Let it Snow!

❄Twenty-Eight❄

After she dropped Daniel off at school, Nora directed her footsteps towards Clelia's bookshop. Having arrived before the opening time, her godmother had to unlock the door for her when she knocked on the window.

"Nora! Are you all right? It's early," Clelia said, her mind obviously far away from Nora's reality.

"I took Daniel to school and thought I'd say hello," Nora reminded her gently.

"Oh, of course, I forgot. Sorry, I was just compiling the list of my Christmas dinner guests. It seems there will be quite a few of us this year. I need to start thinking about the menu and then the shopping," the old woman muttered, walking behind the counter and adding either another name to her party register, or an entry to her shopping list.

"I won't keep you long. Promise you'll tell me should you need any help, Clelia," Nora urged.

"Thanks, girl. So what's new in the castle and beyond?" Clelia asked, her eyes twinkling at Nora from above the frames of her round glasses.

"All's well," Nora said noncommittally, not wanting her very observant godmother to start overthinking anything. "Martin mentioned Magdalena last night, and I wonder if you know where her shop is?"

"Magdalena..." Clelia mused, looking momentarily lost. "That Magdalena? The one married to Lino, Victoria's cousin...? You know, her youngest child is only a year older than Daniel and Lily, I've just put all their names on my list!"

Magdalena is related to Victoria? That Victoria?! Nora tried to push the obnoxious thought away for later, even as she replied, "That's the one."

"She's a couple of years older than you, at least. I didn't know you two knew each other."

"Yes, we used to frequent the same people. The group was large, and there were kids of all different ages. You know, Martin keeps telling me how he remembers me from back then, and I can't even recall him properly, there were so many of us." Nora smiled, and blushed, as always, when she got an opportunity to think or talk about him.

Clelia's smile widened in response. "I know. He told me... Anyway. You'll find Fairytale, Magdalena's boutique, in the far corner of the square, close to the church."

"Thanks, Clelia. Have a nice day and call me should you need anything," Nora repeated, her hand already reaching for the door handle.

"You, too," Clelia muttered, her eyes scanning her lists again.

Walking outside, Nora wrapped her coat tighter around her. Cold wind blew through the streets of the ancient town, sweeping them clean of the remaining snow. While she made her way towards the square, her mind kept strolling to the connection between Magdalena and Victoria, and how she had never met Victoria in the past. She must have moved in this place after Nora stopped spending her holidays here, like Martin. She sighed, realising that it made a perfect sense that Martin would be close to her. They were two newcomers, both single parents...

Her smile vanished entirely in pursuit of her long gone cheerfulness brought on by having seen Martin, and having kissed him, nearly two hours ago, even before she reached Fairytale-- a lovely boutique decorated in the shabby chic style fitting so well with the town and the bright castle perched above it on the hill. She sighed, glancing longingly towards the elegant, off-white towers, wishing she was braver, and didn't feel like an awful nuisance for calling Martin simply to hear his voice.

No way, forget about it, Nora told herself, forcing her eyes away from the castle and pressing first her palms, then her nose to the shop's window, as she peeked into the still dark interior. The chimes of the church bell announcing the hour and the voice, coming from somewhere close behind her, made her jump.