This Holiday Magic

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  The smells were so enticing that Sage let her nose lead her. She pulled Adam over to a stall that sold hot chocolate. They purchased two mugs and continued their stroll through the square.

  The temperature was in the twenties and they both had donned jackets over their shirts. They were quite comfortable, naturally holding hands as they walked. Sage sipped her hot chocolate and breathed in the crisp, fragrant night air. “Somehow I always pictured Austria with snow.”

  “It’s early yet,” Adam said. “It’ll probably snow before Christmas.”

  Suddenly, Adam stopped at a stall that sold ceramic animals dressed in silly Christmas regalia. He picked up a brightly painted ceramic duck wearing a Santa hat. He bought it and handed it to Sage.

  Sage laughed as she accepted the six-inch-high ceramic figurine. “I’ll call her Duck.”

  * * *

  Sage decided Adam had been right about the Palais Schwarzenberg. In spite of its size and obvious ornamentation on the outside and inside, it struck her as a country home. She felt comfortable as soon as they walked into the grand lobby.

  They were greeted by a beautifully dressed woman with dark hair with silver streaks who looked to be in her late fifties. “Good evening, Mr. Benson, Ms. Andrews, I’m Greta. I hope you had a lovely trip,” she said pleasantly with a German accent.

  Adam assured her that they had, and she gestured to a young man in a uniform to get their luggage. Then to Adam and Sage, she said, “Since your assistant arranged everything in advance, there’s no need for you to check in. I’ll show you to your suites.”

  As they walked down the long corridor and took the stairs to the upper floor, Sage admired the family portraits on the walls. But that wasn’t the only artwork gracing the walls of the palace. There were also paintings by well-known artists such as Renoir. She peered closer. They didn’t look like reproductions to her.

  “What beautiful paintings,” Sage said to Greta.

  “The portraits are of the ancestors of the family who owns the palais,” she said. “As a matter of fact, some of the family still lives in part of the palais, so you may run into them during your stay.”

  “Then you’re not part of the family?” asked Sage.

  “Oh, no,” Greta said modestly. “I am an employee. There is a full staff, of course. And we also have a wonderful restaurant. May I make a reservation for later tonight for you? Or would you like dinner delivered to your rooms on your first night? You must be jet-lagged.”

  Adam and Sage looked at one another. Adam deferred to Sage. “We’ll do whatever you want to do tonight,” he told her.

  “We’ll stay in for tonight,” Sage said.

  “Very well,” said Greta pleasantly.

  They arrived at Sage’s suite. Greta unlocked the door and handed the key to Sage. It wasn’t a card key. It was an actual key, something Sage hadn’t seen in a hotel for quite a while.

  Highly polished hardwood floors ran throughout the huge suite. Besides a king-size bed and an accompanying ornately carved bedroom suite, there was a sitting area and an en suite bath that was spacious and had both a sunken tub and a shower stall.

  “This is gorgeous,” gasped Sage.

  Both Adam and Greta seemed pleased that she liked it.

  “Very good,” said Greta, smiling. “This way to your suite, Mr. Benson.”

  Sage hugged Adam briefly and whispered, “Thank you!” before he left with Greta.

  Greta closed the door behind them, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Sage flung herself onto the bed and gave a muffled scream into her hands to avoid being heard. She remembered Jim’s words. “Every woman deserves to be treated like a princess at least once in her life.” She indeed felt like a princess. A princess who was going to sleep in a palace tonight!

  She got up momentarily and explored every nook and cranny in the suite. By the time Adam knocked on her door a few minutes later, she had gone over the entire place from top to bottom.

  She stood sheepishly at the door when she stepped aside to let Adam enter.

  Adam walked in, smiling at her. “You look like the kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.”

  “Worse,” said Sage, taking her hand from behind her back. In it was a half-eaten chocolate torte. “Austrian pastry,” she said, smiling. “This hotel so gets a five-star rating from me!”

  Adam laughed. Her heart leaped at the sight of his joy at seeing her so happy. This was the Adam she remembered: a boy without a cruel bone in his body. Someone who would never hurt her and who only wanted the best for her.

  Chapter 6

  Since the summit didn’t begin until their second day in Vienna, they had the next day to go sightseeing. They got up early and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, after which the driver who’d picked them up at the airport the previous night arrived to take them on a tour of the city.

  Sage was wearing one of the outfits chosen for her by Ruby: black fitted slacks with a beige cashmere twin set, black leather riding boots with heels comfortable enough for walking and a shoulder bag to match. She’d combed her thick, black curly hair back, fastened it with a tortoiseshell comb and let the rest fall down her back.

  Adam was casually dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved gray shirt and a black leather jacket. He wore black leather Italian loafers. He looked ruggedly handsome.

  As they stepped outside, Sage saw the grounds of the palais clearly for the first time. The lawn was like a carpet in its perfection. Seasonal flowers abounded as far as the eye could see.

  “Good morning, Mr. Benson, Ms. Andrews. I hope you had a restful evening,” the driver greeted them.

  “Thank you,” said Adam. He smiled at the man. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get your name last night.”

  “My mistake, Mr. Benson. Last time I simply told you I was from the agency your assistant booked to drive you. I’m Franz Holtz. I’ll be your driver for the duration of your stay.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Franz.”

  “And I you, sir,” said Franz. “I’m a big fan of your work.”

  “Well, thank you again,” said Adam.

  He then turned to Sage. “Shall we go?”

  Sage nodded eagerly. Adam helped her into the backseat of the luxury car. After Adam was also inside, Franz shut the door and then climbed behind the wheel of the car.

  “I was told you wanted to sightsee today, sir,” Franz said.

  “That’s true,” Adam said. “But first I have a surprise for Ms. Andrews. We have a private viewing of the Lipizzaner.”

  Sage couldn’t believe her ears. Ever since she was six years old, she’d wanted to see the Lipizzaners live. She’d taken horseback-riding lessons from age seven to her senior year in high school. She still went riding whenever time permitted. Her favorite event was dressage. And the Lipizzaner was known for dressage.

  All inhibitions gone, she threw her arms around Adam’s neck and kissed him repeatedly on the cheek. “Oh, thank you, thank you, you sweet man, you!”

  A few minutes later they were pulling onto the property that housed the Spanish riding school—Spanische Hofreitschule. The house and barn were both elegantly appointed. The fence bordering the property seemed to stretch for miles. Horses frolicked in grassy fields.

  A man and a woman, both in their mid-thirties, came out of the house upon hearing a car in their drive.

  The man introduced himself as Josef Aronsen, and the pretty blonde was his wife, Hilda. They were both horse trainers.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Benson,” said Josef, beaming. He was a dark-haired man of average height and weight with powerful thigh muscles. Both he and Hilda wore riding clothes.

  “Please, call me Adam,” Adam said warmly. “And this is Ms. Sage Andrews. She’s the horse lover. She’s an experienced rider
, and it’s always been her dream to ride a Lipizzaner.”

  “Ride!” exclaimed Sage, unable to contain her excitement. She’d thought she was there only to watch someone else ride the famous horses. She looked to Josef and Hilda for confirmation of Adam’s words. They were nodding and smiling.

  “Right this way,” Josef said.

  Josef and Hilda led Adam and Sage to the barn where two more people, a man and a woman, were putting a stallion through its paces in a corral. The woman was riding the handsome Lipizzaner while the man walked alongside, calling out instructions.

  Adam, Sage, Josef and Hilda walked over to the corral and Josef called, “Victor, Beatriz, bring Alexi over here, please.”

  Victor and Beatriz were quick to respond. Victor took Alexi’s bridle in hand and led the woman on the horse to the edge of the corral.

  Josef made the introductions, and then Sage said, “I don’t know about this. I’m nervous. Alexi will sense I’m nervous.”

  “Alexi is used to people being nervous around him,” Hilda assured her. She patted Alexi’s head affectionately. “He is such a pretty boy that he’s used to people being intimidated by his beauty.”

  Alexi whinnied and threw his head back, as if he agreed with her assessment of his character.

  “Come,” said Hilda. “Get to know him before you mount him.”

  Sage stepped closer to the beautiful white horse, which was a product of Arab, Danish, Spanish and Italian stock.

  “What do you know about Lipizzaner?” Hilda asked gently as Sage caressed Alexi’s mane and worked her way up to touching his mighty head.

  “Just what I’ve read,” Sage told her. “The riding school was founded in the late fifteen hundreds, and the horses have been bred especially for beauty and strength and intelligence. And they can make those wonderful jumps because of their powerful hind muscles.”

  Hilda smiled warmly. “You’ve done your homework!”

  Sage wasn’t listening because Alexi was looking at her and she was looking at him. His huge, beautiful eyes seemed to be assessing her. Then he bent his head as if he wanted her to pat him, and she did.

  “He likes you,” said Josef, grinning.

  Sage was glad. She’d never met a horse that didn’t like her and had been hoping that Alexi wouldn’t prove to be the exception to the rule. Arabians could be quite unpredictable, and Lipizzaner horses were part Arabian.

  “But that doesn’t mean he’ll let me ride him,” Sage said from experience. Horses were like humans. They could have their moods.

  “Let’s give it a try, shall we?” said Hilda.

  Sage was game. She removed her sweater and handed it to Adam.

  She glanced down at her slacks and boots and realized that it was almost as if Ruby had chosen them for this moment. She looked up at Adam before she turned and followed Hilda into the corral, silently asking for encouragement. Seemingly reading her mind, Adam gestured toward the corral with a nod. “Go on. You can do it.”

  Sage took a deep breath and stepped into the corral. Beatriz dismounted and offered Sage the use of her riding helmet. Sage gratefully accepted.

  “Thank you, Beatriz,” she said softly.

  “My pleasure,” said Beatriz with a smile. A short brunette with brown eyes, she looked around twenty-five.

  Josef held Alexi’s bridle while Sage mounted him, and then he and Hilda walked out of the corral along with Beatriz and Victor.

  “Is it all right if I record this?” Adam asked Josef.

  “Yes, it’s perfectly fine,” said Josef.

  Sage sat atop Alexi, patting his strong neck. “Take it easy on me, boy, all right?”

  Remembering her dressage training, she began with the basic passage in which the horse moved forward in a rhythmic manner that resembled skipping. She was astonished when Alexi recognized her signals. She’d been afraid that he wouldn’t. She had no way of knowing how his riders had been training him over the years. But either he was exceptionally trained, or she was actually remembering the lessons her riding teacher had taught her over the years.

  Alexi trotted around the large corral performing one trick after another, while Sage marveled at the play of his powerful muscles beneath her. After a few minutes she got so bold that she was determined to try a pirouette. She gave the signal with a squeeze of her legs and a gesture with the reins. Alexi pivoted in a circle, his hind legs bearing the weight. He did it in such a smooth motion that Sage felt as if she was dancing with him.

  Their audience enthusiastically applauded. Sage signaled for Alexi to stop pirouetting and walk over to the edge of the corral. He followed her instructions without a hitch.

  She was beaming as they approached the others. “He’s brilliant,” she said to Josef and Hilda. “Thank you so much for allowing me to ride him.”

  “It was our pleasure,” Josef said, smiling warmly. “You have a great seat.”

  Sage thanked him for the compliment, and she and Adam thanked them again for granting Sage’s wish to ride a Lipizzaner. Then she and Adam said their goodbyes and were soon in the car again with Franz behind the wheel.

  “Where can I take you next?” Franz wanted to know.

  “Saint Stephen’s Cathedral,” Adam told him.

  While Franz drove them toward the center of Vienna, Adam and Sage relaxed in the back.

  “You really do have a great seat,” Adam teased her.

  “Oh, stop it,” Sage said, blushing. “You know he meant I’m a decent rider.” She looked him deeply in the eyes. “That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. Thank you so much!”

  “You’re welcome,” he said simply, but his eyes were full of warmth and kindness. And something else that caused her to melt. It looked like genuine affection.

  Sage kissed his cheek. “Now, no more spoiling me, okay? Just let me enjoy your company for the rest of the weekend without your playing fairy godmother—um, godfather, to my Cinderella.”

  “I’m not making any promises,” Adam told her. “You wanted honesty. And, honestly, spoiling you makes me happy.”

  Sage didn’t want to argue the point. Instead she reached into his jacket pocket for the cell phone with which he’d recorded her ride. “Let me see it!”

  Adam took the phone out of her hand. His fingers flew over the surface and he handed it back to her. There she was in living color, riding Alexi. The video on the four-inch screen was extremely sharp and the sound was excellent, too.

  Sage looked at the screen, then at Adam. “You made this?”

  “I didn’t actually make it, but I invented it,” Adam said modestly.

  “I’ve never seen a cell phone with such a sharp picture. This is high-definition, isn’t it?”

  “It’s due to all the megapixels,” Adam told her. “Are you telling me you don’t own one yet?”

  “No, I’m mortified to say I don’t.”

  “I’m hurt,” Adam said. But the laughter in his eyes belied his statement. “Are you one of those people who are wary of new technology?”

  “Not wary,” Sage said. “I just don’t run out and buy every new gadget that comes on the market if my present gadget is still working fine.”

  “Fair enough,” Adam said as he took the phone out of her hand and proceeded to demonstrate all of its features.

  “It does everything except bring me breakfast in bed,” Sage quipped when he was finished.

  “That’s my job,” Adam said.

  Sage laid her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her. They didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Adam gave her the phone again after pulling up her video. She watched it over and over, smiling the whole time.

  * * *

  Adam kissed the top of her head and held her securely in his ar
ms. This felt right to him. He couldn’t imagine why he’d foolishly stayed away from her for so long. No, he corrected himself, he knew why he’d stayed away: because he’d felt he had no right to reenter Sage’s life after being the one to break off their relationship. She’d demonstrated by her avoidance of him over the years that she didn’t want to pursue a friendship with him, and he thought the least he could do was honor her wishes.

  But when he’d returned home and learned she was unattached, he’d allowed hope to blossom in his heart. The problem was, even with his supposed intelligence, he couldn’t figure out a surefire way of winning Sage’s affections again. So that was why he’d started jogging past her office every day. He’d wanted to stay in her mind until he figured out a way to get back in her heart.

  Then the opportunity had just fallen into his lap. He saw it as fate intervening on his behalf. He hadn’t known at the time that it wasn’t fate at all, but Sage’s mother who’d intervened. Wherever his good luck had come from, he’d readily accepted it.

  Now he simply had to be careful not to mess it up.

  He smiled as he watched Sage reliving her ride on Alexi. So far, things were going well.

  Chapter 7

  “It reminds me of Notre Dame with all the gargoyles,” Sage said as she and Adam stood in front of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral. “I expect Quasimodo to put in an appearance at any moment.”

  “Let’s see how it looks on the inside,” Adam said, taking her hand.

  They toured the inside of the Romanesque and Gothic cathedral, along with other tourists. Sage found the dark medieval atmosphere a bit depressing. But the sculptures and paintings with religious themes were interesting. To her they spoke of the glory of heaven and the tortures of hell. When Adam suggested a tour of the cathedral’s catacombs, however, Sage declined. “No, thanks. I’m not fond of being underground, and the thought of all those poor plague victims’ bones down there makes me uncomfortable.”

  Adam admitted that he wasn’t looking forward to it, either, so they went across the street to a sidewalk café, ordered coffees and watched the crowds in the plaza.