Chapter 26
It was December 13, St Lucia Day and the day before the Christmas market. Emelie was lying in bed, stretching. She had the same feeling as when you’ve planned a holiday a long time in advance. Planning and longing and waiting, and suddenly it was time. Today, most of the salespeople would come and get their stands in order and she had no time to laze around. She turned on her belly, pulled the pillow into her arms and for a moment, she pretended that it was Andreas’ morning warm body. She could feel his scent and even though she didn’t remember much of their night together, it was as if her body remembered, and it made it tingle all the way from her chest down to her groin area. She smiled and told herself to get it together, now it was time for the Lucia celebration in school and then she had a market to think about. She tip-toed out of her room, and went to wake up Liv and Linnea. Linn had the day off to be able to finish baking the last things for the Christmas market and she had said that she wanted to sleep until nine. Oskar had spent the night in the tower but had gotten up early to go to work. Emelie smiled thinking about Oskar and how quickly he had become a part of their family. In the beginning he hadn’t said much, but nowadays he loved taking part in discussions about everything from politics to soccer and horses. Most of all, it was clear that he was in love with Linn, and it warmed her motherly heart to see the way he was looking at her. She made breakfast and hushed Liv and Linnea when they stumbled down the stairs, reminding them not to wake Linn up. They were both excited about the Lucia procession. Liv had been picked to recite a poem and she had been practicing for several days. She had proudly proclaimed that she would be the first Lucia maid ever with her leg in a cast, and they had bought enough glitter both her hair as well as her waist and bandaged leg. Linnea was going to be an elf and singSanta Claus is Coming to Townwith some other kids from the class.
The lights were out in the small classroom and there were tealights in the windows and on the tables, illuminating the room with a warm, flickering light. There was a cosy buzzing from parents greeting each other and trying to keep younger children in line, but when the schoolteacher, Maria popped her head in, asking for silence, everyone listened and moments later a faint Lucia song could be heard in the distance. The door opened and when the four Lucia brides in different sizes came walking in Emelie felt herself tearing up. When Liv read her poem with a loud and clear voice and supported on her crutches, she couldn’t keep her tears back anymore. Malin leaned towards her and discreetly handed her a tissue.
“She looks beautiful,” she said.
Emelie just nodded, she was so proud of her girls. After the Lucia procession, it was time for coffee and cake and Emelie and Maria agreed that the children would come over to the community centre to rehearse in a couple of hours. She excused herself, explaining she had lots to do before the Christmas market and all the parents promised to show up the following day. As she grabbed her jacket from the hanger in the corridor, she heard the phone in the pocket beeping. She picked it up and saw that she had two missed calls and three text messages from Linn.
“Pick up, there’s been a disaster.”
Emelie felt a cold lump in her chest, and her first thought was miscarriage. It was the only disaster she could think of, and she took a deep breath. It was still so early in the pregnancy so it wouldn’t be any danger for Linn. What if Oskar’s parents could help her get to the hospital in town? She was ashamed to admit it, but part of her was slightly relieved. In this way they would be able to wait and not have to become parents so desperately early. The phone rang and she put on her jacket while leaving the school and answered in a soft voice.
“Linn love, how are you, where are you?”
“Where are YOU?”
Emelie jumped. That wasn’t the voice of someone in pain, rather of someone quite furious.
“I’ve been to Liv and Linnea’s Lucia celebration, and I didn’t bring the phone inside.”
“Oh” Linn said, in a slightly milder voice. “But mum, there’s been a disaster.”
The cold lump returned when Emelie heard the panic in Linn’s voice.
“Our oven is broken!”
A moment passed before Emelie realised what Linn was saying and a smile spread across her face.
“Oh, nothing worse.”
“Nothing worse!”
Linn was almost screaming.
“It’s the day before the market, how could it possibly be any worse! How the hell am I going to solve this? There won’t be a café at the market!”
“No, you’re right, but I thought…And calm down, for heaven’s sake!”
Linn started sobbing.
“What are we going to do? Two full oven plates of Lucia rolls are already destroyed and today was the day when I was supposed to bake everything that we are serving fresh tomorrow.”
Emelie was almost all the way to the community centre and the parking lot outside was filled with vans, pickup trucks and a bunch of mopeds with loading platforms. In the middle of the yard, she saw Christer directing the traffic.
“But Linn, try to calm down. You’ve been able to borrow Andreas’ oven before, don’t you think you can be there today and take care of the last preparations when he’s at work?”
It got completely quiet, and then there was a couple of sniffles before Linn spoke again.
“Oh, mum, why didn’t I think of that? Of course, I’ll call him right away. Sometimes I think I’m completely stupid. Could it be the pregnancy hormones, do you think? Kisses, you’re the best!”
Emelie laughed after she had hung up. Sometimes her big girl still needed her mum. She waved to Christer who happily returned her greeting.
“Hello, so nice that you are here, do you want to take a round with your list and check the tables and the placements one last time before we let in the salesmen in?”
“Okay, I’ll go on in and then you can come when you are done with the cars.”
Emelie put her jacket in the cloakroom, grabbed her iPad from the bag and opened her file. They had twenty tables all together, ten in the great hall and another ten in the yard outside. She peeked into the hall. The tables were neatly placed along the walls of the room and in the middle of the floor there were smaller tables and chairs where hungry marketgoers could sit and have their coffee, cordial and some of Linn’s delicious cookies. There were garlands of pine decorated with Christmas ornaments on the ceiling. Andreas was standing on a ladder by the door securing the last of the garlands. He waved at her and gestured to her to stay put until he had come down from the ladder. She gave him a puzzled look as he came walking towards her, putting his arm around her and giving her a kiss. She looked around, feeling slightly embarrassed; what if someone saw them? Andreas smiled and pointed towards the ceiling.
