“Yes, those big brown eyes are hard to refuse. I’m sure he’ll see that you get home safely. Good night, Ingrid. It’s a kind thing you’ve done here today.”
“You and Seth as well.” Ingrid gave her sister a hug and then watched at the front door as Kari and Seth climbed into their carriage and drove away.
Twilight was falling, the air thankfully growing cooler after another hot day. Funny, though, she hadn’t even noticed the heat when she’d ridden with Joshua and Emily to fetch Davy from the infirmary. Sighing, Ingrid closed the door and turned around to find Inez, a plump older woman with a grandmotherly demeanor and kind smile, standing in the hallway leading to the kitchen.
“Would you like a cup of tea, Miss Hagen? Something to eat?”
Ingrid shook her head. “I’m not hungry, Inez, but thank you. Did you have a good visit with your mother?”
“Sí, she lives in the next town and I take the train first thing to attend Mass with her. She’s very old now so I’m always happy to see her. Such trouble here, though. If I’d known, I would have come back earlier.”
“It was terrible,” Ingrid agreed, not wanting to think about those gut-wrenching moments of terror when she had prayed so desperately for Joshua’s safety. “I’m glad to have been able to help, though Emily and Davy were very happy to see you come home. Have you been with the family long?”
“Since their mama died, poor soul. I went up the back stairs to check on the children. Davy is asleep, but Emily asks for you. If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.”
“Thank you, Inez.” As the woman disappeared down the hallway, Ingrid moved to the staircase.
Joshua’s home was simply furnished and comfortable, but with little trace of a feminine presence other than everything was neat and in its place thanks to his kindly housekeeper. Not even a wedding photograph of the wife and mother lost last year, making Ingrid wonder if Joshua had purposefully put away anything that reminded him of her.
She imagined grief could do that to a man…or anger. The latter made sense to her considering Davy had said that his mother hadn’t loved them, though Ingrid found that so hard to believe—
“Miss Hagen, is that you?”
Emily’s small voice touching her heart, Ingrid turned into the first bedroom and went straight to the little girl’s side.
“Inez said you asked for me. Aren’t you tired? Davy is already fast asleep.”
“Yes, I think those crutches wore him out. He will get better, won’t he?”
Ingrid sank down beside the bed and tucked the covers more tightly around her. “Of course he will. He’ll be joining all the other children playing in the schoolyard in no time. Now, why don’t you close your eyes and try to sleep—”
“My mama used to sing to me every night. Do you know any lullabies, Miss Hagen?”
Her throat tightening, Ingrid knew then and there that Joshua’s wife had loved her children, no matter what Davy had overheard at some traumatic moment. “When my sisters and brother and I were little, our mother sang us a bedtime song in Norwegian.”
“Norwegian? That’s a funny word.”
Ingrid gave a small laugh. “Yes, it is a funny word. It’s the language of the country where her mama came from, Norway. A land of snow and ice and mountains so high it looks like they touch the sky.”
“That doesn’t sound like Walker Creek at all,” Emily said so matter-of-factly that Ingrid laughed again. “Will you sing it for me, Miss Hagen?”
She nodded, leaning in closer to caress Emily’s soft brown hair as she sang the words set to Brahms’s “Lullaby.” “Nå i ro slumre inn, lille hjertevenn' min. Når du legger deg ned, vil til drømmenes sted, dine tanker fly hen, til du vekkes igjen. Dine tanker fly hen, til du vekkes igjen.”
“You sing so pretty,” Emily breathed, looking drowsy already. “Mama knew that song, too. What do the words say? Will you sing it again the way we talk here?”
“Shh, only if you promise me you’ll close your eyes.” When Emily nodded, squeezing her eyes shut, Ingrid had to suppress a smile as she began to sing, “Now in peace, go to sleep, my little darling. When you lay yourself down, to the dreamers town, your thoughts will travel, until you awake. Your thoughts will travel, until you awake.”
Now Emily gave a big yawn and snuggled deeper under the covers. “The words are different than the ones Mama used to sing, but it’s nice all the same. Good night, Miss Hagen.”
“Good night, sweetheart.” Relieved that Emily didn’t seem distressed she had sung the same melody as her mother, Ingrid rose and bent over the narrow bed to kiss her cheek.
“You’ll stay until Papa comes home, won’t you?”
“Yes, I told you I would.” Ingrid turned down the lamp on the bedside table to a faint glow and started to move away when Emily raised herself up on her elbows.
“Do you think my papa is brave, Miss Hagen?”
Her throat tightening again, Ingrid nodded. “Very brave. Now close your eyes. You promised, remember?” She tucked Emily once more beneath the covers and then quickly left the room before the child could stop her again, and closed the door behind her.
