For the past 2 years, Christmas had brought a strange feeling to the van Loon household. As much as Amanda and Niels tried to distract the kids with snowmen, hot cocoa and Christmas movie marathons, something was still missing. It had been the last time they’d spent quality time with Daphne and Maë. Each year since then, Christmas left a dull aching in Amanda’s chest. This year, it wasn’t as bad, but Amanda couldn’t help but look back at the old cards she’d gotten from her kobedaughter. The whole thing still didn’t make sense to her, but she chose to go on with her life.
After all, Amanda and Niels had 4 beautiful children who were very much alive. Children who danced freely to Christmas carols on the radio and quoted full lines from old Christmas movies. Their youngest was growing quickly. Angelo was looking more and more like his father every day, Elia like her mum, and Emi was a perfect, blossoming combination of both parents. Life went on regardless of grief. They’d had a brief visit from the van Loons, gifts had been delivered, days before, to Eli’s family already, and gifts had been shipped to New York and South Africa to the Barthels and Dwyers. Amanda had abandoned her phone for the majority of the day, and had focused all of her attention on her family. Dinner was huge. They would have plenty of leftovers, not to mention all the dessert they had. Enough to share with extended family. At night, most of the kids fell asleep in front of the TV, and after Niels and Amanda got them to bed, Amanda checked her phone for the first time. She’d received a missed call from a number she didn’t recognise. There was also a voice message. At first, she didn’t recognise the voice. But soon, the voice on the line began talking about Maë and the fact that the child was still alive. The phone dropped out of Amanda’s hand and she stared in shock into midair. “Étienne,” she mumbled, placing the voice. Niels looked at her questionably. “Maë… They’re alive…”
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Amanda at a GlanceNames: Amanda Pontremoli, Amanda van Loon Archives
August 2017
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