Ane Marie - Chapter V

The Birth of Ane Sophie

The memories of the guest haaus were enhanced in Ane Marie's memory by the one she helped decorate for Ane Kjerstine and Rasmus. Her mind was taking in all the images of her own guest haaus, but her attention was on the man of her dreams, literally.

She had dreamed of the perfect companion. And now she was married to him. She had wanted to hold him, to hug and kiss him, and now she was doing just that.

He was as gentle and kind as she had imagined.

When they had waved to the last members of the wedding party and closed the window, the both let out a sigh and nervously stepped back from the window and from each other, though their hands still locked together.

With the shutters closed, the room was only lit by the fireplace reflections. Their heads turned in unison to look at the table, the chairs, the fire and then the bed. Ole stepped backwards, towards the table and she followed and flowed into his arms. Ole began humming again and the soft strains of the last waltz they had danced seemed to waft into the room.

Then they danced. He held her in his arms gently yet firmly and they danced. They glided around and around in the room, never taking their eyes off of one another.

Finally, they stopped, with his back to a chair. They smiled at each other and he sat down and pulled her to his lap. She sat there, her head on his chest, snuggled in the warmth of his love. She lifted her legs and folded herself into his arms. She looked up at him and gently stroked his clean shaven chin. He truly was the man of her dreams. They might have dozed off for when she looked to the window there was no light around the edge of the shutters and the fire had burned low.

Now she took the lead as she stood and pulled at him to stand. He thought that she wanted to dance again, but instead she began to unbutton his shirt. Once that was done she turned her back to him for him to unbutton her dress. It took him a lot longer because his hands were trembling and the buttons were small.

Finally the dress fell from her shoulders. She stepped out of it and directly to the bed. She lifted the covers and crawled in to the far side. He stood transfixed on her beauty. Her hair reflected the glow from the fire. He reached over, picked up two pieces from the stack of wood and through them on top of the remaining flames. Then turned back to her, watching her eyes glow. He stepped to the side of the bed, sat down and took off his shoes and stockings. He threw his shirt towards the nearest chair. He felt her hand on his back. He unbuttoned his trousers and pulled them off. They fell to the floor as she pulled him backwards, towards her.

And they danced.

Neither knew what time it was when they awoke. The morning or noonday light was shining through the cracks around the shutters, but neither wanted to get up or open the shutters. Ole looked at the table and saw all the food that had been laid out for their first evening mean as man and wife. There was bread and cheese and sausage and fruit. He turned to his wife, her eyes closed. But when he moved as if to stand, her arm was quick to grab him, "Not yet." She pleaded.

"We have to eat woman. I need my strength if I'm going to dance with you again." She let him slip from her grasp and then added, "Ooh, get me an apple, please."

The fire had gone low to only embers. He threw another couple of pieces in the fire and then grabbed a plate. He was stacking the bread and sausage on it when he felt her arms around him. The warmth of her body surprised him.

They stumbled back to the bed and she climbed in and sat up against the pillows. He handed her the plate and climbed in beside her. Together they sat and ate their first meal as man and wife. The food vanished quickly, since neither had eaten a bite since the celebration the afternoon before.

She slipped back beneath the covers, her head on the pillows. Ole placed the plate upon the floor and turned back towards his wife. This time she was humming. And smiling.

He reached for her and they were dancing again.

The food and the firewood ran out on the second day.

Late on the morning of the third day they emerged from the guest haaus. Together they had cleaned the room. Ole had brought in water from the barrel outside, restocked the wood bin and placed the chairs upon the table. Ane Marie had stripped the bedding off the bed They had packed up their gifts and bedding into her dowry chest. Ole dragged it to the door. They looked around one last time, smiled at each other and then walked hand in hand up the slope towards the Oleson home. Until they had their own home they would never again have the privacy of such a place, except in their memories.

Once they reached her parents home they walked up and he knocked on the door. They were still holding hands. It was already afternoon and they were hoping that the family was still eating. They were starved. Just before the door opened, they kissed each other. Then they smiled. They could smell the homemade bread.

Juliane opened the door and then turned her head back towards the kitchen, "Yes, they're here." Then she let go of the door handle and hugged her sister and then grabbed Ane Marie's other hand. "I'm glad to see you." She led the couple into the kitchen.

"Mama wouldn't let us eat until you came. Papa kept saying 'They may hold out until dinner.' But Mama said, 'No. We only put enough food in there for two days. They will be home this afternoon.' I'm glad she was right."

At that everyone laughed. Ane Marie let go of Ole and Juliane and went and hugged her mother. Ane Marie asked, "What can I do?"

"Sit down. It's all on the table. Go over there and sit by your husband. Sit down Ole. Juliane, get the jam."

With that, the family life at the Oleson farm was back on track. Ole was just another member of the family.

"So," Ole asked, "what's been happening around here while we've been gone?"

The next week Ole and Rasmus walked back to Kopenhaven to get on their ship. Now, however, their conversations included new topics, their wives.

"Don't let me forget that my wife wants me to bring her some of Amundsen's pickled herring. Now that she's able to keep food down she's had these cravings that are driving us nuts."

"Well , thankfully, Ane Marie isn't like that. She never asks for anything. I can't believe that I'm not going to see her for six weeks."

"Don't worry. Those two women of ours will be together every day. By the time you get back my sister will be wanting plenty."

"It's just that I don't really know enough about her, still. We talk and talk, but there's so much I don't know. She's mentioned going to the Americas, but I don't think that she's serious. I think that she just wants to travel, to see things."

"If you promise not to tell Mama and Papa, I'll tell you a secret."

"I promise."

"Well, Ane Kjerstine and I have already begun to save money for moving there. From the stories we hear from her brother, they have beautiful mountains and streams and land is free."

"You, a farmer? I can't imagine you out plowing a field and planting potatoes."

"But I can. We want our children to grow up in a place where they aren't limited. The Americas have vast areas that have not even been explored, let alone mapped. Here they would never have a chance for any life but fishing and living in a house owned by some landlord."

"Well, it sounds pretty good. Where did you hear about all this?"

"The Elders of the Mormon Church talk about it all the time. I really wish that you and Ane Marie would come and listen to them. They…"

Ole held up his hand to stop Rasmus from preaching to him.

"Anyway, last week an Elder Jensen from Idaho arrived. His family grew up in Fredricksborg. His parents were among the first to leave Denmark and travel to the Americas. The country is so large that all of Europe would fit there with room to spare. Elder Jensen was born in a place so vast that they called it the "Great Plains". They have lots of great rivers and mountain ranges. Did you know that their Mississippi River is over two kilometers wide in many places. To hear Elder Jensen tell it, their Rocky Mountains are higher than the Alps."

Despite Ole's skepticism, Rasmus could see that he had Ole's attention. He continued, "Elder Jensen's family lives in a valley so big that it takes all day to walk from one side to the other. Their farm is so large that they grow more potatoes than we do in our whole district."

Ole asked, "If it is so big, how in the world will you be able to pay to travel across it, to get to those valleys? It's going to take a fortune just for the boat trip to England. I heard Jon Jansen off that blue whaler say that it cost 150 kronar for passage to England."

"The Church contracts with the ships and gets a very good price. Members of the Church who have already gone to America help those of us who are going to America. When Kjerstine and I get there we will turn around and help others. "

"We figure that we can save up our portion in about three or four years."

Ole changed the subject. "So, have you picked out the name for your son?"

"Ole Peter Olsen."

"Thank you!"

"Don't be too proud. Remember, my father's name is Ole, too. And Kjerstine's father was named Peter."

"Still, having a God-son named after you is an honor. I'll just have to remember to be a good example. It will be good practice in case we have a 'haaus' baby too."

"Aye, they have been a lot of children conceived as guests in that haaus. But it's early yet. You won't know for a month or so. A blessing on you, just in case. My sister will make a fine mother."

The men were gone six weeks, their ship bringing in haddock from south of Iceland and then cod from just north of England. It was a safe beginning of the season. The weather had not turned foul until the second week of February. The captain kept them fed and working right up to the last minute and then brought them home safe. Two weeks and they would ship out again.

They had gotten into port with the tide about 9:30 p.m. The crew spent that first night unloading and cleaning. They worked all night and every man collapsed in their bunks just as the dawn broke. Rasmus and Ole, however, left their gear on board and headed for home and their new wives. The captain had received a good price for the fish and these men did not want to spend a single Krone in the ale houses along the wharf.

As they walked up the road to home, the falling snow and strong wind did not deter them. The snow was light and they were warmed by the thoughts of the welcome they would receive. In their pockets were the coins they had worked hard for.

They arrived at their parting point and shook hands and then each turned and walked quickly to the homes where their families were still busy getting breakfast. Rasmus was looking forward to embracing his very pregnant wife and Ole was excited to see if Ane Marie was.

As Ole stepped upon the first step the door swung open and there was his beautiful young wife, her ember red hair all aglow from the light shining through from the brightly lit room behind her. It was such a stunning vision that he stopped as if he was looking at an angel. In that instant she jumped at him and nearly knocked him off of his feet. If his hand had not been upon the rail they would have tumbled backwards into the snow.

Ane Marie was covering him with kisses and he could hardly breathe. Juliane was screaming and giggling as she got behind them and began to push them up the stairs. Ane Marie relented her hold on him only as they came into her father's presence.

"So, the sailor is home from the Sea. Welcome home, Ole, welcome home."

"Thank you, Father Oleson, thank you." He gently stood his wife down upon the floor, though she clung to his arm with her whole body. He reached out to shake Papa Oleson's extended hand, lifting Juliane off the floor as she was clinging to his other arm.

"Lifting those fishing nets makes you strong. I bet you have an appetite to match. Girls, let the man go so Mama can feed him."

"I'll feed him, Papa. He is my husband and I can feed him." And with that Ane Marie gained complete control of herself and stood straighter and turned to lead her husband to the kitchen. Of course her hand never left his. Juliane relented and let him go and he obediently followed his wife to the kitchen.

Mama had already cooked up the potatoes and onions. The pieces of bacon were crisping in the pan. Ane Marie came up beside her mother who was facing the stove, looking after the bacon. "Mama, Ole is home."

"I know, I know." And she turned smiling and reached for him. Ole was smothered in her hug, even though she was so much shorter than he was.

Ane Marie flipped the bacon onto the plate with the potatoes and onions and grabbed and cracked the first egg, then another and then another.

"Well, son, it smells like you've been working all night in a fish tank."

"I have, but I had to get home to my family."

"Well, before you get a bath you have to eat this while it's hot." Ane Marie set the plate upon the table. "We've already eaten, but I have the water on the stove and it'll be hot by the time you're ready. Now, sit down husband, and eat."

And he obeyed and sat and ate. He consumed every bite on the plate and drank every drop of hot coffee in the cup. Such a meal he had not eaten in months.

Then came the bath. His wife pulled clean clothes from their chest and laid them out in the kitchen, for that was also the bath. The washtub had been pulled in from the porch and allowed to warm up a bit. A couple of buckets of cold water were poured into it and one bucket of hot. Then everyone else was shooed out of the room and the curtain over the door was drawn.

Ole stripped to his underwear and then, a little embarrassed in front of his own wife turned and took them off and let them drop to the floor. He stepped into the tub and sat down, his knees up around his chin. Ane Marie had set a chair close to the tub with a wash cloth and soap and took those and began to lather up the rag. He scrubbed all over and, when he was finished with his face his wife grabbed a pot off of the stove and poured the hot water over his hands and he splashed his face to get the soap off. Then she took the rag gently from his hands and scrubbed his back.

Finally she took the rest of the pot of warm water and poured it over his hair and back. Then she grabbed the large towel and handed it to her husband as he stood to dry off.

She took the towel from him when he was done and handed him his clean underwear and then his shirt and then his pants. He sat upon the chair and pulled her to him. "Now do I smell better?"

"Yes, my husband, now you smell better." And she kissed him. By then the long night and the long walk and the big breakfast had him. She led him to the loft where their bed was and she made him lie down. She covered him with a big quilt and then sat on the edge of the bed. "I love you.", was the last thing he heard as he finally fell asleep.

Quietly she sat and watched him sleep, this man of her dreams.

Juliane came to the bottom of the ladder into the loft and gently called, "Ane Marie."

She stuck her head into the opening and asked, "What?"

"Mama wants you to come help with getting dinner ready."

With her husband gently snoring, there was nothing else for her to do but to go help her mother. She reluctantly climbed down the ladder, sneaking one last peak at her dreaming husband and then slipped into the world of light and work.

She and Juliane brought in more firewood and stoked the kitchen stove. They also put some in the box next to the fireplace in the living room. By this time the tub had been rolled out and the kitchen table was back in the middle of the room. Mama was busy rolling out the rolls for dinner. While she made the rolls the girls pealed potatoes and apples.

While the rolls were rising in the warmth of the kitchen, the women busied themselves dusting and setting the table.

Papa had been out to the barn to care for the new lambs and the sheep. A couple more weeks and they'd be ready for the pasture.

A large haddock had found its way into Ole's back pack, wrapped in paper. Mama took the fresh cut filets and prepared them with a cream sauce and some small shrimp.

Apparently the smells had been too much for Ole. He laid still as long as he could and then climbed out of the bed and down the ladder. He quietly entered the living room and gazed at the activity in the kitchen. The happy glow of a peaceful man was in his smile as his wife saw him standing there. She came to him and hugged him. But that was all they could do as Juliane spotted them and dragged them into the kitchen. She pushed her brother-in-law into the chair and handed her sister the knife and ordered her to keep pealing. The apples were almost done.

"I see you found the fish. It was a small one, too small to sell, so the Captain said we might as well take them home."

"It is big enough to feed this family. Now that Ane Marie is pregnant she eats like a field hand." Mama's eyes sparkled as she realized that she had been the first to tell him.

Ane Marie was blushing almost the tint of the red rag in Mama's apron. Ole jumped up and reached for his wife and began to swing her around and around in the crowded kitchen, yelling "WAHOO!" at the top of his lungs.

Juliane's mouth was open, spilling out the words, "Are you sure."

Ane Marie screamed, "I didn't tell anyone!" Her husband sat down with her on his lap. Between his kisses she hollered out, "Mama. How did you know?"

"A mother knows these things. First you were sick and now you are hungry. Always hungry."

And thus it was known that Ole and Ane Marie would have their first child. Papa was the first to say out loud when the baby would be with them, "End of August or first of September."

Now they had another reason to celebrate.

During the next two weeks Ole and Ane Marie spent most of their time over at Rasmus and Ane Kjerstine's. Ane Kjerstine's pregnancy had gone well and she was not due for another couple of weeks. When Rasmus and Ane Kjerstine heard Ole and Ane Marie's news they were so excited that Rasmus picked up his sister and swung her around the room. "Marvelous! It is marvelous! Now these two cousins will come into the world and be friends forever."

Rasmus did not dare to go back out to sea while his wife was so close to delivering their first child. She was only days away and he could not leave her.

But Ole had to go out about the first of March. He left his young wife and walked down the road to Koppenhaven by himself. He would have to go on the ship several times that year before his baby was born. Each time he came home his slender young wife was rounder and rounder.

He arrived home in the middle of August, afraid that he would have missed the wonderful event, the birth of his first child, but Ane Marie was still pregnant. And very miserable.

She had spent the spring and early summer over helping Ane Kjerstine care for Rasmus' son, Ole Peter Olesen. He had been born on March the 10th, 1874. Most of the snows had melted and green things were popping up all over.

Ane Marie had been walking briskly to and from Ane Kjerstine's house until the middle of July, but then the high humidity and the heat of summer were upon them and she was the most miserable of all women.

Ole arrived home about the end of August, just in time for the worst of it. Ane Marie was permanently ensconced on the makeshift bed in the living room. When Ole walked in the door that day he was handed a bowl of cool water and a rag and passed to his wife's bedside, there to wipe her brow and speak tender things to soothe her.

It was three days later that, on the 27th of August, 1874, in the early hours of morning, Ane Sophie Andreasen was born. Mama and Juliane had shooed the men into the kitchen and told them to boil water. His wife's screams un-nerved the young father so much he nearly scalded himself.

Juliane stuck her head in the doorway and declared, "It's a girl!". Suddenly the slap on the back and the hand-in-hand congratulations were over powered by the baby's first cries and then by her father's, "Wahoo! Wahoo!"

"What are you going to name her?"

"I don't know, Papa. That's up to Ane Marie. We talked about naming our first son after my father and you, but we never decided on a girls name. Ane Marie did say something about your mother's name, Ane Sophie."

"I like that! But you have some time to make up your mind. Aha! But for now. you go see you wife and daughter." Papa pushed him towards the doorway where Juliane was waving frantically and yelling, "Come on!"

The baby was bundled up and in her mother's arm. Ane Marie was reaching out with her free hand for his. He took it and fell to his knees beside her. He stretched up and kissed his wife on the forehead and they gazed, cheek-to-cheek at the miracle in her arm.

Mama had been gathering up the towels and rags and now she pushed Juliane through the doorway ahead of her into the kitchen. "Let's give them a moment."

Ole couldn't have been in the room alone with his wife and daughter for more thasn a few minutes when they heard the commotion from the next room. Suddenly, in burst his mother, Ane Marie Kristiansen Nielsen.

"Ok, you two, let me see my grand-daughter! Oh my! She is so beautiful! What is her name?"

Ole looked at Ane Marie. They still had not spoke it out loud. Ole raised his eyebrows in a question and she said, "Her name will be Ane Sophie Andreasen."

Her mother-in-law looked from Ane Marie to Ole and to the baby and then pursed her lips for a moment and then smiled. "Yes, I like that. Ok, now give me my grand-daughter and you can hug my son properly." And with that she gently reached in and took the little bundle from Ane Marie's arm and began to gently sway back in forth while smiling at Ane Sophie.

With nothing between them, Ane Marie and Ole grabbed each other and gave each other a proper hug. "I love you!", they said in unison.

Almost as if on cue, the baby began to cry and grandma turned to the two of them and said, "Well, it must be feeding time already." Ane Marie's mother came in at the cry of the child. "Mama, here's your little one. Ole, get out while we teach her how to feed your daughter." Ane Marie's mother took him by the arm and shoved him towards the door.

He turned to Ane Marie and was about to ask if he should stay, but she told him, "Go, talk to Papa." And then she turned back to the task at hand.

Grandpa Ole took the young father and escorted him to a seat on the front porch. "You might as well sit here for a while because them two mother hens won't let you back in for some time."

"I just want to be with Ane Marie and the baby."

"I know, I know. But for now it is women's work and women’s magic that she needs. You'll be spending a lifetime with them, but for now, this is what they have been waiting for their entire lives while the two of you have been growing up. To be Grandmothers, that has been their goal and now they are reveling in it. So, let them have their fun. Soon it will be sleepless nights for you."

"Well, I could use a nap, now that it's over."

"Son, it has just begun. You better get that nap now, because you won't get one latter."

Suddenly Juliane and Kjerstine, with her baby, Ole Peter, in her arms, showed up from over the hill. Ole stood up and waved to them as they ran to the house.

Kjerstine shouted out, "How's Ane Marie? Is the baby all right?"

"They are both fine." He said and she gave him a hug she handed him her baby and left him twirling as she continued her run up the stairs and into the house. "Watch little Peter for me for a while, won't you."

Ole had held Peter’s son many times in the last six months and was an old hand at caring for the good natured boy. Now he sat back upon the step with his father-in-law and his wife's nephew and mused at how women get so excited by little babies. "What is it about women and babies?" he asked.

"Love. Just unadulterated love. Give that grandson of mine to Juliane and come with me. We might as well get some work done in the barn. Besides, there's the matter of the toast to the new Andreasen and I have a jug in the barn cellar. There will be plenty of time for you to hold your baby when the women are done." They got up and headed for the barn.

A couple of hours later Juliane came and found them for dinner. Ole and his father-in-law had sipped from the jug and toasted the birth of the child. Then they put the jug back and began lifting hay into the loft. By the time Juliane found them they were ready to quit for the night, so they closed the barn and walked to the house.

By now Ane Marie was dressed and sitting in the rocking chair holding her daughter. The two grandmothers were busy in the kitchen, cooking and setting the table. The smell of food was wafting its way across the yard as the two men drew near. Suddenly their appetites, which had been unnoticed until then, took command and they picked up the pace. They smiled at each other as they both reached for the door handle to the kitchen at the same time. The younger man held it open for his father-in-law and then followed him in, heel to toe.

Mama Oleson took one look at both of them and hollered, "Out and wash up! You can't come in my kitchen smelling like that barn!" Then she took the broom and made to sweep them out. Laughing, they stepped back onto the porch and found that Juliane had already filled the wash pan from the jug of water next to it. She turned from them and when she turned back she had a towel on her arm for them to use when they were ready.

This time when they entered, young Ole was first and he went immediately to where his wife and baby were. Kneeling down next to Ane Marie he said again and again, "I love you. I love you."

His mother called to him from the kitchen, "Ok, she knows you love her. Now come and eat. We've already fed her and the rest of us are tired of waiting."

And thus the business of life went on. A couple of weeks after the joyous occasion, Ole and Rasmus were both back on the boat headed out to the North Sea.

He spent weeks on end, drenched to the bone, dragging nets in and out of the ship, cutting and cleaning fish, salting down the fish and stacking them in the barrells. But the sleepless, lonely nights, tossed about on hard bunks and decks, waiting to get home to his Ane Marie were the hardest to bear.

His dreams were filled with memories of her, walking with her back and forth along the meadows, picking flowers, sitting across from her at a dinner table, tickling her until she cried and then the kissing away each tear. And then the wonder of her, her tender loving caresses and the holding of him to her. Love making was a blur, but the holding and hugging were what he remembered.

When the boat hit the dock he was off on the first bounce, running to get home to her, and to little Ane Sophie. Ane Sophie was growing so fast that each time he got home it was like he was meeting her for the first time. He’d leave and she’d be just laying around and giggling and he’d come back and she’d be crawling all around the room.

Ane Sophie slept between them at night. They had the loft room to the right of the stairs to themselves, all 6 by 8 feet of it. Kristine and Juliane slept in the smaller section to the left of the stairs. Peder slept right below them in the living room.

They were very aware of every sound in the house. There was always someone stiring. And in the summer it was hot. In the winter the heat from the stoves rose up the stairs to keep the loft warm and kozy, but in the summer the heat could become unbearable.

Peder was the first to abandon the house. He’d drag his bedding out under the stars evey chance he got. He tied a hammock out between the apple trees in the side yard.

Kristine and Juliane didn’t want to sleep outdoors, but they often dragged their bedding down to the front room. Ole and Ane Marie finally took the baby and created themselves a sleeping area on the grass just off the back porch. Thus it was in June of 1875 that they found themselves outside, under the stars, with a sleeping baby between them on their pillows.

They scrunched down below the pillows, she on her back, looking up at the stars and him facing her. He reached for her. The skin on her arm was cool and smooth to his rough hands. The warmth of his hands felt good to her. He moved his hand to her stomach. It was flat and firm. She rolled towards him, reaching for his face. His hand slid to back. His beard was full and soft to her hands.

She stroked it and giggled. “You’re like a puppy, all furry.”

“If you give me a treat, I’ll even do tricks.”

The both laughed as he rolled on his back and pulled her on top of him. She kissed him. Wet kisses and passion led to making love and thus it was that Alma Maren Juliane Andreasen was conceived. She was born on February 22nd, 1876, in Usserod.