Follow Your Heart. Rosanne Bittner
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Название: Follow Your Heart

Автор: Rosanne Bittner

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы

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СКАЧАТЬ to check it. “Surely that could never happen,” she suggested, wanting to reassure not just Carl and Albert, but also herself. “What on earth would we do if someone came along and told us we had to get off this land? It is like a part of us.” She turned back to face them. “Someone will come and tell us everything is just fine,” she added. “Neither the railroad nor the government would do this to us.”

      She began pouring coffee into china cups, then set them on the table. She had to smile at how big and stubby Carl’s fingers looked against the dainty cup as he lifted it. She actually worried that if he squeezed it too hard it would shatter in his hand.

      Carl looked at her with big blue eyes, and again Ingrid felt guilty for not being able to find feelings for the blustery, loud man. He had a good heart and was a hardworking man who, anyone knew, would always provide for his family.

      “I do not like the sound of it,” Carl said after thanking Ingrid for the good coffee. “In this country the railroad is king. Ve all know that the government is owned by the railroad, and also the other vay around. If there is a legal problem, the railroad vill abide by what the government says because it is the government that gave them the land grants. There is big money involved here. This is a free country, yes, but it is run by the very rich. Do not forget that.”

      Although Ingrid was relieved that Carl’s visit was not necessarily an excuse just to see her, she did not like the real reason he’d come. He was right about the railroad and the very rich. The two walked hand in hand.

      “I think we should pray that these people are guided down the right path,” she told her father and Carl.

      “Praying for rich people does not alvays bring answers,” Albert said despairingly. “The very rich are usually far from God and His vill.”

      “God works in his own ways, Far,” Ingrid assured him. “A person’s station in life means nothing to Him, and only He can change men’s hearts. And we must remember that this land does not really belong to us, or to the railroad or even the government. It is God’s land, loaned to us to care for and to provide food for us.”

      Carl scowled, and for the first time ever Ingrid saw a rather frightening anger in his eyes. “This might be God’s land, but He chose us to love and care for it. He brought my father to America and led him here, and for many years my father and I have vorked it and slaved over the land. My mother is buried here, as is yours, Ingrid, and no man—no power of any kind—vill take my farm from me, and most of all not from my father. It vould kill him!”

      Ingrid’s heart went out to him. “Carl, don’t let your anger get the better of you. You don’t even know yet if anything will happen. It sounds like just a rumor right now.”

      Some of the anger left his eyes. “Perhaps. But…” He hesitated, softening even more, his face taking on a red glow. “Surely you know my feelings for you, Ingrid. My plan is someday to make you my beloved and raise our children on that farm.”

      Ingrid felt like crying from guilt. Why couldn’t she love Carl? Was she a fool to keep turning him down? “Carl, I dearly appreciate your feelings and dreams, and I promise to think about them. But for now I have to think about Papa and Johnny. Apparently we need to wait and see if there will be trouble with the railroad. We all must pray and hope and go ahead with spring planting as always, as soon as weather permits. Promise me you will be patient and wise about your decisions if there is trouble. Do not do something foolish. This land has laws, and we must follow them.”

      Carl’s normally bright eyes darkened again. “Ve shall see.” He turned to Albert, who nodded in agreement.

      “Ya. Maybe ve make our own laws.”

      Carl nodded.

      “I will listen to no such talk, especially not in front of Johnny,” Ingrid demanded.

      Carl sighed, shaking his head. “I go now.” He rose. “Ingrid, you think about what I told you. I am getting no younger, nor are you. A marriage could strengthen our cause against the railroad if that becomes necessary. Putting out a single man is one thing. Putting out a family is quite another, and ve could lay title to both farms if ve married.”

      What about love? Is that of only secondary importance? Ingrid wanted to ask. She turned away, pretending to check the Concord’s ash pan. “Be careful going home in this rain, Carl.” She heard him say his goodbyes to Albert and Johnny, heard the door open and close, then felt relieved he’d left.

      She put her head in her hands. Relieved at his absence was not how a woman was supposed to feel about the man she might marry.

      Chapter Five

      Mid-May

      Jude leaned to look out the window of his comfortable Pullman car as it rumbled into the unspectacular town of Plum Creek. The weather had warmed to seventy degrees, which would normally be comfortable. But he’d learned from other trips to Nebraska that the air here was often humid, as it was today, making the temperature seem warmer than it really was. Because of that, he’d lowered the windows on the railroad car, and the stench from a nearby pen of cattle wafted inside, causing him to choke on the air.

      “Welcome to Plum Creek,” he muttered. “Don’t let the people here see you curling your nose at their town.”

      He leaned his head back for a moment, not relishing his reason for being here. As soon as the humble inhabitants of Plum Creek found out who he was and why he was here, they might forget their Christian background and be anything but welcoming.

      With a sigh he rose and walked over to a huge, gold-framed mirror at one end of his parlor car where he adjusted his small bow tie, ran his hands through his thick hair and donned a black felt hat. It was Sunday. He figured he’d dress appropriately. People should be getting out of church about now, and most of them would be dressed up. It just seemed the thing to do on a Sunday. It had been a long time since he’d set foot in a church himself, but he pretty well knew what people expected on the Sabbath.

      He straightened his shoulders and walked outside, standing on the car’s platform as the behemoth steam engine farther ahead blared its whistle and let off huge bursts of steam, slowing gradually until the train stopped in front of the town’s small depot. A few people wandered about, some probably expecting someone, or perhaps waiting for supplies; others simply curious. Just as he’d figured, many were dressed up, and after a look at the gold watch he pulled from his vest pocket, it became obvious most had indeed just come from church. It was one o’clock.

      A young man pointed toward his Pullman and said something to another man about “Kingman Enterprises.” The second man answered something about the railroad, and both ran off.

      Here goes, Jude thought. Apparently the rumor had already spread that someone from the railroad might be paying the town a visit. Perhaps those who’d run off were going for their guns. He smiled grimly at the thought as he leaned against a support post, watching the usual bustle that ensued when a train pulled into a depot.

      Jude stayed on the platform of his car and simply watched. Plum Creek was not unlike every other small town along the U.P.’s tracks from east to west. There was the proverbial white church with a steeple and a bell. He noticed a good deal of the people approaching had come from there. Usually the farther west a person traveled, the more saloons the towns sported. Since he saw only one in Plum Creek, he gathered this was a very Christian town, although that would indeed be put to the test when things became more heated over the reason he was here.

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