A Promise for Ellie Read Online Free PDF

the hours at night when I could not sleep was better than pacing and fretting. Another good verse, a simple one—‘Fret not.’ ”
    “You are such a good example for me. It is easy to think all my training heals people, but I know that I just do what I can, and God does the healing.” Elizabeth smiled her thanks for the buttered heel of a warm loaf of bread. “You spoil me.”
    “My privilege. Just think, I now have two daughters and will soon have a third.” She stirred the soup again. The spaetzle were cooked enough, so she pushed the kettle to the cooler part of the stove to let it simmer. She patted Elizabeth’s shoulder and stepped outside to beat the iron bar around the insides of the iron triangle hanging by the back door. By the time the men arrived from the field, she would have the table set and the bread sliced.
    Dishing up a bowl of soup for Elizabeth, she set it on a plate and put the plate in her daughter’s lap. “There now, take your time.”
    “Do you think you can spare Astrid to help me part of the time? Even with Thelma helping, there is plenty to do, and Astrid has such an aptitude for caring for the sick. I’m hoping she will choose to go for a nursing degree or even study to be a doctor.”
    “Of course, although she usually helps Penny with her little ones and at the store in the summer.”
    “That Penny, now there is a wonder woman. How she manages the store, Hjelmer’s businesses, her family, and all her church things I’ll never know.” Elizabeth wiped her mouth on a napkin. “This soup is really good. Our cook at home made spaetzle like this.”
    “It’s easy. We like dumplings of all kinds.” The dog’s barking announced that the men were nearing the barn.
    “I better be on my way.” Elizabeth stood and set her dishes in the enameled dishpan sitting near the reservoir. “ Mange takk for the refreshment.”
    Ingeborg wrapped a loaf of bread in a clean towel. “Here.” She added a wedge of cheese cut from a larger wedge sitting under a glass dome. “Try this sharp cheddar and tell me what you think. Now with the cows on grass again, we’ll be making plenty more cheese.”
    They tried to sell out their supply of cheese each year before the possibility of spring flooding so that none would go to waste. Orders came for Bjorklund cheese from as far away as St. Louis and Seattle. They’d even had orders from New York after she sent their benefactor, David Jonathan Gould, a small well-waxed wheel one Christmas. Since Onkel Olaf now made cheese presses of various sizes, they produced more variety. She’d thought of adding Swiss cheese this year and ordered the culture to begin experimenting with. Her gammelost was a permanent success with all the Norwegians, including the new wave of immigrants.
    She hugged Elizabeth and walked with her out to the buggy, where her horse dozed in the sun. “I’ll see you for supper on Saturday, then, if not before.”
    “Yes.” Elizabeth gave a discreet oof as she settled onto the seat. “If Mrs. Geddick has that baby anytime soon, shall I send them over here?”
    “Gladly.” She smiled up at the doctor. “You need to sleep through the night, and babies seem to want to come in the early morning hours. I think it’s so their entrance can cause a stir.”
    “That they do.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Will you please untie that lead rope for me? How I manage to forget that little chore so often is beyond me.”
    “We were talking. That’s why.”
    “Hey, Doc, what’s your hurry?” Haakan called from where they were unharnessing the horses in front of the barn.
    “Got people waiting for me.” She waved and turned the rig around to jog down the lane.
    Ingeborg watched her go. If she knew anything about babies, this one for sure wasn’t going to wait a whole month, no matter what the good doctor thought. Perhaps she’d be delivering more than the Geddick baby.
    The men had just finished eating when Barney announced a stranger