Jack and I sat across the table from Rosemary and Lee.

"So, you two are already Alina's godparents, so what would you say to being godparents to her little brother or sister?" Rosemary grinned.

"You're pregnant?"

"Mhmm." She nodded and brought her hand to her stomach. "Due in August."

I felt a lump in my throat as I was immediately reminded that I was no longer carrying a baby; I had no due date to look forward to. Jack squeezed my hand under the table. I fought the tears that started forming in my eyes.

"Elizabeth, are you okay? You can say no. We won't be upset."

I wiped my eyes, tears falling despite my struggle to keep them away. "I'm sorry. We would love to be your baby's godparents."

"Hey, Jack. How about we go check on the kids?" Lee ushered Jack out of the room, leaving me alone with Rosemary.

She leaned her elbows on the table. "Okay, what's going on, Elizabeth?"

"I was due in August."

"Was?"

I nodded. "We lost the baby a month ago. I was seven weeks along."

"Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry, Elizabeth. I had no idea." She reached for a box of Kleenex, pushing it toward me.

I shook my head. "We haven't told many people. The only people who know are our parents and Abigail. And now you." I took a tissue. "I'm sorry. Here you are with this wonderfully happy news, and I'm bringing the mood down."

"Don't apologize, Elizabeth. It's totally understandable that you would be feeling like this."

I wiped my eyes again and gave her a sad smile. "It would've been fun to be pregnant at the same time."

She nodded. "It would have."

I reached over and took her hand. "We really would be happy to be your baby's godparents."

"Are you sure?" She touched her hand to her stomach.

"Positive. I'm really happy for you, Rosemary." I sighed. "So, August. That makes you about three months along?"

"Yes, I'm almost fourteen weeks right now."

"How have you been feeling?"

"Not that great. It's definitely been more difficult this time around. I've been so sick, and I'm exhausted all the time. Lee's been having to do the grocery shopping because I can't handle the smell of the grocery store."

"At least you've had one before, so you know that all of this is worth it."

She nodded. "That's very true. I know that I'm very lucky to be able to carry a baby at all."

Tears filled my eyes once more.

"Oh, Elizabeth." She squeezed my hand. "I'm sure it'll happen for you, if you decide you want to try again."

"I know." I reached for another tissue. "That's what the doctor told us. She's actually cleared me to start trying again, but I just can't think about that right now. I know that it was nothing that I did, but there's still that little voice in the back of my head that says maybe I could've done something differently or that the same thing will happen the next time."

"Well, I'll be praying for you."

"Thank you, Rosemary."

...

I lowered Teddy into the crib, pushing back the hair from his forehead. "Sleep well, Teddy Bear."

As I quietly left the room, Bronte took her place in the nursery, curling up on the rug beside the crib.

Jack was just coming out of the bathroom when I entered our bedroom. He pulled off his shirt and settled on his side of the bed. I slipped under the quilt beside him.

"How are you, Beth?" He took my hand, rubbing gentle circles with his thumb. "I know their news wasn't easy for you to hear."

"I'm okay. I'm really happy for them, but this is going to be hard. Whenever I see her, I'm just going to think about how I should be there, too. Her due date is only two weeks before mine was. We should've been experiencing everything together, but now I'll just be reminded of all the things I don't get to do."

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "It's fine. I don't think I'll ever completely get over losing our baby, but things could be far worse. I just keep reminding myself that I'm lucky that I still have you and Teddy."

"And we're not going anywhere." He pulled me to his chest and kissed the top of my head.

"I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too."

He rubbed my back and hummed softly until I drifted off.

...

I walked into the nursery just as Jack was finishing getting Teddy dressed, doing up the buttons on his gray overalls. He sat him up on the changing table and bent down to his eye level.

"Now listen here, little man. It's Sunday again, which means we're going to church. You know what that means? You need to be quiet. Okay? You can talk as much as you want during lunch, but at church: quiet."

"Mamamama."

Jack gasped. "Did you just…?"

"Did he just…?"

Jack glanced over at me, a grin stretching across his face. Teddy had been babbling for months, but this was the first time he had ever put sounds together that sounded like an actual word.

"Mamamama."

Jack lifted Teddy from the changing table. "Did you just say 'mama?' Is that your mama?" He pointed at me.

"Can you say it again, Teddy Bear?" I took his hand in mine. "Can you say 'mama?'"

"Or, better yet, can you say 'dada?'" Jack looked at me with a smirk.

Teddy moved his gaze back and forth between me and Jack. "Mamamama."

I grinned. "That's right, Teddy Bear. I'm your mama." I tugged down the sleeves of his off-white, black-bear-covered onesie, then looked over at Jack. "You get to change all of his diapers today, by the way."

"And why is that?"

"Because you put him in a onesie and overalls. You should've put him in a shirt instead of the onesie, and then you'd have one less layer to get through."

He chuckled. "Well, excuse me for trying to be nice and give you a little extra time this morning by dressing our son."

"And I'm very grateful for that." I kissed him softly. "But you still get all the diapers."

"Fine." He kissed me back. "We should get going."

...

I held Teddy in my lap, feeding him small pieces of a banana. He giggled at Cody, who was making faces at him from across the table.

Multiple conversations were happening around the table. Jack slipped his arm around my back as he talked to Carson. I sat quietly, watching everything happening around me.

Lee scooped up Alina when she toddled over to his chair. He met Rosemary's eyes and gave her a small nod.

She cleared her throat. "Um, Lee and I have something to tell all of you." She took Lee's hand and smiled. "We're having another baby in August."

"Oh, congratulations!"

"We really are going to outgrow the café quickly." Abigail chuckled and glanced around the room at Teddy, then Alina, then Clara, who was just about a month away from giving birth to baby Ally.

My heart tightened at the thought that they should have been celebrating with us, too; we should have been adding to that number.

Jesse nudged Carson. "You and Faith need to hurry it up, man."

Carson chuckled. "All in good time."

Faith spoke up. "Um, I guess this is a good time to break our news. We aren't trying to take away from your news," she glanced over at Rosemary and Lee, "but…" she lifted up her left hand, showing off a diamond ring that hadn't been there the week before.

"Oh my goodness!"

"This ring is beautiful." Rosemary grabbed Faith's hand, getting a closer look at the ring. "If you need any help with any of the planning, you know who to call."

"I think we have it all under control right now, but we'll definitely come to you if we need any help."

...

After Teddy was down for his afternoon nap, I settled on the sofa. I stared at the ultrasound photo in my hand, tracing the baby with my finger. It had been a month since the photo had been taken, since we learned that we would never meet our baby. Tears burned my eyes. That tiny human, barely the size of a blueberry, still had a hold on my heart.

"Beth?" Jack placed his hand on my shoulder. "Thinking about the baby?"

I nodded. "It's not fair."

He moved around the sofa, sinking down beside me. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Our friends keep making these big announcements, and we should be making one, too."

He laced his fingers with mine. "We'll have our turn soon."

"Not that soon, though. I still want to wait a while."

"I know." He kissed my temple. "I want to wait, too. It'll happen when it's supposed to."

I sighed. "I hate it, Jack."

"What?"

I held up the ultrasound. "These pictures are really the only physical evidence we have that this baby existed. These and the pregnancy test. I just wish… I don't know. I wish there was something more."

"I'm sure we can figure something out."

...

Jack set a small box in my lap, taking a seat on the bed beside me.

"What's this?" I looked up at him.

"Nothing big. When you were saying that you wished there was something more to prove the baby existed, it got me thinking. I just thought maybe this would help us get some closure."

I lifted the lid from the box, revealing the three ultrasound photos of our baby and the pregnancy test that I had presented him with on Christmas.

"And this?" I removed an envelope from the box. Printed neatly on the outside was 'Baby Thornton.'

He shrugged. "I wrote a letter to the baby."

I ran my fingers along the edge of the envelope. "Did it help?"

"I think it did. Don't feel like you need to write one, though."

I shook my head. "I want to." I slipped my fingers into his hand. "Also, I've been thinking. I want to name the baby."

He squeezed my hand. "I think that's a great idea. Any thoughts so far?"

I nodded. "I kind of like Owen."

"Owen? What if the baby was a girl?"

I shrugged. "I know we didn't find out what it was, but I just had a feeling it was another boy. We can pick a different name if you don't like that. I just think Owen Thornton is cute."

"No, I like it. How about Owen Thatcher Thornton?"

"Perfect."

Jack put his hand on my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. "I miss him, Elizabeth." He leaned in, touching his forehead to mine. "I miss him."

"So do I." I pressed my lips to his. "Oh! I just remembered." I leaned over and reached into the drawer in my nightstand, pulling out the soft yellow hat. "I made this the same day I took the test, just like I did when I found out about Teddy." I gently placed the hat in the box. "I put it in my nightstand after…"

"Shh." Jack replaced the lid on the box and brushed his lips against my temple. "Now it's where it's supposed to be." He moved the box to his nightstand and pulled me to his chest. "We should get to sleep now. We both have work in the morning."

I nodded into his shoulder. "I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too."

He pulled the quilt over us, and I settled against him.

"Jack, I've also been thinking, if you haven't already planned something for the anniversary of our first date, we should go riding."

"I was actually thinking the same thing." He kissed my nose and chuckled. "Apparently we really were meant to be together."

"I can get a picnic dinner together, and I'll see if Becky can babysit."

"It's a date."

...

"Hey, Sarge." Jack rubbed the horse's nose. "You up for a ride today, buddy?"

I tucked our dinner into the saddle bag while he got the horse ready for our ride.

Jack kept his hands on my waist as I hopped up into the saddle. He slid in behind me, reaching around me to grab the reins.

"Ready?" He kissed my shoulder, and I nodded. "Let's go." He clicked his tongue and tapped Sergeant's sides with his heels.

He kept the horse at a slow walk as we navigated down the trail and toward the meadow he had taken me to the last time we had gone riding.

It was quiet as we rode, peaceful. Jack had one hand on the reins and one hand holding me tight to him, my back pressed against his chest.

Once we reached the meadow, he brought the horse to a halt and helped me out of the saddle.

"I love you, Beth." He kissed me soundly. "Thank you for saying yes to a date with a guy you barely knew." He grinned.

"I knew enough." I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I love you, Jack."

"Dance with me?"

"Always." I slipped my fingers into his outstretched hand.

We turned in slow circles in the middle of the meadow, the only music coming from the breeze blowing through the trees.

...

We lay beside each other on the picnic blanket, looking up at the sky as it changed colors with the setting sun. Jack squeezed my hand. "We should get back before it gets dark."

I rolled to my side and looked at his face, noticing how his eyelashes seemed to glow in the soft light. "I wish we could stay here forever."

"Me too, but I think we would miss Teddy." He smirked.

"You know what I mean." He leaned in and kissed me before helping me up from the blanket.

As I was returning our empty dishes to the saddle bag, I noticed something.

"What's this?" I pulled an envelope from the bottom of the bag.

"Okay, don't be mad. I know we said no gifts, but I had to." He came over and put his hands on my waist. "Besides, it's kind of for both of us."

I looked at him curiously, wondering what it could be.

He kissed my nose. "Open it."

I carefully peeled the envelope open and pulled out two plane tickets.

"I know I promised you a trip to Vancouver last year for Spring Break, but then I got you pregnant and everything," he chuckled "so, I figured we could go this year instead."

"What about Teddy?"

He placed his hand on my cheek and kissed me softly. "He'll stay with Rosemary and Lee. I've already talked to them. And I know that it'll be tough to leave him for a few days, but we promised each other we would take time just the two of us even after he came."

"We did." I kissed him back. "You have it all planned out?"

"Not everything, but all the big things. I have our hotel and rental car booked. Everything for Teddy is settled, and Cody and Abigail are going to take care of the dogs."

"You're amazing, Jack. Thank you. For this trip, for tonight, for being there for me this past month even though I know you've been hurting, too."

"You're welcome, but you don't need to thank me." He pressed his lips to my cheek. "I just like to see you happy."

"You make me so happy, Jack Thornton."