Dead of Winter

Epilogue 2

The winter that relented for a little while in December came back with a vengeance in January. Held the landscape in its icy grip until well into March, but at long last spring came to the lake. The light, the green shoots, the returning migrant birds.

The car is a Jaguar, so old that there are no seat belts in the back, which worries Laura slightly. Peter notices; he pats her knee gently and nods in the direction of Johnny Miller, who is at the wheel.

‘He never drives faster than fifty. And we’re not going far.’

Laura accepts the reassurance, but checks that Elsa has fastened her belt in the passenger seat. She and Johnny are chatting loudly about goodness knows what; Laura can’t hear over the music coming from the speaker. It’s one of Johnny’s own songs. She’s learned to like some of them. Peter leans over.

‘So what did your brother say? Any issues?’

‘No. Marcus and Mum were happy with the price the valuer suggested. We signed the contract, so it’s all settled. The company is their problem now.’

‘What are you going to do with all that money?’

She thinks about Gärdsnäset, the dilapidated cabins, Hedda’s burned-down house, the old pontoon.

‘Oh, I’m sure there’s a bottomless pit somewhere that I can pour it into.’

She sees from Peter’s smile that he understands. She likes it when he smiles. More than likes it.

She takes his hand and squeezes it. In the front seats Elsa and Johnny have started singing along.

The farm is ten minutes away.

Johnny shows them into the barn as if the place were his, but the farmer doesn’t seem to mind.

‘There,’ Johnny says, pointing eagerly behind a hay bale.

The mother cat is lying on her side, with four grey tabby kittens tumbling around her.

‘Do any of them fit the bill?’

Elsa bends down, carefully examines each kitten in turn. Settles on one that has taken itself off to the side and is washing its paws.

‘This one,’ she says, picking it up. The kitten immediately starts playing with the ties on her jacket.

‘That’s a female,’ the farmer says.

‘Excellent!’ Elsa smiles and lifts the kitten above her head. ‘Have I got it right, Aunt Laura?’

Laura nods and smiles. Feels a pleasant sensation begin to spread through her chest, as if the warmth of spring has reached her core. She takes Peter’s hand again, squeezes it as tightly as she can.

Elsa lifts the kitten even higher until her arms are fully extended. A beam of spring sunshine finds its way through the wooden planks making up the walls of the barn, lighting up her face and making her eyes sparkle.

‘Welcome back to our family, little George.’