"I think I prefer working with wood," Nathan commented as he looked down at the start of their gingerbread creation. Though there were four walls up, they were all leaning slightly to the left. Now Nathan didn't pretend to be an expert in house construction, real ones or ones made out of cake, but he knew enough to know that if the foundation of something wasn't strong then things weren't going to turn out well.
Beside him, piping bag of icing in her hands, Ally looked at the start of their creation as well. "I don't think it's supposed to do that."
Elizabeth chuckled. "It's okay," she said. "That's what I brought the jars for," she said, reaching into one of the wooden boxes of supplies she had brought with them and drawing out several jars. "We'll use them to hold the walls up straighter while the icing hardens a little," she explained to her two fellow builders.
Gently moving the leaning walls of their creation to an upright position, Elizabeth instructed Nathan where to place the jars.
"There we go. It's standing straight."
"For now," Ally said skeptically.
Elizabeth smiled at the girl. "It'll be fine," she said confidently. "The fact that you want to turn this into a log house will help as well as we'll need to cover the outside of the walls with frosting so we can stick the pretzel rods to them."
"A task which I am allowing you to undertake, Elizabeth, because if I try to cover the walls with frosting I am sure to knock the whole thing down," Nathan informed her.
"In that case, build the rest of the walls," Elizabeth told him, pointing toward the gingerbread pieces they had cut out the night before.
"Yes, ma'am," Nathan said. He looked over at Ally. "Is my icing person ready?"
"Yep," Ally replied, as she started applying icing to the edge of the piece of gingerbread Nathan now held.
The trio went about building their gingerbread creation, joking and laughing as they did so. Eventually, the structure stood, minus the roof, at which point Elizabeth began to smear frosting on the outside walls. Nathan found himself holding his breath, convinced the thing would crumble right before their eyes. However, with Elizabeth's gentle and expert touch, the brown walls turned white before their eyes.
"Okay, let's get to logging," Elizabeth told them as she straightened up. "Just be careful not to press too hard," she cautioned Ally as the girl picked up a pretzel log.
Ally nodded and she set about the task.
"I'm going to grab some punch," Elizabeth told Nathan. As most of the gingerbread house builders were going to be in and out of the saloon that afternoon, Lucas had set up a table with punch, some vegetables, cheeses, crackers and finger sandwiches for them to enjoy as they needed refreshments. "Do you want some?"
"Yes, but I can get it for us," Nathan offered.
"Ever the gentleman," Elizabeth said softly reaching up to place a hand softly against his cheek. "But stay and help Ally put the 'logs' on the walls. A little time of just the two of you will make this more special for her," she added.
Nathan nodded as Elizabeth turned to slip out of the sheet hiding their creation from the view of the others. Though the judging would take place tomorrow morning, the gingerbread houses would be hidden from view until the Christmas Eve dinner. Around her, she could hear chatter and laughter coming from behind the other sheets set up. Elizabeth was happy that so many people seemed to be having fun.
At the refreshment table Elizabeth met up with Clara and Jesse.
"Taking a break?" Clara asked Elizabeth as the latter filled a cup with punch.
"I thought I'd give Ally some time alone with Nathan," she replied. "How are you two coming along?"
Elizabeth didn't miss Jesse's cringe at the question as she took a sip of punch.
"Let's just say we're getting some fuel before starting our third attempt," Clara replied. "We're going small this time. It might not be something fancy but I want to be able to see a house standing that Jesse and I built, come the community dinner."
"Third attempt?"
"I may have accidently knocked down the first two," Jesse said sheepishly.
"Apparently it's a good thing you cut down trees for me then," Lee interjected joining the little group. "We want the trees to fall down."
Elizabeth and Clara laughed at Lee's joke. Jesse just shot a look at his boss.
"So how are Rosemary and Petersons' doing with their creation?" Elizabeth asked Lee.
"Well, the girls are having a lot of fun. I can't be sure about Brian. Though he hasn't knocked anything over yet, when I checked in on them he looked petrified that he might."
"Yeah, Nathan is a bit worried about that as well," Elizabeth admitted. "No major catastrophes so far though."
"Wish I could claim the same," Jesse commented. "Though I have to say the catastrophe that didn't end up on the floor did taste good."
Clara swatted her husband's arm. "Are you ready to try again?"
"I guess so," Jesse said, not looking at all ready.
"You know what they say, third time is the charm," Lee told the younger man as he and Clara headed toward their curtained off area.
"Let's hope," Jesse replied leaving Lee and Elizabeth to chuckle.
Lee and Elizabeth chatted while they both got refreshments for their respective builders. As they did so, Lucas appeared.
"These might make it easier to carrying things," Lucas stated, placing two of his serving trays on the table, one near Elizabeth and one near Lee.
"Assuming I don't drop the whole tray, yes it will," Lee replied.
"Thanks, Lucas," Elizabeth said, placing her three cups of punch and plate of an assortment of the food on the tray near her.
"Just trying to serve my decorators," Lucas commented.
"Wish me luck," Lee said, carefully picking up his tray.
Elizabeth chuckled as Lee headed toward where Rosemary and the Petersons were working. Looking around the saloon, Elizabeth commented, "it looks like you've already got the decorating part down."
Lucas glanced around. "Yes, it looks festive, but the gingerbread houses will finish it off. I'll have to move them before the dinner so they're closer together," he commented looking around at the sheet partitioned room. "However, I will do that after the judging tomorrow and after I'm sure Carson has a picture of each house. I'm sure my moving crew will be careful, but should anything happen in the process I want the judging to be done."
"A wise precaution," Elizabeth commented. "I should get back to work."
"Of course," Lucas said. "Have fun."
"We are," Elizabeth assured him as she picked up her tray.
Later that evening, the Coulters and the Petersons were gathered around the table eating dinner. Bridget and Ivy were chatting about the plans for the next day. Everyone had been invited over to Elizabeth's for lunch and cake for Little Jack's second birthday. Then there was the concert, followed by the community dinner where the winners of the Gingerbread House Concert would be announced. To say the girls were excited, was putting things mildly.
Because of the girls' enthusiasm, no one noticed how quiet Brian was at first. It was Rosemary who eventually noticed that the young man had barely touched the food on his plate.
"Is there something wrong with the food?" Rosemary asked when there was a pause in the conversation.
"No, it's fine," Brian replied, looking down at the plate as if taking it in for the first time. "I'm just not that hungry."
"You do look a little pale," Rosemary commented. "Perhaps Lee should go get Carson."
"No," Brian said shaking his head and regretting the movement as his head hurt more with the motion. He didn't want the doctor up here fussing over him. "I think I just need to lie down for a bit. Please excuse me," he said, pushing the chair back from the table.
"Of course," Rosemary said.
"Let me walk you upstairs," Lee said, getting to his feet.
"It's not necessary," Brian told him.
"Maybe not, but I'd rather play it safe," Lee told him, coming around the table.
Brian didn't bother with a further protest as he headed slowly for the steps. As both his head and stomach seemed to protest even that moment, he thought that perhaps Lee's insistence was probably prudent. Behind him, he heard Rosemary trying to distract his sisters.
As he went up the steps, Brian was aware of Lee's presence only a step behind him. He wondered if he looked as bad as he felt.
"I had been thinking about laying down fro a bit before dinner," Brian commented. "Maybe I should have gone with that instinct."
"I suffered a head injury myself awhile back. I wasn't unconscious as long as you but I remember getting tired and dealing with headaches following it."
"I just hope these spells pass."
"I'm sure they will," Lee said trying to be optimistic even though medically he had no idea if the lingering effects would remain or go away. That was Carson's department. However, Lee figured a hopeful outlook couldn't hurt anything. "You just have to remember not to push yourself too much too soon," he told him as they reached the bedroom that Brian was using.
"I hope so," Brian replied. "Thanks for walking up with me."
"No problem," Lee told him as Brian entered the room.
Walking into the room, Brian headed straight for the bed. Sitting down on the edge he leaned over to untie his shoes. When the shoes and laces blurred together he sat up again. He blinked a few times, hoping it would clear his vision as it had other times. However, things still looked blurry.
Hoping that Rosemary would forgive shoes on the bed this one time, Brian laid down and closed his eyes. The aspirin was sitting on the night stand but he didn't even reach for them. He knew he probably should but right then all he wanted was to keep his eyes closed for a while. The one thing that he was sure of was that he couldn't miss the concert tomorrow. He had promised his sisters' he would perform with them. He might have failed them in other ways recently but he did not want to disappoint them that way.
He couldn't help but wonder if taking them away from Hope Valley, from the Coulters, would be disappointing them as well. Rosemary and Lee had taken in two frightened little girls when they had no one. This town had rallied around two little girls and made them feel a part of things. He had seen how Rosemary cared for them, from cooking breakfast in the morning to tucking them in at night.
What did he have to offer his sisters but a lonely house, another town full of strangers, a brother who had no clue how to raise children, and who had a profession that would take him away from them sometimes days at a time?
However, didn't he owe it to his mother to care for Bridget and Ivy now that she was no longer able to do that? Yet, he wasn't sure he was ready to give up on his own dreams to do that. Did that make him a horrible person?
Brian had plenty of questions. What he was short on were answers.
Next door, Elizabeth dressed Little Jack in warm night clothes following his bath.
"You are all clean for your big day tomorrow, Jack," Elizabeth told him, cuddling him close as she sat by the stove. "You're going to be two tomorrow, my sweet boy."
Little Jack looked up at her quizzically as if trying to understand what she was going on about.
"Two?" Little Jack said in an unsure voice.
"That's right," Elizabeth said. "Right now you are one year old," she told him holding up one finger. "Tomorrow you will turn two," she said, holding up an extra finger.
Little Jack stared at the fingers for a few minutes, looked up at her and then back at her fingers. The little boy then held up two of his own fingers, mimicking his mother.
"Two."
"Exactly," Elizabeth said, happily giving her boy a hug.
Elizabeth had no idea how much Little Jack comprehended. Not that it really mattered. All lessons had to start somewhere, just like his speech had started with a simple 'Mama' last Christmas.
So much had changed since that day almost a year ago. Last year, she had kept getting lost in melancholy spells. This year, had been full of laughter and memory making. She hadn't had time to feel melancholy.
Elizabeth caught sight of the diamond on her left hand and knew that was the difference. Not the ring, but the fact that Nathan and Ally were a part of he holiday this year in a way they hadn't been last year. Last year she had tried to figure out how to make the time special for her little boy who was turning one without his father around. However, it hadn't been Little Jack who was missing his father, but her. She had spent so much time dwelling on what Jack was missing that she'd had trouble enjoying her own time with their boy.
This year, she had simply allowed herself to enjoy the festivities with those who were here to share them with her. She had found the happiness that Jack had wanted for her by opening her heart up to accept Nathan's love.
Little Jack reached up and placed a little hand against her cheek.
"Be happy," he told her, looking up at her.
Elizabeth got the feeling that it was Jack speaking to her through their son.
~I am happy, Jack, ~ Elizabeth thought as she hugged her son close. ~That doesn't mean that I don't miss you, or that I didn't love you. You always have a place in my heart. Our love lives in our little boy, but I need to stay in the present and trying not to live in the past, for Little Jack's sake and my own.~
"How about we get you tucked into bed so Mama can get to bed. Tomorrow is a busy day," Elizabeth told Little Jack settling him on her hip as she got to her feet.
