Vivian: Life in Estonia Chapter 07

Eino Tarvas was amazed, albeit pleasantly so, that Vivian Laaning’s personal participation in his quest to amass the prerequisites for the planned expansion of his dairy farm, proved to be so beneficial to him. Although, as a member participant of various agricultural associations in Estonia, he had kept up to date with the latest innovations and technologies, but nevertheless, Vivian's input proved to be surprisingly most helpful.

For the day Vivian again opted not to importune the hospitality of the Läänemets any further. She engaged to take her baby daughter with her throughout the day in the convenient back pack bed. Accordingly, she was ready to truly attend to any and all of her baby’s needs despite being in the public. She dressed herself comfortably. However, her clothing attire was visibly very expensive, and noticeably so, to even the least observant. That in return demanded that she be taken seriously by each person she was in contact with, and that was an advantage that Eino realized was not available to him.

Eino’s original plan was to purchase all the material he would need and arrange to be transported to his farm, to quickly construct two barns in the newly acquired farmland to house 52 cows, per barn. He intended to purchase at least 52 milking machines plus 52 active milking cows to get his proposed expansion under way. In addition, he would be interested in purchasing at least one bull, possibly up to two more to eventually augment his dairy herd to an additional 52 milking cows, plus replacing the cows whose milking productivity would cease.

Vivian played no part as to the purchase of materials needed for the construction of an extra barn. That was Eino's first item on his agenda for the day's purchases. However, Vivian was most adept in negotiating the purchase of the milking machines. She was demonstratively aware of the pros and cons of the various manufacturers of milking machines. As a result, without protest from Eino whatsoever, Vivian negotiated the ultimate purchase of the milking machines from the best manufacturer at a significant lower price than Eino had expected and was prepared to pay.

After the completion of the purchases of the building material and the milking machines, they then visited the lawyer's office. The law office had all the necessary documentation completed, so that Eino was now the owner of the adjacent farm.

Taking a break, they then partook of an early restaurant luncheon prior to going to the cattle auction in the afternoon. As they were going over the strategies for the balance of the day, Eino could not help marveling, “My God Vivian! You sure know the value of the various dairy farm milking machines even better than I do. That's so impressive given that dairy farming is my living, and I'm member of two agricultural organizations in Estonia to keep me up to date on modern agriculture industry. I know you said you grew up on a dairy farm in the United States, but8th still you became a lawyer, which surely would preclude any current interest in dairy farming such as you now still seem to possess.”

Vivian replied, “Yes, well the thing is that I have a brother, Paul, who in essence has inherited the family farm from which I grew up. Both my sister, Erica, and I were cognizant from an early age that he was going to take over the dairy farm from my parents. To be fair my father established trust funds upon birth for both Erica, and myself to compensate. Thus, there is no feeling of animosity towards Paul from either of us.

"Now whenever I visit Paul and his family at the farm, the conversation necessarily turns on the status of the farm. Actually, it's really the only thing he's interested in talking about, as the lives Erica and I lead are foreign to him. So, he's not concerned about our personal affairs. Paul graduated from Iowa State University with an agriculture business major, and as a result he's on top of the absolutely current agriculture concerns which then keeps me in the loop. I admire what he has been able to do with the farm, and as a result my parents were able to retire earlier than they had originally intended, without any fear that the farm would be lost through poor management."

It was though, the afternoon auction session that Eino became fully aware of Vivian's superior dairy farming acumen, and her applicable skills to bring about optimum results for him. The auction was held at a dairy farm quite close to the city boundaries of Tallinn. That farm along with two other adjacent dairy farm properties, plus some other local real property had been purchased over a period of time by a real estate conglomerate, for the purpose of converting all the acquired lands into a high end modern residential subdivision plus a convenient commercial strip mall to service the needs of the residents of the new subdivision.

The sale of these lands had been a controversial political battle for the real estate developers. There was plenty of opposition from environmentalists concerned about the loss of such rich agricultural land. Finally, all the government bureaucratic processes were approved on the proviso that all the farm animals were sold by this date and the following day. As a result, the auction was scheduled for that day's afternoon starting at 01:30 PM and continue the following morning. The auction site was available for inspection by prospective buyers of the animals to be sold that afternoon starting at 12 noon.

Eino and Vivian along with baby Maia on her mother's back, arrived at the auction site with more than an hour of inspection time available. At the prior luncheon Vivian and Eino mapped out a strategy for Eino's intended purchase of fifty cows plus one or two bulls. As Vivian had attended a couple of auctions with her father when she was a teenager, she had more experience than Eino who had simply took over an established farm from his father. Consequently, this would be the first time he would purchase a cow in this manner, and he, therefore. relied heavily for her advice. Although her experience was confined to America, it was unlikely that there were any real significant material changes for a cattle auction in Estonia. In particular, during the inspection period, the criteria as to what to look out for in an animal suitable for purchase would be the same. In this regard Vivian proved to be invaluable to Eino.

So, to be able to make a quick judgment call on whether an animal is worth buying or not, Vivian was able to point out the crucial signs to look for. This would include:

Eyes: Should be bright, clear, not runny (no discharge), crusty or bloodshot;

Nose: Should be cool, moist muzzle, with frequent licking; breathing should be regular, and not labored. Also, attention should be paid to nasal discharge, coughing, wheezing or irregular/shallow breathing, to ensure the animal is free of disease;

Coat: Should be glossy, clean and generally unmatted, free of extensive "tag" or dried feces over the body, hair coats that appear mangy with some or a lot of hair-loss, or have crusty lesions which would likely be ring-worm, or appear dull and/or dry are especially to be avoided;

Weight: Should look to be at their average weight, not severely emaciated or thin. Especially to be avoided are those animals one can plainly see their ribs as they're likely undernourished. Should also avoid overly fat ones as well;

Attitude: Should be curious, alert and contented; Should avoid cattle that stand apart from the herd, seem disinterested in you, or show signs of aggressiveness, no matter how subtle those signs are. Should also check the location of the whorl on the forehead––the lower the whorl, the less flighty the animal;

Mobility: The animal's walking should be smooth and free of limps, legs and feet should look normal and free of sores, swelling, or lesions; should be on special lookout of uneven gaits or subtle signs of injury by how the animal stands and walks on. Placement of hind feet to front feet is especially important with bulls for breeding purposes;

Udder: Should be healthy; size isn't necessarily an indicator of a good udder, but rather placement of both front and hind ligaments. It should sit forward and square, not sag too much either in the front and rear quarters, and not be too meaty or appear to have too many fat deposits. Should observe the cow when she walks–the udder should not display too much sideways movement. Teats should be small and neatly grouped under the udder, not too large and/or sticking at odd angles.

Essentially, Eino Tarvas was aware of most of these signs Vivian had pointed out as relevant for consideration in buying a cow. However, what was a real eye opener for him, was the weight and the strategy Vivian proposed to ensure of making the most effective purchases to fulfill his plans in the most economically way. Given the logistics of dairy farming the most important point in purchasing cows is determining their lactation period to balance the overall schedule of milk production envisioned.

Normally, a cow can give milk for 305 days or 10 months after calving. The level of milk production peaks at around 40 – 60 days after calving, then decreases steadily and stops after 10 months. A cow in a stage of their lactation cycle where milk production ceases is called “dry period”. It lasts roughly 60 days or 2 months before calving again.

The dry period is an important period of rest for the cow and her udder. During this stage, farmers should adjust her diet or seek the advice of an animal nutritionist. This adjustment during this 2-month rest ensures to provide the right balance of nutrients for her, preparing for the next healthy birth. Cows in good body condition can calve again within 2 or 3 months of their last calving. In contrast, if a cow gives birth in inadequate body reserves, milk production will affect negatively in early lactation since body reserves are not enough to contribute energy.

The overall strategy in buying initially as many cows Eino desired, has to be in deciding the proportion of each cow's milking state. Vivian pointed out that most buyers in an auction usually are there to buy at the most five cows to fulfill specifically the needs of the farmer for the moment. Thus, the cows who still have 200 or more days left in their milking cycle would fetch the highest prices. Pregnant cows would fill the next plateau of prices with those close to calving fetching the higher prices in that category. The least inexpensive cows would be those cows who are almost finished in their milk cycle, or are not yet pregnant or at the early stages of pregnancy. Most of the latter group of cows were to be auctioned off the next day.

In their discussion at the luncheon, Eino was mortified to discover that within minutes of discussion of his plans and goals of expansion, Vivian had drawn up and formulated a superior comprehensive plan of what kinds of cows to purchase. It was not lost on him, that for several months he had been devising and planning for this day. He believed that he had come up with the most feasible plan and strategy to augment his farming income, taking advantage of circumstances that had developed to make his ambitions possible. His neighbor had decided to sell his farm and in conjunction a real estate developer had purchased lands which made purchase of additional cows possible. And yet here was Vivian Laaning with only a minimum knowledge of his ambitions and aspirations, able to come up with a better plan to fulfill his dreams.

This prompted Eino to say at the luncheon, "Again I have to reiterate, that I know you've told me that you're a farmer's daughter and that your brother is a dairy farmer in the United States. Still, you live in Chicago, employed as a lawyer, without presumably retaining any real latent interest in dairy farming, and yet here you are outlining a plan in buying cows which quite frankly I admit is much better than my plans. I might say that for the past several months I've been consumed with the idea of expanding my farm and contemplating what I thought was most realistic and plausible way to go about achieving my aspirations. How do you do that? Needless to say, I'm ready to follow your advises as those, sure as hell, seem sound."

Vivian smiled gratified by his assurance. In her perception, usually apart from her sister, Erica and Angela Peterson, her closest friend, that people whom she came in contact with, were not overly impressed with her, especially those aware of her promiscuous sexuality. So she diplomatically replied, "The thing is Eino you are the farmer who must work constantly so you do not have the luxury to contemplate the big picture of dairy farming and its latest innovations. I guess I've always had an active mind with the view of how to do things better. Even my brother Paul, who as I told you has a university degree in agriculture, with presumably the complete knowledge of the latest dairy farming exigencies and innovations, will still be surprised when I could point out a better technique for resolving a particular dairy farm problem."

With that reply, Eino Tarvas was mollified, and probably no longer needing to admit to himself of his possible shortcomings, and instead was prepared to shed all of his male ego to recognize and benefit from Vivian's expertise in dairy farming. In this light he asked, "Fair enough, and as I indicated I'm on board with your planned strategy of the purchase of the cows at the ensuing auction. I also understand the inspection process prior to the auction. I'm in agreement of all the signs you articulated which would be necessary to consider prior to acting on the quick judgment of whether to purchase an animal or not. However, I'm not sure of the importance of your admonition that teats should be small and neatly grouped under the udder, not too large and/or sticking at odd angles. I'm not convinced that such is a critical factor for the successful dairy farming process."

Vivian replied, "When I was twelve years old, my father had added to our herd four cows who right from the get go, balked at being milked by machine. They would kick at the machine and at any person in the vicinity. Even when a worker successfully got a machine hooked up, the cow would be concentrating on trying to detach itself from the machine and thus little of its milk was extracted. As a result, these cows could only be milked by hand, and I was the one appointed by my father to do the honors. Unfortunately for me, I actually got quite good at milking these cows, so my father found it more economically viable to have me to continue milking them until I left for college rather than having them prematurely slaughtered.

"As you're aware Eino, it only takes five to eight minutes to completely milk a cow by machine. Whereas I, and I would proudly claim that I was the speediest of my family or of our workers to manually milk a cow, at best would require a half hour to do the task. So, it goes without saying that it is preferable to milk a cow by machine than by hand. Of those cows I milked by hand during my teen years, all of them just had to happen to have had teats stuck at odd angles from their udder unlike the other cows on our farm. That irregularity in teats position was no problem for me in hand milking them, but it seems to have been a problem in machine attachment causing discomfort to the cows. That is my theory anyway. It just might have been a coincidence with these four cows, but I'm just saying, that it's better to avoid such an irregularity."

Eino merely replied, "I guess what you're saying is that it's best to be safe than sorry."

After the luncheon, Vivian and Eino, along with baby Maia in tow on her mother's back, arrived at the auction site, and proceeded with a thorough in dept inspection of the cattle slated for the auction. As a result, Vivian was able to identify sixty cows in the must buy category. In the subsequent auction Vivian and Eino were successful in winning bids of fifty of the animals they wished to unconditionally acquire. In addition, they were able to acquire two bulls to augment Eino's current solitary bull on his farm.

Eino Tarvas was totally elated by the events of the day. He could not have possibly envisioned a more perfect outcome for this day, when he had first embarked on his journey to Tallinn to try and realize his dream to substantially expand his dairy farm. Naturally, he was very cognizant that the overwhelming success of his aspirations can be solely attributed to Vivian Laaning.

Eino Tarvas was not the kind of a man so unsure of his masculinity, to the extent that he would need to downplay the absolute material assistance provided by a woman to ensure his success. He had no problem in acknowledging in his own mind as well as proclaiming to others the essential contributions Vivian had made which ultimately led to a very successful subsequent agriculture endeavor. He was obviously in a very good humor as he could not be more grateful to Vivian for her help beyond even her financial contribution. He realized that his plans for expanding his farm had been converted from an iffy dream into reality.

He was thus in the mood to celebrate, really and truly celebrate with Vivian, but this time without her baby. Vivian was amiable to pumping her breasts and asking the Läänemets to babysit Maia for the night. In that regard, not only was Marika Läänemets genuinely pleased to look after Maia but as a happy convenience the Läänemets had previously invited a couple over for playing some bridge that night and imbibing some adult beverages. The woman, Hele Mölder was a life-long close friend to Marika, and who just happened to be a mother of a two month old baby. When asked she had no hesitation in agreeing to breast feed Maia as she would be feeding her own baby girl, Riina, anyway that evening.

Accordingly, Eino dropped Vivian off at the Läänemets residence, as he returned to the hotel room to allow time for both of them to prepare for the date. Sensing that this would be a wonderful occasion, Vivian chose to wear her best evening dress she had in her possession during this European holiday. It was a burgundy colored trumpet/mermaid off-the-shoulder sweep train lace evening dress. In sync with her copper fiery red hair the dress exuded an especial sexual confidence in Vivian. Of course, she had no doubt that she would get laid after the date, but still her appearance in this dress had to send a message to Eino proclaiming how lucky he was to be able to enjoy the charms of such a sexy woman as her. That conception in her mind caused her to appear radiant.

Indeed, when Eino returned to pick up Vivian for their date, he was astounded at how sexually alluring she appeared to be. In his mind was gone forever the notion that perhaps universally Vivian would not be considered a glamorous woman. He now thought if those who did not think Vivian was gorgeous, then they must be blind. He now was grateful, that he had chosen for their date, an evening meal at a very trendy superior class Hungarian restaurant with an acknowledged highly regarded cuisine. After the meal, he proposed they could go dancing at a club, or simply bar hopping as he sensed Vivian was not shy in imbibing adult beverages. In any case he viewed this a more formal date than the previous two evening activities especially as they would be alone without her baby in tow.

As they were seated at the restaurant, and scrutinizing the menu Vivian couldn't help but observe, that her dates with Eino had become progressively more spectacular. That first night was a dinner at a modestly priced restaurant featuring a predominantly Estonian cuisine. The second night saw them dine at a fine high end seafood restaurant. This evening the restaurant exuded an ambiance of high class luxury featuring a magnificent selection of Hungarian dishes that would please the palate of even the most demanding gourmet. She ordered Paprikás Csirke a tasty traditional Hungarian dish of chicken paprika that proved to be absolutely superb. As she was enjoying her fine meal complemented by a different popular Hungarian wine, Tokaji Aszú, she developed a premonition that reinforced her very first impression of Eino Tarvas. She had expected that he was about to become another prominent man in her life heretofore populated only by the wealthy billionaire, Jed Baxter and her late husband, Sam Crawford. Now she believed such premonition would become a reality before this night was over.

Her intuition proved to be spot on that evening. For his part, Eino Tarvas had truly found himself immersed in a prolonged sustaining feeling of ecstasy throughout that night. When he first spotted Vivian dressed in her splendid semi-formal evening gown, he was thoroughly mesmerized. Her dress emphatically projected an image of the epitome of fashionable elegance. Just as Vivian had hoped for, he did indeed perceive that he was most fortunate to be in the company of such an extraordinary woman. He was as certain as he knew that the sun would rise in the east, that he would never ever meet a superior woman in his lifetime. Her dress easily highlighted her best physical attributes that would in of itself, diffuse any criticism of a claim of a lack of pulchritude.

Throughout the meal, he was cognizant of the impression that seemed to permeate in the minds of everyone in attendance at the restaurant, that Vivian was easily the most attractive female present. Her grandiose attire demonstratively accentuated such assertion. It wasn't that she was overly dressed, since to maintain the high class milieu of their establishment, the restaurant enforced an essentially unwritten dress code. To alert the unwary tourist there was a sign prominently displayed along with the menu on the window adjacent to the entrance of the restaurant. It stated in English only, merely: "Proper attire required." The menu incidentally was printed bilingually in Estonian and in English.

Those prospective customers who were not of proper attire found themselves waiting for over an hour and a half before a suitable table was miraculously found, assuming they had the patience to wait so long. The table provided was absolutely the worse table in the restaurant, prominently adjacent to the lavatories, and probably existing solely to accommodate such recalcitrant patrons. They would of course receive the poorest service possible, as the wait staff knew that no tip would be forthcoming so there was no incentive to provide good service. Even if such unwanted customers claimed they had made a reservation beforehand, they found upon arrival that the seating hostess had seemingly inadvertently lost such reservation. That reputation of a strict dress code soon became common general knowledge amongst the inhabitants of the entire country, so that such awkward scenes of denying service very rarely occurred.

In any case, despite the plethora of female patrons dressed ornately, not to mention the attractive female wait staff dressed in formal but very appealing service uniforms, Vivian easily stood out as the woman who just demanded a second look in that crowd. Men, ⁹whether patrons or staff lingered a little longer in gazing at her, whenever they happened to be in the vicinity to observe her up close. They were naturally fixated on the allure of her ample cleavage which her dress whether inadvertently or deliberately punctuated. Likewise, women, even the unequivocal straight ones, could not help but marvel at her beauty. No doubt their minds were filled with the wish that they also could affect a similar sexy appeal. As Eino was fully aware of such reactions, it just amplified his revelry in being a companion to what now was in his mind as the most enticing female on the planet.

Eino Tarvas' subconscious mind was now on full alert to guard against him experiencing a devastating mind debilitating disappointment, in contrast to the euphoria he was presently experiencing at the restaurant. Both his subconscious mind and his conscious mind were cognizant, that after this night there would be no Vivian Laaning to exist in his life. She would leave for the United States to resume her normal life of which he had not been previously privy to. So, the duty of his subconscious mind was to soften the blow of the inevitable reality of the end of his very torrid acquaintanceship of the sublimely charming Vivian Laaning.

In the battle on his mind, the first point of counterattack to downgrade his enthusiasm sas to make his future more palatable. His subconscious mind reminded his conscious mind that he, himself was aware of the fact that Vivian would not be considered a natural raving beauty by anyone including him by any stretch of the imagination. Even though in truth she might be objectively considered as the best good-looking woman in the restaurant, still there's no denying that the sample in this case was small. Therefore, the fact has to remain that Vivian Laaning is not the universally acclaimed beauty whose loss need be mourned as an irrevocable lost chance of a lifetime dream of the ultimate romantic opportunity.

To contradict this notion of her supposed deficiency in her female physical attractiveness, his conscious mind took satisfaction in remembering two famous bromides: (1) beauty is in the eye of the beholder; and (2) the brain is the most important sexual organ. Intellectually yes, he would be forced under the threat of a gun pointed at his head to admit that she is not the most beautiful woman in the world. However, she's the most beautiful woman in his eyes, and in his mind. Therefore ergo, she must be the most beautiful woman in the world. The hot sexy encounters he had to date experienced with her, were activities he would be at a loss to imagine that there could be an improvement in technique or enthusiasm. Given that reality, he had to conclude that she had to be the sexiest woman extant. Therefore, his conscious mind vehemently rebelled at the notion that the end of his time with Vivian would be no big deal in his life; nothing to overly fret about the loss of same. Instead, he was approaching the state of feeling disconsolately at such a miserable but inevitable outcome.

Finally, his subconscious mind was determined to overcome the despondency that naturally follows in the realization of the end of this exquisite rendezvous with Vivian. It was after all, an affair to which he had such high estimation of its romanticism, which had the effect of elucidating highly emotional regret for its end. To defeat that normal feeling of sorrow, it was necessary for his subconscious mind to delve into her promiscuous sexual nature. So, his subconscious mind pointed out, 'Given her frank admissions of her sexual experiences, and her proclivities, which included membership in a swingers sex orgies club, she had to be by universal consensus charitably labeled as a slut and a whore. By whore the description obviously did not entail the colloquial meaning of a professional prostitute, but instead suggested a lascivious brazen wanton female not desirable to be found in decent company.'

His subconscious mind added, 'Yes you certainly would fuck such a woman if the opportunity presents itself. You probably would enjoy fucking such a woman, and even have a good time during the occasion. But after that for the sake of retaining your own sanity, you must go away as far away as possible, and never contemplating on seeing her again.

To this charge, Eino's conscious mind protested, 'So why is a woman not so enthusiastic in sex to be more revered or for that matter prized than a woman enthusiastic in sex?' He continued in his own soliloquy, 'I can understand from my own male perspective that bedding a reluctant female is a conquest or at least an achievement, that one can take pride in, and chalk it up as an example affirming one's male sexual prowess. By the same token that does not necessary translate into forever thereafter unbridled joyous sexual experience with that particular woman. After all the woman was reticent in sex for a reason. If in her mind she held back in sex in the hopes for a knight in shining armor to appear on the scene and kiss her i.e fuck her, and then thereafter live happily ever after, well that's just a fairy tale. Not just literally but figuratively as well; and certainly, implausible even in the most idealistic imagination'.

In Eino's total mind he believed such a women should have had someone close to her to instill a dose of reality into her. Most importantly, it should have been pointed out to her that even figuratively, there are no knights in shining armor seeking her. Actually, even if there were such knights in shining or otherwise armor searching for her love, they would get lost in the woods during their unattainable quest. So, without this reality check, as the woman does not want to remain lonely in her life, she will eventually latch on to someone who did not appear to be odious to her. But because he was not the knight in shining or even dull armor, as she had envisioned, she had no option but to make him miserable to counteract her own disappointment.

As these thoughts were swirling around his mind, he realized he was articulating precisely his overall feelings when he was recalling the continuous unhappiness, he had endured throughout his four year marriage with his late wife. Dagi was the first woman he had truly fallen in love with, but this entire episode so far with Vivian exposed the signals, he had ignored with regard to his relationship with Dagi. He now understood that he should have avoided pursuing her altogether either sexually or otherwise.

First of all, he had a most unsatisfactory sex life with Dagi, and he should have realized that would be the case from the get go. It took him eight months of continuous dating and utilizing relentless seduction ploys before she finally succumbed to his frequent entreaties, before they had sex for the very first time. On that occasion, he discovered that she was not a virgin despite to his mind that she had maintained the impression that she was. As he confronted her about this aspect, she retorted that she had never stated that she was a virgin. Instead, she had frequently suggested that she was good in bed and had allowed all kinds of intimate touchings of her body prior to the ultimate completion of the sex act. While rebuffing his intimacy advances, she had constantly intimated that the long wait before they would fully engage in sex would most assuredly be worth his while.

There was obviously quite a huge discrepancy between his view of their romance and how Dagi Kuusik perceived it had developed. However, since he could not point out or recall any exact conversation between them that would dispel her version of the events, he had to let it slide. Of course, it wasn't that important to him that she wasn't a virgin. After all, since she was twenty-two years of age when he had his first date with her, he hadn't expected her to be a virgin, anyway. He had to admit that it was the way she comported herself when denying sex that really gave him the impression that she may be a virgin.

In any case, there was no denying in his mind that contrary to her assertion, Dagi née Kuusik was not good in bed. She never ever displayed any enthusiasm and if she actually enjoyed an orgasm after any sex act, he sure as hell could not have discerned it. She never had an inclination to fake an orgasm either, possibly perhaps she genuinely believed she was good in bed. Eino reasoned that probably in her mind, since she was submitting herself to him sexually, then that was all that was required of her. She could not fathom that anything more could be expected of her, and so ergo, it would justify her notion that she ought to be considered good in bed.

On one occasion during their marriage, while he was engaged in humping her à la missionary position, she actually was consuming saltine crackers, which were within her reach on a plate situated on the bedside table. Since she was pregnant at the time, she attributed her insouciance as indulging in an irresistible craving incidental to her pregnant condition. At least mused Eino, he should be grateful that she had no objection to being fucked while pregnant.

The example of his late wife's apparent detachment from genuine enjoyment of sex provided a stark contrast to the joie de vivre exhibited by Vivian Laaning during the past three days. Unlike his wife, Vivian did not boast about being good in bed. She did not have to, as her actions spoke louder than words. During all the sex they had already engaged in, Vivian had acted in each instance, as if and indeed gave off the impression to him, that the sex they had engaged in was the very best experience for her in her lifetime. And her companionship outside the sexual experience was just as delightful.

Intellectually, Eino realized that such impression could not be true in reality. Under his interrogation, Vivian had confessed to having experienced a very lurid, wanton and promiscuous not to mention profligate sexual lifestyle that would be the envy of the most brazen libertine. Nevertheless, her sexual enjoyment with him seemed genuine enough to him, which in turn provided the most exquisite sexual joy he had ever had the pleasure to experience.

In his deliberations, he had to concede in his mind, that his complaints of his wife's perceived lack of sexuality were somewhat unfair. Dagi had died prematurely as a result of a lengthy, long lasting debilitating illness that had sapped all her stamina and energy in her outlook on life. It was fortuitous that her disease was only finally accurately diagnosed after she gave birth to their son or otherwise her doctors would have hectored her to consider an abortion, had such diagnose been rendered earlier during her pregnancy. As it turned out, there's no denying that his son, Helmutt, was the most significant up to now greatest joy in his life, which overrode all the slings and arrows of misfortune he had been subjected to.

His love for Dagi had been real and genuine, and he was sincerely sorrowful at her death. Nevertheless, his love for Vivian Laaning, albeit brief and certainly placed in the category of the surreal, was still much more compelling and soul stirring. He realized that his love for Dagi was just not his attraction to her beauty but was in the main part resultant by the process of practical elimination. Prior to marrying her, he had dated and, in some cases, bedded every suitable and available woman in his relatively wide circle of acquaintances who could possibly be a suitable wife for him. With the exception of Dagi Kuusik, all the others were deficient for consideration in one way or another. Although Dagi was not as sexually exciting as he would have wished, still she checked all the mental boxes in his mind for a suitable mate, and ergo his love for her happened!

In contrast, when he literally first set his eyes on Vivian Laaning his brain was struck with the imperative that he must have her. The fact that in reality she was absolutely unattainable made his love for her even more excruciating. There was something about her that made his heart long for her despite his pragmatic brain cautioning against the futility of it all. The personal inward battle of desires came to a head two nights previously when he initiated a "Hail Mary" brazen proposition for sex. That he was not rebuffed but actually enjoyed the charms of Vivian Laaning that night emboldened him to think that nothing was impossible in regard to his infatuation with the delectable American Estonian.

Eino Tarvas was a man who could walk and chew gum at the same time. Thus, as all these thoughts of his loving regard for Vivian were filtrating throughout his mind, he was still able to carry on an exacting and thoughtful serious conversation with Vivian. That conversation naturally centered on the rudiments of transposing his agricultural enterprise into something more in light of this day's purchases. In that regard Vivian was most helpful in suggesting schedules and priorities that would make it happen.

At this point, Eino Tarvas discerned a startling revelation! Take away his infatuation with Vivian's feminine beauty and allure. In fact, conjure up an image that she had the most hideous and repulsive physical appearance imaginable, but still be identified as a human being. In fact, take away any semblance of her wit and pleasing personality to make her totally unappealing to every other soul on the planet; nevertheless, despite such imagined negative attributes, she would still possess a most practical important asset to him. From the gist of his conversation with her during this meal, he could not foresee any other person male or female who would be as effective in imparting solid, and productive advice to assist him in his farming vocation and ambitions thereof.

Then in reverse, add his attraction to her physical beauty; add to the compatibility and the absolute sexual joy they had experienced when so engaged with each other; and add in her pleasing and witty personality; and what do you get? Why it must be that Vivian Laaning has to be the perfect wife for him. At this point his subconscious mind was fully alarmed at his folly to even consider matrimony to an impracticable if not impossible marriage. Impossible of course in pragmatic terms solely considering the differences in their residences never mind any other real pressing objections.

Thus, his subconscious mind took hold, emphasizing and reminding him of her promiscuity and her lascivious tendencies. Such behavior surely would tend to make anyone ponder as to uncertainty whether she would even be able to adhere to the traditional marital vows of fidelity. To this charge, he thought, 'Yes, I recognize that it's up to me to convince my prospective wife Vivian that I'm the lover who is able to satisfy totally her needs both sexually or otherwise. If I cannot do that, then that is on me, and I'm therefore unworthy of her regard.'

With such thoughts ruminating in his head, just after they were served with their after-dinner coffee liquors, Eino turned to Vivian and said, "During the last couple of days, I know that I've fallen absolutely, totally, unconditionally in love with you. So much so that if you love me in return, I could not help feeling that our lives together could not be more perfect. Therefore, Vivian my true love, would you agree to marry me?