Two days before the Knut’s party, Emelie had everything under control. Seeing her different ideas come to life and bring people together so they could learn from each other’s experience and knowledge – it was wonderful to see.
“There, that was the last thing,” she said to herself as she shut her computer and leaned back in the office chair.
She was sitting in the small spare room which she’d fitted out with Astrid’s old desk, an office chair and a rag rug. Along one long wall was a low shelf with everything from old toys to surplus clothing and, of course, a few Christmas decorations. But not too many, and she was happy about that. As soon as she had the energy she’d clear the room out properly, but there probably wasn’t any point before they’d decided how they were going to live when Andreas moved in.
She sighed and went out onto the landing, where they’d put a cosy armchair and a reading lamp. Beside it was a bookshelf with the girls’ favourite books. The spines of the Harry Potter books were worn and some of them were completely missing, but they had been read over and over again. Even Linn would sometimes pull one out from the shelf and sit down to read it.
Emelie looked into Liv’s room and found her two youngest daughters lying on her bed. They were watching films after being at the stables since school finished. Linnea looked like she was going to fall asleep at any moment, and Liv waved lazily at her.
“Will the food be ready soon? I’m hungry,” she said, without looking away from the TV.
“In ten minutes, sweetheart,” said Emelie, tip-toeing out again and down to the kitchen.
She wondered how things would be with a baby in the house. It was so nice that the children were bigger and could do so many things for themselves. She sighed and glanced at the clock. It was nearly six. She opened the fridge door and pulled out a jar of pesto and some vegetables.
When the pasta was ready, she shouted up to the girls, who came slowly down the stairs already dressed in their nightdress and pyjamas.
“Are you ready for bed already?”
Liv yawned and nodded.
“I couldn’t find any other trousers after my shower,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “What is it?”
“Pasta with pesto and vegetables,” replied Emelie.
They ate in silence, and Emelie wondered whether now was a good opportunity to tell them that Andreas was moving in. With a baby and a jogging stroller. And that meant that they were a couple, too, of course. She shivered and took another bite. Then she looked at her girls where they sat opposite her with their frizzy hair and brown eyes. They were the best thing in her life, and her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want to disrupt their now harmonious existence. It had been sufficiently unharmonious when Ousman disappeared and nobody knew where he was – and still didn’t know – even though Emelie suspected he had gone home to the Gambia again. It took a long while after he disappeared for Liv and Linnea to be able to sleep easily at night again, and Emelie couldn’t take so much as a step outside of the house without them. Because their beloved father had simply vanished one day, they thought that Emelie would also mysteriously disappear, so they clung even harder to their mother.
Emelie understood the feeling, but was extremely grateful when everything calmed down and she could occasionally go and have coffee with Sara without the girls having a complete meltdown. Linnea had only been four when Ousman disappeared, and of course she didn’t understand what had really happened, but the fact that both her mother and sisters were sad had made her as sad and worried as they were. Here on Sardinön, they were happy at school and had friends and leisure interests in a way that Emelie hadn’t believed possible. She wasn’t looking forward to disrupting that peace. No, she didn’t want to tell them today when everything was nice and calm.
Liv and Linnea chatted about their homework, horses, and the fact that Liv wanted to start playing floorball… all without arguing. Nobody knew how they’d react to the news of domestic rearrangements and that their mother had a new boyfriend who was going to have a baby with two other women. It could be pretty awful, now she thought about it. Emelie looked at the two of them and smiled.
“So how were things at the stables today? Did you get to ride Fokus, Linnea?”
Telling them about Andreas moving in would have to wait until after the Knut’s party.