The five of them stood silently in front of the Thatcher home for a moment. They were in a neat line: first Nathan holding Jack, then Elizabeth, then Lucas, and finally, Julie.

Nathan exhaled. "It looks like a museum," he said, turning to Lucas.

"And you might find some artifacts inside," Julie said to Elizabeth, giggling. "Of the human kind."

Lucas' eyes were narrowed slightly as he took in the six massive white columns at the entrance of the Edwardian mansion. Julie said brightly, "You've seen bigger, haven't you?"

Lucas nodded, "Yes. In Germany," he said, looking at the abundant ivy that grew across the portico. "But I believe those were officially castles, and none of them had my potential future father-in-law inside."

Julie hugged his arm. "Oh, he won't bite." She looked at Nathan on her other side. "Perhaps you gentlemen are forgetting that Father doesn't hold sway over us anymore. Elizabeth and I are financially independent. We do what we want to do." She looked back at Lucas. "And we spend time with whomever we please." She squeezed Lucas' arm and said more softly. "I would like to have his blessing. But I don't need his permission."

Lucas leaned forward so he could see Nathan on the other side of Elizabeth. "Does that make this any easier, Nathan?"

Raising one eyebrow, Nathan shook his head slowly. "It... does... not." Jack pointed up at the ionic columns, which provided perfect perches for the chickadees and bluebirds that echoed loudly as they sang down to them. "Birds," Nathan said, and gave Jack a little whistle to make him laugh.

Elizabeth sighed loudly. "Well, while you're all debating the probability of my father biting someone, I need to sit down. Can we go inside, please?"

When you're as far advanced in pregnancy as Elizabeth, that sort of request gets everyone's attention. Immediately, she had Nathan on one side and Julie on the other, while Lucas carried her bags.

Julie pushed the front door open and called out, "Hello, the house!"

"Miss! How good to see you again!" A tall, balding, middle-aged gentleman wearing what looked like a full tuxedo complete with white gloves, approached them formally and bowed slightly.

"Collins!" Julie said, laughing. She threw her arms around the butler, who sighed, grinning. This egregious breach of etiquette appeared to be a common, but not entirely unwelcome, event for Mr. Collins.

"Ebullient as always, Miss Julie," Collins said.

He turned to Elizabeth and his eyes grew wide as saucers. "And Miss Elizabeth... excuse me..." he said, turning to Nathan as the most likely husband, "Mrs. Grant."

Collins was quick, Nathan had to give him that. Within seconds, he had assisted Elizabeth in lowering herself onto a small settee in the main hallway by the door. Before she could even think, Collins had a blanket across her lap and he was set to fetch her any conceivable beverage.

Elizabeth laughed. "I'm fine, Collins, really." She took a deep breath. "I just need to get off my feet once in a while."

Collins eyebrows seemed to be permanently pinned to his hairline. "Utterly understandable, Miss... Madam." Collins did not seem to be a man easily flustered, but it seemed that the twins had accomplished it.

"Darlings!" Within moments, Grace Thatcher was standing in the foyer with them, enveloped by a cloud of what everyone could only assume was very expensive French perfume. She was dressed appropriately for the opera or a fancy dinner.

Nathan took a breath, which was not easy, considering the sudden explosion of roses in the air around him. Jack made the face he liked to wear when cabbage was boiling in the kitchen, and Nathan laughed softly, kissing him on the neck. "Smart boy," Nathan said.

Nathan was wearing his best blue suit, the one he'd worn to Clara and Jesse's wedding, and he felt underdressed standing next to Collins. For a moment he felt a flash of slight panic and his gaze caught Elizabeth's. What he saw there calmed him immediately, and he looked back at her with soft blue eyes. He could almost hear her voice soothing him.

It's only a house, where people live. These are only clothes, that keep us warm. None of this matters. What matters is that I'm going to be in a hospital having our children, and we're all going to go back to Hope Valley, safe and together.

Nathan smiled warmly at her, his eyes full of love. He nodded and exhaled as Jack looked seriously back and forth between them. Nathan switched Jack from his left to his right arm and used the motion as an excuse to give Jack a much-needed hug.

Lucas and Julie were far more accustomed to this environment than Nathan, so they stepped forward as they promised they would do during the initial introductions.

"Lucas Bouchard, at your service, Mrs. Thatcher. How kind of you to have us here at your home." As Grace reached out her hand, Lucas took it, and then bowed to kiss it lightly. Nathan thought the only thing missing was a click of his heels.

Grace raised her eyebrows and her eyes sparkled, matching the diamond necklace and earrings she was wearing. "Oh, my, Mr. Bouchard. Un homme de sang Franรงais. I can see we will have much to talk about. You are quite charming."

Julie looked adoringly at Lucas, while talking to her mother. "Lucas is not of French blood, Mother. Only his name is French. But you're right, he is very charming."

Elizabeth looked up at Nathan and wiggled her eyebrows with a smile. Nathan stifled a laugh and reached his hand down to squeeze her shoulder in gratitude.

Grace peered at Julie after kissing her on both cheeks. "You look well, darling, though your freckles are showing," she said critically, running her thumb across Julie's face. "You look as if you've been spending far too much time in the out-of-doors."

Julie laughed. "Mother, don't start. You would be surprised at how splendid the outdoors can be." She turned and gazed at Lucas from under her eyelashes, "And some people like my freckles."

Sighing, Grace turned her attention to Elizabeth. She gasped delicately. "Well, Elizabeth. Are you certain it's only twins?"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes slightly. Anyone else could say the exact same thing to her and she would laugh and nod in agreement. But somehow, Grace made it sound like a flaw in her character that she was growing multiple children so robustly. Nathan's hand was still on her shoulder, and she squeezed it, moving forward on the settee in preparation for rising to meet her mother eye-to-eye.

Nathan hooked his arm through hers and did most of the lifting. Elizabeth found herself suddenly on her feet, and she put her arms around her mother. "It's good to see you again. It's been far too long, Mother."

"Yes, it has. It's been an age since you visited."

"The train goes both ways, Mother," Elizabeth said.

Nathan was frankly finding himself getting upset. Not for himself, but for the child he held in his arms. Comparisons aren't always fair, but Rebecca hadn't been able to refrain for a quarter of a minute from hugging and talking to Jack, and Jack wasn't even strictly her grandson yet.

Here was a woman who had never seen her two-year-old grandchild, and she was calmly moving down the line of visitors without the slightest urgency, almost as if it were a reception line for royalty. But now, as she turned to him, finally, Nathan thought he would see a spark of interest.

Jack might not have even existed in Nathan's arms. Grace kept her eyes on Nathan. "And you must be," she said, smiling benignly, "Constable Nathan Grant."

Grace put out her hand and Nathan did not bend down to kiss it. He shifted Jack and shook it gently, and then let go. "I've looked forward to meeting you, Mrs. Thatcher."

Waving her manicured and jewel laden hand, Grace said, "Oh, my dear, you must call me Grace. We're family."

Nathan raised his eyebrows and said in an even tone. "And I'm sure you'd like to meet another member of your family? Your grandson?"

Jack was eyeing her suspiciously, in the way children can do when they meet someone new. Nathan felt Jack's hand tighten slightly on his shoulder, a move he recognized when the boy was faced with another adult and was unwilling to be handed over. Nathan knew the power of that vice grip and again inwardly praised Jack's innate ability to recognize character.

The smile on Grace's face widened slightly but she didn't reach out to touch Jack. "Well, aren't you just precious," she said, in baby-talk. "Buttercup calls me 'Mimi,' and so shall you."

Elizabeth looked at her mother. "Buttercup?"

Grace's laugh was like the tinkle of a bell. "Well, you can't very well call a little girl of three Beatrice Sophia Victoria Grace, now can you?" Grace moved back toward Elizabeth, obviously satisfied with the length of time she'd spent with her grandson. "So we call the little darling Buttercup."

"Where is Viola?" Julie asked. Elizabeth sat back down, already feeling weary. She thought it had less to do with the twins and more to do with her mother.

Grace noticed, and said to Elizabeth, "Oh, darling, let's get you laid out on the sofa in the sitting room, and I'll tell you all about your sister and Sir Lionel and how they've taken the Hamilton social scene by storm!" She looked directly at Lucas and laughed lightly. "Can't all be standing around the foyer like the help, can we?" She moved quickly to thread her arm through Lucas' and began to lead everyone to the large room at the right of the front door.

By now, Collins had organized their luggage and was preparing to have the valet take them upstairs.

Elizabeth used Nathan's arm to stand again and reached out to touch Collins' arm. "We'll take the governess room downstairs, please, Collins. And can you move the small daybed in for Jack?"

Grace turned, a look of sheer horror on her face. "Elizabeth! You can't sleep in the governess room."

"Why not, Mother?" Elizabeth said, challenging her. "It's the perfect size, and I'm not walking up and down the grand staircase a hundred times a day. We'll be just fine in there. I love that room."

Narrowing her eyes, Grace said, "It's very close to the... kitchen, Elizabeth. Surely you'd be more comfortable upst..."

Elizabeth grinned at Nathan. "Good. I get cravings." She raised an eyebrow and spoke directly to Collins. "Don't suppose you have any pickled eggs?"

Collins suppressed a smile and said, "We might be able to accommodate you, Madam."

"Marshmallows?" Elizabeth said, hopefully.

Now Collins did break into a smile. "Those I know we have."

Grace frowned, looking from one to the other as if her daughter and her butler were speaking Greek to each other, and to make it worse, in a much too familiar fashion.

"Shall we?" Lucas said, fighting back a smile of his own. "Julie and I would love to tell you about our hope to travel to Paris. We thought you might have some suggestions for lodgings..."

Nathan caught Lucas' eye and nodded, just by a fraction. Lucas raised an eyebrow and smiled as if to say, I told you I'd have your back.

Thank you, Lucas, Nathan thought. He smiled to himself. Perhaps there's a use for all that charm after all.

"This is where your governess lived?" Nathan asked, looking around at a room that rivaled their Hope Valley living room for space and far outpaced it in opulence.

Elizabeth laughed as she got Jack changed and she washed his face. "Frau Bustenhaller was always lobbying for a better room. She didn't like the smells from the kitchen."

Nathan raised his nose in the air as if to give him a better whiff of any cooking aromas. "I smell freshly baked bread. Mmmm. How can that be bad?"

Smiling Elizabeth said, "I think it was more about a separation from the kitchen staff than about the smells." She sighed. "There's a hierarchy, even among the servants. I didn't understand it for a long time, but now I do. It's one of the reasons I had to leave here."

Elizabeth rummaged through their suitcase to find some of Jack's toys. "Are you ready to go play in the garden, my sweet boy? There's a little fountain for your duck and your boat, and you probably need a good run, after being all cooped up on that train for three days. You were so good in the car, and you didn't nibble on Grandma Grace's finger or anything!"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Her finger never actually got close enough to be in danger. And I believe her name is... Mimi," Nathan said, smiling and pulling Jack up on his shoulders.

Elizabeth laughed softly. "Mother isn't really a... child person," she said.

"So, Frau... Busten..."

"Bustenhaller. She was from Zurich. She smelled of cod liver oil and she looked just exactly as her name sounds," Elizabeth said, gathering up the things she wanted to take outside.

"Then Frau Bustenhaller... raised the three of you?" Nathan asked, opening the bedroom door.

Smiling, Elizabeth said, "It wasn't all bad. And certainly better than it would have been with Mother. Frau let us play hide-and-seek in the attic, and would bring us sweets when we weren't feeling well. I don't recall her ever raising her voice to us." Elizabeth laughed softly, remembering. "She would stand with her arms crossed, like this..." Elizabeth frowned deeply, making Nathan laugh. "...and believe me, we would settle down."

Elizabeth closed the bedroom door behind her and watched as Nathan expertly dodged the chandeliers with Jack.

"What time does your father get home from work?" Nathan asked.

Laughing, Elizabeth said, "That is the eternal question in this house. We never know. And it's unlikely that tonight will be any different from any other night." Elizabeth lowered her voice so they couldn't be heard in the sitting room as they approached. "Father used to say, stay longer, work harder and you'll always come out on top."

Nathan smiled. "Not exactly the golden rule, is it?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "According to Father, there is no golden rule in business."

They walked through the foyer again, this time on their way out to the gardens. Jack badly wanted to touch the fragile glass pendants that hung from the chandeliers, and it was lucky for Nathan they were far too high.

"Oh! My!" Grace said, rising to her feet and looking slightly alarmed. She frowned at Nathan, "What a... creative... way to carry a child."

Nathan blessed Grace with a crooked smile. "Jack thinks so."

Elizabeth looked over at him and tilted her head. He isn't nervous at all. Not even the way Jack was when he was here.

Nathan looked back at her and winked.

Pleasantly surprised, Elizabeth said, matter-of-factly, "We're going out to the garden." She looked at Julie and Lucas, who were sipping tea and nibbling on macaroons. Julie wrinkled her nose and smiled, nodding vigorously. Lucas raised an eyebrow and then grinned, holding up the macaroon in his hand.

As they worked their way toward the back of the house, Elizabeth touched Nathan's arm. He turned and raised his eyebrows. "What?" he said, opening the back door to the most exquisite open area he'd ever seen this side of the Calgary Botanical Gardens.

"You seem entirely comfortable here. How can that be?" Elizabeth asked, bewildered.

Nathan took a breath and reached up to move a wriggling Jack down to the perfectly manicured lawn. "I learned a long time ago that if you simply can't please someone, and you know you never will... it frees you up somehow. You can be completely yourself." He looked at Elizabeth as she watched Jack run toward the small fountain in the middle of the garden, carrying his wooden duck.

Nathan put his arm around her as they walked close enough to be sure Nathan could catch Jack should he accidentally tumble over the edge. He looked at Elizabeth.

"You love me, right?" he asked her, his eyes very blue.

She sighed. "More than you will ever know."

Nathan shrugged. "That's all that matters."

He grinned and shook his head. "And thank goodness Lucas is charming enough for both of us."