Tatiana smiled. Kicking was good. Kicking meantlifeand health and hope. “Good indeed! Did you tell her that Skyrgamur brought us a leaf bread iron?”
“Of course. And I told her that we had a very special guest for dinner last night, and that he’s coming again tonight.”
At the gloating note in her niece’s voice, Tatiana’s hands paused, and she sent a narrowed-eyed gaze to the little imp. “And what exactly did you tell her about Anders?”
Elea giggled. “That he can’t stop looking at you and trips over his own feet whenever you’re near, and that you think he’ssohandsome and clever and that his mother invited us over for Christmas Eve.”
Resuming her roller removing, Tatiana hummed. “I suppose all of that is true.”
“And that I hope you get married so that Heidi and I will be cousins.” She paused, frowned. “Would that make us cousins? If my aunt and her uncle are married?”
“Close enough, I’d think.” She sent a wink Elea’s way. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, my little Yule Lass. We haven’t even had an official date.”
“But you’ve been working together forever! You’re already friends, and his mother likes you. Heidi said her ommu is always trying to find girls to set him up with, but she always says, ‘No, no, she’s not right for my Anders. My Anders needs aclevergirl.’”
At the imitation of Gilla—rather good for a seven-year-old, based on their single meeting, anyway—Tatiana cracked a smile. “Does she now?”
“That’s what Heidi said. And I said you’re as clever as you are pretty, so it’s no wonder he likes you, and I’m glad her ommu likes you too.” She wrinkled her nose. “Ommu Margret still says mean things about Mamma sometimes, when she thinks I’m not listening.”
At that, Tatiana spun to face her niece, eyes wide. “I hope you didn’t tell your mother that.” Ari was well aware that she hadn’t been Margret’s first choice for Gunnar, but one would think that after nearly nine years of marriage, Margret would have gotten over her hopes that he’d have chosen her best friend’s daughter.
Elea shook her head, expression earnest. “I’d never hurt Mamma’s feelings like that.” She paused, pursedher lips. “I told Pabbi some of the things she’d said though. His mouth went all tight and flat and he stomped out the door, saying he was going to pay her a visit. She hasn’t said anything since then. Least, not that I’ve heard.”
Good. If Tatiana knew Gunnar at all, he’d given his mother an earful and...hmm. “When was that?”
“A couple months ago. Ommu Margret’s been awful busy since then. I’ve barely seen her.”
Another reason, then, that they’d asked Tatiana to take Elea rather than getting help from the grandparents. She pulled the last roller out, ran her brush through the curls to loosen them, and pinned back the sides. Then she turned to Elea and spun her finger in a circle.
Elea obediently spun around, holding out a hand. Tatiana placed the ribbons that would match today’s dress in her palm and brushed out her silken hair. “You did the right thing, telling yourpabbi.”
“I know,” she said easily. “I love Ommu, but it’s not right, the things she said about Mamma. Besides, Mamma’s getting better now. This baby... this baby’s going to be fine, and Mamma’s going to be fine, and she’s not going to be so sad anymore.”
Tatiana used the end of a comb to part Elea’s hair down the middle, gathered the left side and draped it over her shoulder to keep it out of the way, and started the first braid on the right side. “I pray you’re right,” she said. She didn’t want to say that, even if the baby was healthy—which, pray God, he or she would be—that didn’t mean Ari’s sorrow would go away. Tatiana was the last of her friends to get married, which meant she’d had plenty of opportunity to attend weddings and thenoohandaahover cute little newborns, and Ari wasn’t the only young woman who struggled with feeling blue in the months following a birth.
“I am.” Elea’s tone said so much more than her words. That sheneededto be right, that she had to believe. But also that shedidbelieve. “You should have heard her when I told her about Anders. She laughed and clapped, and I couldhearher smiling, Aunt Tatta. I haven’t heard her so happy in... a long time. She’s getting better. I know she is.”
Tatiana paused her braiding long enough to lean down and drop a kiss to the top of Elea’s head. “Then I believe you. You know your mother better than anyone but yourpabbidoes, I think.”
“She said she wants to talk to you tomorrow.” Atease, now, in her voice. “I think she wants all the juicy details.”
Tatiana chuckled, finished off the braid, and reached for one of the ribbons to tie around the end. “I’ll be sure to exaggerate every detail for her.”
“I don’t think you have to. I think Anders has liked you for a long, long time. I think now that he knows you like him, he’s going to take his mother’s advice and never let you go.”
Tatiana moved to the left side, not even trying to keep the smile from her lips. “I hope you’re right. I’ve liked him for a long, long time too.”
Her niece grinned. “It’s a good thing I came to visit, isn’t it? Otherwise, who knows if he ever would have said a thing!”
“A very excellent point.” But those books she’d hidden under her bed all but taunted her, reminding her that she couldn’t exactly build a good relationship on a foundation of secrets. She had to tell him.
Soon.
Somehow.
TEN
20 DECEMBER 1944
