June Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Oath Bound

Time Setting: 791*

Genre: Fantasy

Minimum Word Goal: 90,000

Timespan: June–July

Locations: Gammelhjem, Gammelhjem; Mørkningsfjord, Mørkningsfjord; and Klarutsikt, Klarutsikt, Svärtaland

Main Characters: Aðalbjörn of Mørkningsfjord, Friðljót of Gammelhjem

Background Information: Born the second son and third child of his father, the first his father had by his second wife, Aðalbjörn was a matter of months younger than his brother, who was the son of his father’s first wife.

As a result of their closeness in age, Aðalbjörn and his brother spent a lot of time together and thus were given the same education even though his brother was the one who was going to become king of Mørkningsfjord after their father.

Over time it emerged that Aðalbjörn was a more savage warrior than his brother, and thus he and his brother actually pledged that he would be his brother’s chief bodyguard, which was a role he took seriously.

When the brothers accompanied their father on raids and other engagements Aðalbjörn worked diligently to take on more men than his brother had to, although he didn’t prevent his brother from engaging in battle entirely.

While in a particularly heated battle with people who were resisting a raid, however, an archer succeeded in shooting Aðalbjörn’s brother in the heart; enraged, Aðalbjörn went on a rampage and ended up scaring the enemy forces into retreating before having to be dragged back to his own people instead of chasing them down.

Aðalbjörn grieved deeply for his brother, feeling that he was responsible for his brother’s death by not protecting him well enough. His brother had been married when he died, and his wife had been pregnant; she gave birth a little prematurely to a daughter when she heard the news and then killed herself at her husband’s funeral, leaving their daughter an orphan.

As much as Aðalbjörn wished that he could’ve died too, he was now heir to his father’s title and domain, and it would’ve been considered cowardly for him to kill himself, so he has taken on his brother’s role as heir, as well as taking on something of a guardianship role to his niece, who is being raised by his stepmother.

In the couple years since his brother’s death Aðalbjörn hasn’t gotten married yet, but he’s beginning to think he should probably look into finding a wife, except that he doesn’t want to leave a devastated widow like his brother did.

Born the only child of her parents, the king of Gammelhjem and his second wife, her mother died shortly after her birth, which was a terrible blow to her father, who had loved his second wife more than his first, even though his first wife was regarded by all to have been the prettier of the two, although she’d never produced a child.

As a result of her stepmother having never had a child and her father’s having been too in love with his second wife to consider the idea of marrying any more wives, Friðljót stands as heiress to her father’s title and domain.

Because of her bearing a strong resemblance to her mother, her father doted on her significantly, particularly in her younger years, but as time has passed her father has changed in many ways.

He’s taken on an aged appearance that makes him look twice as old as he actually is, has lost his ability to speak clearly, and doesn’t move around at all; effectively he has entered a vegetative state.

Her father’s descent into vegetation has allowed for her stepmother to have more control over the kingdom, as well as Friðljót herself, which has caused Friðljót’s life to become more and more miserable as her stepmother treats her with severe contempt and unkindness.

The treatment of her stepmother and the effective loss of her father have caused Friðljót much distress and bred in her a deep yearning to be of age to be married so that her husband can take her into his house and away from the unhappiness that has become the centre of her existence; thankfully, she has recently finally achieved marriageable age and thus hopes it will only be a matter of time before she is betrothed to a handsome young man who will free her.

*does not correlate to 791AD

Pronunciations:

Gammelhjem: gahmehlhyehm

Mørkingsfjord: muhrking'sfeeyord

Klarutsikt: klahrooktsit

Svärtaland: svertahlahnd

Aðalbjörn: ahthahlbyourn

Friðljót: freethleeyuut

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 15

Word Total: 90,017

Year to Date: 480,071

Summary of Events:

Erik came home from work and had Madeleine listen to a confrontation he had with Kaira in which he told her that he was not pleased with her advances toward him, nor with the insults that, during their confrontation, she levelled at Madeleine; he also told Madeleine that Mr. Kjeldsen would be reassigning him and Kaira to different places. Axel got a reply from Amalie that was rather scathing, suggesting he should've come back to Denmark, but was stopped from feeling sorry for himself by the arrival of Jordyn, whom he decided would be a good replacement for Amalie. Madeleine woke up with Erik beside her on his first day off in a long time, and couldn't have been happier — although she and Erik agreed that they didn't want to be apart, but because they loved each other too much, not because of fear, so she planned to call Nellie and tell her she wouldn't be a bridesmaid. Axel was outside enjoying the morning when he heard a truck driving slowly and discovered it was Travis — and his young son — and they were on the yard looking at the grain bins . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“What do you want?” Travis swore, apparently not caring what language his son knew.

“You to stop trespassing,” Axel replied. “This is private property, and I can tell by your slow crawl that you intended not to be discovered. Besides, we require appointments for grain sales.”

“Why should I respect you when you won’t respect me?” Travis asked.

“Because if I, being disrespected, call the police and report your disrespect of me, you could be arrested for it, as I have the right to determine who is allowed on my property or not, and people behaving furtively are definitely not welcome,” Axel replied.

“Hm,” Travis said indignantly.

“But, to kill the cat, how am I not respecting you?” Axel asked.

“To kill the cat?” Travis asked.

“It’s your own Englishism,” Axel replied.

“I’ve never heard it,” Travis snapped.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Axel replied. “I’m just playing on it.”

“How?” Travis asked.

“Just answer my question,” Axel snapped with a milder oath than Travis had used, it wasn’t fun when he had to explain his play on words. After all, English was Travis’ first language, not his, so Travis should’ve been able to get it.

“You’re disrespecting me by not answering my question right now,” Travis replied insolently.

“That’s not the answer you were thinking of originally,” Axel retorted.

“No, it wasn’t,” Travis admitted defiantly. “The main way that you’re disrespecting me is by not dropping those bogus charges.”

“Bogus,” Axel said.

“Yeah, don’t you know what bogus means stealer?” Travis taunted.

“Not genuine or true,” Axel replied. “Which the charges against you are most certainly not. They are not bogus. They are genuine and true. After all, combines don’t roll over by themselves when they’re strapped to trailers.”

“How do you know?” Travis demanded.

“It doesn’t seat with logic,” Axel replied.

“Whatever that means,” Travis said. “I’ll bet I could find it on YouTube.”

“Yeah, but is the tractor going to travel four hundred metres?” Axel demanded. “On that short of a slope, leading onto that level of a surface, that combine, if merely falling over, should’ve merely gone on its side, maybe upside down. It’s too square to go further. But it rolled multiple times. And if you didn’t hit that truck and trailer then why do they have the worse damage?”

“Shut up and get off my truck,” Travis swore.

“Then you’d better be getting off this yard or I’m going to get the police over here and add to the amount of legal fees you’re going to have to spend to try and ensure that your sentence is less than you deserve,” Axel replied.

“This isn’t the end,” Travis swore.

“As if,” Axel retorted. “We haven’t even had a court date yet.”

Travis rolled up his window and Axel stepped back cautiously.

He startled when the truck shot forward and ran toward the nearest bin as Travis whipped a tight turn and then screamed out the driveway, driving very close to the bin as if to warn Axel that even if his relationship with Amalie was over, his dealings with the Murray Rowlands were far from it.

Next Post: 30 May.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 14

Word Count: 84,153

Summary of Events:

Madeleine asked Erik to tell her what Kaira looked like, and got upset when he told her that he wasn't going to do it, lest he fuel her obsession. Axel finally screwed up the courage to message Amalie over social media, although he felt the message was highly awkward. Madeleine came to the decision that if Erik wasn't going to tell her what Kaira looked like she'd walk down to the farm and find out for herself. Axel was waiting for the grain to be unloaded out of his truck when a very beautiful woman, but one he could tell was married, approached him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“May I speak to Mr. Kjeldsen?” she asked, a subtle different accent to her voice than he’d ever heard before, but still struck him as familiar.

Quickly Axel discarded and crushed out his cigarette, it had been almost done anyways. “Um, well, you are.”

She startled and looked him over somewhat suspiciously, he thought he saw her gaze linger on Muninn for a moment.

“You are?” she asked.

“Axel Kjeldsen,” he replied.

“Oh,” she said.

“You were wanting Uncle Morten,” he said.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“And you are?” he asked.

“Madeleine Patriksson,” she replied quietly.

Axel hoped the small explosion inside his brain didn’t cause any smoke to come out of his ears. This was Erik’s wife? He actually felt jealous. She was about the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life, even prettier than Amalie.

As the smoke dissipated from the mental explosion, though, it revealed one of his newest little memories, fresh from that morning.

He’d videoed a portion of the milking — which had included one of the cows getting upset that two people were hovering so close to her and deliberately stepping back onto Kaira’s foot, which had incited an angry outburst from the offended woman that Erik had quelled — and Erik had noticed.

Erik had enquired why he was taking the video and he’d explained that Kaira’s closeness to him was unsafe, which had surprised Erik, who’d said Kaira had told him it was just her method.

Axel had elected to show him the video and Erik had been appalled and mortified, and it was his comment that emerged from the smoke in Axel’s brain now: “Maybe Madeleine does have a reason for being so mad at me.”

“Would you come with me Mrs. Patriksson?” Axel asked — even if it felt odd to call a woman who looked so beautiful, and young, Mrs.

She nodded, although she looked a little puzzled, and Axel turned, leading the way under the auger.

“But you’re almost empty,” Axel stopped and turned to look at the two men who were unloading his truck.

“How almost?” Axel asked.

The grain flow out of his trailer answered the question, dropping the last couple dozen kernels into the auger.

“That almost.”

“I’ll move then,” Axel said. “Mrs. Patriksson wait, over there, close to the bin.”

Mrs. Patriksson nodded obediently and Axel hurried to move his truck enough out of the way that another truck could come unload, then he hurried back to Mrs. Patriksson, who was standing quite close to the bin quietly.

“Come with me,” Axel said.

Obediently Mrs. Patriksson started toward Axel and he set off toward the barn; the vet had been called on account of concerning behaviour in one of the pregnant cows and if Axel wasn’t mistaken Kaira was helping him and Mr. Duncan. He hoped she was.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 13

Word Count: 78,007

Summary of Events:

Madeleine woke up still feeling troubled and became even more troubled when Erik didn't talk to her or hardly even look at her; he seemed cold and angry and she didn't know why, but she was certain that her marriage was as good as over. Axel, having seen Kaira the other day wearing makeup unlike usual, as well as behaving oddly about Erik, got up early and watched the milking; he got frustrated by how close Kaira worked to Erik and told her to give Erik more space for safety reasons before one of the other employees asked Axel for a moment's chat in the milk house, where the employee told Axel he and others had tried the same thing Axel had to no avail, and recommended that Erik and Kaira be separated for safety reasons . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I’ll have to talk with Uncle Morten about it,” Axel replied. “But I certainly would’ve gotten mad at her more than a few times if I were him.”

“I would’ve too,” Mr. Duncan said. “But he just seems to bear it, even if it does annoy him, but I don’t know if it does or not. He is one of the best guys we have, though, very teachable, very helpful, never complains, not even when he got splattered by one of the girls relieving herself, went right up on his face, it was gross. He washed his face off and commented that next time he’d pay more attention. Someone like Miss Phibbs or Porter or Stephens would’ve gotten mad and hit her, I think.”

“I’ve noticed that myself, to a degree,” Axel said. “He’s a really nice guy.”

“But that is my two cents on it,” Mr. Duncan said. “I’d actually been meaning to tell you about it for awhile already, but I kept forgetting once I was out of the barn, or when I saw you. Did someone else mention it?”

“No,” Axel replied. “I ended up in here the other day and talked to Erik when she came in with the makeup and the highlights and just behaving oddly, I wondered if it was just a one-off or not. Turns out it’s not.”

“Makeup and highlights?” Mr. Duncan asked.

“Yes, she’s wearing makeup, and she has highlights in her hair,” Axel replied.

“But she told us she’s not a girly girl who needs makeup to feel dressed,” Mr. Duncan said.

“My suspicion is that she’s attracted to him,” Axel said.

“Well so is my daughter,” Mr. Duncan replied.

“What?” Axel asked, startled.

“She came to bring me my lunch that I forgot the one day and ended up meeting him and she was still swooning over him when I got home from work,” Mr. Duncan said. “I told her he’s married, which deflated her a bit, but she then proceeded to declare that she wanted a guy as close to him as possible.”

“I mean, I’m not surprised that either of them would be attracted to him, he looks quite similar to me,” Axel said.

“I noticed that today,” Mr. Duncan said. “If it wouldn’t have been for the different outfits I would’ve been convinced Erik was moving awfully fast today.”

“And since I don’t have a hard time attracting women, I see no reason why he should,” Axel said.

“Good point,” Mr. Duncan said. 

“But I’ll have to ask Uncle Morten,” Axel said. “He manages much more of this than I do, so he’d be able to say why they were put together and whom they’d be better put with.”

“Erik would work well with anyone,” Mr. Duncan said. “He’s just flexible and willing to do anything, even the most menial jobs. You two found a good man in him.”

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 12

Word Count: 72,035

Summary of Events:

Axel gratefully watched Jordyn's departure, as spending the week with her had made him feel guilty, but as he walked to the barn for the morning meeting he realised that he'd not had any direct contact with Amalie in four years and chastised himself for his foolishness. Madeleine was overwhelmed by distress that Erik was intent to pay more attention to Kaira, and doubly upset when he told her he saw nothing in Kaira to give credence to her suspicions. Axel was scrolling through his social media, considering contacting Amalie again, when he was called by his surprisingly angry uncle, who raged without telling him what was wrong until Cheryl came outside and got him to reveal he'd been called by Murray Rowland, who'd threatened to make their lives miserable if the charges weren't dropped . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Did you record the call?” Cheryl asked.

“No,” Uncle Morten replied. “I don’t have a tape recorder.”

“Most people don’t have those,” Cheryl said.

“But they do have cellphones,” Axel said.

“I was talking on it!” Uncle Morten exclaimed.

“You can still record calls while talking on it, I think,” Axel replied.

“I barely know how to run the thing,” Uncle Morten swore.

“Darling, please, do you need to be so angry at Axel?” Cheryl asked softly. “It’s not his fault.”

“He was yelling at me!” Uncle Morten snapped.

Axel put his hands over his face and groaned with frustration. He’d never seen Uncle Morten this petty before either. It was ridiculous.

“You are very upset,” Cheryl said. “Maybe he was afraid you were mad at him and was just trying to defend himself. When people are unexpectedly approached by other people who are aggressive they often become aggressive themselves as a protection mechanism.”

“But I’m not mad at him!” Uncle Morten shouted.

“Shh,” Cheryl hushed. “You certainly seem very angry about this, what can we do to help you settle down?”

“Shoot Murray Rowland,” Uncle Morten replied profanely.

“Well, that’s illegal dear,” Cheryl said. “He’ll have a case to bring against us in court if we do that. Is there something more legal we can do that will help you settle down?”

“No,” Uncle Morten snapped.

“I’m sure there’s got to be something,” Cheryl said.

“You could get him drunk,” Axel suggested.

“You’re not helping!” Uncle Morten shouted.

“Morty, come, let’s go home, I think you need to destress,” Cheryl said calmly.

“Anything to get away from him,” Uncle Morten snapped, glaring at Axel.

So much for his initial claims of not being mad at Axel.

“Come, come, let’s go,” Cheryl urged.

Uncle Morten got to his feet at Cheryl’s prodding and followed her toward the house while Axel shook his head. He didn’t know what to think.

Part of him was shocked at Uncle Morten’s behaviour; it quite flew in the face of all his prior experiences with Uncle Morten; obviously these threats of Murray’s were more disturbing than anything else Uncle Morten had faced in the last four years.

Yet, there was the threats too, they were serious. Axel was sure that someone like Murray Rowland wouldn’t exactly speak a threat idly — and especially not to someone he held in high contempt like Uncle Morten.

Axel got to his feet and found Uncle Morten’s lighter — mostly thanks to its being red, which was a direct contrast to the green of the grass — he flicked it and the flame immediately sprang up, wavering subtly.

He released it and the flame disappeared as fast as it’d come. Although Uncle Morten didn’t want to think about what Murray might do to them, Axel certainly had his fears, and he hoped that the crops weren’t dry enough for the one to succeed that the little flame had caused him to think of.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 11

Word Count: 66,028

Summary of Events:

After seeing Erik off for another day of work, Madeleine called up Rev. Mueller to ask him advice on what she should do; he advised her to tell Erik all of her concerns so that he would understand. Axel finished his shift driving grain truck and was surprised to find Jordyn — who'd spent the previous night with him — was still there, having gotten a week off from work to get to know him, which didn't entirely please him, although she got him to tell her about Amalie and encouraged him to move on, even if he wasn't sure he could.

Excerpt of the Day:

Although Madeleine had meant to tell Erik her concerns as soon as he’d come home, he’d had a lot to talk about and she’d decided to let him talk about it first, in hopes that she might be able to prepare herself a little bit more, as his presence had caused her resolve to tell him everything to flag significantly.

So Madeleine found herself seated on the deck, enjoying the light breeze that had sprung up and prevented the impressive heat of the day from being stifling, Alina playing on a blanket with her toys, when the screen door squeaked as Erik came out from his workout.

He sat down on the chair closest to hers and was silent for a long time; Madeleine was grateful, as it allowed her to finish the chapter.

“There’s something on your mind,” Erik said quietly once she’d finished the chapter and set the book aside, the bookmark in place. “What is it?”

Madeleine felt suddenly at a loss for words; he’d just given her the chance, but she didn’t know where to start; she grappled for a long time before she finally found the words.

“I don’t want to go to Sweden unless you come with me,” she replied.

“But why?” Erik asked. “Are you afraid of something?”

“Yes,” Madeleine replied, her voice cracking.

“And what are you afraid of?” Erik asked.

“I’m afraid, that when I’m gone, you’re not going to want me to come back,” Madeleine replied in hesitating fashion as she strove to keep sobs from overwhelming her.

“What?” Erik asked, shock evident on his face. “And why wouldn’t I want you to come back?”

“Because you would have Kaira,” Madeleine replied.

“But I don’t love her Madeleine, I just work with her,” Erik replied, looking confounded.

“If I were to spend the kind of time alone with a single man around my age that you spend with her, it would make you mad, wouldn’t it?” Madeleine asked.

“But Madeleine,” Erik replied, looking even more flummoxed. “I’m not going to be able to avoid it. I work with her, and it’s just work. There’s nothing else.”

“Then why do you talk about her so much?” Madeleine asked.

“But I don’t,” Erik replied.

“Yes, you do,” Madeleine replied tightly.

“Just because I spend time with her doesn’t mean that I like her,” Erik said. “There is no woman that I love more than you Madeleine, why can’t you believe me?”

Madeleine didn’t know how to use any language — even Swedish — to convey her answer, she didn’t fully know what the answer was, if she was honest, all she knew was that it was impossible for Erik to spend as much time with an unmarried woman like Kaira without developing some sort of an affection for her.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 10

Word Count: 60,059

Summary of Events:

Axel paid a visit to the injured truck driver, who was alert and able to talk but, unfortunately, had no memory of the collision whatsoever. Madeleine was called by Nellie, who confirmed she could delay up to November, but Madeleine felt troubled when she realised that it would take eight hours driving for Erik to deliver her to the nearest international airport. Axel ended up meeting Cheryl's only daughter on Thanksgiving; he was surprised at how pretty she was, but wasn't really interested in her, even when she followed him outside to chat privately . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Mom says you don’t have a girlfriend,” she said.

Axel said nothing. He felt indignant, even if unsurprised. He was sure Cheryl wanted to see the two of them come together as a couple, but he certainly didn’t like Cheryl’s fingers being in it, he wanted it to be natural.

“She’s surprised,” she added. “And now that I’ve seen you, so am I.”

“Really,” Axel said, flinging the end of his cigarette into the fire pit.

“When I first heard you didn’t have a girlfriend I expected it was because you looked a lot more like your uncle, a nice guy, but lacking in looks,” she replied. “It’s probably because he’s so fat, and old. It’s kind of interesting how all of those people are so nice, though, I guess it’s easy to be nice when you don’t care what people think about your looks anymore.”

Axel gave a subtle shrug to his shoulders, but he doubted Jordyn had any idea he’d moved.

“I must’ve seemed disinterested to her, because she started to build you up, especially in advance of my coming here, talking about how you were kind of Thor-like,” she continued. “But, you’re not.”

Startled, Axel felt slightly insulted; more by the tone of what she’d said than the fact that she had just told him she didn’t think he looked like Thor.

“Because Thor would be blonde, with blue eyes, and a beard,” she went on. “In that way, based on the movies particularly, you look more like Loki, honestly, but you’re not him either.”

The explanation made Axel feel better. He was going to have questioned all the appearances of affection Jordyn had put on all afternoon — and the fact that she’d just said she was surprised that he didn’t have a girlfriend — if she’d gone on to suggest that he was ugly.

“To liken you to a superhero, you’re more like Batman,” she said. “To liken you to a movie character, you’re kind of almost like Thorin Oakenshield. You’re a dark and brooding type, and absolutely drop-dead handsome.”

Axel yielded to her feather-light finger on his jaw and turned to look at her eyes, dark like smouldering embers despite the moist air; she had all her seductive powers on overdrive, he could tell, and it was all he could do not to give in to them.

“So why don’t you have a girlfriend?” she whispered.

Tilting his head, Axel got free of her touch and turned his gaze back to the fire pit.

“Where exactly are the attractive young women around here?” he asked after a lingering silence. “I know of one young woman and no attractive ones.”

Jordyn gasped in an insulted way. Axel turned to see her looking quite upset.

“I’m not talking about you,” Axel said. “I said around here. You don’t live around here, you’re just visiting around here.”

“Well then who were you talking about?” she demanded, the insult clear in her voice.

“The woman who helps milk our cows,” Axel replied.

“Oh,” she said, although she sounded disbelieving.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 9

Word Count: 54,036

Summary of Events:

Axel and his uncle paid a visit to a lawyer whom they intended to have represent them in court to get recompensed for the loss of the combine and crop, discussing the facts of the investigation — so far — with him. Mrs. Kulak came over to do some baking with Madeleine in an effort to keep her company, and they got discussing Thanksgiving, which was coming up in less than a month, with Mrs. Kulak extending an invitation to join them to Madeleine . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I think it would be lovely to have your family come join us,” Mrs. Kulak said. “The two of you have, in a lot of ways, become something like family to us over this last year, it would be lovely to give thanks with you and you with us.”

“What time is it?” Madeleine asked. “And would we bring anything?”

“Usually we have our goose for lunch,” Mrs. Kulak replied. “Then we mostly talk, if the weather’s warm we go sit outside around the fire. I’ll have to discuss with the girls what they all want to bring, I think if you were to just bring a dessert would be fine, no sense asking you to do anything too intimidating.”

Madeleine nodded, she thought it would be nice to participate in a uniquely Canadian event that wasn’t tied to national sovereignty — not that she’d necessarily disliked participating in the Canada Day festivities two months before — it would be like a special taste of Canadian culture, not unlike Midsommardagen being a special Swedish cultural event.

There was, according to the calendar she had hanging on the refrigerator, more than a month until Thanksgiving, which would give Madeleine plenty of time to decide on what kind of dessert she would want to bring, or to plan for possibly something a little bit fancier if Mrs. Kulak and her daughters and daughters-in-law were inclined to let her make something else.

Of course, they would probably all be interested in having something particularly Swedish, but Madeleine had to admit that she didn’t really know what she would make, unless she made something that was typically made for Christmas in Sweden, but then it would be all wrong, she’d have to see what Erik thought about the idea too.

As she mixed the batter of the light-coloured cake, however, a thought came to her mind: Thanksgiving was in October. If she was going to be a bridesmaid in Nellie’s wedding she was supposed to give Nellie an answer by October; which meant it was possible that Nellie might want her in Sweden in October, thus she might not even be able to go.

But, at least — if she were to have to leave for Sweden — Erik would have somewhere to go on Thanksgiving so someone like Kaira couldn’t invite him to her place, which would surely only lead to disaster.

Or was it November that she was supposed to get back to Nellie? She couldn’t remember, but it’d been awhile since Nellie called her, and she’d not actually contacted Nellie since, so there was the possibility that Nellie might end up calling to see if she’d remembered to ask Erik soon, so then Madeleine could ask when the deadline was.

Pronunciation:

Midsommardagen: mihdsaummahrdahgehn

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 8

Word Count: 48,029

Summary of Events:

Rain prevented the harvest from proceeding, so everyone was around the yard; Axel was approached by Erik, who'd gone to Axel's uncle for advice on a problem with a milk pump, but was confused by the answer; Axel was able to get a hold of the right person and then — having become inwardly frustrated by his uncle's causing of confusion — elected to drive Erik to Swift Current to get the parts needed, during which they had a pleasant conversation. Madeleine and Erik spent a warm evening by their fireplace, where Erik told her about the chat he had with Axel, expressing a hope that he and Axel might become friends . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

They fell into silence and Madeleine looked at the flames that were still dancing and keeping the room warm. She’d never met either Mr. Kjeldsen, nor anyone else Erik worked with, so she didn’t know what they looked like, but she couldn’t deny that the younger Mr. Kjeldsen sounded like something of an interesting person.

“Did you learn anything today?” Erik asked. “You haven’t got a word in edgewise I don’t think.”

“Not too much,” Madeleine replied. “But I have been wondering about something.”

“Oh?” Erik asked.

“Can we even afford to go to Sweden for Nellie’s wedding?” Madeleine asked.

“Why do you ask?” Erik asked.

“Well, we don’t even have the money to run our own farm,” Madeleine replied. “And, isn’t that our goal? To get the farm going?”

“Yes,” Erik replied. “But a visit home every once in awhile isn’t a bad thing.”

“But it’s expensive,” Madeleine said. “It was thousands of krona for us to get here, so even though it might be less in dollars, surely it’s still a good amount of money, money that really should go to getting our farm started.”

“I think it would be good for us to go though,” Erik said. “Particularly for you. I feel like you’ve been so stressed lately because you’re not familiar with things around here, and I think you need to have the time back home to be without stress.”

“I’m not stressed,” Madeleine protested — although she didn’t try to shrug out from under the arm Erik had placed gently across her shoulders.

“You may not realise you are,” Erik said. “But you might be able to tell when we get home.”

Madeleine sighed; she felt distressed, but not stressed.

“I think it will do us both good,” Erik said.

“But is it worth the cost?” Madeleine asked. “Is it worth the setback to your farm?”

Erik was quiet, his gaze turned toward Alina, who was curled against his chest, her lashes growing heavy, showing that she was about ready to go to bed.

“Yes,” Erik finally answered quietly. “It’s worth it.”

“Why?” Madeleine asked.

“Because it’ll give us a break and a rest from all the unfamiliar things we have to deal with on a daily basis,” Erik replied. “We’ll be able to go back to the familiar world we left behind and get energy to come back here and keep working at our dream.”

Put that way, going home did sound appealing, but still the doubt nagged at the back of Madeleine’s mind, and she couldn’t say that she liked the idea of her and Erik returning to Sweden separately.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 7

Word Count: 42,012

Summary of Events:

Erik came home from work with news of the combine's destruction for Madeleine, who felt troubled when he suggested she might have to go to Sweden alone because the harvest would now take longer. Axel wanted to talk to his uncle about the lost combine more, but found himself getting irritated by Cheryl more quickly than usual, which irritated his uncle. Because Erik was busy helping with the harvesting, Madeleine went with Mrs. Kulak to the community Labour Day weekend barbecue, where she kept to herself, as she didn't really know anyone very well . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Madeleine smiled slightly and bowed her head with everyone else while Rev. Mueller prayed a blessing over the food before everyone started forming a line; unsurprisingly a good number of the children and teenagers — enjoying their last day of freedom before school resumed — were in front.

It was only once the line had gotten moving that Madeleine picked up Alina and put her into the carrier that Erik’s parents had sent them as a baby gift and joined the line to get her lunch.

When her plate was filled with many tasty-looking things, Madeleine returned to her chair and put Alina on the ground.

She shared bits of her food with Alina, who was an eager eater; she seemed to get the sense that the food grown-ups ate was tasty stuff and was game to try anything she was offered; she had formed likes and dislikes since then, but she wasn’t opposed to trying anything at least once, which Madeleine appreciated, as she’d had a couple mothers tell her horror stories of trying to feed their picky children in the past.

Most of those mothers who’d told her about the trials of feeding a picky child were actually quite impressed at Alina’s willingness to give anything a try before she rendered a verdict, but nobody else made a big fuss about it.

Mrs. Kulak got distracted and ended up sitting elsewhere while she ate, leaving Madeleine alone again, quietly watching everyone around her, all so comfortable and happy, eager for the future, while she was rather afraid of it on several different fronts.

Still, the advice Mrs. Kulak had given was good advice, she needed to tell Erik her concerns about being so far separated from him as she would end up being if she were to agree to be one of Nellie’s bridesmaids.

She also had to admit that it would probably help her if she addressed the concern of his being hurt in an accident or something first, and then added on her concerns about his possibly being won away from her, considering the fact that Kaira was already closer to Erik than she wanted any woman — especially one who was, to her knowledge, unmarried and around his age — to be.

Madeleine didn’t know that she’d ever been nearly alone with an unmarried man about her age at all, outside of Mattias and Jonathan — but they were her brothers — and maybe Lukas — but he was Erik’s brother — but she would hope that if she ever was, Erik would feel the same about it as she felt about him.

Maybe she’d have to approach that angle too, asking him what he would think if she ended up being alone with a man who was around her age and unmarried, and started talking about that man a lot. Maybe then Erik would understand.

Pronunciation:

Mattias: mahteeyas

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 6

Word Count: 36,074

Summary of Events:

Axel got up and checked his social media account — which he hadn't done the night before on account of tiredness — only to get upset by seeing posts by his former girlfriend flaunting her new boyfriend as if to deliberately incite him. Madeleine was reclining in the hammock Erik had gotten as an anniversary gift for her when she heard a frightful noise like a metal building collapsing; when she called Erik he reassured her that he was fine. Axel, having dumped a load of silage at the farm, headed south to the field they were working on to load up again, observing the fields around him as he made his way there . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

As that fourth field came into view, Axel saw something else and a dread horror came over him.

He immediately started gearing down; it appeared an accident had happened, and the closer he got, the clearer it became.

A large, mangled wreckage was out in the middle of the field, there was a damaged semi truck in the middle of the intersection, and there was more carnage toward Uncle Morten’s barley field that drew expletives from Axel’s mouth has the horror started to reach to his every neurone.

Bringing his truck to a full stop, Axel immediately put on the hazard lights and swore as he took in the damage.

A big truck, such as the type he’d be driving once they started hauling grain — often called a semi-truck in North America, less commonly called a highway tractor, which was mostly an engine and a hitch that was not made, like pickup trucks, to drive on its own, but built to haul, not unlike farm tractors — was pointed to the west and damaged, with shattered windows and an unnaturally twisted rear frame where the large hitch was.

A long, flat trailer was twisted, looking like it’d been wrenched from the hitch by the force of the impact, as well as having some more significant damage toward its rear end, was further into the field, but furthest into the field was a great, big pile of bent and twisted metal, with gaping openings where large windows would’ve been, and big, heavy-treaded tractor tires.

The colour of the paint on the piece of wreckage was green; and not just any green either, but John Deere green, which was the most grass-tinted shade of green used for any farm machinery — Claas also used green, but theirs was more of a lime green, and it was paired with a grey-white and red, while John Deere’s green was paired with lemon yellow.

Uncle Morten used exclusively John Deere tractors. Not all the implements he used were John Deere, but all the tractors were.

This hulking wreck in the field, however, wasn’t a tractor of the sort that pulled implements or hauled things; based on its overall rectangular shape, the fact that both the front and rear tires were coarsely treaded with the typical herringbone tread, and the front tires being larger than the rear ones, proved the ruin in the field was a combine harvester, such as commanded nearly half a million dollars brand new.

Axel knew where the combine harvester was to have gone, it was proved by the still-visible logo on the door of the truck, which was that of the John Deere dealer in Swift Current, from which Uncle Morten had just bought a third combine in July.

Having not stocked up on combines just yet, the dealer had needed to wait for one to be shipped from the US, and Uncle Morten had reported to Axel not that long ago that the combine would be on the farm by the weekend; based on this wreckage, however, that was not going to be the case.

Unavoidable Confrontations: Day 5

Word Count: 30,017

Summary of Events:

Mrs. Mueller, the pastor's wife, stopped by to visit, giving Madeleine some appreciated advice on how to express her concerns about his coworker to Erik. Axel was invited over to his uncle's house for dinner, only to be served a casserole he didn't enjoy and get into a minor argument with Cheryl about how well he cared for himself. When Erik came home Madeleine told him about Mrs. Mueller's visit, hoping to use it as a segue into her concerns about his coworker . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“She was concerned,” Madeleine replied. “She’d seen me not looking so happy on Sunday and wanted to know what was going on.”

“And what is going on?” Erik asked, looking concerned.

“It’s like I told you the other day,” Madeleine said. “You talk about her too much.”

“Kaira you mean?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Madeleine replied.

“Are you really sure I do?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Madeleine replied. “And I want to know how much time you actually spend with her.”

“Not as much time as I spend with you,” Erik replied.

“No, that’s not what I mean!” Madeleine cried, tears springing to her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Erik said, although he sounded bemused.

“I mean compared to everyone else you work with,” Madeleine said.

“Well, I don’t really know,” Erik replied. “I’ve never paid attention, but it’s probably a good part of the day.”

Madeleine sniffed, trying to bring herself back together. She dabbed at her eyes with the sides of her forefingers.

“Why is it suddenly a problem?” Erik asked.

“Because you’re my husband,” Madeleine replied.

“I have to interact with other women sometimes,” Erik said. “Just like you have to interact with other men.”

“I know,” Madeleine said.

“I didn’t ask to be put with her,” Erik said. “Mr. Kjeldsen told me I was working with her and that arrangement hasn’t changed yet.”

“I know,” Madeleine said.

“Then why are you crying?” Erik asked.

“Because you’re mine,” Madeleine replied.

“Of course I am,” Erik said. “No one’s questioning that, or trying to change that.”

Madeleine certainly thought they were, but Erik didn’t seem to understand, and he sounded like he was getting frustrated.

“I don’t understand why you’re fussing like this,” Erik said. “I don’t fuss at you going to church or when you talk about other men. You never fussed about it before either. I don’t understand why the change. What is different? Has somebody been telling you stories and making you think badly of me?”

“I’m not fussing,” Madeleine sobbed.

“It seems like you are,” Erik said. “You’re making no sense to me with this.”

“You just don’t understand,” Madeleine wept.

“Are you going to explain it to me then?” Erik asked.

“I’m trying,” Madeleine cried.

Erik sighed and Madeline heard him moving. This wasn’t working, and Madeleine had a sinking feeling she’d forgotten the advice Mrs. Mueller had given her, at least in part, but she wasn’t going to try and call Mrs. Mueller to get it straightened out now, she didn’t know that she had a cellphone number for Mrs. Mueller.

With soft and gentle touches, Erik drew Madeleine to her feet and against his chest.

“Do I need to tell you I love you more?” Erik asked. “Do I need to take you out to dinner? Get you flowers? Buy you a ring or a dress? Do you need a vacation?”

Madeleine shook her head against his chest. She wanted him, completely, exclusively, all her own, forever.

Pronunciation:

Mueller: myooler