Also, for those not on my Twitter or Facebook feed, I have decided to make the Advent Story available after Christmas as an ebook (once I do some editing, because I want to make the story even better). If there is enough interest, I might also make it available on Lulu.com for print editions.
That being said, let’s get on with the next episode!
December 18
Molly took a deep breath and looked down at her date. “Ready, Schrodinger?”
I was born ready. The CrossCat rubbed a paw on his black bow tie and then stretched. Let’s go astonish them with our elegance.
Elegant was not how Molly was feeling. Terrified was more like it. She reached up to touch her hair, hoping the intricate braiding hadn’t already started to fall, and the subtle scent of starflowers wafted over her. Once again, she looked at the corsage Drew had sent to her, and wondered just what she was getting into.
He hadn’t delivered it – Father Christopher had, explaining that the tech had been so busy at the station that he hadn’t been able to get away. “Besides,” the priest had said, smiling, “I had another present for you as well.”
That had been another red envelope, of course, containing a lovely version of the Christmas Waltz and the simple words, “I hope you’ll dance with me tonight.” Molly wondered, for the nth time, if she was right in thinking who her secret admirer was. He wouldn’t admit it, not even tonight – not until Christmas, she knew. But dammit, if it wasn’t who she thought….
“Enough,” she said out loud, smoothing the front of her dress. “It’s just my friends out there.”
Well, no, technically, it’s the entire town, plus whoever else the Snow Queen decided to invite, Schrodinger said helpfully. But most of them like you. At least, the ones that know you.
“You aren’t helping, Cat,” she said, picking up the edges of her skirts. She really had gone all out on her dress, and moving in it over the packed snow was interesting, to say the least. At least she’d gotten sensible flats to wear with it. Not that anyone would see her shoes, not with the floor-length skirts. Skirts that shimmered with the palest blue and silver beads she’d ever seen, which had drawn Molly to the dress in the first place. It was so far outside of what she normally wore that she felt like a different person, standing in the snow outside the glade where the Snow Queen held her annual ball.
Molly didn’t know the Snow Queen’s name – she had only ever met her at the ball, although her Aunt Marge sometimes sent books to the Winter Palace, along one of the more stable Roads up into the mountains of the Winter Kingdom. But every year, on the Saturday night before Christmas, the Snow Queen set up a magical circle in a large glade in the forest outside of the Cove proper, and threw a ball. The town’s oldest residents said it was to thank the Cove for keeping her Kingdom safe during the Second World War, but Renae, the librarian, had told her there had been a winter party like this since the beginning of the town. Perhaps Captain Carter had done a service to the Queen. Likely Molly would never know.
One more deep breath, and she moved forward, Schrodinger pacing her as she stepped through the trees and into an immense clearing that only appeared this one night. The floor was snowy marble, not slick but terribly pale, and tall pine trees ringed the room. Although the night sky ablaze with stars was the only ceiling, the ambient temperature in the room was pleasant, and Molly slipped off her wrap without a thought, handing it to one of the silent butlers that stood by the door. The room was lit enough that people were clearly visible, but nothing dimmed the stars above. The air was redolent with pine and the crisp, clear scent of snow.
“Holy shit. That is definitely NOT a Molly dress.”
Molly turned and grinned at the Terrible Trio, and then did a full spin. Carefully, so she didn’t end up stepping on the small train. “I told you I went all out.”
“It’s strapless. And has a train. And holy shit, Molly, where did you find it?” Lai circled her, looking amazing herself in a little black dress that shimmered in the light.
“You look like a faery princess,” Sue told her, glowing in her own dark crimson dress. “If SA doesn’t fall at your feet…”
“I think all three of them will be falling at her feet,” Noemi said, adjusting the sleeve of her blue bolero jacket and nodding over Molly’s left shoulder. “If they can move.”
Molly turned and saw what she was looking at. Drew, Tom and Luke were standing by themselves in a group, staring back at her with dropped jaws. She smiled sweetly and waved, then turned back to her friends before she started laughing at them. “I guess the dress worked,” she said, more than a little smugly.
“I think that’s a yes.” Lai linked arms with her and they went off, Schrodinger trailing behind them. The Terrible Trio had snagged one of the tables scattered around the edge of the room, but Molly barely had time to take a glass of champagne from one of the waiters before Luke showed up.
“Can I have this dance?” he asked, and before she could answer, he’d spun her out onto the floor.
The night passed in a blur for Molly. She went from partner to partner, swirled in a froth of white silk and music. Drew, Luke and Tom all paid close court, but it wasn’t until the next to last dance, which Father Christopher claimed her for, that she remembered SA’s note.
“I wonder who he is,” she said. “I’ve danced with so many tonight – I hope he got his dance.”
Father Christopher smiled. “I think he’s waiting for a special song.”
“Well, he doesn’t have too much time left,” Molly said. “The last dance is very soon.” She looked over where the Snow Queen sat on her icy throne, her pale eyes watching the circling dancers. “She’ll make the call soon.”
“Will you throw your shoe in?” Father Christopher asked her.
“I won’t have much of a choice,” she said, laughing a little. “Even if I claim exhaustion, no one will let me sit the Cinderella dance out.”
The final dance of the Snow Queen’s Ball was always the Cinderella dance. Every single female in the room put one of her shoes in a large pile in the middle of the dance floor, and then the men in the room each took one. Even the Snow Queen herself would put a shoe in. It was said that good luck was bestowed on the lucky man who danced the final dance with her. If she liked him, she would give him a kiss, which would turn into a shining silver coin if he didn’t wash his face until morning. If she really liked him, it was said, she would grant him a single favor for the next year. Molly had seen her kiss several men, but never whisper to any, in the years she’d been going to the ball. She wondered who would be lucky enough to dance with the Snow Queen tonight.
When the song ended, the Snow Queen lifted her hands. The music stopped, and she stood up. Everyone turned to see what she would say.
“My friends, thank you once again for helping me to grace the Yule season with music and dance,” the Queen said, her sweet voice carrying throughout the room. She looked maybe seventeen, although Molly knew she was older. Perhaps immortal, even; the Snow Queen was definitely not human, although whether she was truly the Spirit of Winter, like some said, was questionable. “As is custom, the final dance will be the Cinderella dance. Ladies?”
And she stepped down from her throne, glided to the middle of the floor like a swan on a glassy lake, and lifted her pale skirts to kick one delicate shoe off. Every woman followed suit, and Molly could only wonder who would pick up her white ballet flat. She retreated back to the table and sat down, looking out over the crowd.
Once the ladies had all retreated, there was a large pile of shoes waiting in the middle of the dance floor. Then the gentlemen all went in, each grabbing a shoe. For a few moments, there was a bit of milling about, as they tried to find out who had the mate to the shoe in their hands.
Molly watched Tom approach, but the white shoe in his hand had a kitten heel and she shook her head. Luke followed him, but the delicate crystal shoe in his hands was far too small to fit on Molly’s foot. She shook her head again and pointed to the throne. “I think you’re a lucky man, Luke.”
His shoulders actually sagged for a minute. “I’d rather it be you,” he said, then turned and walked up to the throne. The Snow Queen held out her foot, and he slipped the shoe on, smiling up at her.
“Lucky bastard,” Molly heard, and turned to see Drew standing beside her. He wasn’t looking at Luke, though – he was looking at her, and the white ballet flat peeking out from under her skirts. He held its mate in his hands, and knelt down, slipping his hand under her skirt to draw out her bare foot. His fingers skimmed along her calf as he did so, and Molly caught her breath at the sensations. Then, once the shoe was on, he stood up and offered her his hand.
Tonight, he’d traded in his normal blue jeans and simple teeshirts for a suit and jacket in dark blue. As they took their places on the floor, Drew set one hand on her waist, and took her hand with his other. She placed her hand on his shoulder. And, as always, the band started to play the Christmas Waltz.
“I’m glad you saved me a dance,” he murmured, and Molly’s lips quirked in a smile.
“I saved you several,” she said.
“I know.” They danced in silence for a few more measures, her head resting on his chest, his cheek against her curls. She’d lost most of the sparkling stars the hairdresser had put in, but, true to the woman’s claims, the elaborate braiding hadn’t moved all night.
For Molly, the rest of the dancers on the floor vanished. It was just her and Drew, moving in the ancient steps of the waltz as the musicians played their hearts out. And as they danced, she realized two things. One, how safe she felt, cradled in his embrace.
And two, just how far her heart had gone.
She didn’t hear the music stop. Neither did Drew, apparently, because they continued to dance until someone tapped him on the shoulder. Then they both jumped, because there stood the Snow Queen.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Drew began, but she smiled gently at them.
“Sorry? Why?” she said, shaking her head. “Do not apologize because you have fallen into the spell of the music, young Drew. I just wish we could allow you to dance here all night. But my allotted time is at an end, and I must return to my castle. You can continue to dance, but not here.”
He looked down at Molly, who smiled. “I’ve got a lovely kitchen we can dance in,” she said.
“Then let’s go dance.”
Do you think SA got his dance with Molly? I think so. Only 6 more days until we learn who SA is! Unless you know already….