Because She Loved Him

Resolution

Anna sat in the quiet of the car wondering what on earth had happened. She could hear Bjorn shouting her name but it was very muffled and although she shouted back it seemed he could not hear her.
The door was wrenched open and she looked up and saw his beautiful face. "Anna darling are you ok? Anna?"
"I'm fine" she said, "just a bit shocked. I'm not even bumped"
Bjorn took hold of her hand and helped her out of the car. "Are you sure?" he asked wrapping her up tight in his arms "yes I'm fine I promise" she answered. "Jesus Anna I think you've just taken a clear ten years off my life" he said. Frida stood next to Anna and asked "what happened?" " I really don't know, the car was fine when we were going slowly out of the city but then when we went faster I suddenly couldn't steer it at all and it was very heavy. I hit that patch of ice and the car just wouldn't steer." She replied, very confused. Benny wandered round the car to see what the damage was. He scanned the car and the damage wasn't too bad that he could see. A few scratches but he couldn't see the front of the car. As he walked back around the car to join the others his attention was caught.He took a backward step and then another. He crouched down and looked at the tyres on that side of Agnetha's car. "Bjorn!" he called. "Can you come here please?" Bjorn left Agnetha with Frida and jogged round to the other side of the car where Benny was "what's up?" he asked Benny turned his back to the girls and said "Bjorn, I think we have a problem. These tyres. They're slashed. This is deliberate" Bjorn didn't want to believe it but as he hunkered down to look more closely, he could see that Benny was right. The question was who would want to hurt Agnetha?
Frida was watching the boys chat and she could tell from Benny's body language that he wasn't happy. She walked with Agnetha over to Bjorn's car. They both settled down inside the car to get out of the cold and snow and waited while the men decided what was to be done. Agnetha sighed and said " I don't know what happened, I just couldn't control the car, it wouldn't steer, I feel such an idiot. I wonder how much damage I have caused" She leant her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes.

Her eyes opened with the sudden rush of cold air that came into the car as Bjorn opened the door and slid himself in behind the steering wheel. She put her hand on his thigh as she always did when Bjorn was driving and she said " I'm so sorry Bjorn, I couldn't steer the car, is it damaged much? " Bjorn rested his hand over hers and said " Anna, it wasn't your fault, just know that for now." Benny leaned down and put his head in the car and said " Frida we are going to go and collect the kids from Agnetha's parents and bring them back. Is that ok?" Frida nodded and said "of course" she went to get out of the car and Bjorn said " we need to talk together when you get to ours please, we will make some dinner" Agnetha was pleased that they would all be together that evening, she hoped that a discussion away from the studio would be much more relaxed. " What will happen with my car?" asked Agnetha. " Well luckily you managed to steer in right out of the way" smiled Bjorn. " When we get home I will call for a tow truck to take it to the garage and make any repairs necessary"
The snow had got worse now and it was twilight so it was a hard journey home. Finally Agnetha and Bjorn made it home, they got inside and took their outdoor things off. Agnetha made her way to the kitchen and started rummaging about for the ingredients for dinner. Bjorn made the call to the garage and sorted out the retrieval and repair of Agnetha's car and then Bjorn came in to join her. He leant on the counter and watched her. She was so beautiful. Even he couldn't understand why he was acting like this. Her accident had shocked him and made him think.
He realised that she had been talking to him " I'm sorry Anna. What did you say? I was thinking about the accident" Anna smiled and said "I asked what you fancy for dinner? " He wandered over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He brushed her hair out of his way and nuzzled her neck. He took a deep breath and inhaled that scent that was just hers, one that he would always recognise until the day he died. He smiled against her neck and said "apart from you do you mean?" She turned in his arms and put her arms around him. She reached up to kiss him and said "yes, apart from me, but now you come to mention it, seeing as we have guests coming and the kids can we perhaps save it for dessert later? " He laughed out loud at her and said " you know Anna, even after all these years you still surprise me" He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her so that she was nose to nose with him. He kissed her hard. She wrapped her legs around his waist and the kiss continued. They heard someone knocking on the door and Bjorn tried to put her down. She giggled and held on tight. He laughed and said "Anna, behave!!" He tried to unlock her legs from round his hips but she was having none of that either. He couldn't help but be equal parts turned on, amused and exasperated. The knocking on the door was much louder this time so he decided to call her bluff. " Ok fine, let's do it your way but if I have a raging hard on by the time I get to the door, it's nobody's fault but yours" She sparkled at him and his heart melted.
He walked to the front door with her still wrapped all the way around him. It was no effort for him at all. He got to the door and opened it with one hand while he kept hold of Anna with the other just in case she lost her grip. He wouldn't let her fall.
Benny and Frida burst in the door bringing kids and snow. Benny put Linda down on the floor and then focused on Bjorn and Anna. Frida was already laughing. Benny had to smile and rolled his eyes. " For god's sake you two, Frida and I are freezing to death out there hammering on the door and you two are in here wrapped up in each other or should I say around each other. Could you put each other down for a bit do you think? I'm hungry and so are these little cuties" Frida tapped Anna on the shoulder and said " do you have an arm free for the other man in your life?"
Agnetha held out an arm and slid down Bjorn. She managed to manoeuvre Christian onto her hip. Bjorn held her still with a hand on each hip and moved till he was behind her. She smiled as she felt the reason why. His retaliation came swiftly, pulling her hard back against him so she could feel it all. She cleared her throat and said " sorry, dinner? I thought I'd make just pasta and sauce is that ok?" Benny and Frida agreed, taking their coats and boots off. Agnetha got down on the floor and gave Linda the biggest hug and helped her with her boots.
Agnetha walked back into the kitchen closely followed by Bjorn who was carrying Linda now.
Pretty soon an enormous plate of gorgeous pasta with meat sauce sat in front of each of them. Black pepper and parmesan was on the table together with 2 bottles of red wine. Bjorn sat next to Christian who was in his highchair then Anna was next to him with Linda on the other side of her.
Agnetha helped Linda to cut up her pasta and sauce then returned to her own dinner. She casually put her left hand on Bjorn's thigh and squeezed. Bjorn jumped and banged his knee on the table. He coughed and cleared his throat. " Are you ok darling? " enquired Agnetha. " Yes, all good thank you" said Bjorn, he battled a smile and his libido. All of the adults had downed half a glass of wine each before the conversation turned to ABBA. "Ok", said Benny "let's talk about today first, Anna, the car accident that you had today. It wasn't your fault. The tyres on your car had been slashed which meant when you drove faster you couldn't steer it. Tears of fright were quick to spring to Anna's eyes. Bjorn seeing this put his arm round her. " I know what you're thinking Anna. No one could possibly have known it was your car. It was probably just a random action. We will make sure we increase security though and we have all got bad at not remembering to shut the gates. " Benny, who wasn't quite so sure it was random nevertheless supported Bjorn and nodded to reassure Agnetha. Frida shivered and said "god it doesn't make you feel good does it" They all fell silent for a moment. Bjorn said "we'll talk to Stig about it tomorrow and see what other measures we can take" He poured everyone another glass of wine and stroked Christian's downy little head. Christian was tired and his little eyes were drooping. Anna lifted him out of the highchair and said " I'll take him up and put him to bed. Bjorn watched her leave the room and sighed.
Frida said " the idea of someone slashing tyres in the Polar car park is worrying even to me, let alone Anna. This will terrify her!" "Nobody but us would have known it was Anna's car so it must have been random" Benny said, hoping to reassure them all. " We must all be more careful" agreed Frida
The three downstairs cleared away the dinner things then Bjorn had Linda on his lap and was making his peace with her, reassuring her that he loved her very much. She fell asleep on his shoulder and he smiled as he stood to take her upstairs. He settled his little daughter in her bed having put her pajamas on for her. She never even stirred. She must be tired from her long day thought Bjorn. He considered it had been a long and difficult one himself actually. He left the room quietly and went to find Anna. He found her in Christian's room rocking him gently to and fro in the chair as he had his last feed of the day. He leaned on the door jamb and crossed his legs at the ankle and was content to watch her. The thought crossed his mind that even though they had argued, she was tired and she had had a rough day from the very start, even though her hair was mussed and tangled and Christian was still feeding he thought that he had never seen her look more beautiful.
At that moment Christian finished and Bjorn straightened and crossed the room to lift him out of Agnetha's arms. He took the cloth from her lap and put it on his shoulder while he gently paced rubbing Christian's back to burp him. Agnetha was watching him while she adjusted her clothes and said "Bjorn, I love you. I want us to be like this always, I'll always love you. You do know that don't you? I hate it when we fight. It breaks my heart" " I do know Anna and I love you too. We'll always love each other. No matter what life throws at us" Bjorn replied honestly.
They went back downstairs to find Frida and Benny cuddled up together on the sofa. They collected their wine glasses and joined them. The boys shifted around so that they were at each end of the sofa facing each other with their respective girls snuggled between their legs. Anna and Frida rested their legs on each other and Benny said "right, let's have a relaxed discussion about ABBA. I want to hear everybody's ideas" he glared at Bjorn. " I said relaxed and I meant it Bjorn" he warned. "We ALL have a say in this, I want it to be just us four tonight. No Stig and no Gorel. Just us" Bjorn took a breath as if he was going to say something and subsided nodding his head. The girls smiled. " Go on Frida" said Benny. "Hit us with your thoughts" Frida wriggled a bit until she was totally comfy, had a sip of her wine and said " ok, we need to finish this album whatever happens. We all know that. We also need to take a break away to recharge the batteries, get a change of scene. I think it would help. I'm happy to do a tour but I think we need to split it into parts both for us as a band and more importantly for Anna and Bjorn with their kids. They shouldn't be away from them for too long like we were in '77. After the tour I don't know. But then that's two years taken up right there" Benny nodded and said "that sounds reasonable, from my point of view I'm happy to do a tour but I would say I'm happy to do it all at once and get it over with quicker. However, I see the point Frida makes. We worked too hard in '77. After that I'd like to do a different sort of album for ABBA with a different sound" Bjorn felt his interest pique. "What sort of different sound? " Benny smiled and said "I knew that would get your attention, we'll talk about it after we've settled this. This needs to be sorted first." Bjorn felt a bit put out that Benny would not share but he supposed as he was the one who wanted this meeting, he could not complain. " So, seeing as we all already know where Bjorn stands with this, Anna what is your take on it? "asked Frida. Anna held her glass out for a refill and Bjorn obliged. He refilled everyone's glass at the same time while Anna considered her words carefully. Anna took a sip of wine and said " I want what is best for ABBA and what's best for our children and the two sometimes do not work together. I like recording best. I love singing and creating beautiful sounds with Frida. I love watching Bjorn and Benny work" both men smiled at that. I can't deny that the crowds scare me and you know I'm terrified of flying but I also understand that it is important for the fans to see us" she paused "Linda is getting older now and time passes so quickly, Christian is still so young and if I'm honest leaving them is increasingly hard." She downed what remained in her glass and Bjorn's eyebrows shot up. He wondered what she was going to say. " I don't want to let you all down. I know you want to do a tour. I'll do it for you three. No one else. I'm not doing it for the money, we have enough to be happy" Bjorn shifted uncomfortably. " I want to do the tour while Christian is still small enough to come for some of it and before Linda goes to school full time. I promise I won't let you all down" she repeated then Agnetha sighed and said "but I believe it will be my last big tour though. I think ABBA should use all the new technologies at our disposal, we can do cutting edge videos and recordings, we can give the fans everything " she stopped for breath and pleaded with Bjorn" you and Benny are so clever, can we not harness all of this and use it to our advantage, you and Benny are always wanting to try new things. Can't we be the first? The visionaries? We could open the floodgates. We have the money and the facilities. I never want ABBA to stop but we could move with the times" she slumped back into Bjorn's chest exhausted and nervous. Frida smiled at her and winked, knowing that she had held this in for months.
There was silence in the room for longer than was necessarily comfortable while Benny and Bjorn digested what had been said then Bjorn said "well, well what a clever, wonderful wife I have" He shook his head and wondered why he had been so blinkered, Anna blushed as Benny said, "she's been talking about this with Frida for months Bjorn, I didn't know all of it though, we need to really think about this" Anna said I know everyone thinks I don't want to be in ABBA but it isn't true, I do, I really do. Who wouldn't want to work with their husband and their two best friends ??" The others smiled and Bjorn hugged her closer and asked her "what do you want to do with all this extra time after the tour? When we are just recording? Anna went quiet and said " be a wife, a mum, a friend, the best singer I can be and have another baby" she slipped the last in quietly, so much so that they nearly didn't hear it. Benny and Frida burst out laughing and Bjorn dropped his forehead on her shoulder, hiding his expression while his heart raced with love and a little bit of dread. Benny stopped laughing with some difficulty and said "Bjorn, do you have anything to add?" "Nothing that I haven't already said before, we need to get this bloody album off the ground and then we need to do a tour of America and Japan. We need to boost our image and secure our record sales. Anna has bought up issues that I really need to consider. They are great ideas and they could push us forward hugely but I do feel we need to do a big tour. We need to remind people of who we are, especially if we will experiment with new tech" He gave Anna a reassuring squeeze but didn't go into the other issues he had discussed with Benny deliberately.
" I'm glad we had this discussion" said Benny much later when both girls were softly snoring on their shoulders "makes it far easier tomorrow, we know where we four stand" Bjorn yawned and looked at his watch. "Jesus Benny it's 3am, you two had better stay over, we've had far too much to drink. You know where "your" guest room is." He laughed. " Christ is it?" said Benny surprised. "Yes, if you don't mind we will, seems silly to call a taxi when we are all together tomorrow anyway". Bjorn looked at Frida and smiled. " I don't think you're going to wake her. This has been the longest day. Can you carry her or do you want me to after I take Anna up?" Benny bristled indignantly " Bjorn, you go too far sometimes, you really do"