A/N Thank you all again for the kind reviews! I really do appreciate hearing that you enjoy reading this story.

Now on with the chapter 10!

...

"Mrs. Thornton?"

I turned from the chalkboard when I heard the little voice. "Yes, Opal?"

"When will your baby be born?"

I immediately dropped my hand to my stomach. That habit had only gotten worse as my pregnancy progressed. "In about two and a half months, at the beginning of the summer."

"Is it a boy or a girl?" It was Timmy who questioned me this time.

"I won't know that until the baby is born."

"What's the baby's name going to be?" Hattie and Anna asked the question at the same time.

"You should name the baby Opal!" She giggled.

"But what if it's a boy? Then it should be named Robert!"

"Or Cody!"

I laughed. "Thank you all for your suggestions." I had to stop the children before they all decided to give their input. "Constable Thornton and I already have names chosen, and we aren't telling anyone the name until the baby is born." I sighed. "I thought I already answered all these questions for you."

"We forgot."

"I think you're just trying to find a way to get out of your arithmetic assignment." The children giggled sheepishly, and I knew that I was right. "How about this? If you all work hard on these problems for the next fifteen minutes, I'll give you an extra ten minutes at recess."

They all grabbed their pencils and began writing furiously. I smiled and shook my head. Truthfully, I was planning on giving them a long recess anyway. As I was entering into the last months of my pregnancy, I was more easily fatigued. Standing on my feet and teaching the children all day was exhausting. I needed a chance to sit and rest for a while, even if that meant cutting some lessons short.

After a long recess and a short grammar lesson, I gave the children some time to work on decorations for the carnival. While they worked, I told them about some of the plans I had gone over with Rosemary a couple of weeks before. Everything was beginning to come together, which was good, considering the carnival was now under two weeks away.

...

"Jack, are you sure you don't want to come with me?" I grabbed my shawl and gave him a pleading look.

"As much as I would love to spend more time with you, I think I'll sit this one out. I'll walk you to Abigail's though." He held out his hand.

"Okay." Over the past week, I had been trying to convince Jack to come to the baby shower with me. "What are you planning to do while I'm gone?"

"I was thinking of riding up to the land to see how everything is going with the house."

"Do you think there's a chance that it'll be finished before the baby comes?"

He shrugged. "It's possible, but I think it's unlikely. All the snow we had this winter really set us back." He put his arm around my waist as we walked toward town. "I promise I'll get our house finished, Elizabeth."

"I know you will. I was just hoping that the baby could be born there."

"Well, the baby will be born in the row house, which will still be special. That house is the first place you lived when you came to Coal Valley, unless you count the teacherage that you burned down."

I hit his arm lightly and laughed. "Jack Thornton, I thought we agreed never to speak of that again. Besides, I didn't burn it down. My dress did."

He smiled mischievously. "The row house was also the first house you lived in by yourself and the first house we shared as husband and wife. If you think about it, it's fitting that it will be the house where our first child is born."

I leaned into him. "How do you always know just what to say?"

He kissed the top of my head.

We stopped just outside of Abigail's Café. "One last chance to come with me, Mr. Thornton."

He shook his head and smiled. "This one is all you, Mrs. Thornton." He quickly kissed me and waved as he walked to the livery.

I took a deep breath before I opened the door, mentally preparing myself for whatever Rosemary had planned. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in; it was very subdued considering the tastes of the party planner.

The decorations reminded me of those from my bridal tea, which had taken place in the café less than a year before. Though the café hadn't really changed since then, so much in my life had changed.

Abigail greeted me at the door, pulling me into a hug. "There's the mother of the hour. It's good to see you, Elizabeth."

I spent the next hour surrounded by my friends. The mothers in the room told stories of when their children were babies, making me more nervous and excited for my own baby to arrive. I was thankful to have so many women in my life who could help me with anything might need.

...

"Elizabeth?" I heard Jack enter the house.

"I'm in the baby's room." I continued to sort through the box of gifts I had received from my friends that day.

"How was the party?" Jack kissed the top of my head.

"It was actually a lot of fun. As you can probably tell, we got some more things for the baby." I motioned toward the gifts in front of me. "There are a few more blankets and some clothes and bonnets. I told them it was too much, but you know how our friends are."

He knelt beside me and helped unpack the last few gifts. "That I do."

"How is the house looking?"

He sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Progress is slower than I'd hoped. It's looking like it'll be fall before we can move in."

I sat beside him and took his hand. "At least we have this house for now. That's better than nothing. And I'm sure that we'll be so busy with little Jack that fall will be here before we know it."

He rolled his eyes, laughing softly. "Maybe someday I'll convince you to stop calling our child little Jack."

"Not likely." I smirked.

He leaned over and kissed my temple. "How about I go make us some dinner?"

"Okay. I'll be down in a bit. I just want to get everything put away in here."

He quietly left, and I folded the rest of the blankets and clothes. I packed the heaviest blankets in a small trunk in the corner of the room. The baby was due in June, so we wouldn't need winter blankets and clothes for a while.

I looked around the room. The nursery was really starting to come together. The crib sat against one wall, the guest bed against another. A small stuffed bear sat on top of the dresser. The drawers held tiny clothes and diapers. Jack had made a rocking chair which was in the corner of the room.

I smiled, thinking about how it wouldn't be much longer before there would be a baby around to use everything in the room.

...

I lay beside Jack in our bed, his hand resting on my arm.

"Do you think we're ready to be parents?"

I put my hand on my stomach. "I don't think anyone is ever truly ready to be a parent, but I think we're as prepared as we can be. Besides, we have so many people we can go to if we need help."

He leaned in and kissed my nose. "I'm just so glad I'm doing this with you."

"There's no one I'd rather do this with, Jack Thornton." I moved to rest my head on his chest.

He wrapped his arms around me.

I held his hands against my stomach. "I can't wait until we finally get to meet little Jack."

"Me neither." He kissed my hair. "I love you, Elizabeth."

I closed my eyes as Jack began singing softly. His fingers traced circles on my stomach, and the baby stirred at his touch. I smiled. "I love you, Jack. You are going to be the best father."

...

The Saturday after the baby shower, I woke early. I knew I needed to get out of bed and start preparing for the school carnival that would be happening later in the day, but I was so comfortable. I didn't want to move, knowing that times that I was truly comfortable were becoming rarer as it got closer to my due date.

My back was pressed into Jack's chest, his arm draped over my side. His hand rested beside mine on my stomach. The baby was moving slightly beneath our fingers. I smiled and said a silent prayer, thanking God for the blessings in my life.

I dozed off, waking again when Jack stirred beside me.

He kissed the top of my head. "Mm, good morning. I don't want to get out of bed." He tightened his arms around me.

"We have to. We have the carnival today." My fingers danced lightly on his arms.

"Can't someone else be in charge?"

I laughed. "Jack, it's a carnival for the school, and I'm the teacher. I have to be there."

"But you're having a baby."

"Not for two more months. I can still do things around town."

He sighed in defeat. "Fine."

I tried to move, but he kept his hold on me. "Jack, I need to get up."

He turned my face to his and kissed me. "I just needed to do that first."

I felt his eyes on me while I got out of the bed and moved toward the wardrobe. He appeared at my side a few moments later.

"Do you want to wear your blue shirt?"

"You are so beautiful." He kissed my neck.

I giggled, his breath tickling my ear. "Jack, we really need to get ready. We're going to be late. Do you want to wear your blue shirt?" I held it out to him.

"Fine." He sneaked in one more quick kiss, smirking as he took the shirt from me.

Half an hour later, Jack and I walked toward the schoolhouse. Rosemary ran over as soon as she caught sight of me.

"Elizabeth Thornton! You are late!"

"Somebody didn't want to get up this morning." I looked at Jack with a smirk.

He nudged me with his elbow. "Hey, you didn't, either."

I smiled and rolled my eyes at him before turning back to Rosemary. "Anyway, we're only five minutes late, and we're here now, so you can stop panicking."

Jack excused himself and joined Lee and some of the other men in setting up booths in the yard around the schoolhouse. Some of the booths were brought back from the last carnival—the bake sale booth, kissing booth, and photograph booth. We also brought back some activities from the Miners' Games, including the egg toss and the cake auction. I hoped the cake auction would go better than it had the last time I participated. The cake I had baked certainly looked much better than the one I made for the Miners' Games.

We also had some new activities planned, including a potato sack race and a scavenger hunt. Later in the evening, we were going to end the carnival with a dance.

I followed Rosemary inside to help with decorations and the refreshments table. The children had put up most of the decorations the previous day, but there were still a few things to finish up.

...

Jack held me close as we swayed—or at least as close as he could with my stomach taking up space between us. We slowly turned in circles in the school yard, surrounded by other couples. The sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow on everything.

"Everyone seemed to have a really good time today."

I nodded. "It was a lot of fun."

The carnival had gone off without a hitch. There was no embarrassing bidding war over my cake—unless Jack bidding against himself counted as a bidding war. Robert won the potato sack race, and Emily and Opal won the scavenger hunt. Henry Gowen even participated in the egg toss with Cody. Abigail's cookies sold out so quickly that she had to go back to the Café to bake more.

Jack met my eyes. "This town is so lucky to have you, Elizabeth."

"Jack…"

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine gently. "I am so lucky to have you."

"For the record, this town and I are lucky to have you, too." I touched his cheek. "I love you, Jack."

We danced in silence for a few moments. The baby stirred inside of me, as if he was dancing, too. I smiled and pulled Jack's hand to my stomach.

"You know, someday soon, we'll be just like all these families here with their children." He rubbed his thumb back and forth above the baby.

"I can't wait. It's still a little surreal that we're about to become a family of three. I'm still getting used to being a family of two."

"We'll figure it out together." He leaned in and kissed me again.

"You know, it won't be long before little Jack is out here running around with the rest of the school children."

He moved his hand back to my waist, laughing softly. "The baby isn't even born yet, and you're already talking about him running around. How about we just let him be a baby for a while?"

I smiled, standing on my toes to kiss his cheek. "Okay. Whatever you say."