The Fiddler's Secret (20 page)

“He doesn't dare come down here in the darkness,” Caleb whispered. “He's afraid to walk between the freight.” Finally Riggs whirled around and stalked back up the steps to the main cabin.

When Libby reached the gangplank, she met Pa and Aunt Vi coming down. By now deckhands had set Vi's big trunk and her many pieces of baggage on the levee. Libby was amazed that her aunt had actually gathered everything together in two hours.
She must have been so mad that she just threw it all in!

Libby held back a giggle. Carefully she made her face straight and stood next to Pa as he said goodbye.

He was quietly polite to Aunt Vi. “Thank you for all you've done for Libby in the past.”

Libby took her lead from him. “You've taught me to enjoy music, to be an artist,” she said as she reached up to hug her aunt.

Vi felt stiff and did not put her arms around her. Then Libby remembered.
She doesn't like hugs in public. I embarrassed her again
.

“I've asked a man to see you safely on your way,” Pa said. “I wish you and Alex well.”

As though with the greatest effort, Vi offered her hand. “And you and Libby also.” From looking at her, no one would know that anything was wrong.

Pa waited long enough for Vi and her baggage to be taken
away. Then he spoke to Libby. “I see a captain I trust. If he's going upriver, I'll give him my letter for Annika. I'll ask him to personally take care of it.”

When Pa came back, he told Libby the good news. His friend was headed for St. Paul. Within a few days Annika would receive the letter. Everything would be straightened out.

After breakfast the next morning, Pa said to Libby, “Let's get started on Peter's adoption.”

They found him in an open area on the levee. “You're just the one I want to see,” Peter told Libby. “Go stand by those crates. I'm teaching Wellington secret signs.”

When Libby was in place, Peter stood with his arms down at his side. Looking into the dog's eyes, he raised his right arm slightly. Pointing his index finger toward Libby, Peter commanded, “Go get Libby!”

Wellington ran straight for her. Libby dropped to her knees. “Good dog! Good dog!” She offered the treat that Peter slipped her.

As Pa grinned, Peter said, “Let's try one more thing. I want to see if Wellington obeys me with only hand signals.”

This time Peter didn't speak his command. Looking into the dog's eyes, he barely lifted his right arm. Wellington's ears pricked up.

Peter pointed toward Libby. Looking neither to the left nor right, Wellington raced straight for her.

“He did it! He did it!” Peter cried. Pa started clapping.

“Next, I'm going to teach Wellington to find you even when he doesn't see you,” Peter told Libby.

Reaching out, Pa touched Peter's arm in the signal they
used to get each other's attention. As soon as Peter looked at him, Pa pointed to Libby, then himself. Crossing his arms across his chest, Pa made the sign for love and pointed to Peter.

Peter pointed to himself, crossed his arms over his chest, and pointed to Pa.

Taking the slate, Pa wrote quickly. “Libby and I want to adopt you. Would you like that?”

Peter's face lit up. “We'd be a real family?”

This time it was Libby's turn to write. “A never-give-up family.”

“I'd like that.” Peter's words were quiet, but the excitement in his voice told Libby he would like that very much.

“Let's ask a man to start work on it,” Pa said.

When the
Christina
reached St. Louis, Libby and Caleb watched Riggs walk down the gangplank. “I wonder how he's going to like the news that seven more slaves have run away,” Libby said.

Caleb grinned. “Maybe by now even more of his slaves have figured out a way to do it.”

Later that morning, Pa brought a newspaper back to the
Christina
. “The Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company closed its doors yesterday,” he said.

“Closed its doors?” Libby asked. “What does that mean?”

“It went bankrupt,” her father explained. “It's an important New York company, and it doesn't have the money it needs to pay its bills. This could mean the start of an economic panic. People get scared and rush to sell property or stocks. We'll have to wait and see what happens.”

For the next few weeks, Pa went up and down the river bringing pigs, or bars, of lead from the mines at Galena to St. Louis. Then one day in late September, as they left St. Louis, Libby found Pa at the railing, looking upriver. When she took a place beside him, he said, “Something is wrong with Annika.”

“How do you know, Pa?” Libby had also felt uneasy. In fact, she had been praying more than at any time in her life. Several times she had wondered what to do about it.

“It's something I'm sensing deep inside,” her father said. “It's as though God is nudging me—telling me to pray even more than usual for Annika. To pray that she finds a home.”

That upset Libby. “I thought she had a home—a good place to stay. A job too.”

“Yes, she did have both. But I'm wondering what has happened.” As though not wanting to say what he was thinking, Pa looked off in the distance.

“What is it, Pa?” Libby asked when he didn't go on.

“I'm wondering how the economic panic has affected her. If I know Annika—” Again he stopped.

“She's independent,” Libby said.

“Yes. All over the country, banks are closing. We have the kind of panic I was afraid would come. Because of the amount of speculation in St. Paul, it could be hit especially hard. Since fortunes were made overnight, they could be lost the same way.”

“Pa, what are you saying?” Libby felt more upset all the time.

“What if there's no money to pay Annika? If she lost her job, she wouldn't stay where she couldn't pay her room and board. She's too used to being on her own.”

Libby agreed. “But if she has no money, where can she go?”

“That's what bothers me,” Pa said. “She might be forced to leave St. Paul. If that happens, how will we find her again?”

A lump formed in Libby's throat. With it came a memory of Wellington and how hungry he was when Peter found him.
What if Annika is hungry?

Libby pushed the thought aside, telling herself that there had to be enough food in Minnesota Territory. But another worry rushed in.
What if Annika gets so poor that she marries someone else?

It wasn't hard to remember Oliver White III. He seemed to have so much money that even in a panic he'd be rich. If it was possible to buy food, he could give it to Annika. What if she had to depend on him?

“I'll pour on steam,” Pa said. “We'll head for Minnesota Territory as fast as we can safely go.”

Libby whirled around and hurried to her room. Not for anything in the world would she tell Pa what she was thinking.

On the way upriver, Pa asked Libby to come to his cabin. The morning was bright and beautiful, but Pa looked as serious as Libby had ever seen him.

“I've been waiting to give you something,” he said. “I wanted to be sure you were old enough to appreciate it.”

From his desk Pa took out something wrapped in a silk cloth. As he unfolded the cloth, Libby saw the worn leather covers of a book that had been carefully handled but much used.

“It's your mother's Bible,” Pa said as he handed it to Libby.

As Libby took it, she felt like crying. It had meant so much to receive her mother's cross and know all that it meant to her
parents. Libby couldn't believe that Pa was also giving her Ma's Bible.

“Ma read from this every day?” Libby asked. Only then did she realize how much she had grown since coming to live with Pa.

She tried to explain. “Once, I was silly enough to think a special green dress was my most treasured possession. Now this will be.”

With Pa's gaze upon her, Libby carefully opened the Bible. Many of the pages were marked with underlining. Next to the verses, notes and dates had been written in the margins.

“You'll find it's a history of your mother's thoughts,” Pa said. “A spiritual history of times when she learned and grew. Times when she suffered and times when she celebrated. Times when she especially recognized the goodness of God.”

When Libby was unable to speak, Pa went on. “You'll come to know your mother through these pages, Libby. Even more, you'll grow in knowing the Lord she loved and served.”

Long after Pa left, Libby searched the pages of her mother's Bible. When she came to the eighth chapter of Romans, she saw that verse twenty-eight was underlined.
Pa's verse
, Libby thought.
But Ma's too
.

Reading the words, Libby's questioning heart cried out.
If we love God
, all
things work together for
good?

How could anything good come out of Annika's staying
in St. Paul? Now Pa wondered if she even had enough to eat!

Just thinking about it made Libby feel angry.
Aren't You supposed to love us, God? So what about the promise that
all
things work together for good when we love You?

Then Libby saw that the page in her mother's Bible was spotted. In those places the paper had drawn together as though tears may have fallen there.
Did Ma weep as she read that verse?

In the margin alongside, Libby saw words written in a small, neat hand:

Her mother's words seemed to reach out to Libby.
In everything?
she asked herself again and again.
Ma trusted God to work
in everything?

For some time Libby sat there, thinking, letting the words completely into her mind.