A Touch of Grace Read Online Free PDF Page A

humming. She sprinkled more flour on the board and continued. She used much of her kneading time for praying. The Bible spoke so often of bread, the staff of life, and Jesus, the Bread of Life. In kneading bread she felt she had a part of that life; in taking baked bread from the oven, she knew it.
    “You sound happy.”
    She turned to smile at the young man silhouetted in the doorway. “Baking bread always makes me happy. Even if I start angry at something or someone, when I am done, that is all gone.” Uff da. What made you answer like that? “Do you need something?”
    Young Gould had been with them for a week now, and she had yet to regret their choice to host him for the summer. He never hesitated to try a new task or complained of the aches he must be feeling. He fit into their family like a newfound cousin.
    “Andrew said you would bandage me up.” He held up his hand wrapped in a handkerchief.
    Ingeborg stopped her kneading and pointed him toward the sink. “How bad is it?”
    “It was bleeding a lot.”
    She washed her hands and took his hand in hers, unwrapping the bloody cloth. “Uff da. How did you do this?”
    “The knife slipped.”
    She studied it, trying to decide if she should put a couple of stitches in to close it up. “Let’s get it cleaned and see how bad it really is.” She pressed against the veins in his wrist to help stop the bleeding. “See what I’m doing?” At his nod, she continued, “Use your other hand to press here so I can get some things together.”
    By the time she had poured hot water from the reservoir into a basin, added soap, fetched her medical bag, and set supplies to boiling to sterilize, he had pulled a chair over to the counter and sat with his hand over the dry sink.
    “You feel dizzy?” she asked when she saw his white face.
    He nodded.
    “Then put your head down between your knees.” The last thing she wanted was him flat on the floor in a faint.
    “But the blood …”
    “Don’t worry about that.” She placed a hand firmly on the back of his neck and helped him get his head down. “Better?”
    “I guess so.” His muffled voice reminded her of Andrew years before when he’d had a similar accident.
    Shame Astrid was helping Elizabeth today, when she could have used her here. Of course she could load the boy in the buggy and take him to the surgery, but knowing that Elizabeth was feeling puny with her pregnancy made her decide to take care of it at home. “Feeling better?”
    “Yes.”
    As soon as she touched his hand, blood welled up again. “Keep your fingers hard on the wrist while I wash this.” She pulled her boiling pan of silk thread and needle from the hot part of the stove to cool and rubbed a small scrub brush over a bar of lye soap. The water turned red immediately, so she cleaned around the wound as quickly as she was able. “How did this happen?”
    “I was repairing a harness like Andrew showed me, and the knife slipped. It would have been a lot worse had I not been wearing my leather gloves. Can you stitch up gloves too?” Jonathan flinched but held his hand steady.
    “I can patch a glove all right. Now this will sting.” She took the threaded needle from the water and slid it through both sides of the cut and deftly tied a knot. “One down, one to go.” She looked at his pale face. “You need to put your head down again?”
    “No. I’m fine.”
    She took another stitch in the heel of his hand, tied the knot, and watched for a moment to see if blood would leak. “There, that’s all. I’ll put some ointment on it and wrap it. You have to keep it clean, so wear gloves while you’re out working. Looks like a clean cut, and you’re a healthy young man. It should heal well.”
    “Thank you.” He looked from the wound to her face. “You are amazing.”
    “One learns to do all kinds of things on a farm. I’ve stitched up dogs, cows, and horses, and sometimes I even sew clothes, although we use our sewing machine for much