Snowfall

chapter fifteen

The first light of Christmas morning crept softly through Ethan’s front windows, painting the snow-covered lawn in pale pinks and golds. Inside, the tree lights still glowed, though many of the candles had burned down to stubs. The room smelled of pine, chocolate, gingerbread, and the faint salt of dried tears.

Ethan and Emily had not slept. They had not even tried.

After the proposal—after the yes that felt like the closing of a circle older than either of them—they had moved to the floor in front of the tree, backs against the couch, legs tangled under a shared blanket. They talked until their voices grew hoarse, then simply sat in silence, hands linked, watching the snow fall and the sky slowly brighten.

Memories surfaced in waves, gentle now rather than overwhelming.

Emily remembered the taste of blackberries in summer, the way Elijah’s hands had felt rough from farm work yet impossibly gentle when he touched her face. She remembered the sound of his laugh—low, surprised, like he hadn’t expected joy in the middle of hardship. She remembered the exact weight of the locket when it was first placed around her neck, the cool metal warming quickly against her skin.

Ethan remembered the scent of lavender in her hair, the way she always skipped stones with her left hand even though she was right-handed, the fierce way she defended him to anyone who called his family poor. He remembered the promise by the river, how the words had felt too big for his seventeen-year-old mouth, yet absolutely true.

They spoke of the in-between lives too—the fleeting glimpses across centuries. Emily’s life as a nurse in the Great War, tending boys who reminded her of someone she couldn’t name. Ethan’s quiet existence in Maryland after the Civil War, dreaming of a girl he’d never met in that lifetime. Other lives, other losses, always the sense of something unfinished.

“I felt you every Christmas,” Emily whispered at one point, head on his shoulder. “Even when I didn’t know why. I’d bake gingerbread and feel… homesick for a place I’d never been.”

“I did too,” Ethan said. “Every year, snow would fall, and I’d feel like I was supposed to be walking home to someone.”

They cried again, but quietly—tears of relief more than grief.

At some point Emily fetched the tray of treats she’d brought: gingerbread stars, peppermint bark, sugar cookies cut into bells and trees. They ate slowly, feeding each other pieces, laughing softly when icing smeared on fingers.

“This is what I wanted,” Ethan said, licking chocolate from his thumb. “That Christmas in 1863. To walk through the door with the ring and find you baking. To say, ‘I’m home, and I’m never leaving again.’”

Emily’s eyes filled. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.”

Around eight a.m., the sun fully rose, turning the snow to diamonds. The street began to stir—distant sounds of children laughing, car doors closing as families headed to grandparents’ houses.

Emily stood, stretched, and walked to the window. Ethan joined her, arms around her waist from behind.

“Look,” she said softly.

Their two houses stood side by side, roofs white, chimneys silent now, holiday lights still twinkling though daylight had come. Between them, the narrow strip of lawn was marked only by their footprints from the night before—hers coming over, none going back.

“We’re already living next door,” she said, smiling. “How long until we fix that?”

Ethan laughed, the sound deep and free. “As soon as you want. Tomorrow. Today. I don’t care.”

She turned in his arms. “Let’s not rush. We’ve waited lifetimes. A few months to plan a proper wedding won’t kill us.”

“A proper wedding,” he repeated, savoring the words. “With the porch swing and the orchard?”

“And peach trees,” she added firmly. “And a river nearby for our children to skip stones.”

He kissed her then, slow and wondering, as if still confirming she was real.

They made breakfast together in his bare kitchen—eggs from her fridge, toast from his bread, coffee strong and hot. They ate at the small table, knees touching, talking about practical things now: telling families (hers gone, his supportive but far away), combining households, her bakery business, his writing.

“I want to write our story,” Ethan said suddenly. “Not for publication—not yet. Just for us. And maybe someday for our kids. So they know how stubborn their parents’ love was.”

Emily reached across the table, took his hand. “I’d like that. And I’ll keep baking gingerbread every Christmas. Tradition.”

By noon, the snow had stopped. The world outside sparkled, streets plowed, life resuming its holiday rhythm.

Emily’s phone buzzed with texts from cousins, friends, bakery customers thanking her for orders. Ethan’s parents called—video, full of cheer, wishing him merry Christmas, asking about his new place. He angled the camera away from Emily at first, then changed his mind.

“Mom, Dad… there’s someone I want you to meet.”

He pulled Emily into frame. She waved shyly, cheeks pink.

His mother’s eyes widened. “Ethan! She’s lovely! Who—?”

“Her name’s Emily,” he said, grinning. “She’s my neighbor. And… she’s the reason I’ve been searching all these years.”

He didn’t explain more—not yet. That would come later, in person. His parents sensed the weight in his voice, saw the joy in his eyes, and simply welcomed her with open hearts.

After the call, Emily rested her head on his shoulder.

“They’ll love you,” he said.

“I hope so. I come with a lot of history.”

“The best kind.”

They spent the afternoon quietly. Napped on the couch under the blanket, waking to kiss lazily. Watched It’s a Wonderful Life finally, quoting lines, crying at the ending for new reasons. Walked outside at dusk, hand in hand, through the neighborhood—admiring lights, waving to neighbors who called merry Christmas.

Back home—his home, soon theirs—they stood on the shared driveway between the houses.

“Which porch swing?” Ethan asked, nodding to both houses.

Emily considered. “Yours has the better view of the creek. But mine has the bigger kitchen.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said.

She stepped closer, wrapped her arms around his neck.

“We have time now,” she whispered. “All the time we were owed.”

He kissed her forehead, then her lips, snowflakes from an earlier flurry still clinging to the eaves overhead.

Inside, they lit fresh candles. Emily placed the small wooden box he’d given her—containing the sketch of both her lives—on the mantel beside a photo she’d brought from her house: the tintype from the locket, enlarged and framed years ago.

Past and present, side by side.

As night fell on Christmas Day, they sat together on the floor again, backs against the couch, watching the tree lights reflect in the window against the dark snow.

“I used to think the promise was impossible,” Ethan said quietly. “That I’d search forever and never find you.”

Emily laced her fingers through his.

“But you did,” she said. “On the very first knock. Like the universe was laughing with us, not at us.”

He smiled. “Best Christmas miracle ever.”

She rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat—the same heart that had stopped in snow 162 years ago, now beating strong for her again.

“Merry Christmas, Elijah,” she whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Amelia,” he answered.

Outside, the snow lay deep and undisturbed, covering old roads and old wounds alike.

Inside, two souls who had waited through war, death, and centuries of separation finally rested.

The river, miles away, flowed on—carrying their story southward, toward spring, toward orchards and porch swings and children who would one day hear how love, stubborn and true, had found its way home on a snowy Christmas Eve.

And in the quiet house next door—no longer empty, no longer alone—the lights stayed on late into the night.