Free A Harvest of Hope by Lauraine Snelling Page B

agreeable with you?”
    â€œOf course, and thank you.” Miriam had to hurry to keep up. “I see they’ve gotten most of the outside done.”
    â€œThey have, and there is not a lot left to do inside anymore either. You nurses will be able to sleep during the day here now. At least I hope so. Neither of the others has lodged a complaint. Dr. Deming, the dentist, is in the same wing. Funny to think of wings here at our boardinghouse. Dinner will be at noon and supper is served at six. Breakfast starts at five thirty, so that should not be a problem.” Mrs. Wiste marched toward the end of the hall.
    â€œThere’s going to be a little hammering, though.” Trygve pointed upward. “The ceiling moldings aren’t in yet. I’ll try to finish that tomorrow morning.”
    â€œHere we are.” Mrs. Wiste stopped. “Miss Wells and Miss Nester are in that room next to yours. They wanted to be here to greet you, but Mrs. Jeffers talked Corabell into accompanying her to church, and Vera is on duty.” She opened a door and stepped aside. “There are towels on your bed and a list of meal times on the door. You will have morning sun in your room. Here is your closet.” She opened a narrow door where Miriam’s aprons and extra things hung.
    â€œThey even unpacked for me. I am so touched. Mrs. Wiste, this is lovely. Look at the quilt and the braided rug, even a rocking chair and a dressing table. Are all the rooms like this?”
    Trygve was grinning again. “Sophie, here, is very proud of her new addition, but I know she did some extra things for her nurses, as she calls you. Sophie has a very proprietary interest in anything to do with the hospital. As you will hear, she is forming a volunteer hospital society. I have a feeling the society will become a rival of the quilting circle. Or maybe not.” His grin made her smile back.
    â€œWe have a society like that in Chicago. They do a lot of good to help both the hospital and the patients. But in Blessing too?”
    Mrs. Wiste was grinning as well. “Right. We will have a party when the boardinghouse is truly finished, and I have a feeling from the bits I’ve heard, it will in some way become ‘a benefit for the hospital . ’ Those are the words you will hear bandied about.”
    Miriam leaned closer and dropped her voice. “Do you think I could take a bath now, and then a nap?”
    â€œOf course you can. There’s sufficient time for that. We have shared bathrooms in this addition, so you and the other nurses will share this bathroom between your two rooms, not like down the hall.” She opened a second door. “This is your bath.”
    â€œOh my.” Miriam’s cheeks flamed. Now Trygve knew what she had asked.
    Trygve half bowed. “As I said, things are changing here. Welcome home.” He paused at the door. “You will come to dinner? Please?”
    Miriam could not refuse. “What time?”
    â€œI’ll come for you at one.”
    â€œIf I am not downstairs, please send someone up for me.”
    His grin nearly cracked his face. “Rest well.”
    I sure hope I am not making a mistake. She wasn’t sure if that meant accepting the dinner invitation or agreeing to go with Trygve.

Chapter 8
    M or, are you sure you want to do this?” The voice on the other end of the line sounded worried. “We can easily move dinner from your house to ours.”
    â€œAstrid, I cannot live in a cocoon. Life needs to return to as normal as possible. So ja. I want everyone to come to my house like usual. It won’t be long before it’s too cold to be outside. Freda has chickens in the oven, and we made bread yesterday. Everyone will bring what they want, and we’ll have plenty of food and laughter. Besides, we need to welcome Miriam and the threshing crew back. Maybe we can even have a ball game.”
    â€œAll right. Amelia said you really