Louisa looked at herself in the mirror and was pleased with the image she saw. When Martin had called two weeks ago asking if she would be interested in joining him at a Boxing Day open house at the Truro home of one of his medical school friends, she had been surprised and pleased. She had been hoping to see him over the holidays while he was in Portwenn and attending a party and meeting some of his friends could be a lot of fun. As she put the final touches on her outfit, she had to laugh to herself because Martin could be so clueless; when she had asked if the party was dressy or casual, the line went quiet and she had to prompt him, "Martin?" After a few 'ums' and 'ahs', he finally admitted he had no idea, but offered to have Michelle, the wife of his friend Chris, call her and give her the details. She and Michelle had had an enjoyable conversation trading anecdotes about their students after discovering that they were both teachers.

Michelle had expressed her delight that Martin was bringing a friend, and they had a bit of a laugh at how oblivious he could be when it came to party attire. "He'll just wear one of his usual suits. I'm not sure he owns any other clothes." Michelle laughed.

"Yes, but he wears them so well," Louisa confided. "When I first met him, he was in a pair of hospital scrubs, but the next time I saw him, he was in one of his suits, and ... well, oh my ... so handsome ... so elegant." She then added with a chuckle. "I invited him to go hiking on the coastal path the first time he visited me in Portwenn, so instead of his suit, he arrived wearing dark khaki slacks and a navy blazer with a tie. He may have been the only hiker ever on the path in a tie! But I don't think I've seen him out of a posh suit since then."

"That's our Martin, 'Mr Elegance' personified. Well, Louisa, it's be fun chatting with you, but I need to go pick up Danny from football practice. I'm really looking forward to meeting you. See you soon."

"Same here". Louisa had been somewhat nervous about meeting Martin's friends, suspecting that they might be just as sophisticated and formal as he, but not after her conversation with Michelle. Michelle seemed to be just as down to earth as anyone in Cornwall, and Louisa was looking forward to the party as well as spending time with Martin.

So she looked once more into the mirror and was pleased with the casual, but tasteful, and dare she say it, elegant ensemble. A long sleeved silk blouse in teal showing just a hint of cleavage topped her mid-calf length skirt in a subtly printed wool crepe with just enough fullness that it swung ever so slightly when she walked. And then the most important piece of her ensemble, the soft suede boots. Hopefully Martin would find the two inch heel satisfactorily sensible, she giggled to herself.

Just then she heard his knock at the door. She looked in the mirror one last time to check on her make-up and then scooted down the stairs, opening the door with a smile. She had been looking forward to seeing him all month and had been disappointed that he wasn't at the church Christmas Eve service. Now he was finally here. She was so glad to see him that she spontaneously gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. 'Martin, it's so good to see you. Happy Christmas."

The colour rose in Martin's cheeks as he gingerly returned the hug and sputtered, "Umm…, Happy Christmas".

She led him inside and took a long look at his suit, dark blue with a red pin-striped shirt and a solid red tie. "Hmmm…almost festive enough, but not quite."

Martin gave her a puzzled look, "What's wrong. I'm appropriately attired."

"Almost. I've just the thing, and she turned round and picked up a box wrapped in festive Christmas paper, and handed it to him. "For you."

"Oh…thank you," he stammered as he took the gift from her, and stood there looking at her surprised.

"Open it." She commanded.

"Yes." He slowly unwrapped the present taking care not to tear the paper or stretch the ribbon. Inside was a silk tie in an abstract print reminiscent of Christmas trees in emerald green, sapphire blue and garnet. It was not a print he would have chosen on his own, but he had to admit it had a certain classic flair…for a Christmas themed tie. Remembering his manners, he muttered, "Umm ... It's very nice".

"I thought as a man of science it might appeal to you."

Again Martin was puzzled, and his face reflected his confusion.

"Look closely, it's a tessellation of a Sierpinski triangle*." She traced the outline of several of the triangles with her forefinger.

"Ah yes ... hmm ..." The terms did ring a very faint note in the recesses of his mind. He looked more carefully as he began to recall something of the sort in an advanced geometry course focusing on fractals that he had taken as a diversion from his biology and chemistry courses years ago at university. But it had been a long time since. Suddenly he remembered and his eyes lit up, and he replied with enthusiasm. "Ah yes, I see it now; very clever. Yes. Yes, I like it."

"I thought you might. Now, let's put it on." She reached up to loosen his tie.

"First, I have something for you." He picked up a bag and shyly handed her a large box wrapped in silver foil with a silver and gold ribbon. Auntie Joan had impressed on him the importance of his giving Louisa a Christmas gift, and now he was very glad she did. He had planned on giving her a cookery book seeing how they both liked to cook. But then he was walking through the store a week ago when a red scarf caught his eye.

'Oh, how sweet." She thanked him and then unwrapped a beautiful red cashmere scarf. "Oh Martin, it's beautiful, so soft. Oh, you shouldn't have." She knew scarves like this one were extremely expensive, nothing she could ever afford to buy for herself. She ran her fingers over it and then wrapped it around her neck and shoulders. "I love it", and again she gave him a hug. "Thank you"

He stood there uncertain how to react and once again the colour rose in his cheeks as he gruffly replied, "You're welcome. I thought it would be useful this winter when it gets cold and windy." He wanted to tell her how beautiful he thought she looked when she wore red, but thought better of it.

"And I love the colour. It's a beautiful shade of red." She held it out in front of her and admired the colour.

"Yes, you look especially nice in red." He added softly, glancing down at his shoes.

She felt a thrill course throughout her body when she realized how much thought he had put into her gift and she looked up at him. She wanted to hold him in her arms and give him a lingering kiss, but she knew that was inappropriate at this point in their relationship. Instead she replied just as softly, "thank you."

"Ready to go?" Martin had taken her coat out of the cupboard and held it for her to put on.

"Yes, but first ... oh, you've already put on your Christmas tie. How did you do that so fast?"

"Years of changing from suit to scrubs and back several times a day. I could do it in my sleep. Probably have, in fact." He replied with a sly grin.

"Oh, I guess it would become second nature." It was a little thing, but it gave her a small insight into his life; she wanted, hoped, to learn more.

"Ready?" He was still holding her coat, so she straightened her new scarf and slipped on her coat and buttoned it.

Martin had driven his own car to Cornwall this visit, a large luxurious Lexus. They settled in and headed out of the village. Louisa turned to Martin and asked, "Tell me about Michelle and Chris. You knew Chris in medical school?"

"Yes. We were assigned to the same study group, not our choice. It was compulsory for research and preparing presentations and demonstrations in the first few years. Eventually we became close friends. Michelle is a musician. One of the other members of our group was dating a woman who was friends with her. He dragged us to a concert that they were giving, and Chris and Michelle hit it off. Michelle was always around after that. They were married just before we started our surgical studies.

"So you've known them both for a very long time then.

'Yes, more than twenty years."

"It will be fun hearing what they have to say about you."

"Hmmm…." Martin hadn't really thought about that. He wasn't really sure why he had invited Louisa to this open-house. He just wanted to have an excuse to spend time with her.

"Will there be many people there this afternoon?"

"I don't expect so. Mostly family, a few neighbours and close friends, maybe a few associates of each of them, but not many."

As they continued on their way to the party, each was lost in thought. Martin was thinking about how good he felt when Louisa hugged him and was wondering how he could get another. He looked over at her sitting next to him and let his left hand rest on the seat next to him. "Damn these bucket seats", he thought. "Can't just gently slide my hand over to hold hers."

Louisa for her part was confused and torn. Before he left for America, Michael had come over for dinner and they had ended the evening snogging on the couch in the living room like young teenagers. She had really been aroused and almost gave in when he pulled her to her feet and led her to the stairs. But once again her brain overrode the signals that her body was sending and she led him instead to the door, giving him a long lingering kiss goodbye before pushing him out into the cold night. It was thoughts of seeing Martin that had made her pull back. She had been looking forward to seeing Martin all month, and even as she was kissing Michael, thoughts of Martin would pop into her head. She looked over at the man sitting next to her and wondered what was it about him that she found so attractive. The chemistry between them was strong, she was certain of that even though they had never even kissed; but there was something else, something in his overall character that drew her to him as well. She glanced at him again and noticed his hand resting on the seat. She reached over and slipped her fingers under his. He looked over wide-eyed and she smiled. He returned his gaze to the road, but she noticed a slight smile cross his face and she felt the pressure on her fingers as he grasped them with his.

*A tessellation is a repeating pattern of a figure that completely covers a flat surface with no overlaps or empty spaces. In my story the figure is a triangle, but it can be any kind of figure that can be "tiled" onto a flat surface. M.C. Escher is famous for his many tessellations of all sorts of figures, among them animals such as lions, horses, squirrels and many others.

A Sierpinski triangle is an equilateral triangle (a triangle whose three sides are the same length) in which are inscribed successively smaller equilateral triangles. If you wanted to draw one, you would start with an equilateral triangle. Connect the midpoints of each side to create four more equilateral triangles inside the original one. Leaving the central triangle blank, repeat the procedure with the three outside triangles so that they each contain four such triangles inside. You can repeat this procedure as often as you like creating successively smaller triangles, resulting in a lace like pattern.