Epilogue

Vikings sure know how to party….

Magnus Ericsson and Angela Abruzzi were married on the lawn of the Blue Dragon on September 27, 2003. Father Sylvester officiated at the Christian rituals, but it is said that the Norse gods smiled down on them that day, too.

She wore her grandmother's Italian lace wedding gown, and white roses in her hair. Magnus wore a black tux with a snow-white shirt. All of Magnus's sons wore tuxes, too, and, boy, were they fuming! Kirsten, Dagny, and Lida were pretty in pink—organza gowns, with matching pink baby roses in their hair, just like Angela's.

Rolf and Jorund had tried to convince Magnus to have a traditional Viking wedding, complete with Norse attire and foods and rituals, but Magnus had balked at that. He said he was a modern Viking, and he was putting aside the old ways. Rolf had tried to tempt him by offering to bring several well-fattened acorn hogs from Rosestead for the feast, but Magnus had declined the offer. Thus it was that Magnus allowed his children to select the menu; to no one's surprise, they settled on dome-nose pizzas and chocolate layer cake. Scattered about the heavy boards were tubfuls of feast ale and Kool-Aid, not to mention the Blue Dragon's own fine wines.

The band played Britain Spear and Arrow-smith music, among other tunes. Everyone danced, even Magnus, who claimed to be too big and clumsy, but turned out to be smooth and sexy in his moves. His children were, of course, mortified.

Lida and Kolbein were the flower girl and boy, respectively. Torolf, Rolf, and Jorund stood up for Magnus…though they professed to be standing him up, so shaky were his knees. All three argued over who was to be the "best man," and finally settled on the three being the "best men."

Carmen made only one dumb-man joke: "Why do only ten percent of men make it to heaven?"

Magnus had declined to be baited this day, and prided himself on his silence.

So, when she answered her own jest by saying, "If they all went to heaven, it would be hell. Ha, ha, ha," Magnus just smiled at her and mouthed the word, Nipples .

Carmen gave them a huge box of condoms for a wedding gift.

Magnus repaid the favor by introducing Carmen to Harry Winslow, who took one gander at her big nipples and professed to be in love. Carmen, who'd re cently separated from her husband, surprised everyone by blushing.

When the wedding feast was well underway, Angela took Magnus by the hand, leading him toward the old wine-making shed. "I have a groom gift for you," she said with a decided gleam in her eyes.

To Magnus's immense surprise, what he heard when he opened the door was this greeting: "Moo!"

He peeked inside, then peeked again. "You bought me a cow for a wedding gift?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" she said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," he said, hugging her warmly. "'Tis the best wedding gift I have ever received."

"Well, I have another one," she said nervously.

He cocked his head in question.

She put his hand over her stomach. "I'm…I'm going to have a baby."

"But the birthing pills?"

"They don't always work, Magnus. Please don't think that I lied to you about being pregnant when you asked that one time. I was wrong."

"Well, I was wrong about the cow."

"Huh?"

"This baby is the best wedding gift I have ever received. Oh, sweetling, do not look at me like that. Didst doubt I would be anything but happy about a child of your womb…even when I was being blind and bull-headed?"

They hugged some more; then Magnus announced, "I forgot. I have a wedding gift for you, too." Taking her hand, he ran toward the house with her, forcing her to lift the hem of her gown high off the ground to keep up with him. When they got inside the house, he started to lead her up the stairs.

"Not that surprise," she said. "Not with all these people here."

He laughed and chucked her under the chin. "Even I would not be so crude." Lifting her in his arms, he carried her all the way to the third floor, where his bedchamber was located. On a low table sat a sloppily wrapped package in floral paper.

Tentatively she opened the package. Inside were six empty bottles of wine, each with the Blue Dragon label. Pinot noir. Chardonnay. Cabernet sauvignon. Sauvignon blanc. Zinfandel. Sangiovese. But the most amazing thing to Angela was the date on each of the labels: 2004. That was next year.

"Magnus?"

"My gift to you is that we will be resuming wine making at Blue Dragon."

"But that's impossible. Oh, I thank you for the kindness of your gesture, but it would take a monumental amount of money to start up again."

"Well, that is my second surprise, sweetling." He opened the door to the closet, where there were four antique chests stacked one atop the other. He opened one and out spilled dozens and dozens of old gold coins. Likewise the second chest. And the third. The fourth one was different. It had precious gold and silver jewelry…chains, armrings, necklets, brooches…many set with amber, amethyst, or chrysalite stones, and a few with rubies and emeralds.

"You've had all of this and kept it a secret from me?"

"Well, not precisely a secret."

She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

"Not a secret. A surprise."

"This is worth a fortune!"

"Yea, 'tis. More than enough to open the winery again, I figure."

"Oh, Magnus. Thank you so much."

"Save your thanks, wench, for I have a third surprise for you."

"You are full of surprises, aren't you?"

He nodded. "I lied on the stairway when I said I was not so crude a man." He made this confession with total lack of contrition. "In truth, I am very crude. 'Tis one of my better traits. In fact," he said, and picked her up, tossed her on the bed, flipped her gown up to her waist, and crawled up over her, "I have saved the best gift for last. 'Tis something I want to show you."

"And that would be?" Luckily, she was laughing.

"The famous Viking S-spot."