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Was this a second chance or another emotional car crash?
“You can ask her. Face to face,” Erik said. “But I know you’re nervous.”
“Yes.” She had no secrets from him, although it had taken her a while to reach the point where she’d trusted their relationship not to snap. “She’s a stranger. The only living member of my family.”
Her sister was gone—killed instantly two years earlier while crossing the road. There was no fixing the past now. That door was closed.
Erik tightened his hold on her. “Your niece has a daughter, remember? That’s two family members. Three if you count her husband.”
Family. She’d had to learn to live without it.
She’d stayed away, as ordered. Made no contact. Rebuilt her life. Redesigned herself. Buried the past and travelled as far from her old life as she could.
In the city she’d often felt trapped. Suffocated by the past. Here, in this snowy wilderness, with nature on her doorstep, she had felt free.
And then the past had landed in her inbox.
I’m Christy, your niece.
“Was it a mistake to ask her here?” It was the first time she’d invited the past into the present. “Apart from the fact we don’t know each other, do you think she’ll like this place?”
For her it had been love at first sight. The stillness. The swirl of blue-green color in the sky. The soft light that washed across the landscape at this time of year. As a photographer, to her the light was an endless source of fascination and inspiration. There were shades and tones she’d never seen anywhere else in the world. Midnight-blue and bright jade. Icy pink and warm rose.
Some said that life up here was harsh and hard, but Robyn had known hard and this wasn’t it. Cold wasn’t just a measure of temperature—it was a feeling. And she’d been cold. The kind of cold that froze you inside and couldn’t be fixed with thermal layers and a down jacket.
And then there was warmth. Of the kind she felt now with Erik.
“Christmas in Lapland?” He sounded amused. “How can she not like it? Particularly as she has a child. Where else can she play in the snow, feed reindeer and ride on a sled through the forest?”
Robyn gazed at the trees. It was true that this was paradise for any Christmas-loving child, although that wasn’t the focus of the business. She had little experience of children, and had never felt the desire to have her own. Her family was Erik. The dogs. The forest. The skies. This brilliant, brutal wilderness that felt more like home than any place she’d lived.
The main lodge had been handed down through generations of Erik’s family, but he’d expanded it to appeal to the upper end of the market. Their guests were usually discerning travelers seeking to escape. Adventurous types who appreciated luxury but were undaunted by the prospect of heading into the frozen forest, or exploring the landscape on skis or snowshoes. Erik offered his services as a guide when needed and she, as a landscape photographer, was on hand to coach people through the intricacies of capturing the Aurora on camera. You couldn’t predict it, so she’d learned patience. She’d learned to wait until nature gave her what she was hoping for.
Through the snowy branches sh
e could see the soft glow of lights from two of their cabins, nestled in the forest. They were five in total, each named after Arctic wildlife. Wolf, Reindeer, Elk, Lynx and Bear. Each cozy cabin had floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a breath-taking view of the forest and the sky. The Snow Spa had been her idea and had proved a popular addition. The focus here was wellness, with an emphasis on the nature that surrounded them. She and her small team used local resources whenever they could. Guests were encouraged to leave phones and watches behind.
Erik was right. It was the perfect escape. The question she should have asked wasn’t Will she like it here? but Will she like me?
She felt a moment of panic. “The last time I saw Christy—well, it wasn’t good.” The kitten incident... The memory of that visit was carved into her soul. Despite all her good intentions, it had gone badly wrong. “What age do children start remembering? Will she remember what happened?”
She hoped not. Even now, so many years later, she could still remember the last words her sister had spoken to her.
“You ruin everything. I don’t want you in my life.”
Robyn pressed closer to Erik and felt his arms tighten.
“It was almost three decades ago, Robyn. Ancient history.”
“But people don’t forget history, do they?”
What had her sister told her daughter?
Robyn the rebel.
She wondered what her sister would say if she could see her now. Happy. Not married, but in a long-term relationship with a man she loved. Living in one place. Earning a good living—although no doubt Elizabeth would have seen it as unconventional.
Christy, it seemed, was happily married and living an idyllic life in the country, as her mother had before her.
