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.
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