It had been a week since I had last spoken to Jack when the doorbell rang. Rip gave a low bark. I reached down, patting his head as I walked past him toward the door. My heart sank when I saw who stood on the other side of the door.

"Elizabeth Thornton?" One of the officers spoke.

"Yes?"

"I'm very sorry." He continued speaking, but the words became muffled. I didn't need to hear his words to know what he was saying.

The world seemed to spin around me. I slid to the floor, my stomach heaving. Jack hadn't given me many details about the work he had gone to do, but I knew there was probably some danger involved. Jack would do anything to help someone, even if he knew he would be harmed in the process. I had learned that about him when he was injured after the storm.

I felt numb. One of the officers had knelt down, trying to comfort me. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks. He had been fine just a few days ago, but now he was gone. I was alone, we were alone. My hand moved to my stomach, my mind on the baby. I couldn't do this without Jack. I couldn't raise his child by myself.

He didn't even know I was pregnant. He would never know.

It wasn't fair. We barely got a chance to be married. We had so many plans for our lives, plans that would no longer be fulfilled.

...

I woke with a start. Tears stained my cheeks. I took me a moment to fully comprehend the situation. It had all been a dream, a horrible dream.

Bronte whimpered beside me, as if she recognized the distress I was feeling after the nightmare. I took a shaky breath, trying to calm myself, my heart still racing. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to find sleep again. I wrapped myself in a blanket and walked to the back porch.

Even though it had just been a nightmare, I couldn't quite shake the feelings that it brought on. I knew Jack's job could be dangerous; he never tried to hide that from me. Since we met, he had been seriously injured once, and I knew that wasn't the first time he'd been hurt on the job. I tried not to think about the chance that he could be killed, though. The last time I had really thought about that, things almost ended between us.

It was too hard to think about a life without Jack. He was everything to me. I returned to the bedroom and pulled one of Jack's shirts from the dresser. I held it to my face, inhaling his scent, trying to feel closer to him. Tears filled my eyes. He couldn't come home soon enough. I just had to make it through a few more days.

I was suddenly overcome by a wave of nausea. My thoughts were pulled away from the nightmare as I ran to the bathroom.

I considered calling in sick, but I decided that I needed the distraction of the students to keep from losing myself in the fear.

My students were on their best behavior all day, as if they knew I had had a difficult morning. I tried to keep the down time to a minimum. The less time I had to sit and think, the better.

I drove straight home once the school day was over. I felt as though I was just going through the motions, waiting for it to be late enough for me to justify going to bed. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV, but I didn't pay any attention to what was airing.

I had been pretty successful at keeping myself distracted while I was at school, but now that I was home without the distraction of my students, I found my thoughts drawn back to the nightmare. I looked at the pictures of me and Jack on the wall, imagining a life where those pictures were all I had left of him. My stomach heaved, and I didn't know if it was because of the pregnancy or the thought of losing Jack.

The doorbell rang as I was returning from the bathroom. My stomach dropped as I immediately thought the worst. My hands shook as I turned the knob.

I froze when I opened the door. "Jack," I breathed his name, my voice barely audible.

"I know I said I wouldn't be home until the end of the week, but we finished early and I wanted to surprise you." He pulled me into a hug.

"Jack…" I burst into tears, expressing the emotions I had been feeling since I was awakened by the nightmare.

"Hey, what's going on?" His eyes were filled with concern.

"Nothing. I just missed you." I tilted my head up to kiss him.

"I missed you, too, Beth. So much." He kissed me again. "That was way too long to be away from my wife."

I smiled and wiped the tears from my cheeks. "I still can't believe we're married." I looked down at the ring on my left hand. "Come on, it's been a month since I've seen you." I took his hand and pulled him into the house. "I need some time alone with my husband."

...

"Elizabeth," Jack lay beside me, tracing circles on my arm, "are you sure you're okay?"

I sighed. "I'm fine now, really. I just had a nightmare last night, and it really threw me off."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, pulling the sheet up to my chin. I couldn't look at him while I explained the dream. I didn't mention the baby; now was not the time to break that news to him. I finished speaking, and he was quiet.

He reached over and touched my cheek, turning my head to face him. "Beth, I'm so sorry." He pulled me into his arms. "I don't even know what to say to make you feel better."

"You don't need to say anything." I kissed him. "Your being here beside me is more than enough."

I fell asleep in his arms, feeling more peaceful than I had in weeks.

I woke a few hours later to an empty bed, wondering if it had all been a dream.

"Elizabeth?" Jack peeked into our room, noticing that I was awake. "Why is the guest room locked?"

Butterflies filled my stomach knowing what was hidden in that room. "It's the middle of the night. Why do you need to get into the guest room?"

"I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about something that's in one of my boxes, and I wanted to see if I could find it. So why is it locked?"

"Well, um…" I pulled on my robe, grabbed a key from my nightstand, and joined him in the hallway. He tried jiggling the doorknob. I put my hand on his. "Just wait." I put the key in the lock. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What are you hiding in there?" He raised his eyebrows. "This isn't a Jane Eyre situation, is it? I'm not going to find your poor sick ex in here?"

I laughed. "No, Jack. I'm not hiding a person in there." I sighed and pushed the door open. "The guest room was locked because I'm starting to store things in it that will eventually go in the nursery, and I didn't want you to see everything before I had a chance to tell you."

"The nursery? Getting a little eager, are we? Do we need a nursery before we even start trying?"

"Jack." The corners of my lips turned up.

"I guess it makes sense. Start collecting things now, and we have less to worry about later."

"Jack." I touched his cheek, trying to get him to slow down and process what I had just said.

He stood in silence for a moment, clearly deep in thought. "Wait, Elizabeth." He put his hands on my shoulders and met my gaze. "Are you already…? Are we…?"

I nodded, tears filling my eyes. He laughed and threw his arms around me.

He pulled me into a kiss. "I love you, Elizabeth."

"I love you, too. See, I told you I'm not hiding a person in there. The only person I'm hiding is in here." I smirked as I brought his hand to my stomach.

He kissed me again before he leaned down and kissed my stomach. "Hi, baby. I'm your dad. I love you so much."

"Come on," I led him into the room. "I'll show you what I have so far."

I started removing things from the box that sat on the bed: a quilt that Abigail had given me the day after I told her the news, a tiny sweater I had just finished knitting the previous day, a small stuffed bear that had been mine when I was a child. Jack carefully examined each item I handed to him.

"I just can't believe that we're actually going to have a baby." He held up the sweater. "It'll really be this small?"

I chuckled, nodding. "Yes, newborn babies are typically really small. Don't you remember how tiny Alina was?"

"Well, yeah, but it's different to think about it when it's our baby."

I smiled. "Our baby. I love that."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Just Abigail. When I started thinking that maybe I wasn't just sick, I talked to her. She's the one who made me take a test, because I was nervous to find out for sure." I picked up the quilt. "This is actually from her. It was her son's when he was little."

"Wait, Elizabeth. You were nervous to find out for sure? Why?"

"I don't really know. Maybe because I just wanted to talk to you about it, but I couldn't. But I am so, so happy about this, Jack. I really am. Even though this is happening way sooner than we planned."

He pulled me into his arms and kissed my cheek. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you found out."

I shook my head. "Jack Thornton, don't be sorry for doing your job. I know you would've been here if you had a choice."

"How long have you known?" He brushed his hand across my stomach.

"A little over a week."

"So the day I called?"

I nodded, placing my hand on top of his. "I knew then. I wanted to tell you that day, but I knew it would just make you worry more. Besides, I knew it wouldn't be much longer before you came home and I could tell you in person."

"You're right. I would've worried." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "But I still wish you would've told me then."

He laughed softly.

"What?" I looked at him curiously.

"I guess it's too late to have that conversation about changing our timeline."

"Maybe just a little. It's strange to think that I was already pregnant when I mentioned that."

He pulled me against his chest, brushing his thumbs back and forth on my stomach. His breath tickled my ear as he spoke. "This is much more satisfying knowing that there actually is something in there now."

I giggled. "You've been waiting so long for this."

He kissed the top of my head. "You have no idea. I've been imagining you carrying my child for so long now."

"And you wasted no time in making that happen." I grinned and put my hands on top of his.

"Hey, it takes two to make a baby."

"Oh, I'm fully aware of that." I turned to face him. "And there is no one else I'd rather make a baby with."

"Good." He kissed my nose and took my hand, leading me back to our room.

...

Jack rolled over and met my gaze. "Beth, why are you awake?"

"Just thinking." I smiled.

"About?" He slipped his hand beneath my shirt, his fingers tracing circles on my bare stomach.

"A year ago, we hadn't even met. Now we're married and expecting a baby. I just never expected my life to be like this when I decided to come to Hope Valley."

"You don't have any regrets with how quickly everything happened, do you?"

I shook my head and leaned in to kiss him. "No way. I would've married you even sooner had you asked me. You and this baby," I put my hands on my stomach, "you two are the best things in my life. Granted, I never expected to be pregnant this soon after our wedding, but don't think I ever regret any of this. I love you, Jack Thornton. I will always love you."

"Elizabeth…" He moved his hand behind my head, running his fingers through my hair. "I love you so much."

"Jack, thank you for changing my mind."

"About what?"

I leaned into him, and he held me close. "When I tried to run because I got scared. Thank you for convincing me that we were worth it."

"I knew you were going to be my wife someday. I just had to find a way to make sure you knew that, too." He kissed my forehead. "Now go back to sleep. You need to rest up if you're going to be growing this baby of ours."

I pulled his hand to my stomach. "You are going to be the very best father, Jack Thornton."