Once again, Jack and I stayed in bed long after the sun had risen. It was the first Sunday morning in ages that we weren't up and getting the girls ready for church. He threaded his fingers through mine and kissed my hair.

"I love our daughters dearly, but goodness, I'm really going to miss these slow mornings."

"So will I." I laughed softly, pulling myself onto his chest. "We should take advantage of this last morning here."

He raised his eyebrows, his fingertips dancing lightly across my back. "Oh, and what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe something like this." I stretched up to kiss him, bracing my hands on his chest.

"Anything else?"

"Maybe…we start trying for another baby?" I gave him a tiny smile.

"Really?"

I nodded and rolled onto my back, pulling him with me. "I realize we probably should've had this conversation earlier, given how the past couple of days have gone," I paused, feeling a flush rise in my cheeks at the memory of how we had spent the previous few days. I cleared my throat and continued, moving my hand to the back of his neck, "I know it hasn't been that long, but don't want to wait to start trying again, Jack."

He smiled, leaning down to kiss me. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure." I brushed my thumb along the hairs at the back of his neck, and he shivered. "I even talked with Faith to make sure it would be okay. I'm ready to have another baby with you, Jack Thornton."

...

I tucked my arm into Jack's as we walked toward the Coulters' house early that evening. "Who do you think is going to be the most excited to see us?"

"Hm," he pretended to think hard for a moment. "Probably Rosemary."

I chuckled. "Jack Thornton, are you saying our daughters are difficult children to care for?"

"Of course not. But you have to admit, it's quite a task taking care of four children—three of whom are under three years old—even if two of them are perfect little angels."

"You do realize that when we have another baby, we'll have three children in our house who are three and under."

He smiled. "I know. I'm not under the impression that our life is going to be easy. But just think of how much more laughter and joy we'll experience."

I sighed contentedly as we stepped up to the Coulters' door. "They do bring us a lot of joy," I agreed. "I had a wonderful time this weekend—and I think we really needed the time away—but I'm so ready to have our girls back."

"So am I." He kissed my temple and knocked on the door.

Lee answered. "Hi. Good to see you both."

"You, too."

He opened the door a little wider and turned toward the living room. "Jane, look who's here."

"Mama! Dada!" She abandoned the toy she was playing with and ran to where we stood in the doorway, leaping into Jack's arms.

He kissed her forehead. "Hi, Janie."

"We missed you, sweetheart." I touched her cheek. "Were you good for Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Lee?"

"I good." She nodded.

Lee ushered us further into the house. "She was great. So was Eleanor. Rosemary is changing her diaper right now; she should be out soon."

"I heard my name." Rosemary entered the room, Ellie in her arms. Ellie grinned and squealed. "I told you that I thought I heard your mom and dad out here."

I took the baby from her. "Hello, sweet girl." She snuggled against my shoulder, and I rubbed her back gently. "Are you ready to go home?"

"I'll get their bag." Lee excused himself.

"Thank you for watching them."

"Of course. They're welcome any time. You know we love having them here." She picked up Patrick—he had wandered over while we were talking. "I think this little man loves having them over here the most."

"No go, Nanie," he whined, reaching toward Jane.

Rosemary kissed his forehead. "Oh, Patrick, you'll see her again very soon."

"Here are their things." Lee returned with the small suitcase.

"Thank you." Jack shifted Jane into one arm, taking the suitcase with the other. "Well, we should get going. Jane, say bye to Patrick."

"Hug." She reached toward him.

The two little ones were lowered to the ground, and they embraced each other.

I smiled. "I think their relationship gets cuter and cuter every day."

...

The next few weeks passed without incident. We worked, we played with the girls, we spent time with our friends.

Before we knew it, September was over, and October had come and gone. We had had mild autumn weather, but winter finally arrived along with November.

I pulled my own coat on before taking Jane's off the hook.

"Come here, Janie. It's cold today, so we need to put your coat on."

She toddled over and put her arms out, knowing exactly what to do.

"Thank you for helping me, sweetheart." I slipped her arms through the sleeves.

She whined when I tried to button the coat. "No, mama. Too tight." Sure enough, the sleeves were a few inches too short, and there was no way I could button it without restricting her movement.

"You're right. It is a little tight." I sighed. "We'll have to get you a new one and give this one to your sister."

"Off." She tugged on the sleeves.

"Okay, but you'll need to wear another sweater, and we'll get a blanket for you. We don't want you to get too cold."

Jack came down the stairs with Eleanor in his arms, all bundled up. "Ellie girl is ready to go. Why are you taking Jane's coat off?"

"It's too small for her. We'll need to get her a new one, but for now, could you go find another one of her sweaters and a wool blanket?"

"Sure." He passed Ellie to me and headed back up the stairs.

Ellie giggled as she watched Jane twirling beside me.

"Is your sister silly, Ellie?"

Jane dropped to the ground and laughed.

"What's going on down here?" Jack came down the steps, a little sweater in one hand and a blanket in the other.

"Jane is being silly, trying to make Ellie laugh."

"Are you being silly, Janie?" Jack smiled. "Arms up, please." He helped her into the extra sweater and wrapped her in the blanket before picking her up. "Nice and warm?"

"I warm."

"Good. Let's get to church."

...

I shivered and pulled my shawl tighter around myself. "I can't believe winter is nearly here again."

"It won't be long before we have our first snow." Jack added more wood to the fire and walked over to the window, glancing out. "I'm surprised we haven't had any yet, but we've gotten some wires that the weather is getting pretty bad just north of here, so I'm sure we'll see that in the next few days."

"Snow?" Jane ran to the back window, standing on her toes to try to see out.

Jack chuckled and lifted her up. "It's not snowing right now, sweetheart. See?" He pointed out the window. He kissed her cheek. "Soon, though, and then I promise, you and I will go outside and make the biggest snowman ever. Does that sound good?"

She nodded emphatically. "Big snowman!"

I laughed softly. "It's a good thing that Rosemary gave us Hannah's old coat for Jane, because I'm sure that we wouldn't be able to convince her that she can't go in the snow without one."

We had asked Rosemary if we could order a coat through the dress shop, and she had insisted on altering one of the coats that Hannah had outgrown instead, saving us money and ensuring we had a coat for Jane before it got even colder.

"Go outside now?" Jane peered out the window again. "Pease?"

Jack looked at me, asking for permission.

"Just for a few minutes. Dinner will be out of the oven soon."

"Let's go get our coats, sweetheart."

A few moments later, they disappeared through the back door, Jane laughing as Jack carried her on his shoulders.

"Well, Ellie," I lifted her into my lap, "should we go get dinner finished?"

...

Jack stirred in the bed, blinking slowly as he woke. "What are you doing over there?"

"The snow finally made it here." I nodded toward the window. "From the looks of it, it's been snowing for most of the night, too."

He stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his head on my shoulder. "Jane's going to be thrilled."

I turned to face him, stretching up to kiss him softly. "I hope you're ready to build the biggest snowman ever like you promised her."

"Of course." He grinned. "You know I'm basically a child when it comes to snow."

I shook my head and laughed. "You are. It gives me a little taste of what it will be like when we have another baby."

He moved a hand to my stomach. "I know it hasn't even been two months since we started trying again but…anything yet?"

I frowned. "No, and I haven't forgotten my promise to tell you as soon as I suspect anything, so you don't need to keep asking me."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but you know how difficult that can be for me."

"It's difficult for me, too." I took his hands. "But I trust that it will happen for us, in God's time."

He pressed his lips to my forehead, wrapping his arms around me. "I'll try to be patient."

We stood there in silence for a few minutes, just holding each other and watching the snow fall outside.

"I love you," he whispered, brushing his lips across the side of my face.

"I love you, too."

"Mamamama," Ellie called from the nursery, breaking our reverie.

"I'll go get her."

He kissed me softly. "I'll start on breakfast, then. I'm sure Jane's going to wake up any minute, and she'll probably want to go outside the minute she sees that it's snowing."

I chuckled. "I'll try to keep her away from any windows until after we eat."

...

I sat on the back porch with Ellie, watching Jack help Jane build a little snowman. Chief was running around them, sending up a spray of snowflakes, and Jane was laughing loudly enough that we could hear her from the house.

"What do you think, Ellie? Should we go help them, or should we stay up here where it's not as cold?"

"Mamamama." She squirmed in my arms.

"Okay." I stood and shifted her to my hip. "We'll go help them." I stepped carefully through the snow.

Jack turned when he heard Ellie giggle at the snowflakes landing on her cheeks.

"Hi there, Ellie girl." He kissed her cheek, then mine, lingering a bit. "And hello to you, beautiful. I thought you were just going to stay on the porch and watch."

"Well, Ellie decided she didn't want to miss out on all the fun."

"Did you hear that, Jane? Mama and Ellie are going to help us build our snowman."

"Yay!" She clapped her little mitten-covered hands. "Look, mama." She pointed at the half-built snowman. The bottom portion reached her shoulder, and I imagined the fully-built snowman would be twice her height.

"I see it, Janie. You and your dad are doing a good job. It's already as big as you!"

For the next fifteen minutes, Jane and Jack built up the rest of the snowman. We tried to encourage Ellie to help scoop up some snow, but she didn't fully understand what was going on and had repeatedly attempted to take snow from the snowman. So instead, I took her a few feet away, and she was giggling as she shoved her hands down into the snow at her feet.

Jack lifted Jane up so she could reach up to put the pieces of coal to make the snowman's face.

"All done!" She clapped again, thrilled by their creation.

"Thanks for the help, Janie." Jack kissed the top of her head. "You're very good at making snowmen."

I scooped Ellie up. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm cold. Let's go inside, and I'll make some hot chocolate."

"Chocate! Num!"

Jack laughed. "I sure do love you, Jane Thornton. And you, Ellie girl." He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"And me?"

He covered Jane's eyes and kissed me deeply. "You know I love you."

I smiled against his lips. "I love you, too. Now, let's go in. I'm freezing."