Page 44 of The Midnight Blizzard

“This is ridiculous,” I huffed under my breath. “Can I at least leave him a note?”

“No.” The smug satisfaction on Octavius’s face made me wish I stood a foot taller and was a hundred pounds heavier. “I’ll call for the coach now.”

Within five minutes, I was handed into a coach andshipped off to the village. I stared out the window, wondering what on earth I was supposed to do now. I had no way to return to the castle, my only dress was a complete mess, and Jack would have no way of knowing where I was.

The coachman pulled the horses to a stop then jumped down and opened the door. “Here you are, miss,” he said cheerfully. “Best get indoors before this blizzard hits.”

“Can you tell Jack I’m here?” I asked desperately. I certainly couldn’t trust my stepfamily or Octavius to tell him. “Please.”

“Tell him you’re where? Which house?”

I stared around and my gaze settled on Beryl’s shop. “That one. The healer’s.”

“If I see him, I’ll pass the message on. Good day, miss.” The coachman hopped back to his seat and with a crack of his whip, he was off.

Chapter 15

Itrudged through the snow and knocked on Beryl’s door, praying that he would answer. A minute dragged by, and I knocked again, folding my arms so tightly I felt like a knotted rope. It should be illegal for anywhere to get this cold. This time, pattering footsteps could be heard, and the door creaked open. A young girl stood there, eyes shining bright. “Hello.”

“Hello. Is your father home?”

“He’s helping someone. Can I take a message?”

I shivered all over, the frigid air stabbing right through me to chill my very bones. “Can you tell him that Noelle’s here?”

“Noelle?” Beryl’s deep voice came from the backroom. “Come in, come in! Don’t let the warm air out. Is Jack with you?”

The girl waved me inside, and I stamped hard to get the worst of the snow off the hem of my skirts before I quickly crossed the threshold and snapped the door closed. “No, he isn’t,” I answered.

Beryl stuck his head out of the backroom. “He tends tojust randomly turn up with dogs. And then with the occasional girl,” he added with a wink. Then his face changed when he saw my expression. “What’s wrong?”

The higher the moon rose and the longer I talked, the lower my heart sank. I spilled my entire story to Beryl and his nine-year-old daughter Peggy. Had Jack already found out that I’d been thrown out? I had no doubt that my stepmother would rush to tell him that I’d been using him all along, trying to exploit him to get a will that would avail me nothing. I could only imagine the stories that Vanessa would tell Stephen. I buried my face into my hands. One of these days, I really should learn to keep my mouth shut so I didn’t land myself in these situations.

“It’s not so bad,” Beryl told me, heaving a crate of bottles over to the counter. “Jack can talk to the prince and ensure you have a place to live, and you’re welcome to stay here tonight. You’ll just miss a ball. You and Jack can go skate again and pretend like it’s dancing, and it will be like you didn’t miss anything at all.”

“That’s not…how did you know we went skating?”

Beryl shrugged his massive shoulders. “Jack let it slip the other day. You make him really happy, you know.”

I smiled wistfully. “He makes me happy, too.”

Peggy sat attentively by his side, as if determined to show that she could be just as gown-up as her father. Trying to find something to talk about besides my own woes, I smiled at the girl. “What hobbies do you have, Peggy? Do you like helping your father with his shop?”

“I’m going to be an actress one day,” she told me proudly. “Dad says I’m very good.”

“Really? Have you been to the theater before?”

“Yes. I went once, but it was all about puns.” She looked me dead in the eye. “It was just a play on words.”

Beryl hooted with laughter, slapping his knee. “That was a good one, Pegs!”

I groaned and shook my head. “No one will ever question if she is your daughter.”

He wiped tears of mirth from his eyes, sighing as his laughter slowly died. “It’s time for you to go to bed, Pegs.”

“Dad, please can I stay up for a little longer? I want to hear more.”

“Not unless you want to clean the shop while you stay up.”

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