An unwelcome sight greeted Nora when she opened the window of her bedroom in the morning-- the stretch of the forest growing behind the cottage, around the path leading to the thermal lakes, was covered with snow.

Hoping without hope that she was hallucinating, that there would be no snow on the other side of the house, she walked towards the second bedroom of the cottage, entering her grandmother's room reverently. But she had thought about it at night, and had decided that there was no point in keeping the room closed. She should live it just like the rest of the house, maybe use it as a study, a library...

Nora walked towards the window, opening it wide too-- the house needed some fresh air before she would lay new fires. She shuddered in the coldness of the morning; despite the bright sunshine, it was freezing outside. Folding her arms across her chest, pressing the warm wool of the long white jumper she wore over a pair of black leggings closer to her body, she sighed-- she had not imagined the snow in the forest on the other side of the house, the world on the castle side was just as white.

Hopefully some of it would melt before she would venture outside in the afternoon, to meet Martin.

The thought of meeting the veterinarian made her smile... and roll her eyes at her childish silliness. She quickly redirected her thoughts towards more practical things. If the snow did not melt, she would limit her visits to the town until Friday, when she would have to go down as she had promised to Clelia, to help her to set up her Christmas market stall. The snow must melt by then, it was only Wednesday...

The thought of Clelia made her recall the job offer she had found in the window of her godmother's shop. She walked back to her room and took her phone from her bedside table. Leaving the window open and the bed undone, she ran downstairs to get her notebook from her handbag and make herself some breakfast.

A woman called Adele replied on a third ring, and while Nora sipped at her coffee and wrote down any useful information, Adele, a close friend of the family who needed the help, informed her that apart from the occasional evening babysitting she would be required to walk the child to the pre-school on most mornings, pick him up after, and stay around a couple of hours every afternoon. All summed up, she would be needed for several hours each day, except for the weekends.

Thinking that she could fit this all quite well around the weekend readings she had promised to Clelia, Nora agreed to meet with Adele in front of the local school, for a chat, the following morning.

The conversation finished, Nora started with the chores-- she cleaned and tidied up, cooked and went through her old clothes stored in the wardrobe in her bedroom, filled the washing machine with clothes she had used during her journey and some old things she still liked and decided to reuse. She found her ancient pair of ice skates-- still fitting, and looking just as unused and white as she remembered it. Once the house was clean and warm again, she sat down to eat it quickly. It was nearly time to go meet Martin.

Nora pulled a pair of old jeans over her leggings, expecting to spend as much time on her bottom as on her feet on the ice rink-- the double layer of fabric would, hopefully, make her feel less cold. She donned a warm, sky blue jacket a little shorter than her white, oversized turtle neck jumper, much more practical for winter sports than her long coat.

Then, after double checking the closed windows and banked fires, she stuffed her phone and some money in the pocket of her jacket and exited the house, the ice skates in her gloved hand.

The sloping meadow was still buried under snow glimmering in the sunlight, but someone had cleared the path leading from the castle's stables to the cottage for her, she noticed. Had it been him? She wondered, as she saw Martin already waiting for her on the drawbridge, a warm, charming smile which filled her belly with something too close to... butterflies... spreading on his lips, illuminating his green eyes.

Get a grip! She scolded herself, squinting against the sunshine, hoping the colour flooding her cheeks as she returned his smile, could be attributed to the coldness of the afternoon. She pulled the collar of her jumper higher, using it like a scarf covering half of her face, just in case.

She was thirty for goodness sake, and he may well be five, or even ten years older... Why was he making her feel so young?!

"Hi," she said, her voice, trembling a little, sounding strange to her ears.

And as she took the last step towards him, where he stood in the shadows cast by the soaring towers next to the bridge leading to the castle, she slipped and landed in his arms which he outstretched promptly to rescue her, so close that she could almost hear his heartbeat even through the layers of his clothes.

"Thanks. Again." She said, then giggled, taking a step away from him. "So... where are we going to skate?" She asked to break the silence, his green eyes boring into hers making her feel... in a way she had not felt for a long time.

He shook his head, as if her words startled him awake. "To the lake in the park, the one around the rotunda. Do you know it?"

He offered her his arm and she accepted it without hesitation, lacing her right arm around his left as they started to walk down the hill together. She felt safer on her feet with him walking close at her side.

"I do." She smiled at him, letting her eyes stroll over his short stubble before meeting his look again. Martin was a busy man from what she had gleaned about him till now, and she wondered how and why had he fitted the ice skating with her in his schedule. There must really have been a great friendship between Grandma and this man, for him to go out of his way so much for Nora now. "Is it frozen so well already? I remember years when it did not freeze until Christmas."

"We're lucky this year." He smiled back, steering her off the cobblestoned lane, towards a path disappearing under the trees of the castle's park. "November was really cold. The lake might not melt again until spring."

She nodded and they walked on in silence, the sound of their footsteps ricocheting off the stones of the lane, morphing into a soft, muffled rustle as they walk on the winding, gravel lane under the ancient trees, all hand picked exemplars planted to embellish the park by the current Count's ancestors.

It was so narrow that they had to draw very close together, a thing that would feel very awkward with any other man she knew so little, Nora thought, looking up at him. And then, too soon, the trees seemed to move apart to make Nora see their destination and she stopped in her tracks, spellbound.

The half-ruined tower built of some bright stone surrounded by a shallow lake she remembered was repaired, restored to its original beauty she could only admire in the paintings in the castle before. Even the arched bridge she had never seen in reality was there now, connecting the rotunda, perched on the water's surface like a huge, proud swan, to the firm ground.

"The bridge and the tower are closed to visitors in winter, the wood and stone just get too slippery and dangerous when it snows. But anyone can skate on the lake, it's free and safe-- even at its deepest point the lake isn't deeper than..."

"Wow." Nora breathed, interrupting him. "This whole place," she said, nodding to the lake, then looking at the castle behind them, before she met Martin's eyes, "is so much more breathtaking than I remember it. The new owner, the young Count, worked magic over it."

Martin laughed, "Yeah... I guess he couldn't have done it unless he really loved the castle. It's such a... white elephant."

Nora laughed, letting go of his arm as they reached the stone border of the lake and she sat down to remove her boots and put her skates on.

Martin's love for his animals was obvious, and enchanting.