Page 47 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)
Amalie stood beside her mother-in-law, watching as Alexander took his place in front of the hotel holding a giant pair of scissors, preparing to cut a gold ribbon that would officially signal the opening of their new venture in Oslo.
Their daughter, dressed in a cream dress with a matching coat and an enormous bow in her hair, stood beside him—she was his constant shadow.
She and Alexander might have been an unlikely pairing in the beginning, but Amalie knew that anyone who looked at them now would think them fated.
They’d had their daughter while expanding his family’s business empire, and she knew that he’d be the first to say that this new hotel was as much her success as it was his.
They’d spent the past three years working on ambitious plans to open a city hotel, different to the ones on the fjords that his family had always been known for, and now here they were, on opening day.
She’d sat up with him every night till late when he’d been poring over the plans, or through dinners with investors and advisers, and she’d found that she was almost as attuned to business as he was now.
Alexander had wanted her beside him up there, but it was his moment, and she had no intention of stealing it from him.
Once the ribbon had been cut and the invited guests began to mingle and go inside for a tour, Amalie’s mother-in-law touched her elbow and steered her away from the crowd.
‘Walk with me?’
Amalie nodded. They only saw each other on birthdays and special occasions these days, but they’d managed to establish a cordial relationship, and Amalie knew that the more well-known she and her husband became, not to mention the more successful the business, the more her mother-in-law warmed to her.
‘You must be so very proud of Alexander,’ Amalie said. ‘He’s worked so hard, and the hotel is everything I imagined it would be.’
‘I don’t think Alexander did this alone, Amalie,’ she said. ‘I know you had a hand in this development.’
Amalie chose not to answer until she’d carefully considered her words. ‘Alexander’s success is my success. There’s no credit due to me.’
‘I was wrong about you, Amalie,’ his mother-in-law said. ‘I thought you were going to lead my boy astray, that his life would be over if he married you, yet here you are, the guiding light to my only son.’
It was a compliment if ever she’d received one, and although she didn’t need her mother-in-law’s praise, it didn’t mean it wasn’t nice to hear.
‘Amalie, I know this has been a long time coming, you’ve been a part of this family for so long now, but I would like to apologise to you.’
‘Apologise to me?’ she asked.
‘You were worthy of my Oskar, and if I’d seen that at the time, he would still be alive today. His death was my fault, Amalie, not yours.’
Amalie stopped walking and turned to her, opening her arms and choosing to embrace the woman who’d once treated her so poorly, whom she’d once hated.
‘For so many years I blamed you, but Oskar’s death wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine.
It was an accident, and it’s time we both accepted that. ’
Her mother-in-law began to cry, and Amalie held her again. There was a time when she’d hated her; when she’d blamed the way her life had turned out on the woman she now held in her arms, but Amalie knew better than to live in the past.
‘Without you,’ she said, putting a little distance between them so she could wipe her fingertips across her cheeks, ‘I would have been destitute. I would have had to place my gorgeous girl for adoption so she could live the life I dreamed for her, or live in poverty and struggle to provide her with enough food to fill her belly. So I forgive you, for it all.’
Her mother-in-law’s eyes cleared, and it was as if they finally saw each other for who they were.
‘Alexander has been a wonderful husband to me, and a kind, loving father to our daughter. I wouldn’t trade the life we share for anything.’
‘Not even a chance to go back?’
Amalie thought for a moment. ‘I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that I’m content.
I love Alexander with all my heart, and I cherish every day we spend together.
I no longer look back and wonder what if, and I don’t want you to, either.
We can only look forward and enjoy the life that we have. ’
A familiar hand touched her shoulder then, and she turned to find Alexander standing behind them. She could tell from the way his eyes shone that he’d overheard what she’d said to his mother.
‘Would you ladies like a tour of the hotel?’ he asked.
Amalie linked her arm through her husband’s, admiring the hotel rising in front of them.
It was magnificent, and even though Oskar had never wanted to enter the family business, even though he’d felt it a noose rather than a gift, she had come to love being a part of it, and she hoped that he could see, from wherever he was, that the obstacle that had once kept them apart was the same thing that had finally set her free.