Do I Dream Again

Kyra and Henrik had reconciled after their argument, but Kyra knew they were probably never going to go back to how they were beforehand. While Henrik still loved spending time with Sophia, he didn’t act as he did before. He was almost distant with her, not wanting to overstep his boundaries and pretend to be her father.

Kyra knew that Henrik’s behavior was because of their argument, and she also knew that Sophia had noticed the change. But, she wasn’t about to admit she was wrong and ask Henrik to return to his old ways.

“Kyra?” Kristina called out, pulling Kyra out of her thoughts of how different Henrik was acting lately.

Kyra turned away from the window she was currently staring out of, looking at Kristina, who was currently looking at herself in the mirror, smoothing out her wedding dress. “Sorry, what?” she asked, realizing she had completely tuned out everything around her.

“Are you okay?” Sadie asked, noticing that Kyra was preoccupied with whatever was on her mind.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Kyra assured her. “I was just thinking. Anyways, Kristina, you look absolutely amazing. Val’s not going to know what to do when he sees you,” she added with a smile.

“Are you nervous?” Sadie asked Kristina.

“About marrying Val?” Kristina questioned, and Sadie nodded her head. “No, not at all. Do you think that’s a bad thing?” she suddenly asked.

“No,” Kyra told her. “That’s a good thing. Besides, you and Val are meant for each other. There’s no reason to be nervous.

“Do you think Val’s freaking out right now?” Kristina asked.

“Why would he be? He’s about to become the luckiest guy in the universe, marrying you. He should be excited if anything,” Kyra told her.

“You’re right,” Kristina said, laughing.

Meanwhile, Valtteri, Henrik, Jonathan, and Valtteri’s brother, Ilari, were down the hall in another room, waiting for the wedding to start. “I still can’t believe you’re getting married,” Ilari told Valtteri. “It seems like yesterday that I was just meeting Kristina. And, even then you knew you were going to marry her.”

“Yeah, I did,” Valtteri nodded in agreement. “I think I even called you after our first date and said that I knew she was the one I was going to marry,” he recalled.

“You did,” Ilari said. “I told you you were crazy.”

“And, look at me now,” Valtteri said. “I’m marrying her.”

Jonathan looked down at his watch and then back up at Valtteri. “You ready to get married?” he asked him as he headed towards the door so they could all take their places for the wedding.

“Let’s go,” Valtteri replied, walking out the door and down the hallway.

Valtteri watched the entrance at the back of the church, waiting for everyone to walk down the aisle so that he could see his bride. Ilari and Kristina’s friend, Shannon, came first, and they took their places at the front of the church. Next, Sadie and Jonathan walked down the aisle, a smile on both of their faces. Finally, Kyra and Henrik made their way down the aisle. Valtteri didn’t take his eyes off the entrance while the music changed and everyone stood up, indicating Kristina was on her way.

As soon as she took her first step down the aisle, a smile spread across Valtteri’s face. He still couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked in her wedding dress, something that had taken her thirty stores to find.

Kristina looked up, and her eyes immediately locked with Valtteri’s. She couldn’t take the smile off of her face, as it finally sunk in that all of her dreams were coming true. As she made her way to stand next to Valtteri, she looked next to him to see Ilari, Jonathan, and Henrik, and she smiled at each of them before returning her gaze to Valtteri.

Before either one of them knew it, they had both said their vows, and the priest was now pronouncing them husband and wife. “You may kiss your bride,” he told Valtteri, who instantly leaned over, kissing Kristina. They slowly pulled away from each other, while everyone began clapping for them.

***

Everyone sat at the reception, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Valtteri and Kristina had agreed that they were going to have a standard American wedding, but they were planning on incorporating some Finnish traditions into the reception.

The first tradition they decided to do was to have Kristina blindfolded and wear a gold crown on her head while all the single women danced around her. Kristina was then to place the crown one of their heads, and that person was the next one to be married.

As everyone danced around her, Kristina grabbed the gold crown off of her head, waiting for just the right moment to transfer it to someone else’s head. She finally chose the lucky person, and she took the blindfold off to see she had placed it on one of Valtteri’s cousin’s head. “Congratulations,” Kristina told her, giving her a quick hug.

As the group disbursed, Kristina walked up to Sadie, nudging her slightly with her elbow. “That so should have been you,” she whispered to her.

“What? You think I’m next to get married.”

“Um, yeah,” she said in an obvious tone. “It’s time for you and Fabio to get married.”

“Well, you talk to Fabio about that one,” Sadie said with a laugh. “I don’t think that’s in our near future.”

“We’ll just wait and see,” Kristina smiled.

A little while later, they were ready for their next Finnish tradition. Valtteri’s mother placed a china plate on top of Kristina’s head, while she and Valtteri danced the Waltz. Once the plate fell off of her head, everyone collected the pieces and counted them to see how many children the couple would have.

As they began the Waltz, Kristina smiled up at Valtteri, trying not to move her head too much so the plate would stay on it. “You know, I never would have pictured you as they guy that knew how to Waltz,” Kristina admitted.

“Of course I know how to Waltz,” he laughed. “I learned when I was little,” he continued just as the plate crashed to the floor. A bunch of people started collecting the pieces and counted them. “So, how many children?” Valtteri asked.

“Apparently you two are going to be awfully busy,” Sadie said, and both Valtteri and Kristina gave her confused looks. “Fifteen,” she stated.

Kristina burst out laughing. “There is no way fifteen kids are coming out of me,” she stated matter-of-factly. “You may be able to talk me into five, but not fifteen. Never going to happen,” she continued, causing everyone to start laughing at her, including Valtteri, who pressed his lips to hers in order for her to stop talking. “Still not happening,” Kristina said against his mouth.

***

An hour later, Henrik and Jonathan were in search of Kyra and Sadie, who seemed to have disappeared from the reception. “Where could they have gone?” Henrik asked Jonathan.

“I have no idea,” Jonathan admitted. “Maybe Kristina’s seen them?”

“Yeah,” Henrik sighed. He saw Kristina and Valtteri sit down at one of the tables, and he made their way over to them.

“Hank, hey,” Kristina smiled up at him. “Having a good time?” she asked him.

“Yeah, I am,” he told her. “I have a question, though.”

“What?” she asked.

“Have you seen Kyra or Sadie around? Jon and I can’t seem to find them anywhere.”

“I saw them about five or ten minutes ago. They were headed for the bathroom, I think. But, they should have come back by now. Do you want me to go in there and check on them?” Kristina offered, starting to stand up.

“No,” Jonathan told her, putting a hand on her shoulder to make sure she stayed seated. “I’m sure we just missed them. And, this is your wedding. You shouldn’t be trying to find our girlfriends. You stay here and enjoy yourself.”

“Really, Fabio, it’s fine,” Kristina said, and Jonathan cringed at the nickname he hated so much. “I can go check.”

“Kristina, really, I’m sure we just missed them,” Jonathan assured her. “Hank and I are going to take another look around.”

“Let me know if you can’t find them,” Kristina called out as Jonathan and Henrik took off in a random direction.

Just as Jonathan had thought, he and Henrik had apparently missed Sadie and Kyra in the crowd because they found them sitting in the corner, whispering to each other. “Hey,” Jonathan said, walking over to them. “We thought we’d lost you.”

Kyra and Sadie looked up at them, and it was obvious that whatever they had been talking about was extremely serious. “What’s going on?” Henrik asked, looking back and forth between Kyra and Sadie, waiting on one of them to answer him.

“I’m pregnant.”