From This Day Forward (Song of Blessing Book #4) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Lauraine Snelling

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155 pages

English

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Revisit Old Friends in Blessing in This Heartwarming Series ConclusionDeborah MacCallister, head nurse at the Blessing hospital, has loved Toby Valders since her school days, but she's had enough of their on-again, off-again relationship. Toby truly cares for Deborah, but he's never felt like he could commit to marriage or a family.When Anton Genddarm, the new schoolteacher, comes to town, the young women of Blessing see a chance to force Toby's hand with a little strategic matchmaking. But real sparks fly between Deborah and Anton, and she finds herself in an even more complicated situation. The attention she gets from Anton makes Toby do some serious soul-searching, but is it too late?Then Deborah receives an invitation to study the latest advances in nursing at a hospital in Chicago, and she faces a hard choice. To leave or stay? Should she give up on the dream of Toby and accept the interest of Anton?

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Historical romance

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	04 octobre 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441230607
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2016 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 2016
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 Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3060-7
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 Agency
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Bjorklund Family Tree
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Books by Lauraine Snelling
Back Ads
Back Cover
Bjorklund Family Tree
Ch apter 1

W hen will it be my turn?” Deborah MacCallister paused to sniff a spray of lilac. Heavenly!
Ingeborg Bjorklund looked up from the abundance of lilacs she was arranging in a bucket, her second, to set by the door to the sanctuary of Blessing Lutheran Church. “Ah, Deborah, what makes you say that?”
Deborah reached for another lilac branch to insert into the vases she was filling for the altar. “All the others have married but for me. Some even twice, like Sophie and now Anji. I . . . I always dreamed of being married, and look at me, an old maid.”
“And you are how old?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Only twenty-five and you are the supervising nurse at the hospital. That’s a lot of responsibility, and certainly more than your fair share of drama and excitement. So many girls dream of that.”
Deborah laughed. “True. And you know I love my job.” Oops. Here was a ladybug among the leaves. She certainly did not belong in the church. Deborah seized her with two fingers and gently carried her to the door. Ingeborg was right that she led an exciting and useful life. But Ingeborg did not know how Deborah really felt, deep down inside.
The community considered her a member of the Solberg family, and most of the time, she did too. And yet, not really. Not like their natural children.
Ingeborg was right, but in a way she was wrong too. She talked about drama as if it were always a good thing; it was not, not always. Oh my, no. When Deborah’s pa and Manda and Baptiste went to Montana all those many years ago, leaving half the family behind, that was dramatic but not good. How many nights did Deborah lie in bed, wishing her pa would come back to take over the ranch again?
Deborah scissored out a dead twig that was spoiling the bouquet. Drama? Dear Zeb MacCallister stopping by a soddy dug into a hill near the Missouri River, probably hoping for a meal, only to find two young girls with no parents in sight. That was drama. Zeb did his best for the orphans. When he married Katy Bjorklund and they adopted Deborah and her sister, it was almost like having a whole family again.
That was it, right there. Whenever she thought of those years, deep in her heart, that was what she wanted. Love and laughter and good hard work to build that ranch.
But then Katy died and the light went out of the world for Zeb. And then the circus brought disease to town and people died. Why did drama and heartbreak so often go hand in hand?
“There now, how is that?” A smile trembled on Deborah’s lips as she pointed to the explosion of purple and white that filled the vase to bursting with spring. With a bouquet on either side of the white-painted traditional Norwegian altar, and more on the side railings, spring and joy danced together.
Ingeborg cocked her head, studying it. “So lovely. I always think spring is my favorite season, and then fall slips in with the painting of the leaves and the cooler weather, and I think fall is my favorite. And of course I love summer too, with the garden and the berries.”
“And the white and sparkles of winter, until it drags on too long and sends one more blizzard and we all dream of spring.” Deborah gathered up the few remaining stems of lilac.
“We humans are so funny, I often think God must just shake His head and chuckle; but sometimes, especially with the children, I can see Him laughing in love.”
Deborah watched Ingeborg. “You really see Him, don’t you?”
“In my mind, I guess I do.” Ingeborg seemed to smile at an invisible Father. “God has become so real to me through the years.”
“Was it always this way?”
“No, I don’t think so. I have believed in Him since I was little, but learning to accept His love and guidance, to trust Him with all that I am, has grown through the years. Now I want to walk right beside Him, seeking His face like He tells us. I think of Inga and how when you are walking with her, she is either pulling ahead to see something, or dragging behind to study something else she found. I think we are all like that, and I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to walk right beside Him, looking up to see His face and letting Him do the leading.”
“Trust is a big word, isn’t it?”
“Ja, it is. It is so human to want to go our own way and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, God, please bless what I am doing.’” She wagged her head, smiling at the young woman who was watching her so seriously. “Dearest Deborah, you have grown up with a wise man for a substitute father, and he and I have learned to believe this way.”
Deborah nodded. “Almost losing Johnny last summer was terribly hard on him. In fact, I wonder if sometimes his faith wavered. There were many nights he didn’t sleep while he and Mary Martha kept vigil at the hospital. We all prayed so hard.”
“I know you were a big help with the younger children.”
“When I wasn’t on night duty. That is one problem with being a nurse.”
“Patients need round-the-clock care. And being the supervisor, I know, just adds to it. You have to fill in if someone else can’t be there.”
“I am grateful that doesn’t happen often. But with that diphtheria epidemic, I was so afraid more of our people would come down with it. The wisdom of Astrid and Elizabeth and their contacts with the hospital in Chicago are what saved the rest of us, and getting that antitoxin here so quickly.” Deborah heaved a sigh. “I learned so much, but then I am always learning something new.”
“So true. We all are.” Ingeborg stood up straighter. “But back to your situation. I’m not going to call it a problem, just something for God to work out.”
“Seems like a problem to me.” Deborah picked up some leaves and blossoms that had fallen to the floor. “But today I will be glad for Anji and Mr. Devlin—er, rather, Reverend Devlin.” She frowned. “That seems stiff. Does that church call their pastors Reverend or Mister or what?”
“I heard John say that some are called Rector .”
“Rector?” Deborah’s eyebrows disappeared into the fringe that curved over her forehead. “I heard some ministers are called Father .”
“That is the Catholic faith. The Jews are called Rabbi .”
“This can get confusing.” Deborah looked around the sanctuary. “I think we are all done here. At least the blossoms will stay nice for church tomorrow.” She inhaled. “And the whole sanctuary smells heavenly.” She looked at the lilacs in her hand. “I’m going to put these as a bouquet on Ma’s table.”
“Good idea! Mary Martha does love flowers. We’d better hurry.” Ingeborg looked around the big room one more time, and then gently closed the doors.
Three hours until the wedding started.

“Now remember, you children will be sitting right in the front row of the sanctuary, so no fidgeting during the ceremony. Understand?” Anji Moen stared right at Annika, her youngest.
Melissa, her eldest, who had just turned eleven, said, “Don’t worry, we’ll all be right there too, and Annika will sit by me, right?”
Annika nodded. “I’ll be good.” She twirled to enjoy her new dress. “How come my dress is pink and Melissa’s dress is yellow?”
“Because this is spring and these are spring colors. And yours is really peach.”
“I like mine better.”
Melissa rolled her eyes, just barely putting up with her five-year-old sister. “Let me tie your bow again. Twirling like that made it get tangled.” She grasped Annika’s shoulder.
“Ouch! Ma, Lissa is being mean.”
At Anji’s feet, her younger sister, Rebecca Valders, tugged at Anji’s skirt. “There. I sure don’t know how that hem got so crooked.” Rebecca stood and set the pincushion on the table by the window.
“Ma is like me, she can’t stand still either.” Annika giggled with her hands over her mouth.
Gilbert, Anji’s son, who would turn ten next month, wandered into the bedroom. “Do we have to call Mr. Devlin Pa ?”
“That would be proper.”
“But we already have a pa, or rather we had one. Do you think he’s watching us from heaven? What if he doesn’t want you to get married again and us to leave Blessing? He liked being in Blessing better than Norway.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I heard him say that one day. He and some lady had an argument.”
“Gilbert, the things you come up with.”
“Where is Joseph?” Rebecca asked. Joseph had been born between Gilbert and Annika.
“Out playing with Benny.”
“Out playing where? I told you all to stay in the house so you could keep clean.” Anji turned to her sister. “Can you go call him?”
“Them, you mean.” Rebecca looked up at the clock. “I’ll send Joseph back in and then get dressed. Lissa, can