"Elizabeth." Jack lightly touched my cheek. "Wake up."

I blinked sleepily, almost forgetting where I was, until it hit me that I was in my childhood bedroom. Jack was standing beside the bed, Jane in his arms. "Hi."

"Hi." I stretched, noticing that the light coming in the window was softer, as if the sun was setting. "Goodness, how long did we sleep?"

"I'm not sure, but we should probably get downstairs before we miss dinner."

I sat up slowly. "Probably."

"Come on." He held out his hand, helping me from the bed.

I straightened my clothing and fixed my hair before we left the room.

My parents were still in the sitting room when we came downstairs. Jack lowered Jane to the floor, and she toddled over to my mother, who was sitting on the sofa beside my father.

"I'm sorry that we took so long. All that traveling tired us out, and we fell asleep."

"Oh, it's fine. We still have plenty of time to spend with you." My mother picked Jane up and grinned, settling her on her lap. "Hello there, Jane. Aren't you a beautiful little one?"

Jane smiled back at her. "Hi."

Jack and I took a seat, watching my parents interact with our daughter. Jane was giggling as my parents talked to her. I squeezed Jack's hand and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I'm really glad we could come visit. I want our children to know their grandparents, even though we live far away from them." I rested my hand on my stomach. "Maybe next summer, we can bring the new little one for a visit."

My mother looked up at me. "How have you been feeling with the new baby?"

"It's been very similar to when I was expecting Jane. A lot of nausea and dizziness at the beginning."

"Baby!" Jane squealed.

"Are you excited about the baby, Jane?"

My mother lowered her to the ground when she began to squirm. She quickly made her way over to me and Jack.

"Baby!" She pointed at my stomach.

"You're right, Janie. That's where the baby is right now. You're so smart."

She smiled and clapped, obviously enjoying being praised.

"You both are clearly doing a wonderful job raising her." A smile played on my father's lips as he watched his granddaughter toddling around the room.

"Thank you, father. That means a lot."

My mother suddenly stood up. "Well, I imagine dinner should be ready any minute. Why don't we head to the dining room?"

...

The following morning, I sat on the back porch reading while Jack took Jane for a walk in the garden. Every few minutes, I glanced up from my book to watch him pointing out the various plants and insects to her. She looked up at him in complete rapture as he spoke to her.

I perked up when I heard a familiar voice at the back door.

"Elizabeth?"

"Julie!" I crossed the porch and hugged her. "It's so good to see you. What are you doing here?"

"I'm on a holiday from school, and mother and father had mentioned that you were coming to visit, so I thought I'd come home to see you. It's been far too long."

I nodded. "I haven't seen you since the wedding."

"Come. Let's sit. We have so much to catch up on, clearly more than I would have ever expected." She motioned toward my stomach.

I laughed softly, resting my hands on my belly as I returned to my seat. "Yes, a lot has happened since that last time I saw you."

"I haven't even met Jane yet, and you're already having another one! I can't believe it. So how has it been? When are you due?"

"I'm due in late December or early January. I'm just over three months along right now."

"This is so exciting! Now I'll have three nieces and nephews."

"Jane is actually out in the garden with Jack right now. We can go join them if you'd like to meet her now."

Her eyes lit up. "I would love that. How old is she now?"

"A whole year old, as of last week."

We navigated our way across the soft ground until we reached Jack and Jane. Jack was crouched down, showing Jane a small bug that was crawling across a flower.

"Hello, Jack."

He straightened up. "Julie. Good to see you."

"Mama!" Jane tugged on my skirt.

I picked her up, and she snuggled against my shoulder. "Janie, this is your Aunt Julie. She's my little sister."

"Oh, Elizabeth. She is just darling." Julie touched her cheek. "Hello there, Jane. You are absolutely precious."

She tucked her face into the crook of my neck. I let out a soft laugh. "Silly girl. You aren't shy." I felt her little body shake as she giggled. "Jane, can you say hi?"

She lifted her head and looked at Julie. "Hi."

"May I?" Julie held out her arms. Jane willingly went to her. "Well, you're definitely a Thatcher." She brushed her fingers through Jane's curls. "You know, maybe we can convince your mother to introduce you to the wonderful world of shopping."

Jack chuckled, and I shot him a look.

"We take her shopping all the time in Hope Valley."

"Elizabeth, I'm talking about shopping in boutiques. You can't do that in Hope Valley."

"She's a year old. She doesn't need to go to any fancy boutiques."

Julie rolled her eyes. "I know she doesn't need to, but it would be a fun outing. We could all have some bonding time. Besides, the dinner party that mother and father are planning is the perfect excuse to buy some news gowns. We could even go into the children's boutique and pick something up for Jane."

"Dinner party? They didn't mention that to me. Did you know anything about it, Jack?"

He shook his head. "No, I haven't heard anything about it."

"I guess I could use something nicer to wear for that. I wish they would've mentioned it, so I could've brought a gown from home."

Julie grinned. "Perfect. Tomorrow, you and Jane and I will go shopping."

...

I flicked through the dresses on the rack, sighing in defeat. "Julie, I don't think I'll be able to find anything that will fit."

"Nonsense. I'm sure there's something here that will work." She pulled out a gown. "How about this?"

"How did you find that so quickly? I must've looked at every gown on this rack three or four times at this point."

She shrugged. "It's a gift I have." She held it up in front of me. "It looks like the waistline should be able to accommodate that sweet little baby, and the color will look just divine on you."

The gown was powder blue satin with delicate silver beading on the bodice and sleeves. The waistline was gathered a little higher than normal, leaving plenty of room for my growing belly. "It's wonderful."

"It's perfect. Now, we have our gowns, so it's time to find one for little Jane."

At the mention of her name, Jane looked up. She had been sitting quietly at my feet, playing with the fabric of my skirt.

"What do you think, Janie? Do you want to go find a new dress?"

...

Jack took my bags from Julie almost immediately after we walked in the door. "Productive day?"

"Just wait until you see Elizabeth's new gown." She grinned. "You'll love it."

"Oh, really?" He looked over at me with a sparkle in his eye.

"I got a new dress for Jane, too." I shifted her against my shoulder. "I'm going to take her upstairs for her nap."

Once in my room, I settled her on the bed. She sighed, her little fingers twitching in her sleep. Jack set the bags on the floor.

"So, do I get to see you in this gown that Julie says I'll love?"

I smirked. "You can see me in it in a couple of days at the dinner party."

He pretended to pout. "What if I ask really nicely?"

"Then I will very politely tell you that you'll have to wait."

He pulled me into his arms and kissed me deeply. "How about now?"

I pretended to think for a moment. "That was a good try, but still no."

"You will be the death of me, Elizabeth Thornton." He grinned and kissed me again.

...

Jack appeared behind me as I finished pinning up my hair. He rested his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you ready for this?"

I sighed, meeting his eyes in the mirror. "I guess. I was just hoping that this visit wouldn't entail things like fancy dinner parties. That's one part of my life here that I don't miss."

"It'll just be a few hours. Then we can come back to this room, just you and me and Jane."

I turned slightly in the chair so I was facing him. "How are you so calm about this? Do you not remember the last time you attended a dinner party in this house?"

At the last dinner party he had attended at my parents' house, my parents had not hidden the fact that they would have preferred that I be in a relationship with Charles Kensington, my childhood friend. My father, especially, had been rather cold toward Jack, despite the fact that Jack had done everything he could to prove his worth. On top of all of that, my familiarity with Charles had led to a lot of misunderstandings and hurt, and it took a while before things settled down.

"I try not to dwell on that." He took my hands and pulled me up from the chair. "This time will be better. Your parents accept me now. We're married."

"You're right." I stepped closer to him, leaning my head on his chest as my arms slipped around his back. "You look very handsome this evening." It wasn't often that I got to see him in a suit.

He grinned and kissed me softly. "And you look very beautiful. Julie was right when she said I would love this gown." He slipped the slick fabric through his fingers. "I'm so lucky."

Jane stirred on the bed, slowly waking up. "Mama?" She began to whimper when she realized I was not at her side, clearly uncomfortable being alone in the still-unfamiliar surroundings.

"I'm right here, sweetheart." I hurried to the bed and lifted her into my arms. She immediately settled against my shoulder. I rubbed her back. "Shh. Mama's got you." I looked up at Jack. "Can you get me a fresh diaper and her new dress? I need to change her before dinner."

He rummaged through our bags until he found what I requested. I laid Jane back on the bed.

"Let's get you ready for your first dinner party, Janie. I think Aunt Julie did a good job picking your dress." I quickly ran a comb through her curls after I changed her into the lacy dress. "Oh, Jane, you look so grown up." I held back tears as I realized how quickly she seemed to be growing up. She was looking less like a baby and more like a little girl with every passing day.

"Ready to go downstairs?"

Jack's voice shook me from my thoughts. I looked over at him and nodded. He lifted Jane into one arm and held out his other for me. We reached the top of the staircase, and he stopped me.

"Wait right here."

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Just wait." He made his way down the stairs, Jane still clinging tightly to him. When he reached the bottom, he turned and looked up at me. "Okay. You can come down now."

I slowly navigated my way down the steps; my growing belly was shifting my center of gravity and making it more difficult to see where I was placing my feet on the steps. Jack just grinned as he watched me. The love he had for me was evident on his face.

"What was that all about, Jack?"

"Watching you walk down those steps was one of my favorite memories from the last dinner party. I wanted to re-live it." He kissed me softly. "You are breathtaking, Mrs. Thornton."

My cheeks warmed. "Thank you, Jack."

My mother stepped into the room. "Oh, there you are. Everyone is ready in the dining room."

She led us through the house until we reached the dining room.

"Elizabeth."

My stomach dropped at his voice.

"Charles." I tried to keep my voice steady, my actions civil. I hadn't seen him since I turned down his proposal. I suddenly felt terribly uncomfortable.

Jack slipped his arm around me, protectively, sending the message that I was his.

"It's nice to see you again, Elizabeth."

"You as well." I took a deep breath. "You remember my husband, Jack."

"Yes." He gave a pained smile. "Good to see you, Constable."

"Why don't we take our seats?" My mother ushered us over to the table.

Jack pulled out my chair and placed Jane in my lap after I sat down. He sat on my right side, Julie on my left. Charles was directly across from me. A few other guests sat around the table as well.

As dinner progressed, I grew increasingly thankful that Jane provided a distraction, so I wasn't forced to speak to Charles.

The entire evening, I could feel his eyes on me. As soon as an appropriate moment arrived, I retreated upstairs with the excuse that I needed to put Jane to bed.

When Jack came into the room half an hour later, I was still pacing back and forth.

"I can't believe my parents neglected to mention that Charles would be there. I thought he would be out of my life after I turned him down." I sank down onto the bed. "I just want to leave now. He was watching me all night; it made me so uncomfortable. I hoped that he would have gotten over everything since the last time I saw him, but it was obvious that he still has feelings toward me."

"Elizabeth." Jack took a seat beside me and began to rub my back gently. "He's gone home now, and chances are, we won't see him again while we're here."

I shook my head. "You don't know that, Jack." I sighed. "I just want to go home."

"Okay, we can leave in the morning."

"Really?"

He shrugged. "You want to go home, so we'll go home. Besides, Jane is probably ready to get back to Hope Valley, too. That's where she's comfortable."

"Thank you, Jack. I know I'm probably overreacting to all of this, but I just don't want to deal with it."

He put his arm around me and kissed my temple. "And that's okay. You don't need to be stressed about anything right now. All you should be worrying about is taking care of yourself and Jane and little Elizabeth." He brushed his hand across my stomach.

I laughed softly. "Little Elizabeth?"

"You called Jane 'little Jack' because you thought she was a boy. I think this one is a girl, so I'm going to call her 'little Elizabeth.'" He smirked.

"I love you, Jack." I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. "But we aren't naming her Elizabeth."