Amalie chose not to answer until she’d carefully considered her words. ‘Alexander’s success is my success. There’s no credit due to me.’
‘I was wrong about you, Amalie,’ his mother-in-law said. ‘I thought you were going to lead my boy astray, that his life would be over if he married you, yet here you are, the guiding light to my only son.’
It was a compliment if ever she’d received one, and although she didn’t need her mother-in-law’s praise, it didn’t mean it wasn’t nice to hear.
‘Amalie, I know this has been a long time coming, you’ve been a part of this family for so long now, but I would like to apologise to you.’
‘Apologise to me?’ she asked.
‘You were worthy of my Oskar, and if I’d seen that at the time, he would still be alive today. His death was my fault, Amalie, not yours.’
Amalie stopped walking and turned to her, opening her arms and choosing to embrace the woman who’d once treated her so poorly, whom she’d once hated. ‘For so many years I blamed you, but Oskar’s death wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine. It was an accident, and it’s time we both accepted that.’
Her mother-in-law began to cry, and Amalie held her again. There was a time when she’d hated her; when she’d blamed the way her life had turned out on the woman she now held in her arms, but Amalie knew better than to live in the past.
‘Without you,’ she said, putting a little distance between them so she could wipe her fingertips across her cheeks, ‘I would have been destitute. I would have had to place my gorgeous girl for adoption so she could live the life I dreamed for her, or live in poverty and struggle to provide her with enough food to fill her belly. So I forgive you, for it all.’
Her mother-in-law’s eyes cleared, and it was as if they finally saw each other for who they were.
‘Alexander has been a wonderful husband to me, and a kind, loving father to our daughter. I wouldn’t trade the life we share for anything.’
‘Not even a chance to go back?’
Amalie thought for a moment. ‘I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that I’m content. I love Alexander with all my heart, and I cherish every day we spend together. I no longer look back and wonderwhat if, and I don’t want you to, either. We can only look forward and enjoy the life that we have.’
A familiar hand touched her shoulder then, and she turned to find Alexander standing behind them. She could tell from the way his eyes shone that he’d overheard what she’d said to his mother.
‘Would you ladies like a tour of the hotel?’ he asked.
Amalie linked her arm through her husband’s, admiring the hotel rising in front of them. It was magnificent, and eventhough Oskar had never wanted to enter the family business, even though he’d felt it a noose rather than a gift,shehad come to love being a part of it, and she hoped that he could see, from wherever he was, that the obstacle that had once kept them apart was the same thing that had finally set her free.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
Charlotte couldn’t believe they were actually there, and the Sognefjord was even more magical than she’d remembered it to be. She and Harrison walked hand in hand along the grass, staring out at the water, before turning back to admire the sprawling hotel behind them.
‘This is where the photo was taken,’ she said, retrieving Amalie’s battered photo from her pocket and holding it up for them to study. ‘I can almost imagine them sitting there, waiting for someone to click and take the picture. Perhaps a guest or someone else who worked here?’
Harrison slid his arm around her, and they stood for a long time, just admiring the scenery together in silence. They’d both been so looking forward to the trip, but it was certainly an emotional one for both of them. Charlotte had her great-grandmother Amalie’s ashes with her to spread around the fjord before they left, and Harrison was remembering his wife on their anniversary, something Charlotte knew that he always found harder to cope with on the date of her passing than at any other time during the year.
‘Are you thinking about her now?’ Charlotte asked gently, her head still on his shoulder.
‘Yes.’ She heard the emotion in his voice and knew that if he hadn’t already shed a tear, he would soon. ‘Does that make you feel uncomfortable?’
She lifted her head to hug him, her chest to his heart. ‘Not at all. If Amalie’s story has taught me anything, it’s that it’s possible to love more than one person in a lifetime. I don’t ever want you to think you’re being unfaithful to me by still loving Elly.’
‘It’s hard sometimes to imagine that I’ll never see her again, but at the same time the only place I want to be is right here with you,’ he said, his voice gravelly. ‘It makes no sense when I say it out loud, but both things are somehow true.’
Charlotte continued to hold him, needing the contact as much as he did. But she’d been truthful with him—his love for his wife didn’t upset her; if anything, it made her love and respect him all the more. And she’d learnt that no matter how he was feeling about the past, it didn’t mean he didn’t want her in his future.
‘Come on,’ Charlotte said, sighing as she grudgingly let go of him. ‘I could stand like this all day with you, but I have a surprise for you.’
Coming to the picturesque hotel at Sognefjord where Amalie’s story had begun had been Harrison’s idea, but Charlotte had known what would make it perfect, and as they walked hand in hand back towards the hotel, two familiar figures ran down the steps towards them.
‘You didn’t.’
She laughed. ‘I did. We couldn’t come away on your anniversary trip without your best friends, now could we?’
