6

Robyn

The conditions were perfect. The sky was clear. The air crisp and freezing cold.

Robyn stepped closer to the man and checked the camera setting. “The cold will drain the battery. I have spares if you need them.” She’d filled a backpack with batteries, knowing that there was nothing worse than trying to capture a once-in-a-lifetime moment and finding your camera battery had died. She also carried a tripod because she’d seen more than one tripod snap in the cold.

This week her guests were a couple from Germany and another couple from Chicago.

She preferred working with small groups and never took more than four on one of her trips. That way she could give them all individual attention and ensure that they came away with photographs to be proud of.

She and Erik provided heavy-duty outdoor clothing, but she knew that even with good clothing they’d be freezing within an hour, which was why she always carried a flask of hot chocolate on her photo safaris.

“It’s incredible.” The woman from Chicago gazed up at the sky, too mesmerized to take photos. “Often when you dream about something you know it can’t possibly live up to expectation, but this exceeds it.” She sounded emotional, but Robyn didn’t find that in any way strange.

She’d felt the same way when she’d first arrived here, with nothing but a backpack, a camera and a past she was trying to escape.

“I’ve seen your photos.” The woman glanced at her. “You have an extraordinary talent. How did you get started? Did you go to art school?”

Robyn almost laughed. Could therapy be classed as art school?

“Like most things in life, it was a mixture of luck and timing. I had a friend who became a tutor, and then a mentor.” She didn’t elaborate. She’d left her past behind and didn’t allow it to intrude into her current life or the person she was now. She’d long since forgiven herself and learned to accept that part of her.

It was one of the reasons she had mixed feelings about Christy’s imminent arrival. There would be no avoiding the past. She was excited about the prospect of seeing her niece, but inevitably there would be questions. And Robyn would need to consider what answers to give. She’d have to talk about something she didn’t like talking about.

You ruin everything. I don’t want you in my life.

Had she really moved on, or had she simply been hiding from the past?

She’d lived two lives, and now they were about to merge.

She set up a tripod for one of her other guests. “Use your remote shutter release. That way you won’t shake the camera taking the photo. Also, it will mean you don’t have to remove your gloves and risk frostbite.” She flashed him a smile and tromped through the snow back toward Erik.

“There was a phone call.” He handed her a mug of chocolate to warm herself. “From Christy. There’s been a complication.”

“She’s not coming? She’s changed her mind?”

And now, when it seemed like it might not happen, she realized how badly she wanted it to. How much she was willing to take that risk to make contact with family again.

“She’s coming, but a few days later. Seb has work commitments, but her friends are coming as planned with little Holly.”

Robyn relaxed. They’d hardly be sending their child if they weren’t planning on joining her, would they?

“I thought it was one friend. Alix?”

“Now it’s two friends. Zac. He was best man at their wedding. Presumably they thought it would be easier with two of them.” Erik, as always, was relaxed about the change in plan. He took life as it came, dealing with issues as they arose, rather than anticipating them as she did.

“Are they a couple?”

“Sounded like it.”

Robyn slid her hands round the warm mug, absorbing the heat. “I suppose it will give me a chance to get to know Holly a little before Christy arrives. Or maybe that will make it worse. Get it wrong with the child and you won’t please the mother.”

“Why would you get it wrong?”

Because she’d done it before.

“I don’t know much about children.”

“Children are people. All different. We often have children here, and they always love you.”

She sipped her chocolate, savoring the warmth and comfort. “They love the place.”

“And you make sure they see the best of it. You know what people want, whatever the age.” He shook his head, bemused. “You are a confident woman, Robyn. I only ever see this hesitation and uncertainty when we talk about your family.”

“Maybe it’s because I’ve only ever made major mistakes with my family.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“I know, but—” she breathed in “—what if she rejects me, Erik? What if I tell her the truth, and she tells me she doesn’t want me in her life?”

Erik stood taller. “Then, she will not be worth having in yours. And now you need to stop chewing on what-if and deal with what is.”

She finished her chocolate. “We only have the one cabin available for those first few days, but if the friends are a couple, then it won’t matter. They can share.”

So it would be a few more days still until she met Christy.

Now that the much-anticipated meeting was delayed, she wasn’t sure if she was feeling relief or disappointment.

Robyn had avoided complication for the past couple of decades, particularly family complication. She kept her life simple, and that was the way she liked it. But now she’d opened the door again.

Family could hurt you like no other; she knew that.

Would this prove to be a mistake?