Page 60 of Just For Her

“That’s all I know about firsthand, but her mom used to talk about having to go to Hood River right after, or Portland, or Cannon Beach. Basically, the woman traveled all over the great state of Oregon running errands.”

“I’ve also seen much of Oregon now,” Yulia said with her chin perched atop her hand. “I like this desert air. I like the wet air by the beach. Oh, but the valley is nicest, yes.”

“Isn’t there a big Russian community in Portland?” Kayla asked.

“Russian, sure. Ukrainian, too. Belarusian, Polish… it’s a Slavicvossoyedineniye.” The more Yulia talked about herself in front of her wife, the more she kept on the airs of a woman who was not affected by anything, least of all topics she might not otherwise want to talk about.I recognize that, too.Even if Kayla hadn’t known Yulia was a mail-order bride before this conversation, she understood more of her mannerisms now.Always pleasant. Always talkative. Always willing to put her partner’s needs ahead of her own.This was another woman who had found herself coupled for survival.Is it a happy ending, though?That was the real dream. One Kayla found more within reach the longer she was with Tove, learning about what she liked and how she loved.

That still didn’t mean this was the life Kayla would have chosen for herself, but she was more content with her situation the longer the weeks went on.Let’s put the ring on it and call it good.Kayla was ready to pack up her things and move in with Tove whenever. She could even go back to Sherwood and get the last of her stuff that her brother still held for her!

“My family is from Italy, but even we’re not like this,” Stefani said, gesturing to the growing crowd of Fredrikssons behind her. “I keep hearing about the big annual family reunion happening this month. We’re supplying the wine for that party too. Ugh. You couldn’t pay me to go to afamily reunion.”

“To be fair, Stef, your family is…”

“Nothing like this!” Stefani exclaimed before Yulia put a foot in her mouth.There’s a story here too.Not that Kayla was privy to knowing more.

“The family isn’t too bad,” Kayla said. “They’ve been polite to me so far.”

The married couple exchanged a look. “Polite, huh?” Stefani said. “I guess with some families, that’s the best you can ask for.”

“Yes, well, they’re pretty conservative as a whole. The woman in charge cares alotabout who ends up with whom.”

“It’s not so different in old-school Italian families.”

“Or Russian,” Yulia said. “Like makes like, is how I have heard it.”

While that wasn’t the correct phrase, Kayla knew what Yulia meant.It’s not a secret that the old guard in this family wants people with fellow Scandinavians if they can’t have the full Swede.Kayla had picked up that Norwegians were as good. The Danes were more than acceptable. Finnish folk could work, and Icelandic?Non-existent, so let’s not discuss it.German, Dutch, French, and English were fine as long as the rest of the pedigree was perfect. Things got shakier once they moved toward the Mediterranean and parts of Ireland. Someone like Yulia, straight from Eastern Europe? Not happening. Maybe if she were second generation and looked the part but acted perfectly American.

Kayla had a feeling that anyone whose genetic rootsweren’tin Europe was simply anathema if they wanted to stay in the family.As far as I know, my family originally came from Europe…It wasn’t something she and Grady ever looked into. When asked for school projects, their mother flippantly said things like “German, British, maybe Irish.” Kayla considered her family as simply American and nothing more. There were rumors that they were related to one of the surrounding Native tribes going back on their father’s side, but there was also no proof. If Tove were a man in the running for heirship, no doubt Aunt Kiersten would make Kayla take a DNA test to prove her worth.

What a weird way to live.Culture was one thing, but Kayla saw little fanfare for Swedish roots beyond a bragging point. These people seemed to cling to a past that no longer existed in their own families. If Kayla stuck around long enough, she might see a changing of the ideological guard with the death of Kiersten and her similarly-aged cousins.

I can dream of making it that far.If there was one thing Kayla had learned after being around Tove this long, it was that she had burned bridges for dating any other old-money families in Central Oregon. Nobody else in the Fredriksson family would touch her should things explode with Tove. If Kayla couldn’t find someone new among the customers who came through Brickhouse for the weekend, it was back to Portland for her.Back to nothing.

She needed to confess her intentions soon. Too bad Tove was busy with Aunt Kiersten, who might be planting any ridiculous idea in her niece’s mind.

“Even with everything going on this year,” Aunt Kiersten said from her reupholstered loveseat throne, “we as a family must make it clear to everyone what the most important news at this year’s reunion is.” She sipped the Bel Cielo wine that was refilled for her the moment Gretchen noticed the matriarch was getting low. “The engagement of Elias and Isabella. They will be making the formal announcement on the first night of the reunion, to get it out of the way. We wantno othernews announced that weekend.” Her beady blue eyes darted between the “younger” members of the family presented before her: Tove, Thomas, and Oskar.We’re all over forty. Go figure.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Thomas said. “What would I have to say to upstage Elias? I’m happy for the kid. Like an uncle should be.”

Kiersten drank more wine for strength. Gretchen stared at her son from behind the matriarch’s head. “There are rumors about your… wife.”

“Yeah? What about her? The divorce isn’t going forward. We’re back together. It’s not like I’ve got another woman to introduce.” He looked at his cousin Oskar when he said that. “Who’s the creampuff, anyway? That’s like the fourth one this year.”

“Only because I didn’t get to Tove’s sweet thing before she did.”

Tove had half a mind to slug her cousin in the shoulder.He can set it back himself!The man didn’t need a medical license for that.

“You know damn well what rumor I’m talking about.” Kiersten raised her voice to be heard over her brood. “More than one person has told me she’s been seen coming in and out of the OBGYN clinic.”

“So? That doesn’t mean anything. For all you know, her pap came back weird. It’s a private matter.”

The look on Kiersten’s face insinuated she never wanted to hear the word “pap” come out of a man’s mouth again. “Don’t think you’re the only one I’m talking to here, Thomas. Oskar, your cavorting with other women this year has been taken to a new height. I can’t keep up with who you’re sleeping with this month. It’s bad enough you dress so… slovenly. Must you bring home girls from the local tavern? I don’t know who that is out there, but I don’t want her at the reunion. Or do I even have to say that? Perhaps you’ll have no one by the end of the month.”

“Hey, I like to keep my options open.”

In true Oskar style, he was not put off by the dig at his appearance.He would look more handsome if he cleaned himself up a bit.He perpetually lived in T-shirts, hoodies, and jeans. The older and fuzzier his face got, the more that either appealed to women, or they ran away the moment they realized he wasn’t a “real” doctor anymore.

“Am I about to be told that I can’t bring Kayla to the reunion?” Tove braved the question that had been weighing on her mind. “Because that is preposterous. We’re still going steady, and most of the family likes her fine.” She glared at both of her cousins. Polly was only allowed because she was married to Thomas, and Oskar’s taste in women was always under fire. Tove? She was owed at leastthismuch after twenty years of dutiful service to the family.Let me bring my girlfriend. Please.She might riot otherwise.

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