A Land to Call Home by Lauraine Snelling Read Free Book Online Page A

and use it during the winter.”
    Ingeborg shook her head. “How can you do that and a barn too?” She ignored his muttered “house.” “As I’ve said fifty times, all those extra cattle we bought need a place out of the cold.”
    “Ja, but we could do that with a roofed corral.” He looked up at Lars, the look clearly saying “help me.”
    “I’m thinking we should set the boys to splitting shingles, and we could help them in the evenings. The barn will give us more room for indoor work this winter. We could keep one end of it fora workshop.” Lars winked at Ingeborg. “Maybe even build you two women a loom.”
    “So you agree with me, then?” Ingeborg shot a triumphant smile at her husband. She waited for his answer.
    Haakan threw his hands in the air. “I give up. Try to give you something you want so dearly and you refuse. There will be no more discussion about building a frame house—this year.”
    “The cattle are more important. They bring in money.” Ingeborg pointedly ignored his last statement.
    “And you don’t?” Both eyebrows disappeared under the shock of wheaten hair falling on his forehead. But the smile they shared buried their stubbornness in love.
    After the plates were soaking in an enameled pan on the stove, Ingeborg picked up the now nodding Andrew and nestled him against her shoulder. “I’ll be going after geese again this evening, but Thorliff can watch him.” She laid a hand on the drowsy child’s back.
    “No, bring him over.” Kaaren smiled at the picture they made, with Ingeborg dressed in her britches and a shirt she’d cut down from the clothes of her first husband, Roald, who had died in a snowstorm during the blizzard and flu epidemic of 1882. Even though Kaaren hated to see her sister-in-law dressed like a man, she’d come to appreciate the greater freedom it gave her, especially in the woods and fields. Ingeborg’s golden crown of braids made her look like a queen in spite of her man’s clothing.
    “You know, after the baby is born, I might think of making some britches myself.”
    “Kaaren!” The shock on Lars’ face made the joke well worthwhile.
    “Just teasing.” She gave him that special smile she reserved just for him. His return smile, accompanied by a wink, made her breath catch in her throat. God, thank you again for this man you sent me. Thank you for healing his foot and for the babe we share. When she caught her breath the second time, it was for an entirely different reason. That baby had more kicking power than Jack the mule.
    “I will see you later, then.” Ingeborg strode out the door, her broad-brimmed man’s hat clapped on her head.
    “Mange takk for maten,” Haakan said as he leaped to his feet and, grabbing his hat off the peg by the door, followed his wife outside. “Here, Inge, let me carry him.” The two older boys scamperedout the door yelling “thank you” over their shoulders. Thorliff’s “Far, wait for me” floated back on the breeze as the screen door slammed.
    Kaaren smiled again at her husband. “Life surely is different around here, thanks to you two.”
    Lars reached above and behind him to bring her face down for a kiss. “I thank my God every day for my life here.” He kissed her again, inhaling deeply. “How come you always smell so good?”
    “It’s the egge kake you smell.”
    “No, it’s you. Soap and roses and fresh air and you. Only God can make a perfume like that.”
    Kaaren could feel herself blush. Every once in a while this man talked like a poet or a dreamer, making her heart ache with the joy of it. Sometimes she felt she could burst from the sheer wonder of loving him and his loving her. “God is good,” was all she could say around the lump in her throat.
    “Make sure you listen for the riverboat. Solveig should be here either today or tomorrow. Remember, if you need me, ring the triangle.” He rose, drained his coffee mug, and reached for his hat all in one smooth motion.
    “Listen