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Baker Publishing Group - Lauraine Snelling

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195 pages

English

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Though she has known hardships in her life, Ingeborg Bjorklund chooses to focus on all she has been given. Blessed with children and grandchildren, she enjoys the friendship and support of the entire Blessing, North Dakota, community. And after several years of widowhood, she has reached a place of contentment with her life.Meanwhile, her stepson Thorliff is raising two children alone since his beloved Elizabeth died. But there is a new schoolteacher in town, Louisa Gutenburg, and Thorliff doesn't seem to be himself whenever she's around. It isn't just his obvious fascination with Louisa, but the fact that he seems completely oblivious to it that makes Ingeborg smile. How long before Thorliff realizes what everyone else can see a mile away?But not everything is comfortable for Ingeborg. One of her dearest friendships is changing--and she will have to decide if her settled, predictable life is worth more to her than a future she hardly dares to imagine.

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Historical fiction

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	21 juillet 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493422838
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0384€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Lauraine Snelling
A Blessing to Cherish
U NDER N ORTHERN S KIES
The Promise of Dawn
A Breath of Hope
A Season of Grace
A Song of Joy
S ONG OF B LESSING
To Everything a Season
A Harvest of Hope
Streams of Mercy
From This Day Forward
An Untamed Heart
R ED R IVER OF THE N ORTH
An Untamed Land
A New Day Rising
A Land to Call Home
The Reapers’ Song
Tender Mercies
Blessing in Disguise
R ETURN TO R ED R IVER
A Dream to Follow
Believing the Dream
More Than a Dream
D AUGHTERS OF B LESSING
A Promise for Ellie
Sophie’s Dilemma
A Touch of Grace
Rebecca’s Reward
H OME TO B LESSING
A Measure of Mercy
No Distance Too Far
A Heart for Home
W ILD W EST W IND
Valley of Dreams
Whispers in the Wind
A Place to Belong
D AKOTAH T REASURES
Ruby • Pearl
Opal • Amethyst
S ECRET R EFUGE
Daughter of Twin Oaks
Sisters of the Confederacy
The Long Way Home
A Secret Refuge 3-in-1
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2020 by Lauraine Snelling
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936848
ISBN 978-1-4934-2283-8
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Dan Thornberg, Design Source Creative Services
Author is represented by Books & Such Literary Management.
Dedication
I dedicate A Blessing to Cherish to three women who have held big places in my life, both in writing and in living.
First to my mother, Thelma Moe Clauson Sommerseth, who lived the example for me of loving unconditionally. Her sister, Inga Detschman, lived her life with joy and saw the good side of life and all that is living. Ingeborg grew from these two women.
The third worked on these books with me from word one and, like the two above, has gone on to glory. Sharon Asmus, my editor at Bethany House, helped in more ways than she probably realized with ideas, story wisdom, and constant encouragement. While she kept so much information on her computer, her brain held far more. When she was no longer here, I was almost hesitant to keep going on this series without her.
God gives us people in our lives for so many reasons and so many blessings. I rejoice in these gifts.
Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Books by Lauraine Snelling
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
A Letter from the Author
Where Are They Now?
About the Author
Back Ads
Cover Flaps
Back Cover
Chapter 1

A PRIL 1913
G randma, tell us a story.”
Ingeborg Bjorklund loved that request, because she had so many to tell. “Which one would you like?”
Inga and Emmy, both in their usual position on the porch floor, grinned at each other and nodded. “The one where you met Mr. Gould.” The two girls, one nearly white-blond, the other dark of hair and eyes due to her Sioux heritage, wore white aprons over their faded summer shifts, their crossed legs giving them something to prop their elbows on. The back porch, in the shade of the cottonwood tree, was their favorite summer gathering place.
“You’ve heard that story so many times.” Sitting on the two-person porch swing, Ingeborg shook her head, her smile so full of love for these two girls that her face no doubt glowed. She wore her deep golden hair, now bearing streaks of silver, braided and wrapped around her head like a crown.
“But I haven’t.” Thorliff, her elder son, sat on the top step, leaning against the porch post with his arms crossed over his bent knee. He grinned at his daughter and her best friend. “Good choice.” He winked at the man in question, who sat on the porch rail behind the swing. “Don’t you think so, Mr. Gould?”
“Oh, I most certainly do,” David Gould agreed.
Ingeborg could feel his teasing gaze on the back of her neck. Leave it to these girls. “Should I begin with ‘Once upon a time’?”
“How about ‘A long time ago in a city far away’?” Gould offered.
Refusing to let him fluster her, Ingeborg continued. “All right, a long time ago in a city far away, a young woman, newly immigrated from Norway, was searching the streets of New York City for the way back to the docks where her son had accidentally stolen an apple and she had promised to pay for it. She now had the penny in her reticule, but by this time she was hopelessly lost. The streets and sidewalks were covered in slush, and a cold wind sneaked through her coat, so she was cold all through. The docks were not within sight, and she had no idea how to find her way back to the boardinghouse where her family was waiting to board a train to North Dakota. She knew if she started crying, she would melt into a puddle of tears, but what could she do? She waited on a street corner, trying to decide which way to go. Since she spoke little English, she could not ask for directions or read the street signs.”
“Why didn’t her husband go with her?” Thorliff asked. “Or just take the penny himself?”
“She snuck out while he was gone, because he said she was foolish to want to do such a thing and she should let it go.” Her voice hardened even after all these years. “She was mighty upset with him.”
“But maybe he was right. After all, a penny.” Thorliff, the boy who had stolen the apple, shifted his weight against the porch post.
Inga turned and shook her head at her father. “Shh, Pa, let Grandma tell her story.”
He held up both hands, palms out. “Sorry. Just need to get my facts straight.”
“You’re not interviewing her for a story for your newspaper, you know,” Inga said, her tone scolding.
“I don’t know. I think I have an idea beginning to stir.” He nodded slowly as he spoke.
Ingeborg stared at her son. The excitement on his face confirmed something was bubbling behind his Bjorklund-blue eyes.
“Come on, Grandma, back to your story,” Emmy urged.
“Now, where was I?”
“Lost in New York City in a snowstorm,” Gould answered.
“I finally decided which direction to go, but just as I stepped forward, someone bumped me, and I started falling into the street. Suddenly two strong hands grabbed my upper arms, and a man lifted me right back up on the sidewalk. Without thinking, I said, ‘Takk,’ and he answered, ‘You are welcome’ in Norwegian. I looked up into the man’s face and stuttered, ‘How do you know Norwegian?’”
Gould chimed in. “And he said, ‘That’s a long story, miss, but my nanny taught me.’ I half-carried her back to the protection of the building, because every time she put her weight on her foot, she started to collapse again.”
Both girls stared at him, their mouths in matching O formations.
“And so the charming young man hailed a cab and helped me up into the carriage. He asked where I needed to go, and I told him the docks to find the apple vendor to pay him what I owed.”
“And did you find him?” Thorliff asked.
“We did. Mr. Gould tried to ignore my penny, but I insisted and . . .”
“And, polite young man that I was, I took her penny and paid the vendor, who sputtered and tried to refuse. But I was so disgusted that this young woman was out on the streets alone that I would have stuffed it down his gullet. I wanted to take her to the hospital to make sure her foot was not broken, but she insisted that it was just sprained and would be better in no time.”
“I knew it wasn’t broken, but it sure did hurt and was swelling up like a balloon. We should have gathered some of that snow and packed it around my foot.”
Gould moved from the porch railing to sit next to her on the swing.
Ingeborg continued, “Instead he hired that hack to drive us around the city, and he showed me all these wonderfully huge buildings and parks and even a college, and I was so amazed. I could have ridden around like that forever, but I gave him the address of the boardinghouse and asked him to take me there.”
“I did so reluctantly. I considered taking her to my home and calling for a doctor to come look at her foot, but she was getting frantic to get back, so I did as she asked. When we got to the boardinghouse, two young men came striding up the sidewalk. I helped her out of the carriage, and she introduced me to her husband and his brother. Her husband was really put out with her, hardly even civil in his thanks to me. After the introduction, she hobbled over to the entry and went inside.”
“I about collapsed just inside the door, but the woman who owned the boardinghouse took pity on me and helped me up to our rooms.”
“That was Grandpa Roald, right?” Inga asked.
Ingeborg nodded. “Right. He was Thorliff’s father.”
“You snitched an apple?” Inga stared at her pa.
Thorliff shrugged. “I would never have stolen anything, but some boys who were playing there grabbed apples off the cart and tossed one to me. I was so proud I caught it, and oh, it tasted so good. And then I looked up, and my new mother was coming after me with fury on her face. You see, she had told me to stay in one place because she had to go back for something, and I disobeyed and followed those boys, who had invited me to play.”
“I thought I had lost him for good,” Ingeborg said, “and I could have paddled his behind, but I was so thankful to have him back that I hugged him instea