My Beloved Wolf

Chapter 11

"Just a little farther down this path,” Catherine tells me as she skips along the path toward a farm. “It’s just a bunch of widows, so they may be willing to let you do their laundry for pay.”

“Who takes care of the farm?” I ask, noting that the land is ready for planting and that animals are walking about.

“They do,” she says with a shrug. “Women aren’t expected to be helpless here.”

We pass through the gate towards the house and look around at the farm. It’s so big to be run by older ladies. “That’s amazing.”

She nods and knocks on the door. An older woman answers and motions for us to enter. Catherine talks to them, and two women smile at me, genuine smiles of happiness.

“They’re willing to let you,” Catherine tells me. “They want to know what you want to give him for the wedding.”

I explain to her, and she smiles, turning back to tell the women of my plan. They nod, and she tells me that one of them has something that will work. I’ll need to help every day for three days, but they will give it to me after.

“Three days is plenty of time!” I tell her excitedly, smiling at the women in the home. “Thank you. Thank you!”

We go back towards the village, arms linked, skipping and giggling along the way. Anders has sent me with Catherine every day since they arranged for her to teach me to speak their language, and while I have missed him terribly, it has been so nice to be around someone I understand.

“So, I can go and help them early in the morning and then go to Helga after,” I tell her, and she nods.

“You’ll learn lots about the language just being around it,” she tells me as we see the main buildings of the village ahead. “That’s how I learned, but I didn’t have a big, handsome man I was hoping to talk to. I wasn’t in a rush.”

“He is handsome,” I say with a smirk. “I just… it’s so confusing because I don’t understand anything he says, but I am so sure about him.”

She smiles as we approach the barn, and I see Anders sitting on a fence railing. I smile, looking at him as he just exists there, so handsome. He doesn’t have his hair tied back, letting the long, blonde hairs fall around his face. Somehow, his hair down makes his already chiseled jaw look even more so. He looks up, and a bright smile spreads across his face when he sees me.

“Love at first sight,” she whispers to me. She follows me over as Anders stands, wrapping his arm around me as his hand rubs my back.

“Don’t tell him about the laundry,” I tell her. “I want it to be a surprise. Will you tell him that I’m helping Helga earlier for a few days?”

She says something, and he replies, his hand never leaving my back as it gently rubs across my shoulders. Finally, he moves and takes my hand, leading me back to the farm.

The next morning, I wake up early and get dressed before Anders even moves. I place a gentle kiss on his head and climb down from the loft, leaving for the widows’ farm. I eat the bread I brought from dinner with Olga’s family last night as I walk, enjoying nature. It’s beautiful today, the sun shining brightly and more flowers emerging from the ground, welcoming the warm weather.

I knock on the door to the house, and they open it, inviting me right in. I’m immediately taken over to a table and served some kind of mush in a bowl, but it isn’t too terrible. Honestly, it was very kind of them to even think of feeding me. I’ve noticed that people are generous with what they have, always welcoming you into their home to have a meal at the hearth.

After eating, one of the women leads me over to the fire where a huge pot sits, water boiling inside. She lifts a bundle of dresses and tosses them in. She grabs a wooden paddle and stirs it around, then takes my hands and places them on it, helping me move it correctly. I’ve never done laundry in this way, but it seems effective. The hot water looks gross, so it’s definitely getting the ick out.

I stir the clothes into the water so long that I start to sweat from the movement and the heat of the fire when she finally helps me move the clothes from the hot water to another large pot not on the fire. I’m dismayed to learn that I must stir it again here. Eventually, she places her hand on the paddle to stop me and reaches in with her hands, pulling the items out.

Another woman, a bit younger than the rest, comes and takes the items from her and walks outside with them. Before I can even return to the pots, the woman is tossing in another batch of clothing and motioning for me to begin stirring again. It takes what feels like forever, and three batches later, she finally takes the paddle and pulls the pot from the fire, patting me on the back.

She sits back at the table and motions for me to join her. I’ve never been more glad for water to drink in my life, and I happily take it from her as she offers. She smiles at me, patting my leg and handing me some bread before motioning for me to leave. The work was so hard, and as I walk to Helga’s hut, I try to remind myself that it’s for Anders, to give him something for all he has given me.

I walk into Helga’s to find a woman lying on the ground and Helga pressing on her swollen stomach. She motions me over and places my hands where hers were, pressing down until I can feel the baby. She pushes on my left hand, the hand on top, and makes a motion indicating that this is not good before saying something to the mother.

Helga pats my head and points down, and I realize she’s trying to tell me the baby should have its head down. She looks worried and sighs before pushing on the child like she’s trying to turn him around. It seems to hurt the mother, but she doesn’t stop her, so it must be necessary. I wish I could understand exactly what is going on.

Helga helps her stand and hugs her gently as she walks her out, waving goodbye to her with a worried smile.

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I wake with a start, hearing someone screaming for me. “Eleanor! Eleanor! Bjor!”

“Bjor?” I say, wrinkling my brow. I know this word, but I’ve learned so much in the past few days that it’s hard to keep straight in my freshly woken-up state.

Anders sits up and puts his arms together like he’s cradling a baby. A baby? Oh! It’s time for a baby! “Bjor!” I say to him excitedly, and he returns my smile. He reaches up and cups my face, placing a kiss on my lips. I stand and toss a dress on top of my underdress and rush down the ladder.