Helsinki Sunrise (3 page)

Now would be a good time to answer her questions, or disarm her.

Adam did neither. He understood nothing from her rambled conversation, except one word. Mikko.

This had to be Mikko's little sister.

Remembering what his friend had told him about her, Adam feared he was now truly in the cannibal's pot. He only hoped Mikko was able to talk him out of this heated situation.

 

 

 

 

3

 

“So you're Mikko's friend?” Eveliina clung to the birch log. She wasn't about to let it go yet. “Adam?”

He nodded. “You must be Mikko's little sister, Evie.” Even in the dull light of the sauna, she could make out his grin. “Let me guess, this beautiful island is Eden?”

Like water ladled onto the hot stones of a sauna oven, her sigh hissed. “Eveliina.” She dragged her name out, accentuating the double
I.
“My name is Eveliina, and I was Mikko's little sister when I was eight years old.”

He rubbed his neck. His grin faded fast. “My apologies, Eveliina.”

She didn't like the way he said it. He had the pronunciation all wrong. Foreigner. “Don't presume to think because you're my brother's friend, you'll be mine, too.” She stepped outside. The sauna wasn't made for jeans.

Adam followed her to the edge of the small wooden deck leading off the sauna. In his hand, he held his shirt. Leaning his elbows on the white railing, he gazed across the lake.

She watched him closely. He was really good-looking with his dark hair and soft brown eyes that she'd caught a glimpse of as he exited the sauna. He had a rugged, unshaven look about him. Eveliina moved her gaze down his body. Muscles, too numerous to count, lay taut beneath his almond-colored skin. Damp shorts stuck to his thighs. Tiny beads of sweat covered his body. She wished he'd put his shirt back on. No, she didn't.

Their breathing consumed the tiny deck, as stifling as the air that had hung between them in the sauna.

“So you're a missionary?” she finally asked, her words tart.

Adam's grin returned.

Eveliina felt a pang of regret that she'd missed its brilliance inside the sauna. He had a really nice smile…and a bump on his forehead. He must have banged his head hard. Served him right.

“I am.” Adam slipped his arms into his sleeveless T-shirt and pulled it over his head. He looked as good in the shirt as he did out of it. “Your brother and I met two years ago when he came to Zambia on a three-month mission trip. What a great guy.”

“Yes, he is.” She shoved her free hand into her pocket, a habit she'd picked up from Joel, and stared, intending to intimidate. “Besides my brother, I dislike missionaries. Intensely.” Harsh—but she'd never been known for her subtlety.

“Why?” His gaze was intense, filled with so many expressions.

After more than a decade, the reason was still difficult for her to talk about. “I just do.” She wasn't about to bare her soul to a stranger.

Adam turned from her.

She didn't care what arrangements Mikko had made with Adam or what he had promised—the missionary had to go. She'd vowed to give herself two weeks alone, and she fully intended getting it. “You'll have to leave in the morning. There's a bus stop a few miles down the road. Buses run into the city center on the hour.”

Eveliina rubbed her throbbing temples. This was worse than being back with the Vikings.

 

****

 

Adam had heard a lot from Mikko about his little sister during their time together in Zambia. Things like the games they'd played together as children on this island, that she was the right-brained child in the family—he the left, what a workaholic she was, how annoyingly obstinate she could be, and how much she'd struggled with their parents' deaths—so much that it had driven her away from God.

What Mikko hadn't told him, was how attractive Eveliina was. Adam hadn't imagined she'd be this beautiful, svelte woman. But bitterness tainted her beauty.

Having met Eveliina, he began to understand Mikko's fervent prayers for his sister. Her eyes revealed more pain and resentment than Mikko had been able to articulate. Tonight, Eveliina Mikkola's name would move to the top of his prayer list.

Without a word, Adam opened the door that led inside the cottage. He needed to get his things from the sleeping space upstairs. This was one time he was really grateful he was a neat freak. He hadn't anticipated anyone's arrival. Of course, not cooking had helped keep the place spotless. Zero food, zero dishes.

Eveliina remained outside on the deck.

He didn't blame her. She was a woman alone out here with a stranger. If she thought he intended leaving, she might calm down and ditch the log. He didn't trust her with it.

Besides, he had to move. She would need the room, and he needed darkness and sleep.

The steep wooden ladder reminded him of the bunk bed he'd had growing up, except this one was much longer. He climbed the ten rungs and crawled through the narrow entrance. There was no place to stand in the low-roofed room so Adam sat as he gathered his few belongings. He'd put them into his backpack when he got downstairs.

He rolled up his sleeping bag and, knowing he was alone in the cottage, tossed it out the opening. It landed with a thud that didn't sound like the floor. Floors didn't cuss. Adam poked his head out the narrow door. Eveliina glared at him, hair disheveled, sleeping bag in one hand, birch log still grasped in the other. When would she trust him enough to relinquish her hold on that piece of wood?

“Watch what you're doing.” She threw the sleeping bag onto the daybed. It rolled off onto the floor.

“Sorry.” A smile tugged his lips, no matter how tight he clamped his jaw. When last did she have a good night's sleep? His grumpiness had nothing on her.

He hurried down the ladder, clothing and pillow under his arm. He packed his clothes neatly inside his backpack that stood beside the daybed, which sufficed as a couch in the lounge that served as the kitchen and dining room.

Eveliina cut him a look. Her gray eyes held no warmth. “You can't sleep there.”

Adam wouldn't have wanted to. He'd fully intended sleeping inside the sauna tonight where it was darker, and definitely far warmer now than inside the cottage. The small house no longer felt cozy. Eveliina's arrival had brought with it an iciness that sank deep into his bones.

“I know. It wouldn't be right. You, a beautiful, single woman, and me, a man of God…spending the night together in a cottage on a lake?” He chuckled. “What would people think?”

The pale red colors of Finnish sunsets swept across her face. She narrowed her eyes, looking more catlike than before. He'd better be careful. Teasing seemed to rank among her many aversions.

He pointed to the daybed. “Do you mind if I take the mattress to the sauna? I'll sleep in there tonight.”

Her head snapped from Adam, to the daybed, and then back to Adam. Would she show a smidgen of compassion? For a moment, Adam thought she'd deny him even that small comfort.

“Fine.” She wagged her finger at him like a schoolmistress. “Just make sure you bring it back in the morning.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He bit his cheek. She'd not approve of a smile.

Adam carried the narrow mattress in one hand and his backpack in the other. He slipped out of the same door he'd entered minutes ago.

After standing his backpack in the corner of the sauna, Adam laid the mattress down on the bottom bench. It was darkest there. He sat for a while, to think and pray.

By the time he returned to retrieve his sleeping bag, Eveliina had locked the cottage door. Looking through the glass door, he noticed she'd finally discarded the log on the floor beside the tiny fireplace. She busied herself inside packing away groceries—some in the tiny refrigerator, the rest disappearing into the underground cooler beneath a hatch in the floor.

He knocked lightly on the glass.

Eveliina looked up from her kneeling position. Wiping her hair from her face, she stood and strode across the room. After unlocking, she spoke through the crack of the half-opened door. “What do you want?”

“I'm sorry. I need to get my sleeping bag.”

She nodded and let him inside. Was she in the habit of locking doors? Seemed doubtful on this isolated little island. Or was it his presence that made her feel the need to protect herself? Couldn't she tell he was a nice guy?

With his sleeping bag tucked beneath his arm, he stole his pillow from the daybed. At the door he turned. “Would you like some help with your groceries?”

Her reply was swift. “No.”

A mixture of relief and regret whirlpooled in his gut. Just as well she'd said no—the sight of all that food made him hungry. Still, he'd like the chance to change her opinion of him.

After spending time in prayer on the jetty, Adam returned to the sauna and curled up on the mattress. He soon fell asleep with Eveliina's name on his lips, another prayer in his heart for the Father to draw her back to Himself, and a decision he was certain she would not like.

 

****

 

Eveliina surveyed the blinds. Mahogany, as she'd suggested when she offered to have them installed. Her grandparents struggled with them manually. They'd gladly accepted her recommendation to go remote-controlled. She couldn't wait to see how the blinds looked once they'd covered the huge glass windows in the dining area, and the glass door.

She thrust her hand into her handbag and pulled out a new remote. Steam had ruined the first one after Ukki walked into the sauna with it and laid it down beside the oven. The unit had literally fried.

Eveliina had patted his hand and told him not to worry when he'd presented her with the damaged remote three weeks ago at her apartment. He was getting old and forgetful. How much longer would her grandparents be able to enjoy their summer cottages?

She fed two batteries into the back of the remote, closed the cover and pressed a button on the front. The blinds in the kitchen hummed as they lowered. She pressed another button, and the uninterrupted view of the lake vanished behind a mahogany wall. Another click covered the glass door and the final one shut out the light from the upstairs window.

The cottage faded almost to black. She could sleep.

Eveliina looked at her bandaged toe as she climbed the ladder to her room.

Adam.

The throbbing didn't make her feel any better toward the missionary, and she'd certainly remember their encounter for several days. Thankfully, by the time she had to squeeze back into her pointed-toed shoes, she would be healed.

Her thoughts returned to the unexpected invasion of her space. A twinge of guilt weighted her heart. She'd been extremely unpleasant to Adam. And he thought she was beautiful. But Eveliina's guilt was short-lived. Clemency submitted to the rule of resentment. Umbrage reigned supreme, and rightfully so. She had really been looking forward to that sauna.

She sank into her pillow, the following day already planned. She'd rise early, ready to send Adam away the moment he got up—before he had time to inflict any more pain, cause any more wounds.

 

 

 

 

4

 

Birdsong greeted Adam as he opened the sauna door to a glorious day. Fresh morning air slipped inside. The sun already shone bright in a cloudless blue sky and for the first time in days, Adam hadn't seen it rise. Then again, did it ever set in this part of the world? He looked at his wristwatch. Six AM. Time to meet with God. Today, especially, he would need His help.

With a long yawn, he stretched and rubbed his stubbled chin. Taking a step outside, he wiped the sleep from his eyes. He rubbed his eyes again. Was he seeing things?

A mahogany wall shut out the tiniest glimpse inside the cottage.

Adam shook his head and chuckled. “You've got to be kidding me.”
Did she have the remote?
Pity she hadn't arrived sooner.

He banished the thought quickly—he'd still have been sleeping in the sauna. But perhaps God had sent Eveliina here solely to bring that much needed gadget. Maybe his prayers had been answered. Adam knew better though. God was always more interested in people's characters than their comfort.

Stepping back inside the sauna, he grabbed a pair of jeans from the top of his backpack and slipped into them. A black short-sleeve T-shirt was on top of the pile. Adam grabbed it and put it on.

After rolling up his sleeping bag, he tied it to his backpack which he set on the deck outside, in a corner between the sauna and the cottage door. He tried the door. Still locked. He'd put the mattress back later after Eveliina awoke.

Adam realized his morning's reading would have to be from memory. He'd left his Bible inside the cottage on the table. Empty-handed, he strolled down to the lake.

Thirsty for God, he drank in the surrounding sights—blue skies and trees mirrored in Lake Sahajärvi—as he quoted Psalms that spoke of the splendor of the King, the majesty of His creation.

And finally, Adam connected with heaven.

 

****

 

Eveliina's fingers eased between the blinds, creating a sliver for her to peek through. She watched Adam standing at the water's edge, his back toward the cottage—an intriguing silhouette against the canvas of a Sahajärvi morn. Like the stars in Van Gogh's
Starry Night
, the golden robe surrounding Klimt's dark-haired lover in
The Kiss
, Adam enhanced a stunning view.

How well he filled his jeans and T-shirt.

She felt heat rise to her face. Her emotions were at war. Adam, the missionary, was an unwanted reminder of something she no longer believed in: the love and mercy of Christ. But thinking of Klimt's portrait, stirred something inside. Desiring the same—the kiss—from Adam, the man, came as a surprise.