Ever After

seventeen | eadlyn

I wake up and realize that 1) Eikko and I are both extremely naked and 2) his family is awake in the next room. 

Someone knocks on the door. "Eadlyn? Eikko? Breakfast is ready."

Niko cracks the door open and I shrink into the comforter, shaking Eikko to wake him up. He hums and pulls me tighter against his chest until Niko says our names again. His eyes shoot open. 

"Oh my God."

If I wasn't so embarrassed, I would laugh. Hard. 

Eikko kisses me on the forehead and sits up, blocking me from view a little more. I swell at the gesture. 

"Hey big guy, we're up," he tells him. 

Niko opens the door more, smiling his twelve-year-old smile. "Mom and Dad said to eat breakfast before you left. I think Mom is going to cry." 

Eikko's tense shoulders relax. "We'll be right out."

I grab his hand under the sheets as Niko narrows his eyes. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" He asks his brother. 

Someone snorts on the other side of the door- Eikko's father- and I bury my face into the pillows. 

"We'll be right out, Niko," Eikko repeats, this time red-faced. The younger boy shrugs and shuts the door.

Eikko looks down at me. "Sorry."

I wave a hand. "Don't apologize." I lean up and wrap my arms around his neck to kiss him. He smiles into it. "If that had happened to anyone else, I would have been laughing."

He grins. "Me too. Better get up before he opens the door again."

Eikko stretches and gets out of bed, searching for his clothes from the night before, and I wrap the sheets around myself to find my own. He shoots me an amused look, so I stick my tongue out at him. I am not about to wait for Niko to open that door again without these sheets around me. 

Eikko makes the bed after pulling on some pants and I brush my hair, trying to make it more presentable. He turns and wraps his arm around me, resting it on the small of my back and kissing my head. His other hand finds mine and brings it up to kiss it, then he takes a deep breath and tucks it to his chest, still bare. I smile up at him.

"I love you, darling," he mutters. 

I sigh and kiss his jawline. "I love you, darling," I repeat.

***

We get ready to leave just before lunchtime. I almost feel guilty about sleeping in so much, but it was a long night. And despite the fact that Eikko's parents definitely put the pieces together, I don't regret making love with their son under their roof.

Maybe that makes me a terrible person, but I don't think so. Or care.

I'm hugging Niko for the fifth time. He's so much like my brothers that I tear up when he backs away and runs off, leaving us to say goodbye to Eikko's parents as the guards pull the car up. 

Mrs. Koskinen reaches out, and I assume she is going to hug her son first, but she rushes at me. I don't think I have ever been hugged this hard. 

She pulls away and paws my hair, studying me. If anyone else looked at me like this, I would feel exposed. But this is my husband's mother. This is family. 

I have dressed as I usually would for the first time in the trip, sporting a day dress and heels that feel out of place in this new life I'm building. I don't mind though- my worlds are colliding and I quite like it.