‘It’s odd to be back,’ she returned quietly. Odd, not good, he noticed. They were now yards from the shop she’d worked so hard to make a success and had such plans for, the shop that was inextricably bound up in her last relationship. He may have made love to her three times last night but, in comparison, he’d so far made it only to the fringes of her life.

He linked their gloved hands and she managed a smile but she clutched her stomach too. ‘I’m dreading seeing Hannah Anna Butik erased by some tawdry club with black curtains and a sinister sign above the door,’ she confessed.

He squeezed her fingers. His mum had taken the girls to look at a stall of wooden carvings painted green and red. ‘You don’t have to see it. We could head straight for Albin’s office in Frihamnen. Or I’ll pop round the corner and check it out and tell you.’

For a moment she looked tempted. Then she lifted her chin. ‘That feels too much like letting Albin win. It’ll be like the dentist – I’ll feel better once it’s over.’

Carina came back from the stall and agreed to take the children to the tea shop in Västerlånggatan, swinging Maria up into her arms. Nico dropped kisses on the girls’ heads and, after much waving goodbye, watched the little party depart, Josie trying to skate on the slushy snow.

Then, gripping Hannah’s hand, aware of her taking a deep breath, strode beside her out of the square and into Köpmangatan, more muted than Stortorget both in colour and noise level. As their feet carried them over the cobbles and around the corner onto less trampled snow, her stride faltered.

Nico halted.

The facade of Hannah Anna Butik didn’t look to have changed.

Fairy lights edged a window display of red hats and white scarves punctuated by the dull sheen of leather goods. As they watched, a woman emerged from the shop with a green paper carrier bearing the legend Hannah Anna Butik in gold.

Hannah dropped his hand, gasping, ‘What the hell?’

‘I don’t know. Let’s find out what’s going on.’ Nico had a nasty feeling Hannah wasn’t going to like it.

With a convulsive movement she marched up and blew through the front door like a storm. Nico followed a few casual paces behind, thinking it might prove useful not to make it obvious to whoever Hannah was about to confront that she had back-up. He closed the door, which was still trembling from the force of her entrance. A sweeping glance told him a man and a woman were standing behind the counter gaping at Hannah. He turned a browsing shopper’s stare on a stand of leather belts.