Astrid’s P.O.V.
I laid in my bed unable to sleep for some reason and I tried to figure out why. Then I knew the answer; would Duke ever ask me to marry him? I don’t think I would ever date let alone marry another man. I love Duke a lot and I hope that he feels the same. I smiled at the thought of Duke asking me and me saying yes and I imagined myself being happy with Duke for the rest of my life. I began to drift off into sleep and one last thought pierced my mind, ‘Would he ever consider proposing to me or would he dump me for somebody else?’
I woke up the next day excited to see Duke and right after I got showered and dressed I went downstairs into the kitchen. Dad was in the kitchen already for some reason and he was sounding like he was upset about something. I sat down on a chair waiting for dad to get off the phone so I can ask him what’s wrong. Dad hangs up the phone and I say, “What’s wrong?” Dad jumps, turns around and says, “Geez, you scared me Astrid.” I grinned at that and dad says, “My friend from out of state wants me to come up and go deer hunting with him.” I gave him a weird look and say, “But you sounded upset about something over the phone.”
Dad sighs, looks down at the table while he says, “Your brothers are going out of state too, to see friends and there will be nobody here to stay with you.” My eyes got large, I knew dad was thinking of taking me with him so I say, “Dad, I have stayed home by myself plenty of times before; I can handle it.” Dad looks into my eyes and he says, “Okay, but I will be calling home a lot so you better answer otherwise I will not let you stay home by yourself again.” I nod my head smiling and then I stand up, run over to dad and give him a hug. He chuckles and says, “Don’t make me regret that decision.” I got out of dad’s grasp and say, “I won’t make you regret it.” Dad pulls me in for another hug and he says, “Me and your brothers are leaving today.”
I got out of his grasp quickly and say, “You can’t be serious. How long are going to be gone?” Dad looks up at the ceiling like he’s thinking and then his eyes make contact with mine and he says, “For a week maybe two.” I frown at that and dad says, “You can always come with me if you don’t like it.” I glared at him and he says, “What? I was just giving my opinion.” I shake my head and dad says, “I need to go pack. Your brothers will be leaving soon, so you might want to stay down here until they leave.” I nod my head and dad heads up to his room to begin packing. I stayed in the living room and then all my brothers began to come downstairs with their belongings.
I walked over to them and I hugged them individually and then they walked out the door. I sighed, sat down on the couch and waited for dad to come down so I could hug him too. When he finally did come down, I stood up, walked over to him and he hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him and we stayed like that for a while but of course, we had to let go because he had to leave to the airport. We said our goodbyes and love you’s before he left out the front door. I decided to call Duke and see if he wanted to come over. He said that he would be over right away. I lay down on the couch and waited for Duke to come over.
Just when I was about to fall asleep on the couch, my phone goes off so I sat up and pulled it out of my pocket. I saw that dad was calling so I answered it and he says, “Just thought that you should know that I’m at the airport now, about to get on so I will call you when the airplane lands, alright?” I tell him to have a safe trip and he says, “Thanks Astrid, talk to you when we land.” We hang up then and I get a text from Duke and he says, ‘Was putting gas in my car about to get in my car, see you when I get there.’ I couldn’t wait to see him; I missed him so much it wasn’t even funny. I laid myself back down on the couch and closed my eyes. I began to, for some reason, have a dream that Duke and I married each other but he became violent towards me and that he would hit me… I woke up screaming; the nightmare was so real and even felt real that I could not bring myself to tell Duke when he decided to show up.
