The morning came far too soon for Bjorn, he wanted to stay here and never leave. He had slept well but he was dreading the day that lay before him. He heaved a sigh and looked at his watch 0630. Plenty of time then. He smiled with contentment as he realised that he was spooning Anna and his t shirt that she was wearing had ridden right up overnight. She was sleeping peacefully but he couldn't resist touching her. He curved his hand round her tummy and he felt her twitch so he kept his hand still until she settled again. She wriggled closer in her sleep if that were possible and Bjorn was faced with the torturous pleasure of Anna's bottom pressed right against him. He smiled at his predicament and thought he wouldn't change it for the world. He settled in, just for a moment, savouring the simple things. He would never ever get used this, never get used to being able to touch her again freely, never get used to the fact that she appeared to want him to. He knew that he would never take it for granted again. Just like that his mind settled. Why was he worrying about today? He would walk through the fires of hell for her. His only concern was Emma and Anna and actually Benny and Frida. He hoped their reconciliation was successful. They needed each other, as much as he needed Anna. He worried for his friend, he sighed as he decided to focus on today first and then hopefully he would be able to support Benny from more stable ground. He was concerned about how he would react when he told him that Anna had breast cancer. He sighed impatiently at himself. One problem at a time he told himself, those were problems for another day.
He felt Anna stir and she said "I know you're awake Bjorn, I can hear your mind ticking" she stroked his hand soothingly. "I'm sorry baby" he apologised. "I didn't mean to wake you" Her smile was genuine, "Bjorn, it's.." she grabbed his wrist to squint at his watch "0650, I went to bed at 2100. I can't remember the last time I slept the whole night through. I don't think I woke up. I certainly didn't get up. 9 hours sleep is a miracle and I don't remember a nightmare" she turned over carefully in his arms and she looked at him in the semi darkness. "You did that Bjorn. See what I mean?" His heart swelled and he kissed her forehead feelingly and his mind wandered back to the conversation they had had about her only feeling safe with him. "It works both ways baby" he whispered. She wrapped her arm round him and pushed her leg between his and settled to chat. She heaved a big sigh and said "I don't want to move yet Bjorn because if I lie here with you I don't feel sick. The minute I stand up I will probably be running for the bathroom and I want to enjoy it before that happens" Bjorn smiled and said "there is time" He brushed her hair back from her face and enjoyed the silence for a while."Bjorn, stop fretting. Your daughters love you baby. They'll adjust, if this what you really want" "Anna, I'm going to have to spend the rest of my life persuading you that this is what I DO want" "Bjorn we've only been back in contact for 6 odd weeks, maybe you should take more time to reconsider" His heart sank "Anna I may not have set eyes on you baby but you've had my heart all that time, my heart doesn't think it's too soon" "I just don't want you to regret anything Bjorn, I don't have the strength to face you leaving again" she said quietly. "Anna, I have thousands of regrets and I admit most of them are related to you but those exist because I've missed out on nearly 40 years with you. But I WON'T regret this. I can't regret this because it's all I've ever wanted and now I have you I'll be damned if I'm going to let you go. You said I should have come for you, well I'm coming for you now. I won't leave you, I'll be here for as long as you'll have me" He paused to think of what he wanted to say next "I'm proving myself to you baby, you might remember what a bastard I can be, you might remember how grumpy I can be, you might not let me back in tonight. You might decide I've hurt you too much and I really wouldn't blame you. I'm ready to take that risk for you Anna" He saw her frown in thought "I hadn't thought of that" she admitted. "I just don't want you to resent me when I'm ill and I don't want to make the same mistakes we did. I've loved you for so long and I want you here but it's asking a lot of you" "So, we are both risking everything aren't we baby. I won't ever take you for granted again and we do this together" "I don't know why I'm arguing with you" she said. "It's everything I want, everything I've ever wanted" she sighed and lifted herself up and kissed him. He took that kiss like it might be his last one and said "Last minute nerves Anna?" She shook her head "No, never" she was comfortingly vehement "it's just you stand to lose so much more than me" Bjorn settled further to reassure her. "Anna, listen to me! This isn't a knee jerk decision, this is the chance I've been waiting for. I had given up on life totally, there seemed little point and I buried myself in work. Before Lena was diagnosed with cancer I had already made the decision to leave. I put a lot of strategies and plans into place. I secured a lot of things, making sure the girls were provided for and that Lena would not get what she was not entitled to. I wanted to come back to you then. Ask the kids. So many times I wanted to come back before that and afterwards and every single time something happened to prevent it."He rubbed his face in despair at the memories. "When you married Tomas I thought I would never recover but the girls were too young Anna, too young for me to do anything. I'm not even sure that I've recovered from that now" Anna wriggled up the bed so that he was resting his head on her chest. "Bjorn, I'm sorry, so sorry. I understand. Stop torturing yourself. You did what was right for your kids" she tried to soothe him "But it wasn't right for you and it sure as hell wasn't right for me and then I gave up, I just gave up" he sighed. "I'm sorry I bought it up" Anna said quietly "I love you very much and I'll be waiting for you later. We don't need to talk of all of this again baby, both of us have suffered far more than we should have. Let's move forward rather than keep looking back" His arms tightened around her and he nodded silently then said "Anna, I want to take you to your next chemotherapy run. I want to be with you and support you through it. The kids would trust me to take you Anna." "Oh Bjorn, I don't know if that's such a good idea, it's horrific. I'm horrific. I don't know that I can handle you seeing me like that." "I need to be with you Anna, maybe I can help you. Why does it worry you?" he asked curiously "Because I'm hideous when I'm going through chemo Bjorn. My skin falls off me, I burn, I'll shout at you and I'll say things I don't mean and I'll scream and I'll throw up everywhere. It's all so ugly. My temper split us up the last time" she fretted "and unlike last time Anna I will take absolutely no notice of your temper, I've learnt my lesson. You have every right to shout and scream as much as you like. I won't leave your side Anna no matter what you throw at me. I'll be there. Like I should have been from the very start" Bjorn stated firmly. "Let's talk of it when you get home baby ok?" Bjorn settled for that. "Baby, I have to get up. Will you be ok?" asked Bjorn concerned. Anna smiled gently and said "Yes, you go ahead" he kissed her and then got out of bed. She watched him go to the bathroom and just lay there enjoying the sounds of him getting ready for his day, she felt for him but right now there was nothing she could do to help him except being there for him when he came home. She felt guilty for starting that conversation they had just had, she didn't know why she had pushed him. He was all she wanted, she resolved to think first before she spoke in future. She felt her tummy start to roll as she sat up and it came upon her rapidly. She fought a valiant battle because Bjorn was in the shower as she tried to make it to the other bathroom but she knew she wouldn't as soon as she made it halfway across the room. She had no choice but to swerve into the en suite. She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet and was violently sick. She heard the shower door crash into the wall as Bjorn leapt out and held her hair out of her face for her. It settled her mind as he whispered reassuring nonsenses in her ear and supported her with an arm round her shoulders. Her vomiting stopped in due course and she sat back against him with a sigh. "God I'm sorry!" she said mortified."I thought I could hold onto it" she looked up at him and blinked, blinked again and burst out laughing "Oh baby, I'm so sorry" he lifted her to her feet. "Why?" he asked "nothing to be sorry for." "Bjorn look at yourself" she giggled uncontrollably. He looked at himself in the mirror and took in his soaking wet self with shampoo in his hair and beard, hair stuck up. He grinned and swatted her bum. "Are you done?" he asked laughing. "I am" she said with some surprise. He got back in the shower and rinsed himself off while she cleaned her teeth. He hopped out of the shower again and wrapped a towel round himself. She sat herself on the toilet seat watching him get himself ready and he caught her eye and winked as he cleaned his teeth. "What will you do today?" he asked "Will you be ok here alone?" "Yes" she said "I'm going to cook, pay some bills, look at this upgrade Christian wants for the gates. If the weather's nice I might garden a bit. The seeds need sorting" "leave something to do with me won't you?" he said only half jokingly. "Oh I will" she promised smiling and he peered at her debating if she was referring to anything in particular but her beautiful face was all innocence. He tutted and sighed. "If I had time Anna you would literally be over my knee right now" "Well perhaps you could save that till you come home" she tossed back at him saucily. He growled in frustration "well THAT thought will get me through the day and bring me home" he grumped. "Good" she answered decisively.
"Have you got time for some tea?" she asked. He checked his watch and said "a quick one" she went to put a robe on and make some tea while he was dressing.
She was sat in the sun room watching the rain outside when he found her. She'd carried his tea in with her. "No gardening for me today, it's pouring" she commented. "Indoors cooking and pottering for me" Bjorn sighed. "Sounds like the perfect day, indoors with you while it's raining outside baby, can we do that tomorrow? Just us?" he asked. "Can't think of anything better" she replied gently. They sipped their tea in companionable silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
It didn't seem long before they heard the front door open and Christian yelling for them. Bjorn rolled his eyes and said "a LOUD bottomless monster" Anna sniggered quietly and said "Like father, like son". Bjorn choked on his last sip of tea and said indignantly, "he's your son too you know" Anna outright laughed and yelled "Christian, we're in the sun room" Bjorn winced and muttered "I rest my case"
Christian came in holding Nike and asked "Mama could you have Nike today? I could really do with going into work just for a few hours to touch base and I don't want to drag her about in the rain" Bjorn was charmed as he watched the smile come over Anna's face as she reached out for the baby "Oh yes please!" she said eagerly. "Are you feeling well enough Mama? You're still only a few days out of chemo" Christian checked. "Oh I'm fine! This one hasn't hit me so hard, maybe I'm used to it now" Christian's eyebrows shot up "Mama, you must be blind" he laughed "it's the company you're keeping nowadays. It's the Papa and Frida effect" he winked and Bjorn chuckled. "I hope so" he said. "Let's go Christian, the sooner I go, the sooner I can get back here and plead my case with your mother" Anna blushed and shooed them both out.
Christian dropped Bjorn off at Vallentuna and he text Benny as he got into his car just to tell him he had the car and he hoped all was well. He also told him that he was seeing Lena today and that he'd let him know the outcome. That done, he drove to his solicitors to put into motion the plans that he had made decades before. He then drove to meet Emma and Anna at Anna's flat. He spent a good couple of hours with them and he held nothing back when they asked him questions, they had been devastated to hear that Anna had breast cancer and it took him a long time to assuage their feelings of guilt that he had lost so much time with her. He explained everything to them. He had asked if Lena had been bothering them and they both said "a little but not as bad as we had expected" They encouraged him to go and get what he wanted and be happy, they both kept on repeating it and they reassured him that they would love him regardless. They promised him that they would never tell Lena where he was living or staying. He told them what he intended and while they admitted that they were going to be sad to be the children of a divorced couple they could see that there was no way their beloved Papa could stay with Lena now and they could see that Anna loved Bjorn so much more than their mother ever had. They wondered what had torn them apart in the first place considering their love was so strong nearly 40 years later. Bjorn left them with his heart and head finally at peace with his chosen path.
He drove to his house in Djursholm and did not know whether he was relieved or disappointed that Lena was not there. He was ready to have the discussion. He put his car in the garage without thinking and the automatic doors closed.
He wandered indoors and spent some time emptying his desk and packing up his mainframe computer. He boxed up all his photos from the office. That all went into his car, made easier by using the internal door. He packed up his clothes. Everything. He picked up photos of the girls through the years. None with Lena in. He even picked his mug up. Basically he stripped the house of everything that belonged to him and him alone. He found that he was not bothered by the rest of it. He had no wish for any reminders at all of his time with Lena. All of the furniture he had ever been attached to was at Vallentuna. It was lucky he thought that all of his ABBA stuff and indeed the rest of his work was all at Mono in his office there or also at Vallentuna.
He wandered through the house and was struck by the thought that he'd lived here for nearly 30 years and it didn't feel like his, it never had. It was ironic that he felt more at home at Vallentuna or at Ekero than he ever had here. He went to make himself a cup of tea and settled down in the living room to wait. He did not feel the need for music or TV, his thoughts were enough to keep him occupied. It was close to 2 hours later when he finally heard a car in the drive.
He waited patiently as he heard keys in the door. He was more relaxed than he thought he would be. What he WASN'T expecting was the unmistakable tones of a male voice. He rolled his eyes and debated how he would deal with this, this was interesting. What was more interesting was that he just didn't care. He stopped playing with his phone and decided to put it good use.
He sat quietly as he listened to the conversation that Lena was having with the mystery man he couldnt catch all of it but he heard snippets that made it clear to him that this was a relationship of some long standing. Their voices became clearer as they moved towards the living room and he heard with absolute clarity Lena saying "We have nothing to worry about, Bjorn isn't here. We had a stupid row about the girls but he'll come home eventually, he loves them too much. He knows I can turn them against him easily" she paused and Bjorn was pretty sure that he heard some kissing going on. He shuddered at the thought. "When we are finished here I'll start calling him home. I expect he's holed up with sad old Benny in his hotel suite getting pissed" Bjorn smirked as he thought of what Benny was really up too, he was sincerely glad that Lena clearly had no clue about Vallentuna or where he'd been for the last few days. Lena went on to echo his thoughts "He has no where else to go and he has no idea about what goes on behind his back, we are safe" Now there was clearly sounds of kissing. "I'm sorry" he heard Lena say "I don't want him here anymore than you do but you don't have the money he has, I need him where I can control him because we need his money." Even though he knew this to be the case, it did still actually wound Bjorn to hear it said out loud. They were actually in the living room now but they had their backs to him. "He owes me, I had those girls to keep him, I never wanted kids but it meant he wouldn't go back to her. I've spent 40 years building this life of mine and I'm not giving it up now. I deserve his money, the more he works the more he makes and the more I get. The more he works, the more time I get to spend with you. It's a win win situation" there was another pause for more kissing and the man whoever he was said "What if he finds out about us? You wouldn't get any money would you?" "Darling, I've been with you for 10 years. He's too stupid to find out about you" Bjorn battled with himself to keep quiet. He succeeded."He's too obsessed with the girls and making sure they're alright to worry about what I might be doing, he's an old man who just wants a peaceful life"
They came round the sofa and sat down before they saw him sat in his chair. He did not recognise the man and credited him when he turned white as a ghost. Lena on the other hand immediately went on the attack and yelled at Bjorn for disappearing, she called him all the names under the sun. She called him a terrible husband and father and when he remained unmoved by her dramatic tirade she threw a magazine at him that had been on the coffee table. He did not react and it hit him in the face. He stood slowly and went to walk out of the living room tucking his phone in his shirt pocket. She grabbed him hard by the arm and he stopped, not because he had to, he was curious how far she would go. He looked at her in the eye and he saw her visibly wilt as she clearly saw something different in his eyes then she went back on the defensive "if you leave Bjorn I'll make sure that the girls will never speak to you again, I'll tell them so many lies that they'll be disgusted by you, you'll never see them again, you'll never see the grandchildren. I swear to you I'll make you wish you'd never met me. I'll ruin your career, there will be no more ABBA." she stopped to take a breath and Bjorn waited her out "Who do you think is going to listen to a pair of old has-beens singing with elderly hags hmm? Benny's a fucking alcoholic and I'll tell the world how you can't get it up anymore and he can't function without a litre of whisky" Anything else to throw into the mix Lena? "he enquired mildly "Tell me about your friend here won't you?" "What do you expect?" she spat "I needed someone who could give me what I wanted. You're not a man for me" "No, Lena you're right I'm not the man for you" she failed to hear the difference in his wording. "You're so wrapped up in work, you didn't even notice that he's been around for a decade" she accused. "Perhaps that is so, but I wonder where your money would come from if I didn't work the way I do. I work to distract myself from the mess my life is with you" he mused. She had no answer to that but her grip on his arm was starting to hurt and he was sure that she was drawing blood through his shirt. "You'll never dare to leave me, I could ruin you, where would you go? With Benny? Mona is in the same situation and she won't let him go either. If you try to leave I'll end your relationship with the girls" she was starting to repeat herself he reflected. She's running out of ammunition. "You can't even get it up anymore, you're useless" she yelled furiously " I'll take you for every penny, I'll ruin you"
"Lena, be that as it may I'll take my chances with the girls. I cannot and will not tolerate my life with you anymore. I will just have to hope that the girls love me enough to listen to me one day. You can try and ruin my career but it seems that I was the only one blind to your faults. You are not liked Lena. You have made my life miserable and I don't have as much left of it as I would like and I'd rather spend the rest of it alone than being blackmailed and humiliated by you" he stopped to marshal his thoughts "I would rather face what you will unleash upon me than stay with you after you hurt and manipulated my girls." she laughed harshly "and how will they find out hmm?? You'll tell them?? They'd never believe you" "They don't have to believe me" he said sadly. "They were still in the house when we had our last argument, they heard it all. Every last bit. I wish to god they hadn't. Probably more than even you do" He wasn't expecting the punch to his nose and did not have time to block it. His nose spurted blood. She was screaming that he was lying, that this was all his fault. He refused to react. He strode to the kitchen and grabbed a wad of paper towels and held them over his nose. He could see through his shirt sleeve that his arm was bleeding too. She followed him in screaming insults and abuse at him and Bjorn was totally unmoved. He grabbed more kitchen towel and strode towards the internal door of the garage and was aware of Lena's man friend trying to pull her away. He clicked the fob on his keys to open the garage door. His nose was still streaming and he wiped it away impatiently. He turned to Lena and said quietly and concisely
"Lena, I am done. Totally done. Do your worst. It can't be any worse than what I've suffered for the last 40 years. You'll be hearing from my solicitor today and there will be no further contact except through legal channels" She started pleading and apologising then as she saw her meal ticket walking away. Bjorn turned back to her and for a minute she thought she had swayed him "Lena the only thing I have to thank you for is my beautiful girls so thank you. I'm grateful to you for them even though you are not. Don't worry Lena you will get everything that you are entitled to" he lifted his eyes to the other man in the room and said " I wish you well with her my friend, may you do a better job than I did."She was not going to take defeat so easily and broke free of her lover's hold and slapped Bjorn's face. He took a step back and said "that is the last time you will ever touch me Lena. You say you'll make me regret ever meeting you, I've regretted meeting you for 39 years and my only consolation for my wasted life is my girls. I wish you well in the life you have chosen" He left the house for the very last time and got into his car. He was suddenly aware that the garage door was shutting and he slammed the car into reverse and just made it out without causing any damage at all. He drove for 10 minutes before he became aware that his nose was still gushing. He pulled over into an empty car park and parked behind some trees just in case Lena decided to follow him.
The thought had crossed Lena's mind but she was tied up in a situation of her own when the man that she had been seeing for 10 years or more behind Bjorn's back, her lover had unceremoniously had the blinkers ripped from his eyes when it came to her and he was shocked by the actions he had heard about tonight and shocked at the way she had spoken to and acted around Bjorn. He had been told by her that Bjorn was the abusive one. As far as he could see Bjorn had acted like a complete gentleman, albeit one who had reached the end of his tether. He considered that Bjorn had acted with much more restraint than he would have when faced with a raging Lena and the man with whom she'd been having an affair, he had not so much as raised his voice let alone his hand. He had told Lena all of this in no uncertain terms and said that there was no way he could stay with a woman like her after what he had heard and witnessed tonight, that she was not the woman he had thought she was. He left Lena shell shocked in the kitchen and drove away. Lena was totally alone and even then in her arrogance she was sure that Bjorn had not really left. She walked to his office and found it totally stripped, nothing. Even his parents stuff had gone. She was getting panicked now and went upstairs to find that the wardrobes had been stripped of all his stuff, not a trace of him was left. He had been into the safe and taken his mother's jewellery and anything that was his including his passport. She clattered down the stairs and raced through the house taking note that everything he had left was hers or stuff they had bought during their marriage. His parents china was gone, his childhood ornaments, his dad's medals. Every single thing of him was gone. She was left with only the results of her own endeavours. She sat on the sofa and screamed like a child as her carefully constructed life tumbled like a house of cards.
Bjorn meanwhile was having a hard time stemming the flow of blood from his nose and his eye was watering. His shirt and jeans were covered in blood and his arm was indeed bleeding. He fished his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was still busily recording
He smiled grimly. Saved it. Played it back. It was all there, every bit of it. He rang Anna and said "I'm done baby, can I come back?" he was weary and just wanted his Anna. She heard it in his voice and said "Just come home Bjorn, I've been waiting for you" he smiled gently and remembered to say "I'm in a state baby, I don't want you to be scared. I'm ok but I can't change in the car and I'm covered in blood" "What???" yelled Anna furiously. "I'm ok baby, I just want to come home. I'll tell you everything I promise. I promise I'm going to be fine" he reassured her, he gave her the registration number of his car and asked her to open the gates for him.
His nose was still gushing but he ignored it and made his way safely to Ekero. The gates were swinging open before he even turned so he was able to drive straight in without pause. He smiled softly at the thought of his Anna watching for him. He pulled behind the house and before he'd even got out of the car the door was being wrenched open and she was flying down the steps like an avenging angel. She opened the car door and fell onto her knees next to him. She was patting busily at him trying to find out what was wrong. "What's happened to you??" she sounded anguished. "Jesus baby, so much blood" she was scared to death. He caught her hand and kissed it. "It's better than it looks. I just can't stop my nose bleed" "Get out of the car Bjorn and get indoors" she bossed busily. Give me your keys" he did and she asked "anything you want out of here right now?" "Mama's jewellery and Papa's medals they are in that black box. The rest can stay in there" he was so tired. She picked out the box he indicated and locked the car. She took his hand and led him firmly up the steps. She sat him in the kitchen and put the box down on the counter. "Stay" she ordered. She went off to get the first aid kit and a change of clothes locking the door carefully on her way past. She raced back down and got him more paper towel and tipped his head back and pinched his nose hard. "Ow!!" His eyes watered. "I'm sorry baby but we have to get this to stop" she said gently. Eventually the nose bleed stopped and Anna went to get a warm cloth to wash his face with, when he looked straight at her she gasped "You have a black eye and a cut on your cheek. What the HELL happened to you?" she demanded. He got his phone out and said "just listen, I caught it all. I'm too tired Baby" so while she was busy mopping his face and fixing it she listened to the whole thing on the phone. She heard Bjorn's calmness, everything that was said about her, the girls, she heard every impact that Lena landed on Bjorn and she was so fucking proud of him for not reacting but her blood was boiling! She took his shirt off for him and put it straight in the machine, that's when she saw the blood and nail marks on his arm. She winced. That would bruise she thought, she cleaned it and put some cream on it. "Where's the baby?"enquired Bjorn gently. "She's asleep in her travel cot upstairs, I have her monitor in my pocket" "I need you and her" Bjorn sighed. "Let's get you sorted and you can go and get her" she promised. "Let's get these jeans off Baby. He stood and she pulled them down and he toed his boots off. She got them off and pulled a pair of Christian's old sweat pants on him and took his socks off for him. She put the jeans and socks straight in the machine and put it on to wash. "I can't promise the stains will come out" she grimaced. At that moment Nike started to cry, they could hear her from the monitor in Anna's back pocket Bjorn slid his clogs on. "Perfect timing. I'll go and get her" he said. "She'll need her nappy changing I expect. You ok with that?" she asked. Bjorn walked over to her and kissed her gently and said "Yeah, more than ok baby. I'll deal with it" he jogged upstairs and while Anna cleared up she was entertained by the sounds of a besotted grandad and his littlest baby girl.
By the time Bjorn came back down cradling Nike against his shoulder Anna had cleared away, poured them both a large glass of wine and sorted out a bottle for Nike. She was putting something in the oven for tea. She put snacky bits in a bowl on the coffee table and turned around to see Bjorn standing there bare chested and gorgeous with an alert, nosy baby. "Could be 39 years ago Bjorn" she smiled "Look at you two" Bjorn grinned and said "she's my girl" "you're a bit outnumbered aren't you, 4 girls so far" she giggled. He rolled his eyes good naturedly "luckily I can handle it" he retorted laughing.
He sat in the corner of the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table and rested Nike on his raised knees. Anna gave him her bottle and he proceeded to feed her, she was a hungry little lady. His eyebrows lifted as Anna settled next to him. He pulled her right in close as he concentrated on the baby. "It won't be very long before this isn't enough" he commented. "She'll need solids soon" Anna agreed as she watched. She was growing so fast. "What's the cut of your cheek from?" she asked quietly "she threw a magazine at me, the spine caught my face" he whispered "and the black eye?" "she slapped me" "and the nosebleed?" was her final question "a right hook I didn't see coming" Bjorn admitted. Anna burned with fury "I'll rip every fucking hair out of her head if she so much breathes near you again. I'll give her a right hook she'll bloody remember" she seethed "who the hell does she think she is? Bloody woman" she scowled. "That's quite a turn on you know, my avenging angel" he laughed at her face. She looked at him, still full of fire and said"it's not funny Bjorn, that's assault!" "I know Baby" he soothed but it's over now. "I want you safe" she said feelingly. "And I am. Here. With you. With the best security, she can't get to me. I kept you out of the conversation, she doesn't know where I am and neither the girls nor Benny will ever tell her" he sighed a little "and if you don't want me here full time I can go to Vallentuna on Sunday when Benny and Frida are finished there, she doesn't know about Vallentuna either" There was a silence as she digested his statement, she didn't take immediate offence as she would have done in the past. She knew that this was her decision. "I don't want you to go Bjorn. I want you to stay, please stay with me. If you want to that is" she took the leap of faith. "More than anything I have ever wanted baby" he sighed with relief. "I want to go to Vallentuna with you sometimes though" she said quietly. "I'm happy there too, then you won't feel like you have nothing of your own, or when you get cabin fever here" he was grateful for her thoughtfulness and hugged her closer. "I don't want to make the same mistakes we made before Bjorn, we shouldn't be together 24/7. You should carry on doing all the things you love and I'll love hearing about them when you come home. You can write with Benny and go to Mono or Vastervik and you should travel whenever you need too. I won't stand in your way or get jealous. I've learnt where we went wrong. I've had long enough to think on it" Bjorn gave her words due consideration. "Thank you Anna, I've thought similar things over the years, you absolutely have a point baby but we aren't living in a pressure cooker anymore and I'm not quite such an arrogant entitled bastard" He considered his next words carefully "I want to be with you now, I understand how terrible my life is without you and we both have more patience than we did. I will do as you say but sometimes you can come with me when you feel like it, I'd like that" he added. She smiled. "I'll come with you to Viggso when you go with Benny, I'll come to Mono to sing. The rest I'll think about" and with that Bjorn was content.
