CHAPTER 12
Sig looked on from a distance and saw the tell tale signs. "TIMBERRRR!" Yeah, his little brother was falling hard. He decided that he would stand up to the two pushy old broads inside, tell them what he saw. Give them his opinion and tell them he was through spying. Good lord, he had settled on one, things should get a lot quieter around the house now. Sig was looking forward to peace and quiet. Final observations of the couple made Sig think of when he finally got the nerve to approach June in a romantic way. The family vacationed here every year and he had a crush on her since he was about twelve but never showed it. They ran in the same circles in the summers and when he was in form fishing they often hung out in the same group and went to the same places. Sig recalled the butterflies that he got every time he saw her. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. When his father began fishing cod off Seattle he missed going one summer. The following summer he was eighteen and promised himself he would not leave the island without her this time.
She was engaged to be married. He found out by going to her house. His first stop when he hit the island. June's little sister delivered the news. Sig began to tear up. Rhani tried to comfort him, "You two are so weird, and June has been in love with you since you were kids. She just assumed when you did not come last summer or call or write, that you had moved on. I mean it is not like you ever dated, ya know? What was she supposed to do?" Sig could no longer control himself, at first inaudible, his sobs just shook his body and the tears flowed like a river. Then he remembered June being at the ferry the last time his family left the island to return home. She was the only friend that showed up, not uncommon, this was a fishing village, and people came and went all the time. She took his hand and never breaking eye contact said, "You take care of yourself Sig Hansen." She gave him a brilliant smile and walked away. That memory, her voice, her face, her smell, hit him like a ton of bricks. He slumped to his knees on her parents stoop and cried aloud. Rhani wrapped her fifteen year old arms around him and said, "Hush now, she ain't married yet, but you gotta do something quick."
Sig regained his composure and went to nurse his wounds the only way he knew how. He went to the pub. He would not allow himself to get piss drunk, he needed to come up with an idea of how he was gonna get June back. She was his. She was always meant to be his. His opportunity came sooner than he thought. A rowdy bunch entered the pub. Sig did not even look up. He heard a familiar voice goading another patron into a fight. Erik Horton, a bully and a mean drunk. Norway has no legal drinking age, pubs are allowed to serve who they wish and the barkeep here let Erik no right away he would receive no libations here. Sig kept his head down, he wasn't scared, and he just had his own problems right now. Then he heard her. "Come on, Erik, we can go somewhere else. It is no big deal." Sig turned around in time to see Erik grab June around the neck and shove her so hard she landed on top of a table full of drinks and other customers. "Shut up Bitch!" he yelled. June picked herself up from the table, apologized for the spilled drinks. She tried to right herself and a customer gave her some cocktail napkins to dry off with but she did not get a chance. Erik grabbed a handful of her gold spun hair and jerked her up against him. He pinched her face with his other hand until her face was contorted in a painful manner. Sig jumped up and yelled, "Take your Goddamn hands off of her now!" Erik startled, noticed Sig. He grabbed June's left hand and jerked it high in the air, showing the chip of a ring he had put on her finger. "Always a day late and a dollar short, Sig. She's mine!" Sig flew into a rage and jumped on the man, nearly twice his size. The animal in him took over and the asshole never got a punch in. Sig stopped beating on him sometime after he stopped moving. He got up off the bloody bastard on the floor and looked at June. She was trying to smile through her tears. Sig did not say a word. He merely extended his hand to her. She took it. Then she took it back. He watched as she removed the bauble on her left ring finger and dropped it on the unconscious jerk on the floor. Sig and June walked out holding hands. "I love holding her hand."Sig smiled.
After being sufficiently informed by Sig the matrons of the ball decided they would go home for coffee. Sig was so distracted by Edgar and Louise and his own musings that he forgot to eat and the buffet was picked clean. He spotted Jenny and Corey and gave them the heads up mainly cause Aunt Elsa and mom wanted further updates. Sig didn't want the new couple to be bothered, himself. They were doing fine on their own. So he walked his ladies to the car and they returned home while Sig went to his favorite pub, and had a seat in the same barstool he was in the day he got June back. He never enjoyed a cocktail any more anywhere else. Sig ordered a fish basket and a vodka tonic and enjoyed the peace and quiet; most of the revelers were still at the castle and would be for a couple more hours at least.