Sandra Hill - [Vikings II 03]

by The Very Virile Viking

  It was the middle of the night by the time they got back to the Blue Dragon, and Angela was frantic with worry.

  The fire trucks were just leaving when they arrived, and Grandma was waiting for them on the porch as they drove up. All the lights were on in the house, and spotlights illuminated the fields in the back.

  “Is anyone hurt?” Magnus asked.

  “No, thank God!” Grandma said. “Except for Jow. The dirty rotten scoundrel kicked the dog in the ribs pretty bad. Jow must have followed him into the field.”

  “Oooh! I could kill the guy, whoever he is, for that alone. Anyone who hurts an animal is lower than low.” Angela grabbed her grandmother and hugged her hard. She knew how much she and the whole household loved that damn dog.

  “Where is Jow now?”

  “Miguel tied his ribs up real tight with Ace bandages and took him home with him for the night.”

  “Boy, I am going to give Jow the biggest, juiciest marrow bone when I see him tomorrow.”

  “One tenth of the crop is lost,” Grandma told her right off as soon as she finished hugging her. “Not as bad as it could have been, but devastating just the same.” As an indication of her concern, Grandma was back to smoking furiously. But then, the children were probably off in bed by now.

  “Don’t you be worrying about how devastating anything is,” Angela told her grandmother. “We’ll survive this, just like we have everything else.”

  She noticed that Magnus was studying them both closely, his forehead furrowed with puzzlement. As the three of them began to walk toward the ravaged field, he asked, “Why is the loss so devastating to you? And what do you mean about ‘everything else’ you’ve had to survive?”

  “Well, it’s not the first time we’ve had suspicious arson or vandalism here at the Blue Dragon. We suspect it’s either someone who wants to buy the place at a bargain price, or a competitor who wants to lower the price of our products.” Angela shrugged. “We’ve never had any proof. And it hasn’t happened for several years now.”

  “But each one of these events puts us further in the hole, financially, and we’ve never been able to crawl out,” Grandma explained. “That’s why Angela’s job in the city is so important. Her pay helps to keep this place going.”

  “Now, Grandma. I only do a small part. You work hard here, too, in your own way. Your contribution is immense.”

  Grandma blew out a huge cloud of smoke and nodded. No false modesty with her.

  “I hope this won’t interfere with Darrell and the film crew coming here,” Angela mused aloud.

  “It shouldn’t matter. We can always let them use the south fields, far away from the devastation,” Grandma said.

  “Why…?” Magnus started to say, then shifted gears. “It has always puzzled me why you would invite Dare-All and his crew to come here, when you so clearly are not fond of him.”

  “Money, honey.” Grandma patted Magnus on the shoulder as if she spoke to a small child, which Magnus was not. She had to reach up to pat him. “It all boils down to money. Darrell is going to pay us up to seven hundred thousand dollars just to use the Blue Dragon vineyards as a backdrop for one of his movies.”

  “And if I decline to participate in one of his movehes?” he asked Angela. “Will that jeopardize his agreement to film here?”

  “Probably,” Angela said, unable to keep the desperation out of her voice. The fire and loss of Darrell’s money would definitely bury them for good.

  Magnus was silent the rest of the way.

  They were all silent when they arrived at the field, where workers were still dampening the vines and making sure that the smoldering debris did not ignite a new fire.

  “It is like the death of a child,” Magnus murmured.

  And that was the truth.

  A Viking to the rescue…

  Magnus spent the morning reassuring the children that everything was fine and would be back to normal soon.

  More than one of them had confessed fears that they would be forced to leave the Blue Dragon soon, especially Kolbein, who was shivering just like he had in the old days. Did they not know that their visit here was only temporary? They were only guests, after all.

  “I think we should get out our swords and go looking for these scoundrels who would do such a cowardly act,” Torolf said. “Sword dew aplenty we could spill betwixt the two of us.”

  “Mayhap,” Magnus agreed.

  “Don’t you dare,” Angela said. “Violence begets violence, and then nothing is accomplished.”

  “Sometimes ’tis necessary to bring the guilty to justice,” Magnus argued, “and if it takes a sharp blade or a battle-ax to do it, then so be it.”

  “If I had a sword, I would use it,” Grandma Rose said, much to Angela’s chagrin, and his and Torolf’s delight. “I think I’ll go buy myself a gun. An uzi, or something. Do they sell uzis in Wal-Mart?”

  “I would stand guard all night long, if someone would just buy me a bow and arrow,” Hamr said, walking into the kitchen where they were all sitting. The noon meal had ended some time ago. No one seemed motivated to go about everyday work.

  “You will shoot your eye out,” everyone said at once.

  “Angela,” Magnus said more seriously, taking one of her hands in his. Grandma Rose noticed immediately and her eyebrows rose with interest. She and Juanita, over by the stove, exchanged quick looks of approval. “I will investigate and find out who perpetrated this outrage against you. I will organize guards and enact safety measures to make sure it does not recur. Have you ever heard that famous Anglo-Saxon saying, ‘God spare me from the fury of the Northman’? Well, this Northman is furious. But there is another problem that must be addressed first.”

  “And that would be?” Angela asked, and tried to pull her hand from his grasp. He could not understand why she would blush at mere hand-holding when they had done so much more.

  “Money,” he said. “And I have the solution.”

  “You do?” she said.

  “I do.” He rose from the table and went upstairs to his bedchamber. When he returned, he noticed that, though the baby still napped, all his other children had gathered in the kitchen to see what he was up to. He carried a small leather sack, which he proceeded to empty onto the table. “I will pay you not to have Dare-All and his crew come here…and to have him stop pestering me about becoming an act-whore. Is this enough?”

  There were roughly two dozen coins on the table. “Since one of the previous ones brought me fifty thousand dollars, and I was probably cheated at that amount, I figure this should be more than enough…especially if you find me an honest coin tradesman.”

  Everyone’s mouth was hanging open, except his children’s. They were grinning at his cleverness.

  “Magnus, you can’t do this,” Angela finally said.

  “Try to stop me,” he declared. “I am a Viking, and we are stubborn to the core.”

  “What you are,” Grandma Rose said with tear-filled eyes, “is the answer to this old woman’s prayers. Thank you.”

  Angela was too choked up to say anything. He took that for a good sign.

  Mayhap she would agree to that totally outrageous Cosmo fantasy game to show her thanks. He had a few Viking twists he could add to it.

  Then again, mayhap not.

  He came to that conclusion when he looked at Angela and winked.

  She did not wink back.

  Company’s comin’…

  Angela had so many things she wanted to say to Magnus:

  Like, “Thank you.”

  And, “No, thank you.”

  And, “Where did you get all these antique coins?”

  And, “How many more are there?”

  And, “Did you just offer me roughly one million dollars?”

  And, “Is it possible you really are a time traveler?”

  But she was unable to say any of that—for the time being—because company arrived.

  “Hi, everyone. Angela. Aunt Rose. Juanita. An
d who are all of you?”

  It was Carmen. Her cousin—five-foot-ten and model thin—was poured into black jeans and a tight white T-shirt that said, Do It NOW! over no bra if her prominent nipples were any indication. She wore no makeup and her black hair was straight as a poker. In essence, she was gorgeous.

  Tagging along behind her was Carmen’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Lily. Lily’s short hair was bright red this week and curlier than a Chia Pet. She had on jogging shorts and a running bra over nubile young breasts, which immediately drew Torolf’s attention, when he wasn’t gaping at Carmen’s nipples. The front of Lily’s running bra had these words: Guys have feelings too.

  And on the back, the message continued, But, like…who cares?

  “I see your tits,” Njal remarked to Carmen.

  “Her den-ham braies are cutting her arse cheeks in half. Dost think she can bend over?” Hamr asked Njal.

  “No duh!” Lily remarked rudely to their rude comments about her mother. “What cave did you crawl out of?”

  “Your legs are free-can skinny,” Njal countered to Lily.

  “Chicken legs! Chicken legs!” Hamr chimed in.

  Both of the little rascals thought they’d found easy prey in Lily, but Lily was a tough cookie who could give as well as she got…as she soon proved by ordering, “Chill out, birdbrains!”

  “Bok, bok, bok!” Njal and Hamr clucked.

  “Boys!” Magnus rebuked his two sons. “How would you like to eat some soap…or take on another scooping task?”

  Njal and Hamr slunk away.

  “Who…are…you?” Carmen asked, staring wide-eyed at Magnus. “Oh, don’t tell me, Angela. You’re into muscle builders now. How could you? It is so…so…”

  “…unfeminist?” Grandma finished sweetly.

  “Yes. I expected more of you, Angela.”

  “Hey, I am not a muscle builder. I come by these muscles naturally.”

  “Yeah, right. Steroid city would be my guess.” Carmen continued to give him an impolite once-over, which pretty much said that he was a man and therefore his opinion did not matter. In fact, she tossed out, “Do you know what God said after he created man? He said, ‘I can do better.’”

  “Huh?”

  “You prove my point, macho man.”

  Magnus appeared stunned by the vehemence of her verbal attack. It was a common reaction from people who didn’t know Carmen and her politics.

  “Any woman who thinks George Clooney is a dud doesn’t know anything,” Grandma put in.

  Yay, Grandma!

  “Aunt Rose! Are you still fixated on that radio broadcast? I told you, I have nothing against George Clooney…just women who think looks are more important than brains.”

  “Who’s George Clooney?” Torolf wanted to know.

  “Some geezer that old ladies consider a hunk.” Lily was eying Torolf from head to toe, and her expression said she would put him in the hunk category. Unlike her mother, it seemed Lily had nothing against hunks. “Awesome armrings, dude.”

  “Old ladies!” Grandma exclaimed indignantly.

  “You consider George Clooney a geezer?” Angela asked incredulously.

  Carmen was beaming at her daughter, whom she’d apparently raised in her own feminist tradition.

  “Aha! So, this is the man-hater kinfolk. I should have known.” Magnus was speaking to Grandma.

  Grandma nodded.

  Exactly what had her grandmother been telling Magnus?

  “Man-hater? Who’s a man-hater? Just because a woman stands up for her rights, everyone thinks she has to be a man-hater.” Carmen wagged a forefinger at Magnus’s face…well, actually his chest, since he was so tall. “You know, some people think God is a woman. Personally, I do. How about you?”

  Magnus just grinned, which probably infuriated Carmen.

  “How about coffee and fresh-baked biscotti?” Grandma Rose offered, hoping to change the subject. “Lily, you can have milk, or fresh-squeezed juice.”

  “I totally prefer coffee…black,” Lily said. “Mom lets me drink coffee. In fact, she said I can drink, like, anything I want…even wine. It’s my decision.”

  Oh, boy! Angela could see where this conversation was headed.

  Grandma’s face turned bright red with outrage. “Feminist…scheminist, Carmen. You need to learn a few rules about being a good parent.”

  “Are you…are you…saying I’m a bad mother, Aunt Rose?”

  “Enough!” Magnus roared.

  Surprised, everyone turned to look at the big Viking, whose size overwhelmed the kitchen, despite its roominess.

  “Have we not had enough disharmony here with the fire? Let us start over on a peaceable note,” he suggested. Reaching out a hand to Carmen, he said, “Greetings, m’lady. I am Magnus Ericsson, Angela’s…I mean, uh, a visitor here at the Blue Dragon.”

  Greetings? Carmen mouthed silently. But she shook Magnus’s hand and said, “I’m Carmen Abruzzo-Martin, Angela’s cousin.”

  “I thought as much.”

  “And what do you do for a living, Magnus?”

  “I am a farmer…and a Viking, of course.”

  “Of course,” Carmen said, but to Angela she silently mouthed another question…actually, two. A farmer? And, A Viking? It was clear what Carmen thought of Angela’s choice in men. “Let me guess, Magnus the Magnificent—or is that Conan the Barbarian?—that sword in Aunt Rose’s umbrella stand belongs to you, right? Just in case you need to fight a duel among the chardonnays? Ha, ha, ha.”

  “And who is this?” Magnus asked pleasantly, ignoring the taunting words and looking at Lily, who hadn’t yet been introduced.

  Sometimes you just had to admire his self-control…in more ways than one. Angela would have to tell him that later when he was using his self-control in other ways.

  “This is my daughter, Lily. She is a student at Sinclair Academy for Girls.”

  “See, Faðir, girls go to school here, even when they have seen fourteen winters, as I have,” Kirsten said. “I want to go to school.”

  “Me, too,” Dagny said.

  “Not me,” Njal and Hamr said at the same time. She thought they’d left, but they must have come back, not wanting to miss anything.

  Just then Jogeir limped in, carrying Lida, who must have just awakened from her nap. Angela wished she’d known. It was hard on Jogeir’s leg to go up and down the stairs. Poor tyke!

  “Goo,” Lida said in salutation to the visitors. If anything, the little one was consistent. As soon as Jogeir placed her on her bare feet, she proceeded to give Jow, who was still bandaged and not his usual energetic self, some slurpy kisses.

  “Who…who are all these children?” Carmen asked.

  “They are mine,” Magnus said, raising his chin defensively. He probably knew what was coming next…from experience.

  Carmen was doing a quick silent count. “All nine of them? You have nine children?”

  Uh-oh, here comes the “male chauvinist pig” remark.

  “Actually, I have eleven living children…and two dead. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Male chauvinist pig,” Carmen muttered under her breath.

  “Carmen…” Grandma cautioned.

  Carmen literally bit her lip for a long moment to stem the flow of invectives she surely wanted to hurl at Magnus. Finally she inquired of Magnus in a super-sweet voice, “Haven’t you ever heard of birth control?”

  “Not till lately. Believe you me, my life would have been different if I had.” Then, realizing how that must sound, he added, “Not that I do not cherish every one of my precious children.”

  “Pfff!” Njal said behind him.

  “Not precious enough to buy me a free-can bow and arrow,” Hamr added.

  Without even looking, Magnus reached behind him and took both boys by the scruff of the neck and proceeded to lead them toward the back door. “Boys,” he said to Torolf, Storvald, Jogeir, and Kolbein, “we have work to do in the vineyards.”

  Jogei
r reached down for Lida, who was playing with the tassels on a throw rug, and handed the baby to Grandma before following his brothers and father outdoors.

  “Girls, why don’t you show Lily the paintings you’ve been working on,” Grandma suggested. “I bought them some paint sets at the mall several days ago, and they show remarkable talent,” she told Carmen.

  Gladly, the three girls went upstairs, chattering already like good friends. Lily could be heard saying something about a majorly cool guy who had just moved next door and already was playing tonsil hockey with her airhead girlfriend. Kirsten and Dagny looked duly impressed by this new language.

  “I’ll be right back,” Angela said and went outside. “Magnus, wait a minute.”

  He turned and came back. With her standing at the top of the steps and he at the bottom, they were about the same height.

  “Don’t be offended by Carmen. She’s like that with everyone.”

  “I was not offended, sweetling. I was more concerned about my bratlings offending her.” He smiled softly at her and reached up a hand to caress her face. “Try to rest this afternoon. We were up all night driving. Then you spent the morning with the fire inspectors. You must be exhausted.”

  “You were up all night, too,” she pointed out.

  “Are you inviting me to join you in a nap?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her. He was wearing dirty jeans and an equally dirty denim shirt, thanks to a morning spent clearing out the damaged vines in the burned field. His light brown hair, which appeared golden in the sunlight, was tied back into a ponytail, but it was more unkempt than usual. There was an ashy smudge mark on his neck.

  Angela’s heart turned over, just looking at this man who had become so important to her in such a short period of time. “Don’t I wish,” she said softly, and leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the lips. “Between Carmen and Lily, all your kids, my grandmother, and Juanita, I suspect it will be a long time before we can be alone again.”

  He nodded.

  “Thank you, Magnus, for all your help. I’m not sure what I would have done without you.”

  “’Twas nothing.” He leaned up and kissed her then…not so lightly.