He shrugged. ‘Happy to. She’s an interesting lady and I wouldn’t mind helping out on the tea urn or ferrying plates about. My life’s been so structured, my working life so make-or-break, I’ve barely had time to get involved in a community. I could be the pain in the arse who organises everything and is always trying to rope people in.’
‘We’ve already got one of those. She’s called Carola and works in The Angel,’ Hannah said, with a gurgle of laughter.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. ‘In that case I’ll be assistant pain in the arse.’
Then Maria began to cry because she’d face-planted in the snow and he hurried to swoop her up and brush her down, drying her tears with his gloved fingers and then putting her on his shoulders for the journey home.
Josie dropped back to walk with Hannah. ‘You know what would be really, really good? If we filled the whole garden with snowmen. Then when Farfar comes out of hospital they’ll still be there even though we’ve gone home.’
‘What a lovely idea!’ Hannah laid her arm on Josie’s shoulder. ‘How about this afternoon while Dad’s visiting Farfar in hospital? We could keep it as a surprise.’
‘Yeah!’ Josie tried to skip but skipping in snow was like skipping in glue. She raised her voice. ‘Dad! We’ve got a secret and we’re not going to tell you!’
Nico turned, a tall figure wearing Maria on his shoulders like a fashion accessory. ‘Is it about my Christmas present?’
‘No!’ Josie laughed. Then she looked up at Hannah and whispered worriedly, ‘I haven’t got him anything because we usually make presents for our parents at school.’
‘We’ll think of something.’ Hannah realised there was now no wife/nanny/cousin in Josie’s life to check Josie made her dad a gift. As if her offer promoted Hannah to a new level in Josie’s mind, she chattered all the way back. First she talked about Loren. She didn’t seem to Hannah to regard her as a child normally regarded her mother, with love and a recognition of maternal authority, but more as someone for whom allowances must be made, someone who couldn’t completely be trusted. How must it have felt for Josie to find Maria hungry and thirsty, crying hopelessly in her room? Nothing like it had happened in Hannah’s childhood and she could only imagine how scary it would be. No wonder Josie clung to the safety of Nico.
When Josie talked about her dad her tone was different. No confusion, no wariness. ‘Dad says he’ll …’ or ‘Dad says we’ll …’ littered her sentences.
And every time delivered with no doubt that whatever Dad said, it could be relied upon.
Chapter Twenty
The hospital smelled of chemicals and people, with the occasional whiff of bowel.
Nico had driven the hire car to Jönköping. Mattias was working in the museum until two and would go home to Huskvarna after visiting Lars. He, Nico and Carina converged on the ward as it opened. Carina hugged her sons, Mattias gave Nico a wintry smile and turned to his dad, lying in bed with an impressive number of wires emerging from his gown to create bleeps and graphs on various machines.
‘The doctors have told me off,’ Lars said. His hair stuck up and his face looked rumpled. His smile was marginally less tired than yesterday. ‘I have coronary heart disease and a bad diet. Once I stopped coaching professionally I let myself have all the pizzas and chocolate I once preached against.’
Not thinking it was for him to comment on someone else’s relationship with food, Nico patted his dad’s hand, noticing the age spots. ‘So, what next?’
‘Angioplasty, where they put a balloon in your arteries to widen them, and possibly stents. I’ll be here a few more days.’
‘When will these procedures happen?’ Mattias, this time.
‘Tomorrow.’ Lars pulled a comical face. ‘They’re in a hurry to fix me.’
‘And get rid of you, I expect,’ Carina joked back. But tears stood in her eyes. Nico felt torn. It was good to see his parents close again but it made him wish they’d never parted. Maybe then Mattias wouldn’t treat him like a stranger. On the other hand, if they’d stuck together then maybe he’d never have lived in England. He couldn’t imagine that, much as he loved Sweden.
He listened as his family chatted, smiling at Lars’s jokes or when Carina termed him and Mattias ‘the boys’ as if they were still children in primary school – småskola. Lars asked Nico to go to the rink at