Steal the North: A Novel Read Free

morning worship service, all three meals, and around the camp bonfire in the evenings. At Bethany’s bidding, Matt had a talk with Jamie about his intentions toward Kate. By the end of the conversation, Jamie had convinced Matt that if he really loved Bethany, he would prove it to her by holding her hand, not listening to the church fathers, who were just horny old men. People who love each other hold hands and hug, Jamie claimed. It didn’t have to go further, he said, but it
had
to go that far.
    Kate had never felt happier. Jamie loved God—not that it mattered to Kate—but he talked of other things also: his dad’s wheat farm, which would one day be his; the rolling hills of the Palouse region, like no other place on earth; Washington State University in Pullman, where he planned to enroll in the agricultural science program; and his love for Kate. He’d had other girlfriends. He knew what he was talking about when he said there was something definite between them. Kate didn’t need to run off to Africa to get away from her father or to do her Christian duty. She could be his wife. He was serious. He’d prove it to her.
    At the last bonfire, there were more testimonials of faith than all the other nights combined. Jamie Kagen took a stand, in his cowboy hat. His confidence and energy had made him a camp favorite with the rich Seattle kids, as well as with the handful of not-so-rich kids from western Washington whose dads worked in the lumber mills. The entire crowd hooted for him. “I want to testify before you guys and before God,” he said, “that I love this girl.” He pulled Kate to her feet and again put his hat on her head. “I’m going to marry her someday.” The crowd cheered. “In honor, I propose a group hug. Find the babe you love and give her a hug. Right now. A long hug in front of God. Go ahead.” The adults in charge swiftly made their way to him, as if he’d just proposed an orgy.
    After camp, Jamie and Kate did their best to stay together, though they lived more than two hours apart and Jamie had harvest and planting duties. They were both seniors in high school. Jamie went to public school in Colfax. They met as often as they could before the heavy snows started. He had a pickup truck, and Kate had her mother’s old car that barely ran. They’d meet midway in tiny farm towns with Indian names, like Washtucna, parking in the shade of enormous silos. Or they’d meet at Army Corps of Engineers parks along the Snake River. Kate’s father didn’t like Jamie, but she didn’t care. Her father threatened for a while to take the car, but Bethany relied on Kate for rides, and he knew Kate would walk if she had to or run away.
    Jamie’s parents weren’t enthused to learn their son had found the girl he wanted to marry at age seventeen. They agreed to meet Kate but weren’t impressed with her junk car, long dress, and supposedly old-fashioned ways. They wanted their son to meet his future wife at the university, and they wanted this wife’s family to have either money or land. Although Kate felt guilty doing so, she hocked her mother’s ring for cash to buy gas to meet Jamie. Before long she wound up pregnant. They might not have had premarital sex, hooking up the first time at the Appaloosa Inn, if they could’ve seen each other more often and if Kate hadn’t felt Jamie’s resolve faltering as his dad threatened to take everything from him unless he dumped Kate.
    Jamie loved the land and felt tied to it in a way Kate didn’t understand. He took her to Palouse Falls to show her the muddy water spilling two hundred feet over the canyon edge. The water was so muddy, he told her, because of soil erosion. If farmers didn’t find a way to slow the erosion, the Palouse region was doomed. He started to flunk his high school classes, even drink. But once he made his decision, choosing the farm over Kate, he didn’t waver. Kate’s belly, in the meantime, grew round as one of Jamie’s