"You wanted to talk to me, Nels?"

Eleanor Oleson, Nels's mother, sat contentedly in her armchair at the Oleson's comfortable but modest home. The Christmastime snow shone through the large looking-glass window behind her. She looked up from her book and smiled at her eldest son.

"Yes, Ma" said Nels sitting down nervously in the armchair opposite her. This armchair belonged to his father, Nelson Senior.

"Well what is it?" she said when Nels didn't speak.

"It's about Harriet and I, Ma" said Nels. "We-"

"You're not calling off the engagement are you?" she said with a catch her voice.

"No, Ma, nothing like that," Nels smiled. Eleanor simply nodded. "We've decided upon a wedding date. Well not the exact date, but we've got it narrowed down to the month."

"And when would that be?" said Eleanor.

"Next March."

"You mean a year from this next March," said Eleanor.

"No, I mean this next March."

"But Nels, so soon? There's not enough time to plan a proper wedding,"

"Weddings have been planned on shorter notice," Nels replied. "Besides, I know with your help we can pull it together."

Eleanor buried her cheek in one hand and then looked up. "Nels," she began, "I think you should at least wait until you graduate school to marry. To balance your last term of school and a new wife-"

"Ma," said Nels taking a deep breath. "I won't be returning to school in January."

Eleanor removed her book from her lap and laid it on the little table between the two chairs. "Whatever do you mean Nels?"

"I mean I'm done with school. I don't want to continue."

Eleanor started to speak several times, each time changing her mind. Finally she said. "Maybe you can transfer to a school closer to home for your final term. You must be homesick."

"No Ma. I miss the family, but I'm not homesick. I've realized that college isn't for me."

"Nels," said Eleanor. "Do you know what this family went through to send you to school? You are so close. Nels how can you give up now?"

"The truth is that I haven't been happy for quite a while," he replied. "Things aren't the same this time around. My old friends have graduated, and well I'm older. It's different. In fact I think the only reason I've stayed in school for this long is because of Harriet."

"You mean, she told you to stay in school?" said Eleanor with some interest.

"Not exactly," he said. "It was because I know if I left school I wouldn't see her. And then of course I began courting her."

"I see," said Eleanor icily. "It's clear to me what has happened here: You've been distracted by Harriet. God blessed you with a second chance to get your education, and you're willing to throw it away for a woman!"

"Not just any woman. The woman I love and want to marry," Nels declared.

Eleanor put her other cheek in her other hand. "If only you could have finished school earlier…" she trailed off.

"But I couldn't," said Nels. "And I've done a lot of growing up in the years I wasn't in school."

"Not enough apparently," said Eleanor, "or else you wouldn't do something as foolish as to leave school in your final term!"

Nels buried his head in his hands.

"Does your Pa know?" Eleanor asked.

"Yes," said Nels looking up. "I had meant to tell you two together, but Pa overhead by accident when Harriet and I were talking. I asked him to tell you, but he told me I had to do it myself."

"As is right," said Eleanor. "You must take responsibility for your actions, Nels. And let me tell you Nels, if you leave college now you will make a huge mistake. In fact you will ruin your life if you marry Harriet."

Nels stood up stiffly. "Ma, I think it would be best if we spent some hours apart," he said. And he left the room.

Nelson Sr. rushed into the room a few moments later. "Goodness, Ellie, what did you say to our son?"

"I told him he would ruin his life if he left college to marry Harriet."

"Eleanor!"

"Well Nelson," she said walking to the window, "It's true. I think I could understand if it was a different kind of woman. But a woman like Harriet! She is proud, persnickety, and vain! She is precisely the opposite of the type of woman I want for Nels. How can a woman like that uphold the values we have taught Nels? She will spoil their children rotten!"

"But Nels loves her, and she loves, him," said Nelson.

"Love is not enough to build a marriage on, Nelson."

"No," he agreed "But it's the foundation of a marriage. Nels has brought home some very kind women, but he hasn't loved any of them. Harriet brings out something in Nels that those others women can't."

"I know," Eleanor admitted. "And I don't understand it. How can he love a woman like that?"

Nelson came and put his arms around Eleanor. "Why question it?" he said. "Love is strange sometimes."

"But what of his schooling? Why would he want to leave now?"

"You know he hasn't been happy ever since he returned. Thinking back on it now I think he only went to college in the first place to make us happy. But I don't think he ever wanted that business degree."

"Maybe you're right," Eleanor admitted. "I guess I did put a lot of pressure on him. We're not rich, but we're comfortable and we've worked hard to get to where we are. I wanted him to have the chance you didn't."

"But it's not for him," said Nelson. "Whatever Nels ends up doing, it will be something he can do without college."

"I guess so," said Eleanor. Nelson patted her shoulder and left her to her thoughts.

Eleanor looked out the looking-glass window and watched Harriet and Nels walk by, making footprints in the snow. Nels did not smile and wave at her as he usually would. The couple walked arm-in-arm while Eleanor watched, deep in thought.

Nels, I want you to be happy. My only fear is that if you marry Harriet, you will fight her at every turn. Is the love you two share strong enough to withstand the trials of marriage?

Eleanor did not come around that day, but she would come around before the wedding.