Page 120 of Hot & Heavy

"Perhaps my family could come, too. And your family. And the seals."

"No, no, no! It would be private, just you and me."

"Hmmm. I like that." She put a hand to his cheek. "I love you."

"I know," he said, grinning at her.

She swatted him playfully.

"I love you, too, babe. Come back soon."

With a last kiss for him and a quick ruffle of Sam's fur, she was gone.

And thus began the first day of the rest of Ian's empty life.

Chapter Seventeen

Be careful what you wish for…

Madrene was overwhelmed and scared. All these years she had yearned for her family, picturing life the way it used to be. But her family had changed. She had changed.

These strangers were polished, the rough edges of their Viking culture filed off. They still had Norse features, and bits of their language retained the old manner of speaking. Still, she hardly knew them.

Of course, she was happy to discover that her family members were alive and well, but she wished she were back in Sandy-egg-go. She missed Ian. She missed his cat. She missed the seals, which were not really seals.

He should have come with me.

Or I should have waited till he could come with me.

Her discomfort started as they were driving in a large white wheeled box to the vineyard owned by her father's new wife. Well, not exactly new, since they'd been wed for eleven years, but new to her.

"Why are you so quiet, sweetling?" her father asked from the front passenger seat. She was sitting in the second seat, alone, and her uncles were in the third seat, where they could stretch out their long legs.

Torolf had work to do with his seals, but would come to the vineyard next week.

"It has been quite an eventful week for me," she explained. "Everything that has happened is just starting to sink in." I wish Ian were here. He is my anchor in this land. Without him I feel lost.

"Post-traumatic-stress disorder might hit you soon," Ragnor said from the driver's seat. "You should probably see a psychiatrist."

Ragnor ever was the one to use big words and show off his intellect. Madrene did not understand what he said, not one bit. "A sigh-kite-tryst?" More words I do not understand.

"A shrink." Ragnor laughed. "A head doctor."

Surely he is not suggesting I have some healer shrink my head. Is he jesting with me? Probably.

"My head feels fine."

Ragnor laughed again. "Never mind."

Madrene had noticed that people in this country said "never mind" whenever they didn't want to explain something to her.

Uncle Rolf leaned forward over the seat and squeezed her shoulder. "Give it time, Madrene. We all went through this period of adjustment."

That was another thing. Madrene could not accept the notion that she had traveled through time a thousand years to land here. But then, she supposed it was no more far-fetched than her earlier belief that she was in a fantasy land of magical things.

"My wife is a head doctor," Uncle Jorund said. "Mayhap you would like to talk to her."

"About my head?" Madrene turned in the seat to look at her uncle.