Noel began walking through the snow. The snow was deep, but not deep enough to really need snowshoes or to be troublesome. She made her way to the building sitting west of the lodge. Each building in the village, Noel noticed, sat at a comfortable distance away from its neighbor—but not too far away...just a comfortable distance. “The village does form a circle, but a very large circle.” Noel stopped at Andrew Milton's grocery store. The grocery store was a rectangular, brick building that was currently dark on the bottom and lit up on top. The front of the store didn't have any windows to look through and the front door—a heavy, wooden door—was locked. “I guess the top floor is an apartment. Maybe that's where Mr. Milton is?”
Finding the grocery store locked up, Noel moved on to a single-story log-cabin-type building that was small in nature. A red cross was painted on the front door, letting Noel know the cabin was a medical station. The cabin had no windows and the front door was locked tight. Noel nodded her head and moved on, keeping her head tucked down against the icy winds. She wandered up to a single-story, brick building that was dark and locked up. The wordsNorth Wind Theaterwere carved into a secured, wooden door. Noel smiled some and moved on, following the path in a wide circle. “Looks like...yes...I think this is the bakery.”
Noel came up on a cozy, two-story log cabin that was brightly lit up on both levels. The downstairs of the cabin had a long display window that showed a wonderful, delightful Christmas land of delicious treats. The window was made of very sturdy and hard plexiglass that was designed to withstand the hard winters and fierce winds. The owner of the bakery, Mrs. Rachel White, wasn't going to have a bakery without any windows. While it was true a wise person would bypass windows due to the harsh conditions of the village—windows were easy targets for the cold to creep through, even with the wooden storm doors closed and locked tight over the windows—Mrs. White determined a way to have windows that would allow her to display all of the wonderful treats she baked. The plexiglass on her windows was very thick and had little wires for warming running around the inside edges. It kept the glass nice and toasty and the cold out. Oh yes, Mrs. White loved her windows and, of course, always credited her son for designing the glass. Mrs. White's son was an engineer who went through great pains to make sure his aging mother would be secure in North Winds. Noel would have plenty of time for Mrs. White to talk about how great her son was to her.
“Very cozy...very Christmassy.” Noel peered in through a warm window at a three-layered cake that was designed to resemble a delicious gingerbread house with all the trimmings. The gingerbread house cake sat in the middle of a snowy village that had a little Christmas train running around it. All the houses in the village were made up of warm cupcakes. The Christmas trees were white fudge that Mrs. White had added green food coloring to. The snow was white sugar with little red and green sprinkles spread about. Little snowmen made up of marshmallows were holding candy canes. The snow village did look especially cozy and very Christmassy. Noel smiled and moved on.
A brick building appeared next to the bakery. It was a single-story structure that had no windows. The building that did have windows, Noel noticed, also had very sturdy, wooden storm doors that could be closed over the windows.I'm not sure how good the storm doors would be against a blasting wind. Fred said the winds can get up to over one hundred miles per hour at times. I know the lodge had storm doors all around its windows...the bakery seemed pretty secure...I'm just not sure I would have had any windows put in at all. The wind I'm fighting my way through is a whimper compared to what's coming and I'm already frozen stiff. This cold is so different...so...cruel...but...pure. I can't really explain it. It's a kind of cold a winter wolf can run free in...not like the cold back home.
The brick building Noel came upon had a sign nailed to the front door that readEmergency Shelter. Noel nodded and forced her legs to carry her to one last brick structure that held two floors.Food Supplies. Noel read the two words carved into a heavy front door. “Smart to have supplies. I guess people in this village trust each other. They would have to.”
Noel felt the wooden, front door standing before her with a hand that started to feel numb and then decided to explore the park area before returning to the lodge. The park, Noel noticed, while exploring the village, had four entrances that let a person slip through a forest of thick, winter trees. Each entrance had an old-fashioned lamp post stationed next to it. Each lamp post ran off candlelight, creating an old-fashioned Christmassy feel. “Red and white lamps...looks like candy canes. Very cozy.” Noel smiled some as she walked through the north entrance and entered into a snow-soaked land that held four cold benches sitting around what appeared to be a small frozen pond. Noel studied the interior of the park for a few minutes and then decided it was time to get back to the lodge. “I can handle the cold back home...but this cold takes the heat out of you way too fast.”
As Noel left the entrance to the park, a shadowy man appeared in her path. Noel let out a scream and stumbled backward. “Calm down, ma’am,” an old man spoke in an easy voice. “Didn't mean to scare you.”
Noel felt as if her heart might leap out of her chest and explode. She forced her eyes to quickly soak in every detail of the man standing before her.Old...long, gray beard...wearing what looks like a heavy blanket over his body...had on a brown winter hat...he looks...homeless.“You scared me, that's all.”
Polar Bear, an old man who lived up in the mountains, just nodded. “I came into town to get some supplies. I got a key to the food supply building. The people in this village let me take what I need. I never take much.”
He has a rifle slung across his back...but his voice isn't threatening.“Are you...homeless?” Noel dared to ask, trying to get control of her frightened heart.He came out of nowhere. I never saw anything like it in all my life...and I have a sharp eye. I'm the one who can sneak up on a bear, not the other way around. Goodness.
“I've got a place back up in the mountains.” Polar Bear nodded north. “About three miles north.”
“Oh...well, it's going to be dark soon and it's very cold—”
“Cold doesn't bother me, ma’am,” Polar Bear spoke in a voice that was truer than anything Noel had ever heard in her life. “I've lived in these mountains all my life.” Polar Bear nodded up at the sky. “Bad storm will be dropping snow after midnight.”
“I…guess so.”
Polar Bear stared at Noel for a minute. “I best be going.”
“Uh...alright, sure...” Noel stood back and watched Polar Bear walk off into the snow. She stood still and waited until the old man reached the building holding the food supplies. To Noel's relief the old man fished a key out of his clothes, unlocked the front door to the building, and vanished inside. “Whew...that scared me to pieces. I think I've had enough for one day.”
Noel hurried back to the lodge and happily hurried inside. December was at the front counter looking over some papers. “I just bumped into a very strange old man who went into a building that is marked for food supplies.”
“That would be Polar Bear,” December informed Noel without looking up from her work. “He comes into town from time to time to get some food. We gave him a key to the food supply building...” December paused and then shook her head. “Noel, honey, come here a minute and tell me what you think.”
Noel kicked snow off her boots and walked to the front counter. December held up a piece of paper that was covered with drawings instead of financial numbers. “What are these?”
“My work.” December smiled. “I'm drawing each room. I have all the rooms on the east wing already completed, but I still have to work on the rooms in the west wing. So, tell me, which drawings do you like best?”
Noel smiled, happy to be back inside the warm lodge and near a friend. Whoever the creepy old man was outside in the snow...well...Noel determined to never go near the old man again. What she didn't know was that the old man was going to save her life...and her heart.
Chapter 6
Noel woke to the sounds of a powerful, blasting wind attacking the window in her room. The storm doors had been closed around her window, of course, but the powerful winds were trying to rip the storm doors free. For a few seconds Noel didn't know where she was at. At first, she thought she was back home in her own bed listening to a winter storm outside. But a dim nightlight in the shape of a smiling snowman allowed Noel's eyes to adjust just enough to realize that she was in a strange room. “The lodge...I'm at the lodge,” Noel whispered.
A glowing clock sitting on the nightstand next to Noel's bed told her it was a little past four in the morning. Noel rolled over and tried to fall back asleep but failed. “Oh...pooh.” Noel rolled back over onto her back, stared up at a wooden ceiling, and then sat up. “This is the time I get up back home and start my chores. My body works on a schedule. I can't go back to sleep.”
Noel decided on a hot shower and then dressed in a thick, green sweater and a warm, gray dress. Dressing to impress wasn't at the top of Noel's list of priorities. Besides, dressing simple was Noel's style. Some women dashed out in fancy attire every day and some women, like Noel, just preferred a simple wardrobe and a quick ponytail. Of course, Noel could afford a thousand expensive evening gowns if she wanted, as she was now a very wealthy woman. Money didn't matter to Noel, though. It was life that mattered and how a person lived his or her life.
Noel locked up her room and went downstairs hoping to find some coffee made in the dining room. She had mentioned to December that the alarm clock in her heart always went off at four sharp, but due to the time change, she wasn't sure what time her alarm clock might go off. Regardless of the time change, four o'clock was still the mark. Noel hoped a hot pot of coffee would meet the mark as well. “Oh...uh, good morning.”
The strange man Noel had seen in the dining room the day before was sitting at the same table. “Good morning,” John Winters spoke in a low voice and then quickly went back to reading his Bible.
He's reading the Bible. That's good.Noel walked her eyes to a long counter attached to the back wall of the dining room. To her delight, hot donuts were on the counter next to the coffee pot. “I thought I was the only one who got up this early.”
John peered at Noel. “I've always been an early bird myself,” he told Noel, keeping his voice low. “I made some coffee and hot donuts if you're interested.”
