This year the family reunion was taking place in the States at the Helland household. It was a big deal. Bigger still since Elsa had told her that most of the fam actually thought the two were dating. If only.



Elsa had been plenty embarrassed about it, more so when she had informed Anna. Turning it into a joke on her part had failed, but Elsa was determined to correct the score and that kinda broke Anna’s heart a little inside.

But here they were, outside the Helland residence.



“So how many people are going to be around?” Anna smiled from the passenger’s seat, she was nervous, but it was the good kind of nervous.

“Well, there’s about 32 of us, unless something happened to keep them from coming.”

“Man, that’s a lot. Do you know all of their names?”

“Most of them, some of them are fuzzy.”

“Huh.” Anna was really really starting to regret coming. Suffering through a parent meet and greet was bad enough, but 30 extras along for the ride? The thing she did for unrequited love.







The first person to come greet them in the house was Elsa’s father and an eight year old.

“Elsa and Anna I believe?” The man turned his attention to Anna, holding out a hand in greeting. “I’m Agnarr.”

“Nice to meet you sir. Thanks for letting me come over.” He seemed to be like one of those guys you expected to see beyond a huge old desk better suited for a study. His hair was peppered with white strands and the mustache he had was stellar. Which made it about five kinds of odd to see him wearing shorts and what looked like a polo shirt.

“Idunn is excited to meet all of Elsa’s friends, even the special ones, and we’ve heard a lot of good things about you so far.”

“Yay.” Anna managed to squeak out as Elsa looked at her father horrified. The man nodded looking from Elsa back to Anna with a polite expression, that looked awfully smug.

“It would be better to hear ab-” That’s when the conversation got ganked by the eight year old.Thank God for impatient eight year olds.



“HI!” He was practically climbing up the man, determined to get their attention. “You want to play?”

“Olaf.” The way the name was said itself was scolding, but that did little to deter his enthusiasm. But he did settle back onto the floor, only to run over to Elsa. The small albino child was lathered in sunscreen with sunglasses hiding half of his face. That did nothing to stop him from getting grabby or cheering when Elsa finally relented and gave him a hug.

“I wait forever!” He reached with his hands, grabbing onto the bottom of Elsa’s shirt.

“Sorry, Uncle Jared left his coffee unattended and the kids thought it was hot chocolate.” Elsa’s dad’s voice was sheepish but Anna only shrugged. That explained why the little guy seemed to be vibrating. In under a minute Elsa and Elsa’s dad started talking about the other people who had arrived, already losing Anna in the jumble of names, connections and family mythos. It didn’t help that Olaf felt the need to jump in every few seconds or jump up and down.

“How about I take the little kiddo and you guys catch up?”

Elsa paused and realized how rude she had been, not that Anna minded, she understood. Elsa’s dad on the other hand seemed to be more concerned about the kid’s blood sugar level and what that meant. “You sure?”

“I’m an Education major, It’ll be great practice. Come on Olaf, how about you introduce me to some people?” Olaf looked from Elsa’s dad who gave him a nod before he grabbed Anna’s hand, pulling her toward the depths of the house.

The house was beautiful. It felt fancy and large, with wide windows and high ceilings that made each room seem gigantic. If she had been by herself she’d probably gotten lost in the first five minutes, but Olaf seemed to know his way around.

They were close by the back door, which led to what looked to be a sun room when Olaf gave a loud shout.

“Momo!” The old lady squinted her eyes for a second before she frowned.

“When did we get a redhead in the family? Did one of my grandchildren go get married without telling me?”

“No Momo! This is Anna! She is Elsa’s!” This time the squinting grew a bit more studious as Anna tried not to squirm. The lady eventually tilted her head, and Anna could practically see the thinking that was going on inside. What with the various faces that Momo made before settling on a odd mix of excited and happy like something clicked together finally.

“Ah, that explains it. How has Elsa been doing? She did come I take it?”

“Uh, fine. She’s with her dad in the house.” Before she could escape with Olaf another question got fired at her.

“Help me to the patio?” From the way she had looped around Anna’s arm there wasn’t much choice but to comply. For a lady that was older than dirt she had a strong grip. Worse her shuffling feet guaranteed a lengthy interrogation. Olaf happily took Anna’s free hand, leading the way.

“How did the two of you meet?”

“At school, a friend introduced us.” That was one way to put it, without going into the embarrassing details. “We’ve been friends since.”

“That’s nice, tell me about yourself. I haven’t had a moment to catch up with Elsa.”

“Well…”

“Gertrude, meet Anna. She’s Elsa’s friend.” Anna opened her mouth to ask about the particular emphasis on friend when another older lady practically engulfed her in a hug.