Endlessly

Emilia bristled at the shrill voice on the other side of the door. Ville exchanged a worried glance with her but she brushed it off with her hand to dismiss his fears. Essi was only good at sounding scary where Emilia was concerned – if it had been Ville’s full name that had been bellowed out like that however, she would understand the fear.

“She’s probably been calling me all day,” Emilia commented as she went to the door and opened it to find Essi looking significantly more calm than she’d let on.

“Did you know that the point of having a cell phone is to answer it?” Essi asked as she adjusted Osku on her hip. Emilia smiled and opened the door to allow them in out of the cold. Osku reached out to Emilia as his mother walked by and she scooped the toddler from her sister’s arms.

“I hadn’t a clue, is that what the ringing was for?” Emilia replied as she kissed her nephew’s blond head.

“Yeah, you really should become more acquainted with modern technology. It would certainly cause our mother less grief.”

Emilia’s brow furrowed and she struggled to balance Osku who had suddenly become enraptured with a shiny record mounted on the wall. “Mum was trying to reach me?”

Essi nodded, noting the change in her sister’s demeanor. “I guess a few things arrive from the lawyers regarding Gram’s estate. She had Elijah look over it in case anything was time sensitive and then she called me throwing a fit that you couldn’t be reached.”

“Did you tell her where I was? I barely had cell service.” Emilia finally let her struggling nephew down and watched from the corner of her eye as he practically ran over to where Ville now sat with a guitar in hand.

“I did, she wasn’t pleased that you didn’t let her know you were going anywhere for an extended period of time.”

“I didn’t even know.”

Essi smirked. “Yeah, I told her that too and she called me immature for indulging your frivolous tendencies.”

Emilia rolled her eyes, her gaze settling on Ville who was now showing Osku how to properly strum the guitar. He could barely reach his little arms all the way over the instrument to reach the strings. When Ville’s eyes met hers, she gave a small smile and returned her attention to her sister.

“So what was so urgent?”

“Nothing, she was just pissed that Gram left me and her out of the will.”

Emilia’s eyes widened. She had long known that her grandmother had no fondness for Tatiana and wasn’t completely shocked that she’d written her off. But for her to have not left anything to Essi, especially knowing she had Osku to think of…

“You know that anything that’s mine is yours, Es. Don’t worry about it,” Emilia said as she took her sister’s hand.

Essi shrugged. “I’m not and you don’t need to give me anything. Gram left you everything because you were the only one that was ever there for her. I barely called her and Mum did even less than I did so she shouldn’t be surprised.”

Emilia pursed her lips and looked toward Ville. He seemed occupied by Osku but she knew perfectly well that he was listening intently to the conversation going on. She sighed heavily and wrapped her arms around herself.

“I’d feel better if you took something though. Put it away for Osku’s future or something if you don’t want to use it.”

Essi’s eyes darted over toward Ville and Osku and she shook her head. “This is a conversation for later, Em. Besides, I only really came over to warn you that our mother is on the war path.”

“That’s different,” Emilia replied sarcastically.

“We may need to institutionalize her this time, she keeps threatening to summon Gram’s spirit just to cuss her out. I removed my old Ouija board from my room just in case.”

“Sounds perfectly reasonable,” Emilia commented dryly.

Ville chuckled across the room, finally confirming that he was indeed listening to their conversation. Essi raised her eyebrow at him and watched as he returned his attention to her son.

“I take it this weekend went well?” Essi asked.

Emilia nodded. “It did. I can’t thank you enough for it.”

“Just make sure you send me on a weekend getaway with some famous rock star when you come into your inheritance and we’ll call it even.”

Emilia chuckled. “Deal.”

“Mumma!” Osku cried as he jumped down from Ville’s lap, grinning from ear to ear. “Mumma, I played guitar!”

Essi smiled and picked up her son as he reached for her. “I heard! You did a great job, sweetie.”

Emilia felt Ville approach her as he slipped his hand around hers. She turned to offer him a smile and leaned her head against his shoulder, noting the look her sister gave her as she did so. She decided to ignore the warning in her sister’s eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his closeness.

“Well, we should get going and you two should get dressed.”

Emilia looking at her sister with confusion. “For?”

“You really didn’t listen to any of your voicemails?” Essi’s tone warned of the mild annoyance she felt about the fact that Emilia really hadn’t checked her phone at all. “Mum and Elijah are hosting some dinner and she expects us to be there. Why do you think I came to warn you about her mood?”

Emilia groaned loudly and Ville stiffened beside her. “Ugh, to spare Helsinki from being turned inside out as she hunted me down?”

“That would have been significantly nobler, but I was genuinely worried for your well-being.”

“What the heck is she hosting a dinner for?”

Essi sighed. “I’ll pretend that you didn’t forget their anniversary. Elijah’s parents are there and they aren’t any fonder of Mum since the wedding so we’re the buffer so that they don’t have to talk about their own lives.”

“Perfect. A night of passive aggressive comments about Gram and my life choices should provide ample entertainment for all.”

“I thought as much.”

Emilia turned to Ville who had been strangely quiet during the entire visit with Essi and gave him an apologetic look. “You don’t need to come. Especially since we just ate.”

Ville squeezed her hand gently. “You think I’d send you to the front lines on your own?”

“I mean, I would definitely consider it if I were you.”



Emilia couldn’t recall a time when she didn’t look at the front door of her mother’s house without some form of dread. Now as she stared at an unfamiliar door, a replacement for the one that she and Ville had fixed, the same feeling swelled within her as she noticed the very obvious red shoeprints on the stairs and she shuffled anxiously on the shoes that had made them. Ville had definitely noticed the prints as well and tried to contain the grin that threatened to break across his face.

“Just don’t let her see the bottom of your shoes,” he whispered as Essi reached to knock on the door. Emilia quickly reached out for her nephew and Essi rolled her eyes as she handed him off to her sister.

“Real nice, using a three year old as a shield?” Essi accused. Emilia’s eyes widened, signaling for Essi to keep her voice down in case their mother was on the other side of the door.

“Yes, I am. Sue me,” Emilia murmured nervously.

“I will if he gets maimed in the crossfire,” Essi whispered back, earning a quick laugh from Ville.

The door opened to reveal Tatiana, who looked less than happy about her current situation. Her eyes warmed a little when she caught sight of Osku and cooled significantly when her gaze fell on Ville.

“Well, I suppose I’ll set another place at the table then,” Tatiana said as she reached for Osku and greeted him adoringly and completely glossing over her daughters’ presence – which was exactly what they’d hoped for.

They all followed Tatiana as she led them to the living room where Elijah sat on the couch, flanked by his parents. All three stood as soon as the sisters and Ville entered the room and Elijah walked over to his stepdaughters and hugged them gently, a show of affection that Emilia still hadn’t gotten used to. Elijah held his hand out to Ville who took it and shook firmly.

“Mom, Dad…I don’t know if you remember my stepdaughters, Emilia and Essi…” Elijah said to his parents as the girls waved awkwardly.

Elijah’s mother, Linnea, nodded politely. “Nice to see you again, you’ve both grown lovelier since we last met.”

Emilia and Essi each offered her a smile and quiet thanks before Elijah gestured to Ville. “And this is Emilia’s…” He paused and looked to Emilia for a title to give, but when she offered none Ville spoke.

“An old friend,” he said as he reached forward and shook the hands of Elijah’s parents. They scrutinized his appearance, and everyone in the room watched as Elijah’s parents scanned over the band tee shirt, the beanie on his head, and the tattooed arms.

“Nice to meet you,” Elijah’s father, Hugo, said in a somewhat strained voice. Emilia gave Elijah a sharp look and he quickly diverted everyone’s attention to Osku who was standing shyly in the doorway. Emilia took the opportunity to take Ville’s arm and walk him toward the room that once been her father’s office and now served as Elijah’s.

Ville took a seat in the leather arm chair and released the breath he felt he’d been holding since he’d crossed the threshold into the Mustonen-Nylund home. He’d expected an icy welcome from Tatiana. At this point he had dismissed all illusions that any semblance of the woman he’d known in his youth still existed, but it was still something of a shock to have been so blatantly judged as he had been by perfect strangers.

“To be fair,” Emilia began as she closed the door behind them. “I did tell you that you didn’t have to come.”

Ville gave Emilia a wan smile and waved her concern away. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not unused to it.” A bit of a lie, but a necessary one to ease Emilia’s anxiety.

“If it helps, I’m sure Essi’s and my performance at Mum and Elijah’s wedding is probably still at the forefront of their minds so you aren’t the only spectacle here,” Emilia said as she unlocked the wooden liquor cabinet and produced a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

“I don’t think you ever told me about that particular incident,” Ville answered wryly as he took the glass that Emilia offered to him.

“Oh it was great,” she said sardonically as she poured the amber liquid into Ville’s glass. “I hadn’t been home in forever so naturally, Essi and I got way too drunk before the ceremony so by the time the reception rolled around, we were both pretty trashed.”

Ville chuckled and downed the contents of his glass quickly, to take the edge off the evening’s events. “Oh that must have been quite the sight.”

“Well, it was okay until Essi and I had to speak – we were Mum’s only bridesmaids and we hadn’t talked about what to do at all. So we decided that the best option was to sing…” She said as she poured more whiskey for Ville and then for herself.

“Please tell me you sang something awful like Mariah Carey.”

“Better, Elton John. More specifically, 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight.’”

"You mean that song from that Disney movie?"

"You bet."

“Please tell me that there is a video of this somewhere.”

“I’m pretty sure I threatened the videographer to within an inch of his life if that performance ended up in the video.”

Emilia and Ville turned to see Essi entering the room and quickly closing the door behind her, in case Osku had shadowed her. She eyed the bottle in Emilia’s hands and went to the cabinet to get a glass for herself and held it out expectantly to Emilia.

“I’m sure someone somewhere has footage of that. And I will find it,” Ville threatened playfully as he looked Emilia dead in the eye. She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to her sister.

“Going that well out there?” Emilia asked, gesturing to the glass in her sister’s hands which had already been emptied. Essi ran her hand through her hair and sighed loudly, staring at the ceiling.

“Mum is in the kitchen freaking out and has downed at least a bottle of wine already. Elijah is attempting to console her while using my kid as a source of entertainment for his parents since the television is a ‘waste of time’ and I’m pretty sure that we’re going to get drunk enough to re-enact the wedding song before dinner is ready as it hasn’t been started yet.”

Emilia frowned down at the half full bottle in her hands and then glanced at the cabinet. “I think we’re going to need to make a liquor run then.”