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“I’ve never even seen so much snow.” Andrew shook the ruler back and forth, sending the bits of snow that had been clinging to it flying this way and that, and then he set it on the round entryway table. “Do you think people could run out of food?”

“Agnes,” Edwin whispered, bringing his hand to cover his mouth. He tapped his cheek with his index finger a couple of times before removing it. “Dammit, I hope she and my mother have enough food. I’m trying to remember now how much we had stored in our pantry. I think we had plenty of cans of vegetables, plenty of oats, a few sacks of beans . . .”

Sympathy clutched at Andrew’s heart, and he reached for Edwin’s hand.

“We’ll check on them soon,” Andrew promised, linking his and Edwin’s index fingers. “As soon as the snow lets up, we’ll head right over.”

“If we’ll even be able to travel in this,” Edwin said. “Andrew, there are forty inches of snow out there.”

Andrew winced. “Forty-one,” he corrected reluctantly.

“Forty-one! And—and it’s still falling!”

“It seems to be letting up a little?” Andrew tried.

Edwin shut his eyes and spat a soft-but-forceful, “Fuck.”

“Language,” Prudence chided, startling both of them as she came out into the foyer. Andrew let go of Edwin’s finger and recoiled. “Although, perhaps I can excuse a few foul words for a snowstorm this catastrophic. Forty-one inches. Did I hear that right?”

Andrew managed a nod, though his heart was still hammering from having been caught holding Edwin’s hand. Even though Prudence seemed supportive of them, Andrew still had trouble believing it fully enough to think that he and Edwin could be lovey in front of her.

“Oh, my, that’s frightening,” she said. “I can’t imagine how people will cope. Some of my friends receive weekly or biweekly house calls for health reasons. Doctors can’t possibly be traversing the city in this.” She shook her head and tsked. “Thank the Lord I took that December storm as a warning to stock up on coal for the winter.”

Edwin sucked in a fast breath.

Raking a hand through his hair, he said a second, “Fuck!” and spun in a half circle to face Andrew. “Andrew, the heat! I know we must have run out of coal by now. Oh, God, my poor mother. Her rheumatic gout is so much worse when it’s cold. Dammit, she might be in pain!”

He squeezed his eyes shut, and his face contorted in anguish. Andrew swore he could feel his own heart break in two. He only barely managed to hold himself back from pulling Edwin close.

“I can’t believe I overlooked this,” Edwin said wearily. “I was so happy to be here, so happy to be spending so much time with you, so happy not to have to hoof it over to the conservatory to check on the—” Edwin’s eyes shot open. “Holy hell, the plants! Andrew, I’ve killed the plants! It’s freezing out there! And that—that heating system the Whitneys have is ridiculously erratic. Sometimes I have to fiddle with it to maintain the absolute minimum temperature most of those plants require to survive the winter. Or I have to rotate certain ones, too. Bring them to the warmest part of the room or even take a couple into the little library where the temperature can be a bit more stable as long as there’s a fire going and—”

Andrew cut Edwin off with an embrace. He began to stroke the man’s soft blond hair, ignoring the needling unease in the pit of his stomach over how Prudence might react to their closeness. Because Edwin needed him then. And even if, by embracing the man he loved, Andrew wound up losing his lodging or his place of business, he refused to stand by and let Edwin fall to pieces in front of him.

“None of it is your fault,” he said to Edwin. “Don’t even begin to think that it is.”

“I should have returned home the moment it started to snow.”

“You couldn’t have foreseen this.”

Edwin was silent for a moment.

“I’m so worried about my family, Andrew,” he said softly. “I’m worried they’ll freeze.”

“Agnes won’t let that happen,” Andrew promised. “I visited your house, remember? I know how many blankets you have. How much extra material you have for clothing. She’ll keep your mother warm somehow. I know she will.”

Edwin let out a long breath. He seemed to calm a little, his muscles noticeably relaxing.

“I hope so.”

Finally, Edwin pulled back from Andrew’s hug. His cheeks were pink, his face marked with an unease that matched Andrew’s own.

Andrew turned to Prudence. “Sorry for the, uhm . . . Edwin and I were . . .” Oh, he was really bungling this. “I promise to keep things between Edwin and I more private in the future.”

“Nonsense,” she said with a wave of her hand. “It’s clear to me how much you mean to each other. Don’t let my being here hold you back from comforting your friend.”

Andrew smiled warmly, and he wilted in relief with his next exhale.

“Thank you, Prudence.”