"Dorcas!" Emma said, truly surprised to see her cousin ride up in her carriage. "What brings you to Lark Rise?"

Stopping and tying up the horse, Dorcas got down from the cart and made her way to where Emma was hanging out wash. She greeted her cousin with a bright grin.

"Oh, Emma," Dorcas said, "I have news."

Emma could tell that Dorcas was clearly excited about something. She hadn't seen her beaming like this in years and she wondered what could have happened.

"Well, let's go inside and have some tea," Emma said, smiling as she took Dorcas' arm in hers.

Once in the Timmins house, Dorcas insisted on helping her cousin make a fresh pot of tea. Then, when the women sat down to talk, she took Emma's hand in hers.

"Emma," Dorcas said quietly, "I need you to keep this strictly between the two of us."

"Of course," Emma assured her. "Dorcas, are you all right?"

Dorcas hesitated a short bit before fixing her cousin with a sheepish gaze.

"Yes, I think I am," she told Emma. Then she let her trademark grin play at the corner of her mouth. "I think… Gabriel and I will… Well…"

She needed a minute to gather herself before continuing.

"I think I am… That we are..."

Emma, who'd made many of these speeches herself, needed to hear no more.

"Oh, Dorcas! I'm so happy for you! How wonderful!"

Dorcas, a bit embarrassed at this outpouring of affection on her account, blushed and looked down at her lap. But Emma was not to be put off.

"Can I ask?" Emma began, "How… How long you've… known?"

"About a month or so," Dorcas said, still somewhat uneasy revealing this news to anyone. She looked into her cousin's tender blue eyes. "Emma, it's all so new to me."

"Have you told Gabriel?" Emma asked, taking Dorcas' hand in hers.

"No," Dorcas said, "Not yet. I want to be sure. It may not be… what I hope for… right now. I do not want to give Gabriel false hope."

Emma gave Dorcas a gentle hug just then.

"You will make a wonderful mother," she told her cousin, "if that is what's meant to be. And I think it is."

Dorcas blushed again. These sorts of intimate conversations were not what she was used to; they left her feeling a bit at loose ends. But she couldn't keep herself from smiling at Emma, who she truly loved. If she were pregnant, Emma would be there for her - this, Dorcas absolutely knew.

"Well," Dorcas said primly as Emma poured them each a cup of tea, "we shall see, then, hm?"