It was quiet, too quiet. Elizabeth stopped her rhythmic movements up and down the washboard, listening to hear anything beside the wind rustling the grass and birds in the trees. She narrowed her eyes and turned her head away from the task in front of her, hoping to catch some sort of noise before returning to the laundry. There was only silence. She pushed up on the washboard, rising and wiping her hands down the front of her apron. Scanning the yard, she saw no one. "James?" She called walking closer to the garden. Perhaps he was on the side of the house where the sun perfectly hit her vegetables. "James?" She picked up the pace, her heart beginning to beat faster. She heard a giggle. "James where are you?" She sang sweetly. "I hear you." She rounded the house to find her son sitting in the planter covered in mud. "James!" He only smiled. "What are you doing? And where is Maggie?" She asked moving toward him. She felt two little hands on the back of her legs and spun around catching Maggie with muddy fingers ready to push into her skirt again. "Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, looking over her shoulder at the tiny handprints. She reached down to stop Maggie, only to be met by more hands from the other side. "James!" Elizabeth squealed. "No mud James!" She held Maggie gently by the wrists and lightly scolded her son. "What are you doing over here?"
"Making pie, Mama." He said clapping his hands together. Her eyes scanned over her son and daughter; they were covered in mud from head to toe. James even had some in his hair.
"James," Elizabeth began. "This isn't okay. Mud is dirty," She looked at him. "And hard to get out in the laundry." She muttered. She knelt down, looking over Maggie closer. "We'll have to give you both baths and wash your clothes." She sighed. "I was almost done with the laundry." She dropped Maggie's wrists to look at James quickly. He could only grin. "James, it isn't funny, sweetheart." She wanted so badly to laugh with him and take it in stride, but she was exhausted. Maggie was up all night, James into everything he could get his hands on, and she was just trying to get daily chores done. She sat back on her heels, her eyes lowered away from her children, thinking of what she would need to do in this moment.
"Mama, you okay?" Maggie asked, touching her cheek with her hand. Elizabeth felt the slimy mud on her cheek and sucked in a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment.
"Yes, Maggie. I'm fine." She smiled at her daughter. She took a deep breath. "Okay, we'll have to take a bath, both of you." She said excitedly. "And you need to strip down right here because those clothes are not going in the house." James began to back up, crossing his arms.
"No, Mama." He replied.
"Yes, James." She reached for him, but he stepped back. "James." She said, raising her eyebrows. He shook his head. "James, you have to. You chose to get dirty, and you cannot go into the house this way." He shook his head furiously and planted his feet. Elizabeth sighed again. By this point Maggie was leaning into her, her handprints lingering all over Elizabeth's blouse and skirt. "Look, Maggie's going to." Elizabeth started to help her younger child take her pinafore off. "See? Then we'll take a nice warm bath and get all the mud off."
"No!" James yelled back.
"What is going on out here?" The voice came from around the corner, and Elizabeth was glad to see the red serge. She looked at her husband with pleading eyes.
"James and Maggie made mud pie." Elizabeth replied, working on Maggie's buttons. "They need to get undressed for baths, but James is refusing."
Jack looked to James. "James, you need to listen to your mother. Clothes off." His voice was stern, and James began to shake his head, but Jack glared at him. The young boy unfolded his arms and sighed. He walked back toward his mother and began to take his suspenders off.
"Thank you, James." Elizabeth said.
"I'll change and get the bath water started," Jack started. "Then I'll come back for James." Elizabeth nodded at her husband. He disappeared around the side of the house.
"James, from now on let's leave the mud to the garden, so our vegetables can grow, and we can have beautiful flowers in the spring!" She said excitedly helping him with his shirt. Maggie agreed and leaned into her mother. "Besides," Elizabeth began. "I think you may even have mud all the way to your ears!" James began to protest through laughter, and Elizabeth tickled him. "Wait, let me check," She searched behind his ears. "You do!" The two children laughed along with their mother. "It might take us months to find all that mud."
"No, Mama!" Maggie said through her laughter.
"What about you, Mama? You didn't even play in the mud and you have it all over you too!" James pointed. Elizabeth looked at the front of her clothes. Maggie's leaning had led to more handprints and smears.
"You're right. We three are just a big mess!" The children laughed again.
She had the children down to their undergarments, James in his long johns and Maggie in her slip. They began to climb the back stairs of the house when Jack appeared, his sleeves rolled up and a pair of work pants on. "Here we are," Elizabeth said guiding James up the steps. "Ready for baths." She carried Maggie and Jack took her from his wife's arms. Elizabeth began to enter the door.
"Wait just a minute," Jack said holding his hand up. "You need to undress too; your clothes are just as dirty."
"You can't be serious," She protested. Elizabeth noticed the smirk spread across her husband's mouth. "Jack." She put her hands on her hips. He motioned toward her dirtied dress again. "Out here? In the open?" She looked around and Jack followed her view.
"Elizabeth, no one will see you. We live far from town."
"Absolutely not." She crossed her arms.
"Fine. Then maybe you can hose yourself down out here." James began to giggle and Elizabeth shot Jack a look.
"You're impossible Jack Thornton." She turned and marched down the steps. "I'll finish the laundry, while you bathe the children." Jack chuckled as he watched her walk away. He could only shake his head at Elizabeth's pure stubbornness. It was a quality he loved.
Over an hour later, Jack was finally done with bathing and dressing his children. It had been laborious. James loved the water, and instead of scrubbing the mud off his body, he'd rather splash water everywhere. Jack was sure there was more soiled water outside of the tub then in when they were finished. While the children dressed, he cleaned up, not wanting to make more of a mess for Elizabeth. He knew that many men in town would find any excuse to not help their wives with the children, sticking to the idea that working outside of the home was their role. However, Jack enjoyed it. All day he was away from them, and he cared greatly for the moments he was able to spend with his children.
Jack took the pajama clad children downstairs and could smell Elizabeth's shepherd's pie on the stove. Elizabeth was bent over the stove stirring a pot. He took notice that her clothes had changed. He wondered where the mud-ridden skirt and blouse had gone. Perhaps she had snuck into the house in her petticoat after all.
Placing Maggie on the floor next to James in front of the fire, Jack started toward the kitchen. He slipped a hand around his wife's waist and placed a lingering kiss against her temple. "My favorite." He gestured to the shepherd's pie. "Thank you for making dinner."
"Of course." She replied, not looking at him.
"You're not angry with me for what I said before?" She pulled out of his embrace and twisted her body to face him.
"No. I just hope you didn't think I was going to run around in my petticoat." She smiled. "At least not today." He raised his eyebrows and gestured toward her clean clothes. "Jack Thornton, I have my ways. You and those silly children seemed to be having a wonderful time in the bathroom, you didn't even know I made it upstairs." He feigned shock. "And the laundry is done." She put one hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes. "Just what was taking so long in that bathroom?"
"Like you said, we were having a wonderful time." Elizabeth smiled at him and turned back toward the stove. She took a deep breath.
"Actually, the mud was a lot," She said softly. "Maybe the icing on the cake." Jack rubbed her back. The last few days had been hard. With the children requiring so much energy from them both, he knew Elizabeth had barely slept. Even with his help, she couldn't relax. It didn't matter if he got up with Maggie when she fussed at night, Elizabeth would be awake and waiting for him to come back to bed. James was exhausting in his own way. He was always on the move, always getting into something.
Elizabeth turned and smiled at Jack. "But they were still cute. And I can't lie, I wanted to laugh when I saw their little bodies covered in mud, especially Maggie. It was all over her face."
"Trust me, I know. I had to scrub it all off." Elizabeth leaned over and kissed Jack.
"Thank you for helping."
"Sure." He kissed her again. When he pulled back, his eyes narrowed.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, noticing that he was examining a section of her face. His fingers reached up to the area where her jaw met her ear. He touched the area, rubbing lightly before pulling back.
"Mud." He said with a laugh. Elizabeth laughed with him and then glanced over at their children. She's had to pin up Maggie's hair soon if she was going to have curls tomorrow, and James, he had chosen the wrong socks. They were a pair Elizabeth needed to mend. She looked back toward Jack who was watching her intently. His own shirt needed a button replaced. She smoothed her hand over his collar.
"Mud." Elizabeth repeated. She leaned up and lightly kissed him again. If their problems were always this small, than they were a blessed family.
A/N: I do not own any of the When Calls the Heart Series. This is my first Jack and Elizabeth fic, but not my first fan fiction. I love this show and hope to be able to contribute more to its fan fiction. xoxo -B.