Emilia Kempell, Elizabeth's mother, knew that it was dangerous to keep girls in the dark about the details of human reproduction. She knew this from her own experience.

So when Elizabeth, and later Celia and Christin, were about fifteen years old, their mother told her girls about how children were made, telling them that it was something they should never allow a man to do to them before they were married. Elizabeth already knew the basic facts from the biology books, and didn't really want to talk about this with her mother. Mainly because Elizabeth knew her parent's wedding day and her own birthday, and she had learnt about the length of a woman's pregnancy in that biology book. Even if Elizabeth's mother had told her that she had been born a few weeks prematurely, it was more than obvious that her mother hadn't headed her own advice. She hadn't waited until she was married.

Elizabeth hoped to avoid discussing that embarrassing fact with her mother. It was not the kind of discussion a fifteen year old girl would want to have with her mother, however close they were to each other.

Elizabeth couldn't help wonder if she was ever ment to be born. Would her parents have married if it hadn't been for her? Her parents had a happy marriage as far as she could see, so perhaps there was no use to dwell upon this. But was her mother so anxious for her daughters not to get pregnant out-of-wedlock, because she herself had felt forced to marry someone she didn't really want? Those questions were, of course, impossible to ask.

...

During the next few weeks after he had made love to Emilia Gyllenstråk, George Kempell was both worrying that he had landed her in trouble and trying to get a new chance to do so. Several times he invited Emilia to come to his room again. But she always declined, she only wanted to see him in public, and quite obviously avoided being alone with him.

That day, after Emilia had asked George what it was they had been doing on his sofa, he had burst out into some kind of random rambling:

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I thought you knew! Otherwise I wouldn't have done it. But don't worry, I was so careful, getting it out before...! I'm sure it won't lead to anything. Or perhaps... no it just can't! Please don't be angry with me! I wish I hadn't done it! But it was wonderful! I love you so much! It was wonderful, but I really shouldn't have done it, I'm so sorry...I really hope it won't..."

That didn't exactly answer Emilia's question, but it did get her worrying.

So Emilia had asked around among her friends. After that she was fairly sure that what she and George had been doing could easily give her big problems. The kind of problems that first make your belly bigger and later keep you awake through the night. And causes a scandal in between, possibly making your parents throw you out on the street. So however much she longed to be with George in that way again - it had been very nice - she just didn't dare to.

It took Emilia some weeks to realise that the damage was already done. Seeing Emilia's worried face, it took her mother just one more day after that to realise the same thing.

So Emilia, who was used to run around freely, following her own whims, was subjected to a severe questioning. Her parents had noticed the young diplomat's interest in their daughter. But they were shocked to hear that he and their daughter had gone this far without any understanding at all between them about the future.

Emilia didn't blame George, she had wanted to do this herself. He hadn't forced her.

"It was very good, I enjoyed it", she said with a defiant smile, which could easily have earned her a spanking if she had been a couple of years younger or had less indulgent parents. "He is a kind man and I love him."

She told her parents that she hadn't known that she had risked getting with child by doing it, but perhaps she ought to have understood that. She loved George very much, and would like to marry him, but he hadn't asked her. Actually, the word marriage had never entered into their conversation during all the weeks they had been together.

For all Emilia knew, he could be married to someone else already. Perhaps he had a wife in England.

...

Emilia's father, Henrik Gyllenstråk, was in a rage when he went to see George Kempell in his home later that same day. George felt embarrassed to meet this very upset man, whose daughter he had seduced on that very same sofa where he offered the father to sit down. George also felt quite a bit scared of this very tall, blond Swede. Henrik was no doubt a descendant to the old Vikings that had ransacked George's country many hundred years ago. He looked capable of resorting to violence, and though the man was much older than George, he was quite a bit bigger and probably also stronger.

Emilia's father didn't know much English, so this conversation was also held in French. But this time French was definitely not the language of love.

"It seems that you have got my daughter with child", Henrik began, getting straight to the point. "I can't tell you how despicable I think it is to seduce a young girl like that. I ought to give you a good thrashing, but that wouldn't make things better. But I must insist that you marry her."

George's first impulse was to deny it all. His second was to say that it could equally well have been someone else who was the father of Emilia's child. But he supressed both these impulses. He felt quite guilty about getting Emilia into trouble. He had taken her virginity, she wasn't a fallen woman. Well, not before she met him at least. Besides, making love to her had been so sweet, and he longed very much to be able to do it again.

"I'm sorry about it all, but I can't marry her", George said, trying to look more remorseful than he felt.

"Why not? You aren't married I hope, because then I would have to..." Henrik looked very angry, it was more and more obvious to George that this was a case where his diplomatic immunity would be of no help.

"No, no, I am not married", he said hurriedly.

"Well, that is at least something. Good! I hope we can sort this out then," Henrik said, a little bit calmer now.

But George still couldn't afford marrying, and he told Henrik so. He said that he was sorry about it all, that he was sure he was the father of the child Emilia was expecting and that he really wanted to protect both Emilia and that little one. He said that he was very fond of Emilia, she was a wonderful girl, he did love her.

But he just couldn't afford to marry her, not for many years to come. He told Emilia's father exactly how little he earned, and that his parents had many children and no more money to give him after supporting him through university. He lived in this small room without a kitchen, taking all his meals from restaurants. This was not the kind of life to share with an expecting mother. If they would both try to live on his salary, they would both have to starve.

Henrik thought that his daughter ought to have chosen someone more suitable to be seduced by, someone who could afford to marry her. But it was too late to change that. At least the man wasn't married to someone else.

There was, of course, only one solution to this problem. George and Emilia had to marry, so Emilia's family had to support them. After a lengthy discussion, Henrik promised to get his daughter and future son-in-law a home and also settle a bit of extra income on Emilia. And George agreed, without too much reluctance, to marry her.

"I'm glad you didn't call me out for a duel", George said just before they parted. "But perhaps you don't have that custom in Sweden."

Henrik Gyllenstråk gave him a very long, contemptuous glance.

"You are lucky I didn't", he said. "I would have, but there is no point in it. You wouldn't be able to marry her if I killed you."

...

The wedding took place in Stockholm of course, and as soon as it was at all possible, waiting only for the bans to be read. It was a Swedish wedding, done in that peculiar Swedish way, where the bride and groom arrive in church together, walking up the aisle side by side, like equals. Not like it ought to be, according to George Kempell's belief, with the groom waiting at the altar and the bride handed over as a gift from the father-in-law to the son-in-law. Or perhaps as a responsibility - now it is your turn to provide for her!

But luckily those strange Swedish wedding customs were purely symbolical, perhaps a remnant from the days of the Vikings, when the wife had some real power, being in charge of the household and the farming while her husband was away ransacking innocent people most of the year. George was to become his wife's guardian when they married, just like her father was her guardian until then. So the giving away ceremony would have been highly appropriate.

Emilia didn't promise to obey George when they married, though. The Swedish marriage ceremony never contained this very useful idea. Swedish men must be terribly henpecked, George thought. Was he making a mistake after all, marrying this Swedish girl? But he didn't have much choice, after all. And he was longing very much to take Emilia to bed again, he had hardly been allowed to touch her since that day when their child was conceived.

The whole ceremony was in Swedish. George didn't understand a word of what he was agreeing to. They had translated it for him in beforehand of course - although he couldn't be sure that they had done it correctly. They had also told him where to say "ja", which was the Swedish for yes.

There were also some short wedding vows in Swedish, mainly containing the names of the bride and groom, which George was to repeat after the parson. The biggest problem with that was that Emilia had difficulties to keep from laughing at the way George pronounced the Swedish words. One could perhaps have expected her to behave a little better, considering the sacrifices he was making for her.

Or was it sacrifices?

Emilia's father had bought a home for his daughter and son-in-law, with a couple of bedrooms, a nursery, a kitchen, a diningroom and a salon. Not great but decent. Henrik also paid the wages for a cook and a maid during the four years George was still posted in Stockholm. That was in addition to the extra income he had settled on his daughter.

It was not until George got promoted to a higher post in London that he was finally able to provide for his growing family himself.

In fact George Kempell was rather pleased with the arrangements. It was much nicer to have a real home to live in. His wife was warm and affectionate and had the cutest foreign accent when she was talking English to him. His newborn daughter was an absolute little darling, sweet and happy and smiling. She cried very much less than infants generally do. And the year after George also got a son. What more could a man wish for?

It proved good for his diplomatic career also, to have a special relationship to the Swedish aristocracy. Emilia explained things he found strange to him, and he soon got known at the legation as an expert in Swedish customs. Which probably got him his promotion to a post at the Foreign Office in London - where he would have much less use for his knowledge of Sweden and his contacts there - a year or two earlier than he otherwise would.

All this he had got from having a romp on the sofa with one of those loose Swedish girls he had been told about. Not a bad award for something that had been thoroughly enjoyable to begin with!

...

George Kempell didn't know what Emilia's father would have done to Emilia if George had refused to marry her. Perhaps he would have thrown her out of their home. But he probably wouldn't have done that, because Henrik obviously loved his wayward daughter, and wanted to protect her as much as was at all possible.

On the other hand, George didn't know what Emilia's father would have done to George if he had refused to marry Emilia. And he really had no wish whatsoever to find that out.

...

AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you for all lovely reviews!

I don't know if a Swedish marriage involving a British citizen would be valid in England at the time. I don't want to look further into this, it is only boring and doesn't add anything to the story. Lets just say that Elizabeth's parents did what they had to do in order to have their marriage legalized in both countries.