I know what he’s doing, making sure this is what I want. ‘Yes, of course,’ I say.
‘Well, then,’ he grins, ‘let’s do this right.’
For the first time I become aware of the high glass ceiling above us. There are stars framing Stellan’s blond hair in a silver halo, and for a moment we just look at each other as he pulls me up to kneel in front of him, face to face.
Everything slows.
Stellan’s fingertips slide between my neck and my hair and he lifts away the strands, exposing my skin. There’s a green-blue light glimmering on his shoulders and I let my hands swim through it and over his body.
For a moment his eyes rest on mine then move down to the spot just below my ear that I know he’s going to kiss first. It’s so torturously slow in coming that I close my eyes and lean my head back into the cradle of his hands at my nape.
I say a little prayer to all the ancient Scandinavian gods.Please let it be like it used to.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After watching the flames dancing in the hearth and finishing their cloudberry cocktails, they dined on honeyed porridge by the fireside. Niilo watched in delight as Nari found the hidden almond in her creamy, steaming bowlful – the almond that meant she’d be bestowed with good fortune all year long, and she’d dug in her pocket to show Niilo the silver sixpence Sylvie had given her in the taxi as they left the airport.
‘So you’re going to get very lucky this Christmas, then?’ Niilo said with a smile and a meaningful look passed between them.
Trying not to betray the thrill Nari’s glance sent down his spine, Niilo quickly cleared the bowls. ‘Should we, um, go for a walk, do some aurora chasing?’
Within moments they had clambered back into their snowsuits, and Niilo was rummaging in the cupboard below the cabinet of family treasures.
Nari cocked her head, watching him select a glass jar and a small candle. ‘What do you need that for?’
‘I light a candle for my parents at Christmas. I already visited their graves yesterday morning, but I need to place it in the snow. Is that OK? It’s not weird, is it?’
‘Not at all. Can I have one too, please?’
‘Of course.’
‘For Dad,’ Nari adds in a quieter voice, watching as Niilo finds another set.
‘Let’s light them now.’
Nari watches as he brings the two candles to life, silenced by the way the light loved the angles of his face and his rounding lips as he blew out the match.
Instinctively, they reach for each other’s hands and don’t let go on their slow stroll into the forest, their candles lighting their path.
‘It doesn’t seem quite so dark tonight,’ Nari said, looking skyward as they enter the treeline.
‘That’s the beginnings of the aurora. The sky seems lighter at first and suddenly you’ll see a flash of green. Give it about an hour and we’ll have a decent display, I expect.’
Leaving the cottage’s lights behind, they make their way deeper into the forest, crunching through snow and snapping twigs and branches deep underfoot.
‘In the early autumn my grandmothers would come out here foraging for berries. I remember they’d be gone all day, only coming back late at night with baskets full of bilberries, raspberries, lingonberries, mushrooms, anything you could wish for. And then they’d cook, and preserve things, and dry the mushrooms for the winter. I can still remember the smell of the sugar and the fruit in the big pan. Lingonberry jelly was my favourite as a kid.’
‘I’d love to see this place in the warm days. It must be transformed,’ Nari said.
‘It is. Everything is green by June, and the white nights in the summer when the sun doesn’t set, those are wonderful. Stellan and I fish on the lake and we hold midnight barbecues for the staff sometimes. Those are good times.’
‘Maybe I could come back to see that?’
‘Come back any time.’
A sudden gust of wind sweeps through the trees sending powdery snow from the overladen branches flurrying into the air. Nari stops dead and they drop hands to protect their candles, now guttering in the falling flakes.
Just as Nari is grinning at Niilo’s face, recovering from the sudden icy blast, a sharp screech rings out, and a swift shadow moves somewhere up above them.
