William wandered around the Mercantile looking for a gift for his soon to be granddaughter. He wished he had known about her beforehand so he could have bought her an appropriate gift in Boston.

"Sir, can I help you find something? My name is Katie."

"I'm looking for a gift for my…for a little girl. I'm afraid I'm not sure what she would like."

"How old is she?"

He smiled as he remembered her proudly telling Julie, "I fwee!" "She's three."

"Oh, is it for Lindy?"

"Yes," he said with a nod.

"Well, I have seen her eyeing this stuffed frog whenever Elizabeth or Charlotte bring her in here." She handed him a stuffed, dark green toad with big yellow eyes.

"A frog?" He didn't understand why she would want a frog, of all things.

"Yes, sir. She loves frogs. Apparently Elizabeth tells her a story every night about a frog named Spot."

"Spot it is," he said, handing her the creature. He saw a soft crocheted blanket, in light green, that looked good for the little girl. "This blanket. It looks homemade."

"Yes, sir. Mrs. Riley makes blankets to sell here. She must crochet every day because she brings us two new blankets every week. They're beautiful, don't you think?"

"Indeed. I'll take this blanket and the frog. Would you wrap them for me?"

"Of course."

….

Elizabeth kept Jack company as he did Mrs. Riley's chores. "He rocked her, honey. Rocked her and told her a story. I've never seen him like that."

"That's great. Lindy is just the one to capture his heart."

"She definitely captured mine the moment I met her. So did her father." He set the shovel against the wall of the barn and walked over to her.

"I did?" He kissed her gently, lingering a bit.

"Mmhm. I had to be really patient though. You didn't seem to notice me."

"I noticed. How could I not?" He smiled, lifting his hand to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. "You were so beautiful, but I was hurting and I wasn't ready."

"I know." She kissed his cheek and then grabbed his hand. "After we are done here, can we walk? I want to talk to you."

"Sure. Something bothering you?"

"We'll just talk and see what you think."

He watched her walk back to Mrs. Riley's house, wondering what was on her mind.

He found out a short while later as they walked slowly to his mother's house. He slipped his arm around her, gracing her temple with his lips. "Beth, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I think that I should tell you about Billy Hamilton."

"Ok, is he the one that you wanted to marry?"

"Kind of. Basically, I met him at my father's office. He hired him without doing a background check. That turned out to be a mistake."

Jack listened as she told about getting fooled by the man. He had charmed her into thinking he really cared.

"I thought he loved me, Jack. We talked about everything and I thought…" She shook her head, mostly at herself. "It turned out, he only wanted to use me to get to my family money."

"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry that happened to you." He held her for a moment. "Thank you for telling me."

"I felt so embarrassed for so long. I believed everything he told me. We made plans for the future. A future that didn't exist."

Jack touched her cheek. "Beth, our future is set. We have a home and we have your father's blessing. Nothing is going to stop me from marrying you or making you Lindy's mama."

He put his hand into his pocket and pulled the little bag out. He opened it and held it out. An emerald set on a gold ring. "Its beautiful," she whispered,

covering her mouth, thoroughly surprised he was doing it right then.

"I love you, Elizabeth. You pulled me out of a dark time. You loved Lindy and you make us both so happy and I'm so very grateful for that. Will you marry me, sweetheart?"

She nodded, tears filling her eyes. She watched him slip it on her finger and then pressed her lips to his, pulling him close.

"I love you too."

….

That evening, Jack took Lindy and Elizabeth to the new house for dinner. When they walked in, he immediately made a fire in the fireplace while she put blankets on the floor and set out their food from the picnic basket.

"Nic-nic," Lindy said as she hopped around the empty room.

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know what a picnic is," Jack said chuckling at his daughter.

"Doesn't matter. She's just seeing it as something fun." She handed Jack a plate of fried chicken and cold potatoes. "Here you go, honey."

"Thanks. Lindy, time to eat."

Lindy hopped obediently over to the blankets and sat down. "Pway?" Jack nodded and held his hands out for his girls to take. "I pway."

Jack smiled and nodded at her to begin. "Tanks food and fogs." Elizabeth bit her lip at Lindy's innocence. "Tanks Daddy and Bet. And Papa! Men."

"Good job, buggy boo." It was amazing how much her heart filled with love for the little girl. "Do you want potatoes?"

"Ya! Tatoes yummy."

"Yes they are." She gave her a fork and set her plate on the blanket. "Here you go."

"Tanks, Bet."

"You're welcome." Elizabeth looked at Jack and smiled. "So, any idea when our furniture might arrive?"

"I'm expecting it next week. Hopefully the weather will hold."

Elizabeth thought about when they would get married. She would love to have it outdoors but it was too cold and she didn't want to wait until summer. "Jack, when should we get married?"

"As soon as possible," he blurted.

"I don't want to wait either. Do you think if we did it in like February, Tom could come? I'm going to ask Viola and Lionel."

"I can ask."

"Pitty," Lindy said, touching Elizabeth's ring as she moved to her lap. "Geen."

"Yes, it is green. Daddy gave it to me." Elizabeth gazed at him and smiled.

"Geen fog."

"Yep, green like a frog, or maybe Daddy's eyes?" Elizabeth leaned over and kissed him.

"Ya, Daddy eye."

"Lindy, you know what this ring means?" Jack asked her, as he grabbed Elizabeth's hand, stroking it with his thumb.

"No."

"That Beth is going to be your Mama."

"Bet Mama?" Lindy's eyes lit up.

"Yeah. How does that sound?"

"Love Bet." She stood and wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's neck. "Mama Bet." The thought of it, the wonderful prospect of being her mother, brought tears to Elizabeth's eyes.

"I love you too, sweetheart. So much."

…

"Geen woom!" Lindy told her pointing at her room that Jack had painted. "Daddy make."

"Yay! I'm so glad Daddy did that for you."

"Seep?"

"You can't sleep here yet."

"Why?"

"Look, your bed isn't here."

"At Nanna's."

"Yep, but soon we will all live here."

"Mama Bet too?"

"Yep, I'll be here too."

"Kay."

Lindy took her finger and led her out of the bedroom. "Daddy?"

"I'm here, love." He was in the bedroom that would soon be his and Elizabeth's.

"What are you doing, honey?" He was staring out the window into the darkness.

"Just thinking."

"About what?" she asked.

"Us and getting married."

"How about February 1st?"

"Sure."

She wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's only like five weeks, Jack."

"It seems long." He winked at her and then kissed her slowly, pulling her as close as he could, forgetting about the three year old in the room.

"Daddy kiss Mama!" Lindy said with a giggle.

Jack pulled back and laughed. "And that is why we are going out of town for our honeymoon."

"We are? Where?"

"Somewhere close and romantic."

"Mmm. I like romantic and close," she said as she kissed him back.

…..

The next morning, Elizabeth, Julie, and their parents walked over to Charlotte's house for Christmas breakfast.

Elizabeth had made a sausage and egg casserole and William had his arms full of gifts.

"Father, you didn't need to buy Lindy any gifts."

"Of course I did. She's going to be my first granddaughter."

"Well, it's very sweet of you and I'm sure whatever they are, she'll love them."

"I hope so."

When they arrived, Elizabeth walked in the door. "Merry Christmas, everyone!"

"Mama here! Mama here!" Lindy yelled, hopping around the room. "Papa here! Gamma here!"

Elizabeth smiled, put her dish on the counter, and went to pick up Lindy. "Hi, buggy boo. Good morning."

"Hi, Mama. Eat?"

They all sat down and enjoyed their breakfast and then opened gifts.

All present would always remember the reaction that Lindy had when she opened her gifts.

"Lindy, Papa has something for you." Elizabeth pointed at William. Lindy walked over and looked at him.

"Papa?"

"Hi, dear one. Want to see what's in the box?"

She nodded and sat down to look. "Need hep," she told him. William smiled and got down on the floor next to her. He helped her open the box. "Fog! Look Mama, fog!" She jumped up and showed Elizabeth.

"I see. What do you tell Papa?"

She turned and threw her arms around William's neck. "Tanks, Papa."

He hugged her back and kissed her cheek. "You're welcome, dear one." William sat her on his lap and gave her the blanket next and then a baby doll. Finally Grace gave her a picture book that used to be Elizabeth's when she was a child.

"Lots pwesents. Wow."

…..

That evening, Charlotte stirred the gravy for their meal as everyone decided to stay for dinner as well.

"Mrs. Thornton?"

Charlotte turned. "Oh, just call me Charlotte. May I call you Grace?"

"Yes, of course."

"Would you like to help?" She could sense Grace wanted to talk but she seemed a quiet woman, yet strong.

"Sure."

"You know, I feel grateful for Beth, Grace."

"Grateful?"

"Yes. She is one of the sweetest people I've met and a good friend, but she has helped Jack pull through a rough time in his life. He lost his happiness for a good while and Lindy…Lindy fell in love with Beth before Jack. She saved them, in my opinion."

"Well, they had you."

"Yes, and a mother and grandmother are good to have around but Beth had provided something I can't give them."

"What's that?"

"She loves Lindy with all of her heart and Lindy needed someone who loved her enough to never want to leave. Jack too. He needed that assurance that he was worth loving again. I could tell him, but they needed someone to show them. Beth did that."

"Honestly, I've never seen my daughter happier. I'm grateful to Jack too."