Read Northern Lights Trilogy for Free Online

her
bunad
, the traditional costume of Bergen. But as befit a grown woman, she would wear her hair in a graceful chignon instead of a long braid, along with her great-grandmother’s wedding cap—worn by her grandmother and mother before her—and the wedding brooches passed down through her family.
    She giggled as Carina pinned yet another
sølje
to her vest, making six in all. “It’s a bit gaudy, don’t you think?”
    “Nonsense,” Carina said gently. “It befits a bride to wear all the special jewelry she can get her hands on.” Elsa shifted in her chair, and the tiny gold and silver streamers from each pin jingled softly against the pewter buttons of her vest.
    “There, you see?” Carina said. “It sounds like bells from heaven, far, far away.”
    Tora snorted from her perch on the bed. “You mind your manners,Tora Anders,” Gratia said, shaking a brush at her youngest. “This is Elsa’s day, and I do not want you to put a damper on it.”
    “I would never think of such a thing,” said Tora, putting on a hurt expression.
    “Do not let her fool you, Mama,” Elsa said. “She helped decorate the sanctuary, and it is lovely.”
    “She even went up into the hills to get the fireweed you love,” Carina added.
    “Tora did that?” Elsa asked in surprise. “I was sure it was you, Carina. Thank you, Tora. See, Mama? She is not as disinterested as she pretends.”
    Gratia hid her smile from Tora and finished her work on Elsa’s hair. Then she gently placed the cap on her daughter’s head, tears of joy and sadness intermingling as she did so.
    “Oh, Mama,” was all that Elsa could say, feeling herself choke up too.
    Gratia wiped away her tears and smiled at her daughter in the mirror before them. “There you are, more beautiful than ever.”
    “They have arrived!” Carina said, turning excitedly from the window. “They’re all here! Are you ready, Elsa?”
    Butterflies flitted about in her stomach. “As ready as I ever will be,” she said, swallowing hard. Taking her mother’s hand, she stood and looked once more in the mirror. Her long skirt was a thick black wool with fine embroidered work at the bottom. The traditional white blouse hugged her arms and breasts, and over it was a matching vest to the skirt. White stockings and black slippers completed the ensemble. But she had to admit, the jewelry and wedding cap made her feel like Norway’s queen.
    And it was a good thing. For when her father opened the door to her groom and shook his hand, she felt as if he were a king. Peder too wore the Bergen costume, but he loomed larger in the doorway than she remembered, and his outfit was new, since the one from his adolescence would have been much too small. His image echoed therest of the men, but Elsa thought she had never seen a finer form. Broad shoulders filled his white shirt that billowed at the arms and came down to a fine, fitted cuff. He wore a black vest with gold buttons, and the matching knickers and white hose hugged his thickly muscled legs above big, black shoes. His wide belt was an ornate masterpiece with dangling metalwork.
    Amund Anders turned from Peder, kissed his daughter, reached for her hand, and placed it in Peder’s. They grinned at one another for a long time, relishing the moment, and then Gratia pushed them out the door. They led the processional of people walking two by two and talking among themselves. All were in a festive mood, and Elsa felt very loved. How could she do without these people? Only the promise of Peder’s love kept her feet moving to the church, where Pastor Lien met them.
    “O God, we commit these children to thy tender care,” he prayed after the opening hymn. “Walk between them, O Lord, for all their days and nights together. Hold them fast in the love that only thy Son Jesus could represent, and give them long life and a fruitful union. These things we pray in thy name, Father.”
    “Amen,” said the people.
    Pastor Lien leaned forward and