Within the Storm by Milla Holt

Author:Milla Holt [Holt, Milla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reinbok Limited
Published: 2022-11-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

THE NEXT SATURDAY MORNING, Bethany was back at Lukas’s place to go through the boxes from the attic again.

They’d developed a system that worked reasonably well. He would lower some crates from the attic, and they’d look through the contents. This morning they’d been through ten crates already, filled with more of Berit’s women’s magazine collection and sewing and crafting supplies.

Bethany settled in front of the latest box, her pulse ticking up as she opened it. These looked like albums. She turned to the first page. It was a picture of three children posing for a formal professional portrait. Two small boys aged about five and three smiled for the camera in starchy-looking sailor suits. A baby sat on the older boy’s lap.

Bethany’s gaze traced over the eldest boy’s face. He was an adorable child with large gray eyes. She looked up at Lukas, who sat a few meters away, looking through another crate. “Where was this picture taken?”

He glanced up with the same gray eyes as the boy in the picture. “Let’s have a look.” Coming over to where she sat, he settled down, crossing his long legs. He took the album from her and stared at the picture.

She scanned his face. His color looked a lot better than it did a couple of weeks ago, and the paralysis was barely noticeable.

“Espen was only a few months old, so that would have been at Havdal,” he said. “We moved there not long before Espen was born. Well, Mama and Kai and I. Papa stayed behind. That was the time they split up for good.”

“That can’t have been an easy time.”

“It wasn’t.”

She hesitated, unsure whether she ought to pry. “Would you mind telling me about it? I know so little about Espen’s home life when he was a small child. I’ve asked Kai, but he doesn’t remember much since he was quite young as well. I’d love to be able to fill in some gaps in my book.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything, really.”

He laughed, his smile full and unhindered by the Bell’s Palsy. “Could you rephrase your question, please? I don’t think that was quite broad enough.”

She joined in his chuckle. “Just tell me whatever you think is relevant. What did your parents do for a living?”

He shifted the album on his knees. “Papa was a solicitor and Mama was a stay-at-home mother when we were little. I think we were comfortably off while they were married, because I remember showing off new shoes and birthday presents in the schoolyard.”

“And what was the general tone of your home? Was there lots of fun and laughter? Were your parents strict or permissive?”

His smile faded. “Before Mama and Papa split up, I remember a lot of yelling. Screaming matches where they’d get red in the face, shouting at each other while Kai and I ran upstairs and hid under the covers.”

Bethany stared at him. Wow, that took a turn.

“At the time, I didn’t know what it was about, but now I think it was because Mama found out he was cheating.

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