Page 5 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

Charlotte hurried through the busy café when she saw Erik sitting at a table in the far corner.

He stood and opened his arms, giving her a big, warm hug.

They’d been through a lot together when they were younger, and no matter what they might have disagreed about as teenagers or adults, it would never break their close bond.

She would have found being in London so much harder if he hadn’t chosen to do his residency closer to her.

‘To what do I owe the honour of breakfast?’ he asked.

‘Can’t a girl just want to see her brother?’

‘At short notice? I doubt it.’ He laughed, sitting back a little when their coffees arrived. ‘I took the liberty of ordering as soon as I got here. I’m still on call, so I might need to leave in a hurry.’

Charlotte took a deep breath, realising that they didn’t have time for small talk until they’d covered the important things. She was used to it, though—he lived and breathed his job in the same way she did, which meant she had absolute respect for the hours he had to work and how committed he was.

‘So, I’ve been offered a permanent executive chef position,’ she said.

‘Well, when I say offered, they want me to visit the hotel, I imagine work up a sample menu for their approval first, but essentially, I’m being considered for the role at a new restaurant in an exciting new hotel. It’s going to be huge.’

Erik raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of coffee. ‘Your contract has ended at Velluto?’

‘It has. My last day was yesterday and I miss it already.’

‘I feel like I’m missing something here,’ he said. ‘You’re looking for a new opportunity, you’ve been offered one that sounds amazing, so what—’

‘It’s in Oslo.’

Erik set his cup down and folded his hands on the table. ‘Ahh. And you want to know whether I think you should go back, or whether you should stay in London?’

She immediately felt tearful and hated how emotional she always became when she thought about going home. ‘It’s an amazing opportunity, I know it is, but—’

She watched as her brother ran a hand through his hair, and she recognised the exasperated look on his face.

He’d never understood how her feud with their father had caused such a rift in their family, but then how could he?

He was the golden child who’d done exactly as their father had wanted, and she was the one who’d defied him and turned her back on everything he wanted for her.

Her father had never been one to mince his words, and he’d made it very clear how much she’d disappointed him.

‘Lotte, I know I’ve said it before, but you can’t avoid him forever. Would it be so bad to just put the past behind you? It would be easier than holding on to all that pain inside you.’

Charlotte reached for her coffee and took a long sip, before staring into it, taking her time before answering.

‘I want him to be the one to say sorry,’ she said. ‘I know that makes me stubborn, but he’s my father and it’s time he realised that what I needed was his unconditional support back then, not his judgement. It’s what I still need.’

Erik reached for her hand and clasped it in both of his.

‘Sweetheart, you’re one of the most acclaimed young chefs in London.

You’ve succeeded in a way that I’m sure even you never imagined, so whatever Dad might have said to you back then, it means nothing now.

You’ve done it, you proved him wrong. If he’s not proud of you now, then he’s the fool. ’

‘Says the son who followed the path that was set for him and is about to become a surgeon,’ she said, frowning. ‘All you’ve ever received is his adoration for following in his footsteps.’

He laughed. ‘Hey, I can’t help it if I’m an overachiever.’

She swatted at him, but he ducked and grabbed her hand again. That was what she loved most about him—his ability to make her smile when she felt low, to turn everything into a reason to laugh.

‘Seriously, Lotte, this is a huge opportunity for you. And honestly? Imagine Grandma’s face if you did go back.’ He grinned. ‘She’d be over the moon to see her favourite grandchild.’

They both laughed then. Charlotte had always strived to be their grandmother’s favourite, especially in the wake of their mother disappearing and her father deciding to rule their household with an iron fist. It had been a difficult childhood in many ways, but their grandmother had wrapped her love around them with such ferocity that they’d both felt cherished, always, despite it all.

She sighed. ‘You truly think I should go?’

‘I truly think you should go. I mean, what’s holding you back, other than Dad?

You took London by storm, and now it’s time for you to return home and make your name there.

Or not. Going there for an interview doesn’t mean you have to take it, it just means that you’re open to the opportunity and to finding out more.

’ His smile was kind, as it always was. Erik had been the best big brother a girl could have hoped for, always encouraging her, always believing in her dreams. ‘Besides, it doesn’t matter what he thinks.

I’m proud of you, Grandma’s proud of you, and that’s what matters.

Don’t let him control the decisions you make, not now. ’

She nodded, quickly brushing away tears with her fingertips and wishing away her emotions.

Erik took out his phone from his pocket, turning the screen around to her after a few seconds. ‘Let me book you a ticket. When do you want to go?’

Charlotte felt her chest constrict just seeing the landing page for Norwegian Air on his phone.

‘I’m booking this flight whether you want me to or not, so either tell me what day or—’

‘Tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Make it tomorrow.’

He grinned and tapped away, before setting his phone down. ‘Done. The confirmation will be sent to your email.’

She groaned and reached for her coffee. ‘Tell me I’m doing the right thing.’

‘You’re doing the right thing,’ he repeated.

Charlotte shook her head, not convinced that she was but knowing that she’d always regret it if she didn’t. It was an amazing opportunity, and perhaps it was time to forgive her father instead of holding on to the past.

The server arrived with their breakfast, to which Charlotte mouthed ‘thank you’ as her eggs Benedict with mushrooms was placed in front of her, and it was then that she remembered the box in her bag.

‘Oh, there’s something else I need to tell you,’ she said, as her brother picked up his cutlery and began to eat with a speed that still managed to surprise her.

‘Talk while I eat,’ he said. ‘If my pager goes off before I’ve finished this…’

Charlotte reached into her bag and took out the little box, setting it between them and quickly filling her brother in on what had transpired the day before.

When Charlotte walked through arrivals at Oslo Airport the next day, she felt a familiar tightness in her chest that she usually experienced whenever she talked about her dad.

But she quickly forgot her anxiety when a woman with her thick silver hair cut short, with chunky gold jewellery at her wrists and neck, strode towards her.

Her grandmother was seventy-five, but she walked with the straight back of a woman half her age.

‘Lotte!’

‘Grandma.’ Charlotte dropped her carry-on bag and opened her arms, enveloping her grandmother in a tight hug. They stood for what felt like forever, arms around each other as the other people who’d disembarked from her flight were forced to move around them. ‘It’s so good to see you.’

‘I’d have told you to visit months ago if I’d thought it would work.’

Charlotte bent and retrieved her bag, slinging the other arm around her grandmother’s shoulders. ‘It’s been too long, Grandma, it was time I came home.’

‘Did your brother talk you into this, or was it the mystery of the box?’

She laughed and hugged her grandmother tighter to her side. ‘Of course not, this was all me, and maybe just a little about the box.’

‘You expect me to believe that you came all this way, after not coming home for eight years, just to see your old grandma?’

‘That, and the fact that I was invited to visit the new hotel in the city. Have you heard about the new Nordic Hotel Group place down by the water? I believe it’s almost complete.’

‘Of course I’ve heard of it! It’s all anyone in the city has been talking about,’ she said. ‘I’ve also heard about the restaurant. It seems no expense was spared on the head chef.’

‘Well, apparently it wasn’t enough for him to behave,’ Charlotte said as they arrived at the luggage carousel.

‘Because I hear the chef had an argument with the CEO of the hotel group, and he fired him just last week. But it’s the CEO I’m meeting with, and he seems very reasonable, certainly someone I could work with. ’

‘You know,’ her grandmother said, affectionately patting her hand, ‘whatever brought you home, I’m just grateful to have you here. You get more and more beautiful every time I see you.’

Charlotte let go of her grandmother only to retrieve her suitcase, and then they walked side by side through the terminal to the parking area. It wasn’t until they finally reached the car and were seated that her grandma turned to her, a sparkle in her eye as she held out her hand, palm up.

‘Show me this box,’ she said. ‘When I told you the curiosity was killing me, I wasn’t exaggerating.’

Charlotte reached into her handbag and took the box out. She’d carried it with her for fear of losing it—suddenly the little wooden box had seemed more important to her than even her chef’s knives, which she’d packed carefully into her check-in luggage.

She watched her grandmother’s face as she passed it to her, saw the way her eyes widened once it was in her hands.

Charlotte had loosely tied the string again so that the experience was the same as when she’d first untied it, and her grandmother opened it so carefully, taking back the lid and finding the diamond ring just as she had only two days earlier.

‘It’s so small.’

‘I know. I could only fit it on my little finger.’

Her grandmother’s gasp when she unfolded the photo made Charlotte reach out to her, her hand on her shoulder as she saw the tears glisten in her eyes. When she looked up, Charlotte wasn’t sure if she saw pain or hope in her expression, or maybe both.

‘I thought this must have all been a misunderstanding, that you were getting carried away thinking you recognised the woman in the photo, but this?’ She pointed to the young woman in the image. ‘Even without her name being printed on the back of it, I’d have known it was her.’

‘So, what do you think this all means?’ Charlotte asked, as her grandmother held up the emblem and considered it, before putting it back in the box and studying the photograph again.

‘I think that there’s something in the past that’s been kept hidden from me, and that at one point in time, my mother wanted me to find out what that secret was.’

Charlotte found herself nodding. ‘But what would have made her change her mind? And if she’s your biological mother, then what was she doing leaving clues for you at a house for unmarried mothers? None of it makes sense.’

Her grandmother passed the box back to her after carefully placing the ring back inside, before starting the car.

‘There’s only one person who can answer our questions, and that’s my mother. Do you have anywhere to be today?’

Charlotte shook her head. ‘No, I don’t have my appointment at the hotel until tomorrow.’

‘Good, because we’re going to see Amalie now, before it’s too late.’