Read Online Roberta: Bride of Wisconsin (American Mail-Order Bride 30) by Kirsten Osbourne - Free Book Online
Book: Roberta: Bride of Wisconsin (American Mail-Order Bride 30) by Kirsten Osbourne
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Kirsten Osbourne
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, Saga, Family Life, Western, Short-Story, Religious, Christian, Inspirational, Bachelor, matchmaker, Marriage of Convenience, Wisconsin, Faith, widower, victorian era, independence, Forever Love, Single Woman, Fifty-Books, Forty-Five Authors, Newspaper Ad, American Mail-Order Bride, Factory Burned, Pioneer, Single Father, Deceased Wife, Thirtieth In Series, Problems, Two Boys, Differences, Loveless Marriage
Ads: Link
the picnic lunch she'd promised the boys ready. It was late October already, and the weather was getting nippy. It would probably be their last chance for a picnic before the snow started to fall. She'd heard many things about the cold Wisconsin winters, but really, she couldn't imagine how they could be worse than Massachusetts.
She fried a chicken, wrapping it in a napkin and slipping it into the picnic hamper she'd found in the basement. She added lemonade, potato salad, and several cookies. She knew the boys would be happy with the cookies. She folded a quilt over the top of the basket, and set a ball she'd found beside it. Maybe the boys could play, and she and Jakob could get to know one another better while they did.
She hoped he remembered telling her he'd take her for a drive, because it hadn't been mentioned again, but she really did want to see the area as well as get to know her new family better.
She walked into church, holding Jakob's arm. He wanted it to appear as if they had a normal marriage when they were in public, and she liked the idea of holding onto his arm. He introduced her to many of the people there, but she already knew a few. Mr. Jensen from the general store greeted her when he saw her, and of course Bertha came over and introduced her husband.
"How do you know Mrs. Berthelot?" Jakob asked.
"We were on the train together on the way here. When my friend, Sarah, got off the train in Colby, I was more than a little distraught, and she comforted me." Bobbie didn't want to admit that seeing her best friend go had affected her so, but it was the truth. She would give her husband nothing less than the truth. Ever.
He took her to a pew off to the right side of the church, and they sat down together, the boys on either side of them. Lukas leaned toward her and whispered, "I get to sit next to my new frog- mutter ."
"Stop calling me that," she whispered back, determined to make the boy remember she hated the nickname.
"I can't. That's what you are."
They stood and sang the songs in the hymnal, Jakob sharing hers with her, singing the songs in his deep booming voice, acting as if he was following along with the words. She knew he couldn't read the words in the hymnal, but he must have memorized them after years of going to church there.
The sermon was different than what she was used to. Her pastor back in Massachusetts had preferred to talk of God's promises and their hope for the future, while the pastor in Wisconsin talked of nothing but hellfire and damnation. He asked them all to examine their lives and ask themselves whether they would be with God in the afterlife or with Satan himself.
Bobbie missed her pastor back home, but she said nothing.
After the sermon, they talked again to others, and Jakob introduced her to more people. He traded fishing stories with an older man, and Bobbie waited, more than a little impatiently for their promised drive and picnic.
When he was ready to leave, they rounded up the boys, and headed for the buggy. "You do remember you said we could go for a drive and a picnic today."
He nodded. "I do. We'll drive along the lake for a bit, and then I thought we'd head south. Some of the farms in the area are beautiful and definitely worth looking at. We're proud of our state here."
"As you should be. Everything I've seen has been beautiful."
"Wait 'til you see our lake," he promised.
He drove straight north, knowing that Superior was in the curve of Lake Superior. Once they reached the shoreline, he took the road west, letting her gape at the huge lake. "That looks almost exactly like the ocean! That's a lake?"
He laughed. "That's Lake Superior. It's the largest freshwater lake in the world. You didn't know you were living right on Lake Superior now?"
She shook her head. "Every time you've mentioned the lake, I imagined a small lake where we could go and swim. This is massive. And beautiful."
He smiled at her, thrilled to show her something new. He didn't know
She fried a chicken, wrapping it in a napkin and slipping it into the picnic hamper she'd found in the basement. She added lemonade, potato salad, and several cookies. She knew the boys would be happy with the cookies. She folded a quilt over the top of the basket, and set a ball she'd found beside it. Maybe the boys could play, and she and Jakob could get to know one another better while they did.
She hoped he remembered telling her he'd take her for a drive, because it hadn't been mentioned again, but she really did want to see the area as well as get to know her new family better.
She walked into church, holding Jakob's arm. He wanted it to appear as if they had a normal marriage when they were in public, and she liked the idea of holding onto his arm. He introduced her to many of the people there, but she already knew a few. Mr. Jensen from the general store greeted her when he saw her, and of course Bertha came over and introduced her husband.
"How do you know Mrs. Berthelot?" Jakob asked.
"We were on the train together on the way here. When my friend, Sarah, got off the train in Colby, I was more than a little distraught, and she comforted me." Bobbie didn't want to admit that seeing her best friend go had affected her so, but it was the truth. She would give her husband nothing less than the truth. Ever.
He took her to a pew off to the right side of the church, and they sat down together, the boys on either side of them. Lukas leaned toward her and whispered, "I get to sit next to my new frog- mutter ."
"Stop calling me that," she whispered back, determined to make the boy remember she hated the nickname.
"I can't. That's what you are."
They stood and sang the songs in the hymnal, Jakob sharing hers with her, singing the songs in his deep booming voice, acting as if he was following along with the words. She knew he couldn't read the words in the hymnal, but he must have memorized them after years of going to church there.
The sermon was different than what she was used to. Her pastor back in Massachusetts had preferred to talk of God's promises and their hope for the future, while the pastor in Wisconsin talked of nothing but hellfire and damnation. He asked them all to examine their lives and ask themselves whether they would be with God in the afterlife or with Satan himself.
Bobbie missed her pastor back home, but she said nothing.
After the sermon, they talked again to others, and Jakob introduced her to more people. He traded fishing stories with an older man, and Bobbie waited, more than a little impatiently for their promised drive and picnic.
When he was ready to leave, they rounded up the boys, and headed for the buggy. "You do remember you said we could go for a drive and a picnic today."
He nodded. "I do. We'll drive along the lake for a bit, and then I thought we'd head south. Some of the farms in the area are beautiful and definitely worth looking at. We're proud of our state here."
"As you should be. Everything I've seen has been beautiful."
"Wait 'til you see our lake," he promised.
He drove straight north, knowing that Superior was in the curve of Lake Superior. Once they reached the shoreline, he took the road west, letting her gape at the huge lake. "That looks almost exactly like the ocean! That's a lake?"
He laughed. "That's Lake Superior. It's the largest freshwater lake in the world. You didn't know you were living right on Lake Superior now?"
She shook her head. "Every time you've mentioned the lake, I imagined a small lake where we could go and swim. This is massive. And beautiful."
He smiled at her, thrilled to show her something new. He didn't know
Similar Books
