Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 140874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Dinner was amazing, though not vegan friendly. Emma seemed to have anticipated this, and she’d brought her own food, which she chowed down without complaint. Neil and I had given up any hope of a vegan holiday. We’d picked up the diet when Neil was ill, after being convinced of the health benefits by Emma. But Christmas was never healthy, anyway, so we felt free to indulge in hangikjöt made of smoked lamb, though Neil informed me that he preferred the horse variety. There was also fried ptarmigan, a bird I’d never heard of but was stuffed with bacon, so I was sold. There were caramelized potatoes and red cabbage, and steaming warm homemade bread.
“You did all this?” I boggled after I’d inhaled my second helping of rice pudding.
Kristine grinned. “Yes, it was quite difficult. I had to call the caterer weeks in advance, and then pop the trays in the oven this morning.”
Everyone laughed, even Neil, who seemed to have loosened up a bit.
Though it was only five o’clock, it was pitch black outside by the time we’d exchanged presents and let the massive dinner settle. I was sitting in the crook of Neil’s elbow, leaned against him, when he suddenly spoke up. “You know, it only just now occurs to me that Michael has never been for a proper sauna?”
He said this apropos of nothing, immediately rousing my suspicion, and Emma’s too, judging from the way she sat up with wide eyes.
Michael looked up from where his hand was laced with Emma’s on his knee. “A what now?”
“A sauna,” Geir said, gruff and terrifying. “You sit in the steam for a while, get a good sweat worked up, then you run outside and jump in the lake.”
“Nice try.” Michael shook his head with a dazzling smile. “Fool me once, Mr. Elwood.”
“Fool you once?” I asked, and Neil gave me an I’m-totally-innocent look that I was not buying.
“At Michael’s first Christmas with the family, Dad told Michael that it was Icelandic custom to strip naked and roll in the snow on Christmas morning,” Emma said, with a peeved edge to her tone. “He told Michael to meet him in the garden at Langhurst Court before breakfast, then never came down.”
“I sat outside in my underwear for seventeen minutes before I decided he was messing with me,” Michael admitted sheepishly.
“This is all legitimate, I assure you,” Runólf said, chuckling at his brother’s horrible prank. “I’ve even got the hole cut out there.”
“It really is something they do,” Helen reassured Michael. “Although Geir shouldn’t, because of his heart.”
“Um, and maybe somebody who just had cancer shouldn’t do it, either.” All the blood drained from my face. “You’re really going to do it, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely. It’s the perfect male bonding experience, and I haven’t seen my brothers in a while. And anyway, I wouldn’t want Michael to miss out,” Neil said, nodding to him.
“Daddy, don’t be stupid. Of course Michael isn’t going to jump in a frozen lake. He’s not an idiot.” Emma laughed.
“Oh, no offense to be taken from that statement, is there?” Geir grumbled, and stood. “I don’t know about all the rest of you, but I’m going down to start the damn fire. Are you coming?”
“I am, definitely,” Michael said, and I saw in the firm set of his jaw the resolution of a man who saw plunging his overheated body into an icy death lake as a last ditch attempt to win the respect of his mortal enemy.
It was hard not to laugh.
Neil tightened his arm around me and said, low beside my ear, “You’ll be alright without me?”
I nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. Kristine and Helen seemed nice enough, and Emma and I got along great. It wasn’t like he was leaving me alone with Valerie or something.
When the guys were gone, Kristine dropped on the couch beside me with a giant glass of wine. She stretched her legs. “Do you know how long it has been since I’ve had a drink?”
“But it’s all worth it,” Helen laughed. “Still, I wouldn’t trade with you. I like my eight hours.”
Kristine took a huge gulp of wine before responding. “We’re very lucky, we have an overnight nurse, usually. But not at Christmas, that seemed too self-indulgent.”
“So, Sophie, how did Christmas with your family go?” Emma asked, then, to Kristine and Helen, she explained, “It was Dad’s first time meeting them.”
I shrugged. If Emma wanted details, I would fill her in another time. “It went…really well. My mom didn’t like him, but I didn’t think she would.”
Kristine made a sympathetic noise. “My father hates Runólf. All he sees when he looks at him is some perverted old man. It doesn’t help that Runólf is only seven years younger than him.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad I’m not the only one in this situation. Neil is actually older than my mom, and she’s super freaked out.”