Thorup Roots

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-91-8095-237-8
Verlag: Lind & Co
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 2, 251 Seiten

Reihe: Inga Svartdal

Inga Svartdal has just been married off to the much older Niels. She quickly realises that Gudrun, Niels' adult daughter from his first marriage, does not intend to relinquish control of the family farm. Inga is forced to bow to the will of her wicked stepdaughter. It doesn't take long until Niels starts asserting what he believes to be his rights in bed, which causes Inga distress on the nights he spends at home. But where is he on all the other nights? Everything changes when Martin, a neighbour, appears on the farm. Feelings between Inga and Martin quickly blossom, and even though she's a married woman, Inga cannot stop herself from falling in love.

Torill Thorup (born 1976) lives in Hvittingfoss in Norway. Inga Svartdal is her first novel series. She has written several historical series.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thorup, Torill

Weitere Mitwirkende

Nuanxed

Henriksen, Lisa

Leseproben

Chapter 1

Inga blinked at Niels and Gudrun, who were standing next to her. She couldn’t believe her ears! Her father had forced her to marry old Niels at Gaupås. , she thought bitterly, . She had been forced … And the day after the wedding, she was informed that Gudrun, Niels’s eldest daughter, was to be the lady of the house. The fact that Inga now had to bow her head to Gudrun, had to listen to her and ask her about all the daily chores on the farm made her feel worthless. So inferior. She even needed Gudrun’s approval just to fetch grain from the storehouse.

An acerbic response to the way she was being treated was dancing on the tip of her tongue, but she composed herself. Suddenly she remembered dear Emma’s wise words. The day Inga’s father had loaded her things into the cart to transport them to her new home, Emma had explained to her, ‘You must - even if it bothers you - try to get Niels on your side. I’m not saying you should play tricks, but you must be submissive and make life as comfortable for him as you can.’ The last words rang in Inga’s ears. She could hear the old servant’s advice, ‘If you win his trust and love, then Gudrun cannot hurt you. Because then it’s Niels will want to follow …’

Inga nodded to herself, but she couldn’t hide her disappointment. Nor did she want to. Niels needed to understand that she thought the decision was both unfair and disgraceful. ‘I thought Gaupås was a farm that upheld traditions. Actually, I hoped you were a man of honour, Niels, and I thought the newlywed bride would carry the keys!’

Her outrage grew, and she gritted her teeth to calm down. There was a short pause while she searched for the right words. ‘But I accept that Gudrun is in charge here. For the time being. I may as well use the time to learn. I expect you to hand over the keys to me once you see that I am capable.’ She tried to smile softly at him, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

Niels leant over the table and sighed with relief. He had clearly been dreading a dramatic scene.

When Inga turned on her heel to leave, Gudrun glared at her with hatred. Her cold, shiny eyes were set deep in their sockets, like those of a snake.

***

Sigrid ran towards Øvre Gullhaug farm. The guilt from not helping with the post-wedding clean-up plagued her, but for once she decided to listen to her inner voice. This time, she wasn’t going to let the chores come first. She was going to find out the truth about her mother!

‘Is that you, Sigrid, arriving all out of breath?’ Hedvig, the lady of the house, wiped the table down and arranged the red chequered tablecloth on it nicely. ‘I didn’t expect to see anyone from Gaupås today. So soon after the wedding, I mean …’

Sigrid felt at home in Hedvig’s warm kitchen. She had been best friends with Ingebjørg, the daughter of the house, for many years.

Hedvig poured two cups of coffee and kindly pushed one of them towards her. Sigrid leant over the cup and inhaled the beverage’s delicious scent. She was no longer so out of breath; her heart began to beat with a calmer rhythm.

‘Ingebjørg is staying with Halvdan …’

‘It’s not Ingebjørg I came to see,’ Sigrid interjected gently. ‘I want to speak with you.’

‘With me?’ Hedvig put her hand to her chest in surprise.

Sigrid was nervous. She had no idea how she would manage to ask her delicate questions, but she knew that Hedvig was the only person who had the courage to answer them. People were right that Hedvig was a gossip, and she could take advantage of that now. Sigrid took a sip of the hot coffee. ‘Tell me about Mama…’

‘About Andrine?’ Hedvig’s green eyes with brown specks watched her. ‘What do you want to know?’

Sigrid squirmed. ‘I spoke with Gulbrand and got the feeling he was hiding something from me …’

Hedvig took a deep breath. ‘So the story you’re after …’

Sigrid didn’t dare to answer or meet the woman’s gaze. If she made the slightest move now, she thought anxiously, Hedvig too would fall silent. Her hands had turned clammy and sweaty, so she dragged them back and forth over her skirt.

‘Andrine came to the old priest, Rollefsen, and his wife when she was fifteen …’

Sigrid could hardly believe what she was hearing. ‘What do you mean ? I thought Mother was his daughter!’

Hedvig swatted away a fly that was buzzing in front of her face. ‘So that’s what you have been told! No, Sigrid, she was with Rollefsen after a particular incident. She was taken into safekeeping, if I can put it that way. The Poverty Commission thought it was for the best. The gentlemen believed the priest could drive the sin out of her lost soul.’

Dark shadows flickered before Sigrid’s eyes. Everything she thought she had known about her mother … It turned out she knew nothing! Oh, why was it that the person it affected the most was always the last one to know the truth?

‘And the men from the Poverty Commission were right! Mr Rollefsen really managed to make your mother a good person. She eventually became pious, helpful and quiet. If one didn’t know her past, one wouldn’t have believed her capable of … such …’

The fear felt like a thumbscrew tightening around Sigrid’s heart. She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. ‘What had Mother done?’

‘Her father allegedly refused to allow her to marry a mere rag-and-bone man. And her revenge was merciless. She punished her father by setting fire to the farmhouse and the barn. Apparently, her family escaped the tragedy with their lives intact; however, her mother was in the farmhouse at the time, and her face was severely burnt. She was so badly disfigured that people turned away in disgust.’

Sigrid bent over the long table and cried. Hedvig put a comforting hand on her head and allowed her to get the tears out.

‘Andrine had to pay a heavy price for her act of vengeance. The rag-and-bone man wouldn’t acknowledge her after that. Her mother did not speak a word to her. As for her father …’ Hedvig shook her head. ‘He beat Andrine senseless. If the servants on the farm hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed her with his bare hands. That’s how Andrine ended up as a foster daughter to the priest and his wife …’

Sigrid rubbed her eyes. ‘I’ve never heard this before. I thought Mother Rollefsen’s daughter. I never noticed anything disturbing about her.’

‘No, that’s understandable! Don’t dwell on this story, Sigrid. Andrine turned into a good person. Since that fatal incident, no one has had a bad word to say about your mother.’

Sigrid stifled a moan. She regretted her curiosity now. Truth be told, now she had some idea of where Gudrun had inherited her madness. But the beautiful memory she once had of her mother had been shattered, like ice on the puddles at harvest time.

***

Inga waited despondently in the bedroom. She bent forward, leaning her head against the window. The cold panes of glass cooled her forehead, and she closed her eyes with a sigh. She was unsure whether she had won the argument down in the kitchen. Had she been firm, but at the same time subservient enough? Had Gudrun and Niels understood that they couldn’t order her about as they pleased, that she had a will of her own? Yes, she thought she had made her point. They probably realized she was going to ask about the bundle of keys again. They mustn’t think she’d let Gudrun rule as lady of the house for long!

Niels had admittedly said that Gudrun would take care of the keys for a while. For a while! What did that mean? Were they talking about weeks, months or years? Her stomach felt queasy when it occurred to her that it might actually be years. Long, excruciating years.

‘No, ,’ Inga whispered to herself, distraught. ‘Heavenly Father, I know I don’t pray often, but this time you must look upon me with mercy. The keys don’t just provide a way to lock the buildings and keep track of the food supply. They are my salvation! Do You that?’ The question came as a cry for help.

Oh, if only God would give her a sign that he was listening! She had grown up with her childhood faith, but it was futile to believe that her fate was in the Lord’s hands. Only she could determine the course of her own life. It was she who defined her existence.

That affirmation reassured her, oddly enough. Actually, she should have been scared that she only had herself to rely on, and yet she was filled with an inexplicable calm. She knew that not only did she have to deal with Gudrun and all the demands that were made of her, but she had to try to make the right decisions along the way.

Inga had probably seen all the servants, but in the confusion of the wedding, she had not been able to distinguish between the guests and the people who worked on the farm. At the dinner table, she was finally able to greet everyone. At first, she sat tensely on her chair and felt like an intruder. She didn’t know them and had no one to talk to. Little by little, the conversation loosened up as she shook the hand of each of them. She had previously met the siblings Kristiane and Marlene in the barn. They smiled encouragingly at...