It was starting to snow when Nora parted ways with Adele outside the school, half an hour later. That changed Nora's plans for the morning-- there was no point returning home for the few hours before she would have to come back to pick up Daniel, to get drenched in the snowfall on the way.

Sighing, she directed her footsteps towards Clelia's shop; it would take her a while to get organized somehow. She definitely did not plan to spend every morning waiting for Daniel in the town... But they might call her from the castle, she reminded herself, and if she was lucky, that job would fill her empty morning hours.

Clelia was only too happy to see her. She was getting anxious about the market and seeing her like that, Nora left her to deal with the customers and offered to fill several wooden crates with the books which her godmother planned to carry to the square in the afternoon, once the market stalls were set up.

The moment Nora was done with the books, Clelia thrust a basket of Christmas decorations in her hands.

"Here," she said, tugging her towards the shop's window where she had placed a Christmas tree as tall as Nora. "I just don't have enough patience for this, please?" she explained, her eyes begging from behind her round glasses as she sprayed the fake needles with pine scent.

"Fine." Nora agreed on a sigh. She wasn't particularly thrilled about Christmas, and now she was being asked to decorate a tree, too. "But then you'll let me go if you want me to be back at five. I promised Daniel I'd read to him after school, and I really need to go home and get changed before I come back here..." she said, thinking about the dinner with Martin. And as everytime she thought of him, her stomach filled with butterflies, and her cheeks felt warmer. You really are old for this... She scolded herself, not realising she was frowning until Clelia raised her hands in the air in mock surrender.

"Sure, sure... As soon as the tree is done, you're free. If you haven't just moved back, I'd suspect you're meeting someone tonight. You're all... funny." Clelia mumbled, shaking her head as she walked off to check the crates Nora had prepared.

It was snowing heavily when she walked out of the shop, looking back at her Christmas tree contentedly through the glass. She waved at Clelia who beamed at her from behind the tree, pulled her hood up and walked towards the school.

Nora was looking forward to an hour or two spent with Daniel. Adele, however, had news for them-- the boy's father managed to get the afternoon off and he would be taking over today, Adele needed to deliver him home straight after school.

"Never mind, I'm sure you'll have fun with daddy, and we will read every day together from Monday." Nora told the boy who held both hers and Adele's hands, keeping the women at his sides as they escorted him across the park towards the castle. "So... what do you usually do with daddy?"

Nora was quite curious about the boy's father by now. Wasn't there a mother? Was he a single parent?

"He teaches me loads of things. Horse riding. Fencing. Chess..." Daniel listed proudly.

"I think he mentioned that he would take you to your ice hockey practice today." Adele interrupted.

"Oh yes... it's Friday." Daniel said, looking up at Nora, expecting her reaction.

"Oh wow," she smiled at him, "you are a very busy young man."

The young man dropped their hands just then to run towards the park's fountain to dip his hands, and the sleeves of his green coat, into the warm water. Nora laughed, joining him, making Adele shake her head at them both.

Nora walked with them until they reached the drawbridge. She promised Adele that she will meet Daniel there at eight o'clock on Monday morning instead of her, and wished the old woman a happy Christmas with her family, before she walked home.

The house was clean and there was no need to cook for tonight, Nora mused as she rekindled the fire in the sitting room. She only needed to have some lunch, and get changed for the evening spent outside in the market, and the following dinner.

Warming up and eating her meal-- a square of lasagna from the previous night-- took way less time than deciding what to wear. In the end Nora opted for a long, black skirt worn over a pair of leggings, and a moss green woolen jumper-- paired with her long coat it was an outfit that would keep her warm outside.

She kept the makeup to minimum and left her hair loose, a thing she had not done in... too long. Nora normally liked her hair like her life, under control. However, nothing in her life seemed quite under control since she had come back here... Shrugging at her reflection in the mirror by the front door, she pushed a stray blond strand behind her ear and walked out.

Having locked the door she checked her phone-- knowing that Daniel's father was supposed to contact her she didn't want to miss any call. But there were no missed calls nor messages and Nora slipped it back into her bag as she descended the porch stairs and stepped into the wintry twilight. It was still snowing and the meadow was now all white, the path barely visible. It took her nearly half an hour to reach Clelia's shop.

"Nora!" Clelia called excitedly as the bell above the door announced her arrival. "Look, we've got helpers. I bet you remember them..."

Nora tried her best to recall the faces of the two men more or less her age, who approached her from behind the bookshelves while Clelia rattled on, "They are Mary's sons, visiting for the weekend."

"We remember you," the taller, and most likely older of the two said, shaking Nora's hand. "I'm Lucas."

"And I'm Richard," the other one said, pushing himself between his brother and Nora. "But how could you remember anyone, you were always reading something, this is the first time I see you without a book under your arm!"

They both chuckled, making Nora smile. Just how much of real life had I missed, how many people escaped my attention while I kept losing myself in fictional worlds? Nora mused.

"I remember your mum though," she said, grinning at them as the memory trickled back. "She used to make the best apple pies."

"She still does." Lucas said. "Like Clelia, she has a stall in the market, selling her cakes, ginger bread and mulled wine."

"If you are done chatting, maybe we could get going?" Clelia said, observing them like a bunch of naughty children from above her glasses. "If we carry a crate each, we don't need to come back."

With the help of the two friendly men it really took only one trip from the shop to the square, where they found the stall ready for Clelia's books. Then, the two brothers were kept by their mother, who hugged Nora as a lost daughter when she saw her, making her feel guilty about her insufficient, vague and hazy memories of the inhabitants of this town. They are all so kind only because they knew Grandma, she assured herself, she herself had done nothing to deserve their affection. It made her happy nonetheless-- she was starting to feel at home in this small town.

After they organised the books to Clelia's desire, Nora was forced to accept a small jam tart and a cup of mulled wine from Richard, the younger of the brothers, who took a permanent place at Nora's side when his brother was joined by his girlfriend at their mum's stall. He was a friendly and fun company, and when a couple of friends, adding new entries to her fast growing list of names to remember, came to pick him up later, Nora needed Clelia's help to persuade them that she couldn't join them for their night out.

"You should have gone with them," Clelia said the moment they left, "Richard is a nice young man... Just saying..." she added quickly, turning towards a customer when she noticed Nora's frown.

The last thing she needed was her godmother playing a matchmaker... Nora kept frowning until her eyes fell on a nearby stall selling hand knitted accessories. When she spotted a long, yellow scarf, she could not help herself. Daniel needed it, it would make him look just like the Little Prince...

She was surprised to see the boy she was thinking about running across the square, pushing his way through the small crowd towards Clelia's stall, a few moments after she bought it, just as she let her fingers run over the bright yellow wool, reveling in the scarf's warmth and softness.

"Daniel, what are you doing here, you aren't alone, are you?" Nora asked as the boy skidded to a stop in front of the stall, beaming at her. "It's after seven, should you not be having dinner? Where's Adele?" She added, walking to him from behind the stall, remembering that Adele had told her that she would be babysitting tonight.

"She's coming in an hour, I think. I'm here with daddy, I wanted to show you to him."

"Oh, all right then. But first-- this is for you." She smiled at the boy's eagerness to introduce her to his father personally, as she tied the scarf around his neck.

"It's like the Little Prince's scarf! Now I only need a fox... " he mused, then pulled Nora down by the hood of her coat for a hug. "Thanks, Nora."

"Oh... you're welcome, Prince Daniel," she replied, enveloping him in a brief hug. He was such a great child, so well-behaved and affectionate. And as she felt his small body in her arms, redolent of chocolate, snow and what must be a camomile shampoo, it suddenly hit her that... maybe... settling down and having a child... wasn't quite as bad...

Surprised by the direction her thoughts were taking-- What did the return to this town do to her?!-- she cleared her voice and asked, straightening the folds of her coat and her hair for the best first impression when Daniel let go off her, "So, where's your daddy?"