"Hello, you two." Abigail smiled when we entered. "Take a seat. I'll be with you in a minute."

"Actually, when you have a second, we wanted to talk with you about something."

She looked surprised. "Oh, sure. It'll be a few minutes."

"Take your time." Jack led me to a table and pulled out a chair for me.

I took something from my purse. "Look at him, Jack." I smiled as I gazed at the picture in my hands. "He has your nose."

He moved into the seat beside me, reaching for the stack of ultrasound photos in my purse. "You know you told the technician not to tell us what the baby is. It could still be a girl."

"Except it isn't." I brought one hand to my stomach. "Right, little one? You're a boy, aren't you?" I felt a slight kick in response. "Ha. He said yes."

"What if you're wrong?" He raised his eyebrows. "Will you be upset if it's a girl?"

"Of course not." A smile played on my lips as the baby shifted inside me. "I'm just so happy to be having a baby with you. I'll honestly be thrilled either way. I just have such a strong feeling that it's a boy."

He touched my cheek. "Well, we're over halfway to finding out." He looked back at the picture he held. "Are you still leaning toward Nora for a girl?"

I nodded. "Nora Grace Thornton."

"And William for a boy?"

I scrunched my nose, shaking my head. "I changed my mind on that one. I love my dad, but our son's name isn't William. I don't know what I want to name him anymore."

"We've got time to decide." He squeezed my hand.

Abigail approached us, sinking into a chair across from us. "Okay, I have a few minutes. What did you want to talk to me about?"

I handed her one of the ultrasound pictures.

"The baby? Is everything okay with him?"

"Yes. Everything is perfect." Jack rested his hand on my thigh. "Wait, has Elizabeth convinced you it's a boy?"

She shrugged. "Mother's intuition is a real thing, Jack." She looked over at me with a wink.

I smiled. "Thanks for having my back, Abigail. Anyway, Jack and I have been talking, and we would love for you to be our baby's godmother."

"Me?" Tears welled up in her eyes. "I would love that. Thank you so much."

I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. "You mean so much to us, Abigail. This baby wouldn't even exist had you not pushed me to get to know Jack."

She wiped her eyes and laughed. "I like to think that you would have found each other regardless, but thank you for giving me credit."

We all stood, and Jack and I took turns hugging Abigail.

"You can have whatever you want tonight, on the house."

"Abigail…" I started to protest, but she quickly cut me off.

"You're carrying my godchild. Let me do this, please."

Jack smiled and kissed her cheek. "Thank you."

...

"Jack, come here."

He bounded up the stairs and quickly reached my side, looking worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Everything's fine." I grabbed his hand and placed it on my stomach, right above the spot where the baby was kicking. I had been able to feel the baby moving since the day after Christmas, but this was the first time that it was strong enough that I was sure Jack could feel it as well.

A smile stretched across his face. "That's amazing. Our baby is really in there." He put his other hand on my stomach. "Hi, little one. I'm your dad. I can't wait to meet you."

The baby kicked at his hand again, a little bulge appearing on my stomach where the baby's foot pressed against it.

I touched his cheek. "I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too." He leaned in and kissed me. "We need to get going or we'll be late."

"We can't let that happen. Only heathens arrive late to a church service." I winked at him.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "One time. I was late once."

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the church parking lot. Jack was silent, but he looked over at me and smiled.

"What?"

He touched my cheek. "I just love you so much. Every time I look at you, I fall even more in love with you. Especially now that you're carrying my baby, our baby. You are so beautiful, Beth."

I pulled his hand to my stomach, tears in my eyes. "Jack Thornton…" I leaned over and kissed him. I wiped my eyes. "Okay, enough of this. We need to get inside."

We slipped into our usual pew beside Abigail and her children.

I kept finding my hand drawn to my stomach throughout the service. It felt like the baby was doing flips inside of me. It was hard to believe that, only five months before, Jack and I had stood at the front of the church and pledged our lives to one another.

He placed his hand beside mine on my stomach, so thrilled that he could feel the baby now.

When the service ended, Abigail looked over at me, curiosity in her eyes.

"Go for it." I nodded down at my stomach.

She reached out and placed her palm above the baby. "The little one is active, huh?"

"Yes, he is. He's been moving for most of the morning."

"Can I feel, Mrs. Thornton?" Cody looked up at me sweetly.

"Sure, Cody."

He put his hand beside his mother's, grinning when the baby kicked at his fingers. Becky added her hand, too, and all three Stantons stood in awe while they felt the baby shift inside me.

"That's so cool!" Cody's eyes lit up. "Does it hurt?"

I shook my head. "Nope. It just feels kind of funny, but I'm getting used to it. The baby is still pretty small, so it's really like he's just pushing my insides around a little."

Jack took my hand in his. "Ready for lunch, Mrs. Thornton?"

"Yes, please. The baby wants extra onions."

"Extra onions on what?"

I brushed my hand across my stomach. "On whatever we have for lunch."

"What if I want us to have pancakes?"

I shrugged. "Then the baby will want some pancakes with a side of onions."

He cringed. "Have I mentioned lately how glad I am that you're the one carrying our baby?"

I leaned forward and kissed him softly. "I'm happy to carry him—weird cravings and all."

...

I stepped out of the bathroom as I slipped on a pair of earrings. "Jack, do you realize what today is?"

"Hmm?"

"It's been exactly a year since the first time we met, the day you moved in next door."

He kissed the top of my head. "Ah, yes. When you waited to walk Bronte until you were sure you'd run into me."

I felt my face color, and my eyes went wide. "You knew I did that intentionally?"

"I'm pretty good at reading you, Elizabeth." He smirked. "If it makes you feel better, I didn't realize it until a few days later."

"How?"

He cleared his throat. "I, uh, kind of caught on to your schedule, and I noticed that you walked her earlier every day after that. The day I was outside unloading the moving truck was the only day you walked her that late."

I gasped then chuckled softly at the realization that we had both been watching each other so closely.

"What a year it's been."

"The best year." I sighed. "I wish we could stay home today."

He put his arms around me, resting his hands on the small of my back. "So do I."

I tucked my head under his chin. "We can celebrate after work."

"Something to look forward to." Even without seeing his face, I knew he was grinning.

I sighed. "We should probably get going."

He kissed the top of my head before he released me. "I love you, Beth."

"I love you, Jack."

...

Jack walked in the door a few minutes later than normal, carrying a bouquet of purple roses. "Hi, beautiful."

I grinned from my spot on the sofa. "Hey, babe. I'd get up and kiss you, but I'm kind of stuck over here."

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you really stuck, or do you just not want to move?"

"Um… I don't want to answer that." I laughed, sitting up slowly.

He came over to the sofa, leaning down to kiss me. "Are you planning to spend the whole evening on this sofa?"

I shook my head. "No. We have some celebrating to do."

He laid the flowers on the coffee table and held out his hand to help me up. "What do you have planned?"

"I was thinking we could make some gooey butter cake and watch a movie."

"Then what?" He kissed my nose.

I looked at him mischievously. "You'll have to wait and see." I reached for the bouquet on the table. "Thank you for the flowers." I brought them to my nose, taking in the sweet smell and reminiscing about our wedding day. "Purple roses always remind me of our wedding."

He smiled. "I know. That's why I got them for you."

"I'll go put these in a vase, and then we can get started on dessert."

He raised his eyebrows. "Going straight to dessert, eh?"

I hit his arm playfully. "Not that kind of dessert, Jack Thornton."

He laughed as he followed me into the kitchen and slipped on a frilly apron before he began pulling out the ingredients for gooey butter cake.

A few hours later, we lay on the couch, as close to each other as we could possibly get.

"So," he kissed my temple, "earlier, you implied that you had more plans for us after our meal and our movie. Are you ever going to tell me what those plans are?"

I nodded. "I was thinking you could give me a foot massage."

"A foot massage? That's really your plan?"

"Mhmm. Growing your child is really making it hard to be on my feet all day."

He tightened his arms around me. "And do I get anything in exchange for giving you this foot massage?"

"Well," I brushed my fingers lightly across his arms, "I have a new outfit that I thought I could wear while you give me the massage."

He groaned. "If this new outfit is what I think it is, I might be too distracted to do anything else but kiss you."

I slowly sat up, bringing him with me. "I guess I would be okay with that." I smirked as I took his hands and led him upstairs.

...

Jack was sleeping peacefully beside me. His eyelashes grazed the tops of his cheeks, his lips opened slightly as he breathed deeply.

My heart felt like it could burst. A year before, we had been strangers, just meeting for the first time. It was only a dream that we could be together. And yet, here we were, snuggled up together, married, and with a baby on the way.

I brushed my finger across his lips, thinking about how wonderful they felt against my skin, against my own lips. I scooted up in the bed and kissed him softly.

"Mm." He stirred, slowly opening his eyes to look at me. "Hi."

"Hi." A smile creeped onto my face.

"Did you just kiss me?"

"Um…" I giggled. "Yes."

He rolled onto his side and pressed his lips to mine. "I would like to request that you wake me up like that more often."

"Deal."

He kissed me again, still trying to shake off sleep. "Wait." He pulled back. "It's still dark out. Did you wake me up in the middle of the night just to kiss me?"

I snuggled into his chest, my rounded stomach pressed against his tight abdomen. "Guilty." I laughed softly. "I just looked over and started thinking about how lucky I am to have you, and I got a little distracted by your lips."

He must've felt the baby kick, because he brought a hand to my stomach. "Hi, little one. How are you doing in there? Your mama is silly, isn't she? Waking me up in the middle of the night just to kiss me."

The baby kicked even harder at the sound of his voice.

"You know, he was sleeping until you started talking."

Jack smirked. "Payback."

"Hey, you liked my wake-up call."

He brushed his lips against my cheek before he kissed me again. "I did." His breath tickled my ear as he moved his lips to my neck. "Now that we're both awake…"

"I love the way you think, Mr. Thornton."