Let it Snow!

❄Thirty-Four❄

While Nora watched the castle grow in front of her as she approached it the following morning, the thought of her interview, scheduled for the next afternoon, fluttered into the forefront of her mind and remained there the entire day.

She couldn't stop thinking and worrying about it, except for the brief moments when Martin was around. Like the five minutes on the drawbridge in the morning when Nora was tempted to tell him about it, but didn't have enough time.

"Before I forget," Martin said before she managed to gather her thoughts scattered by his kiss, "you are free tomorrow afternoon. I have to take Daniel shopping for clothes, he's grown up so much lately and I never get to it. And he's got his hockey practice as well. So, I'll pick him up from school and we'll go out for lunch before we do everything else... Would you like to come with us?" he asked hopefully, pushing a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.

It would be great to spend an afternoon 'out of work' with them, Nora mused. But she couldn't do it, the few unexpected free hours were exactly what she needed.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I have to help Clelia to set up her market stall, and then I'll have to go home and prepare... " she nearly told him about the interview then, but caught herself at the last moment. She'd rather surprise him later if she got the job. "I really should buy a Christmas tree. I want a potted one, and the florist didn't have many of those left the last time I passed by... But we're going out for dinner tomorrow night, right?" Nora reminded him when she noticed a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.

"Of course we are," he said, smiling again. "All right then. I'll see you two later."

He waved at Daniel who had already strolled to the end of the drawbridge from where he was looking down into the moat, observing a pair of swans that managed to find a place where the water wasn't frozen. The boy waved back immediately, making Nora realise that he had been actually watching them, rather than the swans, even as Martin cupped her face and kissed her again.

Nora wanted to protest but couldn't; the only objection she managed to utter, after the kiss, was as shaky, "What about Daniel and this... Us..." She encompassed the two of them in a wave of her hand, at a loss for words to express her thoughts better.

But Martin understood and smiled, even as he backed away from her, towards the castle's Entry Hall.

"He understands and doesn't mind. I talked to him."

Nora nodded silently as she turned around and walked away from him, not knowing what to say to that, hoping... hoping not to disappoint either of them. It was one thing, letting herself fall for a man, risking a heartbreak. It was something else entirely when the man happened to be a father of a marvellous boy... Her heart wasn't the only one at risk in this situation. She sighed as she reached Daniel, making him look up at her, his pair of moss-green eyes brimming with curiosity.

The boy took her hand in his silently as they descended the hill, the rare handful of cold sunbeams, already disappearing behind a cloud even before the sun had risen entirely, making his curls look golden. His resemblance to the Little Prince is incredible, Nora mused, promising to herself to make him happier than the boy from the book was. She would never break his heart.

Nora spoke to him before he could begin asking questions she wouldn't know how to reply. "You have a busy day tomorrow, I've heard..." That was enough to set him off chattering the whole way to school.

After she dropped Daniel off at school, Nora stopped in Clelia's shop in order to tell her godmother about her plans for the following day. She promised to help Clelia to set up the stall before heading off for the interview and then the dinner with Martin, and insisted on joining her in the market afterwards, just like she had promised her before her newest plans were made.

Nora walked to the cemetery when Clelia was busy with her customers and then back to Clelia's, as her godmother had proposed for them to have an early lunch together, before Nora went to pick up Daniel.

In the evening both Martin and Daniel insisted on walking home with her, and as much as she thought it was unnecessary for them to get out into the cold night because of her, she didn't protest, she treasured every moment spent with them.

And then the morning of the day of her interview dawned and sped by in a blur of actions and events through which Nora moved only semi-consciously, as if she was walking through a dream.

As he had told her the previous night, Martin wasn't around in the morning-- she would not see him before the evening, when they would meet on the bridge and walk to Lino's together.

Daniel seemed more cheerful than usual, he was excited by the prospect of spending his afternoon with his father.

"And who is coming to stay with you tonight?" Nora asked, curious about the babysitter Martin had found, feeling guilty for leaving him behind with someone else.

"Lara's coming. She's cool. You know, Nora, she's only sixteen, not much older than me."

Nora giggled at the young man's enthusiasm-- he must really like this Lara if the ten years' difference between them felt like nothing to him. Content that he would have a fun rest of the day, Nora left Daniel at school.

"I'll see you at Clelia's tomorrow afternoon," she said, letting him pull her down by her scarf and press a kiss to her cheek.

She wrapped him in a tight embrace, not caring about a group of mums chatting in the corner of the courtyard while they observed them curiously. Nora didn't mind that her feelings for Daniel showed and seemed unusual and inappropriate for such a recently acquired au-pair.

"Of course. Bye, Nora," he assured her. Then he was off, leaving her alone.

Turning her back on the nosy group still looking her way, she directed her steps towards Clelia's shop. Mary's sons would not be around until tomorrow, which meant more journeys to the square for the two of them, first with Clelia's books and then with Mary's cakes, jams and preserves, as Nora felt that it was her turn to help the woman this time.