As she reached Clelia's shop, Nora noticed a small board full of announcements in the window.

She waved at Clelia through the glass and while her godmother vanished at the back to get ready, she read through them. One grabbed her attention-- a note offering a child care and babysitting job.

Why not? she thought. She loved children, had a great experience with them from when she had been younger and in need of the pocket money the babysittings brought. A job like this would add another few hours to what Clelia had offered... She had to start somewhere, and this would be a good start, Nora decided, taking her glasses, a notebook and a pen from her handbag and scribbling down the contact number.

"Daniel?" she asked Clelia as the woman walked outside, clad in a dark purple coat and hat, to join her, locking the glass door of her shop.

"Gone home. What would you like to eat? There are so many new restaurants around." Clelia asked, pulling her hat lower above her eyes, where it touched the black frame of her round glasses.

"I don't mind. You choose."

Clelia led Nora to a quaint cafè which had adapted to the constant stream of hungry tourists by serving a variety of salads and sandwiches at lunchtime. Nora chose a table by the window through which she got glimpses of the park's fountain, partly concealed by the wall of trees trembling in the increasing wind, which followed the short snowfall.

"I wanted to thank you for looking after the hou..."

"Before I forget," her godmother interrupted her, "you should give me your phone number, Nora. I know this is a safe town, but there are many strangers around lately, and you living up there alone..." She removed her hat, shrugged out of her coat and sat down, then continued, "And you need mine. You must call me whenever you need anything, promise?"

"Promise." Nora smiled at her, observing her godmother's shoulder-length, chocolate brown curls streaked with silver, now hovering around her head, charged with the static electricity caused by the rapid heat change. It really was too cold outside, and bound to get worse.

Nora smoothed her own hair after she took her coat off too, pulling her long ponytail over her left shoulder, before she rummaged through her handbag. She found her phone at the very bottom, switched off and forgotten since before her journey.

A waitress appeared to take their orders while Nora switched it on, and was back with their food and drinks soon after Nora entered her number into Clelia's phone. They were the only customers at the moment, their voices and the classical music playing softly at the background the only sounds filling the café.

"I'm glad that you are back." Clelia smiled at Nora warmly. "I hope this place will be, well, big enough to make you happy, after all those years you spent in the city, abroad. But I believe that if the Count's son can live here, then..."

"The Count's son?" Nora's eyebrows drew together in confusion as she nibbled at a piece of carrot from her chicken salad. There seemed to be carrots all around her today. "Isn't the old Count a bachelor?"

"Ooh you don't know, of course you wouldn't... It all kind of happened only a few months before your grandmother... You were never here then, because of the pandemic and the lockdown... Thank goodness that's over. I'll tell you everything." Clelia said, bringing the second half of her sandwich to her mouth.

"The Count had never married, that's true. But he had had a son. He was in his late forties when the boy was born. The boy's mother, a young girl from a nearby town, had never told him about the child apparently, married someone else later, and had another son. Her family used to have a house somewhere around here, so both the boys used to spend a lot of time here as children, just like you. Imagine, the Count must have met his son a hundred times, not knowing him!" Clelia shook her head. "I did not know the Count as well as your grandma, but... poor man. Now he is dead, and he only knew his only son for..."

"The Count is dead?" Nora asked, surprised, putting down her fork and reaching for a napkin. She remembered the old man quite well, he and her grandmother used to be friends.

"Yes, he died shortly after your grandmother. Only a year or so after he found out about his son. Everyone knew how sad he used to be, especially as he grew older, thinking he would die without an heir who would take care of the castle in his place, love it like he did... He was really lucky when he found out about the boy, a young man really, who, despite the shock and surprise as he had been brought up believing that his younger brother's father was his father as well, agreed to leave his own reality behind, and shoulder the Count's life and responsibilities. So the castle has a new owner, a young Count, and I tell you, since he is in charge, it's doing better than before. The hotel was his idea, one of his many loving projects to improve the place, and earn enough money to keep it."

Nora looked out of the window as the waitress came to clear their table, and Clelia asked her to bring two cappuccinos. She couldn't even begin to imagine what a strong personality it took to reinvent oneself like that, leading a normal life one moment and becoming a Count, a castle owner the next, getting up each morning to fight to earn enough money to be able to preserve it as it had been, in your family's possession, for centuries. And here she was, scared simply of coming to live in this small town, with no other responsibilities than her own well-being attached.

"I applied for a job in the castle this morning." She told Clelia as she sipped at her cappuccino, inhaling the comforting aroma of hot coffee, steamed milk and cinnamon.

"That's a great idea." Clelia said. "And until you get it, don't forget about my offer for the weekends. And, from Friday until Christmas, I'd actually do with your help either in the market or the shop, too..."

"All right. I can help you set up your Christmas market stall on Friday, and do a few hours a day there, while you are in the shop."

"Perfect. Thank you, Nora. Now tell me, how are you settling? Do you need anything? You must tell me whenever you need..."

Clelia prattled on as they paid the bill, got dressed again and walked outside, and she accompanied Nora to her car and helped her shoulder another large backpack, followed by the bag full of groceries.

"I'm not sure I'll come down here tomorrow, I would like to organize and clean the house a little. But you can come up whenever you want." Nora told Clelia as the old woman pulled her in for a kiss.

"I'll try. Should I not see you before..."

"...I'll come to your shop on Friday afternoon and we'll go set up your market stall, all right?"

"Great. Take care now. And call me at least!" She called after Nora, who was already walking towards the park, hoping to get home before the freezing wind would bring new snow.