lungs and let the breeze whisper through her hair. Overhead, the Milky Way spilled a glorious trail of stars across the sky. The wheat field rippled like a silver sea in the moonlight. So beautiful, she thought. If only she didn’t have to go back inside.
“What are you doing out here, Hanna?” Alvar, still in his work clothes, had come around the far side of the wagon. At eighteen, he was almost as tall as his father, his lanky frame still filling out with muscle. Fair and blue-eyed like the rest of the family, he was so handsome that women turned to stare at him on the street. But he was surprisingly shy, as if unaware that he looked like a young Norse god. Even if he’d been homely, his ready smile and gentle manner would have won hearts. Hanna adored her older brother.
“Couldn’t you sleep?” he asked her.
“Not in there.” She glanced back toward the house. “Please don’t make me go back in yet. It’s so lovely out here.”
“I’m not going to make you do anything. But you might get in trouble if Papa catches you out here in your nightgown.”
“I know. But it isn’t fair. I’m almost seventeen. Mama and Papa treat me like a baby—or maybe a prisoner. And it’s just because I’m a girl.”
“They only want to protect you.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You can do what you want, but they’ll be in charge of me until I get married. And being a wife instead of a daughter won’t make much difference. Look at Lillian. Stefan watches every move she makes.”
“And that’s not what you want?”
“To be controlled by a man? No. I want to be free, to make my own choices. But Mama and Papa will do their best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Alvar pointed out the path of a falling star as it streaked across the sky. “What would you do if you were free? Have you thought about it, Hanna?”
“Some. I’d get more schooling if I could. Or maybe I’d go to a city somewhere and get a job.”
“Remember those girls in New York, the ones who worked in the sewing factories for long hours and miserable wages? If they stopped sewing to rest their hands or even go to the necessary, they’d be fired. And their boss was a man. Do you think those girls were free?”
“You’re not making me feel any better, Alvar. Oh—look! Another star!” She watched the trail of light fall and vanish. “What about you? Is this place enough for your whole life?”
Alvar was silent for a long moment. “I know Papa would like it to be enough. He expects me to stay and work the land, help him build a bigger house, then raise my own family here when the time comes. You girls, he figures, will get married and leave. But Axel and I—we’re the ones he expects to stay and build this farm into something a man can be proud of—his legacy.”
“So you’re not free either.”
“Is anybody? Think about it.”
“What would you do, Alvar, if you could choose anything?”
“Travel.” He answered without a moment’s hesitation. “There’s a whole, exciting, mysterious world out there. I would maybe get a job on a ship, and see it all—China, India, South America, Africa . . . I always wanted to see elephants and lions, and the Pyramids . . . all of it.” The emotion in his voice told Hanna how fervent his desire was.
She looked up at him, noticing the way the moonlight etched the beautifully sculpted planes of his face. Oh, Alvar, if I had the power, I would tell you to forget this place and just go, she thought.
“Maybe someday you’ll get the chance,” she said. “You never know what might happen in your life.”
His chuckle sounded forced. “I know what will happen in your life if you don’t get back in the house. I need to get some sleep, too. In the morning, Papa and I will be taking the wagon over to help the Gilbergs rebuild their house. It’s a shame we can’t save their wheat crop, too.”
“I know. Mama is going to send me over there with some food and clothes. But she won’t have it ready in time for me to ride with you. I’ll have to walk. But I don’t mind. It’s nice having a little time to myself.”
“Good for you. Now get going.”
Hanna hurried back to the house. As she slipped through the doorway, she happened to glance back. Alvar was standing where she’d left him, still gazing up at the sky.
* * *
The sawmill was located at the mouth of a box canyon on the lower part of the hill—the same canyon that Joe Dollarhide had used to trap and pen wild horses in the early days of the ranch. When the horses were gone, he’d cut trees from his land and used the creek to power a saw. The Dollarhide Lumber Company had grown from there.
Fenced and gated to prevent theft, the site was quiet this morning. There was no one inside except a solitary old man named Garrity who was paid to keep an eye on the place and care for the team of Belgian draft horses used to pull the lumber wagons and drag the uncut logs where they needed to go.
While Garrity hitched the team to the smaller of the two wagons, Blake loaded as much useful-sized scrap wood as he could fit into the bed, along with several twelve-foot lengths of green board sturdy enough to support a roof.