Chapter 7: Building the House and Telling Their Families

The first thing Jack did when Lee and other men got to Jacks land to help him build the house and barn for him and Elizabeth was to show them exactly where he wanted the barn built and where he wanted the house built. Since the barn would take the shortest amount of time to build they decided to build that first. The barn would consist of two stalls for their horses which at the moment were being kept at the livery in town and an area to keep other various required things for storage and tools etc.. Once the house was finished Jack planned on moving both the horses to the barn for keeping. Lee, Jack and the other men worked nonstop taking only a short break to grab a bite of lunch before setting to work again. By the end of the day the barn was done, so Jack decided to move the cradle he had made the day before into the barn to store it until he could place it in the nursery of the house they were to start on the next day.

Meanwhile Elizabeth, had let school out early for the day and went to Abigail's café to enjoy some friend time and tea and to catch her friend up with news about Jack and herself. Once she got to the café Elizabeth said to Abigail;

"I am so glad you told me I was pregnant you were right and Dr. Carson did indeed confirm it. I told Jack the other night when he returned home from his assignment and he was very happy that he got Lee and some other men to help him to build a new house for us and they started on it today so that it can be done before the baby comes. I can't wait to see it Abigail. I can't believe I will finally have a bigger home and a place where I plan on setting up a garden once the baby is born" Elizabeth told Abigail

" I am so excited for you Elizabeth, I know you will make a great mom because I know the children love you as their teacher and you love them, so I know you will love being a mom to your little one and I can already tell you are happy" Abigail responded

Elizabeth and Abigail spent a little more time chatting before she went home to grade some papers and prepare dinner for herself and Jack. As she waited for Jack to come home Elizabeth decided to make a list of things they would need to purchase for the baby so that they could order them as soon as possible and everything would be ready for the baby once it came. Soon Jack arrived home from working on building their new barn and house. As they ate dinner, Elizabeth brought up the fact that at some point that they would have to tell their families, his mom and brother and her parents and sisters that they were going to be grandparents and aunts and uncle in a couple of months, but Elizabeth was unsure if she should wait to write them once she started to show or to write them tonight, so she asked her husband Jack;

"when should we write to our families to tell them our good news that they will be grandparents" Elizabeth said to Jack, " should we wait another month once I start to show or write to then tonight to let them know" Elizabeth continued on

"The choice is up to you my dearest Elizabeth, but I would do it sooner rather than later that way they can get over the initial shock before the baby comes in case they decide to pop into town unexpectedly to come for a visit" Jack replied

Elizabeth took a minute to process what her beloved Jack had suggested before coming to the conclusion of what she wanted to do regarding their families and sharing the news with them so she said to Jack after a while;

"you are right it would be better to tell them sooner rather than later, so I will write my parents and sisters a letter tonight to send in the mail tomorrow" Elizabeth said

"good idea Elizabeth, and I will send my mother and brother a letter as well" Jack replied

So after dinner that night both Thorntons sat down to write letter to their relatives. Elizabeth sat down at her writing desk by the front door and wrote a letter off to her parents and Julie.

Dear Mother, Father, and Sister Julie,

I have the most marvelous news I just have to share with you as I just found out right before Jack came home a few days ago. You are going to be grandparents and my dear sister Julie you will be an Aunt, as we are going to be having a baby in early summer most likely in mid -June is when I am due. Me and Jack are extremely excited, we can't wait for you to meet him or her when he or she arrive in couple of months.

-Your loving daughter Elizabeth-

After Elizabeth finished the letter to her parents and Julie she wrote a letter her other sister Viola who lived with her husband in England. As Elizabeth was writing her letters, Jack was at the kitchen table writing a letter to his mother and one to his brother Tom about their wonderful news as well. After they had finished writing their letters and addressed them they put all four letters on the side table where they kept their photos of them as a couple so that one of them could go to the mercantile tomorrow to send off their letters. They then went upstairs for the rest of the night. As soon as they got into bed they snuggled up with one another and Jack decided to start to talk to Elizabeth's still flat stomach for some reason even though she was just over two months pregnant. He felt like he wanted to tell the baby how glad they were that they would be his/her parents and started to sing to it even though he was unsure babies could hear at that point or not. As Jack was talking Elizabeth seemed to be enjoying it as she was rubbing her stomach as it seemed to calm her down as well.

The next morning as soon as Elizabeth woke up she started to feel sick, she knew this was common through the first stages of pregnancy, but it seemed to have showed up a little late for her as she was almost through the first trimester which would end in about another month or two she was told by Abigail a few days before since she had experienced it herself. After getting through this she felt better so she got ready to go to school. One her way out of the door Elizabeth grabbed both hers and Jacks letters to their families and first stopped by the mercantile to mail the letters before heading to the school house and to await the arrival of her students.

Meanwhile back at the row house Jack was preparing to leave to go and continue to work on building their house with Lee and the other men in town who had offered to help. Jack was the first to arrive to his land so he decided to start measuring out the grid for the foundation of the house to make sure each room would be the size he planned on in the end on the inside before the rest of his hired crew and Lee showed up. Pretty soon Lee and the other men showed up and they got to work with the building of the first floor and after finishing up the frame for the first floor did the frame for the second floor which would include five bedrooms, one for him and Elizabeth, a guest room, and the remaining three would be bedrooms for their future children one of which jack will turn into a nursery when the building was done. Pretty soon Jack, Lee, and the other men were done for the day and had put up the whole frame of the house so they all went home.

A week later

One morning Jack and Elizabeth woke up and got started for the day. Elizabeth asked how the building of the house was coming along and Jack responded;

"The building is coming along nicely it should be done soon" Jack replied

"That is good I can't wait to see it" Elizabeth responded

After having breakfast on what was a beautiful Saturday, Elizabeth decided to visit with Abigail and do some shopping the mercantile, so she gathered up her basket and coat and set off for town. Once she got to town she went to Abigail's café to have a morning chat before she opened for Breakfast. Abigail was so glad to see her and asked her how she was doing so Elizabeth said;

" I am doing fine, I still get morning sickness, but I am sure I will be over it in a few weeks hopefully and Jack tells me our house will be done soon" Elizabeth responded

"That is wonderful Elizabeth, and you will get over the sickness as it is a part of being pregnant" Abigail replied

After spending a few more minutes chatting with Abigail, Elizabeth went to the mercantile to do some shopping. After she had picked up what she needed, Mr. Yost handed her some letters as she way paying for her purchases. As soon as she got outside she saw that the letters were from her parents and Jacks mother Charlotte who Elizabeth got along well with when she had come to town a few years ago. Once Elizabeth got home she put away her purchases and sat down to read the letter from her parents to see how they had responded to her news.

My Precious daughter Elizabeth,

Your mother and I are extremely happy for you and Jack. Congrats to both of you and soon to be little one. We can hardly wait to come and visit. We will plan to come at end of June so as not to startle you as you get ready for the arrival of your little one. Hope it is going well so far. Also, you sister Julie says to tell you she is excited to become an aunt.

-Love your father and Mother-

After reading the letter from her parents Elizabeth decided to start knitting a couple more baby blankets for their child so that they could have a couple of them so she got out the yarn she had just purchased at the mercantile earlier in pink, blue, and, purple and her knitting needles. She set to work first on making the pink blanket and over the next couple of weeks she would continue to knit until she had made one in the other colors she had brought.

Meanwhile at the site of their house Jack, Lee, and the other men were continuing to work on the house and pretty soon it was all enclosed and had a roof on it and finally starting to look like a house. Jack was thinking to himself I sure hope I can finish this before Christmas it would make Elizabeth so happy, so I will stick to my plan. Once Jack was done for the day he went home and saw that Elizabeth had placed a letter from his mother on the side table by the stairs so he could find it, so he opened it up and read. In her letter his mother was excited for him and Elizabeth and was happy she was finally going to be a grandmother. As Jack was reading the letter Elizabeth was just walking down the stairs in order to get dinner ready as had been upstairs knitting for most of the afternoon. She noticed that he was reading the letter from his mother and asked him what his mom had to say so he replied;

"My mother is happy to finally become a grandmother and is excited for us" Jack responded

"That is great news Jack, I also got a letter from my parents as well and they are excited and plan to come and visit us to see the baby sometime in late June" Elizabeth replied

Jack was glad Elizabeth's parents were also happy for them as his relationship with her father started off rocky, but he had learned to accept him once he found out he would be marrying Elizabeth a few months earlier and he had even come to their wedding they had before Jack had left for his two month back in late Aug- early Sept. Jack was glad that her parents would wait until the summer to visit them and the baby once born, and it was a good thing because if it was before then they would not have anytime to prepare for the visit with everything else that they had to do before the baby was born. The only thing at the moment that Jack wanted to finish first before doing anything else was finishing up the house in its entirety so he could surprise Elizabeth in a couple of weeks since she had not seen it yet.

After they had dinner Jack and Elizabeth had a talk about names for both boys and girls since they did not know what they would have until the baby was born. They had agreed to choose two names for each and whatever names they did not use they would save for later on. So they each made a list if their favorite names for each other to look over later once the baby was born. They were glad they had decided to do this early so they could focus on other things.

The next morning Jack woke up early and had breakfast so he could have an early start on working on the house, plus he wanted to spend some time to make a rocking chair as well for Elizabeth to have in the nursery. After eating, Jack went out to the house and straight to the barn to start working on the chair before the rest of the other men came to work on the house. By the time the other men showed up to work Jack had the chair half done and he and the other men continued to work on the house. Finally all the walls were up, the floor was in, the door and windows were put in and it was ready for painting the next day. After everyone else had left Jack went back to the barn to finish working on the rocking chair until it was finished then went home.

Meanwhile Elizabeth spent her day knitting blankets for the baby and planning a Christmas program for her class they would put on next month for their parents and the rest of Hope Valley. After doing this for a few hours she went to the mercantile to see if she could borrow a catalogue to look through with Jack later and Mr. Yost gladly gave her one which she promised to return later on and he also handed her some letters, one from her sister Viola and the other from Jacks brother Tom. She assumed these were their answers to their letters regarding their special news, then she went home to start dinner and read her sisters letter.

As soon as Jack got home Elizabeth handed him a letter from Tom which he read as she was finishing up dinner. They talked about the letter and how happy both her older sister Viola and his brother Tom were happy to become an Aunt and Uncle. Elizabeth then told Jack;

"Today while I was at the mercantile I picked up a catalogue so we can look at baby items to see what we need to buy before the baby gets here, why don't we do this tonight" Elizabeth said

"Ok, that is a great idea that way we won't have to do it later" Jack replied

"That was my thought exactly and the next I go to the mercantile I will tell Mr. Yost what to order for us" Elizabeth responded

So that evening, they spent looking through the catalogue and selected the items they would need for the baby. After they had settled that, they fell asleep for the night.