Scream Me a Dream

“So you finally called me back.”

Soya laughed softly as she sat up quietly in bed, pulling the bed sheet up to her chest. “Yes, sorry it took so long.”

“It’s fine, why are you whispering?”

Soya looked over at Ville’s sleeping naked form and couldn’t help but grin. He was lying on his back, as his tattoo was still a bit fresh on his skin; the sheet covered his lower body leaving his upper body uncovered, while one arm was thrown over his eyes as he slept. “I was feeling a bit stressed earlier and Ville taught me some new methods in distressing.”

Josef laugh loudly. “You didn’t call me because you were having sex?”

“I am not saying a word.” Soya laughed.

Josef scoffed, clearly amused. “You already did, but you do sound better then when I talked to you earlier so that’s a plus.”

“I am feeling better.” Soya nodded. “Ville calmed me down a bit; I was just really missing you.”

“Of course you were, I’m quite miss-able.” Josef teased. “But to be crying over missing me Soya, that’s just ridiculous.”

“Really?” Soya laughed. “I would think it’s necessary and who said I was crying?”

“Soya.”

Soya sighed. “Fine, I cried.”

“You love me.”

“Unfortunately.” Soya sighed, reaching over and running her fingers softly over the tattoo of Maya Darren on Ville’s chest. “I didn’t pick my dress.”

“Did you not find one you liked? I was so sure you would as I have wonderful taste.”

Soya smiled, content just to hear her best friends annoying egotistical voice. “You do, I’ll never argue that.” Soya chuckled. “I was telling you earlier how I was trying on wedding dresses and you’re not here.”

“No.” Josef said slowly. “I’m not.”

Soya shrugged, removing her fingers from Ville’s chest when she saw him twitch in his sleep. “You should be here.”

“Well I can’t fly out to Finland now.” Josef laughed.

Soya bit her lip. “You’re my best friend Josef and I want you with me when I find my wedding dress. As much as I love Rosalind, and Anita, and Niina, and all the rest of the girls, they’re not you. They’re here while I plan, Rosalind is my maid of honor, my dress though, is going to be you and me. We’ll spend hours in that boutique in New York and you can manhandle me into every single dress, tell me everything that’s right and wrong, and when I find the one, you’ll be there with me.” At Josef’s silence Soya continued.

“You’ve been with me for everything Josef. Every good and bad in the last eight years, you were the one that gave me the push to reconnect with Ville, you were the one that told me to give this relationship a chance, and look at where I am now, I’m getting married in nearly five months. I feel like you should have such a big part in my wedding, and I feel so horribly guilty for not giving you anything, but I want this for us.” She bit her lip.

“I want this for us to.” Josef whispered, causing Soya to smile lightly when she heard the slight crack in his voice, it was so rare for her to see Josef emotional.

“I feel like Ville’s slowly taking your place, Josef.” She teased. “It’s going to be him I go to for the bad, we’re already going through the good together, and again this make me feel horrible guilty as I don’t want you to feel as if I don’t love you anymore.”

Josef laughed, though his laugh was deeper still keeping his emotions in check. “I know you still love me Soya, I know that no matter what I’ll still be your best friend and the godfather the brood of children you plan on having with Ville.”

Soya laughed. “We’ve settled on three, he refuses to have the six I want.”

Josef laughed before he continued.“It’s Ville’s rightful place to be the one you turn to now, I’m not that person anymore, and I’m fine with that miláček, I came to terms with that when I first saw you with him. I knew, eventually, you would start turning to Ville first before you came to me, but I’ve never felt like he was replacing me and I don’t want you to feel guilty for trusting your future husband with the negative and the positive in your life. I also don’t want you to feel guilty about me not being a bigger part of this wedding, I’m honored that you want me to be there with you when you find your dress, but I don’t need to be a part of your wedding to know you care for me. I know it, I always have and I always will.”

Soya bit her lip. “Are you sure you don’t want a part in my wedding?”

“What are you talking about?” Josef asked.

Soya sighed. “Niina brought up that I have no one to walk me down the aisle when the time comes and while I have my options in Nathan, Kari and even Ville apparently, I can’t see anyone more fitting then the man that’s been by my side for the last eight years.”

“I absolutely hate you right now.” Josef sniffled, causing Soya to laugh. “You know the whole thing about the dress and caring for me got me choked up, but this, Soya…”

“Are you crying?” Soya teased.

“I would be absolutely honored to walk you down the aisle.”

Soya bit her lip as she smiled, “Then you got the job.”

“I’m happy you’re happy Soya.” Josef said, his voice low, causing Soya to smile, knowing that her best friend was trying to keep his emotions in check. “I love you very much, I’m happy you found your match.”

“I love you too.” Soya said, looking over at Ville when she felt him stir, smiling at him when she saw his green eyes open and the frown marring his face.

“Who are you talking to?”

“My lover.” Soya teased, causing him to grin.

“Tell him he can have you after Christmas, as my parents would be disappointed if you were with your lover Christmas morning.”

Soya laughed, turning back to her phone call. “Did you hear that Josef, you can have me after Christmas.”

“Good to know.” Josef laughed. “I’ll let you go Soya.”

“Oh Josef, you don’t have to.” Soya said quickly, looking over at Ville as he rolled onto his side facing her, tugging lightly on the sheet that covered her. “Though I’m thinking I may need to pay a bit more of attention to Ville now that he’s awake.”

Josef chuckled. “It’s fine Soya, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks and we’ll get that dress all right?”

Soy nodded. “All right, I’m glad you’re not mad that I didn’t find one today.”

“Oh, I am.” Josef told her, “But you’ve sweetened me up by telling me that you want me there when you pick it, so I’m more annoyed then I am angry.”

Soya laughed. “Well that’s good to know. Oh! Before I let you go, Ville will you stop!” Soya laughed as his fingers trailed up her sides, applying slight pressure so she would lie back down. She playfully glared at him, smacking his hand away. “Josef, would and you and Brooke do Ville and I a favor?”

“What’s the favor?”

“Make an announcement for my engagement to Ville on my website, as you and Brooke are the ones that run it, I’ll leave it up to you two. Ville said he’d talk to Seppo and make his own but as it’s Ville who knows when he’ll get around to doing it.”

“Hey!” Ville protested, leaning down to kiss her side.

Soya rolled her eyes. “So you’ll do it?”

“What do you want it to say?” Josef asked.

“I’ll leave that up to you and Brooke, I trust you.”

“Perfect, because Brooke and I have already made one, we’ve just been waiting for you to give us the okay.”

Soya snorted. “Of course.”

“It’ll be up within the next hour, so you can cross that off your list as well.”

“Perfect, thank you Josef.”

“Not a problem, ah, and before I let you go, as we seem to be forgetting things, Rebecca said she’d be sending out the schedules in the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for it.”

Soya shrugged. “She usually doesn’t send it until right after Christmas, so I’m not too worried about missing it.”

“All right, well I just wanted to let you know.”

“Well thank you.” Soya laughed,

“Also, I’ve sent the package you asked of me off a couple of days ago, so it should get there before Christmas, actually tell Ville his should get there at the same time yours gets there.”

“You sent something for Ville?” Soya asked, looking down at Ville who winked at her.

“I did, just a Christmas gift.”

“Ville and I sent your package off a couple of days ago, so it should get there soon.”

“Ugh, are you and Ville turning into one of those lovey dovey couples where you only get one gift for a person and put both your names on it?”

Soya laughed. “No, we got you separate gifts, we just put them all into one box, Aida also got you something, which is also in the box. Is that better?”

“Much.” Josef laughed.

“Now I should go.” She said looking over at Ville who was waiting patiently for her.

“All right, I’ll see you soon Soya.”

“See you soon.” She smiled, saying one last goodbye before hanging up the phone and setting it on the nightstand. “You couldn’t wait until I finished my conversation?” she teased, moving over on the bed, so Ville was lying on his back, Soya straddling his hips, settling her hands on either side of his face as she leaned down to kiss him.

“I waited.”

“After I told you to stop.” She laughed lowly, moaning when Ville’s hands ran up her sides.

“How’s Josef?”

“He’s good.” Soya nodded. “He understands and while he doesn’t say it, he misses me as much as I miss him.”

“You’re homesick aren’t you?” Ville asked combing his fingers through her hair, pushing it back away from her face to tuck it behind her ear.

“I never really considered New York ‘home’, the last thirteen years I’ve been yearning to come back here that when I got here I never really considered that I miss New York.”

“And you do.”

“I miss my townhouse.” Soya said slowly, leaning down to rest lightly on his chest, careful not to agitate his tattoo. “It was the first home I bought with my very own money, even though I really only paid half of it as Josef and I shared the cost. I know that even if I were to move here, I wouldn’t give up my home in New York.” She bit her lip as she thought about New York. “I miss Josef obviously; I miss certain aspects of the city.” She shrugged, before laughing at herself. “Watch, we’ll get to New York and I’ll complain about how much I miss the tower and Helsinki.”

Ville laughed. “It’s usually how it works, isn’t it?”

“I guess so.”

Ville looked over at the clock that sat on his nightstand, reading that it was nearly four in the afternoon, before looking back at Soya. “We should probably head out to my parents house, pick up Aida.”

“I thought we’d have dinner here together and then I would go pick up Aida, drive her to Sipoo, while Bam and Kat came over.”

Ville chuckled, sitting up, causing Soya to sit in his lap, frowning at him. “I’m going to Sipoo with you.”

Soya rolled her eyes, climbing off of him, wrapping the sheet around her body as she searched the room for her underwear. “No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.” Ville laughed, “And you’re not going to find them, I took them off downstairs.”

Soya glared at him, pushing her hair out of her face, before going to the dresser to pull out a new pair of underwear. “Why do you want to go to Sipoo so bad?” Soya asked, pulling her underwear on. “I’m just going to drop Aida off and see what my mother wants; it’ll take me all of twenty minutes.”

“I don’t see why me going is such a big deal.”

“My mother hates you.” Soya said, pulling on her bra, before dropping the sheet from her body. “And I’d rather not deal with whatever my mother has to say to me along with you being angry over what she’s said. I’m making the situation as simple as possible here Ville, and making it simple requires you to stay here.”

“What happened to sharing the bad with me?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow.

Soya sighed as she rummaged through her drawers, finding a pair of grey leggings. “Ville, I love you, you know I do.”

“I do.” Ville nodded with a grin.

“And it’s because I love you that I refuse to let you and my mother get into the same room with each other.”

Ville sighed. “Soya, you’re mother is a part of your life, which means when we get married, she’ll be a part of mine, unfortunately. I should start dealing with her.”

Soya shook her head. “With my father gone, my mother isn’t in my life much anymore, which is how I like it. I have no idea what it is she wants to talk to me about, but if I had to guess it’s going to be about the weight I put on while I was on vacation and my new tour along with plans for Aida.”

“You put on weight?” Ville asked, staring at her with wide eyes, he still had to push her to eat three meals a day, and even then she would still forget to feed herself if she was immersed with her work. She was still just as thin as he was and he had no idea where she saw the weight gain. “Where?”

“And, that, right there, is why I love you.” Soya laughed, going over to him, cupping his cheeks and kissing him gently. “Whatever she says I’m not going to receive with anger, but you will.” She said against his lips. “I don’t want that tonight Ville, I’m just regaining my good mood back and I’d prefer it if the bad mood didn’t return. We’ll go to dinner with your parents as I have some wedding things I want to talk to your mother about, but after that I’ll drive you back here while I go drop off Aida.”

Ville sighed, “I hate it when you reason with me.”

“I know you tried to use the sex we had earlier to sweeten me up and the sex…” Soya sighed happily. “While amazing, just didn’t change my mind.”

“Want me to try again?” Ville teased.

“No.” Soya laughed. “Come on, get dressed.”

Ville nodded, getting out of the bed and pulling on his own underwear, before accepting the pair of jeans Soya handed to him. They dressed in minutes, Soya dressing in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved black and white sweater while he dressed in a pair of jeans and one of his band t-shirts. They sat on the end of the bed to put on shoes, Soya going with a pair of her black corduroy Uggs over her socks while he put on his snow boots.

Once dressed they made their way downstairs, Soya pulled on her grey knit cardigan that hung from the rack by the door, handing Ville his own grey coat, before grabbing her keys and purse from the ground only to stand back up with her bra hanging from her fingers, causing Ville to smirk.

“What?” he asked.

“When you come back here, please pick up my underwear from the ground.” She noted the clothes that were scattered around the floor. “Please pick up all the clothes from the ground.”

Ville laughed wrapping his scarf around his neck, before grabbing Soya’s from the floor and placing it around hers. “Fine, I’ll pick it all up.”

“Thank you.” Soya laughed, as they left the tower, Ville locking the door behind him before following Soya to the car.

“Josef said he and Brooke would post the announcement within the hour, apparently they’ve had it all set up and were just waiting for my okay.” Soya said with a laugh once they were on their way towards Ville’s parent’s house.

“I’ll talk to Seppo tomorrow; see if he can make an announcement.” Ville said with a shrug. “So we can cross that off our list. What did you want to talk to my mum about?”

“Well,” Soya said biting her lip. “There are a lot of wedding things that I would prefer to do ourselves rather than pay someone to do it.”

“Like?”

“Our invitations.” Soya said smiling at him. “I have to show you, but there are these neat ideas to make the invitations a bit more unique.”

“So more than just the regular paper ones?”

Soya nodded. “I want to get books and cut out the inside, putting the invitations inside the book.”

“Soya, you do realize we have at least 500 people coming, you want to cut the inside of 500 books and send them out to people?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow.

Soya laughed, “I was thinking of just doing it for the people coming to the ceremony, so at least 60 to 100. Do you like the idea?”

“I’d need to see it but it sounds interesting.” Ville nodded.

“I wanted to see if your mother had any ideas about books we could use or where we could get them. I don’t want to spend a fortune on hardback books.”

“Any used book store will have hardback books we could use.” Ville told her. “Why don’t we just send to get them made?”

Soya sighed. “I know we’re not short of money and if I really wanted I could get a wedding planner and have her stress over everything, but I’d prefer if we did it ourselves, same with a lot of the details.”

“Like your bouquet.” Ville said, having seen the antique brooch bouquet that Soya wanted to use for their wedding.

Soya smiled. “Very much like my bouquet, it just seems easier and less expensive to do it ourselves then hire someone at an hourly rate to do it for us and it keeps details away from the press.”

“See, you want to keep details away from the press, but you still want to have our wedding in the park.”

“I’m not set on the park Ville; I would just like an outdoor wedding.”

“Then we’ll have to find someplace that will give us the privacy we both want.” Ville said.

“I’d prefer it if we could have the place of the ceremony double as the place for the reception as well, less travel for our guests.”

“You’re asking for a lot.” Ville laughed as she parked in front of his parent’s house. “But we’ll start looking for some place.”

“Ville if you don’t like the idea, you can just tell me and we’ll think of something else.”

“I never said I didn’t like the idea.” Ville laughed as they got out of the car walking towards the door. “I’m just saying it’s going to be hard finding a private outdoor place that we can use for both the reception and ceremony.” He opened the door, grinning when Aida came running up to them, hugging them.

“I heard you two arguing.” Kari said coming over to them, hugging Soya. “What are you arguing about?”

“We weren’t arguing, just discussing.” Ville said, hugging his father.

“Discussing what?” Kari asked.

Soya unwound her scarf from her neck, taking off her sweater, taking Ville’s and hanging them by the door. “Where to have our wedding, oh! You put the Christmas tree up!” Soya said excitedly going over to fresh pine tree that they had put up in the corner of the living room.

“I helped!” Aida grinned.

“I got it this morning while you were all off, Aida wanted to wait for you guys so we could decorate it. Anita is upstairs getting the decorations from the attic.”

“I’ll go help her.” Ville said climbing the steps up to the attic where he knew his mother stored their Christmas decorations.

“Are you and Ville getting a tree?” Kari asked as they sat on the couch, Kari handing her a bundle of tangled Christmas lights motioning her to start untangling them.

“We talked about it, but since we’re spending Christmas with you guys, we decided against it, we’re also leaving right after New Year’s, and by the time Ville gets back he’d have this dead tree in his living room.” Soya shrugged. “We do have most of our presents wrapped though, I just need to find time to get Ville’s all ready once it comes.” Soya smiled.

“Next year you’ll get a tree.” Kari assured, as Aida settled on the floor to watch TV. “Did you top the guitar you got Ville for his birthday?”

Soya laughed. “I like to think I did, but who knows. I may totally be harming myself when it comes to getting Ville presents.”

“Now, your birthday is the same day, were you expecting two presents or just one?” Kari teased causing Soya to laugh.

“I don’t expect presents at all.” Soya said looking up when she saw Ville and his mother coming down the stairs with boxes.

“All right, while I go get dinner started, why don’t you four start decorating the tree?” Anita said putting the box onto the coffee table before heading into the kitchen, not before greeting Soya with a kiss to the top of her head.

“Aida’s been giving me her Christmas list all day.” Kari said with a grin as Ville sorted through one of the boxes.

“Has she?” Ville said looking at Aida. “Has she assured you she’s been a very good little girl?”

“I have, pappa.” Aida said looking at Kari. “I’ve been very good.”

“I’m sure Santa Claus agrees.” Kari laughed. “Why don’t you make him a list of the things you want?”

Aida frowned at him. “Because he doesn’t exist.”

Ville and Kari blinked at her, while Soya sighed. “Aida.”

“Mamma said he doesn’t!” Aida said looking up at her sister.

“Yes, and mamma says a lot of things that aren’t true.” Soya pointed out. “Since when has Santa Claus not been real? Every year you assure me you’ve sent off your letter to him.”

“Well yeah.” Aida said still looking at her sister. “Because you still believed, but I think you’re old enough now to know that Santa’s not real.”

“Aida, Santa is real.” Soya said crossing her arms over her chest. “And if you’ve been going around school telling your friends he’s not, I will be very upset.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that when we walk down the street we see a Santa on every single one of them?” Aida asked with a frown. “I mean you tell me all the time you can’t be in two places at once, so how can Santa do it?”

“I’ve already explained that.” Soya sighed, Kari and Ville watching the conversation amused. “He has workers that go out to help him while he’s loading up the sleigh.”

Aida rolled her eyes turning back to the TV. “I’ll write the stupid letter because I know it makes you happy, but I don’t believe in him.”

“Well if you don’t want to write the letter this year, that’s fine, but I don’t know how you plan on getting your presents this year.”

Aida looked over at her sister. “I may be eight, but I’m not stupid. I know that when you and Ville go shopping without me, it’s because you’ve been buying my presents.”

“Or maybe we just want time alone.” Soya argued.

“Or you just want to buy my Christmas presents without me snooping; I also know that you’ve been hiding my presents in the attic.”

“Aida!” Ville groaned.

“I really like the Barbie’s you got me.” Aida grinned.

“Damnmit Aida.” Soya groaned.

“I only looked in the one bag; I don’t know what else you got me.” Aida assured.

“I don’t think you’ve been quite the good girl you told me you were.” Kari laughed.

Aida shrugged, looking over at Kari. “Soya and Ville think that just because I’m eight I don’t know things. I know they’ve been gathering my presents since the start of this month, and they still haven’t gotten me what I want.”

“And what is it that you want?” Ville asked with a grin.

“A puppy.” Aida said matter-of-factly.

Soya rolled her eyes. “We’ve also had this conversation, you’re allergic to dogs.”

“No, only certain types! Nathan was helping me look the other day on the computer; I can have certain types of dogs.”

“Ville’s allergic to them too Aida.” Soya said patiently.

“I’m with Aida on this one.” Ville said, looking over at Soya. “I can be around certain types of dogs; it’s really only the dander and the shedding that bother me.”

“See!” Aida said, looking back at her sister. “Ville wants one too.”

“I never said I wanted one.” Ville laughed, “Just that if I were to get one, I could only be around certain types.”

Soya sighed. “I’m not getting you a puppy Aida, you’ll just have to ask Santa.”

Aida sighed. “And as he’s not real, I guess I’m not getting a puppy.”

“I guess not.” Soya laughed, kissing the top of her sister’s head. “Nice try though, now untangle these lights for your pappa while I go help your mummi in the kitchen.”

“Fine.” Aida sighed, as Soya got up from the couch to head to the kitchen, Aida watched her disappear, before turning to Ville. “Do you think she bought it?”

Ville chuckled. “You may get a puppy eventually, but not for Christmas Aida.”

Kari frowned. “Are you trying to con Soya into getting you a dog?”

“It was Ville’s idea.” Aida grinned.

“Though I wouldn’t use the word ‘con’.” Ville laughed. “We’ve been doing some research and both Aida and I can be around certain types of dogs.”

“Aida, you know that a dog is a lot of responsibility, don’t you?”

“I know.” Aida said frowning over the tangle of lights. “Ville has already lectured me about this.”

“And you also know that Soya isn’t the deciding factor on this right?” Ville asked. “I’ve explained this to you before, if we were to get you a dog, and that’s a big if, the dog would need to stay with you as Soya and I are both leaving in January and can’t travel with it.”

“Airplanes allow dogs.” Aida said with a frown. “The puppy could travel with you.”

“Sweetheart, with jobs like ours it’s very difficult to have dogs, the dog would be yours anyways, so you would need to be the one to take care of it, which means Soya and I would need to talk to your mother before we could even get you one, which is what I’ve told you before.”

Aida gave a frustrated sigh, glaring at the lights in her lap. “My mother ruins everything.”

Ville chuckled, leaning forward to kiss the top of the girls head. “You still have Rupert the second, take care of him and then we’ll see about a dog all right?”

“Fine.” Aida sighed, handing the lights to Ville. “I want some water.”

“All right, go get some water.” Ville said, letting her stand up, watching as she went to the kitchen.

“You handled that well.” Kari said as Ville started in on the lights.

Ville shrugged. “Aida’s an easy kid, she likes to put up a fuss for the sake of it, but in the long run she understands that ‘no’ is ‘no’.”

“That wasn’t exactly a ‘no’, son.” Kari pointed out.

Ville shrugged. “I think at this point Elizabeth could give a shit if we got Aida a dog, as long as Aida took care of it and she didn’t have to. Really the one to convince is Niina and Nathan as they’d be the ones having to remind Aida.”

“Do you have their presents all set?”

Ville nodded, untangling the first part of the lights. “We have to wrap Aida’s which we’ll do now that she’s going back to Sipoo, I’m nearly done with Soya’s Christmas present, I’m just waiting on my package from Josef, which should get here in the next few days, I have yours and mums, and Jesses, and I got the rest of the guys some shit.” Ville rolled his eyes. “Soya is all about Christmas.”

“Is she?” Kari laughed.

“Apparently she and Josef decorate their home, from head to toe, I had to convince her that getting a tree this year maybe wasn’t the best idea since we’ll be gone right after New Years and she refuses to get a fake one. She made me do all my Christmas shopping early, she loves it.”

Kari laughed. “Her parents weren’t big on Christmas you know.”

“I remember.” Ville nodded, Soya had told him that her father would put up the tree in the living room, but she had never been allowed to decorate it as her mother had always hired someone to do it professionally. There were never any assurance from her parents that if she were good, Santa would come and she very rarely got toys as her parents preferred to give her books and clothing.

When she got to New York and moved in with Josef, he’d helped her get into the Christmas spirit, even buying her the toys she’d been deprived of as a child, which in turn had been the reason why both Ville and Soya had gone so crazy with toys for Aida. Soya had told him that she had never wanted her sister to grow up with the type of Christmas Soya herself had grown up with, so she’d made sure Aida was excited about the holiday instead of indifferent.

“Well look at it this way.” Kari said, causing Ville to look up from the lights he was making headway in untangling. “If Aida doesn’t get a puppy for Christmas this year, your mother and I have been talking about getting another pet, maybe a dog is the way to go.”

Ville laughed, turning back to the lights. “I’m sure Aida would love that.”

XxxxxxX

“Are you sure I can’t get a puppy?” Aida asked with a sigh as Soya turned onto the street that her family home was situated in. They’d spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree with Ville’s parents before enjoying dinner with Aida listing all the reasons why she would make a great dog owner. She was sure that while Ville and herself weren’t all that convinced, Anita and Kari were.

Laughing softly at her sisters insistence she ran her hand over her sister’s hair. “I’m pretty sure we can’t get you a puppy this year sweetheart, but I’ll talk to mamma see what she says.”

“She’s going to say ‘no’.” Aida sighed.

“I wish Ville and I could get a puppy for you and just keep it but…” Soya trailed off as Aida gave a quiet groan.

“I know.” Aida said, looking over at her older sister. “Ville already told me why. That and I don’t think Josef would like having a dog around the house very much.”

“No.” Soya laughed pulling up to the gate, rolling down the window to input the code, the gates opening before her allowing her to drive in. “Josef isn’t to fond of dogs Aida.”

Aida sighed again as Soya parked the car. “It’s fine, I like Rupert anyway.”

Soya chuckled as she got out of the car, grabbing her sisters bag from the back before leading Aida up to the door. She didn’t bother knocking as she had called Niina beforehand to let the woman know she was on her way with Aida. Walking in, she handed Aida her overnight bag, before kissing the top of her sister’s head.

“Go on up to your room.” Soya said closing the door behind her. “Start getting ready for bed, I’ll send Niina up in a minute.”

“Soya?” Aida called before Soya could make it past the foyer.

“Yes?”

“I lied before, I do believe in Santa. Nathan sent off my list last week.”

Soya laughed. “Then I’ll make sure that Santa stops by the Valo’s house to drop off your presents.”

“Again, I may be eight but I’m not stupid, I know you don’t have a direct line to Santa.” Aida said with a roll of her eyes.

Soya scoffed. “That’s what you like to think, I know people who know Santa.”

“Okay Soya.” Aida said shaking her head.

Soya laughed, kissing her sister, “I’ll see you on Thursday,” she whispered before motioning Aida upstairs and heading towards the kitchen smiling at Niina. “Hey.”

“You made it here in record time.” Niina smiled, hugging Soya as Soya took a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“I called you as I was leaving to tower; I dropped Ville off before driving out here.” Soya explained, reaching for the plate of cookies that Niina had on the counter.

“One Soya, I’m sending the rest off with you to share with Ville.” Niina said eyeing Soya’s hand.

Soya laughed a she grabbed a cookie from the plate. “Do I really have to share?”

“Yes, or Santa won’t give you your gifts this year.”

Soya grinned as she bit into the sugar cookie, moaning as the taste hit her mouth. “Have I ever told you that you make the most amazing cookies ever?”

“A few dozen times, I don’t mind hearing it though.” Niina said with a smile.

Soya smiled back at her before tearing her cookie in half. “I’m sorry about earlier today Niina.”

Niina waved off the comment. “No need for apologies, this is your time Soya, all we want is for you and Ville to be happy during this time. I can’t wait to see what you both have planned.”

Soya sighed. “Ville says that if I keep things to myself the way I have been and stress out about planning, he’s going to drag me to city hall.”

Niina laughed as the timer of the oven went off; putting on her oven mitt she opened the oven door, pulling out the last batch of cookies. “Kicking and screaming by the sound of it.”

“Ville’s just content with the end product, as long as we’re married, he’s fine. But like I told him, I only want to do this once and I want that once to be perfect.”

“As it should be.” Niina nodded, putting the cookie sheet on top of the stove. “No one will blame you for wanting to have your wedding be perfect Soya. Now I’m assuming your sister is upstairs?”

“She is, I told her to go get ready for bed.”

“Well while I go make sure she’s all tucked in and let these cookies cool, why don’t you go have a talk with your mother?”

Soya sighed. “Do I have to?”

“It’s the reason you came here rather than letting Nathan go pick up Aida, go on, she’s in the library. Now go on.”

Soya groaned, grabbing another cookie when Niina’s back was turned, only to reconsider and drop it back onto the plate, not wanting to give her mother more ammunition. Leaving the kitchen, she headed towards the library, knocking softly, before entering her favorite room of the house. She looked around, seeing that while knick knacks and color schemes in the rest of the house constantly changed, the library never did.

Her father had used the library as his main office, more often than not, he would be found behind his desk with his work or a book he was reading for pleasure. Soya had been the same way, if she had the house to herself, she would lay out on one of the couches with a book and immerse herself in a world outside of her home.

“Did you come in here to stare the books or to talk to me?”

Soya blinked and looked over by the burning fireplace to see her mother sitting on one of the chairs, a book on her lap.

“I came to talk to you.” Soya said her voice steady as she walked further into the room. “I didn’t like using Niina as our messenger, especially when you could just call me to tell me you needed to talk to me.”

“As Niina was going to see you, I didn’t think much about sending a message along.”

Soya nodded slowly, walking over to the bookcase next to the fireplace, running her fingers over the spines of the books. “I can understand that, but a lot of these messages were Niina calling me to tell me something you could have very well told me yourself. Niina isn’t our messenger; it’s what we have phones for.”

“Are you reprimanding me? Niina is my employee, to do with as I want.”

Soya bit her lip. “Technically, as I’m in charge of the family money now, Niina is my employee as is Nathan.” Soya sighed. “But I didn’t come here to argue, Niina told me that you wanted to talk to me, so I came to see what it was you needed.”

Elizabeth nodded slowly, marking her place in her book, setting it on the table next to her and looking at her eldest daughter. “We’ve never been the type of family to celebrate holidays.”

“No, we haven’t.” Soya said slowly.

“I assume you’ll be spending Christmas with your future in-laws.”

Soya blinked turning back to her mother. “How did you…”

“I saw the update on your website a couple of hours ago, Josef was the one that made the official announcement.”

“I didn’t realize you followed the site.” Soya said honestly, turning back to the books, tracing her fingers over a first edition of Proust’s Swann’s Way.

“I am also assuming you don’t care whether I approve or not.”

Soya shook her head. “Not really, you’re opinion of Ville isn’t going to change my mind on marrying him.” Soya smiled, looking over at her mother. “Isi liked him, and really that’s all that matters.” She shrugged. “Though I’m assuming my engagement to Ville isn’t what you wanted to talk to me about originally.”

“No, it’s not, had you called rather then come out here; I would have told you that Aida could have stayed with you until she starts school again.”

Soya nodded slowly, trying not to let the annoyance creep in. “Again, this could have been the original message passed along with Niina or you could have called me earlier so I wouldn’t have made the twenty minute drive out here.”

“I figured Aida would prefer to spend Christmas with you, rather than here alone in the house. I’m sending Niina and Nathan home for the holiday.”

Soya raised an eyebrow, looking at her mother. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be staying here.”

Soya nodded, “I’ll be back for Aida on the 23rd then. I’m not dragging her out of bed, just to take her back to Helsinki only to drop her off at Anita and Kari’s again, since Ville and I were going to take advantage of her being gone to wrap her presents.”

“And you can’t do that in one day?” Elizabeth asked.

“We could.” Soya said slowly. “But Ville and I have prior commitments until the 23rd, I love Aida, but we made these plans with the fact that she’d be back here in Sipoo.”

“I want to have lunch with you and Ville.”

Soya looked at her mother wide eyes. “Why?”

“I should get to know my future son-in-law, don’t you thing?”

Soya gave a bitter laugh as she leaned back against the bookcase. “You’ve been nothing but horrible to Ville since you met him, you sent me away because of Ville, no, I don’t think you should get to know him.”

“Were you ever going to tell me about your engagement or were you just going to let me find out from the society pages?”

Soya blinked, “Were you ever going to tell me about isi or were you going to let me find out by the new reporters talking about his death?” Soya shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to encourage this get together, just so Ville and I can sit for an hour in front of you while you pick us apart.”

“I would see if your fiancé wants to meet with me.”

Soya shrugged. “I’ll talk to him, see what he thinks, but again, I’m not encouraging this as I see no benefit from it. Just because you’re not reprimanding me or picking apart my appearance at the moment, doesn’t mean you won’t do it when Ville’s in front of you. I refuse to sit through that.”

“You’ve done it before.”

Soya scoffed. “And I won’t again, without isi you’ve lost your steam mamma, you have no reason to pay me or Aida any attention which is perfectly fine by me, but I won’t knowingly put myself in situations like that anymore, without isi I have no reason too. I’ll talk with Ville see if he wants to put himself through that, but again, I’m not encouraging it.”

“I only want to talk.”

“Fine, I’ll pass the message along with Ville, now is that all or may I go home? Ville and I are having guests over and I’d really like to be there when they arrive.”

“You’ve put on weight.”

Soya nodded. “I’m going home now then; I’ll be back Wednesday afternoon to pick Aida up. I’ll let Niina know as I doubt you’ll lift a finger to pack Aida a bag.”

“Soya.” Elizabeth sighed.

“I’ll be sure to send my reply about lunch as well.” Soya said before leaving the library, closing the door silently behind her and leaning up against it, releasing a slow breath. She wasn’t sure what had caused her to talk to her mother the way she had, but she definitely liked it.

Shaking her head, she pushed off the door waling back into the kitchen, smiling when she saw Niina putting the cookies into a plastic bag and holding them out for her.

“You are to share them Soya.”

“I will.” Soya promised, taking the bag from Niina’s hands.

“I will be asking Ville about them the next time I see him.” Niina warned.

“Then I’ll just keep Ville away from you.” Soya laughed.

“Did you have a good talk with your mother?”

Soya shrugged. “Even if she’s not yelling at me, it’s never a good talk Niina, anyway, I’ll be back to pick Aida up on Wednesday afternoon.”

“I’ll make sure Aida is packed.”

“Don’t do it for her, Niina, Aida is old enough to start packing her own overnight bag.”

“Like I said, I’ll make sure she’s packed.”

“Thanks.” Soya smiled, “Ah, one more thing.”

“Yes?” Niina asked curiously.

“Apparently Aida wants a puppy for Christmas.”

“I know, Nathan has been helping her look at the different types she may be able to have.”

“So if Ville and I give in and get her one…” Soya hedged.

“Nathan and I would be fine with it and I’m sure I can convince your mother.”

Soya laughed. “By Wednesday?”

“Leave it to me.”

“Thanks.” Soya said starting out of the kitchen only to turn back when Niina called her.

“Aida has been particularly fond of those maltepoo puppies, you know the ones you can fit in your purse?”

Soya laughed. “Thank you, I’ll be sure to mention that to Ville. Bye Niina.”

“Bye sweetheart.”

Soya left, closing the front door quietly behind her before getting in her car and driving the twenty minutes back to Helsinki. One the way back home, she wondered if she should mention the lunch her mother wanted to have with herself and Ville and debated on whether or not to get her sister a dog.

Shaking her head she parked in front of the tower, gathering her purse and bag of cookies from the floor of the passenger side of the car along with her cell phone she had left charging in the cup holder before getting out and locking the car. She looked at the bag of cookies, stuffing them into her purse before walking to the door, no chance in hell was she sharing, she thought with a silent laugh.

Opening the door, she smiled when she saw Kat and Bam turn to her from their positions on the couch, Ville coming out of the kitchen.

“Hey, how was Sipoo?” he asked, going over to her and hugging her.

“Uneventful as I told you it would be.” Soya laughed, hugging him back before looking over at Kat and Bam as she shed her coat. “How long have you guys been here?”

“We got here about fifteen minutes ago.” Kat said with a smile.

“What’s this?” Ville asked, picking up her purse.

“It’s my purse.” Soya said taking it away from him.

Ville eyed it. “It’s bulging a bit more than normal.”

“Is it?” Soya said stuffing the bag under her arm.

“What do you have in there?” Ville asked reaching for it again.

“Nothing,” Soya frowned at him. “It’s just my purse Ville, I’m going to go up and change real quick.”

Ville crossed his arms over his chest, smirking t her. “Give me the cookies Soya.”

“What cookies?” Soya asked turning around on the stairs she’d been climbing to look at Ville with a raised eyebrow.

“Niina called right after you left, she said that she sent cookies home with you and that you had to share. So hand them over.”

Soya groaned, dropping her purse on the ground, turning and continuing her way up the stairs. “All yours.”

“Thank you.” Ville called with a laugh, picking her purse up and taking the plastic bag filled with cookies out. “She’s worse than Aida when it comes to Niina’s cookies.” he said with a shake of his head.

“That good?” Bam smirked.

“Don’t tell Ape, but I’m sure they’re better then hers.” Ville laughed handing the bag over. “So now that Soya is here, can I open what you got us?” Ville asked looking at the large wrapped packages that sat by the couch.

“No.” Kat laughed. “You get to open one and Soya gets to open the other.”

“Soya! Hurry up!” Ville called staring at the packages that had had him curious since Bam and Kat had lugged them into the tower.

“What are you yelling about?” Soya asked, coming down the stairs, having changed from her jeans and sweater to a pair of shorts and her Rebel Yell racer back tank top, though she still wore her Uggs on her feet.

“Kat and Bam got us engagement gifts.” Ville said. “And I’m not allowed to open them until you came down.”

“You guys didn’t have to do that.” Soya said, standing next to Ville looking at the two large packages.

“We wanted to.” Bam said. “And I figure, mine kinda acted as an apology for the asshole I’ve been lately.”

Soya nodded slowly. “Sure, or you know, a simple ‘sorry’ would have been fine too.”

“I like buying shit better.” Bam smirked. “Open them.”

Ville grinned, putting one of the large square packages in front of Soya, rolling his eyes when she stared at it, feeling the top of it and sizing it up, not bothering to open it. “It’s a frame.”

Kat nodded slowly at Soya. “It is.”

“They’re both frames.” Soya grinned. “What’s in the frame?”

“Can we open them now to find out?” Ville laughed.

“Yes, we can open them.” Soya laughed, as they both tore into the brown wrapping, Soya gasping when she saw the painting that sat inside that large blank antique frame. “Oh I love it!” She said, trialing her fingers over the colored painting of Edgar Allen Poe. “What’s yours?”

Ville turned his around with a large grin, having seen Soya’s, only for Soya to grin when she saw the matching frame and the painting that lay inside. “A matching set.” He said as Soya stared at the picture of Virginia Clemm Poe.

“Bam and I just loved the idea of the tattoo your getting Soya.” Kat said. “And when we saw these, we knew they would be perfect for you guys.”

“Either to hang here or in your new home.” Bam added.

“What new home?” Soya asked absently still looking between the paintings. “I love them.”

“We just thought that with the six kids you two would have running around you would want a bigger home.” Kat teased.

Soya laughed as she leaned her frame against the arm of the couch, before looking up at Ville who was still looking at his own frame. “I thought we settled on three?”

“Either way, you’d need a bigger house.” Bam said with a laugh.

“We’re not getting a bigger house.” Soya laughed looking back at her friends. “For the next two years, I’ll be going back between here and New York until I’m done with the company, so no new house and no kids yet, they would look great over the fire place though.” Soya said, looking at Ville.

“I’ll put them over there then, put them up tomorrow.” Ville said with a nod picking them up and moving them towards the fireplace. “These really are amazing you guys, I love them.”

“We love them.” Soya corrected.

“Soya I’ve set up the tattooing machine and Bam and I visited Ville’s friend Juho to get the tattoo stenciled. I got it in various sizes to since I didn’t know how big you wanted it.”

“I want it to be about the size of Ville’s,” Soya said, watching as Ville placed the paintings side by side next to the fireplace, before crouching down to start a fire.

“I think I got one about that size.” Kat said moving off the couch to the kitchen table, that Soya saw was in fact all set up for Kat to start tattooing her. Kat spread out the stencils on the table carefully, drawn exactly how Soya had explained to Kat she’d wanted them. Virginia’s eyes were downcast and half closed, much like they were in the portrait that now lay next to the fireplace.

Soya traced her finger over them before finding the size that she was looking to get, pointing it out to Kat. “I think this would probably fit nicely.”

Kat nodded, “Let’s go to the bathroom and try it out, do you by chance have any razors here?”

Soya laughed and nodded. “Yes, they’re upstairs.”

“Great.” Kat said, grabbing the small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol and paper towels before following Soya upstairs to the bathroom.

“Should I change into another shirt?” Soya asked as she opened the door to the bathroom.

“I was just going to say to take your arms out of the straps of your shirt, as long as you feel comfortable.”

“That’s fine.” Soya smiled crouching down to rummage in the cabinet under the sink, before handing Kat a disposable razor. She pulled her hair over her shoulder before slipping her arms out of the straps of her tank top, holding the shirt to her chest as Kat ran her fingers over her shoulder blades.

“You really don’t have hairs,” Kat said with a laugh, “But I would rather be safe than sorry.”

“Do what you need to do.” Soya assured.

“All right, prepare for cold.” Kat warned, spraying the rubbing alcohol onto Soya’s shoulder blades, causing Soya to jump slightly. “So what gave you the idea to get this tattoo?”

Soya laughed quietly as she felt Kat lightly run the razor down her shoulders. “Like I said last night, I didn’t like the idea of Ville and me getting each other’s names, but Ville is tenacious when it comes to his ideas. When he told me he wanted to get something that represented me, I just…wanted to return the favor, I guess. I liked the idea of us having matching tattoos, and it seemed like me getting the matching eyes would mean a lot to both of us, and it does.”

Kat nodded slowly as she set the razor down, picking up the stencil and placing it on Soya’s shoulder blades, positioning it just right and making sure it was transferred.

“All right.” Kat said. “Check it out see if you like it.”

Soya turned to look at her shoulder blades in the mirror, chewing on her lip. “Perfect.”

“Yeah?”

Soya turned to Kat and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Great, we’ll go get started then.”

Soya followed Kat out, noting that Ville and Bam were sitting at the table, Ville facing the back of a dinner chair while Bam sat next to him.

“Sit here.” Kat said, “You’ll need to straddle it.”

Soya nodded, having gotten that idea when she saw Ville sitting in back of the chair, still holding her shirt to her chest, she straddled the dinner chair as Kat fixed her own chair behind her.

“How was Sipoo?” Ville asked again, smiling at his fiancé as he picked up his guitar he had resting next to the table, positioning it against his chest, not bothering to look at his fingers as he looked at Soya instead.

“Like I said when I got home it was uneventful, what did you do with the cookies?”

“They’re on the coffee table. I’ll give you one when you tell me how the talk with your mother went.”

Soya laughed quietly as she heard the buzzing of the tattoo machine. “Soya, I’m going to start now, if at any time you want me to stop, just say the word.” Kat told her.

“Before you start,” She started, looking at Ville. “Can you get me one of my clips from the bathroom, I forgot to get one.”

“Thought ahead and grabbed one for you.” Ville said, unclipping the white clip from the leg of his jeans and handing it to her with a wink.

“Thank you.” Soya said, scooting forward a bit in the chair so the chair itself held her shirt up, while she gathered her hair and clipped it high on her head so it wouldn’t be in the way while Kat tattooed her.

“Ah, so I’m not working with a tattoo virgin then.” Kat teased, tracing her finger lightly over Impi’s name on Soya’s neck.

“Ah no.” Soya laughed. “This would be my third. My first is actually on my ribs.” Soya said, turning so Kat could see the top part of Soya’s tattoo.

“That one you’re going to have to show me more of, it looks amazing, I love the colors.” Kat said looking at the purple and blue vines.

“Thanks.” Soya smiled. “I got it done in New York a few years ago.”

“Then you know the drill.” Kat said. “You need a break let me know.”

“I will.” Soya nodded, hearing the machine whir back to life, before leaning her chin on her hands that rested on the back of her chair, smiling lightly at Ville.

“So really how’s your mother?”

“What do you care?” Soya laughed, “Give me a cookie. Bam,” she said turning to Ville silent friend, who seemed content in watching them. “Get me a cookie.”

Bam snorted. “Seriously what’s so great about these cookies?”

“They’re mouth-watering.” Soya sighed happily. “Niina makes them for us every so often, they’re simply amazing.”

“They are.” Ville said, noting that Soya was trying not to wince as Kat outlined her tattoo. Giving an inward sigh, he’d make sure to stop Kat in ten minutes to give Soya a break. “Did you even talk to your mother?”

“I did.” Soya nodded carefully.

“Did you ask about the dog?”

“What dog?” Bam asked.

“My little sister wants a dog for Christmas,” Soya explained, before turning to Ville. “And no, I didn’t ask my mother, I asked Niina and she said she and Nathan would be fine with it and she would talk my mother into it. I’ll find out what happened with it on Wednesday when I go pick Aida back up.”

Vile frowned dropping his hand from the neck of his guitar. “I thought we were picking her up on the 24th.”

“So did I, but instead of my mother picking up the phone to tell me that Aida did not need to come back to Sipoo until New Years, she decided to let me drive twenty minutes in the snow to tell me. By the time she told me Aida was already in bed and I wasn’t about to tug hr out of it just to bring her back here, so she could spend the next two days at your parents.”

“Why wouldn’t she spend it here?” Bam asked, looking between Soya and Ville.

“Aida’s are the only presets we haven’t wrapped.” Ville explained, keeping his eyes on Soya for a split second before turning to Bam. “We were taking advantage of her having to be back in Sipoo to wrap them and take them to my parent’s house to place them under the tree.”

“That takes what like an hour to do though?” Kat asked, having been tuned into the conversation, taking a quick break to dip the needle into the black ink.

“Yeah, but Soya and I also have plans that are keeping us out of the house until at least Wednesday afternoon. Soya wants to start looking for places that we can have the wedding so we sort of planned to do that, knowing that Aida would be bored tagging along.”

“Jussi invited us to that event you and he are holding at his bar.” Soya said turning to Bam. “And Ville and I were thinking of doing that, and Hannu wants to have lunch sometime this week since he’ll be in town.”

“So you’re booked.” Bam said.

“It’s not that we would mind having Aida with us.” Soya said quickly. “She’s tagged along with us before when we have these types of errands and for the most part we make up for it by doing something she’d get a kick out of.”

“And buying her shit.” Ville added, causing Soya to roll her eyes, wincing slightly when the needle pierced a sensitive part of her shoulders.

“It was just us taking advantage that she’d be in Sipoo.” Soya explained. “I don’t like just dropping her off at the Valo’s house when Ville and I need to go do something, especially when I’m available to take care of her. Which I would have been had I brought her back with me.”

“What did your mother say?” Ville asked. “You said she wanted to talk to you about something?”

Soya chewed on her lip, biting a bit harder when the needle hit that sensitive spot again. “Well,” she bit out. “Originally it was to tell me that Aida could have stayed here with us.”

“Originally, meaning it changed into something else?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow, setting his guitar down and crossing his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair.

“You know how I really wasn’t planning on telling my mother we were engaged, let alone planning the wedding.” Soya said, causing Bam to straighten and Kat to stop tattooing as they waited for Ville to answer.

“Yes.”

“Mostly it was because I wasn’t even planning on inviting her, so what right did she have to know?”

“I know Soya, and I’m assuming by your rambling she’s found out.”

“Apparently even though I’m not dancing at the moment, she’s still invested in my career and checks my website.”

Ville closed his eyes as he sighed. “Where Josef and Brooke posted our announcement.” he said quietly.

Soya nodded. “She’s seen it and now she apparently wants to have lunch with us and get to know you.”

Ville laughed. “Does she? What did you say?”

“That I wasn’t going to encourage the lunch and that I would let you decide. I also told her that I saw no benefit from having the lunch, and all that mattered was that isi approved of you and I didn’t care what she thought.”

Ville blinked. “You told her all that?”

Soya ran the conversation with her mother back in her head before nodding slightly. “I did.”

“This trip to Sipoo was not as uneventful as you led me to believe.” Ville said with a roll of his eyes getting up from his chair to pick up the cookies from the coffee table. Opening the bag he handed one to Soya with a grin. “Congratulations Soya, you’ve stood up to your mother.”

“You’re a jerk.” Soya laughed, breaking the cookie in half and sending one half behind her to Kat. “I’m not a dog to be rewarded, and I’ve stood up to her before.”

“I’m pretty sure,” Ville said, handing a cookie to Bam, taking one himself and setting the bag on the table before taking his seat again. “What you’ve told me is tame compared to what really happened.”

“I’m guessing, and this is just as an outside party to this conversation, that you’re not close to your mother Soya.” Kat pointed out.

Soya laughed, looking behind her shoulder at Kat. “No, I’m not, how’s the cookie?”

“Amazing.” Kat laughed, finishing her half off before replacing her gloves and picking the tattoo machine up. “Why aren’t you guys close?” Kat asked, as she started the machine back up and started in on Soya’s tattoo again. She’d gotten to know Soya a bit the day before and heard Ville’s take on his fiancé and as Ville was biased on the woman he was seeing and planning to marry she wanted to hear more about Soya from the parson herself.

Soya sighed. “My mother isn’t the most maternal person in the world, really I wasn’t close to my parents at all, but just before I came out here my father decided that he wanted to get to know his daughters and we formed a very rocky relationship.” Soya admitted. “He uh…he passed away in October.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Soya.” Kat said sincerely, wiping the excess ink away from Soya’s shoulders. “Were you guys close by that time?”

“A bit.” Soya nodded slowly. “Truthfully, I’m still a bit mixed on how I should feel. I don’t miss him as a regular daughter would miss her father, I miss him in bouts. I would have liked to share my engagement to Ville with him, I would have liked him to walk me down the aisle, but then I remember he wasn’t there for all the other milestones and had he not been sick he may not have been there for this one either.”

“Ah, Soya, don’t say that.” Ville said quietly.

“Why not?” Soya asked, looking at Ville. “If he’d never gotten as sick as he did and had his little epiphany, he still would have been the uncaring, unfeeling, intimidating man I grew up with. It’s what makes my feelings about his passing mixed.” She admitted. “As much as I grew to love my father, it’s hard to forget how he treated Aida and myself for so long.”

“I thought you had gotten over all of that Soya.” Ville said truthfully. “You seemed to enjoy your time with your father; I didn’t know you felt like this.”

“I’ve forgiven him,” Soya said slowly, thinking about her what she wanted to say. “But there are still those feelings of resentment that crop up when I think of him, it’s hard to let it go, but I’m trying. My mother on the other hand…”

“It sounds like your father was trying to make amends though.” Kat said, wiping more ink off Soya. “And your mother isn’t.”

Soya shook her head. “No, she isn’t. It’s difficult to get along with her, she really only ever loved my father.” She chewed on her lip, wondering how much she wanted to tell Kat. Usually she kept things to herself when it concerned her mother, having only shared with Ville before, but Ville had helped her with that aspect of her personality. She was much more willing to share without that fear of being judged. So she talked…

“My mother really never wanted kids,” She admitted, “My father told me this, my sister was an accident.”

“Did he tell you this?” Bam asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not in so many words.” Soya said, “But my sister wasn’t planned by any means.”

“Were you?” Bam asked with a smirk.

Soya laughed quietly, “I was planned yes, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. My mother wanted to be liked by my grandparents and I was what put her in their favor. When my grandparents passed away there was really no reason to…want me, I guess.” Soya shrugged, feeling Kat give her a slight reprieve.

“But you don’t sound bitter at all.” Kat said, looking at Soya in surprise.

“I was.” Soya said slowly, turning to look at Kat over her shoulder. “And Josef helped a lot in telling me that my parents were wrong, but I still had that little girl in me that desperately wanted her parent’s approval and maybe just a bit of their love.”

“What happened to that little girl?” Kat asked with a smile, having a feeling as to what Soya was going to say.

Soya grinned. “She met Ville.”

“Wonderful, I sound like a pedophile now.” Ville laughed, causing the group to laugh.

“I should say she met the little boy in Ville.” Soya said looking back over at Kat. “You have no idea how much Ville’s helped me grow, Bam probably has an idea as he saw me just as I was reconnecting with Ville. Without Ville, I wouldn’t be telling you this, without him I wouldn’t have said anything to my mother, especially bringing up the family money.”

“I’m happy to be the one to help you grow.” Ville said, leaning forward to kiss her softly.

Kat smiled, watching the couple, looking over at Bam who was smiling lightly before catching her eye. Yes, it seemed that Soya’s story had not only won Bam over completely but made Kat love the pair even more then she had before.

XxxxxxX

“I will most definitely make an appointment when I get a break from the tour.” Soya said slipping her arms carefully back into the straps of her tank top, Kat having just finished wrapping the fresh tattoo on Soya’s shoulders.

The outlining had been finished and while Kat had been able to start in on some of the finer details of the eyes, she didn’t want to rush the process. She could also tell by Soya’s tensing that she wasn’t telling Kat when the pain was too much, which had also prompted her to stop when she did.

“Also let your friend Josef know I’d be more than happy to do his too.” Kat said as she slipped on her jacket, while Bam and Ville talked quietly, Bam putting his own jacket on.

“I will.” Soya nodded, as Kat opened the door, motioning for Bam to follow. “Night.”

“Night.” Soya said, making sure the cab was outside waiting for them, as she said goodbye to Bam, both she and Ville watching as they ducked into the cab quickly.

Ville closed the door leaning against it, as Soya let her hair loose from the clip. “Ready for bed?”

“So ready.” Soya said, leaning into him, his arms wrapping low on her back.

“Go upstairs.” Ville said kissing the top of her head. “I’ll be up in a minute, just going to turn everything off here.”

Soya nodded, leaning up to kiss the top of his chin, before unwrapping herself from his arms and heading up the stairs to get ready for bed. Ville moved from the door, making sure it was locked, before going to the kitchen and flipping off the light and tucking the chairs back into the table in the dining room.

Going to the fireplace, he crouched down to turn it off, smiling lightly when he saw the portraits of Virginia and Poe sitting side by side. Kat and Bam couldn’t have done better when it came to gifts for him and Soya. Making sure the last ember in the fireplace was out, he turned off the living room light before making his own way up the stairs.

He went into the bedroom, all ready stripping himself of his shirt and throwing it into the corner of the room, looking over at the bed where Soya was already lying on her stomach, sans shirt, the comforter covering her bottom half.

“Please tell me you’re naked under there.” Ville teased, kicking off his socks as he undid the button of his jeans, letting them fall onto the ground before climbing into bed.

Soya laughed. “See for yourself.”

Ville lifted the covers only to groan when he saw her flannel pajama bottoms covering her legs. “Well that’s disappointing.”

“It’s cold.” Soya laughed as he lay on his side facing her. “It’s bad enough that I’m not wearing a shirt.

“I’m sure if you wore the one you were wearing it’ll be fine.” Ville said, running his fingers through her hair.

“It’s uncomfortable.” Soya whispered, “Do you mind clipping my hair?”

Ville shook his head, getting off the bed and over to the nightstand, finding one of her clips. Getting back in bed her gathered Soya’s hair carefully, before clipping it so it wouldn’t bother her at night. “There you go.”

“Thank you.” She said, pulling the comforter up before rolling to her side softly, to face him. “I love you, you know that.”

Ville nodded, leaning forward to kiss her. “I know, I love you, you know that?”

Soya smiled, tracing her fingers down his cheek. “I know.”