Page 13 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

No one had ever bought Amalie flowers before, and they had certainly never taken her by the hand and led her down to a waiting boat on the clear blue water of the fjord.

The boys she’d met at home were as romantic as a lump of wood, and they certainly wouldn’t have been so thoughtful.

So, when Oskar met her after work the next week, presenting her with a pretty bouquet of flowers that she quickly took back to her quarters, and then helped her into a little wooden rowing boat that he had waiting by the edge of the water, she wondered what she could have possibly done to deserve such a fuss.

If he’d wanted to make her feel special, then he’d succeeded.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked, holding on to the sides of the boat to steady it as Oskar hopped in, hoping it wouldn’t rock from side to side or even worse, sink.

‘We’re going to row for as long as my arms will take us, then enjoy the scenery in the middle of nowhere.’

It sounded like heaven to Amalie, and as he pulled the oars back and forth through the water, she told him everything that had happened that day; the rooms she’d had to clean and the gossip from the other maids, as he rowed and listened.

It wasn’t until she paused for breath that he set the oars down.

‘Listen,’ he said.

And she did, but there was nothing. ‘I can’t hear anything.’

‘Exactly,’ he replied. ‘The silence is so loud it’s almost ringing in our ears, don’t you think? It’s as if you can actually hear the sound of nothingness.’

Amalie moved carefully across to Oskar, settling her body against his so that her back was to his front, realising that she was happiest when she was in his arms. Her head fell back against his chest as she stared at their surroundings. It was as if they were the only two people in the world.

The fjord was nothing short of breathtaking.

The water around them was the most vivid of deep blues, the sky above was clear, and it was as if they were surrounded by sleeping giants covered in green.

She’d never seen a landscape like it, or perhaps she simply hadn’t been looking before.

It was almost as if the scenery around them had been created by an artist’s brush; a romantic background that made Norway one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

She knew that’s why so many people came to the hotel—it was renowned for its position and magnificent scenery—but she’d always been too busy working to really see it with her own eyes. Until now.

‘When I come here, it makes me think that anything is possible,’ he whispered against her hair. ‘That my dreams are mine, that no one can tell me what my life will become. That’s why I wanted to bring you here with me.’

She tilted her head back, staring up at his face. Being here made her believe that anything was possible, too. That she and Oskar could have a life together, that they weren’t destined to break each other’s hearts at the end of summer when their time together was over.

But instead of saying anything back to him, Amalie lay contentedly in his arms, breathing in the pure, fresh air and basking in the feeling of his warm body pressed into hers.

If someone had asked her even a week ago whether she would let a man place his hands on her or trail kisses along her skin, she’d have laughed and told them not to be ridiculous, yet here she was with Oskar, feeling as if she’d known him forever, yearning for the touch of his skin against hers.

‘Sometimes when I’m here, lost in my own thoughts, I think I could run away and leave it all behind,’ he said. ‘I think I could even give up being a chef if it meant I could just live my life away from my family, to create a life for myself rather than the one they want to give me.’

‘You don’t mean that, Oskar,’ she said. ‘Your family is your family, it’s the one thing in life we can’t do anything to change. Whatever happens, they’ll still love you.’

‘I don’t know if it’s love, but my mother…’

Amalie waited for him to speak again, sensing that what he was about to tell her was going to break her heart. ‘Your mother what?’

‘My mother would rather me be dead than a failure,’ he said. ‘She has an image to protect, it’s all she’s ever cared about, and she wants her two sons to follow the path she’s so clearly laid out for us. I don’t think all families are as kind and caring as yours.’

Tears filled Amalie’s eyes. ‘Don’t say that!

No mother would ever wish her son dead.’ Oskar didn’t talk about his family again, strumming his fingers across her arm instead and pressing his lips into her hair as she nestled into him.

It made her wonder how such a horrible, cold-sounding woman could have created such a kind, warm-hearted son.

‘Tell me what your family would do, if you shared your dreams with them?’ he asked, taking her by surprise.

‘My family?’ Amalie laughed. ‘Well, my father would tell me not to be a fool, that it does no good to dream things that will never come true. He believes in being happy with who you are, and wanting things that aren’t out of reach.

My mother would tell me to put my time into finding a nice husband, and letting his dreams become my own.

I don’t think she believes that a woman should have independent thoughts or dreams, because she’s likely never had any of her own.

But it’s not because they’re cruel. They just don’t want me to be disappointed, I suppose. ’

Amalie’s cheeks heated and she knew she was blushing, because he’d taken her hand in his when she’d mentioned husband. She didn’t dare let herself dream that someone like Oskar could ever be the man she’d spend the rest of her life with.

‘I’d like to meet your family,’ he said. ‘I think they sound much nicer than mine.’

Amalie didn’t tell him that she’d like that, too, because she couldn’t imagine Oskar ever coming to her family’s modest home, or sitting with her father at the dinner table as they ate a simple bowl of her mother’s fish and potatoes.

Not that he’d likely complain; she could already tell his manners were impeccable and he seemed so at ease with anyone, regardless of who they were.

She’d seen that first hand at the party the very first time they’d met.

But she still doubted it would ever happen.

‘We’re from different worlds,’ she whispered. ‘You must see that?’

‘And yet here we are, together,’ he whispered back, as the boat rocked gently from side to side, a cooler breeze blowing across the water. ‘Just you and me on the fjord.’

Amalie pushed all thoughts of how different they were from her, deciding instead to enjoy every second of being with Oskar. Even if it wasn’t to be, even if she did end up with a broken heart, she hoped it would be worth it. Because she couldn’t have turned away from him if she’d tried.

After an hour or so on the water, Oskar gently helped Amalie to her seat, picked up the oars again and began to row, taking them back to where they’d started. They never spoke, but it was a comfortable silence, as if they’d known each other forever and were happy to just be by each other’s side.

When they finally slid back to shore, Oskar jumped out and pulled the boat in, his trousers rolled up at the ankles, reaching for her hand once he’d secured the boat. He lifted her and she laughed, her head against his chest as he swung her around and threatened to drop her into the water.

‘No!’ she cried. ‘Oskar, put me down!’

He laughed and carefully set her on her feet, taking her hand and leading her across the grass. Everything suddenly appeared to be cast in a reddish-yellow light, and she’d just thought it when Oskar spoke.

‘The midnight sun,’ he said, still holding her hands as he spun her around in a circle. ‘Isn’t it spectacular?’

She tilted her head back, face raised to the sky.

The Sognefjord was the most beautiful place on earth, of that she was certain—where else in the world would the light be so magical, as if everything had been brushed with a burnt orange hue, the moon never taking over from the sun during the peak of summer?

When they finally stopped spinning and she stood tall, still holding on to Oskar for balance, he drew her in close, his mouth hovering over hers as if to make certain she wanted him to kiss her.

She closed the distance between them, her lips parting as she breathed him in, their hands still linked as their mouths brushed back and forth against the other.

Oskar was the one to break their kiss, his fingers stroking her hair back from her face, his eyes alight with mischief.

‘I think we should go for a swim,’ he said.

Amalie laughed as she shook her head. ‘It’s far too cold for me, and I don’t have anything to swim in.

’ She was no prude, but she certainly wasn’t going naked.

Perhaps if she’d been with her sister and there had been little chance of anyone at all seeing them she might have, but not here and not in front of Oskar.

‘We can strip down to our undergarments,’ he said, as a grin took over his face. ‘What do you say?’

‘I say…’ Amalie’s voice died in her throat as Oskar quickly began to strip down. Within seconds his shirt and shoes were off, and then his trousers, and she was left blushing furiously as he ran down to the water’s edge in his underpants.

‘Come on! What are you waiting for?’ he called back. ‘I won’t even look, I’ll turn my back, just come into the water. Please!’

Amalie looked after him, watching as he splashed into the water, making it look far more inviting than she imagined it actually was, before hurriedly taking her own clothes off, her arms folded over her brassiere as she ran.

She may as well have been completely naked, she felt so bare, and when he turned around she squealed.

‘Oskar! No looking!’ she cried. ‘You promised!’

But he ignored her completely, splashing her as she squealed even more at the cold water against her warm skin, then grabbing her hands and tugging her into the deeper water with him, his eyes never leaving hers.

She was terrified of what might be lurking beneath and she wasn’t a strong swimmer, but Oskar seemed to sense her fear and kept her close, immediately less playful and more protective.

‘Don’t let me go,’ she said, clutching his arm. ‘I’m not used to deep water.’

‘Trust me, Amalie. You’re safe out here with me—I’ve been swimming my whole life.’

Oskar lifted her then, his hand beneath her as he pushed her up, floated her across the surface of the water, her hair fanning out around her as she slowly relaxed and began to trust him.

Her body and the back of her head were completely submerged as she spread her legs and arms wide, realising that she was getting the hang of it.

‘Close your eyes and relax, just breathe and push your chest to the surface, try to balance your body,’ he said. ‘I’ve got you.’

But Amalie couldn’t close her eyes, she didn’t want to.

She wanted to stare at the sky and admire the midnight sun, to see everything, to remember everything.

When she went to sleep at night, she wanted to close her eyes and see this—this was what she wanted to remember every night for the rest of her life when she lay in bed.

This was the memory she wanted to return to when she needed something to lift her spirits.

‘I think I’ve fallen in love with you.’

Oskar’s whispered words wrapped around her, and even though she knew they were too young to fall in love so fast, that adults would tell them they didn’t yet know what love was, she knew in her heart that she felt the same.

Amalie’s words stuck in her throat then as he carefully let go of her and floated beside her, hand in hand as they drifted together on the water, as if they had the entire fjord to themselves.

Oskar was like no one she’d ever met in her life before, and she doubted she’d ever, for as long as she lived, meet another man who came even close to him.