Elizabeth felt like she was walking on a cloud as she and Nathan headed back to her rowhouse. She had her arm through his and a head on his shoulder, just wanting to be as close to him as possible. Glancing down at her ring, she sighed happily. She smiled up at Nathan. "Please tell me you really did just ask me to marry you and that I'm not dreaming."

He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. "You're not dreaming, sweetheart. We're getting married!"

Elizabeth didn't think she'd ever seen Nathan look so happy. His blue eyes were twinkling with joy as they locked with hers. He pulled her to a stop, unable to contain himself. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her in the middle of the street, not caring who might see. Elizabeth linked her arms around his waist, holding him close.

Someone discreetly cleared his throat beside them, and they broke apart to see Carson standing there with a wide grin on his face. "Glad to know Faith and I aren't the only ones who don't care if people see a public display of affection."

Nathan laughed, releasing Elizabeth from his arms. She was surprised that he wasn't at all bashful; if anything, he seemed more relaxed than she'd ever seen him. "You're looking at the happiest man in Hope Valley, Carson," Nathan said, lowering his voice and glancing around. "Elizabeth just agreed to marry me."

"It's about time," Carson said with a wink. "You two seemed destined to be together." He folded his arms, his smile firmly in place. "So when's the wedding?"

Elizabeth glanced at Nathan. "We don't know yet," she said. "We haven't talked about that." She smiled at her new fiance. "We still have to tell the kids."

"Ah," Carson said. "So this is a secret until further notice?"

Nathan and Elizabeth nodded in unison.

"My lips are sealed," he assured them.

Nathan held out his hand, shaking Carson's. "Thank you. We appreciate that."

"No problem," Carson said cheerfully. "Congratulations, you two!" He nodded and headed toward the infirmary.

Nathan and Elizabeth resumed walking arm in arm. Nathan shook his head. "Allie is going to be thrilled," he said. "She was just asking me this morning when I was going to ask you to marry me."

"What did you tell her?" Elizabeth asked.

He chuckled. "I told her I was going to ask you, but that I didn't know when it would happen. I was not planning on it being today." He looked at her, his crooked smile firmly in place. "But I'm so glad it was today."

"Me too," Elizabeth said softly. She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Nathan, how long do you want to be engaged?"

He hesitated, his eyes taking on a thoughtful look that told her he wasn't rushing to answer. "We've only been together for a short time," he said slowly. "Maybe our engagement should be a little on the longer side as we continue to get to know each other." He paused. "Blending our families is going to take a lot of time and effort. It might be best for everyone to take this slowly."

Elizabeth gave him a wry smile. "There you go with taking it slowly again. You do realize that every time you've said that, you end with speeding things up?"

"I suppose that's God laughing at my plans," Nathan said with a grin. "And you're right. But I don't see what could speed up a marriage. That's a whole different category."

"True," Elizabeth conceded. "How about nine months from now? We could have a Christmas wedding."

Nathan reached down, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze. "Perfect." They walked hand in hand back to Elizabeth's rowhouse, where they could see Allie and Jack playing with Allie's friends in the field. Nathan cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Allie! Can you bring Jack here, please?"

Allie scooped Jack up into her arms and trotted toward them. Nathan held the door open for all of them. "Why don't you kids have a seat?" Nathan said, gesturing toward the settee.

"Okay," Allie said, looking completely carefree and relaxed. She plopped onto the settee and put Jack next to her. "What's up?"

Elizabeth sat next to Allie on the settee, looking up at Nathan and smiling at him to continue. He knelt in front of Allie, taking one of her hands. "You remember how you asked me this morning when I was going to ask Mrs. Thornton to marry me?"

Allie's mouth dropped. "I thought that was a secret! You told me not to tell... " Her eyes widened. "Wait a minute." She grabbed Elizabeth's hand with her free one, taking in the ring. She gasped and threw her arms around Elizabeth. "He asked you! And you said yes!"

Elizabeth hugged her back, laughter bubbling out. "Yes, sweetheart, he did. We're going to be a family."

"When?" Allie demanded, pulling back and looking between them with wide eyes. "Soon?"

Nathan sat beside them, placing Jack on his lap. "We'll be getting married at Christmas," he said. "Nine months away."

Allie's mouth formed a small pout. "That's so long! Why do we have to wait that long?" she asked, looking for all the world like they had told her they'd be waiting years to get married.

Elizabeth smiled gently. "Allie, there's a lot that goes into planning a wedding. And your uncle and I are still getting to know each other, and it'll take some time for all of us to adjust to the idea of becoming a family…"

Allie rolled her eyes. "Isn't marriage all about continuing to get to know one another for the rest of your lives? What's there to adjust to? Isn't that what happens once you actually become a family? You start adjusting together?" She nodded sagely. "Uncle Nathan had to adjust really quickly to being my guardian, but he learned fast. You both can learn fast how to be married." She took one of Jack's hands, cooing at him. "And you and I are finally going to have both a mom and a dad in our lives! We're going to be like brother and sister!"

Elizabeth's heart caught at the sweet picture. She was so glad Allie was excited about this, and she and Nathan shared a smile over Allie's head at the preteen's precocious words about married life. Before they could say anything further, the door opened and a whirlwind entered in the form of Rosemary, followed more quietly but no less excitedly by Lee and Gabe.

Rosemary lifted Elizabeth from the settee, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "I'm so happy for you two," she exclaimed, drawing back. "Can I see the ring?"

Elizabeth blinked. "How did you…?"

"These walls are paper thin, remember?" Lee said with a chuckle. "We were sitting having tea with Gabe when we heard Allie's exclamation that you said yes to something Nathan asked. That caught our attention, and we might have heard a little of what came after that too."

"That doesn't matter," Rosemary said, waving a hand. "You're engaged! And a Christmas wedding! Oh, Elizabeth, you must allow me to help you plan! Nine months isn't that long, and you deserve a fairytale wedding…" She went on, but Elizabeth's eyes locked onto Nathan's, and they got lost in each other's gaze. Her heart was beating with pure joy, and she couldn't wait until the day she and Nathan would be joined as man and wife. He grinned at her with a wink, then had his attention caught by Gabe and Lee, who were offering their congratulations.

Elizabeth refocused on Rosemary's words, her friend's exuberance starting to rub off on her as well. Allie was right in the middle of it, planning along with Rosemary. They went back and forth, and Elizabeth just laughed.

It was nice to know how much her friend cared and how excited her niece-to-be was at the thought of them being a part of a family together. Allie couldn't wait for the wedding, a fact she emphasized over and over again.

Truth be told, she wasn't the only one. Despite Nathan's claim that nothing was likely to cause them to marry faster, Elizabeth found herself almost wishing something would happen. She wanted to be married to him already, starting their lives together officially as a family. She gave a little sigh, telling herself to be patient.

They had all their lives for that. She could handle nine months of being engaged. Even so, she couldn't help breathing a silent prayer that the next nine months would go by quickly.

"Nathan!" Bill called, hurrying to catch up to him. Nathan paused on his evening rounds, allowing Bill to stop by his side. Bill was flushed from exerting himself, but he wore a smile. "Congratulations on your engagement! I'm so glad you decided to act," he said, clapping Nathan on the back.

"Thanks," Nathan said, his smile wide. "I'm pretty happy right now."

"You're going to be marrying the best woman around," Bill said seriously. "I've seen how much you two love each other. You're going to have a wonderful marriage." He grinned, then just as quickly became solemn. "Not to change the subject, but I just got word that the bank robber skipped the town next to ours, which makes it even more likely he's coming through Hope Valley. He could even be here already." He lowered his voice. "I have a feeling something is going to go down tonight." Bill glanced around. "Our people have been watching out of sight?"

Nathan nodded. "There are usually two men posted, one above the saloon and the other in the shadows at the back side of the bank. Tonight it's my turn to keep watch from the saloon, with Gabe watching by the bank. We'll be on high alert."

Bill pressed his lips together. "I'm going to help too," he said. "I'll keep watch from Lee's office. Three pairs of eyes are better than two." He raised a brow. "Does Elizabeth know anything about this mission?"

Sighing, Nathan shook his head. "No, she doesn't. She knows something is up, because I let it slip that Gabe will kind of be working while he's hare, even though he's on vacation. But I have to tell her before I go on watch tonight. She deserves to know the truth. We promised one another to always be honest, so I need to be honest." He shrugged. "Though hopefully this doesn't fall into the category of a dangerous mission."

Bill looked at him sideways. "You of all people should know that the most seemingly innocent missions can turn into something much more."

Nathan was quiet for a moment, thinking about Jenny and Constable Jamieson. "I know," he said softly, the memories rising once again.

Bill put a hand on his shoulder. "What happened happened," he said. "Don't dig that up again. And let's hope you're right and that this doesn't turn into a dangerous mission. Maybe this guy won't even come through Hope Valley."

Now Nathan looked at Bill sideways. "Bill, you just said you had a feeling something was going to happen tonight. You have Mountie instincts. They're rarely wrong."

"I know," Bill admitted. "And that's why we'll be extra prepared." He raised a brow at Nathan. "Now you go see Elizabeth and let her know what's going on. Like I said before, she's stronger than she looks. She'll be able to handle it."

Nathan felt like he was walking on pins and needles as he knocked at Elizabeth's door several minutes later. A dread fell over him as he thought of how frightened she might be. But he knew she needed to know. She would be more upset if he hid this from her.

The door opened, and Elizabeth's smiling face met him. "Nathan! I wasn't expecting to see you this evening. Come in."

Nathan stepped into the room, and Elizabeth closed the door. She looked at him, a puzzled frown appearing on her face. "Is something wrong?"

He cleared his throat, shifting from foot to foot. "Do you remember how I told you Gabe might be working a bit while he was here, and you wanted to know what I meant by that?"

Elizabeth nodded, a look of trepidation filling her face.

Nathan plunged on. "A bank robber has been going from town to town. No one has seen him, and no one has any information on him. We don't know if he's dangerous or not. We've had men stationed around town, watching the bank each night." He took a deep breath. "Tonight Gabe, Bill, and I will be watching." He put his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Bill thinks he might strike tonight."

Elizabeth gasped and immediately nestled herself into his arms, settling against his chest. He could feel her rapid breathing, and he simply held her close, hoping his arms would provide some comfort. "It might be nothing, Elizabeth," he said softly. "This man might not even come through Hope Valley."

"But he could," Elizabeth said against his chest.

"He could," Nathan said in acknowledgement. He held her for a few more minutes, thankful when her breathing started to even out. She took a long, deep breath, then leaned back in his arms. "You do what you have to do, Nathan. You're good at catching the bad guys." He could see the tears glistening in her eyes, and he leaned down to kiss her, hoping it would bring her a measure of comfort. She clung to him, and when he pulled away, she put a hand on his cheek. "You come back to me," she whispered. "Understand?"

He nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll do everything I can to come back to you, Elizabeth. I love you."

"And I love you," she said.

Nathan reluctantly let her go, knowing he had to get ready for tonight's mission. "I have to go."

"I know," she said, giving him a brave smile as they walked to the door. "Be safe, Nathan."

He kissed her one more time, then nodded. "See you in the morning, sweetheart."