Read Online An Untamed Land by Lauraine Snelling - Free Book Online Page B

porridge, like on the ship.”
    “Now, you must be grateful for all our food.” Roald disentangled his leg. “God is good to give us what we need.”
    “Ja, I will.” Thorliff let loose and, bowing his head, sneaked his thumb into his mouth.
    “Only babies suck their thumb,” Roald thundered like the voice of God himself.
    Thorliff whipped the thumb behind him and buried his chin in his sweater.
    “I brought something else.” Carl drew his hand from behind his back, a hand that held a steaming pitcher.
    “Coffee. I thought I smelled it but didn’t trust my nose.” Kaaren held out her hands. “Here, let me pour.”
    Ingeborg rummaged in one of the satchels and withdrew the cups they’d used on the ship. Eggs, bread, coffee, and milk with real cream—a veritable feast. Thanking God for their food was certainly easier today than it had been on board the ship.
    As soon as their feast was set before them, Roald bowed his head and offered grace. His mumbled “I Jesu navn går vi til bords . . .” stampeded to a close. They fell to as if they hadn’t eaten for days.
    Ingeborg looked up at Roald from under her eyelashes. Dare she ask him again if he would pay the grocer? He seemed in a good mood at the moment. She wiped her mouth on her handkerchief and tried to find either the words or the air to speak. Neither came to mind or being.
    She felt akin to a child lost in the fog and hoped it wasn’t a portend of things to come. Ingeborg squared her shoulders. She would find a way. She would keep her word and pay the man. Please, God, don’t let Roald come back before I do. For if he asked her, she could not lie to her husband, no matter how angry he might become. She shuddered at the memory of the glaring look on his face when he thought she’d lost Thorliff.
    But he hadn’t said she couldn’t go. He had just said he wouldn’t. The thought consoled her as she nibbled at her last crust of bread. Strange how it didn’t taste quite as good now.
    When the men left, promising to be back as soon as possible, she cleaned up their crumbs and rinsed out the cups. Then settling Thorliff next to Kaaren for a story, Ingeborg donned her black wool coat, tucked a blue muffler around her neck and, bending over to see in the mirror, pinned her bit of a hat on top of her head. She tucked her braids into a bun at the base of her skull so her hat wouldn’t look like a sail in full wind. All the time she bustled around, she could feel Kaaren’s gaze penetrating her back.
    “Just don’t say anything.” Ingeborg nodded toward Thorliff, who had watched all the goings-on with curious eyes.
    “Can I go?” Thorliff asked the question as if he already knew the answer to be no.
    “Not right now, den lille. Maybe later. Tante Kaaren will tell you about the boy who got thrown down the well for teasing his brothers.”
    “Will you?” Thorliff snuggled closer to his aunt’s side.
    “Ja, I will.”
    Kaaren’s eyes were so full of concern that, for just a moment, Ingeborg wavered. But only momentarily. She checked her pockets for her mittens and then opened the door before she lost her courage.
    “You do as Tante Kaaren says, now,” she instructed Thorliff. Ingeborg straightened her back and walked out the door as if shewere on the way to a firing squad and square shoulders might earn her a reprieve.
    When she stepped down onto the snowy sidewalk, she turned left and began retracing her steps from the day before. If only she had paid more attention to all the turns they had made. But surely, finding the Castle Garden again wouldn’t be difficult. She looked up at a word on the signpost at the corner. If only she could read it. Glancing back up the block to the boardinghouse, she imprinted the scene in her mind. All she had to do was find Castle Garden, walk to the grocer, pay him, and return to this street. That was all.
    An hour later, with no Castle Garden in sight, she wondered if Roald had not been right. Was paying the grocer