Thank you everyone for the awesome reviews on my story! I enjoy writing it so much and wish that I was able to reply to every single one. Keep in mind when you read the beginning of this chapter that it is 2004:) I sure hope you enjoy this one,it took awhile to write it, there were some things that I wanted to get just right!

Chapter 61

Jack's land

The bouquet of flowers seemed to fall right into the hands of Elizabeth. She smiled and turned a very deep shade of red, mostly because she was still arm in arm with Jack. Of course all of Hope Valley had seen and they were all clapping and cheering, but were they cheering for Lee and Rosemary or because she was red as a lobster with the flowers in her hands?

The reception was a party that lasted until late in the night. Molly had baked them a gorgeous cake while Abigail took care of all the other food and both were perfect. Everything seemed to fall into place for the newly wed couple. All the way down to everyone sending them off on their honeymoon to Italy. Lee had recently bought a car, so he would drive them to Buxton, where they would ride the train until they came to the bigger part of Union City, where they were able to get on a plane to fly to Italy.

A couple weeks later, Elizabeth hurried home from school. Jack had asked here earlier in the week if she would like to have dinner with him, just the two of them. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to get extra dressed up more than usual for this evening. She picked her black dress that came right to her knees, she curled her hair and pulled it back with a clip. She made sure that she let some of the curls hang loosely around her face and neck. Putting hoop earrings in, she then grabbed the locket that Jack had given her. She pretty much wore it everywhere. Hearing the knock on the door, she grabbed her sweater and her purse. She opened the door and was greeted by her handsome sheriff.

"Wow Elizabeth, you look absolutely gorgeous!" His eyes let her know that he was very happy with the extra effort that she had put into her appearance for their date.

"You look very nice too Jack!" He had on a very nice black suit with a navy blue shirt underneath. He handed her a dozen tulips, her favorite, in all different colors.

"Thank you Jack, these are my favorite. How did you know?" He smiled at her with his dimples showing full.

"Now that would be a secret. So is it ok if we got to Abigail's tonight, I wasn't able to borrow a car to go to Buxton." Jack was hoping that she wasn't going to be to disappointed. He was so used to riding Sergent everywhere, because he was living alone. He was going to have to maybe get a car only a few people in Hope Valley used cars, believe it or not. Alot of people, because it was a town in the west, actually used wagons, they just found it easier with all the dust on the streets.

"Oh no, I don't mind at all. As long as we're together, that's all that matters." Elizabeth wasn't about to let him know how disappointed she really was. She wanted to be alone with him and even though everyone was their friends, she still didn't want loud conversation coming in between them. She did her best to hide the look that was on her face." Let me go put these in water and we can go." Walking into the kitchen, she thought how she was wishing that they were going out of town for dinner. It's not that she didn't love their friends, but it just wouldn't be the same. "Ok all ready to go." Elizabeth said goodbye to Scout and took the hand that was offered to her, with a smile to go along with it. Walking into town, she could see that everyone was closing up for the day, and hopefully not too many of them would be at the restaurant for dinner. Jack opened the door, and what she saw before her totally left her speechless.

"Jack this is beautiful." Abigail had obviously closed the restaurant for their special evening. All the lights were off, she had candles and fancy lanterns lit only all around the room. The room had such a romantic feel to it. She felt such happiness and contentment because she was going to spend the evening alone with Jack and it couldn't be more special.

"Yes but not nearly as beautiful as you." He came up behind her and whispered in her ear."I hope that you like it, I had a little help putting it all together. I thought you might enjoy a date where just the two of us were the only ones in the room. I know that you were trying to hide your disappointment when you heard that we were going out of town, but Elizabeth sweetheart, you are terrible at not showing your feelings:) I think we both needed a time that I can gaze into your gorgeous eyes and watch them sparkle." He pulled out her chair for her and they sat down at the table.

"This looks and smells delicious." Elizabeth was so very impressed how Jack had everything all worked out for this wonderful time.

"Abigail made a special dinner for us before she left, and I had some help decorating the room. You deserve this Elizabeth, for everything that you're doing for this town."She smiled at him as they started to eat their dinner.

"Elizabeth may I have this dance?" He stood up and offered her his hand once again.

"There's no music." She looked around for some sort of way that they could have some music to dance to.

" I thought maybe we could try this." He put his hand on her waist, joined hands with her and started swaying back and forth. All of a sudden, Jack started to hum the tune and then softly started to sing one of her favorite songs, Can't Help Falling in Love. Along with his talent of drawing, he also had a fabulous singing voice. As he sang, she laid her head on his shoulder. She felt so safe and happy when she was in his arms. They danced this way for about a half an hour, but it seemed like they were dancing forever.

"Hey since it's so nice outside this eveining, I was wondering if you would like to see how much progress that Lee and I are making on the homestead. Take a walk with me?" He offered her his hand for a third time tonight.

"I would like that very much." She took his hand and let him lead her outside into the crisp night air. They took their time walking since it was beautiful out, and since the days were getting longer, it was still light outside. They had an early supper, so they had plenty of time to walk to Jack's land. Soon they came to the homestead where things were coming together. She was amazed at how close they were to actually enclosing the house. They had gotten so much work done on the house, that they had already started on the barn and fence.

"Jack, what are all those smaller lights right over there?" She pointed to where she was referring to and started walking over about 500 ft in the direction of where they went camping.

"Hold on Elizabeth, let me go with you." He knew the area alot better than she did and didn't want anything to happen to her. When she got to the place of the light source, she looked down to see a log from a oak tree laying on the ground. There in the middle of the log, somoene had carved a heart, and in the heart were the initials J.T+ E.T.

"Jack what in the world? Who did this and where did it come from? Why is this on your land?" The questions just kept coming from Elizabeth. She turned around when she didn't get an answer, to make sure that he had followed her. He was standing there watching her. Instead of answering her question, he walked over and took both of her hands in his.

"Elizabeth, I've never been very good with words, but when I say the things that are in my heart, I find that it's so easy to put what I want to say into words. From the first moment we met, I knew that Heaven had sent an angel into my life" His voice started to quiver. "Elizabeth, you are my life and I never knew what was missing in my own life until we met. You have made me stronger as a man and a better person. My love for you grows more and more every single moment of everyday. I want it to be like this for the rest of my life, our lives. Elizabeth Thatcher, would do me the honor of becoming my wife and making me the happiest man in the world?" She watched as Jack got down on one knee and held out a ring of white gold. It had a larger princess cut diamond in the center. On one side was a sapphire for her birthstone and an opal for his birthday on the other a smaller diamond beside those on both sides. Tears started to form in her eyes.

"Jack you have always been there for me and I don't think that I could possibly love you more than I do right now." With that, the tears in her eyes started to fall in large drops. He wrapped his arms around her, held her and let her cry. When he heard the sobs subside a little, he whispered in her ear.

"Is that a yes? Raisinng her head, she looked into the eyes of this man that she loved so much.

"Of course I will, yes." With that he put the ring on her hand and they both looked at it on her hand.

"I love you Elizabeth."

"I love you too Jack." with that he covered the space between them and sealed their love with a kiss.