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head of sheep one county can have over the other?"
    "Oh you Welsh and your sheep."
    "Shut it reindeer boy."
    They both laughed at that, and Valto found himself clutching the phone even tighter wishing that she was there with him. "I miss you."
    "Oh Valto. You've only known me a handful of days."
    "That's enough Cat. More than enough."
    At that moment there was a shriek of laughter, and another one of his cousins came tumbling out of the bushes in a ball of blonde hair and powder pink silk.
    "What was that?"
    "Riika," he said. "I'll call you later."
    "Sounds good." Cat gave one last laugh and then hung up the phone.
    "Oh my God did you hear yourself?" Riika was laying on her back on the grass, arms outstretched as she laughed almost uncontrollably.
    Johann's little sister was distressingly like her elder brother. Both were too attractive for their own good, terrible flirts, and completely unable to keep their noses out of other people's business. It was bound to get her into some real trouble one day, and if Valto hadn't had so much to drink that he couldn't see straight it would have been today.
    "What the hell are you doing listening through the bushes?" he said, throwing a small rock at her and watching as it bounced off of her forehead.
    “Bored.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Everybody is starting to go home, and Johann is mooning over some picture of a girl with huge ...”  Riika held her hands out in front of her chest.
    “Ah.” Valto smiled at that. “I'm glad he likes it.”
    “What's it like to be in love?” she said, hugging her knees against her chest.
    “Painful. Actually more like a combination between blissfully happy and complete agony. Riika is there something you want to talk to me about?”
    She shook her head quickly and gave him a brittle smile. “No. No I'm fine. Do you love Caitlin?”
    “Yes.” He didn't even need to think about it. “Very much so.”
    “And she loves you, right?”
    Valto had known that eventually someone was going to ask him that question, and that when they did he could either lie through his teeth or be brutally honest. Now looking at Riika's sincere face he found he couldn't do the former. “That's a difficult question to answer. I hurt Cat a lot and in the worst possible way.”
    “You broke up with her because you thought she slept with Johann,” said Riika.
    “That's right. I was wrong, horrendously so, and now I've sacrificed my entire life to try and make it up to her.”
    “Why?”
    He gave a soft laugh. “Because my life is meaningless without her, and it's taken me five years to work that out.”
    ***
    It was nearly one o'clock in the morning when he finally made it back to Caerdydd, and he had to admit that he was glad to be back. He would miss Helsinki that was for sure, but it had been more than a week since he had last seen Cat, and he had only been able to talk to her a couple of times. How on Earth had he survived as long as he had completely banished from her side?
    He seriously contemplated just falling into bed fully dressed, but he had been wearing the same clothes for the past thirty-six hours and they felt and smelt stale. With a low groan he slowly pulled off his clothes, choosing to then collapse face first onto the mattress. He had had a good few days in Finland, and it was always good spending time with his twin. It was also nice to see Kai so blissfully happy, something which made his stomach turn. He wanted that, a spouse who he could worship and adore, and who would love him in return.
    Sleep must have claimed him then, because the next thing he knew he was being poked awake. The room was dark around him except for the silvery beams of moonlight coming through the window, and they framed Cat so perfectly that he thought he was dreaming.
    “Cat?” He blinked up at her in confusion, taking in the fact that she was wearing a light blue silk dressing gown and her hair was falling loose to the small of her back.
    “You're going to