Twilight's Serenade Read Online Free Page B

Lydia replied. “Why don’t you and I go see her right now? You can get the wagon hitched up for me.”
    Gordon nodded and hurried out of the house. Lydia went to Britta and gently touched her cheek. “You comfort her. Don’t feel guilty or bad for that. It’s obvious the child is starved for love.”
    Britta met her mother’s eyes. “But what if we both get too attached? That might be dangerous.”
    “Love often is,” her mother said with a smile.
    The baby began to fuss, and Kay went to lift her from the cradle that had once held Britta and her siblings. “This little one is hungry, no doubt. I’ve fixed a bottle for her. Would you and Laura like to feed her?”
    Britta tapped Laura’s shoulder. “Shall we feed your baby sister?”
    Laura lifted her head. “I feed the baby.”
    “You must sit over here, and I will bring her,” Britta instructed, putting Laura on the couch. She waited patiently while Britta went to take the baby from Kay.
    The tiny infant continued to fuss. “Well, I obviously don’t have the same effect on her that I do on Laura.”
    Lydia laughed. “Give it time. Babies need to bond. By the way, have you thought of what we should call her?”
    Britta nodded. “I thought Darya, after Yuri’s mother, might be nice. Even if he wants to change it or call her something else, at least we’ll have something to call her for now.”
    “I think that’s a wonderful idea. Darya it is.”
    Settling down beside Laura, Britta took the bottle that Kay offered and held it out. “Here, you can help me feed her.” She gently guided the child’s hand so that the bottle nipple came in contact with the baby’s mouth.
    Laura squealed with delight. “She’s eating it.”
    Britta laughed. “Well, not exactly. She’s sucking the milk from it. Baby Darya is too little to eat, but she can drink her milk.”
    “I drink milk, too,” Laura said, nodding.
    “Indeed, you do,” Lydia said as she took a seat in her favorite rocker. “You are a big girl and you need lots of milk.”
    Britta felt herself relax and enjoy the moment. There was something so comforting about holding the baby in her arms and having Laura beside her. A warning went off in her head, but Britta ignored it. Loving these babies couldn’t possibly be the wrong thing. If Britta got hurt in the process . . . well, that was just the way it would be.
    “I’ll talk to Dalton while I’m there,” her mother said, breaking Britta’s concentration.
    She looked at Mother in confusion. “What?”
    “I’ll talk to Dalton about Yuri. There has to be a way to locate him.”
    “I found some letters at the cabin,” Britta told her. “Apparently, Yuri has been sending Marsha money for her and Laura.”
    Lydia smiled. “I guess we misjudged him.”
    “I don’t understand how he could just leave them. I know people said that Marsha treated him badly, but there was Laura to consider.”
    “Sometimes the burden of life is just too much to face. Dalton confided in me that Yuri could not overcome his drinking and that, combined with Marsha’s bad attitude and relentless complaining, made him feel violent. He never hit her, at least according to what he told Dalton—but he wanted to.”
    Britta frowned. The thought of Yuri hurting a woman seemed impossible. “He’s a good man. I suppose leaving was the only way to keep from becoming something he didn’t want to be.”
    “Wagon’s ready, Grandma,” Gordon announced from the door.
    Lydia got to her feet once again. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised. “I’ll talk to Dalton about finding Yuri. He might have some ideas—something we wouldn’t know to think of.”
    Britta said nothing but was more than a little aware of Kay coming to take her mother’s place in the rocker. Her friend stared at her for several minutes.
    “You ready to talk about why you came home?” Kay asked.
    “I don’t think so,” Britta said. Not once in the past two days had she given her own situation