"Beth? Where's the diaper bag?" Jack called out from across the hall.

"It should be next to the dresser."

"Found it!"

I slipped my earrings in as I crossed the hall to the nursery. "There should be extra clothes and diapers in it, but can you double check?"

He peered into the bag. "I see some extra diapers and some extra clothes in here. Do I need to go put any snacks in it or anything?"

"No, they'll have snacks for him there."

"Okay." He slung the bag on his shoulder, then lifted Teddy from the crib. "I think we're ready to go."

"So, let's go over this one more time."

"I'm dropping him off on my way to work. You're picking him up after. I'll be home about an hour after you, and then we're going to Abigail's for dinner." He kissed my temple. "We've got this, Beth. Team Thornton."

I smiled. "Team Thornton."

"You need to get going."

I sighed. "I know. Have a good day, Teddy Bear. I'll see you soon." I kissed Teddy's cheek, then leaned up to kiss Jack. "You have a good day, too. Stay safe, babe."

He kissed me again. "I will. I love you."

...

I stood outside my classroom, watching students wander the halls toward their classes. I smiled when a familiar face approached me.

"Mrs. Thornton!" She hugged me tightly.

"Hello, Opal! How are you?"

"Good! I'm in fourth grade this year!"

"I know! You've gotten so big. Are you excited for this year?"

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, but I wish you could be my teacher every year."

"You'll have so much fun in Mrs. Montgomery's class, though."

She looked right at my stomach. "Are you having a baby?"

I chuckled. "I am, a little girl. She should be born right before Christmas."

"You should name her Opal."

"Opal is a beautiful name, but we've already picked a name for her."

"How old is your other baby?"

"Teddy is a year old now. He'll be one and a half when his baby sister is born." I pulled out my phone and opened a picture of Jack and Teddy from our recent camping trip to show her.

"Is your sheriff happy to have another baby?"

"He's very happy. He loves being a dad." I showed her a few more pictures, then put my phone back in my pocket. "Now, you'd better get to class. We don't want you to be late."

"Bye, Mrs. Thornton." She hugged me one more time before scurrying off down the hall.

...

"Hello, everyone. I'm Mrs. Thornton. Welcome to second grade! I'm so happy that you're all in my class this year! Now, I'll tell you a little bit about myself before we get to our first assignment."

I turned and started writing on the board.

"As I said before, my name is Mrs. Thornton, and I'm married to Sheriff Thornton. We have a one-year-old son named Teddy, and we have two dogs, named Rip and Bronte. We're also going to have a baby girl around Christmastime, but her named is a secret. Now," I turned back to my class, "I want all of you to take out a spiral notebook and write a few sentences about yourself. You'll be writing in this notebook throughout the school year, so make sure you take care of it."

"Mrs. Thornton?" Another hand went up.

"Yes?"

"What kind of things do we write about ourselves?"

"It can be anything you want me to know about you, kind of like the things I just told you about myself. You can write about who's in your family, what your favorite food is, how you spend your free time, things like that. The one rule is that you need to practice writing in complete sentences."

...

Teddy traipsed through the yard after Bronte, laughing loudly.

"I thought I heard little man laughing out here."

I turned to see Jack standing on the back porch. "Hi."

He crossed the yard, pulling me into a hug and kissing my cheek. "Hi, beautiful." He sighed.

"You okay, babe?"

"I'm fine. Just had a long day at work. I'm much better now that I'm home with you."

"Are you still up to going to Abigail's later? We could stay home if you want, order some pizza or something."

"No, we can go. Abigail is probably missing Teddy."

"You mean since she saw him at church yesterday, and then again at lunch?" I chuckled.

He shrugged. "I missed him, and I just saw him this morning."

"Okay. Head over there in an hour?"

"Yeah." He took a few steps over to Teddy, crouching down to his level. "Hi, bud. I'm very happy to see you." He lifted him onto his knee, holding him tightly. "I love you, Teddy Thornton."

They stayed like that for a few moments until Bronte barked and Teddy started to squirm, wanting to get back to chasing the dog.

Jack released him and returned to my side. He kissed me softly. "I'm going to go lie down for a bit."

I touched his cheek. "Jack, are you sure you're up to going out?"

"Yes. I promise I'm fine. Just tired."

I watched him walk inside, trying to figure out what was going on. I knew something had to have happened at work that he wasn't telling me.

"Come here, Teddy." I held out my hand, and he toddled toward me. "Let's go in." I groaned as I lifted him up, something that was getting more difficult as he got heavier and his sister got bigger inside me.

I slowly made my way inside and up the stairs. I found Jack stretched out on our bed, staring at the ceiling.

I set Teddy on the bed, then lay down beside my boys. "Jack, what's really going on with you? I know it's not just exhaustion."

"Nothing. It was just a hard day."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He sighed, reaching for Teddy as he spoke. "We got a call today about a case of neglect. It wasn't the first time we've had to respond to one of those, but this time, it was a little boy about Teddy's age and a baby girl just a few weeks old. I guess it just really got to me."

"Are they safe now?"

He shrugged. "I hope so. We took them to the hospital. Once they're healthy, they'll go into a foster home, hopefully together." He rolled onto his side and reached over to rest a hand on my stomach. "How can someone do that, Beth? To anyone, but let alone to innocent children? I don't understand."

"I don't know, Jack. I don't understand it, either."

He leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, his breathing had evened out, and I knew he was asleep.

I carefully slipped from the bed and quietly carried Teddy from the room.

"What do you say we go get some dinner so daddy can rest a while longer?"

...

Teddy toddled in front of me, heading straight toward the counter where Abigail was standing.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite customers."

"Up." Teddy held out his arms, and Abigail lifted him from the floor.

"Hi, Abigail. Can we get some fried chicken and coleslaw to go?"

"Sure." She shifted Teddy into one arm and wrote down the order before sending it back to the kitchen. "Is Jack working late today?"

"No. He had a hard day at work, so he's home resting."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope he has a better day tomorrow."

"So do I."

"And today was your first day back? How did it go?"

"It was good. I think I have a good group of students this year."

"That's good."

"It's a shame that I'll have to leave them for a couple of months when baby girl comes."

"Speaking of baby girl, how's she doing?"

I smiled, cradling my stomach. "She's doing well. She's been a little tumbleweed lately. She doesn't like to stay in one position for long."

"Peter was the same way before he was born." She chuckled. "I think he got frustrated in there once he was too big to flip around all the time."

"As much as I'm looking forward to this one reaching that point, I don't want it to be too soon. Teddy was so big that he stopped flipping before the third trimester. I don't need another nine-and-a-half-pound baby."

"I always forget he was that big." She kissed the top of his head. "You're a big guy, aren't you, Teddy?"

"He definitely is. He's never dipped below the 95th percentile in weight since he was born."

"Well, I'll be praying that baby girl isn't quite that big."

I laughed. "You and me both."

...

Teddy sat on the kitchen floor, playing with a spoon, while I plated our dinner.

"Mama. Eat."

"We'll eat soon. We just need to wait for daddy."

"Wait for me for what?" Jack entered the kitchen, brushing his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair. "It smells wonderful in here."

"Teddy and I ran to Abigail's to pick up dinner. I know you said you were okay with going out, but you needed rest. I got fried chicken and coleslaw." I reached into the bag and pulled out a little box of cookies. "And Abigail threw in some free cookies."

"Mm. Well, let's eat."

"Hey." I put my hand on his arm. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Much." He kissed me softly. "Thank you for ignoring when I said I was up to going out to dinner."

"Anytime."

"Hey, does that mean you're going to start ignoring me?"

I turned away from him, trying to keep from laughing as I carried the plates to the table.

"Elizabeth? Are you ignoring me?"

I set down our plates, still not responding.

"Elizabeth? Hello?"

I laughed. "Sorry. I'm just having a little fun." I nudged him with my elbow.

"Having fun at my expense. Figures."

I shrugged. "That's what marriage is all about, babe."

"Yeah, yeah." He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Can we eat now? I'm starved."

"Eat!" Teddy tugged on my dress.

"Come here, little man." Jack scooped him up, swinging him in the air. "You can sit with me since your sister takes up most of mama's lap now." He winked and pulled out my chair for me.

"I'd argue with you about that, but you aren't wrong." I took a seat and looked down at my belly, which was nearly touching the edge of the table even before Jack pushed my chair in. "This daughter of yours better not be as big as Teddy was, or you won't be getting any more children out of me."

"Unless I accidentally get you pregnant again."

I chuckled. "You are good at that."

"One of my many talents." He winked and settled into his own seat with Teddy in his lap.

"You're just lucky that the outcome is so cute."

...

A few days later, Jack came home from work to find me sitting on the edge of the bed and staring out the window.

"Elizabeth? Are you okay?"

I took a shaky breath, trying to will away the tears that were threatening to fall. "No."

"What's going on?" He sank down beside me. "Is it work?"

I shook my head. "No. Work is fine."

"Is it the baby?"

"No, she's okay, too. Moving like crazy, as usual." I sighed. "Today was my due date with Owen. We should've been meeting him." I cradled my stomach.

"Oh, Beth." He pulled me into his arms.

"I miss him."

Jack reached up and wiped the tears from my cheek. "I miss him, too." He inhaled deeply, tightening his arms around me. "I think about him all the time."

"Why did we have to lose him?"

He kissed my hair. "I don't know, Beth. I don't know. This is just one of those things that we'll probably never understand."

We sat like that for a few minutes, not talking, just holding each other.

He touched my chin, lifting my face to his. "I'll be right back." He kissed me softly and left the room, heading down the hall. He returned a few moments later, Teddy in one arm and a box in the other. "Here." He put the box in my lap, then settled into his spot beside me.

Tears filled my eyes again when I realized he had brought me the Owen box. I lifted the lid, running my fingers across the pregnancy test and tiny knit hat before finally pulling out one of the ultrasound photos.

"I thought it might be nice to have all three of our babies together for a little while, at least. Teddy," he kissed our son's forehead, then brushed his fingers across the picture in my hands, "Owen, and Em," he rested his hand on my stomach.

I reached over and touched Jack's cheek, smiling through my tears. "Thank you."

"I love you, Beth. You and our three babies are the very best things in my life."

...

A/N Thanks for keeping up with this story and for all the kind words! I'll try not to make you wait too much longer to meet baby girl Thornton!