Chapter 27 #2
“Yes, the suggestion was sent in and approved, and the rest is history.” There was a spontaneous round of applause from down the hall where Carina had gotten on her feet.
“Bravo, such an amazing story, and how neatly told!”
Christer grinned and looked at the woman stat was standing at the other end of the room. As he recognised her, his smiled disappeared and he stared angrily at Emelie. He handed her the microphone and angrily walked off the stage, muttering.
“Bloody hell, I hate it when people are clapping!”
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.
“Because it’s a great market and everything is going so well and because you are the loveliest, my little Lucia brides!”
Liv had managed to partake in another Lucia procession with her cast and it had been very appreciated.
Someone had decided to send around a hat and collected some money for the school children and now Lucias, elves and gingerbread men were sitting around the café tables discussing where they would use the money to go, because they had already decided it would go towards a school trip.
“Perhaps to your dad’s country,” Tore said.
Liv laughed and explained that Gambia was really far away. He nodded.
“Perhaps Gothenburg then, to Liseberg!” he said, chuckling.
Emelie sat down for a while, resting her feet.
“Coffee?”
She looked up, saw Andreas and smiled.
“I’d love some.”
As he gave her the cup, their hands touched, and he caressed her thumb with his index finger.
“Everything okay?”
“Everything is fine, just a bit tired. But I can’t think about that now because it’s almost time for Santa Claus. Have you seen Birgitta and Stig?”
She got up and scanned the crowd. People in thick winter coats and scarves that were laughing and chatting as they were strolling along the tables.
Sometimes they bought something, sometimes they would look at a Santa or try on a necklace.
Carina seemed to have a lot to do. Everyone seemed busy.
Andreas grabbed her hand and she looked up at him.
“Hey, Sussi and Stina have made up their minds,” he said.
“About what?”
Her eyes met Linn’s behind the café counter and Emelie looked at her, giving a thumbs up, and Linn answered with the same gesture and a smile.
“About children,” Andreas whispered into her ear.
She chuckled. Was this the day that everything happened? Birgitta had gotten her papers, Carina was going to meet Christer and Sussi and Stina wanted to – or didn’t want to – have children with Andreas.
“Ok, so what have they decided?”
“They want to have children with me, and we will share the responsibility.”
He looked concerned.
“What do you think about that?”
Yes, what did she think? That it was great! She didn’t want any more children and Andreas did. She smiled at him.
“I think it is wonderful. I actually think I’m starting to relax a bit too.”
“Too?”
She started telling him about Birgitta but was interrupted by a salesman waving at her.
She looked around, stole a kiss from Andreas and smiled.
Then she walked over to the salesperson and helped him with a spilled cup of coffee.
As she looked up, she saw Andreas helping Linnea to tie the red silk ribbon for her Lucia gown.
As he finished, Linnea gave him a hug, skipping away in the direction of her friends.
Linn and Oskar were in the café selling the last of the Lucia buns and the cream rings and in the corner of her eye, she saw Christer slowly moving closer to Carina’s stand.
She stretched her back and smiled at the salesman who thanked her for helping.
She looked over towards the door where new people were constantly entering the room.
It was a success, she thought to herself.
She saw a hand waving with long, well-polished nails.
A dark head became visible and Emelie let go of the dishcloth in her hand and rushed over.
“Sara! Sara! What are you doing here?!”
Sara laughed and they hugged for a long time.
“I just had to come by and see what you have gotten yourself into and what it is they’re talking about all the way back in V?xjo,” she said, grinning.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Well, not really, I did have some help,” she said, waving to someone behind Emelie’s back.
Emelie turned around and saw Andreas who waved back and smiled.
“The hottie?” Sara asked.
Emelie nodded.
“I have soooo much to tell you, but first you have to say hi to the children and meet Christer and Birgitta and, yes, Andreas, of course.”
She grabbed Sara’s arm, pulling her along, and for the first time in ages life felt exactly as it should be.