Blessing in Disguise Read Online Free PDF Page B

the pins from her hair and let the mass fall down her back. “Get the soap,” she called to John, who watched them from the porch.
    “The soap?” John had to shout to be heard.
    “Yes, we can wash our hair.”
    John brought the soap, and they took turns scrubbing one another’s hair, then raising their faces to let the rain rinse them clean.
    Lightning flared, thunder boomed and crashed, trees bent over before the wind, and they finally sat down on the benches on the porch. Mary Martha brought out towels so they could dry their hair and the brush and comb to fix it again.
    “I ain’t never done nothing like that in my whole life.” Manda sat shaking her head. She sniffed, and a smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “The air smells so clean again. You think heaven smells pure like this?”
    John cleared his throat, stunned at the question and the questioner. Manda had been insisting that God wasn’t there, “ ’Cause if He is there, then why are such terrible things happening?” She’d said such more than once and in several ways. But this glimpse into her heart reassured him. And the smile he’d glimpsed reminded him that in spite of her grown-up ways, Manda Norton MacCallister was still a little girl who needed a father.
    “I think it must.” He moved closer to her and, with a gentle arm, pulled her to rest against his side. With the four of them crowded on one bench, they watched the storm let up and continue east, leaving the trees and roof dripping.
    “Oh, looky.” Deborah pointed to the sky. “A rainbow.” She looked up at Mary Martha. “Katy Ma said one time that babies in heaven get to play on the rainbow. You think that’s true?”
    “I most surely do.” Mary Martha kissed the little girl’s upturned nose.
    “Then our babies are up there, huh? And maybe my two mas are sittin’ visitin’ and watching them play.”
    Mary Martha laid a hand on her own belly, where a new baby grew, and hugged the little girl close to her side. “I surely do hope so, Deborah. Such a lovely picture you’ve given us.” She sniffed for a second time and heard John do the same. “I’ll never look at a rainbow the same again.”
    “Me neither.”
    She turned to see the love shining from her husband’s eyes. And to think she’d heard that Norwegian men were cold and unfeeling. Whoever started such a rumor didn’t know her husband, that was for certain sure.

    “Well, at least it didn’t hail.” From the shelter of their porch, Haakan and Ingeborg, along with Lars and Kaaren, watched the storm make its way east. The children were all out playing in the puddles, covered with black gumbo and shrieking with laughter. Paws had a bit of brown along his back, but otherwise they now owned a black dog.
    “You think it damaged the wheat?” Kaaren asked.
    “Some, but most of it will pop back up in a day or so. We’ll have to set the binder blade right on the ground to pick it all up.” The two men began discussing what adjustments the machinery would need, leaving Kaaren and Ingeborg to laugh at the antics before them. Baptiste and Thorliff took a run and slid through a mud puddle as if they were on ice. Soon all of them, Hamre included for a change, were skating barefooted on tracks slick as an oiled pig. The bigger ones held the littler hands, and when a bunch fell down, giggles erupted as they wiped the mud from their faces.
    The ground slurped up the water, and before the sun came fully out, steam began to rise, and the puddles disappeared.
    “Okay, everyone, stand by the well and get washed off. We’ll have buttermilk and cookies ready when you’re clean.” Ingeborg nodded to the big boys to take care of the children. “We should have played out in it too,” she said to Kaaren.
    “I know. Good thing we baked this morning, no matter how hot it was.” Kaaren and Ingeborg made their way into the house and threw open all the windows to let in the fresh air.
    Rain. They’d finally had rain. And even