Suddenly her eyes grew wide, and she put her hand over her mouth.
“But it didn’t even occur to me! You have never had the privilege to try Astrid’s marvelous baking!” Emelie didn’t understand anything. What was the old lady talking about? Rolls and cups and Astrid and climate changes?”
“I’ll get the others, they won’t want to miss the cinnamon rolls and I’m sure your baking is excellent, Birgitta”, Linn said and ran up the stairs.
She soon came back, accompanied by Liv and Linnea, who were eagerly chatting about all the discoveries they had made in their rooms and how they had arranged and ordered things.
“Mum, I need a dish cloth and some water, I’m going to dust…” Linnea said but interrupted herself when she saw all the visitors in the little kitchen. She soon got to her senses and reached out her hand towards Birgitta.
“Linnea”
“Oh I must say, what a well-behaved little girl”, Birgitta said, smiling appreciatively towards Emelie.
“It’s more than one can say about you” Andreas mumbled.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that” Birgitta said.
“I said that it might be a good idea if you were just as well-behaved and introduced yourself properly to Linnea?”
Birgitta stared from Andreas to Linnea’s hand, that was still resting in hers.
“Yes, yes, of course, you can call me aunt Birgitta, love.”
When she had introduced herself to Liv, Birgitta clasped her hands together.
“But girlies, I’m sure you would like some cordial for the buns? Have you found Astrid’s secret stash of cordial?”
“No,” Emelie responded, “I don’t think we have found any cordial stash.”
“I know just where it is, it’s in the cellar – I’ll go fetch a bottle”, Birgitta said quickly.
“In the cellar? How exciting, I’m coming with you”, Liv said eagerly.
Birgitta turned towards her.
“No, that is no place for young girls, I’ll go by myself” she said, with a voice that left no room for arguing.
She went over to the heavy cellar door, pulled it open and disappeared down the stairs Everyone stared in the direction of the old lady that had suddenly invaded their home. Eventually, Linn broke the silence.
“What was all that about?”
“I would like to apologise on behalf of the island. Birgitta probably means well most times, but it isn’t always easy for her,” Andreas said.
He told them that Birgitta’s husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a couple of years back, and that she had been looking after him all by herself ever since. Nowadays, he never left the house and Birgitta only got a few moments off when he was asleep or got stuck in front some old movie. She always carried an alarm with her to be able to come to his aid. Poor Birgitta, Emilie thought to herself, it must be like being in prison. Never being able to feel free. They were interrupted by a new knocking on the door.
“I must say, we’re very popular today” Emelie laughed.
She had given up every thought about having a quiet moment with her daughter.
“Yes, you know, sensational occurrences like a new family moving in rarely happen on this island”, Andreas said, giving her a wink.
“Especially not families from different climate zones”, Linn laughed, giving Andreas a nudge, and he smiled back at her.
Those two seem worryingly fond of each other, Emelie thought. Didn’t he realise that he was much too old for her?
“I’ll get it”, Liv shouted, and skipped towards the porch and the front door.
“Oh, hello there, love, what’s going on in this house?”
