Nora went to bed utterly confused that night. Too many things were happening in her new life and she felt helpless as if she was slipping on ice and falling... falling fast for Martin. She sighed as she snuggled under her blankets, finally admitting it to herself, and allowing her mind to fantasise about how it would feel, having him next to her now, his arms holding her close...

Stop! she ordered herself, setting her alarm and pushing her phone, in sleep mode, as far on the bedside table as it would go before she would be tempted to text him. Switching off the light she turned around, shutting her eyes tightly, ordering herself to sleep.

That kiss... was unexpected, and wonderful... But there was still something lurking in Martin's shadow, she could sense that he wasn't telling her everything yet. And seeing how he had let her find out about Daniel, she knew that he would not tell her until she discovered it, and came to terms with it herself.

Nora wasn't sure if it was something concerning Victoria, Daniel's mother, or something else entirely, but until she found out, she would try to not let their friendship-- if what was between them could still be called so after tonight-- slip towards a more intimate relationship. Whatever it was that Martin was not telling her, was an inseparable part of himself, she was sure, just like his son. She would have to accept it as such, or let them both go... and only the thought of losing Daniel, let alone never seeing Martin again, was making her heart clench.

Finally, after a long while of sorting through her emotions, Nora started to drift off, her unfocused thoughts straying back to Martin's tower in the castle. It was such a beautiful place, quite worthy of the owner of the castle. He must really be a close friend of the Count... or maybe he was the Count... it would be great if he was, he loved the castle so much... she mused, her last thoughts morphing into first dreams.

In the morning, Nora tried in vain to remember her thoughts from the previous night, the only thing that she could think of clearly was the kiss on the porch.

Groaning, she pressed the pillow to her face, wishing to vanish from the world. How on Earth was she supposed to behave when she met him today?! However, Nora had no time to despair, she sprang to her feet bravely when the alarm rang. It was Tuesday; she needed to take Daniel to school. Seeing the amount of snow fallen the day before, it would take her a long time to walk to the castle, and then the town.

It would not make sense coming home before picking him up again, she mused as she got dressed, shivering in her cold cottage, remembering the pleasant heat of Martin's flat. She would spend the morning with Clelia... No, she would try to find Magdalena's shop and have a chat with her new-found old friend, Nora decided as she drained her coffee, the hot, bitter liquid finally restarting her brain properly, while its warmth spread throughout her body. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her teeth, and gathered her hair into a ponytail. See, you can do this, just don't think about him. Her smile wavered even as she thought of him, of him kissing her, and the memory of how much she had wanted that kiss to last longer, and become... more.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing herself to abandon those thoughts, walk down the stairs, collect all the things she might need during the day and dump them into her handbag, then put her shoes and coat on. There's no avoiding meeting him at some point today, so you better stop thinking about that, she told herself firmly, unless you want to blush every time he looks at you. Gosh, you really need to get a grip, you'll be thirty in a few days and you're acting like a teenager...

Shrugging and sighing again, she descended the five porch steps into the winter morning's darkness-- four actually, as the last one was buried under snow. She would simply wait and see how things would evolve, she resolved, taking a step into the white fluff, sinking nearly knee-deep, feeling happy that she had worn her boots.

Nora didn't take three steps, realising that she had left the porch light on and should return to switch it off, when she noticed the trail of pawprints. It was starting somewhere in the dark on the edge of the forest behind the cottage, leading down the hill, across the sea of glowing whiteness, in the direction of the stables. She couldn't be sure but she wanted to believe that the prints belonged to Socks, Daniel's fox, coming back for food.

Taking her phone from her bag she walked towards the forest where the paws imprinted in the snow were bathed in shadows and better visible than those lying in the direct glare of the porch light, and took several pictures, meaning to show them to Daniel later.

She just slipped the phone back into her bag, walked back to the door and switched off the light, noticing how the charcoal sky was becoming a medium grey while she gathered the courage to make her way through all that snow when she heard it-- bells... and horses... and a child's happy laughter. And saw it-- a big, antique-looking sleigh pulled by two magnificent horses approaching her fast.

She still couldn't believe what she was seeing when the sleigh stopped and Martin, smiling broadly, jumped off at her side.

"Morning," he said, coming closer to her yet, his eyes boring into hers.

"Hi," she said, then clearing her voice that sounded hoarse from the surprise she added, "It's kind of against the point though, you coming to pick me up here, when it's me who should take Daniel off your hands to give you more time..."

"But there's too much snow Nora! It's perfect for the sleigh and the horses needed some exercise, right, Daddy?" Daniel said, reaching them from the other side of the sleigh.

"Well, thank you both for the surprise then," she said, smiling, her eyes leaving Martin to find Daniel, "and I have a surprise for you too, look!" She pointed to the trail of pawprints for the boy, her gesture followed by a gasp of surprise and a soft, "Ooh! That must have been Socks!" before he followed the trail carefully towards the forest, leaving them alone.

"How are you?" Martin asked softly the moment Daniel was out of earshot, recalling her attention to him.

"Hmm... fine?" she asked, frowning in confusion at the unexpected question.

He exhaled deeply before he said, "You never replied to my messages and I thought that maybe... last night... " He shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I did not see the messages. But why would you worry? Last night... was fine..." The moment the word 'fine' was out she realised how inappropriate it was to describe how she felt about their kiss but she didn't know what else she could say.

However, it seemed to suffice to clear Martin's doubts as he took another step towards her closing the short distance between them, cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers again, kissing her slowly, gently, even the soft touch sufficient to make her feel unsure on her legs and lean into him as one of his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. She buried her face into his chest when the kiss was over, pressing one burning cheek against the soft grey wool of his coat, closing her eyes as she felt his hand playing with her hair.

"Daniel, come on, we need to go or you'll be late for school," Martin said, his arms letting go of her reluctantly when she pulled away from him.

She apparently couldn't follow her own instructions and keep her distance from him, his allure was irresistible. But she didn't want Daniel to know what was happening, until... until she was sure herself. It would be unfair to him if this didn't work out after all.

Nora smiled at Martin as he helped her on the high sleigh, then lifted Daniel up, and climbed to his own seat. Then they slid down the white meadow, the wind that whistled around their ears muffling the neighing of the horses, excited by the unexpected exercise. They did not stop by the stables but continued towards the castle, down the hill still buried under the last night's snow, and across the park, until they reached its very end and the first, snowless streets of the town.

"There, you'll have to walk the rest of the way," Martin said, dismounting, letting Daniel jump off alone before he offered a hand to Nora. "There's no hockey practice today so you two can go ice skating after school. And I'll see you later," he added, passing Daniel his bag and pressing a kiss to his forehead, then leaning to Nora and waiting for her to kiss him on the cheek, making her smile. "I'm not leaving the town today, I'll be around, call me should you need anything, please.

Oh and you better keep these," he added, reaching inside his pocket and passing her a bunch of keys.

"Have a nice day," Nora said over Daniel's, "Bye, Daddy," then she let the boy take her by the hand and lead her towards the school, listening to the receding sounds of bells and horses.

If... a fairytale-like morning would happen each time it snowed, then... then let it snow! Nora mused, a smile she could not suppress playing on her lips.