Nervous in the best way.
While Magnus makes his way to the edge, Viktor positions himself beside him.
The truth is, Viktor isn’t jumping. He’s suited up for it and everything, but Maggie made him promise he wouldn’t, and I don’t blame her. Not everyone is cut out for this.
But he does have his purpose to be standing there beside Magnus, with Ottar on the other side of Magnus.
“You’re jumping first,” I tell Magnus.
“Damn right,” he says, slapping his goggles over his eyes. “The first one off gets the best wind.”
I don’t even know if that’s true. It doesn’t matter.
He stands at the edge of the cliff, toes hanging off, staring down into the wind and the drop, the fjord snaking three thousand feet below him.
He’s taking in a deep breath. Everyone else has their phones out, ready to take pictures. The Queen has her eyes pinched shut.
He’s about to go.
I speak up.
“Hey Magnus,” I call after him.
He turns his head to look at me, maybe annoyed I got him right before he got in the zone. “What?”
“On the way down, try and think of baby names.”
He frowns. “Wh-what?”
I give him a big smile, the kind of smile that shows him exactly what I’m talking about, all the joy I’m feeling.
“I’m pregnant,” I tell him.
I’ve been holding onto that one for a long time.
People around me gasp happily.
Someone claps.
And I’m watching his expression change from one of confusion to one of absolute elation. His mouth drops open into a huge grin.
“You’re what!?” he exclaims happily. “For real?”
I nod. “Let me know what you come up with.”
“Huh?”
Just then both Viktor and Ottar put their hands on to his shoulders and shove him off the cliff so he goes flying backward and we hear this long “Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!” as he freefalls to the fjord below.
Of course, then we all run to the edge, or at least as close as we can go without getting vertigo and see the bright yellow chute of Magnus’s open and he starts floating down to safety. Instead of screaming now, he’s hooting and hollering for joy that echoes off the mountains.
He’s happy.
So bloody happy.
We’re having a baby.
I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much hope before.
“Your turn,” Viktor says to Ottar.
“Are you kidding me?” he says. “I’ll walk down thank you. Let’s go see how his Royal Highness is dealing with the news.”
But as we walk down the mountain and continue to hear Magnus’s cries of joy bouncing off the cliffs, I know he feels the same way that I do.
He’s dealing with the best news he’s ever gotten.
I have that dream again.
I’m on the desolate, cold beach, pebbles strewn at my feet while the giant, black bodies of pilot whales are washed up on the shore.
As usual, the wind bites into me and the whales are crying for help, crying for me to do something, anything.
I know the oil is going to start rising fast soon and as soon as the thought hits me, the black liquid starts to bubble out of their blowholes, staining the sea.
Then the man appears.
Walking right into the water.
At that moment I feel like I have a choice. I can try to save the whales. I can save him. Or I can save myself.
But as he disappears into the oily waves, I realize he’s trying to move the whales back out to sea.
He does need help, but not in the way I thought he did.
The oil rises quickly, as usual, to my knees, but instead of letting it swallow me, I start walking out there. I join the man and put my hands on one side of the whale, trying to push it.
With the rising oil, the whale is able to float.
But so are we.
And we keep working, helping each other keep our heads above water, helping each other push the whales out.
Until one by one, they’re free to swim away.
Leaving the man together with me in the water.
Now I look at the man and his face is no longer blank.
It’s Magnus.
I think I always knew it was him.
And he’s here beside me, through thick and thin.
Keeping each other afloat.
THE END