The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself

Happy New Year

A couple days have passed, and Agnetha was finally starting to believe that her dream was well just that, a dream. Björn has managed to calm her enough to trust herself and to trust him again. They worked out their biggest problems quite soon. There was obviously too much stress in their marriage, especially because of too much work. They talked it all out and both realised it was time they focused on them and their growing family. If ABBA was going to stay, it could wait. They agreed on cancelling the 1979/1980 tour or at least postponing it. Due to the pregnancy, it was quite a lot to expect form Anna either way. At the end they decided they'd talk to Frida and Benny first, before bringing up the issue to Stig. He was going to make much more fuss about it.

It was New Year's Eve and the year 1978 was coming to its end. Al four members of the super group were celebrating in the studios alongside Görel and a couple more friends. As the time neared midnight Agnetha and Björn grabbed Frida and Benny and literally pulled them outside. They stared at them dumbfounded, what the hell was happening? "Well, we got something to tell you..." Agnetha trailed off into a quiet whisper, she was much too shy sometimes. Björn held her in his arms, hugging her from behind, giving her the courage that she desperately needed. "We too," smiled Frida. "You go first," she added. Agnetha looked at Björn and then back at the couple next to them. "I'm pregnant," she said shyly, scared of what the two will think. "Me too!" answered Frida. The girls burst into tears all fears forgotten. Both couples were worried for nothing. It couldn't have been more perfect.

While the girls hugged and gossiped, the boys talked about what the future will bring for them as a band, for them as the super group ABBA. It wasn't a question about them staying friends and all that, the only thing that could change would be their work. They signed after a while. Stig was sure to be the hardest obstacle. He may even want them to get rid of their children before they're even born, he sure wasn't happy about Agnetha's pregnancy when she was carrying Christian.

Soon the clock struck midnight and the sky above Stockholm was lit with fireworks. It sure was going to be an interesting year.

It was now already the 7th of January when ABBA was back to the studio. They needed to work on their new album and today a meeting was scheduled to plan about all their public appearances that year as well as the tour that would continue even in 1980. As they all walked into the meeting room, they politely greeted Görel. She was the only one already there and there was no sign of Stig anywhere nearby. They sat down around the table, staying close to each other, taking comfort just from each other's presence. Görel wasn't blind, she could see the tension in all four of them. This time though it was a different kind of tension. Instead of the usual worry she felt for their marriages breaking due to the sheer stress of ABBA, she felt all the love between them. She just knew something had changed and it was for the better. She wasn't going to say anything just yet, but she had an idea about what this could have been. You could see it in their eyes. All of it. All their love, their passion and their mind and soul seemed to just lay there open for her to see. She took out some of the papers from the folder and started crossing out things. She had a hunch ther was going to be no tour this year.

It was 20 minutes past 10.00 AM when Stig finally walked into the room. "Sorry I'm late, I was just on call with an American producer, but he wasn't interested to collaborate. He'll surely see just how wrong he is when we do the tour there this autumn," he smiled wickedly. "About that..." started Björn, "there'll be no tour this year," Benny finished for him. "What!!??" asked Stig, already getting angry. "We're pregnant," added the girls. "You'll..." started Stig. "Don't even dare to say it," Björn said, he and Benny glaring at him for even thinking such nonsense. They'd never not want their kids. "We bring you money Stig, and even legally we make the rules here. The tour is cancelled indefinitely and from now on we'll work at our own pace. Both me and Frida want to have a couple more children and I speak for all four of us when I say that family is our number one priority. Music will just have to come after that. We'll still do the special in mid-February for ABBA in Switzerland but that will be our last engagement before the release of our next album. Which will be when it will be! We won't rush it this time. We love to make music but we're not your puppets anymore. If you wish to stay as our manager, you'll need to listen to us and oh, you need to run all things by Görel first too," spoke Benny. "Cancel tour, keep Switzerland, anything else?" asked Görel. "No that's fine. We'll do Switzerland now and then we'll take a little holiday," mused Frida. "Absolutely no work till June, and after these little monsters are born," she laid her hand on her tummy, "we'll see how much time we'll need to return." The meeting soon ended, and the friends could finally relax, snuggled in the warmth of their homes.