Elizabeth and Nathan sat on the front bench of the wagon while Nathan held the reins. They had finally given in to their desire to be together and Bear was happily walking along behind, kept in line by a generous length of rope.
Lee and Rosemary were in the far back of the wagon facing forward. They were comfortably wedged between the crib, the carriage, and a box with baby quilts, bedding and toys.
Lee had his arm around Rosemary, and on her lap, Violet was obviously being extremely entertaining. She was alternating her gaze to each of them, to Bear just behind them, and the countryside that moved slowly by. Elizabeth had turned and looked at the three of them, and it was such a lovely sight that she found she was unable to look away.
As far as she could see, Violet was doing little more than simply breathing and soaking up the love she was feeling from her new parents. But to look at Lee and Rosemary's faces, the child was fascinating. A hiccup was a miracle. Her little fist was a masterpiece. Elizabeth knew all too well how thoroughly engrossing it could be to watch a six-month-old baby. Especially if that baby is yours.
Elizabeth had seen Rosemary and Lee so often with Jack in much this same position, but this was as different as night and day. It may have been because Violet was a baby girl with one of the calmest, sweetest dispositions Elizabeth had ever encountered, but she knew it also went much deeper than that. It couldn't be defined, so Elizabeth didn't even try.
"Where's Carson with his camera?" Elizabeth said softly.
Rosemary looked up and said, "I know! I was just saying to Lee that we should ask him to come to the house and take a few pictures."
Lee laughed. "A few." He looked up at Elizabeth with pure joy on his face. "How many do you think a few will turn out to be?"
Rosemary put her face down by Violet's and said, "Maybe a hundred? What do you think, sweetie? Will that be enough?" She kissed her soft cheek and couldn't pull away. "Oh, her skin," she said rapturously. "Did we ever have skin like that?"
Violet obviously gave Rosemary another smile, because both she and Lee reacted. "You like that, Violet? You like Mommy's kisses?" Lee asked brightly.
Lee and Rosemary had talked frankly to Lillian about what they should call themselves, and Lillian had given a very straightforward answer.
"It will be natural for her to identify you as her mother and father, as her primary caregivers," Lillian said. "And although we can't promise you'll have her forever... yet... it's best to go on that assumption rather than creating distance between you right from the start."
Elizabeth and Nathan had been present for that conversation and they wished they'd heard it earlier. Jack had made his own decision, despite what they'd thought would be best for him. Nathan was Dad, and that was that. They knew it would be the same for Violet.
Elizabeth was now completely turned around on the bench, facing toward the back. She curled her arm through Nathan's and moved closer.
"What am I missing?" Nathan said.
"They can't take their eyes off of her," Elizabeth whispered. "And I think the feeling is mutual." She leaned on his shoulder, grasping his arm tightly. "It was very nice of you to drive so they could be together."
He moved the three or so inches it took to kiss her. "And it's such a hardship," he said softly.
"Oh, for me too..." she said. She looked at him and took a breath.
"Nathan," Elizabeth said. "I have something to tell you. I really can't keep secrets from you, although you seem to be pretty good at it."
He raised his eyebrows. "When have I ever kept a secret from you?"
"Two that come to mind right away," she said, forcing herself to look serious.
He frowned. "Just so you know? This is another one of the Elizabeth voices. The stern voice." He looked sideways at her. "I don't think I like this one as well as the others, because it usually means I've done something that has displeased you."
She laughed. "I suppose I'll get these out of you one by one. So the teacher voice and the stern voice. Got it." She narrowed her eyes. "You remember when you surprised me at the pond? When I was reading your letter and you told me to look up, and there you were?"
Nathan smiled. "But that was a good secret, right?"
She smiled, unable to keep up the pretense. "Yes, that was a very good secret." She sighed.
"What's the second one?" he said.
"Well, I would have liked this surprise, but now that I know about it, I would have to pretend to be surprised, and we both know I'm as bad at pretending as you are..." Elizabeth trailed off, and looked up at him.
Realization dawned on him immediately. "Grace told you." At Elizabeth's sheepish nod, he laughed softly. "If you'd told me this before we left Brookfield, we could have had Bear and Lizzie trailing behind us. It would have saved Chuck and Grace the trip."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "I didn't tell you because I'm fairly certain they don't want you to save them a trip."
Nathan nodded, "Aha." He looked to the back of the wagon and then stole another kiss from Elizabeth. "Love seems to be in the air, doesn't it?"
"It does," she said happily, turning around and facing forward again. Lee and Rosemary had gone back into their bubble, and it was clear that very little existed outside of it.
They sat for a moment in silence, and then Elizabeth said, "You didn't get to finish telling me about your conversation with Archie last night."
"It was good." Nathan nodded. "I get the feeling that the more we talk about things, the better we'll be," he said. "We've always cut each other off in conversations, and I've learned something from you. I don't have to be right all the time."
"That's a lesson I've had to learn, too. Letting go can make all the difference." She smiled over at him. "Difficult as it may be for you to believe, I can be a little hardheaded myself sometimes."
Nathan looked cautiously at her. "There is no good response that I can make right now. So I'm not making one."
Elizabeth laughed. "See how much you've learned?" She squeezed his arm. "Did you talk to him about Rebecca and Charlie?"
"I did," Nathan said, nodding. "He actually made it very easy for me. I guess Allie was showing him our wedding pictures and he saw one of Mom and Charlie. The one with Charlie's arm around her?"
Elizabeth's eyebrows went up. "What did he say?"
"He said they looked good together. Then he just looked at me."
Elizabeth smiled, nodding. "And you just looked back at him," she said. "I can see it!" Laughing, she said, "Who broke the standoff?"
Nathan exhaled. "He did. And he said he was okay with it. So I just asked him if he would mind if they were all at our celebration together." Nathan looked over at her. "He said he was."
"Very nicely done," Elizabeth said.
"And Mom wrote saying the Post Office in Airdrie finally got a telephone line, so I'll get a message to them that I'd like to talk to her when they go for the mail tomorrow."
Elizabeth looked over at him. "So... I'm assuming Rebecca is not going to stay across the hall from Archie while Charlie sleeps at the livery?"
Nathan looked at her quickly and frowned. "Oh. Hadn't quite gotten there yet."
Elizabeth smiled. "Well, you'd better get there, because we're going to have a full house this weekend."
Nathan shook his head. "That happened fast, didn't it? Do we need to add on already?"
"That, or put Archie in Allie's treehouse," Elizabeth said, laughing. "No, I think your mom would be happy at the saloon for a couple of nights, and she'll be closer to Charlie that way. According to Julie, Lucas has fixed up the rooms upstairs beautifully. They're very respectable."
"Speaking of Julie and Lucas, you probably haven't had a chance to talk to her yet, have you? I'm assuming we would have heard this morning if they'd burned down the Gazette," he said with a smile.
"No, I haven't," Elizabeth said. "I'm hoping to catch her at home when we drop off Rosemary and Lee... and Violet," she said, smiling.
They were just rounding the corner to pull into Hope Valley. Elizabeth looked back and the Coulter family was still in its own little world. "We're here," she said softly, and Rosemary looked up.
"Oh, that was such a fast trip!" Rosemary said.
Just then, Rosemary looked out in front of Abigail's and there was Bill. He had the door open and called inside, "They're here!" One by one they came out. Jesse ran to the saloon and did the same, and Lucas walked out to the boardwalk, followed closely by Julie, Gustav, Henry and Hickam. Clara stepped out of the dress shop and Ned and Fiona from the Mercantile.
"Oh, my..." Rosemary said, with tears in her eyes. Rather than take the wagon up to the row houses as he was planning to do, Nathan pulled it over in front of Abigail's.
Never underestimate the power of Florence Blakely, Elizabeth thought. Sure enough, there were Molly and Florence stepping out of the Infirmary, along with Carson and Faith.
Lee jumped down from the wagon and Rosemary tenderly handed Violet to him. Nathan helped Rosemary down, and then Elizabeth, and they all walked toward the gathering crowd.
Elizabeth whispered to Nathan, "We'll find out what this little girl is made of. A long wagon ride after a lot of excitement, and now this?"
She needn't have worried. From Lee's arms, then Rosemary's, Violet proved she was truly Rosemary's daughter. Assemble a crowd, and Violet performed. She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes, grabbed fingers, and made happy gurgling sounds that had everyone pronouncing her the smartest, most beautiful and advanced little girl they'd ever seen.
"Jack has some serious competition," Nathan said, laughing.
Just as he said it, Nathan could see Archie walking with Allie and Jack toward town. Fiona came up and said, "I called them to let them know you were back."
Jack ran to Elizabeth and she pulled him up into her arms. He was getting heavy, and Elizabeth wondered how long she'd be able to carry him. And as if she'd said it out loud, Nathan was there. He got Jack's attention and then pulled him up onto his shoulders, while wearing the red serge, no less. Jack was in heaven.
Allie went straight to the crowd around Rosemary so she could see Violet. Emily and Hattie were there too, and Elizabeth smiled, knowing that there would be no scarcity of babysitters for Rosemary to call on.
Archie stood next to his son and held Jack's little hand from up on Nathan's shoulders. For a moment, Elizabeth looked fondly at three generations of men she loved, so grateful that Jack would grow up with a father and a grandfather.
"Julie!" Elizabeth called, and her sister turned. She moved through the crowd to her.
"That little girl is absolutely precious," Julie said. "But I keep wanted to call her Viola instead of Violet!"
"I almost did the same thing," Elizabeth said, hugging her. "I wanted to find out about last night, but we left early this morning," she said, taking Julie's arm and moving her over to the bench in front of the saloon.
"I have so much to tell you, sister. I don't even know where to start!" Julie said, making sure Lucas was engaged elsewhere. She saw him talking with Henry over by Abigail's.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Start at the beginning." Then she laughed, "Actually, Nathan thought the Gazette was on fire last night and we looked in the window and saw the two of you at dinner. So start from there."
Julie lifted her chin. "We're business partners, he kissed me, and we're coming together to your party on Saturday. But I didn't have to ask him. This time he asked me."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "That's a lot of information to take in. You're a partner in the saloon?"
Julie laughed. "Not exactly. Lucas bought the Gazette building because they're moving to a larger space. We're going to turn it into a fine dining restaurant and he wants me to run it. Complete autonomy, no interference." Julie tilted her head. "What do you think about the name Le Bistro? I want to paint the inside a kind of washed-out yellow, like those wonderful French restaurants on the Rue de Marseille, and Gustav has a whole menu ready..."
"Julie." Elizabeth said, her head spinning, "This is clearly more than you can explain in just a few minutes. Can you come for dinner tomorrow?"
"Both of us?" Julie said, her eyes bright.
Elizabeth said carefully, "Let's start with just you. Have you signed anything yet?"
"No," Julie said. "We haven't ironed out all the details. He's having his lawyer draw up the papers and then we'll talk." She saw the worried look on Elizabeth's face and said, "I know this is a lot to try to understand, but we've been heading in this direction ever since I came to Hope Valley." She smiled softly. "In all areas."
Elizabeth finally smiled. "He kissed you?"
Julie sighed. "He did. And it was lovely," Julie said.
Elizabeth hugged her tightly. "Come early tomorrow. I want to hear it all."
Nathan made sure that Lee had help with the crib and that he could drive the wagon up to his row house. "No problem, Nathan," he said. "Jesse and Hickam have already offered." He started to shake Nathan's hand and then impulsively drew him into a hug. "Thanks for everything."
It was the first time Nathan had seen Lee close to tears. Violet had already worked her magic on him. Nathan smiled and said, "I remember Allie at that age, Lee." He looked over at her, now so tall and grown up. Looking back at Lee, he said, "It goes by fast. Treasure every moment."
"I plan to," Lee said.
Both men stood for a moment, thinking of their girls.
Lee cleared his throat loudly. "Looking forward to getting that roof up on Saturday," he said, breaking the moment before they both embarrassed themselves.
"You bet," Nathan said, slapping him on the back. He nodded and walked over to the wagon to untie Bear. He pulled himself up into the saddle and rode over to where Archie was standing and holding Jack's hand. "Want to go for a ride, cowboy?" he called down to him.
Jack put his hands up excitedly and said, "Horsey ride!" and then proceeded to melt Nathan's heart again by adding, "Dad!" Archie handed him up and Nathan set him in the saddle in front of him. It was starting to get dark and they hadn't had dinner yet. It was time to go home.
Elizabeth was hugging Rosemary, and she bent down to give Violet a kiss on the cheek. As she did, the little girl put her tiny hand on Elizabeth's face.
"Awww," Rosemary said softly. She raised her eyebrows and said to Elizabeth, "Something tells me you wouldn't mind having a little girl of your own."
Elizabeth looked up at Nathan, sitting so tall in the saddle, and Jack, imitating him, proud to be riding with his Mountie in the red serge.
She smiled and said to Rosemary, "A girl would be nice, with all these men in the house." She put her arm around Allie next to her. "Wouldn't it?"
"Definitely," said Allie.
"I'll come see you tomorrow, Rosemary." She hugged her again, warmly. "Call me tonight if you need me and I'll come right down, okay? I'm so happy for you. She's just beautiful."
"Thank you, Elizabeth," Rosemary said. "I don't know what I would do without you."
Elizabeth smiled. "I think I've said that to you before. And do you know what you said back to me?"
Tears in her eyes, Rosemary said, "What?"
"You'll never have to find out."
