She saw it in the frightened eyes of slaves, in the quietness of many wives, and mostly in the plunder that the arms of strong men heaved from the boa...s. Theirs was not an honest way, many a man in the world made an honest days living, but not them, not the Norsemen. Astrid had eyed them with suspicion all her life. The men were large and burly, their beards thick and their arms thicker. They wore animal skins and carried deadly weapons, sending chills down her spine. She dreaded the times. The interior is sparse, polished wooden floors and white walls with minimal decoration, uncompromisingly modernist.Stella shrugs out of her calf length leather coat and is pleased to smell the scent of Gloria behind her and a warm breath on her ear and then a tiny peck of affection on her cheek as the taller woman takes it from her.? Thank you Gloria.? She says and as she turns she grips at her forearm and squeezes it, Gloria blushes.Ingrid is watching, unsure of whether she feels simply a. “I don't know mom, we still have some stuff to do, we might not be able to squeeze it in.”“I like the idea of girl time. We can do manicures, pedicures, facials, I don't know, I'm just throwing stuff out on the table,” Stephanie said.“Yeah, I'm sure we'll think of something,” mom said with a grin as she bit her sandwich.She was definitely up to something, I just didn't know what. Whatever it was I hoped it wasn't too risky, I didn't want Marie to find out anything, she might not be as accepting. "So what did I miss while I was gone, huh?" Not a thing," I shook my head."But you guys were really doing it, huh?" she pursed her lips. "It's cool. I'm not mad or nothing." You sure?" I gave the girl a sideways look."Yeah, I swear," Dana shrugged. "So he's like gay, huh? That figures." Why?" I asked her."Well, that's why he doesn't like me, right?" she smiled. "I thought it was something else for awhile there. Like I got bad breath or something." He likes you," I grinned. "He just ... Yeah,.