Page 52 of Viktor at Sea

I shook my head. “I’ve just gotten changed and have a busy day ahead of me. Sorry, but I must leave now.” I moved to leave Churchill’s workshop which suddenly seemed smaller now that I had to share the space with Chara, but she stopped me.

“Viktor, can you not spare a moment?”

I shook my head, my hand clasping the door handle. “I don’t have the time. I really have to leave.”

“It’s very important,” she tried to insist, but I refused to stick around and listen. Regardless of my haste to get away from her, Chara continued to call after me.

In fear that she would follow me and force me to listen to whatever she could possibly have to say to me, I crossed the square to the hut opposite Churchill’s. And what better place to run to than where I knew Astrid was right now? The fact that Sallie’s workshop was only across the square made my escape that much easier.

I rushed into Sallie’s workshop and slammed the door shut behind me, doubting that Chara would dare to follow me here. All I saw was a flash of white before some thick material was thrown at my face, covering my eyes.

“It’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding!” Sallie shrieked, the one to assault me with the material.

“I promise I didn’t see anything!” I quickly turned around and pressed my face to the door despite my urge to peek at my future bride in her wedding dress. Not that it mattered what she wore. Astrid could wear an old rag for a dress, and I would still think that she was the most beautiful woman in all the lands.

“You better not have seen anything, Viktor!” Katarina gasped, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her dramatic response. “If you have, we’ll need to redesign the dress!”

“Mother,” Astrid groaned, and I heard some shuffling as she moved about. “We are not redesigning the dress. It’s beautifuland everything I could possibly want for my wedding. It’s literally my dream dress.” Her words brought a smile to my face. To know that she was happy and excited made me happy, and I truly couldn’t wish for anything more. “I would rather gouge Viktor’s eyes out than redesign my dress.”

“Well, isn’t that pleasant?” I scoffed, but my tone was laced with humour.

“I am not having this,” Sallie announced, fisting her hand into the back of my tunic and pulling me away from the door enough to get it open. For a small woman who stitched clothes for a living, hardly any heavy lifting, she was very strong. “I understand Astrid is your bride, and you can’t wait to marry her, but you need to leave before you accidentally see the dress.”

“What if I promise not to look?” I suggested, but she was already pushing me out of her workshop.

“Not good enough!” Astrid snorted.

The sound of the three women laughing at my unceremonious booting out of the workshop met my ears, and I couldn’t help but join in. It was impossible not to find humour in such a situation.

My laughter was quick to fade when I spotted Chara waiting outside Churchill’s workshop.

“Viktor!” Even though I refused to look at her, I could still see her waving in my peripheral vision. “Viktor! Can you not hear me?” She continued calling after me while I thought of where I could escape. “Oh, Viktor! We don’t have time for any games. There’s something really important I need to speak to you about!”

There were only two things that I could imagine Chara wanting to speak to me about. The first was to convince me to call off my wedding to Astrid and propose marriage to her instead. That was something that she had already suggested to me. It would have been mildly annoying at the most, but shemade it all that much worse by suggesting it in front of Astrid and her whole family. Her words were so shocking it took me a few moments to process them, however, before I or any of Astrid’s family members could say anything, Astrid threw her water in Chara’s face. When Chara screeched at the top of her lungs and stormed away, we all burst out laughing.

The second would be another invitation into her bed. As if there was anything normal about inviting an engaged man into her bed. It was equally as preposterous, if not more, than the first.

Under the pretence that I didn’t hear her calling for me, I kept my head down and scurried away to the sea. Hopefully, the water would keep me safe from the likes of Chara.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

It was the night before the wedding, and I couldn’t sleep.

I was so excited. Especially about the surprise I had planned for Astrid. I had been working on it during the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning. If I were to work on it during the day, someone would see, and I didn’t trust the islanders to keep their mouths shut. Someone would blab and ruin the big surprise.

It was a rather long trek to my surprise. As it would be far too obvious if I left it out in the open, I hid it on the other side of the island where hardly anyone ventured to, hidden by the back of the forest. However, my trek came to a swift end when I spotted a familiar, raven-haired woman sitting on the sandy beach, her chin propped on her knees as she stared intently at the water.

“Mind if I keep you company?” I asked, seating myself on the sand beside her.

“It’s not like you’ve given me much of a choice,” Astrid grinned cheekily. “What are you doing out so late?”

“I was going for a swim,” I lied smoothly, ignoring the guilty pang which struck my heart, but this was a good lie.

“Why am I not surprised?” She chuckled before returning her gaze to the majestic sea.

“What about you?” I asked, bracing myself for her answer.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she told me. “So, I thought I’d come out here and clear my head a little.”

---