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.It would be hard for him not to see his daughter but she was a married woman now.Johanna was relieved how easy it had been to see them out of the door.None of the arguing and pleading she had expected and feared of his type, no haggling and no discussion.Greta was not aware of Johanna’s resentments.Now that things between the two of them had finally improved she saw everything a little too optimistically to have a proper grasp on reality.To her, Johanna had always been a bit odd and difficult but completely harmless as long as you just let her be.Since Elizabeth had gone, they were almost becoming friends and it would have been completely inconceivable to the pregnant girl to think that the mistress of the farm had asked the Weissensteiners not to visit.In the following weeks during which Jonah and Wilma stayed away, Greta missed her family but she regarded herself lucky to have found a home with the Winkelmeiers where she could blend in and bring up little Karl with so much assistance.She knew it was a great blessing that Wilhelm had not abandoned her when she fell pregnant out of wedlock.It would have been his fault, he had said he would take care of 'everything' (obviously not very successfully) but many other young men in those days would have denied their responsibility afterwards and not taken the firm and positive action in the way that Wilhelm had.She had married a good man with a great family which was going to grow again thanks to her.Johanna was so fond of little Karl and she had great expectations for the next child.It was no wonder she was fussing about the pregnant Greta and her little boy in the way she did.Secretly, Greta had always hoped that one day her sister Wilma might come and live with them on the farm; that would make her life just perfect.Several times, she had mentioned this idea to Johanna and Benedikt but got little response.Wilma was currently running the Weissensteiner household but too often got things wrong to be called a good choice for the job, especially since Greta had left.She was a hard worker but not very organised and always in need of careful supervision and encouragement.Her involvement in the weaving business had turned into a disaster and had come to an abrupt end.Without someone checking up on her there had been too many mistakes, not necessarily big ones, but enough to bring the quality of their carpets into disrepute.In her housekeeping similar flaws frequently showed up.She would start chatting and forget that the soup was boiling over, that she had left the front door open and when she went shopping for dinner, she often returned with only half of the ingredients.One thing or another was always happening to her which made her hard to employ anywhere, particularly when there were so many people looking for jobs.Greta believed that if Wilma was working on the farm, that problem could be solved because she could work closely with her sister or under someone else’s guidance and supervision.With her pregnancy, Greta thought it was worth giving the issue one more try but Johanna would hear none of it and said they could not afford to take on someone with such a lack of concentration.Greta was upset about her little scheme failing.Greta’s new friendship with Johanna lacked a certain intimacy that she was used to from her own home and left her feeling empty.Maria and Roswitha had failed to transfer their warm feelings for Elizabeth on to her.The girls displayed a deep mistrust of other women and never opened up to her in the same way that Wilma did.Her husband Wilhelm was so busy at work that he often spent his entire evenings reading instead of playing with Karl or talking to her but she knew that reading was his passion.When Johanna criticised him for it Greta always defended him, saying that if he didn't read as much, he would not be able to sell books and make a good living.Deep down however, she was very lonely.Wilma was upset about the separation from her sister, too.She loved Greta more than anyone in the world and being apart from her was very difficult to bear.She could see the reason for it but it was painful.All her childhood she had relied on Greta to support her.Greta had been the clever one in school, had helped her with her homework, had explained whatever Wilma did not understand and had made complicated things sound easy.Greta had been her extended brain and in return, Wilma being the stronger one, had always taken on the more physical tasks and in fights with other girls, Wilma had always defended the two of them - even though she was younger.The two sisters were as close as twins
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