Now nearly four months' pregnant, Dorcas was only starting to show. And she was still in robust health. This both pleased and troubled her husband.

A light snowfall blew into Candleford on this night as Gabriel lay awake, his mind consumed with thoughts of his growing family. Nearly one year prior, he'd been a widower; now he was a husband and expectant father with a wife and a pre-teen son, both of whom he dearly loved.

And, oh yes, those terrier pups who refused to leave his wife's side during her waking hours.

The fire crackled and popped as Gabriel stared up at the ceiling. Beside him, Dorcas slept silently. At length, she moaned softly and turned over to unconsciously embrace her husband, tenderly tossing an arm across him.

"Mmmmhhmmm…" she groaned quietly, nestling her head against Gabriel's strong chest.

Her husband nuzzled Dorcas' forehead as she slept. The thought of his wife carrying their child filled him with both love and a need to protect all that which was now his.

Gabriel heard a creaking noise on the stairs and, carefully rising from the bed, got up to investigate.

A small figure made its way down the staircase. Gabriel watched it move quietly and deliberately towards the kitchen area. Once there, it took out the remnants of the Banbury cake the family had enjoyed after dinner earlier in the evening.

"Sydney?"

Gabriel addressed his adoptive son kindly. The boy, caught in the act of a midnight's snacking, rubbed at his eyes, trying to make out his father.

"Pa?" Sydney said. Then, seeing Gabriel in the doorway watching him, the boy smiled sheepishly. "Sorry… I was just… I got hungry. Snacks are my one weakness, kind of like Ma has, you know?"

Gabriel smiled, joining his son at the kitchen table.

"So many one weaknesses," he told Sydney. "I shall never understand them all. And I find that delightful, really."

Sydney grinned.

"Ma must be the weakest person on Earth, then, shouldn't she?" he asked Gabriel, obviously joking.

Patting his son on the shoulder, Gabriel grinned back at Sydney.

"When you put it that way," Gabriel said quietly, "I suppose I must agree, son. But we both know your ma is really the strongest woman in Candleford. Or in most parts nearby."

Sydney took a bite of cake.

"She is, Pa."

Then the boy's eyes went wide. Gabriel, noting the change, turned to see Dorcas standing in the doorway, watching the both of them. Her four-legged boys stood guard at her feet, wagging their tails at the sight of Gabriel and Sydney at the table.

"Well," Dorcas said, stifling a yawn as she forced a grin at the two-legged men in her life, "i see I am the topic of conversation. I must confess that this sort of thing is … rather new to me."

Now she fixed Sydney's eyes with her own.

"What have I missed?" she asked her boy. Sydney nearly choked on his Banbury cake.

Gabriel rose from his chair, offering it to his wife. Dorcas took it, her green eyes steady as she gazed up into her husband's gentle face.

"We were singing your praises, my love," Gabriel told her honestly. "Surely you know our son and I adore you. We would never do anything to worry you."

Dorcas, who'd taken Sydney's small hand in hers, glanced up at Gabriel. Her grin told him she was eager for the two of them to return to their own quarters as soon as possible.

"That I do," she said, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth. "But I also see that the Banbury cake may be gone by morning. And that, my dear, leaves me in quite a state."

"Banbury cake is one of your one weaknesses, isn't it, Ma?" Sydney asked.

"It is," Dorcas agreed, winking at her son in the firelight, "and I think it may be your brother or sister's one weakness as well, hm?"