Emily: I never touched your jewelry.

Nature, however, had one final test for the Sterling Manor before the new year could properly begin.

In late January, a historic blizzard struck the city. Forecasters called it a once-in-a-decade freeze. The sky turned a bruised, heavy purple, and the snow fell in blinding white sheets, burying the driveway and piling against the first-floor windows.

At 2:00 AM on the second night of the storm, the power grid failed.

Lily woke up to the deafening silence of the heating vents shutting down. The temperature in her bedroom plummeted almost instantly. She threw off her heavy quilt, pulled on her thickest wool sweater and boots, and rushed out into the dark hallway.

Sarah was already awake, holding a battery-powered lantern. "The grid is down," she said, her breath visible in the freezing air. "Arthur is calling the utility company, but no one is getting out here tonight."

Lily’s heart dropped into her stomach. "The greenhouse."

Without the electric heaters and the circulation fans, the fragile orchids, the jasmine, and the newly propagated seedlings for the spring foundation program would freeze to death within hours.

They rushed downstairs to find Marcus already pulling on his heavy winter gear by the back door, a massive flashlight in his hand. "I’ve got the portable gas generator in the shed," he said grimly. "But it’s only strong enough to run one of the space heaters. We need to insulate the glass, or we’re going to lose everything."

What followed was a frantic, freezing battle against the elements. Arthur, Sarah, Marcus, Mrs. Gable, and Lily trudged through the knee-deep snow to the greenhouse. Inside, the temperature was already dropping dangerously low.

"Grab the emergency thermal blankets from the basement!" Marcus shouted over the howling wind. "Tape them over the northern exposure!"

For three grueling hours, they worked by the beam of flashlights. Lily’s fingers were numb, her teeth chattering so hard her jaw ached, but she refused to stop. She helped Sarah staple heavy plastic sheeting over the drafts while Arthur and Marcus wrestled the heavy generator into place and fired it up.

As the small space heater roared to life, casting a faint orange glow, they huddled together in the center of the greenhouse. They were exhausted, freezing, and covered in dirt, but as Lily looked around, she realized the temperature had stabilized. The plants were safe.