Snowdrop Cookie Wishes by Laura Strickland

Author:Laura Strickland [Strickland, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christmas; Denmark; Snowdrops; Cookies; Hope; Medieval; Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2021-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Thereafter, good deeds spread through the village the way the sickness once had, but with far more fortunate effect. Even though, in the days that followed, winter closed its cold fist around Gjerhold, folk no longer shut themselves away in their houses. Lissi had only to glance outside to see a neighbor setting off purposefully on some errand, or standing at another’s gate.

The very mood of the place had changed. Ole Andersen making his rounds delivering firewood became a regular event, a pied piper sort of affair, accompanied by others offering their services. Holger cleared paths, others tended stock or merely stopped in to chat with those fallen victim to the winter grippe.

One Sunday, Reverend Pedersen spoke of it. The old preacher seemed far less sunk in gloom, and his words rose through the cold air inside the church on little currents of hope.

After, Mitte invited him back to dinner, and Lissi could only wonder at the looks that passed between the two. Love in the air here, in Gjerhold?

Why not? And why not for Reverend Pedersen and Mitte, though a more unlikely pair Lissi could scarcely imagine. Mama used to say no one was too old or too young for love.

And, Lissi wanted to see Mitte happy, more than anything.

They weren’t the only ones, to Lissi’s surprise. As she made her way around the village, she saw a number of seemingly unlikely pairings. Those left alone, and lonely, bringing comfort to neighbors.

Bonding together, maybe.

It made Lissi ache inside, though in a good way. She ached also to see Ole Andersen. Just to lay eyes on him satisfied her in ways she could not describe. The fall of that light brown hair over his forehead… Ach, the man needed a haircut in the worst way, though it would be a crime against God and nature to shear such locks.

And she wanted to see the smile take hold in those grave eyes of his. Ole Andersen smiled first with his eyes, so he did. A rare and wonderful thing.

She awoke in the morning thinking of him, and his face became the last in her mind at night.

She questioned herself over it ceaselessly. She couldn’t be losing her heart to the miller. Could she?

Disastrous. For though he still came by with loads of firewood every other day or so, and though he gave her his smile, it had gone no further. He’d not spoken of seeing her again.

He still loved his wife.

Foolish as she was, Lissi made a wish about it, believing—believing hard, the way she’d told Hanne. It was all about the believing.

The next day, Thora Hensen came to see her.

Thora was the spinster who had donated the sugar meant for her wedding cake, to dust the Christmas snowdrops. Already past the accepted marrying age when she’d planned to wed—as was Lissi now—she’d lost her intended to the black death.

She came to Lissi’s door with a parcel in her arms, which she lost no time in unwrapping, once inside.

“I have been going through a few things,” Thora announced.

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