For Allie and Lizzie the cow, it was love at first sight.
Once they got Lizzie settled in the barn, Chuck gave a quick lesson to Allie on how to care for her. Grace was listening too, as they had recently acquired a milk cow for the orphanage and she knew she still had more to learn. Elizabeth watched so she would be ready to help Allie if she needed it. Archie and Nathan were there just for fun.
"So you can feed her hay, grain or let her graze if there's enough grass for her to eat. She'll need constant access to clean water. Have the vet in town come out and see her every once in a while, but anytime I'm around I can do it. Treat her stall just like you do the horses, make sure it's clean. She'll need to be milked once, or if she's full, sometimes twice a day. And that's pretty much it," Chuck said, putting an affectionate hand on Lizzie's rump.
As punctuation, Lizzie gave them a short moo. She was a patient and tolerant cow, just right to help a young girl learn.
Allie was in heaven. Lizzie was not only another animal to love and care for, but she also gave Allie an opportunity to earn money with the butter and cheese Allie could make from her milk.
"So, are you ready to try? She needs milking," Chuck said, smiling.
"Definitely!" Allie said enthusiastically. Twenty minutes later, she proudly presented Elizabeth with a pail of warm, fresh milk.
Chuck gave Allie a pat on the back and smiled at Nathan and Elizabeth. "She's a natural," he said. "You'll want to cool that off in the icebox right away to keep it fresh. Stir it once in a while to keep the cream from coming to the top unless you're planning to make butter."
Allie was frowning a little and rubbing her hands. Grace nodded and laughed softly, "Yeah, that'll hurt for a little while. You're using a whole new set of muscles in your hands and forearms. Until you get used to it, trust me, you'll be a little sore."
Brightening, Allie said, "It was fun, though!"
Grace rolled her eyes a little. "Talk to me in a couple of weeks," she said, putting her arm around Allie's shoulders. She leaned down and whispered, "Have you read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?"
Allie nodded.
"You know when he gets his friends to help with the fence because he makes it sound like fun?" Grace smiled at her. "Try that with your friends and milking Lizzie. It works!"
Allie raised her eyebrows, "Thanks for the tip," she said, nodding.
With his arm around Elizabeth, Nathan carried the bucket of milk up to the house and was glad that Lucas had brought extra ice from the saloon. Their food storage capacity was already seriously overtaxed with the day-long roof work and the upcoming party. As it was, Nathan had rigged up a covered box using the natural cold from the outdoors. He'd even made sure it could lock to keep uninvited forest guests from helping themselves.
Elizabeth had never been more grateful for Julie, Lucas, and Bill. She'd spent so much time in the kitchen this morning that the thought of orchestrating dinner for nearly fifty people was more than she wanted to think about.
"What can I do?" she asked Bill as they came in the back door from the barn.
Bill grinned at her. "Get out of my kitchen," he said, giving her a little nudge. "You did enough this morning, now you get to be a guest."
She sighed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Bill, have I told you how much I love you?"
"Not today, but you can save it until after dinner," he said. Then he whispered, "We have no idea what we're doing." To Elizabeth's sudden frown, he laughed and said, "Just kidding! Now, out!"
Happily, she followed his instructions. She and Nathan wove through the various early guests, saloon helpers, Clara, Julie, Lucas and Gustav, all buzzing around the harvest table like so many honeybees.
Now that the porch swing was put away, Nathan and Elizabeth found themselves naturally gravitating toward the sunroom. As Lee had said, it really was the best room in the house, especially when the fire was blazing as it was now.
But as usual during these busy days, it was already occupied.
Rebecca and Rosemary had moved the table from between the two facing sofas and were now down on the floor with Jack and Violet. They'd brought Jack's toys from his room and the floor was all but covered with them.
Jack was currently playing the older brother and showing Violet how to build a tower. Violet figured out the game right away, and as soon as he had three or four blocks on top of each other, she would topple it with her chubby little hand, sending both of them into gales of laughter.
And not just the children. Rebecca and Rosemary might have been having more fun than Violet and Jack.
One of the best parts of the sunroom was that it ran almost the length of the house, as if it were another part of the porch that was simply closed in. The windows also ran the length of it, which was why it wasn't easy to keep warm in the winter.
Nathan and Elizabeth passed by the happy scene on the floor and made their way down to the colder part of the room. There were plenty of quilts for just this reason, and they bundled up on the cushion-covered bench at the end. It was about as private as they could get in the house right now without closing a door and being completely antisocial.
With Nathan's arm around her, Elizabeth snuggled down into his chest, listening to the infectious sounds of laughter, while Rebecca shared her wisdom with Rosemary about the fine art of raising children.
Elizabeth's eyes were slowly closing.
"Do you know how easily I could take a nap right now?" Elizabeth asked, her voice muffled by the quilt.
"You should," Nathan said, absentmindedly stroking her curls. "You've had a long day already."
"It hardly seems fair," she said sleepily. "You've had a long day too."
Nathan smiled serenely. "Yes, but I'm not doing everything for two," he said, softly kissing the top of her head.
Elizabeth leaned back so she could meet his lips with hers. She sighed into the kiss, wishing that at this moment they were all alone in the world. It felt a little like they were. When she finally opened her eyes, something moved in her field of vision.
"Nathan," she said, peering up to the place where the roof met the wall in the corner. "Look."
He turned and looked. "Is that...?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said, sitting up. "I think it is."
Nathan moved the quilt and stood. Reaching his long arm up, he unhooked the willow hoop hung with feathers and leather strings that was suspended on a nail.
Elizabeth gasped. "It's our dreamcatcher. From the Summer Cabin in Airdrie."
Nathan smiled. "I wonder if Charlie was ever going to tell us?" he said softly. "This could have been here for a long time before we noticed it."
They both looked over at Rebecca who was gazing at them from across the room with soft eyes. She blew them a kiss and nodded, and then she gave her attention back to Rosemary.
"It's right on the other side of our bedroom," Elizabeth said quietly to Nathan.
He put it back up on the nail and cuddled down into the quilt with Elizabeth. He kissed her again, and then, against her lips he murmured, "No wonder I've been having such good dreams lately..."
People began to arrive in earnest about an hour later, and there was a steady stream of lively talk and laughter floating into the house from the path outside. Soon every chair, sofa, cushion and bench was filled, including the stone hearth that encircled the fireplace in the middle of the living room.
Grace and Chuck seemed to have discovered not only the loveseat, but also its romantic advantages as they held hands across the center divider. Grace was sharing Allie's room for the night and Chuck was in the room across from Archie, so they wouldn't have to travel back to Brookfield until late in the morning tomorrow.
Bill was holding court in the kitchen, with Clara and Jesse assisting. Julie walked around the rooms, moving a cloth here, a fork there, as if she were creating a fine painting.
Allie's room was filled with Elizabeth's students, as Allie proudly showed those who hadn't yet been here around her new house. Next stop was the newly-planted pine tree, then the barn to introduce them to Lizzie, and after that, the treehouse. For a girl who had never been able to settle down anywhere, Allie was very happily rooted.
Carson, Faith and Fiona were walking along the interior wall that was all but covered with photographs from the Airdrie wedding, from the reception in Hope Valley, one of the whole family on horses, of Elizabeth in her schoolroom, and one of Nathan in full red serge that Fiona had snapped while he was on his rounds.
Fiona also pointed out the photo she had taken of the family in the Infirmary, when Nathan's leg was healing. "Jack has already grown so much!" she said, shaking her head at the little boy holding up his toy Mountie.
Near the center was the first photo taken of Elizabeth and Nathan, when they were still just friends at Jesse and Clara's wedding. Carson told the story of how he stopped the two of them and asked them to stand together while he took the picture.
Carson smiled, "You were in Chicago then, Faith, and I was on my own, so it was good to have something to do." He pointed to the picture. "They always looked good together. I could tell it felt a little awkward to them, but I just had to do it." He laughed, "Afterwards, I think I said something like, 'That's a keeper,' but what I really wanted to say was, 'Why aren't you two together?'"
Fiona laughed too. "And then, Elizabeth caught the bouquet! And now they're married. So you're psychic, Carson," she said, arching her eyebrow.
Most surprising was a conversation that was going on in the corner of the living room. Charlie and Archie were talking easily about how the ranch was doing in its relatively new foray into raising goats. No matter what had happened since, Charlie and Archie had started as friends. They looked to be renewing that relationship tentatively over the business of the ranch.
Kevin and Lee stood next to the front door and were acting as informal greeters as guests walked in. It gave Lee the chance to thank people personally for their help with the roof, and in between Kevin was picking Lee's brain about housebuilding. He was thinking of his own sometime in the near future.
When Nathan and Elizabeth emerged from their corner of the sunroom, the aromas in the house were incredible. Gustav had prepared a huge pot of savory Coq au Vin, though Bill kept goading him by calling it Chicken Surprise. Bill's contribution was succulent pork ribs that nearly fell off the bone, and dozens of individual shepherd's pies that dotted the harvest table, nestled among fresh cooked vegetables, sweet potatoes, cheese and sweet fig jam, and buttermilk biscuits.
The piece de resistance was a cake designed by Julie and created by Gustav in three separate layers. The top layer wished Archie a Happy Birthday, the middle layer showed the Coulter's roof, and the lower layer was a beautiful interpretation of the Grant farm that said Happy Housewarming.
Elizabeth stood in awe looking at the table, and Julie snuck up behind her. "What do you think?" she asked.
Shaking her head, Elizabeth was speechless for a moment. Then she found her voice. "I can't believe it, Julie. This is more than I could ever have imagined."
Leading her sister to a corner of the table, Julie pointed out a delicate china plate with tiny petit fours. Next to it was a small card in calligraphy. Coming soon: Le Bistro. Fine Dining in Hope Valley.
Elizabeth laughed incredulously. "You're advertising at our party? Julie!"
Julie raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "What better place? Gustav's Coq au vin will be on the menu. And practically everyone is here!" Julie looked around excitedly.
Sighing, Elizabeth said, "You're impossible." She hugged Julie, "And I love you. Thank you for all this. I didn't think I could spend another minute in the kitchen today."
Lucas came up quietly behind Julie and put a light hand on her shoulder. He bent down and whispered, "Excuse me, but you're needed." She turned and looked up at him, her eyes twinkling and a radiant smile on her face. "It's always good to be needed," she said softly.
Lucas took her hand and started to lead her away. Elizabeth said, "Lucas, how can we ever thank you for all this?"
He shook his head and smiled. "No need, Elizabeth. When I think of all that you and Nathan and Rosemary and Lee do for this town? We're just glad to be here."
With that, Lucas, Julie, Bill and Gustav walked to the front of the food table and called out in unison, "Dinner is served!" From there, it was a sort of organized chaos of hungry people and delicious food, until it was time to serve the cake.
Julie had managed to find paper hats and they were handed out to everyone with a great deal of laughter and posing for Carson's camera. Candles were put on the top of the cake and Archie was called up to blow them out with calls of "Speech!"
Archie looked into the faces of everyone around him with his eyes glistening, and he asked Nathan to come and stand with him. "I'm prouder of my son than I have words to tell you, and the fact that all of you, his friends, have made me a part of your town the way you have... well, it makes an old reprobate like me happier than I deserve to be..." His voice faltering, Archie said, "Thank you."
Nathan raised his glass and said, "Happy Birthday, Dad. I hope we have many, many more birthdays right here in this house. Together." He hugged Archie and someone started singing:
For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us!
During the singing, Nathan sought Elizabeth in the crowd. He found her, leaning casually against the picture wall, and she happened to be right next to the picture Carson had taken at Jesse and Clara's wedding.
Nathan smiled at her and she smiled back with an infinite well of love in her eyes.
If he had known, when that picture was taken on that night when he was still unsure of her love for him, that it would all turn out like this? He wondered if it would have made it all easier.
And then, looking at his beautiful Elizabeth, the love of his life, he knew that it had all unfolded just the way it should. He glanced over at Lucas, the man he once thought was his rival, standing just behind Julie and whispering something into her ear, clearly completely taken with her.
It might have seemed to be a competition once, but it was the best kind of contest. Because both of them had won.
