The Stonecutter Read Free

upstairs and return to the exhausting reality of life in her mother’s house.
    As if sensing what Charlotte was thinking, Erica asked how the house-hunting was going.
    ‘Slow. Much too slow. Niclas is working all the time, it seems. He never has time to drive around and look at houses. And there isn’t much to choose from right now anyway, so I suppose we’re stuck here for a while longer.’ She gave a deep sigh.
    ‘It’ll all work out, you’ll see.’ Erica’s voice was comforting, but Charlotte wasn’t reassured. She, Niclas, and the children had already been living with her mother and Stig for six months. The way things looked now, they were going to have to stay for another half a year. That might be all right for Niclas, who was at the clinic from morning to night, but for Charlotte being cooped up with the kids was unbearable.
    In theory it had sounded so good when Niclas suggested the idea. A position for a district physician had opened up in Fjällbacka, and after five years in Uddevalla they had felt ready for a change of scene. Besides, Albin was on the way, conceived as a last attempt to save their marriage. So why not start their life over completely? The more Niclas had talked about the plan, the better it had sounded. And the thought of having close access to her parents for babysitting, now that they were going to have two kids, had also sounded tempting.
    But reality was an entirely different story. It took no more than a few days before Charlotte remembered exactly why she had been so eager to leave her parents’ house. On the other hand, a few things had definitely turned out the way they had hoped. But this wasn’t a topic she could discuss with Erica, no matter how much she would have liked to. It had to remain a secret, otherwise it might destroy their whole family.
    Erica’s voice interrupted her reverie. ‘So, how’s it going with your mom? Is she driving you nuts?’
    ‘To say the least. Everything I do is wrong. I’m too strict with the kids, I’m too lenient with the kids, I make them wear too many clothes, I make them wear too few clothes, they don’t get enough to eat, I stuff them with too much food, I’m too fat, I’m too sloppy … The list never ends,’ she said.
    ‘What about Niclas?’
    ‘Oh no, Niclas is perfect in Mamma’s eyes. She coos and fawns all over him and feels sorry that he has such a worthless wife. He can do no wrong as far as she’s concerned.’
    ‘But doesn’t he see how she treats you?’
    ‘Like I said, he’s almost never at home. And she’s on her best behavior whenever he’s around. You know what he said yesterday when I had the audacity to complain? “But Charlotte, dear, why can’t you just give in a little?” Give in a little? If I gave in any more I’d be completely obliterated. It made me so mad, I haven’t spoken to him since. So now he’s probably sitting there at work feeling sorry for himself because he has such an unreasonable wife. No wonder I came down with the world’s worst migraine this morning.’
    A sound from upstairs made Charlotte get up reluctantly.
    ‘Erica, I’ve got to run upstairs and see to Albin. Otherwise Mamma will be doing the whole martyr bit before I get there … But remember, I’m coming by this afternoon with some pastries. Maybe around 3:00? Here I’ve been going on about myself, and I haven’t even asked how you’re doing. But I’ll be over later.’
    She hung up and combed her fingers quickly through her hair before she took a deep breath and went upstairs.
    It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this at all. She had plowed through tons of books about having a child and what life would be like as a parent, but nothing she’d read had prepared her for this. Instead, it seemed like a huge plot. The authors raved about happy hormones and how you would float on a pink cloud when you held your baby, naturally feeling a totally overwhelming love at first sight