by Kris Tualla
Teigen reached down and lifted Thor to his eye level. “Take care, son. Come back and see us again.”
Thor nodded eagerly. “I will.”
“We need to go,” Dahl prompted.
Kyle wiped her eyes and gave Selby another quick hug. “Take care of Nikolai. Give him my love.”
“Of course.”
They reached the airport with an hour to spare so Dahl bought them breakfast. Then he sat with Kyle and Thor at the gate while they waited to board the plane. Kyle held his hand with both of hers while Thor played on the floor with the toy airplane Dahl just presented him with.
“I’ll see you in six days,” he reminded her. “You’ll hardly have time to miss me.”
“That’s a lie. I miss you already,” Kyle replied. “How will I be able to sleep until then?”
Dahl chuckled. “You’ve slept alone for nearly six years. I think you’ll survive six nights.
Kyle leaned in for a kiss. “You’re a heartless bastard, Dahl Holter,” she whispered.
“I love you, Kyle Solberg Hansen Holter,” he said before obliging her.
She sighed happily when the brief and public kiss ended. “Should I keep all those names?”
“That’s up to you.” He kissed her again. “But you better get going.”
Kyle stood and held out her hand to Thor. “Come on, Thor time to get on the plane.”
Thor clambered to his feet and threw his arms around Dahl’s hips. “I love you, Pappa.”
Surprised, Kyle met Dahl’s suddenly misty gaze.
He smiled and wiped his eyes. “I love you, too, son. I’ll see you soon.”
Epilogue
September 20, 1951
Ames, Iowa
“I’m so glad this is the last time I’ll have to drive to Minneapolis.” Kyle collected their breakfast dishes and set them in the sink. “After I defend my thesis I’m finally finished.”
“I’m just glad you still fit behind the steering wheel.” Dahl stepped up behind her and slid his palms over her swelling belly. “How’s our little one today?”
“Active.” Kyle pushed a heel out from under her ribs. “Two more months seems like such a long time right now.”
He kissed her neck. “I wish I could come with you.”
“Me, too. But if you did, how would Thor get to school?” Kyle turned in her husband’s arms and looped her arms around his neck. “Plus, you have auditions to hold while I’m gone.”
“Blasted job,” he teased.
Kyle tilted her head up for a kiss and Dahl heartily answered her request.
“Ewww.” Thor made a face as he reentered the kitchen.
Dahl laughed and faced his stepson. “Teeth brushed?”
Thor nodded.
“Okay. Let’s go.” He gave Kyle a quick peck goodbye. “Drive safely, darling.”
*****
The five-hour drive to Minneapolis through acres on acres of Iowa cornfields and Minnesota wheat fields always gave Kyle a chance to ponder anything that came to her mind.
Usually she used the time to ruminate on her thesis—comparing the effects of war on various soldiers who saw action, to see if there were consistent components which the field of psychology could address—but for some reason she couldn’t keep her mind focused today.
Considering her defense of her findings was tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, that wasn’t helpful.
Maybe because this is my last trip to the university as a student.
Over the last six years, Kyle had lived and breathed her studies. Until last summer’s trip to Norway, of course, when her attentions were necessarily divided.
She smiled at the recollection of waiting at the Minneapolis airport for Dahl’s arrival from Norway. Both of her parents were with her, astounded and unhappy that their daughter had once more gone off to somewhere strange and come home married to a man they’d never met.
“Really, Kyle,” her mother grumbled over the telephone line. “I can’t believe you did this to us again.”
“It was never my plan, Mamma. I’m as surprised as you are, to be honest.” Kyle lowered her voice. “But Thor adores him, and he adores Thor.”
“That’s not enough reason to marry someone you barely know.”
“No it’s not,” Kyle agreed. “And if I hadn’t fallen in love with him myself, I wouldn’t have done it. But I did.”
Her mother sighed pointedly. “Well, I guess it’s too late now…”
“So will you come and meet him?”
And they did.
Kyle ran into Dahl’s arms the minute she saw him. “You made it!”
Thor’s arms wrapped around her legs and Dahl’s.
“Pappa!” he yelped. “I’m glad you’re here!”
Whether her mother’s mood was changed by watching Thor’s reaction to Dahl, or hearing him call his new stepfather Pappa, or experiencing the tall Norseman’s undeniably handsome charm wasn’t clear.
What was clear was Kylli’s wide-eyed reaction to meeting Dahl Holter. “Oh. Hello.”
Dahl leaned over and kissed Kylli’s cheek. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Solberg.”
Then he extended a hand to Ole. “I apologize for not speaking to you before I married your daughter, Mr. Solberg. I hope you’ll give us your blessing now.”
“Um, yes.” Ole shook Dahl’s hand. “The boy seems to like you.”
“And I like him.” Dahl had one arm around Kyle’s waist and the other rested on Thor’s head. “I’ve been very blessed with my new family.”
Kyle sighed.
Thor had been very impatient at first for a baby brother or sister to appear, but he was soon distracted by the fascinating experience of going to kindergarten and he stopped asking every morning if a baby was on the way. So in May when Kyle and Dahl told him he was going to be a big brother before Thanksgiving, he was ecstatic.
Feeling the baby kick was his favorite pastime at the moment. That, and crossing off days on the calendar until Kyle’s due date.
Kyle was looking forward to spending the next two months focusing on their coming child. As a single mother attending the university on the G.I. Bill she didn’t have that luxury when Thor was born six years ago. She planned to savor it this time.
September 21, 1951
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Kyle stayed in her former duplex with Beth, who now owned the Victorian dwelling, both because it cost her nothing to stay there and it was close to the campus. Beth was engaged to marry a butcher, and her daughter Greta—three years older than Thor—was very excited that the man had a daughter of his own and wanted to tell Kyle every detail about them.
Beth shooed Greta away with an apology. “She does like to talk.”
“I’m glad you’re both happy,” Kyle said sincerely as she sank onto the edge of the welcoming guest bed. “I don’t know what I would have done without your help all those years.”
“You gave us a home when we didn’t have many options,” Beth countered. “We did for each other.”
That phrase stuck in Kyle’s mind as she entered the room and faced a panel of professors to justify the findings in her thesis. It seemed the perfect conclusion for her statistics.
We’ll do for each other.
November 14, 1951
Ames, Iowa
Kyle took a deep breath and pushed as hard as her exhausted body could after fourteen hours of labor.
“The head’s out,” the doctor said. “Relax and let me work the shoulders out.”
Kyle gasped and tried to go limp as the baby slid from her body. “What is it?”
“A girl!” the nurse beside her said happily. “And she’s a big one.”
A girl. Thor has a sister.
Kyle smiled and closed her eyes. Her name would be Matilda.
We have a daughter, Dahl.
THE HANSEN FAMILY TREE
Sveyn Hansen* (b. 1035 ~ Arendal, Norway)
***
Rydar Hansen (b. 1324 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Grier MacInnes (b. 1328 ~ Durness, Scotland)
Eryndal Bell Hansen (b. 1327 ~ Bedford, England)
Andrew Drummond (b. 1325 ~ Falkirk, Scotland)
***
Jakob Petter Hansen (b. 1485 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Avery Galaviz de Mendoza (b. 1483 ~ Madrid, Spain)
***
Brander Hansen (b. 1689 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Regin Kildahl (b. 1693 ~ Hamar, Norway)
***
Martin Hansen (b. 1721 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Dagne Sivertsen (b. 1725 ~ Ljan, Norway)
Reidar Hansen (b. 1750 ~ Boston, Massachusetts)
Kristen Sven (b. 1754 ~ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Nicolas Hansen (b. 1787 ~ Cheltenham, Missouri Territory)
Siobhan Sydney Bell (b. 1789 ~ Shelbyville, Kentucky)
Stefan Hansen (b. 1813 ~ Cheltenham, Missouri)
Kirsten Hansen (b. 1820 ~ Cheltenham, Missouri)
Leif Fredericksen Hansen (b. 1809 ~ Christiania, Norway)
***
Tor Hansen (b. 1913 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Kyle Solberg (b. 1919 ~ Viking, Minnesota)
Dahl Holter (b. 1913 ~ Lillehammer, Norway)
Teigen Hansen (b. 1915 ~ Arendal, Norway)
Selby Hovland (b. 1914 ~ Trondheim, Norway)
***
*Hollis McKenna Hansen (b. Sparta, Wisconsin)
Kris Tualla is a dynamic, award-winning, and internationally published author of historical romance and suspense. She started in 2006 with nothing but a nugget of a character in mind, and has created a dynasty with The Hansen Series, and its spin-off, The Discreet Gentleman Series. Find out more at: www.KrisTualla.com
Kris is an active PAN member of Romance Writers of America, the Historical Novel Society, and Sisters in Crime, and was invited to be a guest instructor at the Piper Writing Center at Arizona State University.
“In the Historical Romance genre, there have been countless kilted warrior stories told. I say it's time for a new breed of heroes. Come along with me and find out why: Norway IS the new Scotland!”
