Page 95 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop

For now, on our second Christmas Eve together, we had more exciting times coming with another excursion to see the northern lights. There were clear skies in the area and Lars’s app showed high solar activity. We’d chosen a different location – Ljósavatn Lake, six miles south of Húsavík – and it would just be the two of us this time, which was ideal as I had a specialJólabókaflóðgift which I wanted to give Lars without everyone watching.

The lights were even more spectacular than the last time we’d seen them. The increased solar activity meant a broader range of colours and, while there were still the greens and blues like before, there were also shimmers of red, pink and purple. The added visual of the aurora’s reflection on the calm lake blew me away. Lars wrapped his arms round my waist – not easy with all the layers I was wearing – and we snuggled into each other as we watched. I couldn’t imagine anything on earth more beautiful than the scene above and before me and I could have stayed there for hours but tiredness was creeping in, as it had done for the past month or so.

‘I’ve got you a specialJólabókaflóðbook,’ I said, temporarily removing my thick gloves so I could unzip my jacket and retrieve the gift from the inside pocket.

‘It’s a very thin book,’ Lars observed, his expression puzzled as I handed him the gift-wrapped item.

‘It’s not actually the book itself. That’s waiting for us at home. It would have been too big and heavy to lug out here so I printed off the cover and another photo.’

Lars removed his gloves so he could peel back the tape and I smiled at the sharp intake of breath as he looked at the cover then at me, his eyes sparkling.

‘Does this mean…?’

‘Turn the page.’

He did that and, next moment, I was in his arms. The photo of a positive pregnancy test behind the cover ofYour Panic-Free Pregnancyanswered his question. It hadn’t been easy keeping the news to myself for the past week or sneaking a copy of the tome out of the shop without anyone noticing, but I’d somehow managed because it felt right to share the news beneath the aurora borealis so that Pia could hear it too.

‘I’ll book a doctor’s appointment when we get home but my guess is that Baby Jóhannsson will be due around mid-to-late August.’

Lars placed his hand on my stomach and I thrust it forward as though a baby had just kicked, making him laugh. He crouched down with his hands on my waist.

‘Hello, little one, I’m your pabbi or maybe it’s daddy. I’ll have a think. Anyway, I can’t wait to meet you and I bet you’ll beLittle Miss Perfect-for-me, just like your mummy.’

‘What if it’s a boy?’ I asked.

Lars looked up at me. ‘Mr Perfect, then, but I have the strongest feeling it’s going to be a girl.’

‘Weirdly, so do I.’

He addressed my stomach once more. ‘Whether you’re a girl or a boy, I promise to love you always and to protect you from Grýla and the Christmas Cat.’ And he saluted before standing up.

‘That’s our thing now, isn’t it?’ I said, laughing.

‘Afraid so, but so’s this.’ And he took me in his arms and kissed me tenderly as the northern lights rippled above us and Pia looked down on us with a smile. The postcard which the Paperback Pixie left with each book stated,I hope this book brings you happiness, escapism, adventures to new places and a chance to meet new friends.If one book could do that, imagine what a shop full of them could do! Our bookshop in the bay had delivered all of that for me through the pages of books and through the people who were passionate about them and I couldn’t wait to meet my own little bookworm and show him or her how powerful books could be.