She heard a deep male voice with a broad Gothenburg accent coming from the hallway. Andreas sighed.
“Ah, I should have guessed it, naturally Stig can’t stay away for very long”, he said, shaking his head.
Liv entered the kitchen followed by a man that was so tall that he had to bend his neck in order to get through the doorway. He filled up the whole room with his messy, grey hair like a halo around his round, reddish face. His round belly was trapped in a flannel shirt, its buttons struggling to keep the fabric together. He walked around the kitchen like he owned it, exactly as Birgitta had done just moments ago. He introduced himself as Stig and shook everyone’s hand except Andreas, who he gave a hard pat on the back instead.
“Andreas hello, here you are, hanging out with the new girls,” he said cheerfully.
Andreas fell over the table, pretending to have lost his breath and making Stig and all the girls burst out laughing. Emelie shook her head but couldn’t help but laugh too.
“I don’t want to interrupt, I just wanted to say welcome and make sure you were settling in all right. I know it can be a bit much with a whole house for a beautiful lady from the big city,” Stig said, smiling in a friendly way at Emily.
Andreas and Linn rolled their eyes at each other and started laughing again. Stig looked at them in surprise, and then turned towards Emilie.
“As I said, if you need any help whatsoever, whatever it might be, cleaning the gutters, driving to the rubbish dump, hanging curtains or whatever it is you women might need, don’t hesitate, just call uncle Stig.”
Stig pointed to his chest, looking incredibly proud whilst trying to ignore Andreas and Linn, that by now had infected Liv and Linnea with their laughing spell, making all four twist and turn with laughter. Emelie fought hard not to start laughing and tried to give Andreas an angry stare to make him understand that he had to pull himself together.
“Thank you Stig, that’s very kind of you, I will remember that. Perhaps you would be interested in a cup of coffee? We just made a new batch and Birgitta has brought some cinnamon rolls,” Emelie said. “By the way, what happened to her, was she going to make the cordial in the cellar, or what?”
Andreas got to his feet.
“I’ll go look for her.”
“I’m coming with you, I don’t want you getting eaten by the cellar monster too”, Linn said, flying off her chair.
“Are there monsters in the cellar?” Liv asked with her eyes wide open and a slight shake on her bottom lip.
“Absolutely not” Emelie said, “Linn is only joking, and Linn, you can stay here and find a cup for Stig, I’m sure Andreas can manage to find Birgitta all by himself.”
There was a harshness to her voice, but what she saw blossoming between Linn and Andreas had to be stopped before it had a chance to start. She had to speak to Andreas about Linn being a romantic teenager and remind him that he was far too old for her, if he didn’t understand that himself. Andreas opened the cellar door and they all heard heavy steps on the stairs.
“That took some time. Did you find the cordial?” Andreas asked.
“Oh yes, some lovely home-made cordial!”
Birgitta handed over a bottle with a label decorated with holly and red berries to Emelie. In cursive writing it saidStrawberry/rhubarb cordial. Birgitta leaned against the kitchen counter, and panted, having climbed the steep cellar stairs.
“There are several bottles left in the larder downstairs to the left, behind the boxes with Christmas ornaments,” she said, speaking in short bursts.
When she discovered Stig sitting by the table she swiftly pulled her fingers through her hair to neaten it and straightened out some invisible wrinkles from her flower-patterned skirt.
“Oh, Stig, you’re here”, she said, blushing, while her voice got noticeably softer.
“Of course, darling. Of course, Stig is here wishing our new friends welcome. I heard we were having coffee and some of your lovely cinnamon rolls.”
Something beeped in Birgitta’s pocket and she picked up a pager and sighed sadly.
“Not for me, I’m requested elsewhere. Or, I guess I shouldn’t say that, but my husband needs me. I hope you will enjoy yourselves. Emelie, would you mind walking me to the door?”
Emily looked at Birgitta in surprise but put the coffee thermos on the table and followed her out to the porch. She turned towards Andreas with a puzzled look on her face, but he just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Birgitta kept on babbling about baking and strawberry cordial while slipping into the damp, purple raincoat, then she took Emelie’s hands in hers, looked her deeply in the eyes and lowered her voice.
“Emelie, as I mentioned, I was very close to Astrid. I don’t know exactly how to put this, but she has something that she promised that she was going to give me. Not like an inheritance, but more like a gift. It isn’t worth much, but it is valuable to me and I need to find it. So, if you find an envelope with my name on, I hope that you will give it to me without opening it. Can we agree on that?”
She squeezed Emelie’s hands even harder and looked straight at her begore letting go and petting Emelie on the back of her hand.
“I’ll be back, and then I can help you clean up. I know how many things there are here, and I’m sure we will find my envelope then.”
Emelie didn’t know how to interpret what Birgitta was saying, but she knew for a fact that she wasn’t interested in having the lady going through drawers and cabinets in what was now her house. Emelie pulled her hands free, giving Birgitta a light tap on the shoulder.
