"You got this, sweetheart. It's going to be an amazing first day." He kissed her and gave her a hug. "I love you."
"I love you. Do you think maybe you could come home for lunch?"
"I should be able to."
"Dada!" Linc yelled from his high chair.
"Hi, bud. You be good for Mama."
"Good," he nodded, shoving scrambled eggs in his mouth.
Jack kissed the top of his head. "Love you."
Beth smiled as she sipped her coffee.
"What?" Jack asked.
"I guess seeing you in that uniform….ooooh boy."
"You've seen me in this," he said, a bit confused.
She walked over and slipped her fingers up his chest and linked them around his neck. "I've seen Jack Thornton in his uniform. But there's something about seeing my husband in his uniform that… well, makes me want you to blow off work and stay with me."
"What about your guests?"
"Let's see, the Fradenburgs, who are also newlyweds by the way, are checking in this afternoon. Fred Kramer is coming at noon, and Abigail Stanton at ten. So it appears as though we have about two hours."
He lowered his head and kissed her. "It's more tempting than you know, especially with you in this peachy robe with peachy lacy things underneath," he mumbled, untying her robe and slipping his fingers around her slim waist. "But I really need to go." After one more lingering kiss, he forced himself to leave.
"Mama," Linc said, pulling her from the cloud of bliss she was in.
"Yes, baby?"
"Up!"
"Are you done?"
He nodded and threw his spoon on the floor as if to make his point.
"Alright. Let's get you cleaned up and then you can help me make scones and brownies, okay?"
By the time Abigail showed up at ten, she had double checked her rooms and the bathrooms and the house smelled of fresh baked goods.
She changed into her opening day outfit she had purchased the day before and her parents had come and taken Lincoln to their house for a few hours.
"Good morning," Elizabeth greeted as a lovely middle aged woman walked in the door. "Welcome to Aggie's House."
"Good morning. I'm Abigail Stanton."
"My name is Beth Thornton. Hope you found us without much trouble."
"I did yes." Abigail looked up at the vintage chandelier in the entryway and then down to the roll top desk. "This is lovely."
"Thank you." Beth took a set of keys out of one of her locked drawers. "Here is your key to the front door and your room. There is a ten dollar charge for the keys that will be returned when the keys are. Do you have more luggage, Abigail?"
"I have another bag in my car."
After helping her with her bags, she walked her upstairs to the Blue Room. "This is yours. Your bathroom is across the hall."
When they walked in the room, Abigail gasped. "What an absolutely beautiful room. I'm really going to enjoy this."
"I hope you do."
She next took her around and showed her the library, the living room and the deck where she was welcome to enjoy the shade.
"Would you like some lemonade or iced tea?" she asked as they walked back to the kitchen.
"Iced tea sounds good. Oh, and are those scones?"
"Yes, ma'am. Peach."
As they talked, Elizabeth's phone rang. "Excuse me one moment."
She walked away to the desk and sat down. "Aggie's House, this is Beth, how may I help you?"
"Hey, babe. It's me."
"Oh, hi!"
"I just wanted to let you know that I can't come home for lunch."
"Oh, okay."
"I have a lot of paperwork that I need to get done since Mike is out. I'm sorry."
"That's okay. I'm sure I will be busy. I'll see you for dinner?"
"Okay. Love you."
"Love you too."
She put her phone back in her pocket and walked back into the kitchen.
"Sorry about that. It was my husband."
"That's alright. How long have you been married?"
"About eight days."
"Oh, newlyweds."
"Yeah," she said, blushing.
"It must be challenging to be opening a new business at the same time, especially when you don't have a lot of privacy."
"Very true. But he's amazing. We are making it work."
"I'm glad. Do you know of anywhere that needs help around here? I need a job."
"You are moving to the area?"
"I am. I'm looking for a small apartment too so that I don't have to take up one of your rooms forever."
"Well, I'm not sure about the apartment but I have a housekeeper opening. It would include breakfast and lunch."
"Housekeeping? What would the pay be?"
Once Fred Kramer and the Fradenburgs were checked in, the house was full with activity. She spent time talking more with Abigail and Fred who kept her busy as she cooked dinner for Jack, Linc and herself.
"Would you like to go to the diner in town?" Fred asked Abigail.
"Well, I was thinking about it. I would like to see what the town is like."
"Let's go then." Fred offered his arm to her. He was a gentleman, about sixty who was in town for a couple days.
She put her hand in his elbow and followed him out.
"Enjoy dinner," she told them.
The Fradenburgs ordered chinese food delivery and ate in their room.
So when Jack returned home with Linc after picking him up from her parent's house, dinner was ready.
"Chili and cornbread?" Jack said, sniffing the air.
"That's right." She received his kiss and took Linc. "Hi, bud. I missed you today."
"Nana, Papa!"
"Did you have fun with them today?"
He nodded and smiled. "Choos."
"How about milk?"
"Mook."
"Okay." She put him on the counter as she poured the milk into his cup. "Say please," she said, holding his cup out of reach.
"Pease."
"Good job!" She handed it to him and picked him up, holding him on her hip as she dished out bowls of chili and cut the cornbread.
Jack came out of their bedroom in a MHPD t-shirt and jeans. "Gosh, you are handsome," she told him, a blush on her cheeks.
"I missed you too," he said, slipping his hand along her waist, pulling her close. "How is it going?"
"Good. I may have found a housekeeper."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, Abigail. She needs a job and an apartment. So I offered the job to her and she said she would let me know."
"Is she up in her room?"
"Nope. She and Fred Kramer went to the diner. The Fradenburgs are up in their room."
"Yes, the life of newlyweds."
"Mmhm. It's pretty awesome."
"Mom said Linc skipped his nap."
"Maybe he will sleep better tonight."
"Maybe," he told her kissing her temple and grabbing Linc, tossing him up in the air.
"He just drank milk, hon. Not sure tossing him up in the air is a good plan."
"Oops. Hey, I think the three of us should take Ginger for a nice walk tonight after dinner." Jack was really wanting privacy with his family and going for a walk should do the trick.
"Once I make sure all my guests are taken care of, sure, a walk would be nice."
After dinner was cleaned up, Beth made sure there was a tray of fresh fruit and champagne in the hall for the Fradenburgs as they requested. Then she made sure there were fresh towels in the bathrooms and left a note for Abigail and Fred that they were out for a walk but to call her if they needed anything.
Jack grabbed Linc's stroller from the car and slipped the sleepy boy inside it with his sippy of milk. Then Beth put the leash on Ginger and they started walking down the quiet dirt road.
As they walked, her phone rang. "This is Beth."
"Hey, it's Bree."
"Hey there. How are you?"
"Good. How was your first day?"
"Really good. I have four guests right now and one of them might end up being my housekeeper."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She's moving to town and needs a job and an apartment."
"Well, the boys and I will be moving in about two months. Maybe she can have my apartment."
"Moving? Where?"
"Mike's house."
Beth squealed. "He proposed?"
"Yep. I took the boys up to see him at the hospital and he got down on his knee and asked me."
"Aww. Congratulations, Bree. I'm so happy for you. So the wedding is in two months?"
"Yeah. October 23rd."
"That's amazing."
"I was wondering if we would be able to have the wedding at Aggie's?"
"Of course you can."
"And Mike's Mom and brothers will need rooms. Do you have any available that weekend?"
"I don't have any reservations yet so consider those rooms booked."
"Thank you, Beth. And I have one more question."
"What?"
"Will you be my Matron of Honor?"
"I would love to!"
"Great. Thank you."
She hung up and sighed. "Mike proposed to Bree."
"He did? That's great."
"Yeah and she wants to have the wedding at Aggie's in October and his brothers and Mom need rooms."
"Wow, hon."
"Yeah and she asked me to be her Matron of Honor."
He nodded and peeked around to see if Linc was asleep. "He's out."
"I'm so excited. I think a wedding at the B and B is going to be great."
As much as Jack was excited for his good friend Mike, he was feeling like he wanted to keep Beth all to himself.
"What's on your mind, Jack?"
"What do you mean?"
"I can tell you're feeling something."
"Selfish, I guess."
"What do you mean? You are not selfish."
"I feel it."
"What's going on?"
He stopped walking and looked at her, her eyes sparkling in the fading daylight. "I guess…I guess I hoped that this walk could have been just us."
"Oh, I'm sorry, hon. I didn't look to see who it was. I just didn't want to miss a guest calling."
"It's fine. I understand, it just hit me that I'm sharing you now, as much as I want to keep you all for myself."
She slipped her arms around his waist and gave him a long hug. "I love you, you know that?"
"Of course I do."
"I'm sorry you are feeling like this. I guess honestly, I thought it would all be just fine. But I didn't think being on call all the time would be hard on you."
"I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to tell you to stop what you are doing. I knew going into this what it would be like."
She stood on her toes and gave him a kiss. "Let's go home and take a bath."
"Ooo…together?"
"Yes, dear." She smiled and they headed home. "And I think that we should take a walk or sit on the porch swing every night…until its winter anyway. We need to make time to be together."
When they returned back to the house, Abigail was in the living room, reading a book by the fire.
"Did you have a nice dinner?" she asked Abigail.
Jack carried Linc upstairs and put his pajamas on him and put him in bed, turning on the baby monitor.
"We did. It was fun. I haven't been to a diner in a long time and Fred is a kind man."
"He is."
"Did you have a nice walk?"
"Yeah. It was nice. Can I get you tea or anything before we turn in?"
"No that's okay. You have a nice evening."
"Thanks, Abigail."
As they relaxed in the bath, all was silent but just when they were about to go to bed too, Lincoln started crying again. Beth hurried upstairs so there would be minimal disruption to the guests but there was probably zero chance they hadn't heard him.
"Linc, honey. Shhhhh."
He cried louder and raised his arms for her to pick him up. "Mama, choos…."
"Shhhh…" she said, swaying as she hummed. He kept crying so she took him downstairs to the master, stopping to grab him half a cup of juice and then heading into the master.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, reaching for him.
"I don't know. Bad dream again?"
Jack laid him down in between them and covered him with the blankets. "You are safe, buddy. And Mama and I love you so much." Jack gently ran his fingertip down his cheek, drying the tears that were on his face. "It's okay."
Linc closed his eyes and then popped them back open a minute later. "Mama," he whimpered.
"I'm right here, sweetheart. It's okay."
It hurt her heart that he couldn't tell them what was scaring him. So they would just have to do their best in making sure he knew he was safe.
