‘I must get the recipe.’
‘You’re more than welcome. It’s so good to see you, Mina. It’s been such a long time.’ Amelie hugged Mina again and then stepped back, to study Mina’s face, cupping it with one warm hand. ‘You look so like your mother.’ She shook her head, her expression turning sombre. ‘And I can’t believe she’s been gone for so long. Such a tragedy.’
Mina nodded, although to be honest, she had no recollection of her mother and never felt that she’d missed out. Miriam and Derek were wonderful, loving parents and sometimes in her more thoughtful moments, she suspected that they had probably done a better job than her real parents would have. From the photos she’d seen and, picking up on more of what Miriam didn’t say when either she or Hannah asked about their real mum and dad, Mina suspected that Georgie and Stewart’s adventures had come before their children. They had been reckless and impulsive, there was no denying that – what parents would go rally driving in unfamiliar, dangerous terrain when they had two small children at home? In her darkest moments, Mina worried that she might have inherited too many of her mother’s genes, as Simon had accused.
‘And how is Hannah?’
‘She’s good. Thinking about doing a cookery course at some place in Ireland.’
‘Not the Ballygeary Cookery School?’ Amelie’s eyes widened with envy.
‘Yes, that’s the one.’
Amelie groaned. ‘I’d love to go there. It sounds wonderful. I looked at doing one of their bread-making courses many years ago but with the flights, it was quite a price. I’m not surprised you two girls are interested in food, your Aunt Miriam, lovely as she is, is a dreadful cook.’
‘Which is why I started baking.’
‘Cake is the way to everyone’s hearts.’
‘Hmm,’ said Mina, thinking of the convivial, warm atmosphere in the chalet the previous evening, everyone slightly weary but happy from their day’s outdoor activity.
‘And caring.’ Amelie smiled gently at Mina. ‘I really want all my guests to feel at home here. I hate those stuffy hotels where you go and everyone looks down their nose at you and you don’t feel as if you should be there. People work so hard these days and a lot of them are so far from family, especially the expatriots, it’s important to make them feel they can relax here. When my grandparents were alive, this was my refuge.’ She gazed out of the window with a wistful smile and Mina wondered if there was a story there. ‘They fixed me, every time I came. I want to extend that welcome to everyone who comes here.’
‘What do you mean they fixed you?’ Mina blurted out, curiosity getting the better of her.
Amelie laughed. ‘You’re so like your mother.’
‘I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Sorry, you probably don’t want to talk about it.’
‘The reason we were such good friends was that we both lived hard and fast. Partying hard, working hard, earning lots of money and being frivolous with it. Money trickled through our hands, fancy restaurants, exotic holidays, always looking for the next thrill. We might have prided ourselves – we were smug about it – that we didn’t do drugs, but we lived for the next adrenaline shot. I would fly to London. She would come to Zurich. We were both crazy, burning the candle at both ends. Every now and then I would run out of steam, and I’d come to see my grandmother, and she’d cook and look after me, without a word of reproach. Whereas if I’d gone to see my parents…’ She lifted her hands in horror. ‘Oh, the lectures I’d have got. They live in Geneva now.’ She pulled the sort of face that suggested that as far as she was concerned, Geneva was the end of the line on the great railway of life.
‘When your parents died, I’ll be honest, it was a wake-up call. Georgie was spontaneous, but when she met your father, he was the daredevil. He encouraged her to go that bit further. It made me uncomfortable. And then…’ Her face crumpled in sadness. ‘They weren’t there anymore. We all grew up that year, all the friends. I met my husband and got married and we were happy for twenty years, and then he died and the hole in my life came back.’ She shook herself as if pulling herself out of the morass of memories. ‘And I came here and… found something. I like looking after people, tending to them.’ The words resonated with Mina and she thought of her Mexican dinner party. Although ultimately it had been a disaster, she’d looked forward to it with so much pleasure, anticipating her guests’ tastes and cooking the most delicious dishes she could think of, to please them. She’d always loved cooking, but only now she realised that it stemmed from a desire to look after people, like Amelie, to tend to them. Simon had once accused her of using her cooking to show off, to be the centre of attention. At the time, he’d made her question her motives and it had knocked her confidence a little. Now she realised he’d been totally wrong.
‘Did my mother cook?’ she asked suddenly, wondering whether Georgie would have cooked to show off, or to look after people, realising there was so much she didn’t know about her parents.
Amelie laughed sadly. ‘No. That would be too boring. And too time-consuming. Life was to be lived at breakneck speed. She was always too busy looking for the next adventure.’
Mina blinked back tears. ‘I don’t really know that much about my mother. Part of me is mad at her that her adventures were more important than me and Hannah.’ She put her hand over her mouth, shocked that she’d admitted as much out loud. Miriam, always fiercely loyal to her sister, had never said anything like that, but Mina had wondered if she thought it too.
Amelie frowned and looked away. She clearly didn’t want to meet Mina’s eyes.
‘I knew her before she was a mother. I’m not sure I’d be the right person to comment on that.’ Her eyes shifted again and Mina wondered if she really believed that. As she said herself, she liked tending to people, looking after them. Georgie and Stuart hadn’t wanted to tend and look after Mina and her sister. They’d left that to Miriam and Derek.
Amelie brought her gaze back to Mina’s face. ‘But I do know she was enormous fun, generous to her friends, and had a huge capacity for love. I think she would have loved you very much.’
‘We were loved.’ Mina didn’t mean to sound defensive but her adopted parents had been everything that she and Hannah had ever needed.
‘I know. If I’m honest I think Georgie counted on that. It was her safety valve. She knew. I saw them two weeks before they died. They were going paragliding in Interlaken, but they stayed with me in Zurich before they went. Georgie had so many photos of you. I still have them somewhere.’
Uncomfortable with the conversation, Mina’s gaze strayed to the series of lists and recipes pinned up on a pinboard, probably a metre square, on the opposite wall. Deep down, although she’d never voiced it, she didn’t think that her parents had found their children enough. Babies weren’t exciting enough. Looking after them hadn’t been enough. Instead of voicing those dark, disloyal words she changed the subject. ‘That all looks very organised.’
‘I love a list. I like to plan each week, the cakes I’ll make and what I plan to cook. I put the recipes up so that I can check whether I’ve got all the ingredients. It makes shopping so much easier, because the nearest wholesale and farmers’ market is in Brig, which is about half an hour’s drive away.’
Mina stood up and looked at the recipes:zigercake, quark streuselkuchen, Solothurner torte, lozärner lebkuchen. ‘I’ve never heard of any of these. I’d love to know how to make them.’ She never missed an opportunity to broaden her cooking repertoire.
‘Of course, but you don’t want to spend your whole time in the kitchen, do you? And I’m sorry, I’m busy this afternoon. What would you like to do? There’s so much to do in the area. Did you see the leaflets in the lounge last night?’ Amelie rose as if to go and fetch some.
‘Don’t worry. I’m sorted for today,’ lied Mina. She still hadn’t decided if she’d go out with Luke but she didn’t want Amelie feeling guilty for abandoning her. ‘Luke offered to take me out this afternoon and teach me how to cross-country ski. He said you hire out the skis, poles, and boots.’ She felt guilty she’d taken the ski kit yesterday without even thinking about the hire charges. Amelie was already putting her up in a guest room without taking any money.
