They were in Hans and Ludvig's villa doing BQQ and enjoying the beach, it was a different but very valuable and exciting Christmas. Frida held little Leonard in her arms, he was Ludvig's youngest son and although Frida had been with him only a few times, he seemed to feel comfortable with her which was very good.
"What will we do? Tomorrow is Christmas and I don't have any of your presents," she said sadly as Leonard played with the necklace she had.
"We packed the ones you sent to Stockholm and brought them here," Elsa said still without taking her eyes off her cell phone.
"Uh, smart!" Frida said.
"But," Viola walked over to her, putting herself in the middle of Benny and Frida, "while we're figuring out the gifts, why don't you tell us more about you? How you met, who gave the first kiss and when was it, etc..."
Frida looked at Benny, of everything she had experienced in her life, that story was the one she remembered the most, which was interesting. "Frida would like to tell that story," Benny pulled away, as he was also very entertained eating his rib with barbecue sauce. Frida looked at Viola and the truth is that she felt that she could not refuse to tell her, she didn't want to be rude or disappointing.
By this time Leonard was already in the sand building a castle so Frida had her hands free, she began to tremble slightly and didn't know the truth where to start, "we met at a contest but this day we hardly spoke, then we met again weeks later and this day we talked a lot, Benny invited me to have a drink at a bar and stuff..." she remembered what happened after the bar and a smile inevitably crossed her face but she didn't know if it was correct to tell that part.
"And then?" Viola smiled knowing the story, but wanted her to tell it herself. Benny looked up and noticed that Frida wouldn't stop smiling, so he had no choice but to smile as well.
"Then we talked all night," she replied trying to be as brief and less detailed as possible.
"Where?" She kept pushing until she got to the truth and Frida was already feeling intimidated. Ludvig, who was listening to her from the grill, couldn't help but intervene.
"Viola, don't push!"
"Where? In my hotel room having a good time, something else?" Benny replied without a filter. Frida looked at him like everyone else, Viola smiled feeling victorious.
"Thank you," she replied. "Nice story, by the way."
"And that's how Benny became my stepfather," Hans added. "And Lotta's," he said in a lower, passive tone of voice as he smiled as the sweet memory of his sister made him feel good but melancholic at the same time. They all fell silent and Frida felt a lump in her throat, she missed her so much and wanted her to be there with them.
"And then we all had good Christmas together," Benny said also smiling, he loved the fact that thanks to Frida he was able to have stability and a great family with whom he shared for many years.
"Yes," Frida whispered and looked away.
"And," Viola paused before asking, she didn't know if she was sneaking around much in these matters but she needed to know. "Why didn't you have children?"
"Hmm... we had four beautiful and wonderful children," Frida replied.
"You know what I mean," she demanded.
"Yes we had one..." Benny decided to answer without thinking about anything else, "but Frida had a miscarriage and was not born." Everyone was stunned, only Hans knew it, but Ludvig had no idea and that is why he was surprised, he put the meat aside and turned to see his father.
"Why I didn't know it?" He asked. Frida looked at Benny, she didn't want to talk about it but since he was the one who commented on it, he had to answer. He got a little nervous, maybe he shouldn't have said it but he got carried away with the emotion of the moment.
"We didn't discuss it with anyone, Mona knew about it but we never talked about it again, I didn't tell it to anyone. I don't think I ever got over it," he looked down and sighed. Viola knew in this moment that maybe she should stop asking, she didn't want to hurt them or go into topics that were not to their liking.
"Who goes with me to prepare the salad for dinner?" Mimi got up from her beach chair and Viola and Elsa offered to help. Dinner on Christmas Eve would be meat, potato, salad and ham. The rest was already in the kitchen preparing and the other Ludvig and Hans were taking care of the meat.
Frida and Ulrika took the opportunity to prepare and decorate the table they had on the terrace overlooking the ocean, the idea is that everything was perfect, and Ilona took the opportunity to place some lights that they had bought and thus look more like Christmas.
A while later, while the others were finishing getting ready for Christmas Eve, Benny and Frida were ready and sitting at the table next to each other without saying a word, both were contemplating the moon that made an appearance like every night, Hans was also sitting at the table but he didn't want to look at them much, he was just on his cell phone.
Frida leaned on Benny's shoulder, it was the second time in many years that she had spent Christmas Eve with him and she had to admit she missed him, but she only admitted it internally. Benny looked at her and caressed her with his head, he couldn't deny that he was comfortable like that, then Frida remembered that this was the shoulder that had been aching him and quickly raised her head, "sorry, I didn't remember that it was your worn shoulder."
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt anymore," he said because it was the truth, he didn't want her to detach from him, but Frida believed that that was enough anyway.
The others were gradually returning once they were ready and everyone gathered at the table for dinner. The temperature was perfect, tropical and warm, although with a little cool breeze but not very annoying. They all talked to each other and helped themselves to everything on the table, Frida instead of meat preferred fish and salad, as always.
Benny brought his hand to her leg and she looked at him, but he did it automatically, he felt that that was the place where his hand belonged, Frida didn't say anything but she still felt the pressure, she didn't understand why he did those things. He did not stop looking at her for a second while she ate and she was already intimidated but she would have to live with it.
It was a great Christmas Eve, everyone was talking to each other, in fact, Ludvig and Hans had the opportunity to live together a little more since it is true that they had had moments together on some occasions but they could never really live together so close and it is assumed that now they would have to do it, especially since Benny and Frida were together again.
Viola and Elsa also shared, they weren't very similar to each other but they had some tastes in common so everything was easier. And of course, Mimi, Ulrika and Ilona came together quickly, especially since the three of them were very warm and especially Ulrika shared her stories with them. Frida was having the Christmas that she did not think she would have, especially because she was with her loved ones and it was what mattered most to her.
When she was finishing eating, Frida received a call on her cell phone and didn't hesitate to answer when she realized it was Henry. "Hello Henry. How are you?" She quickly said and Benny inadvertently frowned, immediately removing his hand from her thigh.
"I'm fine," he replied. "Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you too and the girls."
"Thank you. What do you do?"
"I was having dinner, Hans and the girls are here too..." she replied and got up from the table to have a little more privacy, Benny followed her with his eyes until she entered the living room that had glass doors and yellow light bulbs, he could see her but not hear her.
"Stunned?" Ludvig sat next to him jokingly and noticing his face turned serious.
"I'm hmmm..." he thought before saying it, "fine." The others got up to continue eating candies, talking and enjoying the night.
"Are you jealous?" He knew his dad quite well and could tell.
"No, I'm not..." He wanted to sound disinterested.
"Yes you are but in my opinion, you shouldn't. I don't think the fact that she's talking to Henry means anything."
Benny ran his hand through his hair and bit his lip before telling Ludvig, he couldn't lie to either. "Frida and I..." he didn't know how to explain without sounding absurd, "she and I are not together." Ludvig frowned in confusion, didn't understand much, and thought his dad was probably rambling.
"What do you mean?"
"At the beginning of the month I suggested that we could be friends and she agreed," he finally said, and now it sounded even more absurd.
"Why did you do that?" Ludvig still didn't understand very well but it had left him distracted.
"I couldn't stop thinking about your mom," Benny sighed and leaned back to lean back in the chair. "Maybe he's judging me right now, I don't think I can bear that when it's my time to leave," he explained, but nothing he said made sense to Ludvig.
"Do you think mom will be mad at you if she knows you're with Frida again?"
"Exactly. On the flight from Stockholm to Geneva I had a conversation with a lady and I was thinking that maybe I will spend eternity with your mother and Frida, most likely with Ruzzo, so I don't know if we are doing the right thing now. " Ludvig didn't know what to answer to that, it was something very deep. He poured whiskey into his glass to assimilate what his dad was telling him, they both looked at each other, it was a strange and uncomfortable feeling, Ludvig never thought he was going to give his dad advice about Frida, not after all.
"I can't believe that after everything that happened you are still feeling these confused feelings. I don't think mom is thinking anything about you, I don't think she is," he looked forward to where his family was and then back to where Frida was still in the room talking on the phone, "look how far we got, I didn't think it would happen. a Christmas like that, not with Frida and her family. Last year around this time you showed me that you love her and I and no one can compete against that."
"I love her but guilt doesn't let me live in peace," Benny cut him off, wanting to make it clear that he did love her.
"I don't think the rest matters, if you love her, will you let her go? I thought you were clear by now, after everything that has happened I don't think you should propose to be 'friends'. It's silly and absurd," Ludvig was honest with his dad. "I know that she is important to you, you love her and that you will never be able to change as much as you want. You made my mother happy but it doesn't mean that you stopped loving Frida, there is nothing wrong either."
"I loved your mom too, but Frida... she," he bit his lip and gasped, "she's a different love, they both were."
"You don't have to explain yourself, dad. Look, we are all here for you, don't let those valid but insignificant thoughts ruin your life."
Benny smiled, maybe his son was right and he should work on it to be happy, he knew he wasn't making Frida happy and he didn't want that either. Inside Ludvig felt a bit of pain because the memory of his mother affected him a lot and he would probably never get over it, especially at Christmas, which was when he was most homesick, but he also had to accept that his father should be happy and had to take advantage of it now that he was alive.
Frida left the room smiling, she looked at Benny who was still sitting at the table with Ludvig but instead of going to them, she continued walking a little further towards the terrace where the chairs were to sit with the others. "Henry says hello to everyone," she said sitting up and couldn't wipe the smile from her face.
"Come on," Ludvig got up from the table and tapped his dad on the shoulder for them to rejoin the group. Benny got up and took his bottle of water because he did not drink alcohol, unlike Frida who already had a glass in hand and Mimi served her red wine. Benny sat next to her and she crossed her legs after thanking her for the wine, sniffed it, stirred it and then took a sip enjoying the dry, bitter and burning touch that fell perfectly on her palate.
The terrace was illuminated by some lights that were on the floor, they were surrounded by trees, the ocean in front, the starry sky and the shining moon. Hans also sat next to her and she took his hand while everyone got into various conversations, the point is that she avoided Benny as much as possible, but he always tried to look for her side, as well as teenagers.
"Dessert?" Ulrika came out of the kitchen with a tray.
"What is it?"
"Foni boakiba or something like that, we ordered it from the restaurant," she mispronounced it but no one knew what it was anyway and put it on the table in the center of the terrace chairs. "Frida, Benny, will you?" Benny nodded quickly but Frida hesitated a little more, it was late at night but since she was drinking alcohol, maybe she would need something sweet.
"Yes, please," she replied. Ulrika served them both and since they were the oldest they had a special treatment, but the others got up to serve themselves.
•••
The next day was Christmas, Viola had insisted that they sleep in the Villa with them but both Benny and Frida wanted their bed, so they had to wake up early so they could get there on time and open the presents. They had not exchanged many words, since they arrived in Maldives that had been the night / morning they were quietest, Benny was thinking a lot about what he had talked about with his son the night before, and Frida was analyzing the situation and what she would do with love for Benny.
When they arrived at their children's villa, they were all in pajamas, so were they, including the ugly sweaters. Leonard was already playing with one of his trucks as he had not been able to wait to open his gifts, although he only had half there since they could not take them all. "Merry Christmas!" They said when they arrived and met in the room where there was a tree decorated by the hotel administration.
"Grandma, let's pretend that we don't know what our gifts are," Ilona said because they already knew what Frida had bought for them, since the purchases had been online and they chose it themselves anyway.
"We must all pretend," she joked. They surrounded the Christmas tree but Benny and Frida, like Hans and Ulrika, decided to stay on the sofas because as they were already older their backs would not thank them. "Frida," Elsa screamed as she grabbed a package that had her grandma's name on it, she passed it to Viola, Viola passed it to Ludvig, Ludvig to Mimi, Mimi to Benny and he took the gift by shaking it, he wanted to know what was it about.
"It's mine!" She took it from him.
"I want to see what's that," he complained.
"You'll see it once I uncover it."
Despite being in a different place and in a different situation, the essence of Christmas was the same, the emotion of being with family, receiving gifts and above all making others happy was what really made them feel at home. Leonard's screams as he played with his new toys and went around the Villa was everything, these screams of happiness and excitement that had everyone excited. They were also competing with Christmas songs because Ludvig had contacted the Bluetooth radio and they were playing Christmas playlists from Spotify.
There were many gifts, while everyone opened theirs Benny leaned towards Frida and kissed her, he didn't know what he was doing but he still felt it and the emotion of the moment didn't let him reason much, in addition, for matters of the heart, reason was not much needed . Everyone looked at them, including Ludvig, Frida did not refuse the kiss and put her hand on his cheek while it lasted, which was 30 seconds high. "Merry Christmas!" He told her when it finished but she didn't answer anything, she just smiled because she didn't have the strength to answer either.
It was confusing and could be frustrating, but it was still true that they both enjoyed each other's company, and Frida felt that whatever happened she was going to miss him very much in January. She blushed a lot and decided not to look at anyone, and instead focus on seeing her gifts while feeling all the eyes on her, Benny also smiled and pressed his lips to try to hide his emotion a bit, what had happened had no mercy and he knew it, too much love in a couple.
A Christmas to never forget. Love was distilled through the pores of their skins, no matter how much they denied it, they would sooner or later have to give in, especially because their happiness depended on that, the stakes were high.