“Yes, we had a stairlift installed last year, it’s very practical. Come on now, let’s sit down.”
The table slowly filled up with people. Oskar and Linn were sitting next to each other holding hands and giggling about something only they knew. Anders sat down next to Emelie, and Helena took the chair next to Oskar’s. They started chatting about the market and the Christmas house when Emelie heard a buzzing sound coming from the hallway and looked up. A hunched, old lady with a walker came into the room.
“Oskar! Are you going to give me a hand?,” she asked in a sharp voice.
Oskar got up, lent his grandmother an arm and walked her to the table. As she sat down, she lifted her head and stared straight at Emelie. It was the racist old lady. Emelie nearly choked on her Cava and hoped with all her heart that the old lady wouldn’t recognise her. But she wasn’t so lucky.
“So, you’re the one that has brought a whole clan of people over here?”
The old lady didn’t have time to say more before Anders hushed her in a loud and clear voice.
“Mother, Emelie and Linn are our guests, and Linn is Oskar’s girlfriend, so you need to try and behave yourself. You know that already,” he said, trying to make nice with the old lady who scoffed.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”
Emelie smiled at her. She couldn’t be cross with a lady that was over eighty years old and lived in a different reality than them, but she didn’t have to accept her racist views either. Emelie had stopped being quiet in situations like these a long time ago, even if there were older people involved.
“Perhaps we should start over? My name is Emelie,” she said.
The old lady didn’t answer, and Emelie saw that Helena gave Anders a look.
“Mum, get it together,” he said harshly.
The lady looked up, squinting
“Svea,” she replied shortly.
Emelie smiled, it was usually the best weapon.
“All right then, Svea. I don’t have to enjoy sitting at the same table as you either, but the truth is that my daughter and your grandchild are going to have a child together, and you and I can think whatever we want about that. But I won’t accept that you are rude, not to my daughter or to her coming child,” Emelie said stiffly.
“But mum”, Linn said quietly.
Emelie hushed her. She might as well get this over with right away.
“Linn’s father is from Gambia, as you already know, and I don’t know where he is now. He left us three years ago and I haven’t seen him since. But there is still a part of him in Linn, Linnea and Liv and that is something worth cherishing. That is something that will live on in your child, Oskar and Linn, and I hope that you understand that. It’s not always easy, but one has to stand up for oneself and for those one cares about,” she said.
It got quiet around the table. Not even Svea said anything. Eventually, Anders broke the silence, raising his glass.
“It’s our grandchild too, and I promise that we will do everything in our power to make sure that these opinions that my mother has grown up with won’t live on. Do you hear that, mother? We won’t accept any such nonsense! And it stops here, because no one is more thrilled than us that it’s you, Linn, who is Oskar’s girlfriend. Cheers!”
They all cheered and Emelie smiled. Everything was going to be okay.
Chapter 24
There were only two weeks left until the day of the market. Emelie tried to concentrate on going over everything and making sure she hadn’t forgotten or overlooked any detail. But she had had a hard time focusing ever since Linn told her the secret, or whatever it was, and she still had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that Linn was going to become a mum. And that she was going to be a grandma! That was even harder to grasp. Her thoughts were spinning, and she was constantly worried that one of them would slip away and that she would accidentally reveal something. She felt as if she was lying to Liv and Linnea when her and Linn pretended to carry on just as usual. The day before, when she was helping Liv with her English homework she had lost focus so many times that eventually, Liv had asked her what was wrong. She had scrambled, saying that she was just fine.
And then there was Andreas…She had done everything in her power to try and avoid him and planned her walks so she wouldn’t run into him. She realised that she had to talk to him and apologise for her behaviour, and perhaps that might even be the simplest part. What Linn had mentioned about him being in love with her was much more complicated. How was she supposed to handle that? Now that she didn’t have to worry about him and Linn anymore she had admitted to herself that she felt strongly about him. Now there were two remaining obstacles:
He probably thought she was insane after her meltdown the other day
He was so young!
She knew that cared a lot for him, but she also knew for a fact that she didn’t want any more children. Giving birth to Linnea had been difficult and taken a very long time, and she had also suffered some sort of post-partum psychosis afterwards. She didn’t want to risk the life she had built up for herself by going through it all again. But Andreas would make a fabulous dad and she didn’t want to stand between him and becoming a father. She sighed and took a sip of the coffee that had turned cold, frowning when she swallowed the bitter drink. She didn’t have any appetite; it was as if all her emotions were filling up her belly and didn’t leave any room for food or hunger. Tonight was the night of the mulled wine tasting and the last run-through with the Christmas market committee and she reminded herself for the hundredth time that she was the project leader and that she had to pull herself together. She got up to fill up her cup with warm coffee. The whole room started spinning, it got dark for a moment, and she had to grab hold of the edge of the table to stop herself falling over. She tried to swallow the nausea and focused on the kitchen counter. It was nothing but low blood pressure, she had to eat something to make it pass, but just the thought of food made her feel sick again. The front door opened.
“I’m home!”
It was Linn, Emelie took her coffee cup and quickly sat down at the table again. Linn and Oskar had been into town since yesterday to meet the delivery man and collect the spices and seaweed from him.
