“Bloody hell it’s cold outside, but how are you doing? You are as pale as a sheet.”
She stopped in the middle of the kitchen, giving her mum a concerned look, while putting a bag on the floor and a box with green bags inside on the table.
“No, I’m just fine, I just got up a bit fast when I was refilling my coffee.”
She raised her cup as if to prove that what she said was true and then lowered her voice, even though she didn’t know why. Liv was already at the stables and Linnea was upstairs watching YouTube with headphones on.
“But how areyoudoing?”
“Oh, I’m great! Check this out, it’s the seaweed. I’m going to start making seaweed crispbread and then we can serve it with soft cheese and figs at tonight’s mulled wine party.”
Linn showed her one of the paper bags containing a greenish-blackish powder. Ground up seaweed. Emelie inhaled the scent of sea and salt and then shrugged a little.
“It smells a bit like truffles, kind of stuffy,” she said, and Linn nodded.
“Yes, but it has lot of umami taste to it, so it will be great for the bread. And then we’ll have gingerbread cookies with blue cheese, spiced almonds, Lucia buns, raisins, of course, and butterscotch. What do you think?”
The mere thought of everything Linn had mentioned made Emelie’s belly turn, but she forced herself to nod. She looked at the time.
“It’s eleven o’clock now and everyone will be here at six, so we’ll have to make sure to have eaten by four and…”
She looked around the room.
“Before that I need to vacuum and prepare my presentation.”
Linn nodded; she was already bringing out the ingredients for the bread.
“Let’s set the table together later, shall we?”
It was a quarter to six and Emelie still had a nervous lump in her throat. She had forced down some pasta Bolognese just so the girls wouldn’t wonder, and now she looked around the room, feeling pleased with what she saw. The kitchen table was set with mulled wine cups and in the middle of the table was a cast iron holder with room for a tealight at the bottom. That’s where the big mulled wine pot that matched the cups would go. Next to it was a soup spoon with red hearts on the porcelain handle. Astrid had of course saved loads of Christmas themed napkins and Linn had picked some white ones with red hearts and green garlands to go with the mulled wine set. There were bowls of almonds as well as raisins, butterscotch and gingerbread fudge on the table. There were two baskets of bread: one with sugar kelp crispbread and one with gingerbread cookies. There was also a big plate of Lucia buns covered with a red and white checkered towel and a bowl full of mandarins and winter apples. Linn came down the stairs, she had changed into a short, black skirt, black pantyhose and an ugly Christmas sweater with a large reindeer head surrounded by multi-coloured blinking lights.
“Mum, you need to change, we agreed that everyone was going to wear Christmas sweaters.”
Emelie smiled carefully. It was as if they had switched places. Linn was the determined mother, and she was the hormonal and confused teenager. She stretched her back and smiled.
“Of course, I’m ready”, she said. “I only have to put on my sweater. Speaking of which, yours is absolutely hideous,” she laughed.
Linn stuck her tongue out at her and Emelie walked up the stairs, shouting:
“Liv, Linnea, are you ready?”
There was a knock on the door and Linn went out to open it.
“Hello, oh, such lovely flowers, they will be perfect.”
Andreas, Emelie thought to herself and the lump in her belly grew bigger, making her fear that she was going to throw up the spaghetti. There was another knock on the door, and she heard Christer’s deep voice in the hallway. She was relieved when she figured out how to deal with the situation. She wouldn’t go downstairs until everyone had arrived, then she wouldn’t have to face Andreas alone. She continued upstairs and told the young girls to put on the elaborately decorated sweaters that Linn had bought for them in town.
“Mum, it’s so beautiful,” Liv said, stroking the blinking Christmas tree on her sweater.
Linnea’s sweater had a Santa Claus with a large grin and a blinking bag of toys on his back.
“I’m going to have a seizure if you keep the blinking lights on all night,” Emelie said, straightening their outfits. “There! You look great, now run on down and I’ll join you in a moment.”
She took a deep breath and walked slowly down the stairs, but she had to stop for a second just to process what she saw. Liv and Linnea were laughing with Andreas. Even though he was wearing a hideous sweater with a pig on it, he was the most handsome she had ever seen him. Linn and Oskar were standing by the nicely set table and discussing what needed to be refilled. Sussi and Stina were having a laugh with Christer, Birgitta was beaming next to Stig who was standing in the middle of the room, one thumb under his braces. Her plan had worked out great and her mood quickly improved as she embraced everyone and welcomed them to her home. She gave Andreas the same friendly hug as everyone else, but he held her a little bit longer and whispered in her ear:
“I’m not angry, and the secret is safe with me.”
She smiled gratefully at him, her cheeks blushing. An hour later she had gone over all the preparations for the market, and everyone was updated on their tasks. She looked at Linn who nodded at her.
