Emelie thanked Christer and started going over the rules regarding toilets and emergency exits before wishing everyone good luck.
Three hours later, the room was full of people, both inside and out in the yard. The ferries were running frequently, and they were all filled with people from the mainland. Emelie was running around like a lunatic, helping with everything that needed to be done, putting away dishes, emptying waste baskets, helping Linn refill rolls and Lucia buns, assisting the kids in the Lucia procession and answering a thousand questions about parking and toilets. Andreas helped in the café and with Emelie’s market stand, along with Liv and Linnea. As Emelie rushed past her own table, Liv gave her a thumbs up and grinned. It seemed like business was pretty good.
“Oh Emelie! Emelie, there you are!”
Birgitta came towards her with the Santa costume in her hands. She had repaired it, making it look almost new again.
“Where can Stig and I change into Santa outfits?”
Emelie scanned the room, looking for Linn.
“I figured you could do it in the kitchen behind the café, there’s a small staff room in there. There’s Linn!”
She waved to her daughter, pointing to Birgitta, and Linn nodded back and pointed to a place behind the counter. Emelie grabbed Birgitta’s arm.
“Come with me,” she said.
“But Stig…”
“I’d love to have a word with you first,” Emelie said and pulled her with her into the tiny room.
Out of her bag hanging on the wall, Emelie grabbed the envelope, handing it over to Birgitta.
“Is it…?”
Emelie nodded.
“It’s the approval of your porch. Astrid had already signed it, and how it ended up behind a shelf in the cellar, well, I have no clue, but now everything is in order.”
Birgitta took her hand as her eyes filled with tears.
“You don’t understand how happy this makes me. Now I can finally relax. I’ve been feeling as if I’ve been carrying a heavy weight around my neck lately. Christ, this is fantastic…”
They hugged and Emelie left Birgitta to change.
“If you see Stig, then send him over here!” Birgitta shouted after her.
Emelie didn’t have time to take more than two steps out of the room before it was time for the next event on the list: Lucia procession number two. She waved for Liv and Linnea to come over and explained that their Lucia outfits were in a bag in the back with Linn and that they could change in the small room with Birgitta, but that they had to do it right now.
“Mum, we’ve sold five Santas already,” Linnea happily exclaimed.
Liv was standing next to her, babbling about selling a tapestry and a bowl and Emelie thought to herself that they would have to sell much more than that if they didn’t want to bring the boxes back home again, and she really didn’t feel like doing that.
Andreas came rushing in.
“Stig is here!”
“He can come in here, Birgitta has his Santa outfit. But there’s no rush, they’re not on until after the Lucia procession. Are you watching our table now?”
“Sure, I can do that,” he said. They looked at each other and neither one of them could stop smiling.
All Emelie wanted to do was to kiss and hug him, but they hadn’t told Liv and Linnea about their new-found love, so they would have to wait. She stared down at the floor, suddenly feeling a bit shy and stroked his arm.
“Thanks,” she said, and left the table.
“Mum, why is your face so weird?”
Emelie grabbed Linnea and danced around with her until she was giggling loudly.
