“Yes?”
“That there are things you could advise me on better than Siiri could.”
“Hum. Interesting. What kinds of things?”
“Well–I love him a lot, and I don’t want him to be disappointed. You see.”
Helmi was careful not to smile. “No I don’t,” she lied. “I want to be good in bed for him.”
“Ah. And you suppose I was good in bed.”
“I think you must have been.”
The aunt laughed again. “I was, my dear. I seem to have been born without inhibitions, and brought enthusiasm to bed with me. Those are the basic ingredients-those and imagination; if you lack them, you must develop them. And I had experienced husbands who knew what they wanted, so I learned from them.”
“This fiance of yours-is he experienced?”
“He’s been married before. To a very beautiful lady; he showed me a picture.”
Helmi raise an eyebrow. “Really? I’d like to meet this young man. He is young, I suppose?”
Mary read her aunt’s skepticism. “Twenty-eight,” she said.
“Where is his first wife?”
Wanting to avoid strange and incredible explanations, Mary adjusted the truth. “She drowned. She was riding her horse across a river and the ice broke. The current swept her under it.”
Helmi studied her niece for a moment. “Bring him to supper tonight,” she said firmly. “At 6:30. I want to meet him.” Mary felt trapped by the invitation–order actually.
“I’ll see if he can come,” she said. “He works for Dad; he’s a deputy. Sometimes he works at night.”
“Call him. There’s the phone.” Helmi pointed. “I need to know now, so I can tell Lempi what to fix for supper.”
Mary went to the phone and called. Three minutes later the invitation had been accepted, and the cook/housekeeper given instructions in a rattle of Finnish.
Helmi turned back to Mary, smiling again. “Now for your questions,” she said. “Let’s go up to my studio, where we have more privacy. Lempi is shy about using English, but she understands it somewhat; Eino’s been teaching her. And visitors are so rare in this house, she might decide to eavesdrop.”
Hansi Sweiger decided to go back to Germany, which made his father so angry, he refused to drive him to the depot. So Macurdy threw the youth’s three suitcases in the back of a patrol car and hauled him to the train. Expecting never to see him again.
Macurdy arrived with Mary, wearing his uniform and driving Fritzi’s 1932 Desoto. He’d bought a suit, but didn’t want to wear it before the wedding.
Helmi made him feel welcome, and the food, Macurdy thought, was as good as anything he’d ever eaten. After supper they stayed for over an hour, talking. Helmi’s reason for inviting him, he realized, was to check him out, but at the same time she put him at ease. He answered her questions without creating complications, and increasingly her aura reflected liking and approval.
Before they left, he excused himself to use the bathroom, and when he was out of the room, Helmi put a hand on Mary’s arm.
“My dear,” she said, “I’m truly happy for you. I believe you chose well.”
8
A Major Change In Plans
Mary and Curtis wanted an early date for the wedding, and no one tried to talk them out of it. Nor did anyone suggest a lavish ceremony. Nehtaka’s Lutheran community, largely Scandinavian and Finnish sawmill workers, loggers, small farmers, and their families, would have frowned on that kind of display, especially in Hard Times.
Food, though, was another matter.
Fritzi was an important county official, and Macurdy something of a celebrity, while Mary’s maternal family, the Saaris, were locally prominent. Wiiri Saari had talked with Fritzi about a buffet luncheon, a voileipdpdytd, with lots of invitations sent out. They agreed there would be no booze. Fritzi was, after all, the sheriff, and while Congress had passed an amendment to repeal prohibition, the necessary threefourths of the states hadn’t ratified it yet: Liquor was still illegal.
The wedding was held in Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church at 10:15 AM, on Saturday, October 28, 1933, and the buffet at 11:30 in the high school gymnasium. Axel Severtson had been sent an invitation for his loggers, and many had shown up, most of them a little oiled on bootleg liquor, but well behaved. The Saari and Severtson clans were on hand to see to it without the sheriff having to get involved.