The months which followed were the happiest in Maria’s life. Jens’s mother didn’t notice anything, and they told her nothing until the day she happened to be in the barn and saw them behind the heifer, kissing.
Else Horder wasn’t best pleased. She told the two young people that their interest in one another would undoubtedly affect their work adversely. And she told herself that it was far too soon for her younger son to find himself a girl, although other people might think it was about time.
Maria and Jens didn’t agree with her, and Mrs Horder saw – to her dismay – that her feelings only caused Maria to work harder around the house. She left nothing for Mrs Horder to criticize. The same went for Jens. He worked all day in order to have time to hold Maria’s hand at night. They would disappear into the white room as soon as they had drunk coffee with Else in the living room after dinner and, as time passed, the cups grew smaller and smaller.
The more she saw them lose themselves in one another, the more Else’s pain increased.
She told herself that she meant well and that it was in everyone’s best interests that she started dropping small amounts of dirt on to the floor which Maria had just swept, or staining the tablecloth which Maria had just washed, and turning up her nose at the food which Maria had just cooked.
‘Jens, I think we had better find another helper. Maria has grown slovenly,’ she confided in her son one day when Maria had business on the main island. ‘I’ve already spoken to Mrs Angel. She’s a widow, very keen and very experienced.’
Mrs Angel was also obese and looked nothing like an angel. Else thought it highly unlikely that she would ever run off with her son.
Jens’s fists slammed against the table so hard that his mother’s illness temporarily worsened.
‘Hell, no. If Maria leaves, so do I,’ he thundered. Not like a child, but like the young man Maria had made him. His voice was deeper than ever.
Else was speechless while she tried to shake off the shock. The words cut her to the heart. Jens had been defiant before, especially when he lost his father – and surely that had been understandable – but he had never gone against his mother as he did now. She was horrified that he would speak like this to the woman who loved him more than anyone in the whole world; in that respect, he very much reminded her of her other son. But above all it confirmed Else’s fear that Maria had driven a wedge between her and her boy.
At that moment she heard bicycle tyres crunch against gravel. Maria was back.
‘Very well, if you feel that strongly about it…’ she said in her sweetest voice. ‘You know I only want what’s best for you, Jens. After all, we love each other so much, you and I. You would never abandon your sick mother, would you?’
Jens turned on his heel and left his sick mother in the living room. Else sat staring into the air and concluded that this must be one of the worst days of her life.
However, he soon returned to the living room, and Else Horder’s heart softened at the sight of her younger son, who came back with his gentle gaze and tender nature. He was smiling in the endearing way in which only her Jens could smile. His dark eyes were shining.
‘Maria is pregnant.’ He beamed as he said it.
They were married, in love and in haste, by the mayor of Korsted. A handful of acquaintances were witnesses and congratulated the couple while secretly wondering if a new little Horder was on the way. The bride’s stomach looked a little round, didn’t it? Out of common courtesy people preferred to gossip rather than ask the couple outright. Besides, everyone was delighted for them, because there was no doubt that Jens Horder had been through some tough times, first with his father dying, then with his brother’s sudden disappearance, although he had never let on. Jens was a man of few words. He was friendly and helpful, as his father had been before him, but he never said more than the bare minimum. It made it practically impossible to have a normal conversation with him. In fact, few people had believed that he would ever find himself a girl, but then again, perhaps it was she who had found him. They considered the options. The girl was sweet and pretty, but also rather subdued. Was it ultimately his mother who had set it all up?
After the ceremony there were sandwiches at the pub. People toasted the happy couple and sang a traditional wedding song. One hour later Jens and Maria walked home with the groom’s mother when she decided that it was time for them to leave. She was in pain.
Maria continued to sleep in the white room next to the workshop, where Jens now kept his pregnant wife company in the single bed, while his mother and her pain shared the double bed in the main house.
In his heart of hearts, Jens wanted a boy. In her heart of hearts, Maria wanted a girl. And Else Horder, in her heart of hearts, wanted disaster to strike.
All three of them got their wish.
Maria had twins: a boy and a girl.
Jens named the babies Carl and Liv.
It wasn’t until after the children were born that Jens finally managed to get his mother to vacate the master bedroom. Moving Else into Jens’s old bedroom further down the passage proved something of a battle. It was rather small and she didn’t like the air in there, but as only the master bedroom was big enough for two adults and two cradles, she ran out of arguments.
No one mentioned that Maria had gained quite a lot of weight during her pregnancy. She appeared unable to shift the extra kilos, which made the single bed in the white room that they had shared until then feel increasingly small.
Jens had worked on the cradles in the months leading up to the birth, once it became clear that two children were on their way. He had never built a cradle before, and yet he was sure they were the most beautiful cradles in living memory. He had devoted loving attention to every detail, just like his father used to with the coffins. When the second cradle was finished Jens put his face inside it, closed his eyes and thought about the wonderful new life that would grow out of that little space.
His mother had been hard to please during Maria’s pregnancy. It was tempting to think that it was Else’s hormones – rather than Maria’s – that were raging when she screamed and shouted for a sandwich or freshly washed tea towels. Sadly, the situation only deteriorated once the babies arrived. Else spent most of her time in her new bedroom, despite its smallness, and she asked to have her meals brought up there, while complaining loudly about the menu.
And although Jens also found his mother deeply irritating, he was ultimately so grateful for his wife’s love and the two children he and his sweetheart had brought into the world that nothing could bring him down. And despite Else’s best attempts, his attention was first and foremost directed at the twins, at Maria and at the incomprehensible joy which overwhelmed him daily.
Or at least it did for a time.
One day while Maria was in the barn and Else Horder was fast asleep in her room, Jens went to check on the children. The girl was sleeping soundly. The boy was lying on the floor below his cradle. In a pool of blood.
My Granny
They never told me exactly what happened to my brother. All they said was that he had an accident when we were very young, and afterwards my granny went to live with her cousin on the mainland. The rest of us stayed and grew bigger. Especially Mum.
I didn’t learn about the business with my granny until later. And then I learned it from her. Until then I had no idea I even had a granny. But one day she turned up out of the blue and moved into the room behind the workshop and made pancakes every morning for almost a whole month. That was December.