Page 1 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

Oskar stopped rowing the boat, his oars gliding through the crisp blue water one final time before he set them down. Amalie wriggled backwards and let her head fall to his chest. She listened to the steady beat of his heart, sighing when his arms came around her. She’d waited all day for this.

Amalie was at her happiest when it was just the two of them, surrounded by the beauty of the fjord, wrapped safely in Oskar’s embrace.

Usually she loved the silence; but today, the secret she’d been keeping pressed on her chest, an invisible weight that she couldn’t hide any longer.

All day she’d wrestled with whether to tell him or not, but now they were together again, she knew there was no keeping it from him.

It was his news as much as hers. I don’t want to have secrets between us. I need him to know.

‘You’re very quiet today,’ Oskar said.

She tucked herself even closer to him, tears stinging her eyes when his lips pressed against her head. Oskar ran his fingers gently through her long hair as she fought for the right words, her secret tightening inside her.

‘Amalie? What’s wrong? Is it my family? Because I’ve made it abundantly clear that—’

Amalie took a deep breath before her words came out in a sudden gasp. ‘Oskar, I’m pregnant.’

The words clung to the silence around them, echoing in Amalie’s mind as she wished she could take them back, that she’d kept the secret to herself. But Oskar only held her tighter as she began to cry, tears slipping one after the other down her cheeks until she was powerless to stop them.

‘Don’t cry. Please don’t cry,’ he said, turning her so that she faced him, his eyes meeting hers as he gently smoothed his thumb across her cheeks, wiping away her tears. ‘Everything will be all right, I promise.’

‘But how can it be?’ she whispered, searching his face. ‘Your parents will never accept me, they’ve made that clear, and mine—’

‘I love you, Amalie, and that’s all that matters,’ he whispered back, his lips meeting hers in a kiss so soft, so impossibly gentle, that it took her breath away.

When she finally pulled back, Oskar touched his forehead to hers.

‘I promise I’ll take care of you. We’ll marry quickly, in autumn, before anyone can find out. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’

Tears filled her eyes again, because as much as she believed in his earnestly spoken words, as much as she knew that he’d do anything to protect her, she was no fool.

No matter how much they wanted to be together, no matter the dreams they’d shared, their future wasn’t theirs alone.

Not to mention they’d had a plan—they were supposed to wait until next summer, until he’d finished university, and he was free to choose his own path.

‘Oskar, your parents will never let us marry. We’re from different worlds, it could never—’

Her voice caught as his hands cupped her face, his eyes meeting hers.

‘I would give up everything for you. I love you, Amalie, and no one will stop me from making you my wife, not even my parents.’

Amalie gazed back into the eyes of the man she loved, and hoped with all her heart that their love would be enough.