After she dropped Daniel off at school, Nora directed her footsteps towards Clelia's bookshop. Having arrived before the opening time, her godmother had to unlock the door for her when she knocked on the window.

"Nora! Are you all right? It's early," Clelia said, her mind obviously far away from Nora's reality.

"I took Daniel to school and thought I'd say hello," Nora reminded her gently.

"Oh, of course, I forgot. Sorry, I was just compiling the list of my Christmas dinner guests. It seems there will be quite a few of us this year. I need to start thinking about the menu and then the shopping," the old woman muttered, walking behind the counter and adding either another name to her party register, or an entry to her shopping list.

"I won't keep you long. Promise you'll tell me should you need any help, Clelia," Nora urged.

"Thanks, girl. So what's new in the castle and beyond?" Clelia asked, her eyes twinkling at Nora from above the frames of her round glasses.

"All's well," Nora said noncommittally, not wanting her very observant godmother to start overthinking anything. "Martin mentioned Magdalena last night, and I wonder if you know where her shop is?"

"Magdalena..." Clelia mused, looking momentarily lost. "That Magdalena? The one married to Lino, Victoria's cousin...? You know, her youngest child is only a year older than Daniel and Lily, I've just put all their names on my list!"

Magdalena is related to Victoria? That Victoria?! Nora tried to push the obnoxious thought away for later, even as she replied, "That's the one."

"She's a couple of years older than you, at least. I didn't know you two knew each other."

"Yes, we used to frequent the same people. The group was large, and there were kids of all different ages. You know, Martin keeps telling me how he remembers me from back then, and I can't even recall him properly; there were so many of us." Nora smiled and blushed, as always, when she got an opportunity to think or talk about him.

Clelia's smile widened in response. "I know. He told me... Anyway. You'll find Fairytale, Magdalena's boutique, in the far corner of the square, close to the church."

"Thanks, Clelia. Have a nice day and call me should you need anything," Nora repeated, her hand already reaching for the door handle.

"You, too," Clelia muttered, her eyes scanning her lists again.

Walking outside, Nora wrapped her coat tighter around her. Cold wind blew through the streets of the ancient town, sweeping them clean of the remaining snow. While she made her way towards the square, her mind kept strolling to the connection between Magdalena and Victoria, and how she had never met Victoria in the past. She must have moved in this place after Nora stopped spending her holidays here, like Martin. She sighed, realising that it made a perfect sense that Martin would be close to her. They were two newcomers, both single parents...

Her smile vanished entirely in pursuit of her long gone cheerfulness brought on by having seen Martin, and having kissed him nearly two hours ago, even before she reached Fairytale-- a lovely boutique decorated in the shabby chic style fitting so well with the town and the bright castle perched above it on the hill. She sighed, glancing longingly towards the elegant, off-white towers, wishing she was braver, and didn't feel like an awful nuisance for calling Martin simply to hear his voice.

No way, forget about it, Nora told herself, forcing her eyes away from the castle and pressing first her palms, then her nose to the shop's window, as she peeked into the still dark interior. The chimes of the church bell announcing the hour and the voice, coming from somewhere close behind her, made her jump.

"Here I am. Let me just find the key... here. Good morning, I'm sorry I'm late but my child... Nora!" the gorgeous brunette, who was still rummaging through her handbag, called the moment Nora turned around. A child stood behind her, a black haired boy maybe a head taller than Daniel. "Martin told me that you were back just last night!"

She pulled Nora into an embrace before she finally unlocked the shop, ushered the boy inside, and then motioned for Nora to enter too.

"And he told me you were still here, and married to his good friend, I had no idea." Nora smiled, feeling happy again as the memories of how it used to feel to be around Magdalena trickled back. "Just how did you do that? Substituting your dreams for a man, a thing you said you'd never do. You used to make fun of me, of my love of fictional heroes and happily ever afters, and look at you now! Married, a mother of three on top of that, and long before me!" Nora teased in whispers, so as Magdalena's son, who disappeared somewhere at the back of the shop, would not overhear.

"Things happen and all that." Magdalena laughed, pulling Nora into another hug, then spinning her around to get a better look as she added, "I never believed in the kind of love from your books, remember? But when I met Lino, well... he swept me off my feet, like one of yours many heroes. There was no way to resist him, but I never regretted it. I love him, Nora, we can't be happier. How about you? I remember how shy, and pretty you used to be back then, we all used to be jealous because all the guys seemed to look at you first and only notice the rest of us when you didn't look back. But wow, you are beautiful now! Are you engaged? Are you seeing someone?"

Nora shook her head. "Silly Magdalena. Look at yourself. You changed so much, but you look as gorgeous as ever, and wow, you have three kids, and you are as slim as when you were sixteen!"

"That's not true." Magdalena shook her head, but Nora saw how pleased she was with the compliment. "So, what's up with you? How come you are back? What are you going to do here, Martin said that you are here to stay?"

Nora nodded, sitting on a small sofa surrounded by tall white shelves and wrought iron rails full of wedding and evening gowns, suits, and accessories.

"I just... needed a fresh start," Nora said, shrugging out of her coat and letting it drop on the sofa together with her handbag. "I'd love to stay if everything goes well."

Magdalena opened her mouth to ask her something when the door opened and a young girl walked inside.

She greeted them shyly before Magdalena said, "You are a life saver, Emily. Thank you for doing this for me at the last moment. You can take him back home; he seems perfectly fine apart from an occasional sneeze, but I thought it was better to keep him away from school and the other kids today. Should he feel unwell or have a fever later, call me anytime, and I'll take him to the doctor. Otherwise, just walk with him to his father's restaurant for lunch, and I'll pick him up from there."

"No problem, Mrs Rossi," the girl said while Magdalena motioned to her boy, who had been observing them from behind a shelf at the bottom of the shop, to come forward.

"Mummy loves you, Alex," she said softly, pressing first her hand, then her lips to the boy's forehead before pulling him into an embrace. "If you feel worse, make Emily call me. If not, I'll see you at the restaurant later, deal?"

"Okay," Alex agreed, walking towards the girl and smiling at Magdalena over his shoulder as he followed her outside.

"Lino took him sledging yesterday after school. They got home soaked through, and now they both have a cold," Magdalena explained. "Boys will be boys." She sighed, then, smiling again, picked up their previous talk as if they had never been interrupted. "So, you'll stay if...?"

"If I find a job that will pay my bills. Which might not be exactly easy in this tiny place." Nora shrugged.

"Martin said that you are looking after Daniel. Actually, Martin seemed to have a difficulty talking about anything else but you when I saw him yesterday." Magdalena grinned, sitting on a stool in front of the sofa, facing Nora.

Nora felt her heart stumble at hearing that, but, ignoring the words that were bound to make her blush if she started thinking about them, she said, "Only a few hours a day, until Adele returns. I need something more, and more permanent.

"Hmm, what did you do before? Maybe you could open something yours? Like Lino or my cousin-- she opened her veterinary practice when she moved here."

Nora felt like groaning when she realised who Magdalena was talking about. But at least she would find out something about the mysterious Victoria.

"Well, no, I don't think so. I applied for a job in the castle. I guess I could teach in a language school should they not accept me. But... tell me about Victoria? I saw her the other day, and Clelia spoke of her as of someone who, hmm, belongs to Martin, but I don't recall her from before."

Magdalena laughed. "Just tell me whom you recall from the past apart from your Eric?! If you ever raised your nose from your books, it was to smile at him."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure I deserved that. But Eric is history. What about Victoria and Martin?" she asked again, willing her cheeks to remain pale and cool while trying to sound nonchalant.

"Does Martin speak about her?

"No. He only mentioned her a couple of times, as a friend or a colleague of sorts," Nora said, her eyes glued to Magdalena's.

"Well, that figures. I believe Martin never saw her as anything more than that, even though some people, Victoria included, hope that their friendship will evolve into something else. I think that it would have happened already if they were meant to be together," Magdalena mused.

Nora nodded, but she still wasn't entirely convinced, her mind bringing back the image of Victoria wiping Martin's face outside the McDonald's... They had looked so intimate. But she couldn't ask more of Magdalena; she already felt the blush creep up her cheeks under her friend's scrutiny.

When Nora said nothing, Magdalena continued, "I know that Victoria hoped that Martin would marry her. There had been something, a little flare between them soon after he arrived, but it didn't last long, and they managed to turn it back to friendship. Martin is so... dreamy and distant. We never see him out on a date, it's as if he was waiting for someone, for a woman of his dreams to appear on his doorstep," Magdalena giggled, "and he won't accept anyone lesser. And now I made him sound like a one of the kind mythical creature, one of your brooding, romantic heroes."

Nora smiled at her and opened her mouth to say something, anything to change the subject, when the front door opened and Magdalena was obliged to leave her alone to serve a customer.