He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there on the cottage steps. By now the snow reached his waist, but he hardly noticed, the intensity of his pain drowning out all else. He thought about the last time he'd felt such a loss, and for once in his life, he envied that scared little boy who lost his mind in 1932. He'd give anything right now to be swept away by some hallucination; nothing could be worse than his current reality—clutching the books to his chest, choking on grief and regret as the snow piled on.

Then a voice cut through the storm. "I think I see him!"

He looked up. Across the road was a young man and woman, shambling through the snow in his direction. The man was tall and gangly, swimming in an oversized frock coat and top hat. The woman's striped purple dress and fur cape fit her better, but it was obvious from her untied bonnet and loose blonde hair that she wasn't from the nineteenth century. JB recognized them immediately, though the last time he'd seen them they were much younger.

"JB!" Jonah called.

JB jumped to his feet and tried to compose himself. Thankfully, the shock of seeing the Skidmores all grown up in 1865 provided a brief respite from his sorrow. "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you happy to see us?" said Katherine as she and Jonah arrived beside him on the steps.

"Right now I'm more confused than anything," said JB. "Let's get you two inside before anyone sees you like that. You didn't run into anyone on your way here, did you?"

Katherine jerked her head indignantly. "Sees us like what?" The bonnet fell off her head, freeing the rest of her hair. "Ugh, Jonah, can you pick that up? I can't bend over in this corset."

"Inside the cottage, hurry!" said JB. As he frantically shooed them inside, he scanned the street for potential onlookers. Fortunately, it seemed everyone was either indoors or out enjoying the snow elsewhere. He followed the Skidmores into the cottage and pulled the door shut. The sight of the otherwise empty place brought him close to tears again, but he blinked them away and focused on Jonah and Katherine. "What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"Not us," Jonah said. "We're here for you."

"Me?"

"Of course," said Katherine. "You're the one in crisis right now, aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?" JB wasn't sure how much to reveal.

"Well, for starters, we found you on the verge of catching hypothermia out there, plus your eyes are all red and puffy. Even if we didn't know exactly what just went down with you and Sam, it's clear that this isn't one of your usual freakouts. You're in real bad shape."

"You know about Sam?" His voice caught as he said her name, but he tried to keep his expression neutral. He'd lost it before in front of the kids, but not like this. The first time, he'd been able to zap them out of sight before anyone got to see much. The second time, he wasn't in his right mind to begin with. Now he had no excuses and no way to make them disappear, no choice but to hold it together. He looked down and noticed that some of the pages of his books were bent. He must have been fiddling with them. He checked to make sure Sam's inscription was still intact before carefully setting them down on the side table near the door.

"It's a long story," said Jonah, "but yes, we know about her."

"What…what do you know?"

"Pretty much everything."

"What do you mean?"

"We mean we know everything!" Katherine repeated. "What, do you need me to specify that we know you two were making out at the piano a few hours ago or are we good?"

He felt something wet trickle down his cheek. Damn it. He swatted the tear away and said, "Then you should know she's gone. And it's my fault."

Something broke inside him and he couldn't contain it anymore. As much as he wanted to stay strong for the kids, his walls were crumbling faster than he could hold them up. He turned away and bit his knuckle to silence the sobs that cracked through.

"You don't have to pretend you're okay, you know," said Jonah, as if reading his mind. "You protected us back when we were kids, but we're here to help you this time. Will you let us?"

He made one final effort to reign it in, but soon the ramparts burst and he accepted defeat. He turned back around and nodded at the watery shapes in front of him. "Okay."

...

When Kevin returned from the time cave with Hadley, he found Mom scrubbing the perfectly clean tiles of the island in the kitchen, jaw set and brow furrowed. Dad, Jordan, Chip, and the Correro kids were busy readying the guest room in the basement while Angela had gone to pick up Virginia from Sam's apartment.

"Your mom's having a hard time, I think," Hadley whispered in his ear. "Why don't you talk to her while I do some more digging on Sam's original identity?"

Kevin nodded and made his way to the kitchen while Hadley ascended the stairs to Dad's office.

"Mom?" said Kevin. "Are you good?"

"I can't seem to get this stain out," she grunted. "Have Jonah and Katherine come back yet?"

Kevin shook his head. Miraculously, Katherine had persuaded Mom that a quick trip to 1865 wouldn't be dangerous since they were only going there to find JB and bring him to the twenty-first century. Evidently, Mom was beginning to regret letting them go.

"What's taking so long?" she said. "I thought it was only supposed to feel like a few seconds on our end."

"Hadley already said it might take a little longer this time," said Kevin. "They have to find an available pocket of time to enter, so it could still be a few hours." If he was being honest, he too had begun to worry about his brother and sister. What if they got run over by a horse…or whatever dangerous stuff happened in 1865? The projections showed that they'd be fine, but Kevin was still learning. What if he hadn't run enough? What if there was a scenario he hadn't considered? "If they're with JB, he won't let anything happen to them." Of this, at least, Kevin was quite certain.

Mom ceased scrubbing and rested her elbows on the island, face in her hands. She sighed. "How can you be sure? I know you all trust that man, but don't think for a second that I've forgotten how he let Katherine risk her life in 1918."

"Don't let Hadley and Angela hear you say that," said Kevin.

"Hadley and Angela would feel the same if JB had let one of their kids take on such a task."

"If he hadn't let Katherine go back to 1918, Leo and Maria would be dead, Mom."

"Yes, I realize that." She sighed again and lifted her head. Kevin had always known that she was older than most of his classmates' parents, but the lines in her face never seemed very pronounced until now. "I get it, Kev, I do. But what can I say? I'm a mom. I'll always put my kids first."

"I know," said Kevin. "Thanks." He pulled out a stool and sat down at the island next to her. She dropped the sponge and squeezed his hand.

"Chip's been texting nonstop, and I can't blame him," she said. "One minute he's at our doorstep with an engagement ring, the next, his now-fiancé is off in another century. I'm sure Andrea's just as frantic about Jonah being gone. She's planning to drive here all the way from Fort Wayne. I hope the roads aren't icy."

"What about the other kids?"

"Maria says Daniella and Gavin are on their way. Emily and Ming also got in touch and said they have a flight to Liston booked for tomorrow. Haven't heard from the rest yet."

Kevin wondered how many would be able to make it. Many were home with their families for the holidays, but he knew at least some probably had jobs or final exams all the way across the country. A couple years ago, Jordan's last exam had been scheduled for Christmas Eve, so he had to fly home the following day. Mom had been livid until she found out it was commonplace at plenty of universities. Even then, she'd grumbled about it for the rest of the week, saying things like, "Who do they think they are, scheduling exams so close to Christmas?" and "College kids still have families!"

Still resting at the island, Mom asked, "So how did your lessons go?" Her smile was nervous but genuine. "Are you a master projectionist now?"

"Ha. I doubt it. Hadley says I have good instincts, but it takes more than a few hours to get the hang of it." Kevin had learned quickly that a projectionist was more of an analyst than a psychic. The actual projections were done by the elucidator, but it was up to the projectionist to interpret the data and prompt further scenarios for the elucidator to spit out. The device was just as clueless as any other computer without the help of humans.

A thump echoed from downstairs and they both jolted to attention.

"Is everyone okay?" Mom called as they scrambled down the stairs after the noise. Kevin leapt over the last two steps and almost landed face-first on mom's favorite macrame rug.

Dad was there in a flash, helping him to his feet. "Careful there, Kev."

"The one that almost broke his nose?" someone said. "Yeah, that's Kevin." It was Katherine, kneeling atop a deflated air mattress in the left hand corner of the room. Jonah was there too, as was a much younger version of the old man Kevin met in the time hollow. They'd made it.