As she walked arm-in-arm with her husband, Maxine came to appreciate that the care and attention that Xavier’s mother lavished upon the inside of the house extended to the property as well. The perennial hedges were trimmed to symmetrical perfection. The seasonal plants were tidily mummified in burlap, guarding them for the spring to come. The grid of stone walkways that ran through the gardens had already been salted and thus stood out like a maze of black marble laid within the snow.

This obvious meticulousness caused Maxine to doubt herself once her eyes fell upon the ugly little structure that slumped at the far end of the grounds. It was the size and design of a large wooden shed. Its roof was noticeably stooped, and its lone uncovered window was so clouded with accumulated grime it was as if pollen had been baked into the pane. The abode sat nestled among ugly brambles. Its wooden frame was colourless. It was almost as if it was a great toadstool that had sprouted up from the earth; the kind of magic hovel Maxine had read about in fairy tales when she was a child.

“Where are you going?”

Xavier’s voice came from behind, rather than beside her. This alerted Maxine to the fact that she had somehow unconsciously slipped free of her man’s arm and had begun to stray on her own down the sloping lawn toward the strange little dwelling.

“I wanted to get a better look,” she explained awkwardly, covertly straining her eyes to spy whatever she could through the murky glass. (She saw nothing.) “I’m sorry.”

He stepped off the walkway and added a second set of footprints alongside hers.

“No need to apologize,” he said.

“What is it, a storage shed?”

“I think it was a gatehouse once upon a time. Not sure why my parents haven’t torn it down, to be honest with you.”

A wind pushed over the grounds, rattling the settled snow from the tree boughs and the shrubberies. It also rattled Maxine’s bones.

“Come on,” Xavier said, wrapping his arm across her shoulders. “Let’s get you in front of the fireplace and get a warm brandy in your hand.”

The offer was music to Maxine’s ears, but her snifter was still half-full when she felt the weight of the day’s travels pressing down upon her limbs and eyelids. She tried to politely hide her persistent yawns with her hand, but Xavier noticed right away and announced that they were turning in for the night.

Upstairs, the spacious bed felt gloriously supple beneath her tired limbs. She fell asleep before Xavier had switched off his bedside reading lamp.