Let it Snow!

❄Twenty-Nine❄

Nora stood up and made her way around the boutique, letting her unseeing eyes and unfeeling fingers pretend that she was interested in the magnificent dresses while she was entirely lost to the world.

So there had been something between Martin and Victoria, something that for her never ceased to exist, apparently. No matter how Martin felt about her now, she did not take him as a simple friend...

"His younger brother, your Eric, is a different cup of tea, right? I've met him several times since Martin moved here, and I tell you, he didn't change at all," Magdalena said, pulling Nora from her reverie a quarter of an hour and one happy customer later.

She joined Nora among the wrought iron rails where she was still hiding while she tried to organise her thoughts. Nora shook her head to clear it and put more effort in pretending to be looking at the wonderful, fairytale-like ball gowns.

"You better try some of these and choose one, you know? For the ball," Magdalena added.

Nora looked at her, frowning silently, hoping that her friend would understand that she didn't want to talk about Eric, that she wasn't the girl who once couldn't talk about anyone else but him any longer. "What ball?" she asked, faking interest for what seemed to be the small town's most important social venue of the year, only to keep the subject away from Eric and the past.

"Don't tell me that you don't know about the Christmas masked ball in the castle. It's been going on for so long that it has already become a tradition. There are people who are desperate to get an invitation. You really should choose a dress before they'll be all taken," Magdalena enthused.

"There is no reason why I should be invited. And even if I was, I wouldn't go, it's nothing for me. I dislike these things just as I used to. And these dresses of yours are a little... over the top, they are all too smart!" Nora laughed, spreading a wide, floor-length skirt of a sumptuous, many layered dress, all sky blue satin and pearlescent lace.

"That's actually a replica of the Disney Cinderella ball gown," Magdalena smiled smugly at seeing Nora's fingers buried deep within the layers of the soft fabric. "You'd look splendid in that, with that long blonde mane of yours. And these," she added, turning around, reaching into a shelf and producing a pair of stilettos made of transparent, very glittery plastic, "go with it..."

"No way, thank you," Nora said, taking a distance from the gown and shoes. They were silly and pretentious... and gorgeous and irresistible.

"We rent them, just like the wedding dresses, no need to buy a thing you'll only wear once..." Magdalena tempted, recognising the signs of struggle within a potential customer.

"No, thank you," Nora repeated, walking back towards the sofa and pulling her phone from her bag. It was nearly eleven and a couple of new customers just entered the shop.

"Let me give you my number, and then I'll let you work," Nora said, then scribbled her number into a little notebook, which Magdalena had passed her. "We can meet whenever you are free, I'm not too busy myself these days."

She put her coat back on and grabbed her handbag, then let Magdalena pull her into an embrace.

"It was great seeing you, I'm so glad you're back, Nora," Magdalena said before she turned to her customers, and Nora walked outside, waving at her friend through the window.

She had enough time to walk to the cemetery, she decided, directing her footsteps towards the florist, and then having a coffee somewhere while waiting for Daniel.

"Will you help me decorate our Christmas trees, Nora?" Daniel asked the moment the two of them districated themselves from the noisy crowd composed of children and parents surrounding the school gates and then, hand in hand, walked into the silent park.

Unlike the streets of the town, the lanes under the trees were still hidden under a thick layer of snow that muffled the sound of their footfalls.

"As in more than one of them?" Nora smiled, and Daniel nodded. "All right, why not?" she agreed, making the boy beam at her happily.

"Do you still want to go ice skating later?" she asked him as they reached the sloping cobblestoned lane leading to the castle.

The sky looked innocuous enough at the moment. They could also enjoy the snow-free weather while it lasted.

Daniel nodded and then ran off towards the trees that hid the lake and the rotunda from view. Nora kept walking up the hill alone, convinced that he knew the park and its lanes well enough to find his way back, and wasn't surprised when he materialised at her side again minutes later, just as she reached the drawbridge.

"Some of my friends are already there," he announced, smiling at her, taking her hand in his again.

"First, you must eat something. Then we'll grab your skates, and you can play with them until it gets dark. Unless you get cold before, of course," she told him.

Daniel was only half listening to her as he replied to several 'hellos' and 'how are yous' from the people they met while they crossed the castle's Entry Hall and then the courtyard-- the girl selling tickets, several hotel guests, a young woman dressed like a receptionist, chatting outside the hotel's glass sliding doors to a couple of waiters-- who waved at the boy as Nora and Daniel walked by, finally reaching the door of the tower.

Nora found the set of keys Martin had given her in the morning in the depths of her handbag easily; the charm, a small, perfect replica of the castle carved of the same bright stone the real castle stood on attached to the key ring made it difficult to lose them. It also made it impossible for her not to think about Martin whenever she saw or touched it because in her mind, the man had become an inseparable part of the castle.

She shook her head, trying to suppress a smile as she inserted the first key in the lock, wondering if Martin had given her this set of keys to keep on purpose-- they were not the same keys she had used the day before.

"Come on then," she told Daniel as they entered the window-less hall, waiting for him to switch on the lights before letting the door shut behind them, "let's cook something quick."