The House by the Fjord Read Online Free PDF

allowing her to move elsewhere.
    Molly frowned at her. ‘I would agree to that only if I knew you were serious about staying on.’
    â€˜I’ll take Christina’s words to heart,’ Anna answered, ‘which means allowing plenty of time to make up my mind.’
    â€˜That calls for a drink of celebration!’ Molly declared happily and prodded Olav, who was reading a newspaper and had not been listening. ‘Get out that bottle of champagne that we’ve been saving for a special occasion! Anna is going to give Norway a good try!’
    The evening ended merrily. Olav and Molly knew there would be difficulty in getting a place for Anna, for there was a waiting list for all the accommodation. Yet, as a war widow whose husband had flown with all the surviving pilots in the squadron, more than one owing his life to Johan Vartdal’s leadership, there was every chance that somewhere would be found for her.
    The next day Molly took Anna to meet the other British war brides. She explained that there were a number of Norwegian wives living on the far side of the airfield, and although they were friendly and sociable, they had formed their own friendship circles just as Molly’s own group had done, and to whom Anna would soon be introduced. She would be meeting them in an apartment in one of the old houses that had the large, well-proportioned rooms, but almost no indoor plumbing. These properties all faced the forest on the opposite side of the long lane. As Anna walked along with Molly on their way there, she thought the houses charming, with their filigreed porches and ornamented windows, even though most were in need of paint. All were well spaced and Molly paused once to point out through a gap between them a nearby airfield building beyond the bordering hedge.
    â€˜There’s the shower unit for the wives and children of the air force. It is a wonderful facility for the war brides living in old properties without civilized plumbing. There’s another unit on the far side of the airfield kept for wives and families there. Sally and two or three others with apartments along here go through the dividing hedge to get to this one. It saves going all the way to the main gate to reach it.’
    They walked on and soon saw ahead the house they were to visit, for a Union Jack was draped over the balcony’s balustrade.
    They had been sighted. A young woman, sleek and beautiful with a swirl of shoulder-length fair hair, suddenly appeared on the balcony and called down to them.
    â€˜Hi, Molly! Welcome, Anna! Just walk in and come up.’
    â€˜Thanks, Sally!’ Molly paused in the porch and spoke quietly to Anna, although there was no one to overhear. ‘They all know you’re a widow and so there will be no thoughtless remarks.’
    Then Molly opened the front door and Anna followed her in. There was a buzz of voices upstairs where the wives had gathered. It was easy to see that the house must have known grander days, for there was a wide staircase in the large hall, which was presently cluttered with stacks of packing cases and three prams with a sleeping baby in one of them.
    â€˜This is Terry,’ Molly whispered as they both peeped in at the pink-cheeked baby. ‘His mother is a fellow English war bride, Vanessa Holmsen. She nearly died of homesickness before he was born.’
    â€˜Whatever do you mean?’
    Molly put her hand on the baluster rail as they began to mount the stairs and again she lowered her voice. ‘She literally began to pine away. In fact, she took to her bed and turned her face to the wall, wanting to die. All of us British wives did our best to coax her back to some interest in life, but she would not speak or look at us. Gunnar, her husband, was at loss to know what to do. He was afraid to let her take a trip back to England in case she never returned.’
    â€˜Did a doctor see her?’
    â€˜She refused to see the first one who