Relaxed as she was Linda smiled happily and was unguarded with her answer. "Mama is good, Frida is with her" Bjorn kept his eyes closed and a small smile tilted his lips. "Where's Frida?" "Last time I saw her, in bed with Mama" that made Bjorn's eyes snap open. He looked at Linda who was openly laughing at him. He rolled his eyes and said "Ok, nice one!" Linda shook her head and continued laughing. "Papa, it's true honestly. Frida flew in late last night or early this morning, I'm not sure which. I just know when I went looking for Mama this morning I found them curled up together in bed and two empty bottles of red wine downstairs" Bjorn's lips twitched, broke into a grin and as Linda watched mesmerised he threw his head back and roared with laughter in a way that she hadn't seen him laugh for decades. He lost his breath a bit and Linda put a hand on his arm. "Papa? You ok?" "Never better sweetheart, those two were always hard to handle. I'm damn glad they're still at it. They used to run Benny and I ragged". He was still chuckling as he finished the last of his cold coffee and ate his last bite of cake. "Why is Frida here hmm?" "Benny made the calls Papa, you know that" "I do" he agreed "but Frida didn't need to fly here within the day, the songs are not finished yet and a simple yes, no or a discussion on the phone would have sufficed at this point. So I ask you again Linda why is Frida here?" There was a tone in her father's voice that even at her age Linda knew better than to ignore. "Papa" she sighed."Mama is a sensitive soul, you know that. She struggles with anything out of her comfort zone. What you are asking of her is massive, she asked Frida to come so she could talk it out, share her fears. Try to come to a decision. That's all I know about it" "Why can she not talk to me any more? I understand her more than most, she can do this. I still have faith in her. I would not have asked her if I didn't think she could" he said sadly. "Do you want me to answer that honestly Papa? Really?" All traces of laughter left Bjorn's face as he regarded his daughter seriously. "Actually, yes, yes I do" "I don't want to hurt you Papa or make you angry but what I say is the truth" Linda had his full and undivided attention now. He faced her and rested his arms on his knees and let his hands dangle."Go on" he prompted. "Papa, it's not an easy situation. I haven't said anything before, mostly because Mama has begged me not to, she says it's perfectly understandable, she says it's ok, that she's used to it, that it's normal but the way Lena talks to her when you aren't there is nothing short of terrible for Mama and it ISNT normal. Lena is very insulting, she says things that hurt Mama deeply when you are not there and it always takes her a long time to get over a visit" Bjorn was shocked but if he was honest, really honest with himself he was not surprised. "Is this why I didn't see her at Christmas? Is it the real reason? She didn't have a migraine did she?" It wasn't a question. Linda fidgeted. This was difficult territory, she had to be careful. Bjorn was the cleverest man she knew and he would analyse her words later. She settled on "Papa, she WAS ill on Christmas day, she just wanted to sleep it off" Bjorn pondered this for a while. He had been seriously disturbed when Anna hadn't been with the others on Christmas Day. Despite their divorce they had NEVER missed a Christmas day together. He relied on Christmas day to be the one day he was guaranteed to see her. He still needed to see her more than he cared to admit. He felt Linda's hand cover his "Papa, Mama thinks of you when she refuses to see you. She knows Lena makes your life very difficult when you see her. She isn't stupid, she may like her isolation but she sees how it is. It's a reason she won't see you, she doesn't want to cause you pain or trouble, she says she's caused you enough" Linda kept her counsel on the other reasons why her statement was true. She was pleased she had not lied.
Bjorn couldn't help the tears that sprung into his eyes. They did not fall but Linda saw them nonetheless. Bjorn looked out to sea and did battle with his emotions.
He had no reason to doubt Linda's words, he knew in his heart that they were true. He was devastated that Anna was in her way still protecting him even after all these years. He was mortified that she could see what many others could not. His longing to see her at that moment was stronger than it had ever been but now he knew why she would not agree. His smile was not a good one as he wondered how it had all come to this. It wasn't what he wanted at all. He just had to pin his hopes on Frida that she could persuade Anna out of the safe world that she had built for herself on Ekero.
He came out of his thoughts to see that Linda had ordered more coffee for them both. He looked at his watch and saw that they had only been chatting for 45 minutes. How strange, he mused that he felt his life had changed in such a short space of time. Bjorn chuckled as he took another sip of great coffee. "Lena will go mad, I don't normally drink coffee, she says it makes me hyperactive. It's really good coffee though and to be honest I don't care" he commented. "Linda? We should make this a regular thing. Can we do that? I don't care where. Once a week." he asked gently. "Oh Papa, that would be lovely" she was emotional. "Why do you cry hmm?" he questioned "because you've never asked before, you've never had chance before. It doesn't have to be every week Papa I know you're busy. Just now and again." "I've had a wake up call today Linda. I'll make time. Maybe sometimes you can get Christian to come. Maybe one day Mama." "Papa, she cannot come" Linda said gently. "I'm not supposed to tell you, she fears you being angry with her. That you will think she has done something wrong" Bjorn's heart sank. "Is that what she thinks of me? That I'm angry with her?" he looked away unable to meet Linda's eyes "Yes Papa but she doesn't want you to be. She can't handle you being angry with her. Papa, she has another stalker or two and many people that wait outside, men who live in the woods waiting for any opportunity to see her or touch her and they terrify her absolutely to death. She's had to massively upgrade security at Ekero over the years so she felt safe. It isn't someone she knows Papa" Linda hastened to reassure him. "Is it Gert?" Bjorn growled. "No!! Papa, did you not hear me? This is why she wouldn't let me tell you. Everyone assumes the worst with her! Even you!" Linda was in mama bear mode. Bjorn held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry" Linda was on a roll now. "All that stuff they put in the paper about Mama and Gert most of it was not true. I can't go into all of it Papa only Mama can tell you if you listen and give her time to speak. What I can tell you is that she had no idea who he was. Tomas wrecked her life and took her for everything she had and after that she was just lonely. She thought he was a neighbour and all they did was walk the dogs and have the odd drink together. That was it Papa. That was it!! He told so many lies that got into the press as fact and because she has this reputation of being a Crazy Garbo everyone believed what the press said. She was too tired to defend herself and she didn't see the point so she just retreated more" Bjorn's guilt came crashing in on him, he should have protected her, thrown the walls of ABBA around her. Why didn't he? He knew why, he couldn't admit it to Linda that Lena had made him believe all that stuff that she had read in the papers, he'd found it easier to justify his own behaviour that way. He remembered with great discomfort Lena's enjoyment of the predicament that Agnetha had found herself in. What else had he missed over the years? He dreaded to think. He didn't want to face it. By burying himself in work to get away from the mess his life was maybe he had blinded himself to more than he had realised.
His phone disturbed the peaceful scene around them. He fished it out of his pocket and couldn't quite stop the impatient eye roll "Lena, hello. What's up?" he listened." I bumped into Linda and we're having a coffee, it's good coffee Lena. Yes I've been here a little over an hour" he checked his watch. " I didn't have anywhere to be, I finished my meeting and saw Linda sat outside a cafe, I decided to join her. What would we have done Lena? If I'd have come home? Exactly. Nothing. You would be out with your friends and I would be in the office. I want to spend time with Linda " Linda watched as his facial expression changed from content to frighteningly grim. "Lena, I have a right to spend time with my children, ALL of my children. Clearly I have been remiss in allowing you to think otherwise. I love ALL of my children and grandchildren and no one, not even you will tell me when I can or cannot see them!" Linda felt rather uncomfortable and made the gesture to Bjorn that she would leave
He frowned sharply and made the sign for her to sit. "Lena, actually I don't know when I'll be home I'm going to spend the afternoon with Linda and pick up the kids from school. We're going to have lunch first then see if Christian is around." Linda's eyebrows shot up in surprise and then she was delighted. Who knew that today would turn out like this. First Frida had come, Mama was sleeping and well, now Papa was with her for the day. She wondered what other surprises the day would bring.
True to his word Bjorn did indeed spend the rest of the day with Linda. They walked arm in arm along the beach while Linda caught him up with everything that had been happening in the lives of her and the children. They went to a late lunch then dropped in on Christian and the baby. Christian was delighted to see them especially Bjorn. They hadn't had much chance to get together since Christmas. Bjorn and Christian sat out on the balcony with a small beer each while Linda played with Nike indoors. "I know you're under orders from Mama" started Bjorn "but I really gave Linda no choice but to tell me about Mama's new stalkers. She also told me a few home truths about why your Mama won't talk with me. I'm sorry you've been caught up in it. I've been stupid not to realise what was going on. But I understand now." Christian looked at him. He looked devastated. "Did Linda tell you anything else?" "No, that's all there was. More importantly are you in charge of your mother's security? Is she safe? It's important to me that I know." Christian smiled to himself and wondered. "She's safe Papa, she has new gates, new fencing, cameras everywhere, cameras in every room in the house. We all have individual key codes that change once a month in case either of them watch the keypads. There's no single access code. She has steel shutters she can bring down around the whole house, even the conservatory. They all have separate controls but there is one button at the main control panels that she can push and it will bring the whole lot down at once. She has a panic room in the cellar, it's different codes for the doors to the house than it is on the gate. It takes a bit of getting used to but we have learned the lessons from Gert. Bjorn felt a mix of relief that Christian had taken these measures and horror that she had to go to these lengths to be safe. "How about outside? The beach, the grounds, the stables? " "The whole estate is surrounded Papa with the same fencing. There are cameras every 100 metres. The beach is a weaker point but it isn't easily accessible. You have to get through coded gates to get to it or go around the coast and it isn't accessible by boat. There is a smaller fence between the house and the beach so she can see the view. It's covered in roses so she doesn't see it" Bjorn sighed and shook his head "sounds like there has been a lot of changes son, a lot of changes" Christian smiled and said "it's my job to keep her safe Papa. I love her." Although Christian did not mean his words to wound, it was merely a statement of fact, Bjorn felt those words keenly. It should have been him looking after her all of these years. It should be him keeping her safe now. It was his job not his son's. He sighed as he admitted he'd given up that right long ago. He steered his mind back to the conversation at hand with great effort. "How many people have access to her systems and codes?" he asked. "Relax Papa even the company who fitted it all no longer have access. I changed all the master codes as soon as it all went live. Those override master codes are locked in a safe inside her panic room there are no other copies. It's only Linda and I that have codes to get into the estate and the house. The house has secondary back up to the system" "meaning that the house cannot be breached?" asked Bjorn. "Technically the house could be breached but it would take hours, this gives her time to get to her panic room and that would not be breached. One day when we have more time I'll take you through the schematics of the panic room but it has protected phone lines so that help will come for her." Bjorn nodded. His thought process was interrupted by Linda popping the baby on his lap with a bottle. He automatically shifted his position and settled to feed her. "Papa, you're still a natural" she smiled. "Christian I'll go and get my three should I bring them here? Or should we do something at Ekero? "Bring them here for a while, Papa won't rest until he knows Mama's security system is good enough and Mama's been drinking so she won't be up for a shed load of kids today. I'm sure Papa won't mind staying to see them." Bjorn nodded his head eagerly "I'll stay! besides I have this little beauty here" Christian smiled indulgently. "Let's carry on then before we get buried under kids, we won't get a minute once they are here. They haven't seen you since Christmas" Christian laughed at at Bjorn's face "So, the minute the fences are breached the shutters are programmed to come down on the house. There is a back up power system to hold the house secure in the event of a power cut" Christian explained. "And if she's outside when the fences are breached?" questioned Bjorn urgently "What good is it if she's stuck outside?" She has a wristband connected to the system. It sounds an alarm so she will know to run for the house. She can override one access point from her wrist so it will open for her but only one. She wears the wristband 24/7. She can also bring the steel shutters down on the whole house just using that if she gets scared" Bjorn blew out a breath. "Jesus, she's in Fort Knox. How bad is this Christian? "Pretty bad Papa, she's hounded to within an inch of her life sometimes, it's not just them, there's others. I look at her camera feeds every day and there's a few new ones. Linda doesn't know about those. I'll tell her if they show imminent threat" Christian tapped his fingers on the table. "Papa don't worry, this is the last safe place she has, I'll keep it that way" "I know you will son,will you keep me in the loop? I know she doesn't want me to know but I'll put some other things in place as back up. She doesn't ever need to know. I've been remiss. I had no idea what was going on. "Papa, theres a reason for that" "Yes, I know, she doesn't want me to know because she thinks I'm angry with her" he sighed impatiently. Christian took the baby from Bjorn as she had finished her bottle "Oh Papa, that is true but it's not just that, she's terrified that they will come for you, Anna and Emma if you're seen visiting, she's been told they will many times. She's protecting you Papa" Bjorn wasn't sure how many more revelations he could stand in one day. He rested his elbows on the table and took his glasses off. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. He had no words.
His phone rang and he rolled his eyes thinking it was Lena again but it was a number he didn't recognise.
He clicked it on and said "Hello?" There was silence. "Hello?" He repeated. "I'm sorry Bjorn, it's me. I'm nervous my words seem to be stuck" followed by a familiar giggle.
"Anna!!" he breathed.
