Page 18 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

‘Come along, Oskar,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to keep your father waiting all night; it was a long drive to get here.’

Amalie could sense Oskar’s hesitation this time, and she wondered how many times he’d actually stood up to his mother before. But she couldn’t help but be proud of him when he didn’t move, even when his mother turned away. It was obvious that she was well used to her son obeying her.

‘I actually already have plans with Amalie, but if you’d allow her to join us…’

His mother did a half-turn, her eyes boring into Oskar’s as if she were trying to set him alight. But instead of giving in to her, he held out his hand and took Amalie’s. Amalie was proud of him, but she knew that, somehow, she’d be blamed for this, as if she’d made him behave in this way.

‘Oskar, it’s late, and I’m so very tired,’ Amalie forced herself to say, avoiding his eyes when his searched hers. She wasn’t going to let his mother see her behaving in anything other than a respectful way. ‘Please, go and enjoy the evening with your parents. We can see each other tomorrow.’

He didn’t move, and she wished he would because her eyes were filling with tears now and she didn’t know how long she could hold back the sob that was building inside of her.

‘Are you—’

‘I’m certain. Thank you for the bl?tkake, it was delicious.’

Oskar stepped nearer to her, embracing her and kissing her cheek, his lips gently skimming across her skin.

When he squeezed her hand, it was all she could do not to burst into tears right there in front of his mother, who was still waiting for him, hovering as if she wanted to forcibly snatch her son away from her.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he whispered. ‘I’m sorry.’

She nodded and watched him go, and she knew that she would never, ever forget the look of disdain his mother gave her when she glanced back at Amalie over her shoulder.

Oskar might love her, but his mother couldn’t even stand to breathe the same air as her, and she’d conveyed exactly what she thought of her in one long, cold stare.

Later that night, when Amalie was curled up in her bed, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, there was a light knock at her door. She startled, thinking she was imagining it, but as she lay there listening to her roommate snoring, it happened again. There was someone knocking.

‘Amalie,’ came an urgent whisper. ‘Open the door.’

She quickly rose, smoothing her hands down her nightgown to check that she was decent, before tiptoeing across the floorboards and opening the door as quietly as she could.

‘Oskar! What are you doing here? If we’re caught—’

Oskar’s mouth met hers, stealing her words with his kisses, his hand cupped to the back of her head. When they came up for air, he took her hand. Clearly he wasn’t concerned about being caught.

‘My mother is awful and I hate the way she treated you tonight,’ he said. ‘But I’m not going to let her ruin this. I love you, Amalie, and that’s the last and only time I’ll let my mother ignore you like that.’

Amalie hesitated, glancing back at her sleeping roommate and knowing that she should stay.

Her job was too important to her, and if Oskar’s parents laid a complaint and had her fired, her own parents would be furious with her.

But the idea of saying goodnight to him and crawling back into bed, of letting his mother win and drive a wedge between them, didn’t appeal to her.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

‘You’ll see,’ he said.

So Amalie closed the door as silently as she could, knowing that she would follow Oskar anywhere. All he ever had to do was ask.

They walked quietly, hand in hand but barely making a noise, until they reached the service door at the end of the hallway and made their way outside. But it wasn’t until they reached the edge of the water that they finally spoke.

Now that it was nearing the end of summer, the midnight sun wasn’t as bright, the light more muted than it had been when they’d first begun spending the evenings together, but it wasn’t any less magical.

‘I believe I owe you a dance,’ Oskar said, holding out his other hand to her.

‘But we don’t have any music,’ she said, giggling as he lifted his hand and spun her in a little circle.

‘We don’t need music. We only need each other.’

She felt silly to start with, but once they started swaying, it was if they had their own beat, and they stayed like that for what felt like hours, dancing beneath the burnt orange sky, swaying back and forth.

Oskar cradled her against him as she held him close, and when they finally slowed, she tilted her chin to look up at him and their eyes met.

‘Your mother is never going to accept me. Did you see the way she looked at me?’ she said. ‘It doesn’t matter what you say or what you want, I’m not the type of girl she wants for you, and I never will be.’

He shook his head, leaning in and kissing her. ‘I told my mother you were my girlfriend,’ he said. ‘I told her that this wasn’t just a summer romance, that you meant the world to me and that she’d have to accept you.’

She felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. ‘You did?’

Oskar nodded. ‘I did. I also told her that she was rude and that I expected her to show you the respect you deserve.’

Amalie didn’t ask any more questions. Whatever his mother’s response had been, she didn’t need to know, because what mattered was how Oskar had spoken about her. If he was prepared to stand up for her, to demand his mother respect her, then maybe they did have a fighting chance.

‘But I don’t want to talk about my mother, Amalie.’

She swallowed, her eyes still on his. ‘What do you want to talk about?’

‘I want to know if you’ll wait for me,’ he said. ‘I promised my parents that I’d finish my degree, and I’m not going back on my word, but that means leaving you until then. Will you wait until next summer for us to start our life together? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I want to finish my studies.’

Her breath shuddered from her lungs. ‘Yes, Oskar. I’ll wait for you as long as I have to, of course I will.’ And she would. For Oskar, she would wait forever.

‘I’ll have my own money then, and we’ll be able to move wherever we want, to have a family of our own,’ he said, lifting her hand and kissing her knuckles. ‘My parents will come round, I know they will, and until then, it’s just you and me.’

She beamed back at him. It was a life she’d been imagining for weeks, him as a pastry chef with his own restaurant, her with a bonny baby who looked just like his father on her hip.

All these years she’d dreaded marriage and having to find a suitable man, having to leave her family home and follow the path her sister had already taken, but Oskar had changed everything.

All this time she’d never imagined a love match; had hoped to simply find a man who would be kind to her and their children. But now there was Oskar.

‘I think we should have a swim to celebrate,’ he said, whisking her off her feet and into his arms before she had time to protest, and running to the shore and straight into the water.

Within seconds her white nightgown was soaked through, her hair dripping over her shoulders and down her back, but Amalie couldn’t have cared less.

She never remembered being so happy, so carefree, in all her life.

Oskar was everything to her. This summer, she’d fallen in love with a boy, and now she couldn’t imagine not seeing his face every day. He made her feel happy and loved, warm and content, and even floating in the cold water of the fjord, there was nowhere else she would rather be.