Nora only remembered that she had meant to buy some wood as she spotted a fresh pile of it on the porch of her cottage when she arrived home, nearly an hour after she had said goodbye to Clelia and Albert in the parking lot.

She was exhausted by her walk across the meadow where the new snow had not melted like it had in the town. The wind had swept it into small heaps and from the sound it was making under her shoes, Nora knew it was starting to freeze. It would be a cold night. She was happy that the heavy backpack slowing her down was the last piece of luggage she really needed, there was only one bag left in the car, filled mainly with books-- Albert could look after those for her.

Nora pulled herself up the few wooden steps leading to the porch and set the backpack on the swing bench before she walked curiously towards a small, white envelope tied with a piece of twine to one of the logs.

It had been left unsealed and she easily extracted a card from it, informing her in a neat handwriting: 'Don't worry about buying wood, I'll keep supplying you just as I did with your grandmother. Here's the spare key of your cottage-- Barbara gave it to me as I used to help her around the house, and promised her to keep it in good shape for you. She knew you would be back. Welcome home, Nora.'

How... intriguing. Her grandma's friend forgot to sign the card. Or maybe they didn't want to be recognized and thanked, didn't want Nora to feel obliged, indebted. It was exactly what she would have done in their place...

Still, her curiosity was too strong to let it go. She dialed Clelia's number to ask about the mysterious benefactor the moment she lit the fire in the sitting room.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, Nora. Everybody knew Barbara in this town, she had many friends." Clelia's voice reached Nora's ear from the other end of the line, after she had listened to what had happened.

"But this person had a spare key, repaired and cleaned the house, and even brought flowers..."

"Hmm... I remember that when your mother told me that you were planning to come back this winter, I mentioned it to all the people who know you here. Everyone is happy that you are back, that Barbara's house won't be empty and forgotten..."

"All right then, thanks Clelia. Good night." Nora said, adding another log to the fire. She would solve this mystery alone, sooner or later.

She put the phone down and set it on the mantelpiece before she walked outside to refill her basket, got the fire burning upstairs in her bedroom and walked out for more wood once more, bringing enough logs for the whole evening. Then she finally locked the front door, carried her backpack upstairs, took a shower and, washed and changed into warm and comfortable clothes, her wavy hair brushed, towel-dried and left loose, she returned downstairs, feeling happy.

It was too late to start cleaning and unpacking tonight, Nora decided. She found her favourite music on her phone, turned the volume up so it would fill the old cottage without being too loud, then walked into the kitchen and turned the oven on, leaving it to heat up while she put the groceries she had bought away. Nora opened the bottle of red wine she had chosen from the limited supplies of the small shop, and poured herself a glass, inhaling the pleasant, fruity aroma, while the pizza was cooking without a need of supervision, giving her the time to run upstairs and get a book.

She switched on the reading light next to the sofa, settled under the blanket she had found in a wardrobe upstairs and put on her glasses, but, instead of focusing on the opening paragraphs of Jane Eyre, her eyes kept strolling to the carnations on the coffee table filling the air around her with their warm, spicy scent, and the floor-to-ceiling window beyond. She had forgotten to draw the curtain and the view, paired with Claire de Lune playing softly in the background, was too beautiful to ignore.

The dusk had fallen all at once and the castle, illuminated by golden, electric spotlights and long, silvery moon beams, lay like a shiny fallen star under the sloping meadow.

She started and put her nearly empty glass on the coffee table quickly when she heard it-- a strange noise coming from outside.

It sounded like... something hard hitting the wood of the porch, and for some reason it made her rush outside instead of drawing the curtains and staying put. A smile spread on her lips as she opened the door and saw what she was hoping to see again since the morning, without consciously admitting it to herself-- Snow-White the reindeer stood on her porch, looking very much at home in Nora's house... She giggled, and leaving the door open rushed back inside to get the pack of carrots she had bought for the reindeer, without having realised it until this moment.

"You know this place well, don't you, beautiful?" Nora asked the reindeer as she caressed her, while the animal munched contentedly at a carrot, oblivious to everything else. "You knew grandma..."

"She did." A now familiar voice came from the silvery semi-darkness of the moonlit night, followed by a silhouette approaching the house. "Just like you, Barbara always had a snack for her ready, and Snow-White knew it... The two of them made me run up here very often." The veterinarian paused under the steps leading to the porch, leaning against the wooden rail to catch his breath after the brisk walk up the hill.

Nora laughed, "Come up and sit down for a while. Please." She motioned towards the swing bench, then rushed inside.

She took her pizza from the oven and set it on the counter before it would burn, refilled her glass with wine and filled one for her visitor, shrugged into her coat and walked back outside, carrying the two glasses. There was... something about this man that made her want to know more.

She sat on the opposite end of the bench, passing him the glass, noticing Snow-White waiting for him patiently under the porch, tethered to the wooden handrail.

"It was you who brought the wood." Nora stated, observing the man over the rim of her glass.

"I... Yes. Your grandmother and I were friends. She helped me a lot when I moved to this town." The man's green eyes, silver plated by the moonlight, watched Nora carefully as he waited for her reaction.

She smiled. If grandma trusted this man so deeply to give him a spare key of her house, so could she.

"Will you tell me your name, or is it a secret?" She asked, removing her glasses and stuffing them into the pocket of her coat when she realised she was still wearing them.

"Oh... Sorry. I'm Martin." The man said, chuckling.

"And you know that I'm Nora. Have we... met before? I mean in the past..."

"We have. My brother and I used to spend a lot of time here as kids. We used to frequent the same people. I remember you well, Nora." he said.

Nora frowned, he had her at a disadvantage. She only remembered having seen him, they had never spoken to each other in the past... or at least she thought so.

"I bet you remember my brother Eric." Martin continued, sipping at his wine, as he noticed her puzzled expression. "See? All local girls remember him, he had, has, quite a reputation..." He laughed as he noticed the sudden realisation light up her eyes.

"Eric is your brother? I... Yes, I do remember him." She admitted, feeling her cheeks suffuse with heat and colour.

She had loved Eric, once. But, apparently, she wasn't the only one. Suddenly she was happy that their 'relationship', if the crush she had had on the boy for so long could even be called that, never got beyond the first phase of holding hands and a few shy kisses.

"How is he doing? I haven't seen him since I was seventeen, I think, you both disappeared so suddenly."

Martin nodded, "School, work, life, you name it. At some point we found ourselves living too far from here, with most holidays being too short to make it worthwhile to come back. Just like you." He shrugged. "He was fine the last time we spoke, I expect he'll spend Christmas here, he usually does."

"I guess I should go..." he added a little reluctantly in response to a sound of boredom and impatience coming from the waiting reindeer, standing up.

Nora followed his example and reached for his empty glass, their fingers brushing briefly.

"I hope to see you again soon." she said, meaning it, surprising herself. He was such a pleasant company.

"I hope so, too." Martin looked up at her and smiled his charming, warm smile after he descended the steps, his fingers already unraveling the leash preventing Snow-White from strolling into the forest. "Have a good night."

He turned away then, and walked down the hill, the white reindeer trodding silently in his wake like a ghostly guardian.

Nora did not realise she was still looking at him, two empty glasses in her hands, until he stopped and turned back suddenly, halfway down the meadow.

"What about the ice skating? I'll wait for you tomorrow afternoon, at three, on the drawbridge. If you have nothing better to do... " he let his voice trail off into the night.

"Fine. I'll meet you there." Nora called, after a moment of hesitation.

His proposal sounded nearly like a date, and the last thing Nora wanted right now was to complicate her life with a relationship... But who said that this acquaintance needed to head that way?

This would be just a couple of hours spent skating with her grandmother's friend, who seemed willing to become her friend too, she promised to herself. Nothing more.