Back on the road after lunch, Nathan looked at his watch.

"Are you worried about the time?" Elizabeth asked. "I know we stayed a little longer at the cabin than I thought we would."

"Not worried at all, just checking. We don't have that much farther to go."

"I was thinking – once Allie has her horse, maybe we can all go out riding together," Elizabeth said. "Has she ridden much?"

"I think she'd love that. And no, she hasn't had a lot of practice. I've put her up on Bear a few times and she's done fine, but he's a little too big for her."

"You know I have to go slowly when I have Jack with me," Elizabeth said. Nathan noticed she was sitting up in the saddle and looking over a slight ridge at the side of the road.

"I think we'll need to go slowly for Allie too for a while," Nathan said, puzzled by what Elizabeth was doing.

Elizabeth had a sparkle in her eye. "But we don't have to go slowly now, do we?"

Ah. Nathan narrowed his eyes and smiled his crooked smile. "Do you want to go faster, Elizabeth?"

"I'll race you!" Elizabeth called out, as she climbed from the road to a flat wide meadow exploding in wildflowers.

Sergeant was ready to run. It took only the slightest touch for him to break into a trot and then a canter, and she took off at a sprint. Elizabeth felt the wind in her face and the overwhelming fragrance from the flowers in the field.

Nathan followed and quickly caught up as Bear rose to the challenge. But in truth, he was enjoying the view right beside her and had no desire to pull ahead.

Elizabeth rode with her hair flying behind her, crying out in whoops of delight, her face rosy and the widest smile he'd ever seen.

They ran to the end of the meadow, side by side, just the right length for the horses, and they slowed to a trot and then a walk.

Elizabeth did the best she could to get her hair in some order, and she knew her face was flushed.

She turned to Nathan and said, "I must look a sight!"

"You have never been more beautiful," he said, laughing.

Elizabeth looked highly skeptical. Nathan shook his head and said, "And that's not flattery or sweet talk, because we know I don't do that. It's just a fact."

Nathan gave her the same look she'd given him first thing this morning. Elizabeth didn't take compliments very well either.

Finally, she smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment."

"You're welcome."

They rode in silence for a while, catching their breath and letting the horses do the same.

The sun had passed its zenith overhead and there was still a light breeze blowing. It was a perfect day.

Nathan and Elizabeth both seemed to be enjoying the tranquility of their own silence and the symphony of the sounds around them - the steady footfalls of the horses, the flying insects that thrived in the wildflowers, and the far away sound of a creek.

They reached a wide area in the road, and Elizabeth pulled Sergeant over to the side and jumped down. She took the reins over Sergeant's head and said, "Can we walk?" to Nathan. "I like to give him a rest from carrying me once in a while."

Nathan leaned over the horn on his saddle and looked down at her from Bear. He raised an eyebrow. She was walking a little funny. "You sure it isn't just that you're sore?" he asked her, trying not to smile.

Elizabeth attempted an indignant look but couldn't pull it off. "Okay," she said, laughing, "this is the farthest I've ridden in a long time..." At his grin, she said, "All right, ever."

Nathan jumped down and stood beside her. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I get sore sometimes, too."

She turned, surprised. "You? A big strong Mountie?"

"Yep," he said, pulling the reins over Bear's neck and falling into pace with Elizabeth. "Feels good to walk anyway."

"How are we really doing on the time? I was the one who wanted to go to the cabin, and I can ride if we need to," Elizabeth said. "I don't want that detour to make you late."

Nathan looked off into the distance and it seemed to Elizabeth that he was embarrassed about something. "The truth is, Elizabeth, I couldn't wait for this day to start, so I may have gotten us headed out a little early. We're meeting him at the crossroads to Silverton, and even if we walk all the way there, we'll probably get there before he does." Nathan smiled sheepishly, "I've actually been looking at my watch to see how I could drag things out a little more."

Elizabeth smiled. "That's very sweet. I've been looking forward to today, too." She laughed softly. "Rosemary calls it 'horse courting.'"

Nathan smiled, "Time-honored tradition."

"In your family? Or the Mounties?" Elizabeth asked. Jack had always loved riding with her too.

"Both. As I said, I grew up on a ranch. During my very short and unsuccessful romantic career, it was how you were expected to pick a girl up for a date."

"What about that whole 'riding double' thing?" Elizabeth asked.

"Short distances only. And the boy sits back behind the cantle just in front of the horse's hips. Not very comfortable but offset by the fact that you get to put your arms around the girl's waist so you don't fall off." He winked at Elizabeth, and she laughed.

"These are things we definitely did not learn in Hamilton," she said. "But you can't just breeze past that information, Nathan. Your very short and unsuccessful romantic career? I find that hard to believe."

"Well, you'd believe it if you'd have seen me. At sixteen I weighed about fifty pounds less than I do now, but I was just as tall. I tripped over everything in my path and seemed to develop a stutter when I even tried to talk to a girl." He laughed. "Oh, I was a catch, all right."

"Yes, but girls like that. We don't want the slick ones. We like the ones who trip over their feet and stutter," Elizabeth said.

"No," Nathan said. "You like that now. But at sixteen years old, you want the slick ones." Nathan was laughing, relaxed, and his guard was down. "Sarah always did."

Elizabeth turned to him, her face open. "Sarah?"

Nathan stopped laughing and took a breath. "My sister."

Elizabeth looked down at the road. After a moment she said, "May I ask you about her?"

Nathan nodded. "Yes. I want you to. But she died, and it's not a pretty story, Elizabeth."

"Neither was Jack's, Nathan. No matter how it was romanticized by the Mounties." She looked up at him. "All our stories don't have to be pretty."

Elizabeth reached over and took his hand and held it.

Nathan took a deep breath. "I don't mind talking about this with you. As you said earlier, it happened and there's nothing I can do to change it." He squeezed her hand. "You can ask me anything."

"Her name was Sarah? Was she older or younger?"

"The same," Nathan said softly.

"I'm sorry?" Elizabeth said, frowning a little. She must have misheard him.

Nathan turned and looked at Elizabeth. "Sarah was my twin."

Elizabeth stopped and looked at him. "Oh. Nathan."

"When you told me about little Jack being born in that cabin, and the fact that you'd been lucky - and I told you that women are made of steel?" Nathan looked down at the road as they walked. "Sarah died two days after giving birth to a baby that didn't live an hour. It was a boy and she named him Nathan after me. He's buried up on the ranch with Sarah and my grandparents."

Elizabeth felt like she'd taken a blow to the stomach. She felt tears begin to spring to her eyes, but she wanted to be strong for him, so she pushed them back.

She moved closer to him and said simply, "I'm so sorry, Nathan. There's nothing I can say but that."

He turned to her. "I'm glad to be telling you. I just don't want to upset you."

"I'm stronger than I look," Elizabeth said. "So, it was a difficult birth. Was there a doctor there?"

"No, there was a big wagon accident out on the highway and people died, so there was no one there but Allie and me."

Elizabeth was having trouble getting enough air to her lungs just picturing what Nathan was describing. She kept holding his arm tighter and moving closer to him.

"You said Allie was four, so you were about..."

"I was twenty-six." Nathan said softly. "We were twenty-six."

"What about her husband?"

"Caleb was a drinker. He was one of those slick ones we were talking about earlier." Nathan's voice faltered a little. "Caleb didn't show up until after the baby had died and Sarah was bleeding a lot. He was drunk and not at all helpful, so I threw him out."

"And your mother and father?"

"My father was already in prison, and my mother was visiting my aunt. The baby was early, and I was home on leave for a week."

They were still walking with the horses, slowly, as Nathan talked.

"Sarah wasn't expecting to give birth for another month and a half, but she was big, so we thought she had her dates wrong." Nathan shook his head, remembering. "I'd lived on a ranch. I'd seen horses and cows give birth, and we were given some training in the Mounties. When she started labor, I thought I could handle it." Nathan's voice became softer as he remembered. "But the baby was breech, feet first instead of headfirst, and he was so big, and Sarah was bleeding so much. I just couldn't..."

Nathan stopped, took a breath and let go of Elizabeth's hand. He turned away from her, toward Bear, and ran his fingers through his mane, collecting himself. Elizabeth put her hand on Nathan's back and rubbed gentle circles, and he suddenly turned back around and drew her to him tightly.

They stood that way, between the horses on the road, as if they were in a cocoon of sorts.

He pulled away and looked at her, trying to see what she was feeling. She couldn't hide the tears in her eyes, so she didn't try. Elizabeth had only one thing to say to him, and she said it in a firm and steady voice.

"It wasn't your fault, Nathan."

He nodded. "I should know that, and it's what I would tell anyone else who was in the same position. But I don't... always... believe it."

He took the reins again and started walking, but now he had his arm around Elizabeth, and they walked together.

"The doctor finally made it the next day, but by then, Sarah had developed an infection and had lost so much blood she couldn't fight it off. Allie and I had time to say goodbye. Of course, Allie didn't understand, she just knew that her mother and her little brother died together. I cleaned the room and fixed Sarah up before I let Allie see her. But..."

Nathan stopped and looked directly at Elizabeth. "What does a four-year-old see and understand? Do you know? I know she heard Sarah. It was so loud and so long, and I couldn't take her pain away. I kept Allie outside of Sarah's room, but that meant I was moving from Sarah to Allie to make sure she was safe - she was crying at times, sometimes curled in a ball... Is all that in Allie somewhere?" The ache in Nathan's eyes made Elizabeth think her heart would break.

"Children are so resilient," she said softly. "I've seen it over and over, how they rise above situations that we think we could never survive." Elizabeth knew she could only be honest with Nathan. "Yes, it probably is in there somewhere, and that's why it's so important to talk about it."

Elizabeth put her hand on Nathan's chest, just to make a connection. "You've loved her, Nathan. Cared for her. She lost her mother and father and you filled that space for her. You may have moved around a lot, but you have always been the strong, stable center of her life. Allie is going to be fine, and it's because of you."

Nathan's voice was barely above a whisper, "I couldn't save her mother."

Elizabeth put her hand on his cheek, gently. "No, and I couldn't save little Jack's father. Our children are strong. We can only give them our love."

Nathan nodded slowly. Finally, he said, "Elizabeth... I know all this can't have been easy to hear. It helps to talk about it."

Elizabeth laid her head on Nathan's shoulder and they walked on. They were silent for a long time. Elizabeth wanted to give him the space to talk or not talk.

Finally, he did. "What they say about twins is true, you know. There's a connection, probably forged in the womb, that no one can touch. But when the other is gone, there's a very big hole."

He stopped walking and turned to Elizabeth, holding her gently by the shoulders. His eyes were as blue as she'd ever seen them, and there were traces of unshed tears there. "I've never said that to another living soul. And it's at the heart of a sadness that I've carried with me for eight years." Nathan kissed the top of Elizabeth's head. "Thank you for letting me tell you that. It feels lighter now."

The answer to Rosemary's question? Do I love him? Yes, I love him. My heart is full to overflowing with him.

"They're all around us," she said quietly. "Do you talk to her?"

Nathan laughed softly. "All the time. I can't stop. We were inseparable, Sarah and I. It wasn't easy growing up in our house, and we protected each other, consoled each other. She was like the other half of me."

"She still is, Nathan." Elizabeth reached up and touched his face, gently.

They started walking again, and Elizabeth said, "I'd like to tell you something. I don't know if it will help, but it might."

"Okay."

"You remember when you saw me out at the cemetery? When you were up on the hill?"

"Yes."

"I went out there to talk to Jack, to ask him a very specific question. And I needed an answer." Elizabeth paused, wanting to phrase it the right way. "I wanted him to give me his blessing to move on, to love someone else."

Nathan was looking down at his boots, but Elizabeth knew that he was listening intently.

"I asked him to look in my heart and help me with the confusion I was feeling. I closed my eyes and then I looked up and there you were."

Elizabeth sighed. "You looked very handsome up there on the hill, by the way. But the overwhelming feeling I had was that little Jack and I were protected, that you cared for us. And I knew that it was Jack's answer. It was a sign."

Nathan looked over at her. "I'm not sure I believe in signs."

Elizabeth smiled. "I wasn't either. Some other time I'll tell you how many signs Jack has sent me, but I believe it now. I believe they watch over us, guide us, help us through difficult times. But most of all, they give us signposts to let us know we're on the right path. Jack let me know that path was you."

Nathan smoothed her hair, gently. "And I'll thank him for the rest of my life, Elizabeth."

"I guess I'm saying to not only talk to Sarah, but listen for her answers," Elizabeth said. She smiled, "They have a good view up there. They see more than we do."

They both looked up when they heard a noise. A wagon coming toward them. At the same time, they saw the widening of the road up ahead, and the simple board with an arrow pointing to the left that said Silverton.

Nathan smiled. "Well, that would be a signpost."

Elizabeth laughed, delighted. "And that would be a wagon with a palomino mare walking behind. Oh, she's a beauty!"

Nathan handled the transaction, paying for the mare before bringing her around to meet Bear and Sergeant.

"So, Mr. Parker, she's nine and she was your daughter's horse, right?"

"Yes, she raised her, but she's off to school and this girl needs a rider. She's a good, gentle horse. She'll take good care of your niece."

"Well, thank you. And please tell your daughter that she's getting a good, loving home."

Nathan took the palomino's reins and both he and Elizabeth mounted up, getting ready for the ride home.

They'd gotten just a little way down the road when Mr. Parker called out, "Hey, don't you want to know her name?"

Nathan said, "I'm certain my niece will want to rename her, but sure, what is it?"

"Sarah," the man called out as he turned the corner.

Elizabeth smiled and looked over at Nathan.

He shook his head and smiled back.

"Simple coincidence," he said.

"You keep telling yourself that," Elizabeth said, laughing and taking the lead on the road.