A ray of light slipped through the curtains waking Eva up from a blissful night of sleep. A small grin slowly spread across Eva's face as the memories of last night were coming back in full swing. With that, she turned around to reaching for Ivar with her eyes still closed. When she couldn't feel him, her eyes slipped open to find the space next to her empty. Her grin quickly fell, the sheets were cold which meant that he hadn't been there for a while. Eva sighed in disappointment, wondering if waking up in his arms on her birthday was asking for too much. 

Eva slowly sat up in bed, she couldn't be happier that Ivar had remembered her birthday and even tradition, but she wanted to spend her every moment of this day with him. She looked back to the side of his bed wishing he was there when something caught her eye. 

A rustic brown paper folded in - half was sitting nicely on the pillow Ivar's head was laying on only hours ago. It had a symbol drawn on it in black ink in the middle of the paper, a symbol of some sort. Eva picked it up and examined the symbol closer, she then realised it was not a symbol but a rune. Underneath it was written in sharp precise strokes was the word written strength. 

Eva piqued with interest unfolded the paper to find a message on the inside, the writing much the same as the one on the front. Eva read the letter with excitement out loud,

"To my beloved wife,

I hope you slept well. I surely did with you in my arms all night. I have prepared an eventful day for you today, I hope you do not mind. So get ready for the day, I have prepared your breakfast, it is waiting for you in the kitchen. You will need your strength for today, it will be a long and joyous one, that you hopefully will never forget.

Eat my love, there is a surprise awaiting you.

Yours truly, your husband who loves you."

Eva's heart skipped a beat as she read the letter, she couldn't help the small squeal that slipped from her mouth. Eva was impressed, she hadn't known that Ivar learnt how to write in English, but learning it through a love letter melted her heart. She quickly got up and did her morning routine before racing to the kitchen yelling Ivar's name ready to attack him with kisses. When she arrived in the kitchen Ivar was nowhere to be seen, only Elaine. Eva couldn't help her face from falling in disappointment. 

"Oh hey" 

"Happy birthday  Eva!" Elaine shouted. 

"Thank you, have you seen Ivar?" 

"No but mum and dad are waiting for us at the table, I think Ivar made a massive breakfast for us all," Elaine replied. 

"What?" Eva lost for words. 

"Thats what I said."

As they made their way to the table Elaine wasn't lying. Both her parents were sat at the table that was full of food. Grilled bacon, Sunnyside up eggs, toast, cooked tomatoes, Fried mushrooms were sitting there waiting to be eaten. Ivar had cooked a full English breakfast for her and her family but was nowhere to be seen. Eva's heart softens a little more, she had taught Ivar how to cook this all and told him it was her favourite breakfast and he had remembered. Eva had no idea what she had done to deserve such a consider loving man like Ivar. 

"Ugh, happy birthday Eva," her father said. 

The atmosphere was a little awkward, but she was happy her father had remembered her birthday. 

"Yeah, happy birthday dear," her mother added. 

"Ah, Thank you both" she replied. 

Elaine just sat at her usual seat, trying to mind her business. 

"We ah, know we are not the best parents," her father brought up, "but it has come to our attention that we have been neglecting our duties as parents and we want to change that."

Elaine and Eva looked at each other in shock.

"Your mother and I have been too caught up in our careers, even neglecting our own marriage and we've come to finally acknowledge it and we want to make that change from now on. We want to be a family again like we use to be when you two were kids. Would you two like that ?" Eva could tell her father was being genuine. 

"We're especially sorry we haven't been there to help you two through your hardships, especially being teenagers. Elaine with the abortion," their mother sobbed, "I'm such a horrible mother and I'm sorry I wasn't there, I've been so selfish and I never you two to feel like we don't support and love you two ever again, because we do even though we haven't shown it for a long time." 

Eva turned to Elaine to see her sister silently crying, Eva was too trying to hold back her tears. At that Eva walked over to her mother and embraced her into a hug of comfort. "It's okay mum, we forgive you" she whispered into her ear. Elaine walked over bawling her eyes out joining the hug. Lastly, their dad joined the bear hug kissing all of their foreheads. "Oh my beautiful girls, I love you all."

After their little moment of renewed love and new beginnings, they sat down to eat. Eva once again looked around for Ivar and sighed. She knew he somehow he planned this reunion, but she couldn't understand how. As everyone else was digging in, she wanted to wait until she saw a note on her plate. 

'Eat plenty, beautiful' 

Eva smiled and started to dish herself up. 

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 Eva went back to her room after breakfast and got ready for the day. When she reached for her phone she found another letter underneath it. Another rune was at the centre, with the word Beginning. 

Eva read the letter,

"To the beautiful bride of mine,

I hope you enjoyed breakfast and the company of your parents. I know their love and support is so important to you, and I just hope that everything turns out for the better. If not it is they who are missing out. They would be stupid to continue to fail their parenthood duties to the most humble, smart and beautiful lady in the world. I know I would never give up the opportunity to love you with all my heart.

This is the room that everything all began, the room you opened up to a large handicapped man to stay in. That is how big your heart is Eva, you never want others to suffer, even if you do not know them and your safety is at hand.

Wear something comfortable, you and Joseph will be taking a trip back to memory lane.

Your one true love, Ivar."

Eva quickly threw on her active gear and rang up Joseph. 

"Happy birthday to you..." Joseph sang to her as soon as he answered. 

"Thank you, but tell me are you going to ask me to go with you out hunting this morning?" Eva asked excitedly. 

"How did you know? Riley wanted to go hunting thought I'd invite you and Ivar." 

"I'm psychic, but have you seen Ivar this morning?" 

"If I had, would I really be inviting you two?" 

"Good point." 

Elaine, Riley, Joseph and Eva went out to the forest to hunt. Eva mainly went to find her next clue, she caught on that Ivar had set up her day as a scavenger hunt. She was having fun, getting to know Riley more and practising her skills with the bow. When they had called it quits Josephs led them to the same place that Ivar had set up last time for butchering the game. Eva walked over to the log her and Joseph did last time and couldn't help but reminisce on the memory, that felt like decades ago. 

The wind blew past her and a rustle of noise caught her attention, she looked down at the space next to her to find a familiar paper sitting under a rock. Eva quickly picked up and read the words under the rune. 'Jealousy' it read. 

"To the love of my soul,

This is the place where I finally admitted that I was very fond of you. We both remember the memory very well I am sure. Joseph was the first male I witnessed you interacting with that wasn't myself and all I saw was the blind rage. I wanted to take you back home to your room and keep you all to myself. You, my precious Eva have had to endure my possessiveness and jealousy and yet you still accept me. It was this day that night that we had our first big argument because I was jealous and wouldn't confess I had romantic feelings for you. Weak my father would have called me. I left for two weeks but once I saw you again, my feelings were no longer just acknowledged they were confirmed. 

The jealous Viking, Your husband."

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When Eva arrived home she ran to the balcony, and searched for her next letter. She found it on the hammock. The rune of the letter was love.

"To my sweetness, 

This is where I found you after two weeks of separation, you have no idea how many times I had actually come back to your home. But my stubbornness kept me from entering your home. I missed you from the time I had left your door that night. It was killing me inside to be away from you, but the feeling was so foreign, I had believed my whole life I could not love a woman. But that day that I returned and saw you laying in the hammock, your brows furrowed as you read your novel with concentration, I could not deny the feeling in my chest any longer. I had admitted defeat. 

I knew right then and there, that I was madly in love with you. 

The man that loves you."

"Ivar where are you?" Eva sighed.

She couldn't deny she was enjoying this day, but she wished Ivar was at her side whilst doing it. Eva continued the scavenger hunt, Ivar took her to the places he felt were significant and in each letter had the memory he loved and why. 

She found a letter with the Rune Luck on it at the venue of the prom, tell the story where he couldn't believe she returned his love. That it was the happiest day of his life until the day they got married. She had two letters she had to find a homeless man she had talked to the day before and one from a child in the hospital, he had blue eyes and dark hair just like Ivar. She remembered him because Ivar spent the most time with this little boy. She thought that Ivar felt he could relate to this child more because his legs were amputated. The little kid was super happy that Eva had turned up. Eva learnt that he was in foster care and had no one to visit him. She made him a promise to visit him weekly if not daily if he could help her find the letter. He speedily agreed. 

It was getting late and Eva was feeling tired. She had had a full on day and was ready to hit the hay, but she knew there had to be at least one more letter, and she was hoping that she would get that right from Ivar's hand. The last letter to read had no clues as to where to find the last one, while she rested she tried to think of where the last letter could be and where Ivar was all day. 

She had tried calling him several times and left voice mails and texts. But he wasn't answering or replying. Eva just shook it off, hoping that everything was fine with him and that it was all part of his plan for the day. That hopefully they would get to spend the whole night together where she wouldn't let him ever leave her side again. Nick had invited her over earlier that day for birthday cake and that everyone else was going to be there, it was getting close to nine p.m. so she made her way over.

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"Happy birthday, Eva" 

"Thank you, Nick. You really didn't have to."

"Non-sense, your family" he smiled. 

"Hey, have you seen Ivar today?" 

"I haven't, sorry," Nicks' face sobered. 

"Strange, he had me running around all over the place looking for letters," Eva explained "Its been fun and stuff but I just want to see him you know."

"I know," Nicks' voice sounded genuine. 

Eva had a little feeling that something wasn't right, but she pushed past the feeling and continued to enjoy her evening with her friends. They played board games while eating dessert and just had a good time. Eva couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun on her birthday, they use to be the loneliest days of her life, but Ivar was the reason it had all changed and he wasn't even there. It was getting late and everyone was getting tired, they had pulled out mattresses and everyone was laying down while they watched a movie. 

Eva was worried, Ivar hadn't turned up yet and wasn't answering his phone. She was panicking, at first, she was annoyed that he left her on her birthday but now she was concerned. While she was stressing herself out about Ivar, Nick told her he had a surprise in the room he forgot about and looked embarrassed. 

Eva quickly followed him into the room to see what it was. She was hoping Ivar would pop out of nowhere but she heard it before she saw it. And it definitely was not Ivar. 

An orange tabby kitten was sitting on Nicks bed, he was fluffy and so cute with his sparkling blue eyes, they reminded her of Ivars. Eva walked over with excitement, she always wanted a kitten but never actually had one. 

"Ivar and I saw him at the vet, he said that you would love him" he shrugged, "Thought I'd get him for you if Ivar didn't, happy birthday Eva."

Eva picked him up and hugged the kitten to her chest, she couldn't believe she now had her own little furball to call her own.

"Thank you so much, Nick, seriously! Best birthday present ever!" she cried, "does he have a name?"

"No that for you to decide, he's exactly two months old today." 

As Eva was cuddling and petting her new kitten, she felt something stuck to the inside of his right front leg, that definitely did not feel like fur. Eva held him up to see what it was and found the same rustic paper she had been finding all day rolled up into a scroll attached by string to the kitten's legs. She quickly untied the scroll and unrolled it.

"Whats that?" Nick asked.

"It's a letter from Ivar, he's been sending me on a manhunt all day for them" she replied. 

"How did that bastard know I'd buy the cat?" he asked.

"Okay, should I leave you to read it in private or?" 

"No stay" she replied as she read the rune. 

The rune read 'Eternal love'. This letter was much longer than the rest and Eva was excited to read it. 

"Dearest Eva, the love of my life, the wife of my dreams, my better half in gold, 

I hope your day has been wonderful and that you have enjoyed it. Those places and memories are very important to me. I just wanted you to know that I truly cherished every memory that we have shared so far, and to see it in my perspective so you know that I am genuine with my words. Eva, I truly do love you and the gods are my witness. Maybe our wedding was not legal in our society, but I know that the gods have taken our marriage as honourable. I am so sorry I could not be with you on your birthday my love, but I do hope you could forgive me. It is truly not my intention to be away on such an occasion or for things to end up in this way, but I could not do much, be assured my love I did fight to be with you on this special day.  

Think back to a year from now sweetness, you had made a wish. Your words exact words were, 'I wish to find challenges and adventures that will help me to grow into the person I wish to be, to find love and happiness but also to be humble and compassionate to those in need.'  I want you to think back on this year, do you believe that your wish came true? 

My beautiful Eva, this past year I have seen you grow into the woman you are meant to be, courageous, strong, confident, loving and so much more. You have overcome so many challenges and found adventure with friends you have made along the way. I will never forget how strong and beautiful you were in Norway, seeing you fight like a shieldmaiden had me thinking of all the children we were going to have. Though my love you have always been so humble and compassionate, seeing you interact with the children at the hospital and giving out food on our honeymoon was just so beautiful to watch. Of all the things we could have done and that was your choice.

This is the reason why the gods granted you your wish. Your heart is so pure that they wanted to give you exactly what you wished for. I do not know why they thought I would be the best choice to give you what you wished for but they did. That is the reason we were brought together my beautiful Eva. 

Now that your wish is fulfilled, my heart aches to tell you that my job is done. Freya was visiting me to tell me that I was going to be called back to Valhalla the day you would make a new wish unless wished for again. I wanted to be selfish and tell you to wish for me to be with you till your last breath, but I have learnt from you my sweetness that if we love someone, we let them make their own choices and we support. That if you truly love someone you do not manipulate them for your own gain. 

Do not misunderstand I would damn my own soul to hel to be with you for just another day. I truly would for one more day would be better than a lifetime of waiting, but the gods will not allow it for they wish for our reunion in Valhalla my love where we will never be torn apart again. But live in everlasting peace and love.

Do not spill tears over my absence, love. I am only but a small portion of your life, there will be someone else who will come and treat you like the beautiful woman you are. Someone who will love you and cherish you more than I did in our short time, you will see and when that day comes, though you know I am possessive I want you to welcome him into your life with open arms. Because as selfish as I am, you, my sweetness deserve to be the happiest woman to love.

If the gods believed that you still need me, I am sure that we would be together still. But if you are reading this letter, it means that you have made a new wish, and no longer need me. I am sorry my love that we can not be together longer. But I will wait for you in Valhalla, I will be at the entrance of the door, ready to welcome you with open arms. I can not wait to kiss your sweet lips again and embrace you. This is not goodbye my love, for we shall see each other again. This is simply 'See you soon'

I love you Eva Sorenson, may we meet again my love should the gods permit. 

Eternal love, 

Ivar the boneless.'

As Eva had finished reading it, she sat in shock at what she read. All she knew was that she felt lost. She then lifted her gaze to Nick, his face had sadness written all over it

"You knew" she whispered "and you didn't tell me."

Nick moved swiftly to gather her in his arms, he knew exactly how she felt because he also felt the lost of his best friend and it was harder than he could imagine. Tears were rolling down Eva's cheeks but they weren't her own, she was still in shock and once she realised that Nick was crying and holding on to her for comfort just as much as he was trying to comfort her, she lost it. 

Eva sobbed her heart out. 

She had never known what a broken heart felt like until this moment. Her heart literally felt like it was being cut in half with a blunt knife. She couldn't stop the physical pain in her chest from learning that she would never see Ivar again until she was to die. She couldn't believe the only man she loved had left her, and it was all her fault. She could have wished for something better than just a kiss and she wasted it and now Ivar was gone.

Eva couldn't stop the tears from falling, she was the person she was today all thanks to Ivar and she hadn't even thanked him. There was so much she wanted to say to him but would never get the opportunity. She wanted him to know how much she loved him, to reassure him that he was it for her, but she had no way how. 

Eva was left with the hard facts.

Ivar was gone. 

And she was alone.