Page 17 of The Christmas Book Flood

And wait, Elea had said he wasn’t “getting” her something, but wasn’t this exactly that? He was not only getting her a book—which she could have gotten herself easily enough—but getting it signed—which he would assume she couldn’t so easily get for herself.

It was thoughtful. And if he were to present her with any other book signed by its reclusive author, she’d be over the moon with delight.

But her own? Maybe she should just do it, to avoid the question. Sign it and send it back and then... feign surprise and delight? She didn’t know if she was so good an actress.

From beyond her door, she could hear Elea singing a verse of one of her favorite Christmas songs, as she did each day before saying goodbye.

Which meant Tatiana had no time to actually sort this out now.

She dropped to her knees on the floor, pulled out one of the lidded boxes she stored under the bed and in which she kept correspondence, and dropped the books and note inside.

She’d deal with them later. Tonight, after Anders had once more joined them for soup and bread and the fish he’d promised to bring with him.

After he’d gone and Elea was preparing for bed, she’d pull it back out, take the whole box out to her desk.

Elea was accustomed to her tending her correspondence in the evenings, after she’d tucked her in.

She’d certainly sign the ones for his mother and sister, using the signature that she’d practiced and used on the notes she sent to him with her edited pages.

She’d rewrap them and use the postage he’d included, then just drop the package in a letter box for pickup. Easy enough.

Except for that third copy.

Bother. Later , she’d sort out what to do about that later.

For now she stashed the box back under her bed and emerged again from her bedroom just as Elea was saying goodbye.

The porridge still had a few minutes to cook, so Tatiana edged past her niece toward the bathroom to take the rollers from her hair. “How’s everything at home?”

“Good.” Elea leaned into the open doorway and watched her take out the rollers, releasing her hair into curls.

“Mamma says Pabbi got a good report from the doctor yesterday and should be ready to go back out on the boat after Christmas. And he can walk a little now, just not for long. And Mamma says the baby’s been kicking like crazy and bruising her insides. ”

Tatiana smiled. Kicking was good. Kicking meant life and health and hope. “Good indeed! Did you tell her that Skyrgamur brought us a leaf bread iron?”

“Of course. And I told her that we had a very special guest for dinner last night, and that he’s coming again tonight.”

At the gloating note in her niece’s voice, Tatiana’s hands paused, and she sent a narrowed-eyed gaze to the little imp. “And what exactly did you tell her about Anders?”

Elea giggled. “That he can’t stop looking at you and trips over his own feet whenever you’re near, and that you think he’s so handsome and clever and that his mother invited us over for Christmas Eve.”

Resuming her roller removing, Tatiana hummed. “I suppose all of that is true.”

“And that I hope you get married so that Heidi and I will be cousins.” She paused, frowned. “Would that make us cousins? If my aunt and her uncle are married?”

“Close enough, I’d think.” She sent a wink Elea’s way. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, my little Yule Lass. We haven’t even had an official date.”

“But you’ve been working together for ever ! You’re already friends, and his mother likes you. Heidi said her ommu is always trying to find girls to set him up with, but she always says, ‘No, no, she’s not right for my Anders. My Anders needs a clever girl.’”

At the imitation of Gilla—rather good for a seven-year-old, based on their single meeting, anyway—Tatiana cracked a smile. “Does she now?”

“That’s what Heidi said. And I said you’re as clever as you are pretty, so it’s no wonder he likes you, and I’m glad her ommu likes you too.” She wrinkled her nose. “Ommu Margret still says mean things about Mamma sometimes, when she thinks I’m not listening.”

At that, Tatiana spun to face her niece, eyes wide.

“I hope you didn’t tell your mother that.

” Ari was well aware that she hadn’t been Margret’s first choice for Gunnar, but one would think that after nearly nine years of marriage, Margret would have gotten over her hopes that he’d have chosen her best friend’s daughter.

Elea shook her head, expression earnest. “I’d never hurt Mamma’s feelings like that.

” She paused, pursed her lips. “I told Pabbi some of the things she’d said though.

His mouth went all tight and flat and he stomped out the door, saying he was going to pay her a visit.

She hasn’t said anything since then. Least, not that I’ve heard. ”

Good. If Tatiana knew Gunnar at all, he’d given his mother an earful and... hmm . “When was that?”

“A couple months ago. Ommu Margret’s been awful busy since then. I’ve barely seen her.”

Another reason, then, that they’d asked Tatiana to take Elea rather than getting help from the grandparents. She pulled the last roller out, ran her brush through the curls to loosen them, and pinned back the sides. Then she turned to Elea and spun her finger in a circle.

Elea obediently spun around, holding out a hand. Tatiana placed the ribbons that would match today’s dress in her palm and brushed out her silken hair. “You did the right thing, telling your pabbi .”

“I know,” she said easily. “I love Ommu, but it’s not right, the things she said about Mamma. Besides, Mamma’s getting better now. This baby... this baby’s going to be fine, and Mamma’s going to be fine, and she’s not going to be so sad anymore.”

Tatiana used the end of a comb to part Elea’s hair down the middle, gathered the left side and draped it over her shoulder to keep it out of the way, and started the first braid on the right side.

“I pray you’re right,” she said. She didn’t want to say that, even if the baby was healthy—which, pray God, he or she would be—that didn’t mean Ari’s sorrow would go away.

Tatiana was the last of her friends to get married, which meant she’d had plenty of opportunity to attend weddings and then ooh and aah over cute little newborns, and Ari wasn’t the only young woman who struggled with feeling blue in the months following a birth.

“I am.” Elea’s tone said so much more than her words.

That she needed to be right, that she had to believe.

But also that she did believe. “You should have heard her when I told her about Anders. She laughed and clapped, and I could hear her smiling, Aunt Tatta. I haven’t heard her so happy in.

.. a long time. She’s getting better. I know she is. ”

Tatiana paused her braiding long enough to lean down and drop a kiss to the top of Elea’s head. “Then I believe you. You know your mother better than anyone but your pabbi does, I think.”

“She said she wants to talk to you tomorrow.” A tease, now, in her voice. “I think she wants all the juicy details.”

Tatiana chuckled, finished off the braid, and reached for one of the ribbons to tie around the end. “I’ll be sure to exaggerate every detail for her.”

“I don’t think you have to. I think Anders has liked you for a long, long time. I think now that he knows you like him, he’s going to take his mother’s advice and never let you go.”

Tatiana moved to the left side, not even trying to keep the smile from her lips. “I hope you’re right. I’ve liked him for a long, long time too.”

Her niece grinned. “It’s a good thing I came to visit, isn’t it? Otherwise, who knows if he ever would have said a thing!”

“A very excellent point.” But those books she’d hidden under her bed all but taunted her, reminding her that she couldn’t exactly build a good relationship on a foundation of secrets. She had to tell him.

Soon.

Somehow.