“Thank you so much for today. You don’t know how much it means to me,” she said, and he took her hand and looked at her with his beautiful eyes.
She almost fainted right where she was standing.
Chapter 22
Emelie dropped Liv off at school after having been to the hospital to check that the leg was healing nicely. She had suggested that Liv should come back with her afterwards and rest, but Liv had insisted on going back to school for the last class of the day. Her phone beeped and she took one of her gloves off and put her cold fingers into the warm pocket of her down jacket. It was Linn.
“I’m off soon, are you home? I need to talk to you.”
She stopped not to slip on the pavement. The farmer from Östersidan who oversaw the gritting had done a good job, but it was best to be careful. One broken bone was enough for this family this winter. She looked at the screen. Linn’s message sounded troubling. She sighed and answered her.
“Just dropped off Liv, on my way home, soon passing by the shop.”
“Wait outside.”
She carefully tip-toed down the hill, saying hello to Greta who was struggling to get up the hill with her red walker.
“Do you need any help, Greta?”
Greta shook her head with determination, her grey curls bouncing around her knitted hat. She was panting, exhausted.
“No, no, this is my workout, it’s good for old legs, you know.”
Greta focused on the top of the hill and continued her slow struggle upwards. Emelie laughed to herself, hoping that she would have the same fighting spirit when she got that old. When she reached the shop, she thought about Linn’s text message again.
She stopped outside and walked back and forth to keep warm and to get her thoughts in order.
“Hello mum,” Linn said, linking arms with her. Blimey, it’s cold, it will be nice to get home and warm up.”
Emelie nodded and they turned into the road leading towards the bridge and their house.
“Your text message made me nervous, what is it that we need to talk about?”
“Let’s discuss it when we get home.”
Linn talked about her workday, that they had done inventory and went on to tell her different stories about the clients. Usually, Emelie loved hearing her talk about everything that was happening in the little village and how Linn in her youthful fashion seemed to take all obstacles and troubles so lightly. If she was still working in the store shop ten years from now she would probably have a more critical view of everything. But today Emelie couldn’t appreciate the stories and she only hummed back, her head spinning with questions of what to expect when they came home. When they got back to the house, they sat down at the kitchen table with cups of tea and some sandwiches.
“This table is so nice. Blimey, he is so talented and friendly,” she said, stroking the soft wooden surface.”
“He is, yes, but now you have to tell me what’s the matter, I get really worried.”
“Okay, mum, I’m not so sure you are going to think this is great, but I’m happy and it’s super early so I don’t know yet what’s going to happen, but I still wanted to tell you.”
The thoughts were spinning in her head. Had Linn applied for school? Was she moving away from home, getting a driver’s license, a tattoo? Or the worst possible scenario: what if she wanted to move back to Växjö?” Emelie took a deep breath, preparing for what was to come. Linn took a sip of the warm tea and a deep breath.
“I’m pregnant, and before you say anything yes, I’m planning on keeping it.”
Emelie slumped down in her chair, her thoughts spinning even faster than before and without her being able to catch them. Pregnant? Her little girl! There was something so familiar about the whole situation and Emelie knew exactly what it was. A little over nineteen years ago she had been the one sitting in her mother’s kitchen telling her the exact same thing. But now it was Linn sitting on the other side of the table, looking as stubborn as she did when she was a little girl and refused to wear a dress to a birthday party. It was almost impossible to change her mind when she looked like that.
“But how… when… love… oh, but you’re just too young!”
Linn got up, angrily pushing the farmer chair and standing behind it so that it created a shield between her and her mother.
“I knew you were going to say that! And how old were you when you got pregnant?”
Emelie just stared at Linn, thinking about the situation she had been in back then. Then it had been her standing broad-legged with her arms crossed over her chest and her parents that had dropped down into different chairs in despair. She had come back from her Gambia trip and told them that she was pregnant and that there wasn’t a thing they could do about it and that hopefully the child’s father would soon come to Sweden. She got up and started clearing the table just to have something to do while she was taking deep breaths, and she could feel Linn’s determined stare on her neck. She looked out the window and saw Andreas who was unloading plants and putting them onto his moped. Just looking at him made her furious. That prick, coming here and being all nice and building tables and driving her daughters to the hospital while he couldn’t even keep his willie in his pants.
“Bloody hell! Shit!”
