Chapter One – Hope

"Is your mother not joining us for luncheon?" Lily asked as Johan sat down to dine from the koldt bord of meats, cheeses, and smoked fish. Outside it was an atypically bright and gorgeous August day in the year of our Lord 1924, but inside the walls of Iskall Slott on the coast of Norway, the mood was quiet and morose.

Johan stifled the inward twist of pain that always accompanied any mention of his mother these days. "Nurse Adelsson said that she is resting."

"Johan, surely you see that this cannot continue," Lily continued, flicking her napkin over her lap and smoothing it over her dress. She was undeterred by the hard glance he threw at her. God knows she had become immune to any of his hard glances over the four years of their marriage. She had been easier on him since the sudden death of his father eight months ago, but she could not bear the atmosphere in this house any longer.

Sympathy didn't always have to be a dove. It could be a sword as well. A fact that Johan's mother's nurses should know, but obviously they didn't.

"And just what do you expect me to do about it?" Johan asked, his voice sharper than he would like.

"I would expect you to hire a new doctor. A new set of nurses. Anyone, really, that could help relieve your mother from her unending pain without drugging her out of her wits with laudanum!"

"I will not discuss the matter here," Johan hissed, staring at her before taking his fork in hand.

Lily glanced over at Helene, her sister-in-law. They had no other guests at their table. They had entertained far less these last eight months, and not strictly out of mourning for the late Baron Hans of Skaldenfoss. Of course they had servants hovering nearby, but Kai and Anders were as much family as any of their long-time staff. A castle such as theirs, especially this close to the capital of Norway, required much upkeep.

Besides, she had to have it out with her husband, once and for all. Precious time was passing, and his mother was not getting well. In fact, his mother might even be dying. Something had to be done, even if it meant shattering the unsteady peace of her husband.

"You will not discuss the matter anywhere, it seems," Lily replied, her tone acid.

"Really, Lily, just what do you want me to say?" Johan barked, flinging down his fork. "Do you want me to admit that my mother is in so much pain that she wishes she were dead? Do you need me to admit that there is no hope for her anymore, no hope now, no hope ever? Just what is it that you want me to do?"

Johan wanted his wife to back down, or for Helene to say something, but he knew that neither of those things would actually happen. His American wife had come with much-needed wealth for their estate and with an inflexible core of adamant as well, though she rarely flexed those dangerous claws. And Helene… Helene was still an unknown piece of the puzzle, sister-in-law or not. Six years of living under the same house had not cracked her open for his understanding.

His Lily's brown eyes were flashing with ire as she replied, "I will no longer just blindly trust Dr. Lund…"

"Who has been my mother's physician for the last thirty-some years," Johan couldn't keep from saying.

"He is not a specialist, Johan."

"Shall I recount the number of specialists who have treated her, Lily? From Copenhagen, from London, even from Paris?"

"Would you just listen to me? Your mother doesn't need another specialist. What she needs is a better nurse, a better therapist, someone who will raise her spirits and give her some hope!"

Johan was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his words were soft and filled with emptiness. "You think hope can still be found in this house? After what happened to Leif, and to Heidi?"

"Hope can be found in the oddest of places," Helene unexpectedly replied in her soft, lilting French voice. She flushed as she realized she had spoken aloud. Lily wished she could reach over and hug her, as fiendishly American a thing as that would be, and had to content herself with flashing Helene a warm smile.

That Leif's young widow could say such a thing gave Lily a thin edge of courage, courage to continue this very important miniature war with her husband.

Let the next volley begin.

"I've been speaking with Mother Magda at the hospital in town. We've been scouring the country for the last few weeks and have just discovered a special nurse and therapist who has recently come available in Trondheim."

Johan gave a short bark of laughter, gravelly and grim. "Mother Magda," he said, "is one step above a hedge witch!"

Lily glared at him. "Are you even listening to me, Johan? I am only trying to help!"

Johan wanted to listen to reason, he really did. He would do almost anything at this point to melt the shard of ice and fear that had taken permanent residence in his heart. He had suddenly become the Baron Skaldenfoss in January, had to pay death duties for his father's estate (which they could scarcely afford in this awful post-war world), and had to assume the mantle of responsibility that his father had worn so easily and so well. All while visiting the hospital in Oslo as often as possible to make sure his mother stayed alive and well cared for.

How had such tragedy befallen the Arendelle family in such a short period of time? Everything had changed since the outbreak of war in 1914. Despite Norway's strict neutrality regarding the war, both he and his younger brother Leif had served as officers in the merchant fleet. Leif even went all the way to France, only to be caught in the Spring Offensive of 1918 by the Germans. His legs amputated, he had been sent home to die, bringing his pregnant French bride with him. The matter of Helene staying at Iskall Slott to later give birth to and raise Leif's daughter had nearly torn his parents apart.

Johan had managed to survive being a ship's officer and first-mate during the war. He returned home with scars and memories so vicious and bloody he would never speak of them aloud. He was adjusting to the frosty relationship between his parents, he was learning to welcome Helene as a sister-in-law. The estates of Iskall suffered greatly; the family needed income from other sources and his father begged him to start searching for a wealthy American bride.

Amid all this turmoil, his search for a bride, this great divide between his parents, this uncertainty of his future, the Spanish Flu came to Norway, and to Iskall Slott. Two maids of the house died. And so did his younger sister, Heidi.

Leif and Heidi both dead within a single year. Ingrid, Heidi's twin sister, had been inconsolable. His mother, normally cheerful, fell into near silence and withdrew to her chambers. His father retreated to his office and worked insane hours at the Storting parliament in Oslo.

As a young man, an officer in the merchant navy, Johan had come to believe in time.

Only time could heal this family. Six years had passed since the end of the war and the deaths of his siblings, and life was just starting to get good again. Oh, his parents never seemed to be as happy as he remembered from his childhood, but he believed that time alone would smooth the rough edges of their marriage. They had been ecstatic when he finally asked Lily to marry him; his savvy American wife knew that she was bringing her wealth to save the estate, but she also seemed to love Johan greatly.

It was only after he fell in love with Lily and married her that Johan saw his parents with new eyes. He knew that they had married to join estates and strengthen bloodlines. They had wed out of duty and obligation, but surely love had grown between them in all the years and the children that had been borne since?

Johan had watched them carefully these last three years, with deepening concern. Watched them only to see their relationship deteriorate even further, for no reason he could fathom. They slept in separate bedrooms. His father spent much time away from home. Would nothing bring them together again?

So when Johan had sent his prayers up into the night sky above the castle, he hoped that God would not ask more of them. Surely He would send no more destroying angels to the Arendelle family.

Johan had thought wrong.

January of 1924 had proved it.

Just yesterday evening, Johan had gone into his mother's bedchamber to talk about the events of the day, as had become their custom, and found her weeping into her pillow. When he tried to ask her what was wrong, she spoke words that would haunt him to his dying day. Words that he had not yet shared with his own wife. He didn't dare repeat them aloud.

"Please, oh please let it be over, Johan. I can't bear this life any longer. My son, I'm sorry, but you must let me die!"

What does a first-born son say to that?

Johan knew very little about medicine beyond the basic training provided to all officers during the war. Ever since his mother came home from Oslo to convalesce, he had watched her spiral down a slippery slope of infections and depression. All of their well-paid and supposedly well-qualified nurses were as incompetent as he in bringing her any relief outside of the dangerously addictive laudanum.

So why should this nurse of Lily's be any different?

And what the hell was a special therapist anyway?

Johan opened his mouth to protest but Lily rode right over him. "Her name is Miss Wolff, she comes from Canada, and she has been very highly recommended."

Johan felt like deflating under this prick of pressure from his wife. With some effort he replied, "And what do you desire of me? To invite her here for an interview? To see if she can possibly do any better than the three nurses we have already hired and fired in the past six months?"

"No. All I want of you is to join me in the interview with her that is taking place this afternoon," Lily said, calmly taking a bite of food.

Johan paused in shock. "You mean you have already invited this woman for an interview? Without my permission?"

"Your permission?" Lily repeated, that core of adamant flexing dangerously in her voice. "When she may be the one who saves your mother's life, I hope you remember that you told me to ask for your permission." Lily strengthened her argument by huffing aloud.

Johan could see a ghost of a smile on Helene's lips, but he ignored her to focus on his wife and the news she had just given him. "Well, when is this interview?" he asked, hoping Lily couldn't hear the fear he tried to hide with his contentiousness.

"She is due on the 2 o'clock train from Oslo, where she broke her journey last night. It's a long way from Trondheim. Kristoff will be leaving just after luncheon to fetch her from the station."

Johan stared at Lily a long time; a stare that she returned, spark for spark. Not that he should have expected less from his fiery wife. "Don't get your hopes up, Lily. None of us should."

Both women seemed shocked by his statement. Well they should.

Eight months had passed since the day that catapulted Johan into a baronetcy he didn't want, though he had been preparing for it his entire life. Eight months since the accident that so suddenly erased the future the family had been trying to create together. They had just been learning how to navigate this post-war world of financial storms and political unrest and missing family members. Johan had been learning how to live without Leif and Heidi; they had been so abruptly amputated from his life that he still felt their phantom presence.

Now he had to deal with the amputated ghost of his father's future, so suddenly snatched away. He had to adjust to his mother's altered circumstances, the life she would no longer be able to have. Her death wish revolved endlessly in his mind.

These were the spirits that turned gangrenous within him, infecting him with despair and anguish so unbecoming a Baron of the Kingdom of Norway.

His parents should have had a trip home from Oslo like any other, like the hundreds they had taken time and again over the years. They had gone to the capital just after Christmas to visit his sister Ingrid and her husband and to meet their newborn granddaughter. Johan and Lily had not joined them for this visit to the city for Lily had been pregnant with their second-born child at the time; a fact that had not escaped him in many sleepless nights since.

That it could have been all of them on the tracks that January day. Johan still shivered to think of it. He thought of his own fiery Lily, doused and dying, there on the snow.

But no. God reached out his hand and took Hans Arendelle, Baron of Skaldenfoss, just as He had taken Leif and Heidi a few years before.

Johan wanted to hope for a better future. He wanted things to change, to be as they were in the past.

With his father dead and gone Johan desperately wanted his mother back. Back the way she used to be, when she brought life and laughter into their home. He wanted to watch his parents dance near the Christmas tree, he wanted to see them exchange quick kisses of affection on cheeks as they parted to the duties of the day. He wanted his mother to resume her place of guidance and exuberant support in his life, just as she had done for as long as he could remember.

But each time Johan dared to hope, his hope had been broken.

Just like Anna Arendelle's legs.

And back.

And skull.