They climbed the uncarpeted wooden stairs to examine the two bedrooms and bathroom. Hannah’s room was a typical spare, home to a collection of cardboard boxes and an ironing board as well as a bed with a white and yellow quilt. Lars’s room, where Nico and the girls would sleep, ran across the back of the house and sported a king-sized bed and two airbeds, neatly made. As soon as the girls saw the airbeds they flung themselves down, considerably reducing the neatness.

Nico groaned theatrically as he deposited the suitcases on the floor. ‘I don’t think I’ll get to sleep late with this pair so close.’ Then they stood at the window while he pointed out landmarks above the rooftops – his high school, the church where his parents had married. Farmland and forest out of town. He looked happy and relaxed to be back where he’d come from.

They’d unpacked and the girls had eaten a little of Felicia’s cake when Mattias arrived to pick Nico up for the drive to the hospital in Jönköping.

Nico dragged on his coat. ‘I’m going to see Farfar.’ He hugged Josie and then Maria. ‘Be good for Hannah. When I come back we’ll go back to Farmor’s house for julbord. It was arranged before Farfar was ill and Farmor still wants to do it.’ He hugged Hannah, too, warm, firm. Brief.

After he’d hurried back into the snow, Hannah decided to take the girls food shopping. Google told her there was a Kvantum supermarket in Bandygatan, a few minutes’ drive away and soon she was pushing Maria in a trolley while Josie darted back and forth, asking if she could buy tinsel for Farfar’s sitting room and falling on Marabou chocolate with a delighted cry of, ‘This is the best.’

‘Wan’ chocyut,’ Maria decided, trying to crane backwards to scoop it out of the trolley.

Hannah beat her to it, replacing the enormous bar Josie had selected with two much smaller ones. ‘We’ll put them in the fridge and ask Dad when you can have them.’

‘Awww,’ groaned Josie, folding her arms.

‘Awww,’ groaned Maria, folding hers too, though not as neatly.