Allie and Elizabeth stood with their heads tilted, looking at the tree as Nathan adjusted it from the bottom.

"It's leaning a little... left," Elizabeth said.

Nathan moved it and Elizabeth said, "That's better!"

Narrowing his eyes at her, Nathan said, "Why does this all seem familiar?"

Allie and Jack started pulling ornaments out of the boxes and laying them on the harvest table.

Elizabeth walked up behind Nathan and put her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his back, as he tugged down gently on the branches. "Well, perhaps because this is now the second tree we've decorated together?" she said softly.

Nathan hugged her arms closer to him. He looked down and Elizabeth was holding out an ornament. The red bird she'd asked for his help with last year.

He turned around and faced her, and she held up the ornament between them. "I remember this little guy," Nathan said with his crooked smile. "So, here's a question," he said, resting his arms gently on her shoulders, "You knew when you reached up that you wouldn't be able to get this to the top of the tree, right?"

Elizabeth blushed suddenly and Nathan laughed softly. "Good, I can see I'm on the right track."

"It took you long enough to come help me," she said, raising her eyebrow. "I was standing there for the longest time struggling, with no help on the horizon..."

Nathan curled his fingers through her hair. "You made a squeaky little noise that made me turn around."

"It was a cry for help," Elizabeth said, laughing.

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "But you could have just put it a little lower on the tree..."

"Okay!" Elizabeth laughed. She blushed furiously and handed him the ornament. "I was flirting! I wanted you to come up behind me and do exactly what you did."

Nathan pulled her into his arms and whispered, "I thought so. Now I can stop feeling guilty for the thoughts I was having."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "Thoughts?" Her eyes were bright. "What kind of thoughts?"

Nathan laughed. "Non-Christmassy thoughts. Never you mind, angel."

"Horsey," Jack said, coming up between them. He was holding up a small wooden ornament shaped like a horse. He put it on the tree and it fell through. He frowned and looked up at Nathan.

"Oh, hey buddy, here, let me help," Nathan said, bending down to get the horse and put it on the tree. Jack pointed to it and said, "Horsey tree," and then ran back to Allie to get another ornament.

Nathan stood up, and Elizabeth was gazing out toward the pond. He put his arm around her and said, "What are you thinking about?"

"This is our first Christmas. As a family, in this house," she looked down and hugged her arms around her middle. "And these two on the way. I'm just so grateful."

Nathan nodded. "I am, too." They both took a moment to look outside. The sun had just a little farther to travel before sunset, and the light on the snow was beginning to turn it into the soft blue of twilight.

Elizabeth put her head on Nathan's shoulder and he stroked her hair gently. The room already had the aroma of Christmas, with the sharp tang of the blue spruce mixed with the warm heartiness of the beef stew that was simmering on the stove. To top it off, there was fresh bread baking in the oven.

Nathan sighed. "What time is Bill coming over?"

"Any minute," Elizabeth said. "He has something he wants to give Jack, and I'm going to try to convince him to stay for dinner."

"Good luck with that. The combination of his duties as Judge and running Abigail's makes him pretty hard to pin down these days," Nathan said. "But It smells so good in this house, you might just sway him."

Elizabeth hugged Nathan closer. "That was fun today," she said.

Nathan looked down at her and raised his eyebrow. "Which part?"

Smiling up at him, Elizabeth said, "All parts. The talking. The kisses. Allie and Jack. You and Archie." Then she sighed. "Julie and Lucas."

Nathan nodded. "That wasn't really a surprise, though. Lucas and Julie have been pretty much inseparable since our wedding."

"No, not a surprise, but do you remember how everyone thought we were courting before we actually were?" Elizabeth said.

Nathan turned to her and could see the beginnings of the setting sun on her cheeks and in her eyes. "I was courting you from the moment I saw you in my office."

Elizabeth tilted her head. "And over a year later, you finally kissed me?"

Nathan shrugged. "What can I say? I'm slow and thorough."

She laughed and said, "And we all know the tortoise won the race."

Nathan leaned down and kissed her softly. "And now I'll just have to make up for lost time."

Allie cleared her throat nearby, pretending to talk to Jack. They both had their hands full of ornaments. "Well, Jack, there doesn't seem to be much decorating going on over here," she said, grinning. "So I think it's up to us." She reached up and hung one of her cork animals, smiling at Nathan.

Making sure Allie could hear, Nathan looked at Elizabeth and said, "What are you teaching her in school? She seems to be getting more assertive the older she gets."

Elizabeth laughed. "Believe me, this has nothing to do with school. This is thirteen going on fourteen." Elizabeth bent down and untangled the ornaments in Jack's hands and helped him hang them up. She looked over at Allie, who was now by the harvest table. "I remember how you first described her to me. 'Ten going on seventeen.' That was right before her eleventh birthday."

Chuckling, Nathan said, "I was about to be way in over my head. You arrived just in time."

Elizabeth gazed at Allie softly. "I feel so lucky to have her in my life."

"We all are," Nathan said. He lifted Jack so he could put another ornament further up. Then Jack went running back to the table. "It was good to talk to Dad today," Nathan said. "I think I'd pushed a lot of those memories pretty far away, and it was nice to focus on all the good that happened in that house. With Mom and Dad and Sarah."

Elizabeth walked over to the table to get the ribbon to wrap around the tree. "I loved the story about the saddles. I can imagine how disappointed you both were until you went out to the barn and saw them."

"I was walking out there trying to be grateful for the socks, and it wasn't working," Nathan said, smiling.

Elizabeth tucked the ribbon inside the tree to secure it and started moving around. "And we'll have both your parents here for this Christmas. It's great that they get along so well," Elizabeth said, handing the ribbon to Nathan on the other side of the tree.

"We'll see how they do this time," Nathan said cryptically.

Frowning, Elizabeth peered around the tree at him. "Why, this time?" she asked.

Nathan checked to be sure Allie and Jack were out of earshot and he lowered his voice. "Because Mom is bringing divorce papers for him to sign."

Elizabeth's eyebrows went up. "Oh." Then she thought about why, and said softly, "How would you feel if your mother and Charlie got married?"

Nathan's face told her that he had clearly not made that leap. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times and Elizabeth laughed. "I take it that thought hasn't crossed your mind?"

Finally, he shrugged and smiled. "I guess it makes sense. I just hadn't thought about Mom getting married again." He narrowed his eyes at Elizabeth. "You think they might?"

Elizabeth smiled. "We've talked about it."

Nathan laughed and shook his head. "Everyone talks to you about everything," he said. "I wish I could use you to question prisoners." When he saw her excited look, he said quickly, "I'm kidding."

There was a knock on the door and Allie went running. Nathan smiled. "With that girl in the house we never have to answer a telephone call or open the door. Unbridled enthusiasm."

"Well, hello, Miss Allie," Bill said, walking in the door. He looked over at Nathan and Elizabeth. "Nice tree. And it smells better in here than it does in the restaurant."

Elizabeth gasped and ran to the kitchen.

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Was it something I said?"

Opening the oven, Elizabeth pulled out the bread pans. "Oh, thank goodness," she said. The bread was a perfect golden brown.

Bill leaned toward Nathan. "You missed the early days of Elizabeth's cooking. Some of her dinners were legendary."

"I heard that," Elizabeth said, smiling and kissing Bill on the cheek. He started to hug her and then stepped away, frowning. "Have we been upgraded to triplets?" Elizabeth made a face at him.

Nathan laughed and shook his hand. "Bite your tongue. I can only make so many cribs in the time we have left."

"Which is?" Bill asked, taking off his coat and hanging it on the rack.

"We're taking the train to Hamilton on the 27th of February. They're due the second week of March, but Carson says twins are often early, so we're playing it safe."

Bill nodded. "Take all the time you need. I'm ready for a little action after sitting behind that desk for so long. At least when I'm covering for you I can get on my horse and do rounds once in a while." He walked over to the harvest table. "How's my godson?" he said, leaning down to Jack and sitting at the table.

Pulling Jack up into his lap, Bill looked at the ornaments on the table. "There seem to be a lot of horses here, Jack. You starting your own regiment?"

Jack rewarded him by picking up a cloth horse and saying very firmly, "Horsey!" Then he started putting the ornaments in neat rows on the table in front of him.

From the kitchen, Elizabeth said, "Bill, I'm going to keep asking you to dinner until you say yes. We have plenty. Will you stay?"

Shaking his head, Bill said, "You know I'd love to, but I have to be back at Abigail's. Clara does a great job, but I hate to leave her alone at dinnertime."

"Tea, hot chocolate...?" Elizabeth said, raising her eyebrows.

Bill put up a hand and waved it, "No, nothing. Thank you."

Elizabeth pouted, and Bill smiled at her. "I promise I'll come to dinner between Christmas and New Year's. How's that? We're just so busy right now."

Nathan sat down opposite him. "That's a good thing, right? I know you were a little concerned about the bistro taking business away from Abigail's."

Bill chuckled. "Yep. I've had to eat some crow on that one. It turns out Hope Valley is big enough for three restaurants. Who knew?"

Elizabeth smiled from the kitchen. "Julie knew."

Bill nodded. "That sister of yours is quite the businesswoman, Elizabeth. She's surprising everyone." He looked across at Nathan. "With the possible exception of Lucas."

Nathan tilted his head, not knowing how much he should say. Bill laughed. "Oh, it's all over town already. I guess Lucas went straight to Florence when they got back with the trees." He nodded. "Actually a very efficient way to get the news out."

Smiling, Nathan said, "And what are people saying?"

"The consensus is that it's a good match. But that's only a narrow poll of conversations I overheard in Abigail's."

Elizabeth laughed. "Which is probably a pretty good cross-section of the town. Well, that's good. Not that it would make any difference what people think. Julie and Lucas both love flying in the face of expectations."

"That they do," Bill said, looking down at the ornaments Jack had just arranged. "So, Jack my boy, do you want to see what I have for you?"

Jack turned around and looked up into Bill's eyes. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an ornament of his own. It was a picture of Jack sitting on Bear with Nathan in his red serge that had the background cut away and had been pasted on to a piece of wood that was the same shape. There was a string at the top that went through a small hole in Nathan's hat. All four of Bear's legs were separate, perfectly matching the picture.

Jack took it gently into his hands and peered closely at it. He looked across at Nathan and smiled. "Dad. Jack." And he held it up for Nathan to look at.

Nathan took it and smiled. "Bill," he said softly, looking up at his friend. "This is incredible. How did you do this?"

"Fiona took the picture, which I'm sure you remember. And I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He raised his eyebrows and smiled. "I'm a whittler from way back. I know my way around a piece of wood."

"I guess you do," Nathan said, smiling at him. Jack had his hands out, wanting it back. "Horsey," he said softly, looking at it again.

"It's so sweet, Bill," Elizabeth said.

Bill shrugged. "It's not his Christmas present, but I wanted him to have it early to put on the tree."

As if he understood completely, Jack crawled down from Bill's lap and took his hand. "Tree," he said, leading Bill. Jack set the ornament on a low branch and Bill looped the string around the branch above.

"Well," Bill said. "That looks just fine there." He picked him up and Jack put his arms around his neck. Bill held him for a moment, rubbing his back with his eyes closed. Then he took a deep breath and kissed his cheek before he put him back down on the floor.

"Walk me out, Nathan?" Bill said, kissing Elizabeth on the cheek. He squeezed Allie's shoulder and headed toward the door.

Nathan got his coat at the same time Bill put his on, and they walked out to the front porch. They stood for a moment watching as the very last sliver of the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky began to lose its color.

Nathan stayed silent, not knowing whether this was business or something else that Bill wanted to talk about. But if he knew anything about Bill, he knew he couldn't be rushed. Finally, Bill spoke, still looking out in the distance.

"Jack Thornton was one of my very best friends. I might say he was my best friend. I took it as a responsibility to watch over Elizabeth and little Jack from the moment I heard he'd died." Bill looked over at Nathan. "It may not have seemed like it at times, but I was always on your team, Nathan."

Nathan smiled, but knew Bill wasn't finished, so he didn't say anything.

Bill sighed. "Last Christmas, Elizabeth was very brave, but I was afraid she would never really feel joy again without Jack." He turned to Nathan. "I was wrong." He smiled and clapped Nathan on the back.

"I've never been more glad to be wrong, Nathan. And I don't feel like I have to watch over them anymore."

Nathan nodded and said softly, "But you probably always will." He smiled. "Which is a good thing, because sometimes Elizabeth needs a lot of watching."

Bill laughed. "She leaps, that's for sure. But she looks first. I told you once that she's stronger than you think."

Nodding, Nathan said, "I know that now too."

Bill looked him right in the eye. "I know you're worried about her with those babies. I can't imagine you wouldn't be. I just want you to know, if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

Nathan took a deep breath. "Thank you, Bill. I'm probably going to take you up on that."

"Good," Bill said. He put out his hand.

Nathan took it, and then just pulled Bill into a hug. Then he shook his hand and Bill turned.

"Bill," Nathan said, "I know how close you and Jack were. I hope you know how much this means to me. It means the world that you..."

Bill walked down the first step from the porch. "Yeah, I know." He turned and grinned. "Don't go soft on me, Mountie."

Nathan stood on the porch for a long time watching him walk away. Then he turned and looked for a moment at the warm scene inside and the house full of people he loved before he opened the door to go in.