Page 28 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

To say that the trip to Sognefjord had been special was an understatement, and as Charlotte walked through the hotel, she found herself wondering if she was tracing the same steps that Amalie had so many decades before.

The last time Charlotte had gone to see her with her grandmother, Amalie had almost seemed hopeful, and Charlotte couldn’t imagine what came next in her story and how it all fell apart.

Because she’d racked her brain—there had to be heartbreak coming in Amalie’s story, and she wasn’t sure whether she was ready to hear it.

Or if Amalie would even be ready to tell it.

‘Hey,’ Harrison said when she rounded the corner and almost bumped into him. ‘I was just coming to find you.’

‘Lucky me,’ she said, smiling when he bent to kiss her. And it wasn’t a cheek-kiss either; it was a warm brush against the lips kind of kiss that she felt all the way to her toes.

‘I’ve managed to rent us kayaks, and they’re even packing us a picnic lunch,’ he said, his hand sliding against hers as he led her down the hall.

‘What about the others?’ she asked. ‘They don’t want to join us?’

Harrison frowned. ‘On our romantic kayak? They can organise their own excursion!’

She laughed, liking the easy manner they’d developed with each other.

Somehow, it felt as if she’d known Harrison for so much longer than she had.

Even if it was only a summer romance, even if he left and returned to London and she never saw him again, she knew in her heart that she’d never forget him.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ he asked. ‘You look sad.’

‘Oh, sorry, it’s nothing. I was just thinking.’

‘Thinking about…?’

She grimaced. ‘Honestly, I was just thinking about how much I’ll miss you when you leave. It’s weird how quickly we’ve fallen into something special.’ Charlotte groaned. ‘That came out all wrong. It’s just, I feel like we’ve known each other for so much longer than we have.’

He pulled her closer and they walked through to have breakfast, seeing Louisa and Luke waving to them and heading over to join them.

‘Morning,’ they both said.

‘Morning,’ Charlotte replied. ‘Isn’t it just so beautiful here?’ The large window in the restaurant was like a frame around a postcard-perfect image, and even though she’d seen the fjord before, her memory hadn’t done it justice.

‘I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea how picturesque it would be,’ Louisa said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘Charlotte and I are actually going kayaking this afternoon, so that we can see more of the fjord,’ Harrison said.

‘We’ve decided to go with the lazier option of a cruise,’ Luke said, before turning to Charlotte. ‘I’m not an active relaxer like this one.’

Charlotte grinned. ‘Thankfully Harrison and I are on the same wavelength there. I’m so used to being on the go all day, so lying around relaxing is what I’d call impossible.’

‘Well, maybe that’s why you were drawn to each other,’ Louisa said with a wink. ‘Luke and I are all about perfecting our sloth routine when we’re on holiday.’

Charlotte felt uncomfortable for a split second as she saw the way Louisa quickly glanced at Harrison, as if she might have overstepped in treating them like a couple, but Harrison didn’t seem perturbed.

And as they all ate breakfast, she was happy to sit back and listen to them talk, liking the way Harrison’s face lit up when they teased him, or the way Louisa grinned when he gave it straight back.

The rapport they had was special to watch, and it made her wish she’d invested more time in her old friends; the ones she’d been close to when she was younger.

Moving away had put more than just a physical distance between her and her old friends—they’d moved on with their lives, some of them already had families of their own—but seeing Harrison with his oldest friends made her even more determined to expand the circle of people she surrounded herself with.

‘How’s the food, Charlotte?’ Luke asked. ‘Up to scratch?’

‘Any food that’s cooked for me is appreciated,’ she replied. ‘I honestly don’t think there’s anything about this hotel not to like, the food included.’

‘Speaking of food, I think we should finish up here and go and collect our packed lunch,’ Harrison said, pulling out her chair when she rose to join him. ‘We’ll see you two here for dinner tonight.’

Just as he did, Charlotte caught sight of a young chef heading out for a break, and a very pretty maid dashing over to meet him. They kissed before they’d even walked out the door, and she imagined them as Amalie and Oskar; their love forbidden, but still knowing no bounds.

‘You’re lost in thought again,’ Harrison said. ‘Are you sure everything’s okay? You’re very quiet.’

She looped her arm through his, dropping her head to his shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

‘I keep losing myself in thoughts of Amalie and Oskar,’ she said. ‘Wondering where they were, the places they explored here, the way she felt when she saw him in the hotel. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for them.’

‘I should have tried to hire a romantic rowing boat,’ Harrison said. ‘Like the one she talked to you about.’ They reached the front desk then and she waited for Harrison to collect the packed lunch he’d ordered.

Charlotte laughed. ‘As nice as that would have been for them, I’m loving the kayaking option. It’ll be fun.’

‘Make sure to wear your running shoes,’ he said. ‘Apparently, we can go hiking from the place we’re heading to. If we still have any energy left after paddling there, that is.’

‘Sounds like the perfect way to spend an afternoon.’ They’d reached their rooms then, and she took out her keycard to let herself in. ‘Meet again in thirty minutes?’

Harrison tousled her hair, his touch light. ‘See you soon.’

Charlotte had thought the fjord was beautiful from a distance, but now that she was actually on the water, it was enough to take her breath away.

The deep, blue-green water stretched as far as the eye could see, and the mountains on either side of them almost felt as if they were forming a guard of honour, guiding them on their journey out into the wilderness.

‘How are you going back there?’ Harrison called out, as he slowed and let her catch up.

‘I’m distracted by the scenery,’ she said. ‘But otherwise, it’s going great. I’m so pleased you chose this for us to do.’

‘Did you ever explore like this with your family when you came here?’

‘I remember we did a cruise and I’m sure we hired a little rowing boat, but I was so young that I don’t remember any of the scenery, or at least not like this. I guess you don’t appreciate the beauty of the water and the mountains as a kid.’

‘It’s because kids see everything through such a bright lens anyway,’ he said. ‘Adults are largely disillusioned with the world and appreciate the wonder of natural beauty.’

She’d never heard truer words, and as they continued to paddle, slowly, she realised that she didn’t spend anywhere near enough time in nature, especially for a girl who’d grown up surrounded by it.

‘May I ask you something?’ Charlotte said.

‘Of course.’

They were paddling in time with each other, and the fjord was so peaceful they didn’t even need to raise their voices. It was almost as if they echoed back to them on the water.

‘Is it hard experiencing new things like this, and realising that you don’t have your wife to share it with?’ she asked, hoping she wasn’t overstepping. ‘Is it weird to be experiencing it with me?’

He was silent for so long that she began to wish she hadn’t asked.

‘In the beginning, I’d go to call Elly or send a message all the time, just the little things that I’d usually share with her, and then it would hit me that she was gone,’ he said.

‘It’s taken me a long time to stop doing that.

Even meeting you, my first thought was how much she would have liked you, and trust me when I say I know how strange that sounds. ’

Charlotte swallowed, a lump forming in her throat as she listened to him.

‘It’s one of the reasons I took this job and chose to come to Norway.

I could have done much of the design work for the hotel in London and just travelled to the site when needed, but moving gave me the chance to start over, in a way.

I was able to immerse myself in work rather than face what had happened. ’

‘And now?’ she asked.

‘I can’t not think about her sometimes, about how much she would have loved something, but it’s not the thudding pain it was in the beginning. It’s more of a reminder of what we had, if that makes any sense at all.’

‘When my mum left us, the hardest part was all the times when I wanted to tell her something. I’d go to call out to her or text her, or even just walk past her bedroom, and it was such a punch to the gut knowing I couldn’t share it with her.’

Charlotte had never opened up to anyone properly before about her mother, not even her friends, because at the time she’d been so embarrassed and confused about why it had happened.

And she’d also expected her mother to come walking back in the door one day, for it all to have been a big misunderstanding, imagining that maybe she’d just needed a break.

‘I remember once, when I had really bad period cramps, and my dad and brother were yelling at me to hurry up. I was too embarrassed to tell them, which seems silly now, but as a teenager those things are so hard to talk about. And I remember just thinking that if only Mum were there, she’d have understood.

I wouldn’t have had to explain it, because she would have been the one person who got it. ’

‘I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you at that age.’

‘My grandmother told me once that one day I’d look back and realise that everything I went through had served to make me the strong woman I’d grown into,’ she said. ‘At the time, I couldn’t understand, but now I get it. I guess I learnt how to be resilient the hard way.’