Envelope 43
Author's Note: The song I have used here is Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight. I did some research for this chapter so if there are any Swedes reading this, let me know if I'm completely off anywhere. Please leave a review.
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Don sat watching the snow fall gently outside the farmhouse. It was February in Sweden and Linnea had convinced him to bring the kids for Sportlov and annual festival that celebrated the love of winter sports and so far, it was a hit with the kids. They had been skiing, skating, ice climbing and ice fishing and today they were going to skate a trail through a forest. His kids were exhausted at the end of everyday and it reminded him of when they went to the cottage, only colder, and they spent most of their time outside. And he and Linnea had taken advantage of the kid's exhaustion knowing that no one would walk in on any activities that were happening in Linnea's bedroom. As exhausted as Don was at the end of a busy day outside, he was relishing sleeping in Linnea's bed every night for a week, and she seemed to also be enjoying the situation.
"Far kommer for pannkakor," Agnes said as she gestured for Don to join them in the kitchen.
Don couldn't help but smile at her Swedish, she was trying really hard to learn another language when she realized that Linnea spoke 3 fluently and another 4 broken but quite passable.
"Pancakes?" Don asked as he rose with his coffee and walked past the roaring fire and toward the kitchen.
"Pannkakor," Agnes said with a braces smile.
"You're getting really good," Don said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and walked with her into the kitchen where Kit was already devouring what looked like a crepe with cottage cheese on it. The pickiest eater at home had tried smoked fish and now, cottage cheese.
"This looks amazing," Don said as he looked at the preserved fruit, the crepes and the cheeses and curds. "You swedes know how to pack on the calories."
Linnea laughed and sat down with her own coffee.
"In the cold you need to," she said with a chuckle.
Don kissed Linnea on the top of her head and sat down at the table. "Kit, you couldn't have waited?"
His son looked up at him with a full mouth of crepes and looked like he'd not even realized he was supposed to.
"Breakfast is later today, he's starving," Linnea said by way of explanation, knowing it was probably his fourth pannkakor.
"Perssskur?" Agnes asked as he held up a bowl of preserved peaches for Don.
"Persikor," Linnea annunciated.
"Persikor," Agnes said.
"She's a natural," Linnea said. "Maybe I could convince our intern Lars to help Agnes?"
Don knew that Lars was about 20, chiseled and gorgeous and he knew Agnes would like that, but he wouldn't.
"Let's try a computer program and then maybe once she gets the hang of it, we can talk," Don said as he exchanged a look with Linnea and she shook her head unbelieving of his level of protectiveness with his daughter.
They ate their calorie rich meal with Agnes asking for the Swedish pronunciation of everything on the table, Kit barely taking a breath between crepes, and Don enjoying the solitude of being away. Since the incident in the summer when Linnea was almost blown up, several agencies had been investigating the source of the attack. It looked like it was the RSS but besides a few leads, the trail had all but dried up. He felt he had failed her in some way and everyday hoped for some piece of information that would lead him to the group and make her feel completely safe again. She, in true Ambassadorial form, had returned to her job after one day of rest and hadn't let anyone, except Don, know how much she was affected by it. The fact that she stayed at his house for several days after the incident was a testament to how rattled she was, he knew it, and so did she.
He'd slept with her wrapped him his embrace every night and she spent most nights sleepless but unmoving. She liked the security of his embrace but woke in fits of panic throughout the night only to settle again when she realized she was with him and safe. She would lay there for hours feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest against her back, the soft snore that emanated from his lips, and feel the grip of his arm around her holding her close. She would eventually calm, match her breathing to his and fall back to sleep until another image or nightmare woke her again and the process started all over.
"Do Zlatko and Mo know we're leaving soon?" Don asked as he turned to look out the window at the guest cabin the two of them were bunking in. The kids were getting their layers of clothing on for the day ahead.
"Agnes brought them pannkakor so they should," Linnea said as she and Don cleared the dishes.
"I have to say, I'm excited about the forest skating," Don said with a smile. "The kids are really liking Sweden."
"And you?" Linnea asked.
"I can see why you love it so much," Don said. "The people are friendly, the scenery is gorgeous, and there's a calmness…nothing rushed that I can really appreciate, especially with my job."
"I knew that part of Swedish living would appeal to you," Linnea smiled at him.
"I like the sauna," Don said as he came up behind her and kissed the back of her neck. Thinking of the naked sauna time they took together everyday, along with the cold water plunges that were completely unappealing at first, until he did it. Then they became a little addictive.
"I knew you'd like that as well," Linnea smiled as she moved her neck for him to get better access.
"I think I should get a sauna," Don said devilishly.
"With your security and neighbors on all sides?" Linnea asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look at him. "We'd give everyone a show."
Don laughed at the image of them walking in and out of a sauna naked with Mrs. Linden next door looking at them bug-eyed.
"Yeah, I guess that's not happening," Don said with a chuckle.
"Here, it is hidden from the house by the trees and then the lake, and no Swede anywhere on the lake is looking or, it they did look, no one cares because they are naked as well," Linnea said with a smile before she walked toward the back door to gather her coat.
"I'm kinda liking the nudity," Don smiled, "It's freeing."
"You just like cold skinny dipping," Linnea said with a smirk.
"That too," Don chuckled.
"My sister has asked if the kids can stay with her for a night," Linnea said. "Their niece is coming with her children for a few days, and she thought the kids may appreciate playmates for a night."
Don scraped the dish into the compost and thought about the idea.
"The detail would go with them, does she have the room?" Don asked. He had been to her home and it was quite large but with another family, his kids, and security…
"They'll make room," Linnea said. "I don't want to pressure you, if you feel it's not a good…"
"Let me think about it," he said as he stacked dishes in the dishwasher.
"Okay," Linnea said before she left out the back door for her morning walk.
Don knew that he and the kids, although she loved them, were an invasion on her space and she liked to take some time each day to herself. Usually in the form of a morning walk and then later in the evening, some time in her bedroom reading for an hour or so while he got dinner. He knew she was happy to have them, but also knew she was not used to having this many people surrounding her, especially a two kids.
Don finished cleaning up the kitchen and wiping down the table and went to get his kids to get moving. They were excited to leave and when Linnea came in the door they loaded into her car and were off to the forest for some skating. It was a gorgeous snowy day and the forest was breathtaking as they skated along the trail with other Swedes enjoying their week of Sportlov. Linnea guided them near the end of the skate to a grillstuga where there were benches and a fire pit and others warming themselves. Don looked around and wondered why there weren't things like this in the USA, it was such a wonderful idea. Instead of going back to Linnea's farmhouse they went to her sister's for dinner.
"Leave it to my sister to go to the United States and end up with a man that looks like a Swede," Agata said with a laugh as she set down the platter on the table.
"Irish-German," Don laughed. "But that's my great grandparents, so back a ways."
Don liked her sister, she was more abrupt than Linnea with her speech but was a kind person. He had only spent an afternoon with her and her husband when they first arrived; he had been so busy with his kids they hadn't had time for anything else.
"Have you had to use your gun?" Oscar, Agata's nephew asked Don.
Agata said something abrupt to him in Swedish and her eyes darted toward the children at the table.
"We carry one hoping we don't have to use it," Don said, trying to diffuse the situation.
Every Swede at the table nodded.
"And you are all leaving in 2 days?" Klara asked as she filled up her son's glass with cider.
"Don and his children are," Linnea said. "But I'm happy Agnes and Kit got to experience Sportlov."
Linnea was staying on her farm for another week without them, enjoying some time to herself and with her extended family that she hadn't had much of a chance to visit with while Don and the kids were there.
"How did you like the skiing?" Elias asked Don.
"I liked cross country better," Don said as he reached for his beer. "Less chance of breaking my neck."
"See?!" Elias said triumphantly. "Cross country is the superior skiing! Better for your heart and lungs and more…reasonable."
"You just say that because of your hip!" Agata laughed at him. "He's been arguing cross country is superior ever since he got arthritis in his hip ten years ago. It has nothing to do with anything but that."
The table laughed at their, obviously, long-held argument.
Don looked at Agnes chatting merrily with Oscar and Klara's fifteen year old daughter, Elsa, and Kit talking about the storyline of a TV show he and Nils, who was 8, both watched. His children obviously liked their company, but he wasn't comfortable leaving them an hour away in a foreign country even with security. They'd told security and he'd packed an overnight bag for his kids in case he felt comfortable with them staying, knowing it was unlikely, but better to be prepared.
They ate a jovial simple meal together by candlelight with the children abandoning them long before the adults were ready to get up from the table. The wine was brought out and the conversation flowed, with questions about what happened to Linnea in the summer and Don's job at the FBI flowing now that the kids were out of the room. Linnea was much better talking about the incident now then she had been months ago, but Don could still tell not knowing who the RSS was and why she was targeted was weighing on her. He wished he would take that weight from her and covered her hand with his meeting her eyes.
"Are your children staying?" Agata asked Don.
"I've never left them this far away from me," Don said, trying to explain.
"You and Linnea are welcome to stay as well if you wish," Agata smiled at him. "It will be the sofa in the living room, but it would be nice to have the children stay."
Don looked at Linnea and she nodded. "I can sleep on a sofa."
He smiled at her and turned to Agata. 'Okay, thank you."
Agata smiled at the pair of them. She liked how Linnea glowed around Don and how he seemed to value every word that came from her mouth. Her sister had struggled with relationships her entire life and Agata was sure she would end up alone and probably fine with it. But she knew her sister was a warm-hearted and good person who deserved to be with someone, and it looked like that someone was this man. He and Linnea seemed to navigate two busy careers and his children with ease, and Linnea, much to Agata's surprise, seemed to take to the children in her own way. She knew Linnea would never be a mother to those children, but she would be someone special in their life and that was probably what suited her sister and Don best.
The adults cleared the table and cleaned up before moving to the living room by the fireplace where Elias convinced everyone that they needed to play Cards Against Humanity which got dirtier and dirtier the more everyone drank and Don was grateful his children were upstairs otherwise occupied and not caring what the adults were laughing about downstairs. About midnight Don and Klara got Nils and Kit settled in bed in one of the rooms and told the girls after the movie they were watching in bed ended they needed to turn out the lights. Don's children, unused to being allowed to stay up this late, didn't protest and instead agreed to the terms, knowing they were getting away with something they normally did not. The security team was bunked across the hall from the kids and Don told them to make sure Agnes' light were out within the hour.
"What will you do when her posting is finished in just under two years?" Klara asked as they shut the door on the girls and started down the hallway.
"We haven't spoken about it," Don admitted. It seemed so far away and yet, so close at the same time.
"They will offer her options by the end of the year for her next posting," Klara said knowingly. "She will need to decide by this time next year. I work for the Embassy here in their legal department, and that's usually when we start the process, just over one year ahead."
Don nodded. Linnea had not mentioned that she would need to make a decision within the next year, he thought they had more time before that.
"Thanks," Don smiled at her.
"I think you and she need to find a way," Klara said with a smile before they re-joined the group.
"Who's for a sauna?" Oscar asked as he stood from the table. "I will go start the fire and bring out the Akvavit."
"I didn't pack anything," Don said as he looked toward Linnea.
"You don't need anything," Linnea said with a smirk.
"Oh yes, you prudish Americans," Oscar chuckled as the others started to grab coats and but on boots to head outside.
Don looked at Linnea confused.
"Naked," she said softly as she smiled at him.
"With your family?" Don asked, very confused and surprised.
"Swedes do not have the worries about nudity," Linnea said. "You don't have to."
"Is this what Swedes really do? You aren't…?"
"Don, we can stay inside and…"
Don looked outside and saw the party walking into the woods.
"No, this is weird, but if it's…"
"You're sure?" Linnea asked, sensing his discomfort.
Don nodded, quite unsure but determined to not be a prudish American.
She handed him his jacket and they started outside for the woods.
"I think it's a good thing I have a few drinks in me," Don chuckled as they walked.
"A few pieces of advice, don't look at anyone below the neck," Linnea offered him some advice, "and talk as you normally would."
Don nodded.
"And Oscar is going to tease you about Americans and their uptightness, feel free to not answer any of his questions if you don't want to," Linnea said as they walked through the snow.
"You do this all the time?" Don asked.
"It's just family and friends," Linnea said simply.
It caused Don to conjure an uncomfortable picture of him and Robby sitting naked with Robby's wife and some of their cousins, and there was no way that was ever happening.
"Wait, look" Linnea said as she stopped him, and they looked up at the night sky filled with stars as the green and purple northern lights danced across the sky in the distance.
Don loved the sky here, he had admired it every night they were in Sweden, the stars seemed to almost cover each other there were so many and the dancing northern lights…he had tried to capture them but no picture he took seemed to do them justice.
"Come here," he said as he pulled her close, as close as they could get in two parkas. He kissed her softly on the lips and took her hand in his, placing the other about her waist and started to slowly dance with her in the darkness, with the sound of her laughing family in the distance and the stars and northern lights above and around them.
"We don't have music," Linnea smiled at him.
"It's in my head," Don said.
"What song?" Linnea asked, not sure if he was joking.
"And then she asks me, do I look alright? And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight," Don sang softly.
Linnea swayed with him as they both hummed the rest of the song with Don occasionally interjecting a line or a few words that he knew. She ended the song with a long drawn-out kiss that made his toes curl and his entire body come to life. Linnea made him jump in the lake before going in the sauna so he wouldn't walk in with an erection, and that is how Don found himself naked in a sauna with a bunch of Swedes drinking in the middle of the night and waking up half naked and hung over on a sofa the next morning with Linnea squished against him and asleep in his arms in her thermals and a toque.
To be continued….