The flight back to Seattle was easy. Elizabeth and Jack spent a good chunk of the time making their packing list for Haiti. Just a few short days and they'd be on another plane on their way back to the island.
Rosie picked them up from the Seattle Airport and immediately began peppering them with questions.
"Did you win him over?"
"Not quite," Jack sighed.
"We didn't make it worse though."
"That is true. I don't know. We may have made a baby step or two closer. Time will tell."
Rosie drove right past the exit to Jack's apartment.
"Rosie, where are we going?"
"Oh right! Mom said when I picked you up we should head to the cabin."
"Why's that?"
"Beats me! Just following orders." Rosie giggled as she playfully saluted in the rearview mirror.
Thirty minutes later they pulled down the winding road up the mountain to their father's cabin.
Tom was standing outside near the woodpile stacking wood that he'd apparently just cut.
"Welcome back, man," Tom said as they all stepped outside of the car.
"Thanks, Tom. Where's mom?"
"Inside. She's got something to tell us all about."
"Alright," Jack said. "And neither of you know what it is?" His siblings shook their heads. "Is she okay?"
"I guess," Tom shrugged. "She's in there looking at Dad's old stuff."
Jack was worried, so he hurried inside to see Charlotte.
"Mom?" She was standing at a small table, rummaging through a box of papers and pictures. "You okay?"
"Jack! Welcome back. Do you remember this?"
He took the picture she handed him and he smiled. "This was my 8th birthday."
"It was. All you wanted was to go ice fishing with your father."
"It was a good day." He looked back down at the picture. It was him, Tom, Rosie and their father. "I miss him."
"Me too. Every single day."
Jack wiped away a few years that fell down his mom's cheek. "Mom, you sure you're alright?"
She looked out the window and saw Lee pulling up.
"Get your siblings and Lizzie. Let's talk."
He did as he was told and soon the boys stood while Elizabeth and Rosie sat in the two old chairs that remained in the cabin. Charlotte was standing in front of them.
"Oh, I love you all," Charlotte smiled at them. "Lee, Lizzie, I'm so glad you came into our family. I'm sure you both know how special this place is for us. Before this became the place you and Jack got engaged, or the place Rosie told you she loved you, Lee, this was my Tom's safe haven."
"Oh my goodness!" Rosie exclaimed. "Are you dying too?"
"What?" Charlotte shrieked. "No! For Pete's sake, child!" she laughed. "I'm not dying! Well not now anyway, but I am thinking it's high time we do something with this old place."
"What do you mean?" Jack asked.
"I've kept this place up like a shrine to your father, not wanting to move anything or let it be anything other than your father's haven. His favorite place to bring all of us. It's not fair, and it's not what he would have wanted."
"So what are you going to do?" Tom asked. "Move in here?"
"No, I love our home too much. I want this place to belong to you guys. How ever that looks, as long as it makes you happy."
With that, she grabbed her jacket off the back of a chair.
"I'm going for a little walk. You guys have some thinking to do."
….
After five minutes of complete silence, Tom walked over to the front window.
"She's gone. Where did she go?"
"For a walk, Tommy," Rosie said rolling her eyes. "Don't you ever listen?"
"I'm sorry, are you talking?" he mocked.
"Enough you two," Jack, ever the older brother spoke up. "Knowing Mom, she's not coming back until she thinks we've made a decision, so maybe we should do what we were told."
"Alright, so who wants it?" Tom asked.
"Oh gosh!" Rosie wrinkled her nose. "I love the memories but this place is so tiny. It's like an old studio apartment except it's a cabin with a generator and limited plumbing. That's a little too primitive for my taste."
"We could fix it up," Lee mentioned. "I don't think your mom wants it to stay as is."
"So we could do a total demo?" Tom asked.
"No!" Rosie exclaimed. "This is our father's haven! We can't just tear it down!"
"So what then?" Tom huffed.
Elizabeth rose from her seat and walked over to Jack. He was now standing at the small table holding the picture his mom had showed him before. She wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Babe?" He showed her the picture in his hands, the one from before. Elizabeth smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Wait! I know what we should do," Rosie said. She was serious. "This place is important to all of us, but one of us more than others. Jack, I think you should decide."
"I'm good with that," Tom said. "What do you think, bro?"
Jack turned to face his siblings. "Dad always wanted to make this tiny place a home. We'd sit out there fishing and make plans."
"This whole thing here was supposed to be the living room, right?" Tom asked.
"Yeah. With a staircase in that corner and a master bedroom on the first floor added on just there." He pointed. "Then a kitchen and bathroom in the back, two bedrooms and another bathroom upstairs."
"Sounds perfect," Elizabeth smiled.
"Yeah," Jack grinned. "All that was missing was a library. Maybe one could go…" He walked across the room. "Here."
"It yours, Jack," Rosie said. "Right, Tommy?" He nodded.
"No guys, this place shouldn't belong to just one of us."
"Come on, bro. I'm a tumbleweed and loving it. Rosie is a city girl. This place is you. You even have a plan."
"Yeah, but that's just because Dad and I talked about it, that's all."
"Right. He talked to you because you cared and listened. Me? I was too busy thinking about getting away from here and Rosie… well, I don't think she could get past the musty smell."
"And the fish," she added. "Don't forget about the fishy smell!"
"Is that what that is?" Elizabeth asked, scrunching up her nose.
"We can fix that," Lee added. "Trust me."
"So what do you say, Jack?" Rosie asked.
Jack looked to Beth. "What do you think? You want to consider it?"
She smiled. "It has potential and a whole lot of heart. Definitely worth thinking about."
….
After Charlotte returned and they gave her the update, everyone except Jack and Elizabeth headed back to the city, leaving Charlotte's truck for the couple. Charlotte and Rosie had a dinner party to put together for Jack and Elizabeth on their second to last night at home. Carson and Faith, who were both in town would be there as well.
In the meantime, Jack and Elizabeth curled up by the old wood stove, watching the flames dance about as they made plans for the house and their future.
"Lee said if we tell him what we want, he'll draw up some plans and can have men working on it even while we're away."
"That's handy."
"Yeah. I'll do what I can when we're back from Haiti."
"When will that be?"
"Ah, right. I guess we still need to talk about that, huh?"
"I don't want to hold you hostage, Jack. I want to stay in Haiti but if you don't…"
"I want to be with you, angel. Wherever that is."
"So you're up for staying another year?"
"I still want to talk to the chief, but yeah. I think so."
She leaned back and kissed his lips. "Thank you, Jack. Tell me what the chief says, alright? You're important to me. I know I don't always sound like it, but I will be flexible. I want us both to be happy."
He kissed her tenderly. "We'll make a decision that works for both of us."
They spent the next little while taking advantage of their romantic setting. That was, until Jack's phone rang.
"Thornton here." Elizabeth watched as he listened intently. "Understood, sir. I'll be there."
"Jack?" she asked as he hung up with a sigh.
"I need to go take a shift at the station. There's a storm coming in tonight and they need all hands on deck."
"But the dinner, and we're leaving soon."
"I know, I'm not happy either but as long as I'm here, I'm here to serve."
"Okay," she sighed. "I'll drive the truck and you can call your mom and tell her."
Once the stove fire was out they gathered their things and walked out to the truck.
"I'm going to miss this place." She spoke, hugging his arm as they went.
"What are you going to miss?"
"The privacy for one," she laughed. "I don't know. I just feel like our relationship is so different from when we left Haiti. We're more… serious."
"I've always been serious about you."
"That's why I said "more" serious." She laughed. "What will we do when we're back?"
"We'll do our jobs. Then at night and some weekends we'll go to our spot. Just me and you."
"And what will we do there?" she flirted, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Maybe a little of this…" He kissed her neck. "And a little of this." His lips moved to hers, gently parting them to go deeper.
"Hmmm perfect."
"And when we're married, we'll do a little more."
"Mm. I can't wait."
"Not that I wouldn't rather stand here kissing you all night, but I need to get going."
She kissed him once more and walked to the driver's side.
Once they arrived outside the station, she put the truck in park and turned toward him. "Please be safe, Jack."
He gave her a nice, long kiss and opened his door. "Always. See you soon."
….
Elizabeth drove the truck back to Charlotte's. With Jack working all night, she decided she'd sleep there rather than going to the apartment. At least this way she wouldn't be alone. Once inside, she went into the kitchen to help with the meal, but was promptly kicked out and told to relax.
As ordered, she made herself comfy under an old quilt with a good book. Before cracking the cover, she pulled out her phone to call Frank. She missed Hopes Landing and all the people there. He didn't answer, that didn't surprise her. Frank was not known for being in his office all day.
There was a knock at the front door, but before Elizabeth could even rise from the chair, the door opened and Faith and Carson sauntered in.
"Beth!" Faith squealed. "Are you excited to be going back the day after tomorrow?"
"So much! It seems like forever since we've been there."
"Agreed." Carson came over and gave her a hug. "Where's Jack?"
"The station called. He's at work tonight."
"That's a bummer. Should we postpone the dinner till tomorrow?" Carson asked.
"No, both Jack and Charlotte said not to. I guess this is just life with a fireman. They go where they're needed and we just roll with it."
"You okay with that?" Faith questioned.
"It's an adjustment, but I'm proud of the man Jack is. I'll support him."
"He's lucky to have you," Carson grinned. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go give my second mom a hug."
He didn't need to go far. Charlotte came out of the kitchen in that exact moment.
"Carson!" she cheered. "Come over here and give me a proper hug!" The girls laughed.
By dinner time the Thornton family home was filled to the brim with family and friends. Rosie and Lee were there, as well as Abigail and Clara, Pete was at the station with Jack and Faith and Carson and his parents and a few other Thornton relatives. It took three pans of enchiladas to feed them all.
About 8 o'clock the crowd died down a bit. All who were left was Rosie, Lee, Abigail, Clara and Charlotte.
Charlotte served brownie sundaes to everyone and then sat down beside Elizabeth.
"Lizzie, I have to ask, are you sure you like Jack's idea to renovate the old cabin?"
"I am. I love the location, and it has so much meaning for Jack, and me of course with our proposal." She blushed as she thought of the future. "I could really see a future there for our family."
Rosie gasped, "You're pregnant!"
"Rosemary!" Elizabeth laughed. "You really like bouncing a thousand steps ahead to the least logical conclusion, don't you?"
"Yeah… sorry!" Everyone laughed. "But you do want kids don't you?"
"Oh yes! Lots. We may even adopt as well."
"I think that's great," Charlotte said lifting her coffee mug to her. "The more grandkids, the better in my opinion."
"I second that!" Abigail said with a smile. "I can't wait for Pete and Clara to make me a grandma. Though I'll be patient. Sort of…" They all laughed.
Clara's phone buzzed in her purse near the entryway. She placed her dessert bowl down. As soon as she saw the name on the caller ID, she gasped, dropping it like a hot potato.
"Clara, sweetie?" Abigail rushed to her side. "What's wrong?"
When the phone call went unanswered, Abigail's began to ring. Her eyes grew wide with fear. She knew what this was. This was the call. She'd been here before. Now she was frozen, just as Clara was.
Charlotte jumped to her feet and grabbed her sister-in-law's phone from the table, answering it on the last ring. She too knew what was happening.
"Hello, this is Abigail Stanton's phone, her sister speaking… Yes… Okay, we'll be there. Yes, she's here too. I'll tell her too. Thank you, Chief."
"Char…" Abigail whispered, tears streaming. "Tell me, my boy's okay."
"Everyone in the truck. We need to go to the hospital."
Charlotte drove Abigail, Clara and Elizabeth in her truck, followed closely by Lee and Rosie. The roads were a bit slippery, and visibility was low so despite their desire to drive like NASCAR drivers, they took it slow.
"Tell me again what the chief said, please?" Clara asked, trying to stay strong in the backseat.
"There was a fire at an apartment building. It became structurally unsound and there were injuries."
"How bad?" Abigail asked for the third time since the call came in.
"He couldn't say."
Elizabeth, who was sitting up front with Charlotte, reached across and placed a hand on her leg. "Did he say anything about Jack?"
She nodded silently. "We'll all know more soon. Until then, we pray."
