‘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.