She hadn’t had time to take a final look before he rushed her to the limousine.

Even during the ceremony Kevin had been on her mind, especially her marriage to him at St. Monica’s four years ago. They’d chosen that church because Nana had been married there. Nana sat beaming in the first row. She hadn’t approved of Kevin but put her doubts behind her when she couldn’t dissuade Jen. What would she think of this ceremony before a judge instead of a priest? “I, Jennifer, take you…” She hesitated. Dear God, she’d almost said Kevin. She felt Erich’s questioning eyes and began again. Firmly. “I, Jennifer, take you, Erich…”

“What God has joined together, man must not separate.”

The judge had spoken the words solemnly.

But they’d said that at her wedding to Kevin.

They arrived in Minneapolis one minute ahead of schedule. A large sign said, WELCOME TO THE TWIN CITIES. Jenny studied the airport with avid interest. “I’ve been all over Europe but never farther west than Pennsylvania,” she laughed. “I had a mental image of landing in the midst of a prairie.”

She was holding Beth by the hand. Erich was carrying Tina. Beth looked backward at the ramp that led to the plane. “More plane, Mommy,” she begged.

“You may have started something, Erich,” Jenny said. “They seem to be developing a taste for first-class travel.”

Erich was not listening. “I told Clyde to have Joe waiting for us,” he said. “He should have been at the arrival gate.”

“Joe?”

“One of the farmhands. He’s not too bright but he’s excellent with horses and a good driver. I always have him chauffeur me when I don’t want to leave the car at the airport. Oh, here he is.”

Jenny saw rushing toward them a straw-haired, slenderly built young man of about twenty, with wide innocent eyes and rosy cheeks. He was neatly dressed in a thermal coat, dark knit trousers, heavy boots and gloves. A chauffeur’s cap sat incongruously on his thick hair. He pulled it off as he stopped in front of Erich, and she had time to reflect that for such a handsome young man he looked awfully worried.

“Mr. Krueger, I’m sorry I’m late. The roads are pretty icy.”

“Where’s the car?” Erich asked brusquely. “I’ll get my wife and children settled, then you and I can attend to the luggage.”

“Yes, Mr. Krueger.” The worried look deepened. “I’m really sorry I’m late.”

“Oh, for heaven sake,” Jenny said. “We’re early, one minute early.” She held out her hand. “I’m Jenny.”

He took it, holding it gingerly as though he feared hurting it. “I’m Joe, Mrs. Krueger. Everybody’s looking forward to seeing you. Everybody’s been talking about you.”

“I’m sure they have,” Erich said shortly. His arm urged Jenny forward. Joe fell back behind them. She realized Erich was annoyed. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to have been so friendly. Her life in New York and Hartley gallery and the apartment on Thirty-seventh Street suddenly seemed terribly far away.

6

Erich’s maroon Fleetwood was mint-new and the only car in the parking area not spattered with crusted snow. Jenny wondered if Joe had taken precious minutes to have it washed before arriving at the airport. Erich settled her and Tina in the back seat, gave permission to Beth to ride in front, and hurried away to help Joe collect the baggage.

A few minutes later they were pulling onto the highway. “It’s nearly a three-hour drive to the farm,” Erich told her. “Why don’t you lean against me and nap?” He seemed relaxed, even genial now, the spasm of anger forgotten.

He reached for Tina, who willingly settled in his lap. Erich had a way with the little girl. Seeing the contentment on Tina’s face snapped Jenny out of her momentary homesickness.

The car sped into the country. The lights along the highway began to disappear. The road darkened and narrowed. Joe switched on the high beams of the headlights and she could discern clumps of graceful maples and irregular, poorly shaped oaks. The land seemed absolutely flat. It was all so different from New York. That was why she’d felt that terrible sense of alienation as they left the airport.

She needed time to think, to get in focus, to adjust. Settling her head on Erich’s shoulder, she murmured, “You know something, I am tired.” She didn’t want to talk any more, not right now. But, oh, how good it was to lean against him, to know that their time together wouldn’t ever again be rushed and frantic. He had suggested that they defer an official honeymoon. “You don’t have anyone to leave with the girls,” he’d said. “Once they’re comfortably settled on the farm, we’ll find a reliable sitter and take a trip.” How many other men would have been that thoughtful? she wondered.

She felt Erich looking down at her.

“Awake, Jenny?” he asked but she didn’t answer. His hand smoothed back her hair; his fingers kneaded her temple. Tina was asleep now; her breathing came soft and measured. In the front seat, Beth had stopped chattering to Joe so she too must be napping.

Jenny made her own breath rise and fall evenly. It was time to plan ahead, to turn away from the life she had left and begin to anticipate the one that was waiting for her.

Erich’s home had been without a woman’s touch for a quarter of a century. It probably needed a massive overhaul. It would be interesting to see how much of Caroline’s influence remained in it.

Funny, she mused, I never think of Erich’s mother as his mother. I think of her as Caroline.

She wondered if his father hadn’t referred to her that way. If instead of saying “your mother” to Erich, when he reminisced he’d say, “Caroline and I used to…”

Redecorating would be a joy. How many times had she studied the apartment and thought, If I could afford it, I’d do this… and this… and this…

What a sense of freedom it would be to wake up in the morning and know she didn’t have to rush off to work. Just to be with the children, to spend time with them, real time, not end-of-the-day exhausted time! She’d already lost the best part of their baby years.

And to be a wife. Just as Kevin had never been a real father to the children, he’d never been a real husband to her. Even in their most intimate moments, she’d always felt that Kevin had a mental image of himself playing the romantic lead in an M-G-M film. And she was certain that he’d been unfaithful to her even during the short time they lived together.

Erich was mature. He could have married long before now but he’d waited. He welcomed responsibility. Kevin had shunned it. Erich was so reticent. Fran said she thought he was a bit stodgy and Jenny knew that even Mr. Hartley wasn’t comfortable with him. They didn’t realize that his seeming aloofness was simply a cover for an innately shy nature. “I find it easier to paint my sentiments than to express them,” he’d told her. There was so much love expressed in everything he painted…

She felt Erich’s hand stroking her cheek. “Wake up, darling, we’re nearly home.”

“What? Oh. Did I fall asleep?” She pulled herself up.

“I’m glad you slept, darling. But look out the window now. The moon is so bright you should be able to see quite a bit.” His voice was eager. “We’re on county road twenty-six. Our farm begins at that fence, on both sides of the road. The right side eventually ends at Gray’s Lake. The other side winds and twists. The woods take up nearly two hundred acres alone; they end at the river valley that slopes into the Minnesota River. Now, watch, you’ll see some of the outer buildings. Those are the polebarns, where we feed the cattle in the winter. Beyond them are the grainery and stables and the old mill. Now as we come around this bend you can see the west side of the house. It’s set on that knoll.”

Jenny pressed her face against the car window. From the background glimpses she’d seen in some of Erich’s paintings, she knew that at least part of the exterior of the house was pale red brick. She’d imagined a Currier and Ives kind of farmhouse. Nothing Erich had said had prepared her for what she was looking at now.