When Calls the Heart doesn't belong to me
To Love Again
Elizabeth Thatcher checked on the table on last time and then went back to the sitting where her fiancé Jack Thornton was putting a record in her ancient record player. A few seconds later Michael Holiday's Yellow Rose of Texas filled the room. Elizabeth loved that song and she had listened to various versions of it but in her book no one came close to Michael Holiday especially on the LPs.
As she passed by him, Jack pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "Have I told you how much I love you?" he asked her.
"Not in the last twenty or thirty minutes," she responded breathlessly. She loved this man.
"Let me remedy that right now," Jack said, "I love you Elizabeth Thatcher soon to Mrs. Thornton."
"I can't believe it's only a week to the wedding," she told. "When we got engaged a year ago I never thought this day would come."
"I'm sorry I had to go away so soon after our engagement," Jack said, "I should have turned down that assignment."
"And miss the huge promotion and not to mention all the accolades that came with it?" Elizabeth teased him, "no way, Sir. If you hadn't gone on that trip the world would never have found that there were that many diatoms and chrysophytes in the ocean and it would still be damaged without your clean-up crew." Jack worked with e biology department at the university and since his ten-month trip to the bottom of the Indian Ocean he had been given tenure and would become an associate professor and Elizabeth couldn't be happier for him although she hoped that after they got married his fieldwork wouldn't take him away from her for such long periods of time.
"There is that," Jack agreed, "and for some reason the funders really wanted me on that trip."
"Of course they did," Elizabeth retorted, "you're the best at what you did."
"Maybe," he smiled at her, and Elizabeth knew that she would never love another man as much as she loved Jack. "But it's good to be back on dry land and like I promised you, I tend to stay here with you save for occasional dives to see what's lurking in the waters."
"As long as you come home every night," Elizabeth said, "and you don't expect me to join you."
"I thought you liked it," Jack told her.
"It's not that I don't like it," Elizabeth replied, "But I much prefer to be on solid ground not wondering if next big fish will decide to knock against our vessel for the fun of it."
000
The guests started arriving soon after that; Julie and Violet, Elizabeth's sisters were the first to arrive followed by Tom, Jack's brother along with his date Faith Carter, then Nathan Grant and Gabe Kinslow, Jack's friends from the university, Rosemary LeVeaux, Elizabeth's best friend and her boyfriend Leland Coulter. Jack and Elizabeth were hosting a small party with their friends before the official wedding week began.
Jack and Elizabeth were going to get married in Hawaii and the whole wedding party of about fifty people give or take, were traveling to Hawaii two days later to enjoy all the delights that it had to offer before the actual wedding on Saturday.
When they'd just started dating Elizabeth and Jack had gone on a trip to Hawaii, actually Elizabeth had tagged along on a field trip with some of Jack's students and they fallen in love with the island and decided that they would get married there. Now, four years later, they were going to have their dream destination wedding and they both couldn't wait.
One year later
Elizabeth Thornton gently shhed Little Jack or LJ, as his father called willing him to go back to sleep. Little Jack usually went right to sleep after feeding but today for some reason he had refused to sleep. As she sang softly to him and stared at her beautiful boy she wondered at the fact she was even had a child. It was truly a miracle.
When Elizabeth had discussed that she was pregnant she'd been overjoyed. A honeymoon baby, all her friends had teased her, and it had been. She had told Jack as soon as she'd confirmed it with her doctor, Cat Montgomery. Everything had been fine in the first and second trimester but sometime in her thirty ninth week Elizabeth had started gaining weight rather rapidly and while she had laughed about it at first Cat hadn't seen it as just another symptom of pregnant; she had called in Elizabeth for further tests and told them that she suspected that Elizabeth might have preeclampsia. The rest of the time until Elizabeth delivered she had been under careful monitoring and even when the time came Cat had told them that it would better for Elizabeth and the child if she had a caesarian instead of attempting to do it naturally.
It was still early afternoon; and with Jack being away at a conference and not due to return until the next day, she was surprised when a university van drove to the front of her house. She watched as the van was parked and Nathan got out and made his way slowly to the house.
She had met Nathan only a handful of times; he was a quiet man and they'd never really exchanged more than a greeting so she was a bit surprised to see him at their home. She walked to the front door to let him in and the smile she had plastered on her face slipped as she took in his appearance. Whatever he had come to tell her clearly wasn't good but she still couldn't imagine what it could be.
Jack had gone to attend a conference in Wilmington Island and as part of the conference activities they had had a day trip to Beaufort Sea to see the beautiful wildlife especially the birds; long story short they had been involved in an accident and the officials at Wilmington had called to inform Jack's institution.
"Are they fine?" Elizabeth asked Nathan.
"That's all the news we've received so far," he replied, wondering why it had been him and not Gabe in the office when they'd received the news. Gabe had a better bedside manner and he didn't struggle with an unwanted and unneeded attraction to his friend's wife.
"Thank you for coming to tell me," Elizabeth told, her tone clearly dismissing him. She had to call Julie and ask her to take care of Jack and then she was going to the university to talk to Dr. Bill Avery, the dean of Jack's school. He would tell her everything.
000
Jack's body, as well as those of the two assistants that he had traveled with to Wilmington Island were returned home two days later – the longest two days of Elizabeth's life; but her parents, her sister, Rosemary, Dr. Montgomery and even Faith who had become a close friend had been there for her; and the love of her life had been buried three days later.
Just like that her life had changed.
Elizabeth still couldn't believe how quickly her life had changed; one moment she was a landscape artist, a mother, happily married to the man of her dreams and then now a single mother who had to be strong for the sake of LJ.
At least, she consoled herself, she'd had a chance at a great love, and it would have to be enough to sustain her for the rest of her life.
0000