Page 47 of Viktor at Sea

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Icouldn’t sleep last night, but it was for a completely different reason than the past couple of days. Instead of nursing a shattered, broken heart, tonight it was brimming with hope, happiness and love.

After the announcement of our engagement and upcoming wedding, the rest of the day was a blur. The crowd dispersed shortly after the announcement to continue with their day. I, however, couldn’t bring myself to leave Astrid’s side all day. It was only when Daewon drove me away after dinner that I retreated to my hut to sleep, but even then, I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. I fell asleep with a grin and woke up the same way.

In the span of a few days, I had gone from feeling sick to my stomach at the prospect of Astrid not returning my love to being overjoyed at our beautiful future together as husband and wife.

Promptly after I woke up this morning, I washed, got dressed and headed out of my hut in record time. I grabbed a slice of bread and a spoonful of raspberry jam from the island square as I made my way to the Skau hut. With the wedding set to take place by the end of next week, there was a lot for us to do in sucha short amount of time. I tried to ask Barden why the date was so close, but we got disrupted, and he never got back to me.

I had finished more than half the slice of bread by the time I arrived at the Skau hut, eager to see Astrid again. Even though I had only returned to my hut to sleep last night, I was very eager to see her.

I still couldn’t believe Astrid said yes to my proposal, and now, she was wearing the Thostenson family ring.

Myring.

The mere thought ofmyfiancé wearingmyring had my lips stretching into a wide cheesy grin, and I couldn’t wait to see it on her finger again. When we tied the knot, the Thostenson family ring would be joined by a matching yellow gold wedding band I had picked up from a jeweller on the other side of the world a few years ago. It was before I had met Astrid, but the duo looked like they were made for her finger.

“I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here, Viktor,” Daewon chuckled when he answered the door. “Honestly, I’m a little disappointed you didn’t get here sooner.”

“Why is that?”

“Dustin and I had a little wager going on,” he told me, clasping a hand on my shoulder as he led me into the living room where the Skau family had gathered. “I betted that you would be here at the crack of dawn, and Dustin betted that you would have been up all night, unable to fall asleep with how excited you were, and would end up sleeping in this morning, arriving later.”

“I hate to admit it, but Dustin hit the nail right on the head,” I chuckled and moved to pull my future brother-in-law in for a hug. “I hope I’ve won you a lot of money, Dustin.”

“It’ll be enough to get you and my sister a fancy wedding present,” he grinned, shooting his father a triumphant look.

“That much?” I whistled under my breath, glancing over at Daewon who was mumbling grumpily under his breath.

“That’s what he deserves for betting against his own son. And on his future son-in-law, too! I told him it would be a waste of money, but did he listen? No!” Katarina snorted, sending her husband a pointed, disapproving look before she turned her attention to me. “Good morning, Viktor,” she smiled warmly at me and leaned in to press a kiss to my cheek in greeting. “I see you’ve already had some bread for breakfast, but I hope you’re still hungry.”

“For your cooking, Katarina? Always,” I grinned cheekily at her.

“I hope you’re not flirting with my mother, pirate,” Astrid called out to me as she walked into the room, a vision in ocean blue to match her dainty little flower necklace and bracelet.

“Since I cannot flirt with you in front of your father and brother–” I sent a pointed look to the two men in the room who were watching our exchange with hawk eyes as if they expected the two of us to start inappropriately embracing each other in front of them. I couldn’t deny that my arms ached to pull Astrid in for a long, tight hug, and perhaps even a repeat of that kiss from the night that I got back from Isle, but it would be impossible and far too inappropriate in front of her family. “–I must settle for your mother,” I joked.

“That’s not gross at all,” Astrid pulled a face, but it was laced with humour.

This felt…oddly comfortable.

A little strange, yes, but very welcome. For the first time in a very long time, I had a family to call my own.

“Where is Freja?” I asked, glancing around the room, unable to spot my future sister-in-law anywhere.

“She’s having breakfast with her parents this morning,” Dustin told me. “I’m supposed to be there as well, but I wanted to drop by and pick up some of Mother’s butter before I headedover there,” he presented the jar he had swiped from the table and then said his goodbyes.

“Soon, that’ll be you,” Daewon sighed dramatically, his eyes trained on his daughter. “You’ll be married, and then you won’t have any time for your parents anymore.”

“You say that as if that’s a bad thing,” Katarina laughed. “We both know we couldn’t have asked for a better husband for our darling Astrid.”

“I’m flattered that you all think so highly of me,” I smiled warmly at my future mother-in-law before I returned my attention to my fiancé and future bride. “Before we get started with breakfast, there’s something that I would like to do first.”

“What’s that?” Daewon asked, but I didn’t answer him, choosing to show rather than say.

I walked to the other side of the table where Astrid was sitting and dropped myself to one knee in front of her.

“I know that we’ve already done this before, but I can’t picture putting my ring on your finger another way.” I pulled out the ring box again. A small gasp escaped her as she realised what was happening, and she immediately held out her left hand for me.

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