Chapter 21: A Brand New Year
January 1917
Jack and Elizabeth's twins were now almost seven months old and Elizabeth now felt like that when school started again in one week she would be going back full time now that they were eating baby food part time. They would now be spending the whole day with Abigail who was happy to do the job while Elizabeth went back to teaching all day. Elizabeth and Jack have also started to encourage the girls to start learning simple words like mama and dada. It helped that Elizabeth was a teacher and she wanted her children to start learning some skills as early as possible. One afternoon Elizabeth was with the twins when all of a sudden Jack walks in from the barn just as Charlotte faith says" dada", this causes Jack to stop I his tracks and says to Elizabeth;
"did our little angle just say what I thought she said" Jack asks
"dada" charlotte repeats
"I heard it again" Jack says
"Yes she did, our little charlotte just said dada. I can't believe it" Elizabeth replies, "she sure is smart" Elizabeth continues on
"mama" Gracie says as Elizabeth is talking to Jack
"Elizabeth, did you just hear what our little Gracie said" Jack asks
"mama" Gracie says
"She just did it again" Jack says
"I heard it that time, our little precious angles sure are smart" Elizabeth replies
"yes they are, just like their Mother is" Jack responds
"Oh Jack that is so sweet of you to say my beloved" Elizabeth responds
After spending a little more time playing with the twins Elizabeth prepares dinner for them and spending a nice relaxing evening with Jack.
Elizabeth returns full time to teaching
The new school semester of the new year was starting tomorrow and it would be Elizabeth's first full day back teaching and she could not wait. It was also going to be the twins first time staying with Abigail all day as well. She knew Abigail was more than capable of caring for them now that they were learning to eat more solid like foods. Elizabeth was just finishing up writing lesson plans for the week, she could not wait to hear what her students had done over the Christmas holiday. After she finished planning for the week Elizabeth got started on making dinner while the twins played on the floor nearby where she could keep an eye on them since they had started crawling just recently. Pretty soon Jack comes home from work just as Elizabeth is dishing up diner. As they are eating Jack asks Elizabeth;
"so my love are you ready to go back to teaching all day tomorrow" Jack asks
"I am, I can't wait, working part-time for the past few months was fine, but I am ready to go back full time" Elizabeth replies
After they finish eating Jack and Elizabeth spend some bonding time with their girls who they love more than anything.
The next morning Elizabeth gets everything ready to take the girls to Abigail's as well as her teaching basket before heading to school to prepare for the morning lessons before the students arrive. As soon as Elizabeth arrives at Abigail's with the girls Abigail asks;
"are you excited to be going back to teaching all day today Elizabeth" Abigail asks her best friend.
'yes, I am excited. I can't wait I have been waiting for such a long time to do so since the twins were born" Elizabeth replies
After Elizabeth finishes her short conversation with Abigail and kisses the girls goodbye she heads to school to get started for the day.
Later that morning while later as Jack is at the Mercantile picking up some supplies for Lee Mr. Yost hands Jack a telegram from one of his Mountie friends. Jack opens it and it says that he and a few others will be passing through town in a few days and would love to see how he is doing after all that they had been through up in the northern territories and to catch up. Jack sends a quick response back saying he would love to. Jack feels like he will be able to talk about it now thanks to Elizabeth when he gets together with his friends.
Meanwhile at the school Elizabeth is getting ready to assign the student an essay about what they did over the Christmas holiday for them to share with the class later on. After she assigns the assignment Emily exclaims;
"Mrs. Thornton we are so happy you are back full time we have missed you" Emily says
"Well, thank you Emily. I am glad to be finally back all day as well" Elizabeth replies
As the children work on the writing assignment, she gets starts to get ready for the next topic to teach while they work. Before Elizabeth knows it the whole day has gone by and school is over. After dismissing her students Elizabeth gathers her things and heads to the café to get the girls before going home. She plans to spend the evening with her beloved husband and the best father she could have ever asked for to their girls who they both love so much and hope to continue to add to their little family when they feel like the time is right as they both want to have at least five or six kids.