Robin Lee Hatcher Read Online Free Page A

Robin Lee Hatcher
Book: Robin Lee Hatcher Read Online Free
Author: Promised to Me
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hadn’t been a good time for their family to grow. Not right then.
    “Sure, and what would you have me do about it, I’m wonderin’,” she’d said, her eyes sparking in defiance. “’Tis a bit late for you t’be wishin’ for no more wee bairns.”
    Jakob swallowed the hot lump in his throat. “Aislinn came a month early. It happened fast. There was no chance to send for the doctor. This birth wasn’t like the others.” He swallowed again. “Siobhan died the next morning.”
    Loss heaped upon loss heaped upon loss.
    Karola wanted to scream, to rage, and to weep. She wanted to hate Jakob for what he’d done and to rail at herself for her own stupidity. She was sorry his wife had died. She was sorry for his troubles. But she had plenty of troubles of her own.
    What do I do now?
    She had little money left, a few dollars tucked in a pouch inside her corset. She knew no one in America other than Jakob. Her parents wouldn’t be able to afford the cost of passage home, and even if they could, she couldn’t bear the thought of going back, of knowing people would be laughing at her.
    She stiffened her spine. “There must be women here who were willing to marry. Why send to Germany for me?”
    Jakob glanced over his shoulder into the wagon bed. Karola followed his gaze. The children slept, draped across one another like newborn puppies in a basket.
    “I couldn’t trust their keeping to just anyone, Karola. I remembered how loving you were with the children in our village. You’d said you wanted a large family. I remembered that, too. I thought I could trust you to care for them, no matter what you felt about me.” He pulled on the reins, drawing the team of horses to a halt. “Karola?”
    She looked at him.
    “I’ll find some way to pay for your return to Germany if you choose not to stay and marry me. I won’t hold you against your will.”
    She thought again what would await her if she returned to her parents.
    “Nein,” she whispered. “I will stay, Jakob. I will marry you.”
    Jakob’s farm—land that gently rolled and dipped—lay in the shadow of mountains. The house had two stories and a slate roof. A wide porch stretched across the front of the house, and there was a second, smaller side porch off the kitchen at the rear.
    Jakob jumped down from the wagon seat, then came around to help Karola to the ground. As her feet met earth, he said, “We’ll let you rest tonight, then go into Shadow Creek to see Pastor Joki in the morning. He’s expecting us.”
    She nodded.
    He glanced into the back of the wagon. “They’re still asleep. Come on.” He grabbed her suitcases. “I’ll show you the house.”
    Again she nodded before following him up the path to the front door.
    The ground floor of the Hirsch home held a spacious parlor, a dining room, and a kitchen with a large pantry. A stairway near the front entrance led down to the basement and up to the second floor where the bedrooms were, three in all, plus a bathroom. Karola was amazed by this last luxury but didn’t comment upon it, not wanting to appear ignorant. For all she knew, every home in America had indoor plumbing and bathrooms.
    Jakob showed her through the house hastily, not giving her time to linger in any one room. Even so, Karola noticed the many touches that only a woman brought to a home. She suspected he hadn’t changed anything, that he’d left it all as it had been on the day his wife died. Looking at Siobhan’s things, Karola felt like an intruder. She’d come here, expecting to be loved, and instead she was to be a stand-in for the woman Jakob had loved and lost.
    “You’ll sleep in Bernard’s room tonight,” Jakob announced as he opened that bedroom door. “Would you like a bath? I can heat some water for you.”
    “Ja.” Anything so she could have time to herself to think.
    Jakob seemed just as anxious to leave her alone. He excused himself and hurried away.
    The instant the door closed, Karola sank onto the bed
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