tears if anyone asked whether she had heard anything from Niclas yet. He had told everyone of his plans the evening before he left, so they knew he had gone off to Manitoba without her. They didn’t need to know she didn’t think he would come back.
Rev. Rudiger came to visit her. She served him tea and cake in the parlor, then sat tensely waiting for the purpose of his visit, afraid of what he would have to say to her.
“Niclas wrote to me, Marta.”
Hurt welled up inside her. “Did he?” She pressed her back against the wingback chair, feeling trapped. “He doesn’t write to me. Did you come here today to tell me I have to go to Manitoba? Are you going to tell me I’m a disobedient wife and I should submit to Niclas and comply with his wishes?”
His face filled with sorrow. He set his teacup and saucer aside. Leaning forward, he clasped his hands in front of him and looked into her face. “I came because I know how difficult this separation must be on both of you. I came to tell you God loves you, and He did not give you a heart of fear.”
“God loves me.” She heard the sarcasm in her tone and looked away, unable to hold her pastor’s gentle gaze.
“Yes, Marta. God loves you. He has a plan for you.”
“My mother used to tell me the same thing. I know He has a plan for me.” She glared at him. “And a plan for Niclas.”
“A plan for both of you together. God would not tear apart what He has put together.”
Marta couldn’t speak past the lump growing in her throat. Rev. Rudiger didn’t ask questions or tell her what to do. When he stood, she walked him to the door. He put on his coat and hat. Marta stepped out onto the porch. “Please forgive me, Rev. Rudiger.” As the words poured from her lips, she remembered Elise lying in the snow.
Rev. Rudiger turned. Marta saw no condemnation in his gentle expression. “My wife and I are praying for you. We love you very much. If you need anything, you’ve only to ask.”
She blinked back tears. “Pray Niclas changes his mind and comes home.”
“We will all pray God has His way with each of us.”
Marta dreamed of Mama that night.
Marta rocked back and forth, weeping. “I did fly, Mama. I did!” The wind blew, whipping through the trees. “I built my nest.”
Mama disappeared and Marta found herself standing in a desert. Her feet sank into the sand. Frightened and alone, she struggled, but couldn’t pull herself out. Sobbing, she thrashed, but that only made her sink faster.
“Marta.”
Heart leaping at the sound of Niclas’s tender voice, she looked up. He wore a seamless robe like Jesus. When he held his hands out to her, she grasped hold. The sand swirled away with the wind, and she found herself standing on solid ground. He enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. When he let go of her, she cried. He held out his hand again. “Come, Marta.” A bedouin tent stood before her.
A letter arrived the next afternoon.
Crying, she read the letter over and over, torn by longing, but paralyzed by fear and responsibility. It was easy for him to say
Could she live in the plains of Manitoba with winters forty below zero and summers of melting heat? Could she live out in the middle of nowhere, the closest neighbor a mile away and half a day’s ride for supplies in some small farm town?
And how could a man who had gone to the university in Berlin be satisfied plowing fields? How could he give up building locomotives or bridges to become a sharecropper? Surely he would change his mind. And then what would happen?
She knew what Mama would tell her.
It all came down to one question: could she be happy without Niclas?
When Marta read the newspaper, she felt her blood go cold. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria had been assassinated by a Serbian national. Niclas had been correct. That gave the Austrians the excuse they’d been looking for to declare war on Serbia. Soon every country on the Continent would be pulled into the mess.
Russia, as Austria’s ally, mobilized its army to assist Austria and called for France, its ally, to enter the war. As a consequence, Germany declared war on Russia and France. As German troops poured into Belgium, Sir Edward Grey, Britain’s foreign secretary, sent an ultimatum ordering Germany to withdraw her troops. Germany refused and Britain declared war on them, drawing Canada into the fray as well.
By the end of August, thousands of Russians had died in the Battle of Tannenberg and 125,000 had been taken prisoner. Great Britain’s ally, Japan, declared war on Germany. The Germans went after the Russians at Masurian Lakes, taking another 45,000 prisoners. The Ottoman Empire entered the war to help Germany, as they continued their advance through Belgium.
Marta grieved. “The world has gone mad.”
A letter arrived from Rosie.
Marta crumpled the letter in her hand and wept. It would have been better if she had never fallen in love. She ached to be with Niclas. Her life had become misery without him. But she couldn’t just go. She had to think of the baby, too. Niclas’s baby.
She ran her hand over her swelling belly. She remembered Solange’s screams as her flesh tore. She remembered the blood. Would there be a midwife in the middle of the plains, miles from town? What if something went wrong?
Carleen came in with the mail. She shook her head, and Marta knew there was no letter from Niclas. Everyone in the house seemed to be waiting for word from him.
