Jack thought about it. ‘I wouldn’t know. Paul is my dad in every way. From the first time I met him. He never treated me differently from my siblings. And I wouldn’t have left him on his own anyway. He needed me. Holly was four years old and Danny was just a baby. Perhaps Mum didn’t want us to lose each other.’

‘Or to send you to a stranger in another country. I can understand that. I just wonder if Agnar was asked what he thought.’

Jack shook his head. ‘I don’t really know.’

He realised he hadn’t asked his dad about this. Perhaps he should have.

Alma put a finger on the small exercise book and smiled. ‘I haven’t seen one of these in years. Your grandmother was a great cook, you know. So was Agnar. So perhaps you have inherited more from them than you think.’

Jack stood up and followed her outside. She looked up at him.

‘You look like Agnar. I didn’t realise why you seemed so familiar until now.’ Tears welled up in her eyes and she turned abruptly. ‘I should leave.’

Jack leaned against the doorpost, watching her go. That was a first, he thought. He was used to not looking like anyone.

***

Ninni climbed up the path from the beach with a bucket full of nice fat mackerel. She wondered what to do with them or, even better, who to give them to.

She stopped when Frikk started barking, then wagged his tail.

Alma came up the road from Agnar’s farm. She was pale and looked like she had been crying.

Ninni hurried over to her. ‘Alma … what’s wrong?’

The older woman shook her head. Her lower lip trembled.

Ninni dropped the bucket and put her arm around her. ‘Come on, sit with me. You look like you’ve had the shock of your life.’

They sat down on the grass and Alma shook her head again. ‘I’ve just come from Agnar’s farm. I talked to the boy,’ she said.

Ninni didn’t like the sound of that. ‘What did Jack do? Did he insult you in any way?’

Alma shook her head again. ‘No, of course not. He’s a nice man. It’s not his fault.’

‘Tell me, please.’

‘He’s Agnar’s son, and it breaks my heart that Agnar didn’t trust us, trust me, enough to tell us. I would have begged him to bring the boy here, at least for holidays. He’s one of us and we should have been allowed to get to know him.’

‘Agnar’s son?’ Ninni said. That was unexpected. ‘Are you sure?’

Alma nodded. ‘Absolutely. He let me read Agnar’s will. It’s all there. Name, date of birth, his mother’s name. Agnar knew all about him. He even had pictures of himself and the boy’s mother, for God’s sake.’

‘I thought there was something strange about him,’ Ninni said slowly.

‘Yes, well, you didn’t know Agnar when he was young, but Jack looks so very much like him. I should have recognised him at once.’