*Erik*
We arrive back home after getting Mani from Helga. Ellie takes her inside while I milk the goat, but she decides to stay inside to feed her. I’m worried about her. She’s been so quiet.
“She punched me,” Anders says, pulling me from my thoughts of whether I should be inside with them or not.
“Who did?” I ask, turning to him, and making my decision.
“Your wife,” he tells me with a chuckle. “She’s feisty.”
I can’t help but smile at his assessment of her. “Yes,” I agree. “She’s strong. Things have not been easy here, but she’s always made the best of it.”
“You said you’d never marry,” he reminds me.
I nod, knowing I had said that for so long. “I love her.”
“I can see that. And the baby?”
“The father left her in the woods,” I spit out, feeling the anger I had felt the
