[NRPG]
All: I hope you'll enjoy reading this. You will at least know a great deal
more about Sweden, if you do.
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[RPG]
(Guido’s, Washington D.C., 7:05pm)
”So, what did you do for the holidays?” Monica asked. Danny and Monica Harding were old friends of Emily’s. They had known eachother for years, ever since Emily moved to Washington. Emily and Monica used to work at the same lawfirm. Now Emily had introduced them to Martin.
”We went up to Minnesota, to visit Em’s grandparents,” Martin replied. ”And we did a little something extra too.Show them, Honey!” He turned to Emily. Despite being her boyfriend for almost nine months, he was still stunned by how cute she was. Her eyes glittered when she smiled. Tonight she was looking especially pretty, in her navy blue velvet dress and her golden earrings. He smiled.
”Holy diamonds, Batman,” Monica gasped. ”Look at the size of that rock!”
Emily held out her left hand so that the Harding’s could get a good look at the engagement ring. Martin had saved up for two months, to be able to afford it, but it was worth it. Emily thought is was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen. Apparently, Monica was of the same opinion.
”Have you set a date yet?” Danny asked. He was the more levelheaded of the two.
”No, not yet,” Martin replied. ”We’re trying to work a way around our schedules. If nothing else works, we’ll just have to go to Vegas to get married.”
”Don’t even think about it!” Emily gave Martin a stare and a wink. ”I’m going to have a church wedding, even if it means waiting ‘til we’re old and gray.”
”Let’s not hope it’ll come to that. But I’m sure you’ll look just as stunning then, as you do now,” Martin said, as he leaned over to kiss her. Both Monica and Danny made vomiting noises, just to tease them.
”Are you ready to order?” The waiter had slipped up behind them, when they weren’t paying attention. A great example for two FBI-agents to set, Martin thought.
”I’ll have the lasagna, with extra Parmesan and a bottle of white wine,” Martin said. ”If I’m not mistaken, my soon-to-be-wife will have the fettuccine alla funghi. Am I right, Honey?”
”You’re always right, love.” Emily gave him one of her special smiles. He knew her quite well already, at least when it came to food. Food was very important to Martin.
The Harding’s made their orders, and the waiter went back to the kitchen.
”So, how was Minnesota?” Danny asked.
”Cold, very cold.” Martin shivered as he replied.
”That’s because you California surfer dudes can’t hack anything below 50,” Monica teased.
”Very funny, coming from a woman who was practically raised by polar bears,” Martin countered. Monica was originally from Winnipeg, and Martin wasn’t about to let her forget it. ”I’m surprised the INS hasn’t put you on a sled back home.”
”Stop it, you two!” Emily tried to make it sound harsh, but it wasn’t easy, since both she and Danny were about to explode with laughter. ”Minnesota was great! I love going up there for Christmas.”
”She’s right, you know,” Martin said. ”Here’s what happened:”
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The flight to Minneapolis was fairly uneventful. Somehow, two young boys found out that Martin was working with the FBI, and they terrorized him with questions most of the trip. Martin was pretty sure Emily had given him away to the kids. While pretending to sleep, he was trying to come up with a plan to get back at her. Since vengeance really wasn’t his cup of tea, he failed miserably. Instead, his mind started drifting back to the IRS office party, where they had met eight months ago. One of Martin’s co-workers had introduced them. He sure found her pretty, but it wasn’t love at first sight. They talked and danced the entire night. Martin drove her home and they decided to meet for lunch the next day. Gradually, they started seeing eachother more often, and the initial infatuation grew into love. But it wasn’t until Emily was taken hostage in Israel, when Martin realized how much she meant to him. He touched his inside pocket, to make sure the ring was still there.
”Martin, wake up. We’re landing in a few minutes.” Emily kissed him gently on the cheek. He looked up and smiled.
”I love you, Emily,” he said.
”Me too,” she replied. ”Could you get our bags from the overhead compartment?”
Martin was almost four inches taller than she was and had no difficulties reaching. He stood up and got their overnight bags.
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Emily was getting more and more excited, as the rental car zigzagged through the streets of Fargo, Minnesota - the home of her grandparents. They had taken care of her and her sister, when their parents were killed in a plane crash, when Emily was only 16. So much for sweet sixteen. Emily shuddered at the memory.
Finally they reached 16 Alphonse St. They parked in the driveway behind her grandfather’s old Lincoln. The Lincoln was definitely on its last leg.
”Emily!” Her grandmother called out from the front porch.
”Mormor! Morfar!” She called back. Martin knew from before, it meant grandmother and grandfather in Swedish. The Swedes had different names for your mother’s parents and your father’s parents. Your father’s parents were called farmor and farfar. Martin had only heard Emily speak Swedish once before, so he still hadn’t gotten used to it.
Emily ran up to her grandma and gave her a hug. Her grandfather joined them and he got a hug too.
”Mormor, Morfar - I want you to meet Martin. Martin - these are my grandparents: John and Martha.”
”A pleasure to meet you,” Martin said. He shook hands with her grandfather. ”Emily has told me a lot about you.”
”Only good, I hope,” John answered. Martin noticed a slight accent in his voice.
”Of course. ”
”Let’s go inside and meet the early arrivals.”
Martin followed him inside. The house was nicely decorated, with a lot of stuff from Sweden. A picture of the Swedish Royal family sat above the mantelpiece, with a blue and yellow ribbon draped across it.
Many of the guests had yet to arrive. The only ones there, were an aunt and an uncle of Emily’s. John introduced them as Trudy and Richard Kaplan.
“Martha’s told us you both work for the FBI.” Trudy said. “It must be a very exciting job.”
Before Martin could reply to that, Richard interjected. “So you don’t think working as a CEO for a major corporation is exciting enough?”
“I didn’t say that,” she snapped back. “I was just saying…”
“I know what you were saying. You think I’m boring.”
Martin felt totally dumbfounded. Did he set this ball rolling, or was it rolling long before he got caught in the middle? Fortunately, Emily came in and saved him.
“Let’s go upstairs. I want you to see my old room.”
Emily’s room turned out to be a small and rather dark room. It had posters of ‘The Cure’ and ‘Sisters of Mercy’ all over the walls. Emily looked guilty.
“So…I was in a bad mood for a while. But I’m all better now.”
“You sure are,” he said and pulled her close. They kissed for a long time, until Emily’s grandmother interrupted them.
“There you are,” she said. “I just wanted to tell you I’ve made a bed up for Martin in the guestroom. There are clean towels in the cupboard next to the bed.”
“But Martin is sleeping here tonight, “ Emily said.
“Not until you’re married, little lady. You know my position on pre-marital hanky-pankying. “
“But grandma…” Emily rolled her eyes.
“No buts.”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Lindbergh, I’ll be fine in the guestroom,” Martin told her. Emily gave him a glum look.
“When will Maria and Gary be here,” she asked her grandma. Maria was her sister and Gary her brother-in-law. They both worked for the VCTF in New York. Maria was a criminal profiler and the main reason why Emily went into law-enforcement in the first place.
“Maria just called from the airport. Their flight was delayed, but they’re on their way.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. They all went downstairs to see who it was. It was an elderly man in a tweed suit and a fedora.
“That’s our oldest neighbor, Mr. Anderson,” Emily whispered to Martin. “He speaks very little English, so I might have to translate for you.”
Mr. Anderson shook hands with Emily’s aunt and uncle. Emily hugged him and told him something in Swedish. When the turn came to Martin, Mr. Anderson measured him up with a brief look.
“Spelar du baseball?” he said. Martin only recognized the last word, so he turned to Emily for a translation.
“He asked if you play baseball,” she said. “I will tell him you used to play football.”
Mr. Anderson seemed content with the answer. He walked over to the fireplace and took a seat near the fire.
“Rheumatism,” Emily told Martin. “It gets worse in the winter.” Martin couldn’t for the life of him understand why Mr. Anderson stayed in Minnesota. San Diego was never this cold.
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One by one, the guests started to arrive. Emily had a lot of cousins, aunts and uncles, since her mother had three brothers and four sisters. Emily's sister arrived last. Maria turned out to be a spitting image of Emily, only an inch taller and with blond hair.
“Gary? Gary McKenzie?” Martin thought he recognized Maria’s husband.
“Martin Reed? It really is you. Fancy meeting you here. How have you been?”
“You two know eachother?” Emily asked with a puzzled look.
“We practically grew up together,” Martin replied. “Gary played tight end in Little League back home, and I played wide receiver. We were this close until Gary’s folks moved to New York and we lost touch.” Martin held his fingers together, to show her how close they were.
“It’s a small world after all,” Maria sang and she started laughing. The others laughed too. They went into the living room, while Martin and Gary filled eachother in on what had happened, since they last saw eachother.
“Too bad you never made the NFL,” Gary said. “The Chargers could have used a good receiver, like yourself. They lost to the Broncos this weekend, didn’t they?”
“They did, but Denver was the better team. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they'll go all the way.”
“You have to be kidding. They will go in on a wildcard and the odds of a wildcard-team winning the Trophy is slim or none, and Slim is out of town.”
“We’ll see…”
(To be continued...)
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