Webber Farm, north of Parker, South Dakota Five days later
“When a hat is larger in the head than the wearer finds comfortable, the size can be quickly reduced by stitching a round bandeau into the crown of it.”
—Practical Millinery
Great Northern Railway Depot
Levi found a seat at the back of the passenger train, several rows away from the nearest person. He tossed the bagged lunch he’d bought inside the depot onto the bench.
How could Reba say he didn’t love her? He wouldn’t have come all the way to Sioux Falls to ask her to marry him if he didn’t love her. He wanted to marry her because of who she was, not because he’d gotten used to the idea of marrying her.
“You only want to marry me because I’m comfortable and convenient.”
Levi winced. That wasn’t a fair statement for her to make. She didn’t know his heart. When a man loved a woman, he knew. He just knew. When he imagined his future, he could see her there. He could see her reading to their children. He could see her serving them dinner and sitting by the fire darning his shirt. His mother did those things and never complained. Why didn’t Reba want that?
He rested his head against the window.
“I’m comfortable and convenient.”
She believed that’s how he saw her.
Levi released a frustrated breath. His relationship with Reba was comfortable. She was comfortable. She was easy to be around. That comfortableness about her wasn’t a flaw. Knowing he had a great girl back home while he was at school had kept him from wasting his time, finances, and emotions on courting, like many of his friends had. He’d been able to focus on studies and have extra time to conduct horticulture experiments at the Extension Office.
Convenient wasn’t a flaw, either. When the fruit you’d picked tasted good, why go sampling other fruit? Reba was a kindhearted, good-natured, God-fearing woman. He knew it. He knew her. How many girls would he have to court before he found one he liked being around as much as he liked being around Reba?
“I want a man who is willing to move mountains for me. We both know you aren’t him….”
He struggled to find an argument in response. If there was a mountain needing moved, Reba would do it herself. No obstacle intimidated her.
The whistle blew and the train started into motion to take him home and away from Reba. Amazing how the tracks took a person to and from something at the same time.
Levi straightened in his seat, an epiphany dawning.
He was a train on tracks. He could, move on from Reba, continue his life as planned, and find another girl to marry, or, move to Sioux Falls, let her get the millinery out of her system, and do whatever necessary to convince her she was ready to be a wife. His wife.
Reba had such a knack for succeeding at anything she tried, the odds were she would succeed. But if she didn’t succeed, if her business failed—he wouldn’t rub salt in the wound. No, he’d comfort her. He’d help her find a better outlet for her creativity.
The key was convincing her to marry him and move home before she spent all the money she’d made from selling her grandmother’s land. Tomorrow he would talk to his father and brothers. Surely there was an acre of Webber land along Baseline Road, just outside of town, that he and Reba could buy. Granted, Parker wasn’t Sioux Falls. It was town.
Three months should be all the time he’d need to win Reba back. This was mid-October. That meant they could have a St. Valentine’s Day wedding.
Perfect.
With a satisfied grin and a restored appetite, Levi grabbed the paper sack with his food.
Webber Farm, north of Parker, South Dakota Five days later
Levi stood at the head of the table that Ma continued to cover with her favorite white crocheted tablecloth even though his brother Daniel could be counted on to spill whatever he was drinking. His parents and four older brothers sat in silence, clearly mulling over the seven-point plan he’d revealed about how to convince his girl she loved him more than her business. A nice Saturday morning breeze blew through the double windows, fluttering the lace curtains and cooling the room.
Levi hooked his thumbs around his suspenders. “Please keep in mind this will only be for three months, and I won’t leave the farm until I’ve finished up what I need to do here.”
Pa nodded. “We can manage without you for three months.” He looked to Solomon, Ruben, Daniel, and Israel. “Are you four good with this? Solomon, this means you’ll have to go back to doing the accounting.”
One by one, his brothers nodded.
“Where are you going to get a job?” Ruben asked, being the firstborn he was.
Levi shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”
Solomon and Israel exchanged glances.
Daniel sipped his coffee.
“He’ll find something,” Pa said, grinning. “He graduated from South Dakota State University. Everyone will want him to work for them.”
Levi’s cheeks warmed. “I thought I’d apply first at the John Deere Plow Company. It would give me opportunity to study that new cornstalk chopper they have.”
“Ask them to pay you in tractor parts,” Ruben suggested.
Solomon and Israel grunted their agreement.
Daniel pulled the plate of pastries to him. He dunked one in his coffee then took a bite.
“While you’re in Sioux Falls, your mother can make wedding preparations.” Pa looked to Ma. “Do you think you can handle that, or were you going to go stay with Martha after the baby arrives like you did with the last one?”
Ma ran a finger around the rim of her coffee cup, her gaze absent.
Levi sat next to his mother. “You look troubled. What are you thinking?”
She focused on him. “What are you going to do when Reba doesn’t agree to marry you and return home?”
Levi drew a blank.
She would agree. His plan was solid. Logical.
Reasonable.
Ma rested her palms on each side of his face. “I love you dearly, you know that?”
Levi nodded as best he could with her grip still on him.
“There is a time in every mother’s life when she looks at her son”—she gave a pointed look to Solomon, to Daniel, to Ruben, and to Israel, and then smiled at Levi—“and thinks, ‘I have raised an idiot.’ Fortunately, your older brothers developed sense. I am sure you will, too.”
Keeping his face even to hide his annoyance, Levi removed her hands from his face. “Reba will come home.”
“So you expect her business to fail.” Ma scowled at him. “Or are you just hoping it will? Because for your plan to work out, that’s what will have to happen. Levi, that girl isn’t going to fall in love with someone who thinks her dreams aren’t important. She will fall in love with a man who supports and encourages her.”
Levi flinched. He wasn’t hoping Reba would fail. He merely recognized her business failing as a possibility, because he was a realist.
Ma continued to stare at him, knowingly, as if she could see what he wasn’t admitting to himself. What kind of man hoped his girl’s dreams failed?
That’s not what he was doing.
He jolted to his feet. “I’m going to Sioux Falls to win back my girl. We’ll be back in three months. Ma, any help you can provide with wedding plans is appreciated.”
“Excellent,” Pa said with a slap to the table. “Now that we have that settled … While you’re in Sioux Falls, I want you to talk to the bank about a loan so we can look at expanding. I’d like to start building in the spring.”
As his brothers argued about where best to build the larger milk barn, Levi watched his mother. She circled her finger along the rim of her coffee cup, lost again in her own thoughts. He could tell her his plan would work. He could list all the sound, sensible reasons. He could say he was doing this because of his love for Reba. Or—
He could prove it.