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
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