The House by the Fjord (26 page)

‘We have rings to buy,' he said, leaning across to kiss her.

She smiled happily, knowing that this man was truly the one to fill the lonely gap in her life and whom she was destined to love until the end of her days.

In the jewellers' shop they were given a choice of plain gold rings that also acted as wedding rings, an engagement considered as binding as a marriage, and there was no exchange of rings during the marriage ceremony. She selected the rings, which were placed in little boxes, charmingly wrapped with a bow and then handed to Anna while Alex wrote out a cheque.

They came out of the shop together and paused to look smilingly into each others' eyes. ‘Where would you like us to exchange our gold rings?' he asked.

Without a moment's hesitation, she pointed to a spot in the mountains rising above the town. ‘Could we drive up there?'

He looked in the direction she was pointing. ‘To Varden? Yes, we can. But why have you chosen that spot?'

‘I haven't been there yet and I was once told that it is the best place to view the eighty-seven mountain peaks. That makes it a very special place at all times and particularly for us today.'

‘Today is also a perfect day for viewing. Not a cloud in the sky.'

The zigzag road they travelled left a few neat houses behind on the lower slopes, and then it was little more than a rough track that took them through thick forest up and up until they reached a green sward where they parked. She sprang out of the car and went forward as at last the full panorama of the range of the Romsdal mountains was revealed to her. Everything here was so still and quiet, not even a breeze. The reflection of the great peaks was held in the mirror water of the fjord, which was only disturbed where a ferry-steamer was leaving ripples in its wake. Eighty-seven peaks! Who could begin to count them?

Alex, seeming to understand that she wanted to view alone, rested his weight against the car with his arms folded as he watched her.

Her thoughts were full of Johan. It was here that he had wanted to bring her and it was here that she had to put him away into her memory where he would always be loved. Slowly she removed her wedding ring, which had been on her finger since the day he had placed it there. She put it to her lips in a private kiss and then slipped it into her purse. Only then did she turn to Alex. He came to her at once.

‘Is it to be now?' he asked her fondly.

She nodded. They opened their own ring boxes. Then, holding their rings firmly, they slid them on to the third finger of each other's right hand. She was glad that this was fresh and new to her, sparing her any comparison with the past. With a shout of joy, Alex picked her up and swung her around before setting her down in a kiss that seemed to last forever.

‘You do realize what this means,' she said as they drove down the mountain slope again. ‘I'll be telling Steffan that I'll be accepting the house now that I'm going to marry you.'

‘I think the matter was settled as soon as you set eyes on the place. You looked as if you were in a trance.'

‘I think I was.'

‘How soon shall we marry? Tomorrow?'

She laughed. ‘Not quite so soon. I know Gudrun will have a wonderful time helping to arrange everything. I cannot deny her that pleasure, but I should like it to be a quiet wedding. I don't want a crowd of people.'

‘That suits me too. I'll invite my brother. That's the end of my wedding list.'

‘Mine is almost as short. I should just like to invite Molly and Olav, also Aunt Christina. She has been so hospitable and kind to me. She could travel with them. I know they would look after her.' She paused thoughtfully. ‘I'll ask Steffan to escort me to church if that should please him.'

‘I'm sure it would.'

‘I'd like us to be married in the museum church.' She needed everything to be unique with Alex. There were too many poignant reminders of Johan's young days in the little Tresfjord church and she did not want cherished memories of her wedding to him disturbed in any way.

‘That can be arranged,' Alex was saying.

She gave a sigh of satisfaction. ‘Let us promise ourselves that we will try always to overcome whatever hurdles we meet just as smoothly as we've arranged everything for our marriage.' Then she laughed. ‘Maybe that is too much to expect. You have a stubborn streak and I can be very obstinate.'

He grinned and took his hand from the wheel to put it over hers. ‘Now you tell me!' he joked. ‘But we will do our best.'

She was never to forget the pleasure that suffused Steffan's eyes when she broke the news to him and put out her hand to display her ring.

‘Today I have made two of the most important decisions in my life,' she said. ‘Alex and I are to be married and I accept the house most gratefully. It is a very special house in one of the most beautiful settings in the world, and I promise you that I will always take care of it and ensure that it will go to the right person after me.' Her next words echoed what Alex had said when first meeting her on the day of her arrival in Norway. ‘Perhaps to my own daughter.'

Steffan took both of her hands in his, nodding his satisfaction and momentarily beyond speech. After a few minutes he did manage to congratulate Alex and wish Anna joy, but his quiet acceptance of their great news was in contrast to Gudrun's exuberant reception of it.

‘It was what Steffan and I hoped would happen!' she declared, throwing up her hands in delight.

Later, when Anna was on her own with Gudrun, discussing the weddings arrangements, she said with a tremor in her voice, ‘It was not an easy decision.'

Gudrun nodded in understanding. ‘Just remember that Johan did not have a selfish bone in his body. He would rejoice that you have found happiness again.'

‘I'll never, never forget him.'

‘I know you never will and so does Steffan.'

‘There is something I must ask you. Why is Harry so determined to find fault with the house. He has tried to put me against it whenever he has had the chance. The same happened when we saw him there today.'

Gudrun did not hesitate in her reply. ‘He has always wanted it for himself. That's the reason! It is a perfect holiday home for the mountains. Many people have cabins from which to ski in winter and climb and walk in summer, but none can compare with the house that you have now.'

Anna was staring at her in surprise. ‘How can Harry ever have hoped to have it? Ingrid's house has to be passed on to a woman!'

‘He would have managed that by marrying. He has had a lot of girlfriends and there is one he seems to prefer to all the rest. She lives not far away in Kristiansund. He brought her here once, but Steffan did not like her superior airs. If you feel that Harry is trying to destroy your pleasure in your newly acquired property, you should remember that after the loss of Johan it was natural that Harry should expect to be Steffan's heir. Harry had not counted on your appearing on the scene, especially when you did not come to Norway when the other war brides began arriving. He thought you were never going to show up. I must admit that although you had written to Steffan, I had begun to have doubts that we should ever meet you.'

‘Yet in spite of what you say, Harry has always been very pleasant to me.'

‘Yes, of course, but privately he will be bitterly disappointed by your decision to accept the house.'

‘Have I taken a property that should be more rightfully his if he married?'

Gudrun shook her head. ‘Not at all,' she answered vehemently. ‘Never suppose that! As Johan's widow all that would have been his inheritance has becomes yours. In fact, Harry has been falling out of favour with Steffan for some time. In my opinion, it began when Harry lost the ring.'

‘What ring was that?'

Gudrun frowned. ‘Of course, you do not know anything about it. It was during the occupation. Steffan gave him an unusual gold ring that had belonged to Magnus Harvik. It was very old and fashioned with a Viking cipher. It had been given to the artist by Ingrid. It was hard for Steffan to part with it, but he had wanted to reward Harry for his many kindnesses. Naturally, he had thought that Harry would value it highly.' Gudrun gave a sigh. ‘Perhaps he did, but he was careless with it. Then one day he came to confess to Steffan that he had lost it.'

‘However did that happen?' Anna asked, dismayed.

‘He said it had been slightly on the large size for him and declared that it must have slipped off his finger, but Steffan suspected that he had sold it. Anything made of gold was in high demand during the occupation, and Harry always seemed to be in need of money. Steffan has been generous to him many times. But let's not talk of that any more. We have a happier subject to discuss.' Gudrun steered the conversation back to the wedding day, and Harry was not mentioned again.

Anna wrote to her aunt, saying that she was to marry and extending a direct invitation, but it was frostily declined. In contrast, Molly in Gardermoen accepted with enthusiasm. She and Olav arrived on the eve of the wedding, bringing Aunt Christina with them, and also accompanied by Pat and Rolf. Both couples had left their children with Helen, who was going to look after them. The war brides had clubbed together in a joint gift of an elegant coffee set, for at last some beautiful things were appearing in the shops. Molly had also packed up Anna's belongings at her Gardermoen rooms, having offered to do it, and these were handed over in Anna's own suitcases.

‘Everybody sends love and they are all so pleased for you,' Molly said happily. ‘Alex is extremely dishy and you deserve the best.' Then a serious look passed between them as she added, ‘You had the best of men last time and he would be glad for you.'

Anna nodded wordlessly and then turned to Aunt Christina, whom she had hugged fondly on arrival and who was now awaiting her turn to speak to the bride-to-be. She was delighted to be a wedding guest and the gift she brought with her was to be a total surprise. She handed Anna an envelope. ‘Inside is a picture of my gift,' she said. ‘You will have to wait a little while to receive it, but you will soon understand why.'

Anna opened the envelope and inside was a picture postcard of a young woman in the national costume of Romsdal, just like the girl on the painted plaque that she had bought on her first shopping trip in Oslo. ‘Does this mean . . . ?' she began uncertainly.

‘It does indeed,' Christina endorsed. ‘Since you are marrying here and are becoming a Norwegian citizen, you have every right to wear the national costume of this region, and it is my pleasure to give it to you.'

Anna gasped and hugged her joyfully. ‘It's the most wonderful gift!' It was something she had hoped to have in the future, but these costumes were expensive, being made of home-woven cloth and hand-embroidered, which amounted to many hours of work.

‘You are to have the costume made locally and, thanks to your father-in-law, everything has been arranged,' Christina said with satisfaction. The cost of her generous gift was unimportant to her, for she only felt thankful that she was able to give a lasting gift to the girl that had given her beloved nephew some true happiness in his short life.

After refreshment, the three arrivals went off to check in at the Alexandra Hotel where rooms had been booked for them. Next morning they would take a taxi to the museum church for the marriage ceremony.

Word of the marriage had spread and many people turned up to see the bride. Alex was well-liked in the community, being active in town affairs, and Anna had already made friends in the town. The gift that gave Anna the greatest pleasure was a painting by Magnus that Steffan had been keeping out of Anna's sight until she should accept the house. It showed Ingrid and Magnus together. He was seated on the steps of the
stabbur
as he watched her, brightly dressed in her orange skirt and a yellow blouse, absorbed in picking blackcurrants from the bush by their house.

After Anna had thanked him, her whole face showing her pleasure in the gift, she said, ‘I feel that I have become very close to Ingrid through her journal.'

‘That's a good beginning to becoming the owner of her house,' Steffan said approvingly. ‘There will be some papers you will have to sign, but Alex will take care of that for us.'

Alex's brother, Ivar, had also arrived the day before the wedding. He was as tall as Alex, good-looking and friendly. He and Anna liked each other on sight.

‘I wish both of you every happiness,' he said warmly. His gift was a crystal decanter and glasses.

Gudrun had made sure that the ancient church was full of flowers on the wedding day and the air was scented by the blooms. Anna wore a new cream silk dress with a wide-brimmed ‘halo' hat, as the style was called, for it set off the wearer's face, and she carried a small bouquet of mountain flowers. Steffan escorted her up the aisle, and when Alex turned his head and smiled at her, she knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was why fate had eventually brought her to stay in these northern climes.

They went to a hotel in Geiranger for their honeymoon and the windows of their room gave a view of the great fjord. Yet it was not the incomparable view that held their attention, for they saw only each other. As soon as he had locked the door, they moved into each other's arms. A few minutes later his nakedness met hers as passion possessed them. Without conceit, she knew that she had a beautiful body, and when he drew back to explore still more of her, she felt the rays of the sun through the windows fall warmly across her like a welcome back to love. When at last he entered her, she cried out in joy as their mutual ecstasy engulfed them. Afterwards they dozed in blissful exhaustion until they woke to make love again, and gradually the night with its deceptive daylight slipped away.