I know I should have said this sooner, but thank you to those who are reading and reviewing. You are all awesome!
Nathan gingerly helped Elizabeth back to bed and then went to call Carson. Allie had heard voices and had woken up. She stood in the doorway taking in the scene. Her father on the bed holding Elizabeth's hand as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Allie? So sorry we woke you. It's going to be okay, sweetie. I'm just having some premature labor pains. That's all."
But things were clearly not okay. Allie made a silent vow never to have children. It wasn't fair that women were forced to go through this pain and agony.
When Carson Shepherd arrived, he shooed Nathan and Allie from the room, examined Elizabeth and then allowed them back in.
Carson's face was grim but he sounded as though he were trying to sound positive.
"The contractions seemed to have slowed, so it's most likely false labor. The bleeding obviously is concerning though. We're just going to have to watch that. Try to get some sleep and I'll come back and check on you later this afternoon. You're going to need to go on bed rest, Elizabeth."
"What? Bed rest? For how long?"
"Probably for the remainder of the pregnancy, You're carrying twins, which is already risky. After tonight, I'm taking every precaution."
"Carson, I can't go on bed rest for almost two more months. I have two other young children. School doesn't end until the end of this week. There's just no possible way..."
Nathan tried his best to sound reassuring. "Julie and Allie are both here to help with Jack and Abbey. As for your classes, Laura is capable of handling them for a week. If not, Rosemary and Florence are around to help her out."
Carson left, Allie went back to her own room and Elizabeth and Nathan attempted to go back to sleep. When it came time for Nathan to get up to go and do his rounds, he said he would stay home with her instead.
"No, go ahead. I'll be fine. I don't need you to babysit me. Go and do your job."
"I can call Chris and have him do my rounds. He needs the experience," Nathan said.
Christopher Hartley was the Mountie who'd recently been assigned to Hope Valley to assist Nathan. He was young and good looking and many of Elizabeth's female students were swooning over him.
"Go! I'm planning a nice leisurely day in bed. It might be kind of relaxing, actually."
By the fourth day of her confinement, Elizabeth was so bored she wanted to scream.
She'd already gone through the stack of magazines Rosemary had brought over. Even books weren't holding her interest. Reading had been an escape valve for her since childhood. Yet her mind could not focus.
She wasn't used to lying around all day like this, unable to get out of bed except to go to the bathroom. Yet she knew she had to do it to keep her babies safe and healthy.
Around her, the hubbub of the house went on. She could hear Julie, Allie and the children downstairs at breakfast engaged in lively conversation. It pained her not to be there with them.
"Hey. How are you feeling? Julie walked Jack to school and took Abbey with her. I'm doing the wash today and making stew for supper," Allie said as she entered the room.
"Bless you. I'm sorry Allie. I know this isn't how you expected to spend your time away from school."
Allie sat down on the edge of the bed with a serious look on her face. "Mom, this probably is not the best time to tell you this. I'm not trying to upset you. It's just that we have the opportunity to talk alone since everyone else is gone..."
"Spill it Allie, what is it?"
"I don't want to go back to Edmonton in the fall. I've been thinking about this for a while. I miss home. I could live at home and help with the babies when they come."
"Alexandria Grant, you are not quitting school and that is not even up for discussion. You have such a bright future. Why on earth would you put all of that on hold?"
"Just hear me out. I thought I might help you and Laura in the classroom come September. That way you could spend more time at home and I could get some practical teaching experience. Then I'll enroll at the teacher training school in Union City in January,"
What Allie was suggesting made perfect sense. Elizabeth just wasn't sure how Nathan would feel about it.
"Okay. Just let me talk to your dad about it before you do. I'll soften him up for you a little."
Elizabeth then gave her daughter a soft kiss on the cheek. "I love you, you know that? Can you do me a favor. Can you go downstairs and get my writing journal? That's something I've been neglecting and now seems to be the perfect time to take it uo again."
When Nathan came home he found Elizabeth in their bedroom sitting up in a chair furiously writing.
"You're supposed to be on bed rest, not chair rest," he said.
"If I stayed in bed one more minute I was going to go bonkers. Carson stopped by today and said everything looks stable so far."
"So what are you writing about?" Nathan asked her.
"Oh, just some anecdotal stories about a family. The dad is a Mountie. The mom is a teacher and a writer. And they have beautiful, amusing children."
"Oh really? And is the Mountie husband more handsome than a film star?" Nathan asked.
"Much more handsome than anyone on the silver screen. Do you remember when Jack came home with the goat?" she asked.
"Who could forget? Is that one of the stories you're writing?"
A few months earlier, Jack had traded some baseball cards for a goat. He brought it home claiming they could make money off of it selling goat's milk.
At first Elizabeth had said absolutely not. They already had horses, a cow, chickens and two barn cats named Calico and Jericho. Keeping a goat was out of the question.
But when Jack flashed his baby blue eyes at her it was hard to say no sometimes. And when Abbey saw the goat and they gave it a name-Billy, there was no turning back.
"So are the kind of stories you want to tell?" Nathan said.
"Sure, why not? There's a lot of love and laughter in this family, Maybe that joy needs to be shared."
Nathan leaned over and kissed her. "You are a wonderful writer and no one can capture our family in print the way you can. Now get back in bed, young lady."
Six Weeks Later
When Elizabeth woke up this time in the middle of the night with labor pains she knew it was for real this time. It was still two weeks before her due date but Carson. had said twins often came early.
She woke up Nathan who called Carson and told him to meet them at the hospital in Buxton. Elizabeth would havre preferred having the babies at home, but in all likelihood she would need to have a C section which needed to be done in a hospital.
"So are we ready to do this?" she asked Nathan as she clutched his hand.
"Yep, These kids are ready to come into the world."
When Elizabeth woke up in the hospital she couldn't remember at first why she was there or what had happened. Then she felt the stitches in her abdomen. She wondered how one could go through such a profound experience and remember none of it.
Carson and Faith Shepherd were standing beside her bed, each of them holding a tiny bundle.
"Welcome back, Sleepyhead. Say hello to your daughter. And your son," Faith said.
Faith placed the tiny little girl in her mother's arms. "She's beautiful. Look,she has red hair just like Julie. So, where is Nathan?"
"In the waiting room. He'll be in here in a minute, The big, strong Mountie is a nervous wreck," Carson said.
Nathan Grant nearly had tears in his eyes when Carson handed him his son. He was smaller than his sister and had some trouble breathing when he was born, but seemed fine.
Nathan handed the baby back to Carson and kissed Elizabeth. "You did great."
"So, these children of ours need names," Elizabeth said.
Nathan said he had spoken to the kids on the telephone already and they had all given their input. Jack had suggested Baby Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Allie had gone with Heathcliff and Catherine. Abbey wanted Raggedy Ann and Andy.
In the end they decided on Colleen Juliette after Nathan's sister and Elizabeth's. The boy would be Nathaniel William after his father, his grandfather and Bill Avery.
His parents began to call him Will almost immediately.
Elizabeth held her daughter to her chest, blissfully happy while Nathan held their son.
"Welcome to the world, Colleen and Will Grant," she whispered quietly.
Author's Note: The twins birth was originally intended be more dramatic, but I decided to forgo that. Also, in my head the twins were supposed to be two girls. I just decidedNathan needed a son of hisown and Jack needed a brother!