Charles leaned over and kissed Myra’s cheek. “Old girl,” he said affectionately, “do you think for one minute I would let anything happen to you? I’ve been after you for thirty-five years, and you finally agreed to marry me. I’d go to the ends of the earth to find you.” And that was as romantic as Charles Martin was going to get in front of an audience.

“That works for me, dear.” Myra’s eyes twinkled.

Kathryn cleared her throat and pointed to the trussed-up foursome, then looked at Murphy. “Guard, Murphy. If they move, if they sneeze, do what you have to do.”

Alexis ordered Grady to do the same thing. Both dogs moved closer to their quarry, where they sniffed each of the four, walked around them, sniffed some more. Then both dogs sat back on their haunches, their teeth bared.

In the kitchen the Sisters, along with Charles and Maggie, brought each other up to date.

“Charles has a vehicle, but we need a shovel to dig it out. I saw the truck that Bert left for us. What’s the plan?” Maggie asked.

Everyone started to jabber all at once.

Suddenly Nikki squealed, “Look, it’s stopped snowing! That means we’re going to be good to go by morning. Someone check the phones. How much snow do you think is out there, Charles?”

“More than a foot,” Charles said as he squeezed Myra’s arm.

“The way I see it, we have to make all that snow work for us,” Kathryn announced. “Let’s sit down and figure out how to do that.”

“Cells are still out. Landline is up,” Yoko said. “I’ll try Maggie’s house first, then Jack’s. Just because ours is working doesn’t mean theirs will be.”

Five minutes later Yoko had her report. “Landlines still down in the District. I’m waiting for Lizzie to pick up now. Cosmo said she was showering.” She held up her finger for silence when Lizzie started to talk. Yoko listened raptly, her tiny head bobbing up and down from time to time. She was smiling when she hung up.

“What? What?” the Sisters asked the minute Yoko hung up the kitchen phone.

“For starters, Nellie called Lizzie and told her how bad the weather was. She won’t be heading to the mountain till next week, or whenever she gets plowed out from the farm. They are literally stranded, but she has a generator and plenty of food.

“Lizzie said she got through to Jack and Harry around eight o’clock our time. Ted and Espinosa had just gotten there. Harry said transportation was being provided for the four of them. By whom, she didn’t say. She said she didn’t know if the babies got to Maggie’s house or not, but that they were traveling by ambulance. A whole fleet of them. They would get top priority on the roads and highways.