Robin Lee Hatcher by Promised to Me Read Free Book Online Page A

do? He couldn’t go on like this. In a few more weeks, the first cutting of alfalfa would be ready. He couldn’t be out in the fields from dawn to dusk and tend to the children, too. He’d have to have help.
    If he hadn’t spent all that money to bring Karola from Germany …
    Wait a minute. He stopped suddenly. She owes me.
    He’d paid for her steamship passage and train fare with the understanding that she would become his wife upon arrival. He’d even done the honorable thing when he learned she hadn’t received the letter that detailed what had happened to him in recent years—he’d offered to pay her way back to Germany. But she’d refused that offer. She’d refused to go home, while at the same time refusing to marry him. It seemed to him that she got exactly what she’d wanted—to live in America. And he was the one who’d paid for her to have that privilege.
    Oh, yes. She owed him plenty.

Chapter Six

    H ave you asked God what he wants you to do?” Her mother’s question continued to plague Karola throughout that first night at the Shadow Creek Hotel, and the answer, when it came, brought her no comfort.
    Not only hadn’t she asked God what he wanted her to do before she came to America, she hadn’t asked him what he wanted her to do in years. When was the last time she’d prayed— really prayed? Not the liturgical prayers repeated as part of a Sunday morning service along with the rest of the congregation, but a heartfelt petition to the Lord.
    Years.
    As dawn pinkened the cloud-spattered eastern horizon and the sky began to change from pewter to blue, Karola stared out the window at the sleepy town’s main street.
    “O God, when did I let it happen? When did you become just another obligation in my life instead of my Lord and Comforter?”
    The waning of her faith hadn’t happened overnight, she realized. It hadn’t been a conscious turning away from the God of her father and mother. It had taken time and disappointment and resentment. It had taken pride and stubbornness. Mostly, it had taken neglect. She had ignored God, except for Sundays, and even that had been because it was expected of her to be in church, not because she’d gone to worship him.
    Fighting tears of regret and shame, Karola closed her eyes. “Forgive me, Father God. Forgive me for my pride and selfishness and willfulness. Show me what to do now, Lord. I cannot take charity from Mr. Gaffney for long. I must find work and a place to live. Guide me, I pray, and keep me close. Do not allow me to stray ever again.” She sat very still for a long while before she made the sign of the cross, whispered, “Amen,” and opened her eyes.
    Across the street, just west of the Lutheran church, she saw a man, black bag in hand, exiting the building that bore the sign, Doctor’s Office, Andrew Cooper, M.D . She watched as he placed his bag in a buggy, then climbed in and took up the reins. The large sorrel in the traces didn’t wait for a slap on its hindquarters but stepped out briskly, as if sensing a need for urgency.
    Karola stepped closer to the window, her gaze moving down the street, suddenly curious for a more thorough look at Shadow Creek.
    Next door to the doctor’s office was a grocery where a man in a white apron was unfurling a green awning above the large window. Beyond the grocery was a barbershop and then a cigar store, and at the far end of the block stood another church, this one made of brick.
    From what she could see of it, the town of Shadow Creek seemed a good one, the merchants successful. The buildings appeared clean and in good repair. Surely she would be able to find some kind of work here. There must be a bakery; perhaps the owner needed help. She had worked beside her father since she was a child, so she had ample experience. Or she could hire on as a cook somewhere. And she was a good seamstress. She made all of her own clothes. There must be a call for that, even in a small town.
    Karola turned from