Read Online A Harvest of Hope by Lauraine Snelling - Free Book Online Page A

“Still lots to go, huh?”
    â€œYou’d better be glad we didn’t ask you to come help,” Samuel teased.
    â€œWe didn’t have to bring the cookies.”
    Several of the men chuckled. Andrew took the last cookie. “Is Carl at Knutsons’ or over at Grandma’s?”
    â€œGrandma’s. He and Manny are hauling more pumpkins and squash in from the garden. But they’d rather be fishing.”
    â€œWho wouldn’t?” Andrew heaved a sigh. “Better get back at it. Takk, ladies.”
    The girls headed back toward the house, and the men returned to work. They stopped when the cows began lining up at the barn.
    â€œThey’re as good as an alarm clock.” Andrew stuck his shovel upright back in the dirt.
    â€œThanks for the help.” Trygve was the last to climb out. With Samuel back, he could bypass the milking, but right now milking sounded like a nice reprieve.
    The triangle rang at Tante Ingeborg’s. Her voice carried faintly across the field: “Coffee’s ready.”
    As if under orders all five men made a direct line across the field to the Bjorklund house. The fragrance of apple pie welcomed them to the porch.
    â€œHave a seat and we’ll bring it out.” Ingeborg, with the two little girls, returned with plates of apple pie topped by slices of cheese and cups and coffee. “I figured the cows could wait a few more minutes.”
    Andrew raised his plate. “You’re so right.” One of the cows bellowed as if on cue, making them all laugh.
    â€œHow come I wasn’t invited to the party?” Lars, on his way down to the barn, stopped at the first step.
    â€œDidn’t see you out there, that’s why.” Andrew drained his coffee cup. “I’ll go let ’em in. Onkel Lars, you can have my seat.” He stood up and laid his empty dish aside.
    â€œTakk, but I’ll go get milking. Someone has to take pity on the poor cows.” He ambled off toward the barn.
    Trygve watched him go. Work. These men knew hard work, and the women did too, just as much. Would Miriam, a city girl, fit into this life of constant work?
    She would, he was certain. She would be a fine addition to the family.
    Now to convince her.

Chapter 7
    T omorrow she would be back in Blessing.
    Miriam stared out at the blackness broken up by small towns and dotted by farms. Trygve’s last letter, which came just before she was to leave, said the wheat harvest was finishing and the threshing crew would disband. He said Ingeborg had “sad eyes,” as Inga called them. Tears were close to the surface for many in Blessing. Haakan was terribly missed.
    Miriam leaned her head back against the seat. Oh, she understood tears. Would they ever cease? Would the hole in her heart eventually heal? On one hand, she knew it would, and on the other . . . But when? Mrs. Korsheski had reminded her that healing would take time, and hard work would help. Miriam knew the woman understood whereof she spoke. She had lost both mother and husband in the last couple of years. Her children were grown. She dreamed of going to visit them all one day, since many of them lived other places.
    The thought of someday having children of her own reminded her again of the man who insisted he loved her. How could someone really know love as quickly as he’d said he did? With the clacking wheels, her mind wandered back to the early years when her father was still alive and they lived in a real house, not a tenement. Back to the days of laughter, with their fatherteasing his wife and throwing whatever child was a baby up in the air, and them all laughing. Laughing! Had the latter years killed the laughter, or was it the unrelenting poverty?
    She, at least, had been ahead in school and was able to finish. But Tonio hadn’t. As each of them reached an age where they could find work that brought in money, they’d quit school. Now, finally, the two