Endlessly

Ville entered the dining room and said a silent prayer for himself and the Mustonen sisters in hopes that they'd survive this night. Tatiana had clearly gone through great pains to make sure that the dining room table had been impeccably set and that she appeared every bit the perfect hostess she tried to be. Candlelight glittered off the crystal goblets at every place setting and a small fire crackled happily in the fireplace situated in the corner of the room. A slate grey tablecloth had been draped over the long table and each place had been set with the stark white dishes brought out only on special occasions - a burgundy napkin folded perfectly in the center of each one.

All in all, Ville found himself less worried about the actual toddler in the room doing damage to the evening and growing steadily more concerned that the twenty-somethings would be in some trouble before night's end.

Emilia breezed by Ville and she gestured for him to follow her so that they could take their appropriate seats at the dinner table. He noted the rosy flush of her pale cheeks and hoped that she at least had the presence of mind to keep herself from dissolving into the fits of giggles that she and Essi had been in only moments before in the study.

It was only once Emilia had announced the fact that they'd polished off the bottle of whiskey that Ville realized that he'd long ago passed a state of being just buzzed and was fully drunk at this point. He was surprised by this given the fact that he'd eaten not long before and he wasn't exactly an inexperienced drinker. He did suppose it had been a little longer than he was used to going without alcohol but it still seemed as though it hit him harder than he would have guessed.

Emilia and Essi had been in a state of broken giggles for quite a while as they exchanged stories from their childhood and similar awkward dinners with their grandmother and parents. One particularly memorable Easter dinner had them practically in tears when Elijah burst through the door and found the three of them with the empty bottle and wiping at their damp eyes. Ville almost felt as though he were a teenager again, having been caught by his parents with stolen alcohol in the garage but Elijah merely gave them all a knowing smile and announced that dinner was ready.

It was clear to Ville that Tatiana certainly gravitated toward a certain kind of man. He would certainly need to be as patient and good natured as Elijah was and Niko had been before him in order to deal with the volatile women in the family.

Now, as Ville sat at the dinner table while scarcely breathing, Ville hoped that Elijah would be able to deflect any anger that Tatiana directed toward the three of them should anything happen.

Tatiana and Elijah both began to bring out serving dishes filled with food and placed them on the table. Emilia took a shaky breath and wondered if perhaps she should have imbibed a little less whiskey than she had. Essi had busied herself with Osku, likely hoping that their mother would pay her little mind if she was behaving normally, and Emilia wished that she had some sort of distraction to save her.

As Tatiana and Elijah took their respective seats at either head of the table, Emilia looked on as Elijah’s mother began scrutinizing the meal laid before them. In all honesty, Niko had once been the chef of the family but once he had become ill, Tatiana had taken up that mantle rather quickly and done splendidly at it. Holiday meals were one of the few things that Emilia had actually enjoyed coming home for and she could tell that her mother took great pride in them.

“Well, thank you all for being here,” Elijah began. “This is a very special day for us and Tatiana and I are both thrilled to spend it with those who mean the most to us.”

Tatiana gave a somewhat strained smile and sipped her water. If Elijah had noticed, he made no indication of his wife’s somewhat opposite response to the company they were surrounded by and he continued to speak for the two of them.

“We uh, well…we have a bit of an announcement to make and I thought we’d start dinner off by telling you all.”

Tatiana nearly dropped her glass. Emilia watched wearily as her mother recomposed herself and cleared her throat. “Dear, are you sure now is the appropriate time? I’m sure everyone is famished…”

“Nonsense, happy news is meant to be shared!”

Emilia reached for Ville’s hand under the table and he squeezed accordingly. Tatiana blinked slowly and gave her husband a short nod. Elijah clapped his hands together and folded them on the table.

“As you all know, I have no children of my own. And while I love being a stepfather to you two girls, you’re all grown up and starting families of your own.”

Ville could see where this announcement was going a mile away. Judging by how tense Emilia and Essi both got as Elijah went on, they could see it as well. Emilia’s grip tightened around his hand and he winced a bit, consistently surprised by the strength she had though you would never know it by looking at her.

“Tatiana and I have been looking into adoption.”

There it was – out in the open for everyone to know. Emilia and Essi both looked at their mother who had suddenly busied herself with Osku beside her. Elijah’s parents wore masks of stone and Ville was unsure whether or not he should brace himself for an outburst from either side of the table.

Elijah waited patiently for some sort of response from anyone but he would be disappointed by the lack of joy from his family members. Ville suddenly felt as an outsider to a private moment and now understood Tatiana’s reception of him earlier that evening.

“Well…congratulations,” Ville said quietly looking first toward Elijah and then to Tatiana, who managed to avoid her daughters’ gazes but meet his for a moment. She gave him a wan smile and looked to her husband for the strength to deal with her own children.

“Elijah, pass the potatoes to your father,” Linnea said, the disapproval evident in her voice. Elijah looked a bit crestfallen but handed the serving dish to his father without another word. Tatiana took a dish of carrots and passed them to Essi who served her son a spoonful and handed it off to Ville without taking any for herself.

As dishes began passing around and the only sounds in the room were the clattering of silverware on porcelain along with Osku telling his mother about his favorite foods, Ville took note of the fact that none of the Mustonen women had taken any food. Elijah had a small plate but looked a little sick to his stomach while his parents appeared as though they hadn’t been told that they were to be grandparents.

Emilia hardly knew what to think. She felt terribly that if she were to have a new brother or sister, her first feelings upon hearing the news were unhappy ones. The alcohol in her veins begged her to spit the accusations at her mother that lurked deep within her heart. Accusations of replacing her old family with a new, less broken one. Her thoughts raced a thousand miles a minute and yet all she could do was stare at her plate and wonder.

“Why?”

Essi’s voice broke through the silence in the room like an arrow let loose from a bow. Emilia looked up from the plate before her and then, by luck, she caught her mother’s gaze and held it. Holding on through sheer will alone until Tatiana provided her daughters with an explanation.

Tatiana took a deep breath and held it as she searched her youngest daughter’s eyes. The blueness of her eyes, so like her father’s, had turned grey and stormy. Emilia had never had the benefit of being able to hide her emotions, even as a child she had been as easy to read as an open book but her stubbornness would never allow for her to admit to that. She would deny her emotions until the bitter end and, Tatiana expected, she would deny this one as well.

Betrayal.

It pained Tatiana greatly that she and Emilia had never really seen eye to eye on most things, especially through her teen years. Once Niko had passed there was nothing there to stop the hateful things that had spewed from both sides. Their relationship was broken and Tatiana knew it. She often wondered if there was even enough left to salvage at this point, given the cool indifference Emilia often regarded her with. Now she had her answer however because the look of betrayal could only have come from one place.

“I know how much your mother loved raising you girls,” Elijah answered after a few silent moments. “And I love having a growing family and we thought, why not add one more?”

Emilia slammed her hands on the table causing the two elderly people across from her to jump. Ville placed his hand gently on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.

“Loved raising us?” She spat, the venom now coating her words and she sincerely hoped her mother felt the sting of each syllable. “She shipped me off to Germany for crying out loud!”

“Emilia, this is not the time,” Tatiana said with a quiet yet firm tone that Ville recognized immediately. Preparations for war.

“Well then why the hell would you announce it at dinner if you didn’t want reactions?”

“Emilia, you’re acting like a child.”

Ville closed his eyes tightly and waited for an eruption to occur beside him. He waited and so did, he suspected, everyone else at the table. Osku had even gone quiet at the change the mood had taken, causing Essi to take him into her lap. Emilia stared Tatiana down as though she were trying to discern whether or not she was an enemy to take down.

“The girl is right,” Hugo said as he took a bite of his dinner. “You are a grandmother and you’re thinking about raising another young one? Seems a bit short sighted.”

Tatiana’s gaze now mirrored her daughter’s as she directed it in Hugo’s direction causing Elijah to immediately try to calm the situation before Tatiana could let her feelings toward his parents become known to the table.

“Actually, we were thinking about an older child. Maybe thirteen or fourteen. Those children are so often overlooked and given our current…” Elijah searched for something more delicate than discussing his wife’s age. “…situation in life, an older child seems to be a better fit.”

“Full of problems at that age. Are you sure you’re ready to handle that again?” Linnea asked, her question aimed at Tatiana.

“I’m sure I’ll manage,” Tatiana replied through gritted teeth. Emilia retook her seat and Ville placed a grounding hand on her thigh, hoping that he would be able to restrain her if it became necessary. He had borne witness to too many arguments between Emilia and her mother.

“We’ll be handling it together,” Elijah said firmly. Ville felt sorry for the man, trying to save any semblance of happiness he had originally had about something he had thought would bring joy and yet seemed to bring only strife.

Hugo snorted. “Perhaps you should rethink that, son.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Tatiana had had enough. Between her daughters and now her in-laws she had reached her capacity far more quickly than she had anticipated.

“Just that you should perhaps leave most of the parenting to my son if you’re wanting to bring a child into this family. After all, it would carry my name.”

Ville was ridiculously uncomfortable. His levels of inebriation were not helping whatsoever. Emilia seethed beside him, Essi sat in what he could only assume was a quiet rage, and now Tatiana seemed to be about ready to murder someone.

“Dad.” Elijah’s tone carried a warning but Hugo continued on in between bites of food.

“I’m just saying, her track record for parenting is poor. One daughter has a child and remains unmarried while the other is involved with a tattooed hooligan. Neither have any career worth mentioning…seems as though you’d be better off-“

“OUT!” Tatiana bellowed. The sheer volume she had been able to muster shocked Ville, and Osku too it seemed as he had started to cry.

Linnea and Hugo seemed taken aback and looked to their son for deliverance, but they would receive none. He stared into space, thoroughly embarrassed by his parents and their judgmental behavior. Tatiana, on the other hand, had her finger pointed toward the doorway as though she expected the two seventy something year olds before her would jump up and march to her order.

“You have insulted me, you have insulted my family, and you have insulted my home. You are not welcome here. You are not welcome in my family. Get out,” she demanded. This time Hugo stood, indignant, while his wife looked to him for how to respond. Hugo turned and pointed a finger at his son.

“You’re making a huge mistake, mark my words.”

Then, with as much power as he could muster, Hugo stormed out of the dining room with Linnea following closely behind him. All remaining members of the dinner party sat in silence until the sound of the front door opening and then closing could be heard. Osku’s sobs had now diminished and Tatiana scooped her grandson up from her daughter’s arms, attempting to convince him that she was not to be feared.

Ville turned to Emilia and found that there was some semblance of regret on her face. She met his eyes and seemed ashamed of herself. He knew the reasons for her being upset, besides the fuel that alcohol had given. She missed having a mother. He knew just by the way that she clung to his. He didn’t mind sharing his mother, especially when Niko had been sick, but part of Ville had always known that Emilia wanted things to be better with her own mother. A new sibling was seen as the end of that possibility and so Emilia had lashed out.

“Ville, Emilia…would you both like a plate to take home?” Elijah asked quietly as he stood with his own plate in hand. No one had much of an appetite, that much was clear and so he took it upon himself to clear the table.

“I’m sorry,” Emilia blurted out as she met Elijah’s gaze and then turned to her mother. Tatiana looked up and for the briefest of seconds, Ville was certain he saw tears glimmering in her eyes before she blinked them away and suddenly they didn’t exist at all.

Elijah placed a hand over Emilia’s, a signal that all was forgiven on his part, yet Tatiana remained silent in response to Emilia’s apology. They all waited for something to be said or for some indication that the night could be salvaged. Ville watched as the hope in Emilia’s eyes began to die and his heart ached for her.

“Be sure to take some of the cake home too, I’d hate for it to go to waste.”

Emilia’s chest heaved at her mother’s response and she nodded once before standing abruptly and excusing herself. Ville watched helplessly as Emilia fled the room. Essi gave her mother a stern look before she turned to Ville and nudged him, gesturing to the door through which Emilia had just disappeared.

“Go.”