ANOTHER BOOK OF BS INSTEAD OF SLEEP

No Turning Back Now

"Someone's life takes on new meaning after they discover an unusual tree."

ig I'm character building with all these oneshits about Janna and Asvaldur

I went pretty off topic tbh

The couple were taking a casual stroll, until Asvaldur took Janna aside to the shade of a large tree.

"Close your eyes," he told her, and she obeyed.

After a bit of fumbling, she felt him hiss her hand. "You can open them now."

She found her then boyfriend on one knee, holding a small box in one hand. "Janna Tryggvisdóttir, will you marry me?"

She stared at him, trying to recall how to words again. After several seconds, she nodded, tearing up as Asvaldur slipped the ring on her finger. He hugged her tightly, and she kissed him softly, elated by everything.

Looking back, she doesn't necessarily regret agreeing to marry him, for she truly loved him. She only regrets who he has become.

The man who is so absorbed in his work, unintentionally neglected his first son because of it. The man who hits his second son, screaming at him for things he can't help. The man who cares for nothing in the world but his daughter, feeding her discriminatory ideas and over sheltering her. The man who Janna sleeps next to every night, supposedly her spouse, she doesn't know him anymore.

This is not the man she married. This man is a murderer.

He killed her husband, and she can't find him within all the hatred that is now Asvaldur Winskill.

She longs to be with the real Asvaldur Winskill, the one she met as a teenager and fell so in love with.

Now, her children are her top priority, but she still longs to feel her husbands arms around her, and she misses the man's sweet side.

She sees some of him in Lance, but knows that Lance would not turn out as Asvaldur had. Lance is a handsome young man, and Asvaldur too had been quite handsome in his youth. Stress made him age.

Both were very sweet and caring, but Asvaldur had lost that side of his personality.

When she learned of her son's engagement to Lance she was almost happier than when she'd been proposed to herself.

She gave both boys a tight hug. She'd told Lance ages ago that he was like family, and now he really would be.

Later that week, she met up with Lance's mother.

The two discussed in great excitement the marriage of their sons, marveling at how much love they shared.

It made Irmalinda smile to see Janna so happy. The ginger had confided in her about pretty much everything, including her mess of a relationship with Asvaldur. It warmed her heart to see that Janna's love for her son could outshine her negative associations with marriage.

As if reading her thoughts, Janna spoke up. "It's not that I don't trust marriage, I just need to trust the people involved. I know my son, and I know your son like he's one of my own. I trust that they love each other very much and will live happily together."

"Janna?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think... knowing Asvaldur's home life, do you think he was raised to think this was normal?"

Janna sighed. "Maybe. He always told me he didn't want a relationship like his parents, where they fought all the time because he loved me. His father beat his mother on occasion, and wouldn't hesitate to hit the kids."

Irmalinda nodded slowly.

"But I know Lance isn't like that. He grew up in a good, healthy family. I know he'll be good to my baby boy."

Irmalinda smiled, sipping her coffee. "I am very excited to see our boys get married."

Janna returned the smile, for she knew that her son would not end up in a mess of a marriage like her.