Life On the Fjords

A Secret

The questions Mary and Jamie had just kept growing.

First, they were staying the night at a stranger's home... Now their brother was getting married? Nothing made sense anymore.

What was stranger is how much in a hurry they were to get it done. Elsa was insisting they go to the courthouse that evening. Even at her father's insistence that they wait for money to start coming in again so they could plan a nice wedding, Elsa wouldn't take no for an answer, and Jack was on her side.

There'd be no time to have a wedding dress made or to write to relatives. By the end of the day, Elsa Nordheim would be Elsa Overland. The twins could see that Jack was shaking. All day, his hands were trembling. His heart was racing. The twins weren't the only ones flummoxed by this hasty wedding. Iduna and Agnarr were the most unprepared.

In their world, Elsa's wedding day would be held back at least until spring. They could set up preparations and let the snow thaw for a lovely outdoor venue. In their rush to please their daughter, who seemed more fraught than giddy, Iduna pulled out one of her older, nicer dresses for Elsa to wear while Jack dug through the wadded-up heap of clothing in the chest for something mildly classy. Jack didn't even know when the last time he saw a wedding was. He'd only gone to one ceremony in his life and it was for a friend of his mother. He remembered sitting in the grass and it being so hot he kept asking when he could go home.

Every single article of clothing he owned was wrinkled to Hell and back. He hadn't been planning to get married in anything he'd packed, after all. This wouldn't do.

All the while, Jamie and Mary kept hounding him with questions.

"Are we gonna live here now?"

"Does that make Elsa our sister?"

"Aren't you supposed to give her a ring?"

Jack brushed off all of them in his haste to prepare both physically and mentally. On one hand, he was euphoric. Elsa was going to be his wife. They could have their child and still spare her reputation. On the other, he had nothing to his name. How was he supposed to take care of her? He didn't necessarily assume he'd be living with the Nordheims, but it was a possibility he'd have to consider until he had enough money saved up to buy a home again.

Perhaps once he had a regular paying job, it wouldn't take nearly as long.

Upon seeing the frantic young man going through his own clothes, Agnarr said, "Here, I might have something for you."

Jack blushed from shame, but he accepted his offer and followed him into his room. Agnarr went through his wardrobe before picking out what might possibly fit the scrawny young lad. Though he had the physique of a boy who worked over ten hours a day out in the fields of the fjord, he was still skinny, and the clothing he had come with still hung off of him slightly.

"Try these. I had these back when I was thinner." He chuckled, but it didn't relieve any of the tension. Agnarr was by no means overweight, but age had changed his body and proportions. He still had clothes as far back as the day he was married, when he was only a few years older than Jack.

"Thank you," Jack murmured and went behind the folding screen. He wasn't sure how he should act in front of Agnarr. Shouldn't he be more excited? He'd managed to win the hand of the only woman he loved, yet there was something he still lacked. None of it felt earned.

"Your brother and sister are so well-mannered."

"Sorry?"

"Your siblings, they're very bright young children. Just an observation."