Page 38 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

This time when Amalie walked through the door of the Johansen family home, she was escorted with the kind of importance that made her nervous.

On the journey from London, she’d imagined being imprisoned in an upstairs bedroom like Rapunzel, or worried that her baby might be snatched from her, but so far Oskar’s mother had kept her word and had been perfectly pleasant.

But she could tell that something was about to happen when they arrived, and she asked her to go through to the sitting room and take a seat.

‘What about my luggage?’ Amalie asked. ‘I’d like to change Aina and…’

‘Just wait a moment, Amalie. I know someone has been waiting to see you.’

She nodded and politely did as she was told, imagining it was Oskar’s father wanting to welcome her.

Amalie rocked the baby and walked around the room, staring out of the window at the grounds and imagining what it had been like for Oskar to grow up somewhere so grand.

She didn’t know where she’d be living, whether it would be here or perhaps somewhere more modest, but either way she would be happy, so long as her daughter was with her.

A man cleared his throat and she turned, expecting to see Oskar’s father, but instead found herself facing his brother.

‘Alexander!’ She smiled the moment she saw him, seeing such similarities to Oskar as she studied his face that it was impossible not to warm to him. Not to mention how he’d been so kind to her when they’d first met. ‘You’ve come to meet your niece?’

Amalie held her out in her arms, thinking he might like to cradle her, but Alexander clasped his hands behind his back instead, looking unsure of himself.

‘You look well, Amalie,’ he said. ‘I trust your journey was comfortable?’

She frowned, wondering why he was behaving in such a formal manner. ‘Alexander, I’m so sorry about Oskar. I loved him so much, but I know the pain of losing a brother must be even greater.’

He nodded, and just as he raised his gaze and looked into her eyes, as if he were about to say something, his mother entered the room. Her perfume filled the air and she touched her son’s arm on the way past, giving him a look Amalie couldn’t decipher.

‘Well, I’d hoped your father would be here for this, Alexander, but Amalie, I want you to know that we have his blessing.’

She glanced between them, not liking the way Alexander looked at the ground, avoiding her gaze. Amalie held her daughter tighter to her chest.

‘Have his blessing for what, exactly?’

‘Amalie, you must understand that we cannot have you living with us, in society, as an unmarried mother with a…’ Her voice drifted away, and she gave a tight smile. ‘Well, we cannot have a child in the family without a father, can we?’

Amalie stared back at her. ‘But you said I was welcome, you said—’

‘What my mother is trying to tell you is that we’re to be married,’ Alexander said. ‘I will marry you and raise my brother’s daughter as my own, thereby erasing all hint of a scandal.’

‘But—’ Amalie’s heart began to race.

‘Oskar would have wanted this,’ he said. ‘I know it doesn’t feel right, but my mother isn’t wrong this time. If we want to give his daughter the future she deserves, this is the only way.’

‘You’d marry me?’ Amalie asked, feeling at once overwhelmingly grateful but also nauseated at the thought of marrying a man, any man, so soon after Oskar, not to mention his brother. ‘I cannot ask that of you, I—’

‘You don’t have to,’ he said, somewhat drily. ‘My mother is the one who asked me, and I could see no good reason not to accept. My brother adored you, Amalie, and I shall care for you in his absence and try to be the very best father I can be to your daughter.’

Alexander moved closer to her then, taking a ring box from his pocket and falling to one knee as Amalie tried to hold back her tears.

‘Amalie, will you marry me?’ he asked.

She nodded, quickly, not wanting to say yes because it felt like a betrayal of Oskar’s memory, but knowing that she had to give her consent for her own sake, and for her daughter’s.

‘You will accept me as your daughter-in-law?’ Amalie said, glancing over at his mother.

‘I will.’

‘Then yes, Alexander, I will marry you, if you’re certain you’re not being coerced into this union.’

He looked into her eyes, and she saw both pain and kindness there. He was a man mourning his brother, but he was also a good man, the kind of man who would do whatever he had to do to keep his brother’s daughter close.

Alexander took the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger.

It was a setting of three diamonds, each one larger than the single one Oskar had given her, on a gold band that fit snugly against her skin.

She couldn’t take her eyes from it as he rose, feeling the weight of it and imagining that this would be the ring she’d now wear for the rest of her life.

‘Thank you,’ she said, standing on tiptoe to press a light kiss to his cheek. ‘I will never, ever forget your kindness in my moment of need, Alexander.’

His cheeks coloured and she held Aina out to him, gently placing her in his arms.

‘This, Alexander, is your nie—’ She stopped herself and smiled, forcing the words out. ‘Your daughter, Aina. Isn’t she beautiful?’

As if on cue, Aina woke and stretched one perfect little pink fist from the within the blanket, her mouth twisting as she yawned and opened her eyes.

And as Amalie leaned into Alexander, she could almost imagine that it was Oskar whom she was standing beside, both men different yet so similar in many ways.

Even the faint scent of his cologne reminded her of him.

‘You’re to be married this week, in a private ceremony,’ his mother said, interrupting the quiet moment between them.

‘Alexander will be travelling for work after that and you shall accompany him, and when he returns, we’ll tell everyone that you both married privately some time ago.

No one will dare ask questions, not if we have our story carefully planned out. ’

Alexander passed the baby back to Amalie then as she began to cry. ‘I’ll do whatever you ask of me,’ Amalie said. ‘But may I be shown to my room so that I can feed and change my daughter?’

A short time after settling in, after she’d fed and bathed Aina, there was a knock at the door. She straightened her dress, still wearing what she’d arrived in, and called out. ‘Who is it?’

‘Alexander.’

She took a deep, shaky breath and opened the door. But the smile he gave her told her that she had nothing to worry about.

‘I wanted to speak to you without my mother overhearing,’ he said. ‘May I come in?’

‘Of course.’

She noticed that he left the door open, for which she was grateful. There was a fine line between speaking in private and making it appear as if they might be acting inappropriately, and she certainly didn’t want to jeopardise her new relationship with the family.

‘Amalie,’ Alexander said, pacing to the bed and then taking the chair. ‘I want you to know that it wasn’t my mother’s idea for us to get married.’

Amalie sat down, placing the baby on the bed beside her. ‘When you never wrote back to me—’

‘Wrote back to you?’ he said, looking puzzled. ‘When did you write to me?’

‘To ask for your help, after Oskar died and before the baby…’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Your mother must have intercepted the letter.’

Alexander’s face hardened. ‘Tell me what you wrote.’

She nodded. ‘I asked for your assistance. I told you how heartbroken I was and that without your help I would be forced to give up—’

‘Enough,’ he ground out. ‘Oskar was right to send you away, even though it had terrible consequences. He knew that it was best to make a new life far away from here.’

‘And you?’

He sighed. ‘I’m my father’s only heir now, and he’s ready to hand over the business in the coming years. If I had to, to protect you and the baby, I would willingly leave it all behind, but…’ Alexander looked uncomfortable.

‘If you’re afraid of telling me something, you needn’t be. If we’re to be married, I need you to speak your mind.’

‘It’s not that I don’t want to marry you, Amalie, it’s just…’ He shook his head. ‘You were the love of my brother’s life, and I don’t want to disrespect his memory.’

‘You’re not,’ she said, leaning forwards and touching his knee. ‘You’re saving me, Alexander, truly you are. And if we’re to be partners, then you need to know you can confide in me.’

‘I’ve never hidden my ambitions, and I want to take over the family business, but to do that, I, we, need to bide our time. I won’t stand for any bad behaviour towards you, but we need to tread carefully.’

Amalie understood what he was saying, or at least she thought she did. ‘You keep my daughter safe, and I’ll stand by your side and do whatever you ask of me,’ she said. ‘We might not be in love, but there’s no reason this marriage can’t be a success.’

Alexander’s smile reminded her of Oskar’s again, but it was slightly more reserved, and she had a feeling she knew why.

‘Did Oskar ever talk to you about his dreams?’ she asked.

‘When we were boys, yes, but not in recent years. Why do you ask?’

‘The first night we met, he talked to me of his dreams, and I think that’s what we need to make this marriage a happy one,’ she said. ‘We need to share our dreams, for us and for Aina, and work together to make those dreams come true.’

‘Then dream we shall,’ Alexander said, holding out his hand to her.

She placed her palm in his, feeling a sense of calm as an understanding of sorts passed between them.

Amalie didn’t love Alexander, but she respected him, and she knew that maybe one day that might slowly develop into something more.

But for now, she had an ally, someone who acutely understood her grief; and someone whom she knew would grow to love her daughter just as much as she did.

For he would see himself in Aina, begin to feel that she was truly his, and although it wasn’t the life she had imagined for herself, Amalie was prepared to accept it.

Because in her heart, she knew that Oskar would accept it, too.

‘May I ask something of you?’ Alexander said. ‘And I want you to answer truthfully.’

Amalie met his gaze.

‘I don’t want anyone to ever know I’m not Aina’s father,’ he said, his voice low, almost pained. ‘If even one person found out our secret, it might change the way people looked at her, and I want more for her. I want more for us. I want to keep the truth a secret, forever.’

‘Then we won’t ever tell her,’ Amalie said, as tears pricked her eyes. ‘She will be your daughter, Alexander, and no one but us ever has to know the truth.’

Amalie thought of the little box then, of the photo, and as much as she’d wanted to retrieve the ring Oskar had given her, she wondered if she might not write that letter to Hope in the morning after all.

Because even though she was prepared to agree with Alexander now, there was a little part of her that wanted that box to remain hidden with the photo of her and Oskar inside.

Just in case there was ever a reason for the truth to be discovered, before all evidence of her daughter’s true father was erased for good.