Let it Snow!

❄️Forty-Eight❄️

It had been a nice afternoon and evening, Nora had to admit to herself as she and Eric left Clelia in the square at half past ten. The three of them had managed to sell most of the reasonable number of books Clelia had brought for the last night of the market, she only had a couple left which she would stuff in her handbag and carry with her to church where she was going for the Midnight Mass, she told them. They were free to go home.

They both hugged and kissed her, then watched her join Mary and a handful of other people heading for the church, while they said goodbye to Richard and his very loud and jovial group of friends who all seemed to know and like Eric just as much as Clelia.

Then they finally walked across the square teeming with people and flooded with softly playing Christmas music in the direction of the castle, and stepped into the snowy coldness of the night filling the world beyond the circle of warm light emanating from the square, under the thickly grown trees of the park.

The sound of music morphed slowly into the whisper of the never freezing fountain and the murmur of their footfalls on the snow-buried gravel. Nora pulled the hood of her coat up, noticing how her clothes were permeated with the scents of vanilla and cinnamon, of Clelia's biscuits and even the hot chocolate the two had talked her into making in the end. She smelled of Christmas, and she loved it; she wished she could have shared this afternoon with Martin and Daniel. It would have been perfect then.

But it was Eric who walked by her side now and laced his arm promptly around hers when she slipped on the ice hiding in the crevices among the cobble stones as they climbed the castle hill.

"Good night, Eric," she said as they reached the drawbridge, content to walk the rest of the way home on her own. It had been a pleasant but a very long day, and she hadn't had an alone moment to think.

"No way I'm leaving you to walk home alone. That meadow is dark and full of snow and wild animals..."

"Silly Eric," Nora said, smiling at him. "You just see your wind mills everywhere..." She saw his eyebrows drawing together in thought, so she continued before he could ask what she meant, "I walked up that meadow at least once a day since I returned almost a month ago. There are no wild animals around, apart from some deer and a couple of foxes, and most of them are on friendly terms with Daniel and your brother."

"Well, I don't think my brother would thank me for allowing you to walk home alone. Come on, you won't make me change my mind." He started walking towards the stables, taking her with him.

She sighed, recognising a lost battle even without fighting it. They walked slowly up the snow-covered, sloping meadow, guided by Nora's knowledge of the place rather than their sight. The sky above their heads was overcast with black clouds and the snow flakes grew in size gradually as they climbed the gentle hill, and it was Nora's turn to steady Eric as he stumbled a few times on the path which apparently hadn't been cleaned since the morning.

"Well, thank you," Nora said once they reached her cottage, bursting into a fit of giggles as an owl hooted somewhere in the encroaching forest, making Eric's hand fly to his heart. "I had a nice time."

"But... you won't invite me in, and you won't even even tell me what you were supposed to tell me, I guess."

"Well... exactly," she said. She didn't feel like doing either of the things now. She wanted to take a shower, go to bed, and just be alone. "I'll see you at Clelia's tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night, Nora. It was wonderful seeing you again," he muttered on a sigh.

She ran up the porch steps and found her keys, then turned around, suppressing another giggle at seeing Eric descending the hill carefully, his phone in his hand illuminating the path unfolding under his feet. He didn't have Martin's ability to navigate through the darkness... Goodness, she missed Martin...