Page 61 of Viking Unchained

“He thinks my son Mike is his son Miklof, and no one can deny he misses his lost baby tremendously.”

“That is true. That is true.” Madrene had a soft heart, despite her usually shrewish nature.

“Back to the original issue . . . the reason Kirstin called you over. I was telling her about Finn’s outrageous idea about time-traveling.”

There was an ominous silence.

Then Madrene put a hand on her knee. “’Tis true. I come from that time period, too, as do Hilda and Kirstin.”

Lydia turned to stare at her friend.

Kirstin just shrugged. “I was only fourteen when my family came here.”

“Ragnor didn’t come here ’til after Madrene, just a few years ago,” Alison added.

“And you believe in time travel, Alison?”

She fully expected Alison, who was a physician, to scoff at the idea. Instead, she shrugged and said, “There’s no other explanation.”

The ladies spent the next fifteen minutes explaining things that really could not be explained. In the end, Kirstin summed it up. “If you can’t accept the science of it—and who can?—then call it a miracle.”

A miracle. Lydia could believe in that. Especially if Finn’s appearance was somehow tied to Dave.

Madrene and Alison left with promises to get together that weekend for some gathering at Blue Dragon Vineyard, where things would be more clear. Kirstin stood next to Lydia as her next class began to shuffle in.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand, Lydia,” Kirstin said, picking up her towel and carryall. “I thought you vowed never to be involved with a military man again.”

Lydia’s brow furrowed. “I did, and nothing’s changed.”

“But Thorfinn . . .” She let her words trail off. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Thorfinn was a famous warrior in our time, and he plans to try out for SEALs. If that’s not military, nothing is.”

As Kirstin elaborated, a film was being torn off Lydia’s eyes, and she was seeing clearly for the first time in days.

Lydia felt like such a fool.

Chapter 12

Oooh, boy, was he in trouble! .

. .

Thorfinn could not recall the last time he had had such a wonderful day.

Everything had gone well, starting with Lydia waking him up just past dawn by licking the backs of his knees. More licking went on after that, by both of them.

“Amazing what a good lick can do for a man’s outlook on a new day!” he’d told Lydia once he had been sated and able to catch his breath.

“A woman’s, too,” she’d agreed. The saucy wench!

“Now get up and prepare me a meal. I must needs break my fast, lest I lose my stamina,” he’d teased, and he hardly ever teased.

“Uh, you ever heard of women’s lib, Finn? How about you prepare me a meal?”

And he had. For the first time ever, he’d made a meal for himself and his lady. And, surprise!—he enjoyed doing so more than he ever could have imagined.