Nathan pulled some pillows off of the sofa and tucked them under Elizabeth's back. Then he brought the footstool over and carefully removed her shoes and began rubbing her stockinged feet.

"Ohh," she said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "You're piling up so many points these days. You have no idea how good that feels."

Nathan looked up at her. From this vantage point down near the floor, the changes that were happening to her body were even more pronounced than when he stood next to her. It simultaneously brought up an intense feeling of wonder and a vague sense of fear. He couldn't really comprehend how it was even possible for the human body to alter itself so drastically.

And truly, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He looked up at her, sighing while he massaged her feet, and her face had a freshness and a glow that was even more lovely than usual.

"You really are so beautiful, Elizabeth," Nathan said softly.

She opened one eye and said, "You've got to be kidding."

He shook his head and smiled softly at her. "Nope. I'm absolutely serious."

Elizabeth closed her eye again. "Well, thank you. But you need to have your eyes examined. We'll talk to Carson about it."

Nathan laughed. "I'm sure Carson has known plenty of fathers-to-be who've felt the same way." He looked up at her and asked, "Enough?"

She sighed again and opened her eyes, wiggling her feet. "Never. But come up here, please, I'd rather have you next to me."

Nathan stood up and took off his jacket so that he was in his shirt and suspenders. The wood in the stove had gone down to bright embers and the room was cozily warm. He sat next to her and as always, his arm naturally curled around her and she snuggled down into his chest. "I think this is my favorite place in the whole world," she said.

"I'm glad we brought the swing in," Nathan said, looking out of the window.

Elizabeth laughed softly, "That, too. But I was talking about here," she said, moving her head further down into his chest. "Have you ever noticed how well we fit together? You have this perfect space for my head. I can hear your heartbeat, and feel how warm you are, and when you talk I hear your voice echoing a little..."

Nathan nodded and said, "Mmmm-hm," which he knew would resonate in her ear. She laughed softly, and then they sat for a moment, listening to the crackling of the fire and feeling the slight motion of the swing while Nathan stroked her hair. Through the open door, they could hear lively conversations and bursts of laughter from the other rooms in the house.

They'd hoped they wouldn't be missed, and it seemed that they weren't.

He pulled her closer and exhaled. "I do remember saying it," he told her, chuckling a little.

"Saying what?" Elizabeth asked.

"That I liked to keep it simple at Christmas."

She smiled and said, "I knew you remembered."

"But," he said, smoothing the curls away from her face, "That was because complicated had never been an enjoyable thing for me before. Now we have both my mother and father under the same roof, which I never would have believed could happen - and my mother's boyfriend and probably soon-to-be husband, which I can still hardly say without wincing a little - and the daughter and granddaughter of a man I very recently put in prison..." He shook his head. "That does not sound like the makings of a pleasant dinner party."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "And we just had a lovely time together, all of us, didn't we?"

Nathan nodded. "Surprisingly civilized," he said. "So, I take back my desire to keep things simple. I'm starting to think that life isn't meant to be simple."

"Well, ours certainly hasn't been," Elizabeth said softly. She pulled away and looked up at him, tracing his strong jaw and chin lightly with her fingers. "But in other ways, it's elegantly simple. I love you. That's the simplest phrase of all, and it drives everything else."

Nathan sighed. "I'm going to remind you to write that in your journal tonight. That was nicely said."

Elizabeth laughed. "Oh, my journal these days is a jumble of wild and not-very-well-expressed thoughts." She sat up and looked at him. "I can't explain it, but it really is like there are three of us in here," she tapped her forehead. "I remember with Jack that I felt I knew him already when he was born, because he'd made an impression on my mind somehow. And now with two of them... sometimes I can't keep a thought straight in my head for more than a minute." She laughed. "It's like they're having discussions long into the night, and I'm just listening somehow." She shook her head. "I know I sound insane. I probably shouldn't be trusted with teaching children..."

"Of course you should," Nathan said laughing softly. "You're doing a lot right now. You need to remember that, and give yourself a break."

Elizabeth turned to him. "I love being able to tell you all this. To be able to sound crazy."

"You don't sound crazy. I'm in awe of your sanity, Elizabeth." He laughed softly. "If that was happening to me..." He raised his eyebrows, speechless.

Elizabeth laughed. "I have heard that if men had to give birth, the human race might not continue."

"Don't laugh," Nathan said. "I think that's true."

Elizabeth toyed with his suspender. "Big, brave Mountie."

Nathan laughed. "Give me a stage robbery any day. Just don't ask me to do what you're doing." His eyes met hers and held there for a moment, then he said, "It really is such a miracle. I can't get over it. And once they're here, and we're holding them, I don't think I'll understand it any better." He looked at her. "How can I love them already? I do. And I thought I couldn't love you more than I did. But I do."

Nathan laid his hand gently on the rise of her stomach, and then he kissed her, at first softly. As she felt the heat on his lips, Elizabeth responded. Suddenly, Nathan pulled away and looked down at his hand. Elizabeth was giggling softly. "Did I do that?" he said, his eyes wide.

"Yes, I think so," she said, feeling them kicking. She looked up from under her lashes at Nathan and spoke softly as her cheeks went pink. "They seem to know what I'm feeling. Sometimes I get upset and so do they."

Nathan kissed her and said softly, "I didn't get the feeling you were upset, angel."

Elizabeth felt her cheeks go from pink to red. She rolled her eyes, "Honestly! I have absolutely no secrets from you. It isn't fair." She tried to cross her arms around her middle and failed miserably, ending up with them somewhere under her chin.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and smiled at him. "We need to talk about plans, starting with Jack's birthday tomorrow," she said.

Nathan smiled and kissed her cheek, his eyes twinkling. "Whatever you want."

Elizabeth was suddenly all business and she felt herself regaining some composure. "So, the question is, when do you want to have the party for Jack? We have the gathering at Lee and Rosemary's in the early evening, and then the Candlelight Service at the church at eight. So the evening is already full. But Jessie and Allie want to go riding tomorrow, and Archie is going with them. Add that to family breakfast, and that pretty much takes care of the daytime, unless we have Jack's birthday the minute we wake up."

Elizabeth looked over at Nathan. "Jack's two. He won't know when we're celebrating his birthday, and I think it would be nice to have more than just the family running in from somewhere, and on their way to somewhere else. Should we do it on Christmas Day instead?"

Nathan exhaled. "This is going to be a challenge every year. I think it would be nice if we could do it on his actual birthday. Do you think Rosemary and Lee would mind if we combined it with their party?" Nathan asked.

Elizabeth shrugged and smiled at him. "That could work. Let me ask Rosemary. Actually, I think they'd love it."

Grinning, Nathan said, "Problem solved. Next?"

Elizabeth turned and ran her fingers through his hair. "I would just like to go on record as saying that you're navigating the dangerous waters of a pregnant wife with great skill."

Nathan raised his eyebrows and grimaced. "I'm glad to hear it. You can be a little..." He struggled for the right word.

"Moody? Cranky? Unkind?" Elizabeth said.

"I was going to say, changeable," he said gently. "And you're never unkind, Elizabeth. That's just not in your nature."

"We still have two months to go..." she said, raising her eyebrow.

Nathan laughed. "I'm still not worried."

Suddenly she looked right into his eyes. Her hand was still at his temple, stroking his hair. "I wish you could be there," she said.

"Be where, angel?" he said. "I'll be wherever you need me to be."

Elizabeth frowned and looked down. "You can't be if I'm in a hospital. If I had the babies here, you could be in the bedroom with me, holding my hand, talking to me. But Carson said it's not allowed in the hospital." She looked up into Nathan's eyes. "Would you want to be there, if you could?"

Nathan took a deep breath, and when she saw what was in his eyes, she was immediately sorry she asked. She put her hand on his cheek and quickly said, "No, that was selfish of me. I shouldn't have put you in a position to answer that question."

Nathan frowned. "Just give me a moment, angel." He blinked and she could see him switching from raw emotion to logic. "Yes. I would want to be with you. Holding your hand, talking to you. I would want to see our children the very moment they come into the world."

Elizabeth looked down, suddenly focused on a tassel on the pillow. "Thank you," she whispered. "That's enough for now. I just know that I'm going to want you near, but Carson said if it's difficult, they sometimes use ether, and I might not even be..."

"Elizabeth, stop," Nathan said softly, lifting her chin. He looked into her eyes. "It's all going to be alright. I can see it now, too."

And just like that, they'd switched places. Elizabeth was afraid, and Nathan was confident. Elizabeth smiled and said softly, "A convert. First believing in signs, and now this..." She leaned up and kissed him. "Thank you for being strong when I'm not."

Nathan laughed softly. "You've certainly done that enough for me," he said.

Rebecca hadn't meant to listen, but for a moment after she'd stepped through the door, she'd thought she might be needed. She remembered so well what it felt like to carry two babies, how her moods were on a roller coaster, trying not to look at statistics, struggling to have faith.

So she'd stood ready in the doorway just in case. But now she backed out silently. She would talk to Elizabeth in the next day or two and ease her mind, give her support. But for right now, Rebecca could leave Elizabeth in her son's very capable hands.

Listening to Nathan and Elizabeth was actually a good counterpoint to having asked her husband of thirty-seven years for a divorce. She and Archie had been so in love and so headstrong when they'd married that they knew nothing about negotiation or shifting priorities. What they knew how to do was fight loudly and then make up passionately.

Archie could have learned a lot from his son. And she could learn a lot from Elizabeth, Rebecca thought. Suddenly, she had an overwhelming desire to be married again, and to do it right this time. She'd certainly made enough mistakes, and she hoped she'd learned from them.

With that desire came a need to tell Charlie. Not to wait two days for some paperwork wrapped under the tree. He'd been asking for years, he'd waited long enough. But before she could find him, he found her.

"You listening at doors?" Charlie said, coming around the corner.

"No," Rebecca huffed. "I thought I might be needed, but it turned out I wasn't." She put her arm through Charlie's and walked out to the front room. "No Christmas trees in Airdrie this year. So strange," she said, leading him over to the tree and putting her nose down to a branch full of fresh needles. "Smells so nice."

Charlie smiled. "What's nice is not to have to drag them in and out of the house this year. We can enjoy this one just fine."

Nodding, Rebecca said, "Best of both worlds." She turned to Charlie. "You okay? Too much commotion?"

Charlie squeezed her arm warmly. "Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself." He nodded. "And these are good people."

"But you're still headed over to the livery, aren't you?" Rebecca said, raising an eyebrow.

Charlie smiled. "What makes you think that?"

Laughing, Rebecca said, "You have one foot out the door already. You want to go talk to Kevin and find out what sorts of alloys he uses in his horseshoes, or some other nonsense."

Charlie laughed too. "You almost got that right. You've been paying attention."

"Not intentionally," she said, making a face. She pulled his coat down from the rack at the front door and said, "You go. I'll say goodbye for you. The host and hostess are indisposed at present." After Charlie put on his coat, she straightened his collar and looped his scarf around his neck while he got his hat on.

"Breakfast at seven," she said, softly, fussing with his buttons.

Charlie frowned. "What's got into you?"

Rebecca looked him in the eye. "Well, I have something to tell you, and I'm nervous about it." She saw the look in his eyes and said, "Not a bad nervous. A sort of shy nervous."

Charlie just looked at her, slightly exasperated. "What are you trying to say, woman?"

Rebecca stood tall, which was just about eye-to-eye with Charlie. "Yes," she said firmly.

Charlie shook his head, confused. "Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you."

Rebecca thought he might have turned to stone, except for the fact that his eyelids were blinking.

"Did you hear me?" she said.

Charlie leaned in and whispered, "I've asked you to marry me in some of the most beautiful and sacred places in Airdrie. With flowers and music. Poetry. Barbecue Ribs. I've tried everything. For years. And you're saying yes to me by the front door of Nathan's house after dinner with a bunch of people talking in the other room?"

Rebecca stood firm. "Yep. Take it or leave it."

A grin blossomed over Charlie's weathered face. "I'll take it."

Rebecca smiled back. She turned and looked at everyone in conversation in the other rooms. No one was paying attention. So she took Charlie's face in her hands and kissed him, full on the lips, rendering him speechless.

"Now go, old man, and talk about horseshoes."

Charlie winked at her and went out. Rebecca closed the door and leaned against it, catching her breath.

It was only then that she saw Archie all the way across the room, talking to Stella. For a moment, their eyes met. Archie gave her a genuine smile and nodded. She nodded back.

Thirty-seven years, Rebecca thought. And now a new beginning.