Love Finds You in Frost Minnesota Read Online Free Page B

bathed every day. It’s her old clothing that’s the problem.” Merry held up the bag she was carrying. “Here are new ones. My neighbor has a child Greta’s age. I asked her if she had anything her daughter had outgrown. My idea was to keep them here at school and when I could do it discreetly, offer Greta a change of clothing.”
    Before Lori could say more, Merry added, “The principal is comfortable with this.”
    The first of the children began to arrive, so Lori and Merry parted. Merry was disturbed. Granted, Greta’s clothes were old and worn, but otherwise she was obviously a happy child. And no matter what Lori thought, the child wasn’t underfed.
    “Miss Blake, look what I brought for show and tell!” A little boy with red hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose pulled a black-mottled, long, leaf-shaped thing from his pocket. “It’s my ’speriment.”
    “ Ex periment, Danny.”
    “Yeah, ’speriment.” He held the unidentifiable thing up to her face. It smelled faintly moldy. “It’s a banana peel. I ’sperimented to see how it would look when it was dry.”
    Danny was one of her brightest students. Nothing much he did surprised her, but Merry was always impressed with the child’s initiative.
    Danny’s eyes began to sparkle impishly. “And my sister’s scared of it. I put it in her bed last night and she really screamed.”
    “That wasn’t very nice, was it, Danny?”
    “No, but it was funny!”
    Merry was relieved to see the other children begin to arrive. She thought it was funny too, but she didn’t dare let Danny know that.
    Merry had forgotten about her conversation with Lori until she saw Greta enter the room. She was dressed in pink corduroy pants that were rolled up at the ankles and had worn patches where the knees had been scraped up by their previous owner. Those thin parts now landed on Greta’s shins. Her sweatshirt had once belonged to an older boy or else she was a big fan of the trucks displayed across the front. Her pale, flyaway blonde hair circled her head like a halo. That was appropriate, Merry mused, because the child had the face of an angel. Her blue eyes were always wide with wonder, and her smile was quick and ready, despite her circumstances. Greta was as appealing a child as Merry had ever met, and as a kindergarten teacher, she’d met many.
    “Do we get to paint today?” Greta asked as she neared. “I love to paint.” She clasped her hands together as if to suppress her overwhelming excitement.
    “You love to do everything in school, don’t you, Greta?”
    The child’s smile lit her face. “Because it’s fun! I like it here better than . . .” Her voice drifted off. Greta frowned, but like light peeking through dark clouds, she smiled again. “I just like it here, that’s all.”
    Though Merry had planned another project for art, that could wait. Today they would paint.
    * * * * *
    Abby had opened the doors by the time Merry arrived at the store that afternoon. Two groups of women from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul were already shopping.
    “Thanks for opening. I’ll try not to be late from now on,” Merry said breathlessly as she stowed her coat in the front closet. Abby had lit several candles, and the room was filled with the scent of vanilla and cherries.
    Abby eyed her appraisingly, as if she could sense something was amiss, but she held her tongue.
    Merry didn’t express her concerns about Greta. Instead she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being.
    “Rebecca from the church stopped by. They’ve got most of the volunteers for the living Nativity, but they’re having a hard time finding a Joseph. The men in town are serving the lutefisk dinner at the church that night. They wondered if you might have any ideas.”
    “I’ll come up with someone,” Merry said absently as she looked in the till.
    “That’s what I told them.”
    Merry didn’t respond as one of the shoppers came toward