Let it Snow!

❄️Forty-Three❄️

Nora didn't see Martin the following morning.

Daniel turned up on the drawbridge alone, telling her that Daddy had been delayed by the director of the hotel and whatever the man needed to consult with him urgently, had something to do with organisation of the masked ball which was always held in the hotel's dance hall.

Martin's text, wishing her a happy birthday and apologising for his absence, reached her even as she dropped Daniel at school. He was off to the spa now, he informed her, to supervise the Rangers who were supposed to create several feeding spots in the woods for the plentiful local deer population, and thus keep the animals off the lawns of the hotels which they reached in search of food always more often because of the heavy snowfall, and away from the thermal lakes where they scared the tourists as well as the ducks and swans.

Nora smiled as she typed her reply, wishing she could spend the morning with him. His love of animals and the ability to be so multitasking were impressive and admirable; and she missed him. But she had two groups to lead through his castle this morning before picking Daniel up again and staying with him until five, when a friend's mother would pick him up for a pyjama party. Then she would go home, cook, and wait for Martin...

It was eight o'clock, and she just took her seafood paella off the cooker when Martin arrived, half hidden behind a large bouquet of roses, their infinity of delicate petals as white as the falling snow.

"You shouldn't have!" she admonished, taking the flowers and the bottle of wine he passed her, carrying them into the kitchen then helping him out of his coat, shaking the snow off the woollen fabric on the porch while he took his shoes off and donned a fitting pair of slippers.

She always felt sorry for cut flowers. They were beautiful but so delicate and ephemeral, destined to perish within a few days, she thought, wondering whether she had a big enough vase to hold them all.

"Of course I had to," he said, pulling her in for a kiss. "The florist didn't have any white rose plant. That's what I wanted to get you," he added as if he was reading her mind.

She smiled as he rested his chin on top of her head after the kiss, his arms encasing her, holding her close as if he never wanted to let go of her. She was feeling and thinking the same. They were in tune, incredibly so...

"Thank's, Martin," she said, disentangling herself from his arms against her will, taking him by the hand and leading him into the kitchen. "The dinner's ready, you arrived perfectly on time."

"And after dinner we'll go out, I have a surprise for you," he said, chuckling as her eyebrows arched with curiosity as she looked at him once she set their plates on the table and sat down, taking a sip of the white wine he had already poured out.

"Thanks, Nora, it was delicious, everything you cook is," he said, passing her another glass of wine after she had cleared the dishes and joined him on the sitting room sofa where she had banished him to wait for her while she checked that everything was in place, the cooker off and the fires banked, and she could leave the house to spend the rest of the evening wherever he wanted to take her. "And here's your present," he added, passing her a small golden box even as she sat down. It could only contain jewellery.

"But you shouldn't have, you already gave me the flowers and you have another surprise for me!" she complained, feeling rather embarrassed about accepting presents from him. It was all so new.

"Open it," he insisted and after another sip of her wine she set her glass on the coffee table and pulled on the thin, golden ribbon tied around the box and opened it, finding inside a wonderful bracelet made of silver or platinum, she could not tell the difference. The intricately woven chain, looking sturdy but delicate at the same time, carried three charms-- a simple plump and smooth heart, an incredibly detailed tiny replica of Martin's castle, and a sitting fox with two grains of some green stone for eyes, almost the same colour as Martin's, and Daniel's eyes were.

"Daniel insisted I had the fox made for you, and I thought it was quite fitting," Martin said, searching her eyes for approval and smiled when she nodded and kissed him, feeling quite speechless. Whatever Martin did for her was so thoughtful. Sometimes, she had a feeling as if they knew each other for years, rather than a couple of weeks.

"It's perfect like the two of you," she said, voice faltering as she let him attach the bracelet to her wrist.

Then... they didn't talk. Martin's lips found hers again and she melted into him, letting him pull her as close as he wanted while he laid her down on the sofa, abandoning her lips for her neck and shoulder as he slipped the jumper she wore halfway down her arm, and his fingers, having done a quick job of finding their way through the labyrinth of her clothes, scattering her thoughts as they explored her body under all the layers of fabric she wore, slowly, reverently almost, leaving a pleasant trail of gooseflesh and a promise of more in their wake.

However early this was-- it wasn't even a month since she met him and she had never fallen for anyone this fast-- the moment felt right, it was perfect, she was ready to allow their acquaintance, friendship, whatever this was, to slip a step farther in this direction, this was the moment they had been skirting around since they met in the park on the night of her arrival.

"Nora," he whispered, his breath tickling the skin on the side of her neck, voice hoarse as she had never heard it, "if we continue, we'll never get out again tonight."

"And you have a surprise for me," she replied, her own voice breaking.

"There's a place that I want to show you. And then... I thought you could spend the night in my place instead of coming back here. It's closer, and Daniel won't be back before lunchtime tomorrow."

"All right," she agreed after the tiniest moment of hesitation.

She adjusted her clothes with Martin's help and grabbed her phone and handbag as the last thought, letting Martin lock the cottage for her, then slipped the keys in the pocket of her coat she did not remember having put on. She felt under a spell, Martin's spell, the entire night was a dream. She would spend the night with him in the castle. Nothing would be the same between them tomorrow...

Pushing that thought from her mind before it would weigh her down with its implied wonderful, not surprising and yet unexpected, unpredictable consequences, she stumbled down the hill through the darkness, letting him pull her closer as his eyes seemed to adjust faster to the wan light emitted by the snow.

She didn't even take a spare set of clothes... Whatever, it was too late to go back now.