Love in Theory and Practice: SWRMXS

“Ville,” I say. I’m sitting at me desk in the living room and he’s sitting in his armchair reading a book. Without my glasses, I can’t see what the book is called. “Ville,” I say again when he hasn’t looked up. “Ville!” I call louder, he finally looks up and raises his eyebrows quizzically. “Our babies have fingerprints.”

“Really?” he says, eyes wide.

“Yes, and they’re fighting each other again.” I say and move my hands to cover the places where their tiny feet and hands are pushing against my belly.

“I hope that’s not going to be a constant thing in their lives.” He laughs.

“If we have a boy,” I say, gazing off out the window. “I want to name him Henri.”

“I like that.” Ville says and I can hear the smile in his voice. “Where’d you pick that?”

“It just came to me.”

“I’ve been thinking about Tille for a girl.” He says. For some reason when we talk about baby names we both get far off looks in our eyes and dreamy tones in our voices.

“Could we call her Matilde? Then Tille for short?”

“We could even call her Maiti for short.” He replies.

“Mmm,” I mumble in reply. “So should I plan our vacation for February?”

“Yeah, where else should we go?” he asks. I hear his book shut and the shuffle of his socks on the hardwood. In a minute he’s behind me, looking over my shoulder at the computer.

“We’re going to Fiji.” I say with a smug expression.

“Oh? We are?” he asks. “When did you decide this?”

“Just now.” I reply. “I’m going to book our trip right now but you need to go call Seppo.”

He musses my hair before walking away. “Do you know where my phone is?” he asks, digging through a pile of papers on the coffee table.

“It’s in the dish by the front door with your keys.” I say without looking away from my computer.
“Okay,” he says, emerging into the kitchen. “I talked to Seppo. We’re going to get with Bam while we’re in Los Angeles and we’ll do a bit with him.”

“We?” I ask, rinsing a cucumber.

“Yes, the two of us. Since you insisted on my doing something to let people know what I’ve been up to, I decided you needed to work on it with me.” He says and wraps his arms around me.

It’s getting increasingly difficult for him to put his arms all the way around me. He used to be able to almost wrap his arms around my waist twice but now he can just link his hands together on my stomach.

“Well alright then.” I agree with a sigh. “I did insist you do it.”

Despite being grumpy about having to be apart of Ville and Bam’s video scheme, I enjoy my afternoon by watching Gone With the Wind.

Ville settles in beside me at the beginning of the movie and laughs aloud as I mouth the words.

“How many times have you seen this movie?” he asks.

“’Has the war started?’” I mime. “’Sir, you should have made your presence known.’ ‘In the middle of that beautiful love scene?’ I’ve seen this movie more times than I can count.” I finally answer he just smiles at me and shakes his head.

“I’m going to go work on some music for a bit.” He says, getting up from the sofa. He kisses my hair before walking out of the room.

As I watch the South slip by in Technicolor, I wonder if great romances still occur. I wonder if what Ville and I have could be considered a great romance. I think of all the books I’ve read, the tales of tragic, unrequited or fated love. I smile, knowing that Ville and I were fated to love each other. And I hope fervently that we weren’t meant for a tragic love.

As I ponder their father, the babies begin to swim around in my belly.

Whether our romance is great, tragic, fated, or just plain and simple doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the life we’re creating together is happy and healthy. So far we’re a partnership that I am proud to be a part of.

We’re on the same page.

I put my movie on mute for a moment and I can hear his guitar faintly from the rooms upstairs.

I sigh, contented and press play on my movie.