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‘Seriously?’ Maybe he could be persuaded to say it again...
‘Yes, seriously. I love you, Flora.’ He was smiling at her in the firelight.
‘I...love you too.’
He didn’t argue. Putting his arms around her, he enveloped her in a hug.
‘I was so horrible to you. I’m sorry, Aksel.’ The things she’d said made Flora shiver now.
‘You were afraid. I was afraid too, and our fear was all that we could see. But I’d be the bravest guy in the world if you’d just forgive me.’
‘You mean I’m more scary than wrestling crocodiles?’
‘Much more. But the thing that scares me most is losing you.’
Flora kissed him. So much nicer than words. But even the wild pleasure of feeling him close, embraced in his fire on a cold, dark night, couldn’t entirely wipe away the feeling that there were some things they really did need to talk about.
‘Aksel... What if...?’
‘What-ifs don’t matter.’ He kissed her again, and Flora broke away from him with an effort.
‘They do matter, Aksel. I need to know. I want you to say it, because I can’t keep wondering what might happen if we make a go of this, and decide to have children some day.’
‘I’d like children very much. A boy, maybe. Or a girl. One or more of each would be more than acceptable...’ He was grinning broadly now.
‘Stop it! Don’t even say that if you can’t also say that there’s a risk that one or more of our children might have cystic fibrosis.’
He took her hands between his. ‘I know that there may be a risk, but only if I carry the gene as well. I love you and I trust you. It’s not that I don’t care about these possibilities, I just have no doubts that we can face it and do the right thing. And there are other things we need to do first.’
He trusted her. He’d take her as she was, with all the doubts that raised, and he’d make them into certainties. ‘What other things do we need to do first?’
‘First, I need to tell you that I intend to marry you. I’ll work very hard towards making you so happy that you won’t be able to resist asking...’
‘What? I have to ask you?’
Aksel nodded. ‘You have to ask me, because you already know what my answer will be. I’ll wait.’
‘You’re very sure of yourself.’
‘I’m very sure of you. And I’ll be doing my best to wear you down...’ He took her into his arms and kissed her. He’d answered none of her questions, but they were all irrelevant now. The only thing that mattered was that they loved each other.
‘And how are you going to do that?’
He gave her a gorgeous grin. ‘Close your eyes and imagine...’
* * *
Aksel wasn’t sure whether he had a right to be this happy. But he’d take it. He’d stamped the fire out hastily, lucky not to singe his boots in the process, and he and Flora had hurried back down the hill. The only question that was left to ask was whether they’d spend the night in his bed or hers.
He reckoned that last night had to count towards the wearing down process. And then this morning, when they’d made love again, before rushing to work.
If Lyle noticed the coincidence of Aksel wanting to take Mette out after lunch and Flora asking for the afternoon off, he’d said nothing. The old SUV was now running smoothly and even though the outside left a little to be desired, it was now thoroughly clean inside and had a child seat in the back.
‘Where are we going?’ Flora felt as excited as Mette was.
‘Wait and see.’ Aksel took the road leading to the other side of the estate, through snow-covered grasslands, and then they bumped a little way across country to the half-acre plantation of Christmas trees. The larger ones, for the castle and the village marketplace had already been felled, but there were plenty of smaller ones that would fit nicely in Flora’s cottage. He left Flora to help Mette out of the car seat, and opened the boot to retrieve the chainsaw he’d borrowed from Ted Mackie.
‘No!’ Flora clapped her hand over her mouth in horror when she saw him eyeing the plantation. ‘We can’t do that...isn’t tree rustling some kind of crime?’
