The Forgiving Heart (The Heart of Minnesota Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

my family. It was too much last night.”
    Karlijna learned that Maurice was Regina’s brother and his wife was Rachel. Also living in the house was their son, Julius, who was out on a fishing boat.
    “You haven’t been forma lly introduced to our children. This is Henry; he is eight. Moshe,” she pointed to the lad Karlijna had carried from the boat, “is three, and Helena is six months.”
    Karlijna nodded to all of them, “It is very nice to meet you. I wish I had a way to repay you for your kindness.”
    Rachel stepped forwar d, “There is no need for this. We are all here because of the kindness of others. Please stay with us for as long as necessary.”
    “I do not wish to put anyone out of a room.”
    Maurice laughed at that, “A room, you call it? That’s the old cheese house. The people who lived here before us made cheese.”
    Rachel put in, “I scrubbed for two weeks before I realized the smell was never going to come out.  Does the odor bother you?”
    Karlijna’s mind went to a certain train she had ridden, “I never noticed it,” was her earnest reply.
     

CHAPTER FOUR
    It was three days before Karlijna met Julius G oldbloom. He did not explain his long absence to his family, nor did they seem to expect it.
    “He sometimes goes out on boats,” Regina whispered as the two followed Regina’s boys to the fish market, “but not to fish.”
    “Boats like we came in on?” Karlijna wondered why his family wouldn’t discuss that.
    “Not exactly,” she shook her head and began to say more, but they were interrupted.
    “Well, now,” Captain Anderson greeted them, “you’re looking better, Miss. I thought you looked as though you might slip from this life to the next with any breath.”
    Karlijna smiled at him, “I’m made of str onger stuff than that, Captain. I just needed some good food and a place to sleep.”
    He clapped a weathered hand on her shoulder, “I see you’re right.”
    He turned to Regina, “I hadn’t realized you were the Goldbloom’s family. They had someone here at the dock almost every day for the past two months, worrying for you.”
    Regina nodded, “Rachel told me. It took us longer to get out than we thought.”
    The captain’s face became serious, “It takes most peopl e longer than they anticipate. Too bad more people didn’t get out when Maurice did. Some of them. . .”
    He didn’t finish, but the women knew he was thinking about how many people didn’t make it out at all.
    Regina and Karlijna did not return immediately to the house. Rachel had told them of a small field where some neighbor children played. The older woman thought it would be a good place for Moshe and Henry to work off some energy.
    The women sat and watched the boys stretch their legs.
    “Karlijna, why did you leave Poland?”
    Karl ijna looked at her new friend. She had no desire to alienate this woman or her family, but she was not ready to speak of her experiences. 
    Hoping a simple explanation would suffice, she began, “I came from B elgium, not Poland. I have no family in Poland, so a woman I met suggested I come here, where it is safer. Where there is no war.”
    Regina thought on this a moment, her brow furrowed in thought, “But why was it unsafe for you?  For us, it was unsafe becau se we are Jewish. Erich is only half-Jew, but it does not matter to the Nazis.”
    Karlijna ran her hand over her face, “My father was arre sted for defying Nazi orders. We were all taken: my mother, my brother, my little sister and I.”
    Regina shook her he ad, “I’m sorry. I knew they arrested Gentiles, but I didn’t know they took whole families.”
    K arlijna didn’t add that the Nazis would have left them alone if they could be assured that the remaining Bergstrom family wouldn’t continue the father’s work. She hoped the discussion was over.
    To her relief, Regina changed the subject to her own experience.
    “Erich had a job in the government so he was protected for a while.