Lauraine Snelling - Rebeccas Reward

Rebeccas

Reward

Books by

Lauraine Snelling

Golden Fill Collection One

Golden Filly Collection Two

Secret Refuge (3 in 1 )

D AKOTA T REASURES

Ruby Pearl

Opal Amethyst

D AUGHTERS OF B LESSING

A Promise for Ellie Sophies Dilemma

A Touch of Grace Rebeccas Reward

H OME TO B LESSING

A Measure of Mercy

No Distance Too Far

R ED R IVER OF THE N ORTH

An Untamed Land

A New Day Rising

A Land to Call Home

The Reapers Song

Tender Mercies

Blessing in Disguise

R ETURN TO R ED R IVER

A Dream to Follow Believing the Dream

More Than a Dream

5 books in each volume

LAURAINE

SNELLING

Rebeccas

Reward

Rebeccas Reward

Copyright 2008

Lauraine Snelling

Cover design by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of

Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-0-7642-0202-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Snelling, Lauraine.

Rebeccas reward / Lauraine Snelling.

p. cm.(Daughters of Blessing; 4)

ISBN 9780764202025 (pbk.)

1. Norwegian AmericansFiction. 2. FamilyFiction. 3. Frontier and pioneer lifeFiction. 4. North DakotaFiction. I. Title.

PS3569.N39R44 2008

813.54dc22

2008028308

DEDICATION

T O MY FAMILY, BOTH IN A MERICA AND N ORWAY
for my rich heritage and the beginning of my stories.
Who ever would have dreamed of all this?
To God be the glory.

Table Of Contents

LAURAINE SNELLING is an award-winning author of over sixty books, fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young adults. Her books have sold over two million copies. Besides writing books and articles, she teaches at writers conferences across the country. She and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, a basset named Chewy, and a cockatiel watch bird named Bidley. They make their home in California.

Late December 1902

Blessing, North Dakota

G US B AARD, YOU ARE the most stubborn brother a girl could ever have. Rebecca glared, hands clamped on her hips. Since she only had two living brothers, it wasnt much of a contest, but still, why could he never, ever see her point of view? To keep herself from launching a full attack, she slammed the kitchen cabinet door. The dishes rattled inside.

You know we dont have any money for your silly dream, so quit wasting time on it. Destroying the cattle killed a lot of dreams.

I know that, but if thinking about my soda shop makes me happy, whats wrong with a bit of happy? What else could she slam, other than his head? Besides, I have my graduation money. Every year each graduate of the Blessing school received one hundred dollars from Mr. Gould, a wealthy man in New York whod been a friend of the Bjorklunds since the homesteading days.

Money that should go into the bank to help replace our livestock. Gus shook his head. Grow up, Rebecca. Whats more importantour farm and keeping our heads above water or

She glared at him, anything to keep from bursting into tears again. Crying never did any good. All the tears shed shed over the destruction of the cows, pigs, and sheep had only given her a headache. That and all the smoke from the burning carcasses. Hoof-and-mouth disease had decimated all the cloven-footed animals west of the Mississippi. They had gone for months without milk, cream, butter, and meat other than chicken, fish, or rabbit, unless they paid the exorbitant prices for that brought in on the train. With no milk to sell to Ingeborg Bjorklunds cheese house, theyd had no income until after harvest.

So what was wrong with dreaming? If only she could talk these things over with her mother, but Agnes Baard had died nine years earlier, leaving a hole in her youngest childs heart the size of North Dakota.

Youre not going to cry now, are you?

The tone of his voice set her off again. Gus Baard, you better get out of my kitchen before I before I She started toward him, no plan in mind, but the look on her face must have convinced him that even though he was eight inches taller than she and a lot heavier, retreat was wiser than confrontation. She slammed the door behind him and collapsed on a kitchen chair. Lord, I hate winter, I hate the cattle dying, and I hate all the sorrow around here. I just thought I could bring some people a little happiness, and look what it gets me. A never-ending fight with my brother. And the sad thing is, hes probably right. I hate it when he is right!

At least Knute, the older of the two brothers, didnt try to boss her around all the time, but then, she didnt live with him, at least not anymore. Besides, he had his wife, Dorothy, and three little kids to worry about. Gus just had too much time on his hands.

Rebecca shook her head and, realizing her hair was about to tumble about her face, unpinned it, finger combed the thick mass, and twisted it into a coil to repin at the base of her skull.

Was she really being selfish, as hed said many times before, or was keeping a dream alive important? Maybe she would ask the girls after church, or perhaps Gerald would have time to talk. It was a good thing she had friends, because it might be a week before Gus spoke to her after this round.

If only the wind would quit shrieking around the eaves and sneaking through the tiniest cracks to freeze everything it touched. Her mother had said that when the wind got the better of her, she would get herself into the Word of God, because only God could order the wind about. The Bible didnt seem to make a whole lot of sense to Rebecca, at least not like it had to her mother.

The more she thought of what Gus had said, the madder she got. Did he think she was lazy? After all, he was the one for whom shed been cooking and cleaning and washing, doing all the things that women usually do for husbands and children. Before she graduated last spring, she went to school and still managed to plant a full-sized garden. Her mor or far would have been disappointed with the spring housecleaning, however. Overbearingthat fit her brother. She stared at the table, seeing Gus. It wouldnt take too long for him to be married. Even if he didnt seem to notice how the girls looked at him.

Hed turned into one handsome young manbroad of shoulder, hovering right about six feet tall, with hair that nearly matched hers, a warm brown that glinted bits of fire when the sun hit it just right. Their mother had said the cleft in his chin was the fingerprint of an angel, put there when he was born. He was two years older than she but didnt get his full growth until the last few years, so some folks had thought they were twins when they were younger, a comment that always made their mother laugh. Agnes said she knew for a fact shed never carried two babies at a time and thanked God for not sending them that blessing.