Ephram opened up the dryer door and pulled his clothes out. He held them to his face to enjoy the warmth. It was one of many simple pleasures he enjoyed. He removed the bathrobe, which had been giving him a weird feeling ever since he saw the name 'Harold' on the tag.

"Nice shorts," he heard Jig say. He turned and saw her standing in the doorway.

"I thought you were asleep," he said grabbing the bathrobe and putting it back on.

"I'm too hot," she said wiping her hand across her forehead, removing some of the sweat.

"So, what? You want to go outside?" he asked her. She frowned.

"No. But I was tempted to open a window."

"Well, go back to your room, I'll bring you some ice after I've changed."

"Why are you taking care of me like this, Ephram?" she asked him smiling.

"Because I'm the only one who can," he answered simply. She nodded, satisfied, and walked away toward her room.

Jane Austen always knew how to finish a book. It was always the perfect romantic ending. Amy wished that life really was like how Jane Austen wrote it. Good and bad always got what they reserved, and there was always a witty remark ready when the situation called for it. The part Amy really enjoyed though, was the fact that true love always came out on top. If the heroine had any decision to make between guys, something would happen to make her choice so completely easy. Then again, in Jane Austen, the reader always knew who the girl was supposed to go for. Amy needed an outside party. No, no she didn't. She had to decide this for herself. She loved Colin, loved him deeply. But there was something about Ephram. Amy had no idea what it was exactly, but it was something. He was different, and unknown, and, mysterious. Dammit. Desi was right. Ephram was mysterious. But whether it was article worthy or not Amy didn't know.

Desi had picked up a lot of information here and there about Ephram Brown, or really, Dr. Andrew Brown. Getting an article about the father by pretending to do one about the son. It was sneaky, underhanded; it was just like something a politician would do. She couldn't take credit for it though; it was her dad's idea. She wanted to write an article on Dr. Brown unlike any other reporter had done before. Her dad suggested getting information on him by getting to the son. Her father was smart like that. Well he'd have to be, he was the mayor of Everwood, after all. The only problem was, she was having trouble getting to the son. His father seemed open to the press, why wasn't the son? Ephram probably wasn't used to it. Maybe, she'd have a better chance of getting to him if she didn't approach him as a reporter, but as a friend. It seemed to work for Amy Abbott. One way or another, Desi was going to get her article.

Nina looked over and saw Delia asleep on the couch. Sam was already in bed, tired from his day of tunnel shoveling. Nina and Delia had stayed up to watch Harriet the Spy, but only Nina got to watch all of it. Nina got up and covered Delia with a blanket and placed another one at her feet in case she got cold during the night. The phone rang and Nina answered it before it rang twice.

"Hello?" she asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake Delia up.

"Hi, Nina?" Dr. Brown asked her.

"Oh hi Andy," Nina said, still in a whisper.

"How's Delia?"

"She just fell asleep."

"Oh. How was she, didn't give you too much trouble?"

"You know perfectly well she was wonderful. You raised her well."

"I'd like to, but I can't take the credit. It was all her mother's doing," Dr. Brown told her. Nina smiled. She hoped her husband missed her as much as Dr. Brown missed his wife.

"I don't know, I see a little bit of you in her."

"What, does she snore?" he asked her. Nina laughed a little.

"No, but she's very self sacrificing."

"What do you mean?"

"She's spent the entire day reading, trying not to be of any inconvenience to me. Except at supper, she made a lot of noise at supper. I think she really enjoyed it."

"Yes well, it's been a while since she's had home cooked food."

"Don't you cook at home?"

"Yes, but I don't think her or Ephram would consider that food," Dr. Brown told her. Nina laughed again.

"The weather report says the snow might be letting up tonight, so maybe Quincampoix will have the roads cleared by, Saturday," she said and he laughed.

"Three days, I don't think Edna and I can stand being trapped here for that long."

"What about Ephram? Suppose, what was it, Jig, suppose her fever gets worse."

"I just got off the phone with him. He says she's still overheated and fainted that one time this morning, but besides that she seems to be doing fine."

"I'm glad. I'm going to go to bed now, I'll have Delia call you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay, I'm not going anywhere."

"Goodnight, Nina."

"Goodnight Andy."

"Which shelf?" Ephram yelled as he searched the hall closet. Jig was having trouble sleeping on the sheets she had so they were going to change them. Of course to do that they needed to find replacement sheets first.

"The second from the top. Here, I'll help," Jig said walking over to him, one hand dragging on the hallway wall to help her balance. He turned to her.

"No, get back to bed," he commanded. Jig frowned.

"Ephram, I'm a person, not a puppy."

"You're right, a puppy would listen to me," he grumbled. Ephram found the sheets and together they walked back to Jig's room. She had already removed the old ones and together they put the new ones on. Jig threw the pillows back on the bed. Ephram took the down quilt she had no use for and placed it on the floor next to her bed and folded it in half. He then placed a pillow at the end of it toward the wall.

"You can sleep in one of the guest rooms, Ephram," Jig told him. He shook his head.

"If you need help I want to be near."

"Yea but on the floor directly next to my bed?" she asked. He glared at her.

"Jig, a little word of advice. When a Brown makes up their mind that they're going to do something, don't protest, just go along for the ride…" Ephram told her and then paused, "oh my god, I sound like my father!"

Jig laughed and Ephram had his mouth gapped open in frightened shock. Ephram sat down on his makeshift bed while Jig crawled up onto her bed.

"It was inevitable, you knew that, right?" she asked, looking over the side of her bed at him. He nodded.

"I knew, I guess. I was just hoping the fact that he was never around would somehow, I don't know, make it not happen!" Ephram confessed. Jig laughed slightly.

"There are worse people you could be, Ephram."

"Who?"

"My family."

"Your family is great Jig, except maybe Bright…"

"Edna is great, the Abbott's are great, but I have family besides them."

"And how are they so bad?" Ephram asked. Jig fell silent for a few moments.

"When I was five years old my mom's parents kicked her out of the family. Her and me, actually. They 'wiped their hands of us.' We no longer existed to the family. Except Edna, Edna was always there for us," Jig explained.

"Why would they do that?" Ephram asked her. Jig fell silent again and leaned back over so she was looking up at the ceiling.

"Goodnight Ephram Brown," she said as she turned the light off. Ephram frowned.

"Goodnight, Jig."

A cup of coffee and a single stale doughnut was not Dr. Brown's idea of a nutritious breakfast. He felt himself yearning for Ephram's scrambled eggs. Ephram made them like Julia had. He even served them the same way. It surprised Dr. Brown how much Ephram resembled his mother. Of course Julia didn't yell so much or hate so much as Ephram did, but there were similarities. It was natural that there would be, of course. Dr. Brown spent so much time at the office Julia raised the children almost single handedly. And he'd be damned if she didn't do a great job. He missed her so much. He didn't miss just what she did for their children, but what she did for him. Julia changed his life. She brought him out of every possible slum he could ever go into. She was his guiding star, as silly as that sounds. He was lost without her. The kids probably were too.

"Doc!" Edna yelled. Dr. Brown jumped and turned to look at her.

"It stopped snowing."

Amy looked out the window and smiled. It would take another day for Everwood to be dug out, but with the snow stopping, at least they were on their way to recovery. Two days locked up with her parents and Bright; not even Jane Austen could save her from the throbbing ache in her head. The sooner she could get out of the house the better. She had talked to lots of people by phone, but she still missed her friends. She missed seeing him, them! She missed seeing them.

"I want you to play something for me," Jig told Ephram from where she sat on the couch. He had just handed her a mug of hot chocolate and sighed as he looked behind him at the piano that Jig was looking at.

"I'm a person, not a jukebox," he told her. She smirked.

"You're right, I jukebox would play for me," she said. He frowned at her as he sat on the couch.

"I'm not playing."

"Amy said you wrote her a song, I want to hear it," Jig told him.

"That's for Amy," he told her gruffly. She smiled, which was odd for the way he responded to her. She nodded in understanding.

"I hope you get her, Ephram, if you really love her," she said sweetly. Ephram looked at her surprised.

"I hope so too. We'll talk about that 'if' later…"