and two stents put in place in the morning and called Nico to say he needed a nap but wanted to see Nico and co later in the afternoon.
‘We’ll come,’ Hannah listened to Nico assure him. ‘See you at four.’
Hannah felt doubtful. ‘I’ll wait outside. He’ll be exhausted.’
Nico tucked his phone away, golden stubble accentuating the determined shape of his jaw. ‘Dad will want to see you too,’ he declared firmly. ‘He says he’ll be fine after a rest.’
‘It would be lovely to see him again so maybe for a few minutes,’ she agreed cautiously. The UK ice hockey leagues had restructured at around the time Nico left for the US so Lars had returned to Sweden, leaving the ice rink to a new team and a new coach.
The girls behaved well at the hospital, though Nico had to act swiftly to prevent Maria grabbing the drip of a patient being wheeled down a corridor. He apologised profusely but when he turned away made an ‘OMG!’ face at Hannah that made her smother giggles.
Lars occupied a room with three other men. Hannah let Nico go first, stooping to give Lars a gentle hug. ‘Hej, Pappa,’ then switching into English so the girls could understand, ‘How are you?’
‘Rubbish earlier, sluggish from the anaesthetic but good otherwise,’ Lars said. His hair was wispier and he was pale and lined but Hannah had no trouble recognising his kindly eyes and round face.
Josie, who talked to her grandfather frequently on Skype bounced into the conversation to tell him about their visit to the rink last night. ‘And Daddy kept skating backwards. He’s going to teach me. And he scored two goals.’
‘I wish I’d seen it, Josie.’ Lars gave Josie’s name the Swedish pronunciation, very like Maria’s ‘Yozee’.
Hannah watched Nico blush. ‘I hope the under sixteens didn’t mind me trying a couple of shots,’ he said apologetically, making Lars’s face crease into a smile.
Hannah, seeing Lars’s wires and tubes and mindful of the near-miss with the drip was happy to stay back with Maria hanging around her neck.
But Lars spotted her. ‘Hannah Goodbody? You’ve grown up beautiful.’
Hannah’s cheeks heated. She laughed. ‘It’s good to see you again. Rob sent his best regards.’
His gaze fell to Maria. ‘Who is this little pixie?’
‘I Maria,’ Maria cooed, and waved at Lars when Hannah asked her to.
Despite Lars’s protestations of being ‘fine, now,’ after fifteen minutes Hannah took the girls to the cafeteria for a drink so they didn’t tire Lars out.
Nico joined them after a while. He had a smile for the kids but murmured to Hannah, ‘He’s tired. He needs time to heal and maybe return to the healthy eating he used to preach about. It’s good that he’s always been active.’ He paused. ‘Mattias turned up. I felt he wanted one-on-one time with Dad, so I came away.’
Although he spoke lightly enough, Hannah saw his shadowed expression. She covered his hand with hers and he returned the pressure. Then they headed home for a snack before driving to Älgäng church for Lucia.
Hannah had never attended St Lucia Day service. She found it beautiful. The church was elegantly vaulted and though ornamented with touches of plaster and gilt, not weighed down by acres of it as she’d seen in churches in Italy and Switzerland. Carina flitted around the handmaidens and star boys, checking clothes and angles of hats. They processed up the aisle, their beautiful young voices lifted in the chorus of the famous song, ‘Sa-anta-a Lu-ci-yah, Santa Lucia,’ candles in their hands and in the crown of the young woman selected to play Lucia to bring in the light at the darkest time of the year. Carina slipped into the pew next to Mattias and Felicia, behind Hannah, Nico and the girls.
Hannah, serenity sinking into her, stopped thinking about the hardness of the pew or the chilliness of the church as song followed song. Josie and Maria, seated between her and Nico, were so enraptured by the sweet young voices that Hannah found a tear trickling down her cheek. Nico slid his arm around the girls until his hand came to rest on Hannah’s shoulder. It squeezed, then remained, gently comforting through the thickness of her parka.
After the service, they gathered at Carina’s for cake. Maria and Josie cuddled up together while Josie played a game on Nico’s phone. Nico tried to start a conversation with Mattias and Felicia, though Mattias didn’t seem to have much to say. Hannah went into the kitchen with Carina to