An Island Christmas: A Wintry Tale of Love, Family and Impossible Choices (Love on the Island Book 2) by Helena Halme

Author:Helena Halme [Halme, Helena]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Newhurst Press
Published: 2019-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty

The text from Frida takes Alicia by surprise. It’s short and just says, ‘Can you come and see us this lunchtime?’

‘Of course! Just before 12 noon?’ Alicia adds three heart emojis to her reply. It’s unusual for Frida to contact her, it’s normally her who gets in touch first. Asking how the baby is doing, and if Frida needs any help. Often the reply is a ‘No,’ so Alicia has to invent reasons to visit mother and baby.

Alicia has got used to Frida’s rather abrupt demeanor and she totally understands that having anyone, let alone your ‘mother-in-law’ around when the baby is small can be a little overwhelming. Besides, she has just lost her mother, which must be just dreadful for her.

Yet when Alicia thinks back to when Stefan was newborn and a toddler, she would have done almost anything to have an older woman around. Liam’s parents had died when he was at university, and Hilda could only stay with her a week or two at a time. How she had longed to be able to call someone at short notice, or to ask someone to babysit, so she could have an hour or so of uninterrupted sleep. But, Alicia muses, baby Anne Sofie is very good at sleeping. Already at nearly four months, she needs just one feed at night and has two (regular) good naps during the day. Oh, what Alicia would have given for that! Stefan didn’t like to sleep at night, during the day, or ever, really. For at least six months after his birth, Alicia went about the house in a sleepless trance, rocking the crying Stefan, who had suffered from terrible colic, night and day. Liam had started at a new hospital and had crazy hours.

Alicia sits herself down at her desk in the newspaper office and looks at the time on her mobile. She has two hours to write an article about holiday opening hours on the islands. She’s looked at last year’s piece, which Harri, the editor attached to his email telling her to ‘Just copy & paste.’ There has been absolutely no ‘real’ news on the islands for days now. Everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas. Most of the Christmas parties, which provided some fodder with their disturbances and complaints from residents in the center of town, are over and people are just gathering with their families and loved ones to eat gingerbread biscuits and drink mulled wine while preparing for the Christmas Eve feast.

She should really be trying to find out more about Dudnikov, but she’s found nothing at all so far. A virtual brick wall seems to surround the man.

She sighs, perhaps this paper and this town are too provincial for her?

Whereas Stockholm …

After what Liam has done, she cannot see herself ever being able to forgive him. She left him at the house with Hilda that morning. He offered to come with her into town, but Alicia just gave him a short ‘No,’ and kissed her mother goodbye.

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