(Rosemary's POV)

Everything happened so fast. I was watching Little Jack while Lee went to go find Elizabeth, and next thing you know, the whole town was wide awake.

"Lee, what's going on?" I asked as my husband burst through the door. I was rocking Little Jack, and could see the panic in Lee's eyes.

"Rosie… Elizabeth was shot. Some guy came looking for Lucas, and Elizabeth got caught in the middle. Nathan tried to stop the guy, but he shot."

"Oh my goodness, how is Elizabeth?"

"She went unconscious. Carson and Faith did the best they could, but Carson & Bill and taking her to Hamilton. It's pretty bad."

"Well, what do we do?"

"I think we just have to look after Little Jack here, and go from there. Elizabeth's sister, Julie, should be arriving any day now for Jack's christening, and we can catch her up to speed then."

"This is absolutely awful. First Jack and now…"

"Don't even say that, Rosemary. Everything's going to be okay. What we need to do right now is stay strong for Jack's sake."


(Bill's POV)

This was bad. I've handled bandits before, but this was out of line. I couldn't believe Lucas got Elizabeth into this sort of trouble. He could've gotten the town into even worse trouble than he already did. I continued to direct the horses into the night, while Carson rode in the back of the wagon with Elizabeth. She was in and out, but Carson tried to give her what he could for the pain. She had taken a bullet to the abdomen, but he didn't know if the bullet had lodged in her back or not.

"Jack… Jack!" Elizabeth screamed. She was shaking and I pulled over. Carson was doing what he could, but I knew we needed to get her to Hamilton.

"Elizabeth, it's Bill. We're driving to Hamilton. Little Jack is okay. He's safe, and so are you." I held her hand, and she opened her eyes and looked into mine. "That's it. Take a deep breath." I looked over at Carson, who was getting ready to administer more pain medicine. "Everything's okay, listen to my voice."

"Bill… Jack… oh Jack…" She drifted off, and I rubbed my thumb over her hand until I knew for sure she was alright.

"That's all I can give her, Bill. We need to keep going. I've got gauze on her wound, but we need to hurry."

"I'm on it. Little Jack can't be orphaned before he's even a year old. More importantly, I can't lose her," I sighed, climbing back up front, looking back at Elizabeth and Carson once more. "None of us can."