to be calm and cheerful as parents are meant to be.
Without a working phone he couldn’t check how Lars was doing. Neither could he contact Hannah to say he’d decided to give the girls lunch at home rather than undergo Posh Nosh with the girls clamouring for sugary treats that would make them hyper, a stress he didn’t need even if accompanied by piped Christmas carols.
He’d just finished washing up when a crescendo of bumps followed by howls sent him racing into the hall to find Maria at the foot of the stairs, nose pouring scarlet blood. Heart banging, he swooped her up and she clung to him. ‘Oh, baby girl, your poor little nose,’ he crooned, hurrying to soak kitchen towel in cold water to staunch the bleeding. At ice hockey they’d always pressed the cold towel to the bridge but Maria’s was such a button nose that he could only aim for the whole thing.
‘Nooooooo, noooooooo,’ she wailed, snatching her head from side to side and smearing his cream sweatshirt with blood. It took a long time for her to calm down while he soothed her against his shoulder, Josie saying, ‘Aw, poor Maria,’ and stroking her sister’s leg. He was wondering whether he should try and rock the toddler into a catnap, a well-known antidote to a biffed nose, when Josie gave a strangled gasp.
‘Uh, uh—’ Then, in a shriek, ‘MUMMEE!’
Stomach dropping, Nico swung around still wearing Maria around his neck.
Josie had run to the window and was waving, dancing, beaming and laughing.
And through the glass he saw Vivvi and Loren coming up the short drive, clutching their coats close around them, Vivvi’s car parked in the lane across the gateway as if to prevent him escaping.
‘Well, well,’ he said aloud. Oh, shit, he thought. ‘This is a nice surprise, Josie, isn’t it?’ Why the hell isn’t Loren in rehab as she’s supposed to be? ‘Let Mum and Grandma in.’ Because I see no alternative.
Loren stepped into his cosy, flagged kitchen bringing in the chill of the outside world. Vivvi followed, shutting the door without turning the handle so it banged like a prison door.
Josie jigged before them, words flying from her mouth. ‘Mum, I didn’t know you were coming! We’ve just come back from Sweden. We baked with Farmor and Farfar was in hospital and Dad ice skated and we went to Skansen and there was snow!’
Maria clung silently to Nico, gazing at the new arrivals, occasional hiccupping with the remains of her tear storm.
Loren gazed at Nico. She was pinched, her eyes haunted, but her hair was clean and she wore make-up. So far as Nico could tell from where he stood, she didn’t smell of alcohol. ‘Hi,’ she said.
‘Hi.’ He looked past her. ‘Hello, Vivvi. Josie, how about you step back and give Mum space, sweetheart. Then she’ll have a chance to say hello to you.’
Thus prompted, Loren turned her smile on Josie. ‘Hello, darling! Wow, I think you’ve grown. You’re so pretty.’ She swept Josie into a hug, curling around her with her cheek on the top of Josie’s head, making fond, ‘Mmm, mmm, mmm,’ noises.
Vivvi hugged Josie in turn. ‘Mum’s right – you’ve grown.’
When Loren said, ‘Maria! Darling!’ and held out her arms, Maria buried her face in Nico’s neck. ‘Noooooo.’
Loren’s face went slack with shock.
Nico soothed Maria’s back. ‘She’s banged her nose and she’s shaken up. Give her a minute.’ He slid an arm around Josie’s shoulders. ‘Shall we get drinks for Mum and Grandma? You could put biscuits out.’
‘Yeah!’ Josie hopped and skipped to the cupboard and took down a big plate.
Nico attempted to put Maria down but she scrunched her arms and legs around him. ‘Noooooo!’
So, employing the one-handed skills of a practised parent, he filled the kettle and took down coffee and mugs, beakers and juice.
‘One sugar for me, please,’ said Vivvi brightly, not lifting a finger.
He halted. ‘Ah. Sorry. I don’t have any.’ He wasn’t sure why he was apologising. He didn’t take sugar and his guests had arrived unannounced.
Vivvi smiled. ‘Never mind. I have sweeteners in my bag.’ She wandered into the sitting room uninvited and Loren followed while he poured juice for Josie and juice with water for Maria.
He couldn’t slosh boiling water about with Maria hanging on him like a misplaced backpack so he sat her on a chair. ‘Just while I do the hot water, OK?’ She nodded but put her arms out to him again the second he completed the task, just