Snowfall

chapter eleven

The second week of December brought a proper winter storm to central Virginia—something rare enough to make the local news breathless with excitement. By December 8, six inches of snow blanketed the suburb, turning the quiet street into a postcard scene. Schools closed for days, roads stayed empty, and the world felt hushed under the weight of white.

Ethan and Emily’s houses became islands connected by shoveled paths and shared moments.

On December 9, power flickered during the height of the storm. Ethan noticed Emily’s lights go dark while his stayed on—different grid sections, apparently. He waited ten minutes, then crossed the snow with a flashlight and an extension cord.

She answered the door in thick socks and an oversized sweater, hair loose around her shoulders, candlelight flickering behind her.

“Generator next door,” he said, holding up the cord. “Thought you might want lights and heat.”

Her face lit with relief. “You’re a lifesaver. Oven’s electric—half my orders are due tomorrow.”

They ran the cord through her front window, plugged in essentials: lights, fridge, oven. While the kitchen warmed, she made cocoa on the gas stove—real cocoa, with whole milk and dark chocolate shavings. They sat at her table watching snow pile against the glass.

Conversation drifted deeper than before. She asked about his family (distant but loving parents in Boston, no siblings). He asked about hers (parents gone in a car accident when she was twenty, no siblings either). Both of them, it seemed, had learned early to be self-sufficient.

“You’ve moved a lot,” she observed. “The boxes had labels from all over Virginia.”

“Research,” he said carefully. “History stuff. Civil War mostly.”

Her eyes brightened. “I love old stories. That locket I wear—it’s been in the family since the 1860s. Great-great-something grandmother’s.”

Ethan’s heart stopped, then raced.

“May I see it?” he asked, voice steady only through effort.

Emily pulled the chain from beneath her sweater. The silver locket gleamed in the candlelight—oval, worn soft at the edges, engraved A.R. in flowing script. She opened it gently.

Inside: a tiny cracked tintype of a young woman with auburn hair, and a curl of that same hair, faded but unmistakable. Tucked beside them, smaller than he remembered, the thin gold band he’d carried in his pocket on Christmas Eve 1863.

He stared, unable to breathe.

“It’s beautiful,” he managed.

“Family legend says she lost her sweetheart in the war,” Emily said softly. “He promised to come back, even gave her a ring. She wore both until she died. Passed it down with instructions to keep it close.”

Ethan reached out, not quite touching. “Do you… dream about them? The people it belonged to?”

She hesitated. “Sometimes. A boy by a river. Snow and guns. Trying to get home for Christmas.” She laughed self-consciously. “Silly, right? Probably too many old movies.”

“Not silly,” he said fiercely. Then softer: “I dream things like that too.”

Their eyes met across the table. Something unspoken passed between them—recognition without words.

Power returned an hour later. Ethan unplugged the cord, lingered on her porch.

“Thank you,” she said. “Really.”

“Anytime,” he answered. “Always.”

December 10–12 were snowbound days of small kindnesses. He helped her deliver orders bundled in coats and scarves, driving slowly through unplowed streets. She invited him for dinner twice—simple things: soup and cornbread, then lasagna from scratch. They watched old Christmas movies on her couch, feet tucked under shared blankets, careful not to touch too much.

The flashes intensified for Ethan. Every gesture of hers triggered memory: the way she stirred soup clockwise, how she tucked hair behind her left ear first, the tune she hummed while washing dishes—an old hymn from 1860s church.

But Emily remained unaware, though she mentioned more dreams: a barn at night, stolen kisses, a promise by water.

On December 13, the snow began to melt. Streets cleared. Life resumed.

That evening Ethan stood in his kitchen making cocoa, staring at her house. The locket. The ring. The dreams. It was undeniable.

He had to tell her.

But how do you tell someone they died in your arms a century and a half ago? That you’ve spent half your current life searching for them?

He rehearsed words in his head—gentle, careful, backed by evidence. The journal entries he’d reconstructed from memory. Sketches of her face from 1862 that matched her exactly. The historical records.

December 14 brought freezing rain, turning melted snow to ice. Ethan slipped on his driveway retrieving mail and twisted his ankle badly. By evening it was swollen purple, pain sharp when he put weight on it.

Emily noticed the limp when she dropped off a tin of shortbread.

“What happened?” she demanded.

“Ice. Stupid.”

She insisted on helping inside, made an ice pack, propped his foot on pillows. Sat with him while he grimaced.

“You need to stay off it,” she said firmly. “I’ll bring dinner tomorrow. And breakfast. No arguments.”

He caught her hand as she stood to leave.

“Emily.”

She paused.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said. “Something important. About why I moved here. About… us.”

Her brow furrowed, curious and a little wary. “Okay. When you’re ready.”

“Christmas Eve,” he said. “Will you come over? I’ll explain everything.”

She searched his face, then nodded slowly. “Christmas Eve. I’ll be here.”

After she left, Ethan sat in the dark with his throbbing ankle and pounding heart.

Ten days.

Ten days until he laid seventeen years of searching at her feet.

Ten days until she learned she had waited just as long.

Outside, the ice gleamed under streetlights like a frozen river, holding its secrets until the thaw.