Two weeks later…..

The roof was done. The home visit went well and Abigail had told them that Autumn was in fact up for adoption. Also Clara had little Sophia Rose in the middle of the night one night and Elizabeth had gone to visit twice already. It only cemented her urge to become a mother, sooner rather than later.

Then, it happened. Abigail called and asked if she and Jack wanted to take Autumn for the weekend. Of course she said yes. Then she went shopping. She headed into Portland to a department store to grab some things in Autumn's favorite color. She grabbed a pink and gray comforter, a pillow, a stuffed teddy bear with a pink dress, and she found little pink fuzzy bunny slippers that she hoped would fit. She also bought ingredients for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and coloring books and crayons and story books to read to her at night.

Then she headed to the part of the store where there were car seats. She found one, pink of course, that would turn into a booster when she was too big for the car seat.

She took a picture of her cart and sent it to Jack. "Shopping done!"

"Holy smokes, babe! U bought out the store!"

"Nah. Just bought the necessities."

"I love u, Elizabeth."

"Love u too, Jack. I'm so excited!"

"Me 2!"

Elizabeth paid for everything and then headed home, anxious to get everything set up for the next day.

When she stepped into the fifth wheel, Jack was hooking up a TV and a DVD player between the window and door.

"Hey, hon."

"Hey, babe."

She put a few bags on the counter and put away the food in the tiny fridge. "I thought for breakfast Sunday, we could make pancakes. What do you think, Jack?"

"Sure. We can do that. "

"And I thought tomorrow afternoon, we could take her to the zoo?"

"That will be fun."

"You'll go too, right?"

"Of course. I've never even met Autumn and I already love her. I'm not missing out on a trip to the zoo. We need to let her feed the giraffes."

"And we need to ride that train around the park too."

"Sounds great." She walked over and gave him a kiss.

"Wanna help me put the car seat in my car? Oh! Shoot."

"What?"

"I forgot pull-ups. She's going to need those."

"Well, I need to run to get more lumber so I can get them."

"Thanks, hon. She needs the 3T to 4T for overnight."

"Got it." He started to leave and then came back and gave her a kiss. "This is so great. I feel like a Daddy."

"Hopefully soon you will be." She smiled at his excitement. He had a light in his eyes that she hadn't seen before. That made her very happy.

….

The next day, Jack and Elizabeth drove to Haven House to pick up Autumn.

"Are you ready?" Elizabeth asked, squeezing his hand.

"Yes."

They walked up to the front door and knocked.

"Who is it?" a small voice from inside asked.

"Its Beth, Carrie."

Carrie opened the door with a small smile. "Come in, please," she said, not looking all too pleased they were there.

"Thank you. Jack, this is Carrie. Carrie, this is my husband, Jack."

Jack held his hand out for the girl to shake. "Its nice to meet you, Carrie."

"Why are you here?"

"Carrie. Manners," Molly told her from the doorway.

"I just asked a question."

"It was your tone. It was bordering on rude."

"Sorry." She didn't seem it but at least she apologized.

"Beth and I are here to see Autumn," he told her.

"She's playing with Joy and Ellie."

"Thank you, Carrie," Elizabeth said as she led Jack to the play room.

They stood in the doorway and Jack found her right away. A beautiful little blonde with pink glasses and a huge smile as she played with two other girls.

His eyes filled with tears as he watched. Elizabeth squeezed his hand. "You alright?"

He nodded and walked over to sit close to the three girls. Elizabeth moved closer too.

Joy and Ellie said hi to him. Autumn seemed shy, her eyes watching, trying to figure out if he was someone to trust.

"I'm Jack. I'm married to Beth," he said pointing over his shoulder.

Autumn's eyes lit up when she saw Beth. She got up and hugged her legs.

"Hi, sweetie," Elizabeth said, hugging her back.

Elizabeth took her back over and sat next to Jack on the floor, Autumn on her lap.

"Autumn go….with you?" Autumn asked Beth slowly, showing her slight speech difficulty.

"Yeah. You are coming home with us for a couple days."

"Go…now?"

"Girls! Snack time," Molly called from the other room. All three girls got up and ran out of the room.

Jack stayed behind a moment. Elizabeth noticed. "Honey?"

He shook his head. "I understand now."

"Understand what?"

"That's our girl. I feel it, Elizabeth. She's going to be our daughter."

….

Elizabeth watched happily as Autumn smiled at Jack, giggling when he pretended to eat her carrot sticks.

She had never seen him with children before. It was amazing how comfortable he was, acting a bit like a child himself.

At one point he even had little Taylor on his lap playing patty cake.

"Autumn go….now?" she asked, looking at Elizabeth.

"Are you done with your snack?"

Autumn nodded. Elizabeth looked at Jack and he nodded too. "Alright, big girl. Let's go to your room and get your bag." Elizabeth held out her hand and the two of them walked off.

Later as they drove, he listened to Elizabeth telling her about going to the zoo, Autumn chiming in a few times, mimicking the name of the animal Elizabeth mentioned.

After they arrived home, Elizabeth took her inside to visit the bathroom one more time before driving to the zoo and Jack went to check on Jesse in the big house.

Jesse was working on adding a half bath on the first floor. It was now all framed out and plumbed.

"Dude, this looks great," Jack told him. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks. Did you pick her up?"

"Yeah, she's with Elizabeth in the bathroom. Jesse, she's perfect. I am already so attached. I can't wait to adopt her."

"That's great, man. Having a daughter has changed my life."

"Having the prospect has changed mine. Well, I'm gonna go to take them to the zoo. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do. Have fun."

Jack walked out of the house as they walked out of the fifth wheel. Autumn ran over and tackled his legs. He laughed and picked her up. "Alright, pumpkin. Ready to go see animals?"

She nodded and kissed his nose. He smiled and kissed both of her cheeks and then whispered in her ear. "Should we give Beth kisses?"

Autumn nodded so he walked over and they each gave her a kiss.

"Thank you!" she told them. "Let's go see giraffes!"

…..

The afternoon went wonderfully. They arrived at the zoo and immediately, Autumn wanted to look like a kitty so they had her face painted like a tiger. Then they wandered through the penguin exhibit and the lions and headed to the aquarium to see the fish.

"Fish!" she said, pointing above their heads. She was sitting on Jack's shoulders and reaching up to touch them. As they wandered out, Elizabeth stopped them and took their picture. Autumn had a huge grin on her face as she sat tall and proud on his shoulders.

"Say cheese, pumpkin!" Jack told her.

As soon as she said it in her adorable lisp, Elizabeth snapped the picture. It was a great one. Jack was looking up at her and she was looking down at him, her hands on either side of his face.

"Ride train?" she asked as Jack took her off his shoulders and set her on the ground.

"Well, I'm getting hungry so what if we eat first and then go on the train?" Elizabeth suggested.

"Eat," Autumn agreed, nodding her head.

So they ate hotdogs and French fries and shared a milkshake. Finally, as they slowly traveled along the edges of the park, through the bird sanctuary, Autumn fell asleep, her head resting in Jack's lap.

Jack reached over Autumn and grabbed Elizabeth's hand. "This is perfect," he whispered.

"It is." Watching Jack falling deeper in love with Autumn was so wonderful. It really helped her see that he was going to be a great father.

….

On their drive home, Autumn still slept so Elizabeth and Jack had time to talk.

"Why is she at Haven, Elizabeth?"

"According to her profile, her mom was a young teen mother who anonymously left her at a fire station in Portland when she was a few hours old. Since then, she's bounced around in foster homes and group homes. No one was willing to take a chance on her." Elizabeth looked back at the sleeping angel in her car seat. "Until now. I don't care how hard it might be or that she's different. She is wonderful and fun and I love her."

Jack nodded and squeezed her hand. "So we are going to do this. Let's tell Mrs. Stanton that we want to pursue her adoption."

"I'll call her Monday."

"I guess Jesse and I need to get moving on the bedrooms and bathroom before the kitchen," Jack mentioned.

"Yes. I think that's a good idea."

A couple hours later after they had eaten dinner, Jack lowered the table and laid out the cushions for Autumn's bed while Elizabeth helped her change into pajamas, brush her teeth, and use the bathroom.

"Pink!" Autumn said excitedly. "Autumn…like pink!"

"That's good!" Elizabeth said with a laugh. "Now I have a present for you." Elizabeth went to the cupboard where Charlotte's blankets were kept. She took out the whole stack and brought them over to Autumn. "Jack's mommy made these. She wants you to have one for when you stay with us. Which one do you like?"

"Autumn like….this one." She proudly chose the soft pink and gray blanket that Elizabeth figured she would.

"Alright, big girl. That's yours."

Autumn laid down with her blanket and pillow and looked up at Elizabeth.

"I'm going to read you a story now."

"Jack read?"

"Sure, Jack can read it." So all three of them read Three Little Pigs, The Poky Little Puppy, and Cinderella.

As Jack finished the last book, Autumn was sleeping peacefully so Jack got up, kissed her forehead and whispered to Elizabeth that he was going to take a shower.

When he came back out, both of them were asleep together under Autumn's pink comforter, Elizabeth's arm around Autumn. He left them there and headed up to his own bed.

In the morning he got up and started to make pancakes and sausage as quiet as possible. But as quiet as he was, after a few moments, he felt Autumn lean against his leg. He peeked down at her. "Morning, pumpkin." He stopped putting ingredients in the bowl and reached down to pick her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. "Still tired?" After a few blissful moments of holding her, she leaned back and smiled. "Want to help me cook breakfast?"

"Cook."

He put her on the counter next to him and place the bowl in her lap. Then he handed her a large spoon. "Will you stir for me? It's an important job."

"Autumn do."

He smiled as she slowly moved the spoon through the batter, a serious expression on her face as she concentrated. "Good job, pumpkin." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and started the sausage.

Elizabeth had been watching and listening from the bed. She couldn't help but smile at her family. It wasn't a typical one but it was important to her and one day soon, Autumn would be Autumn Thornton, their first daughter.