The grandfather clock in the dining room dinged six times as Rosemary struggled to fasten her last earring before searching the room for her brown button boots. She'd rested well, but all too soon the time had passed, leaving her little time to ready herself for going into town for supper with Harriet.

"Rosie, the car's been warming for a good ten minutes. I'm going to have to go out and buy more gas at this rate if you don't come down here soon," Lee's voice carried up the stairs.

"Coming, my dear!" Rosie called as she scooped up her boots and, with stocking feet, went down to the parlor. Her outfit, while a bit rumpled from her nap, would just have to do. She wrinkled her nose at the creased lines across the front of her dress. How she missed the days she had an unlimited supply of properly fitting skirts and dresses. If only she had another skirt that would fit around her expanding middle. She picked up the edge of her skirt and shook it, hopeful some of the lines would fall away.

"Whoa, there. You got a bee in your petticoat?" Lee reached up to steady her.

"No, just wrinkles galore. Honestly, being one of the head seamstresses at the dress shop you'd think I'd have more than one proper skirt." She couldn't help the pity coming from her voice.

He looked her up and down. "You look fine to me."

She harrumphed.

Not knowing exactly how to respond, Lee held up her over coat. "Here you go."

"And that's another thing! Not even my large over coat will button right anymore." She knew she was being silly, but honestly, how was a woman supposed to react when she was growing out of her clothes at such an alarming rate?

Lee lowered the coat, a look of confusion on his face. "Listen, Rosie, we got to get going."

"I don't even have my shoes on yet." She motioned to the shoes in her other hand and Lee gave an impatient grunt.

She sat on the settee and began to fasten the countless buttons on the first boot.

"Here, let me help you." Lee put his pocket watch back in his vest pocket and bent to help her with her boots.

Perhaps her clothes did not fit, but she sure did have a chivalrous husband. That was something to be grateful for… although she would need to remedy her clothing situation and soon.

As he continued to button her boots, she relaxed back onto the settee. "You know…It was simply a genius idea to meetup with Harriet for supper. It allowed a bit of an intermission of sorts."

"Yes," Lee grimaced as he struggled with a button, "although now we are running late. Harriet may think it's a delay not an intermission." The lines on his forehead were not doing him any favors.

She leaned forward and smoothed the wrinkles from his forehead away with the palm of her hand. "You'll age faster that way, you know?"

"Oh really, you don't say?" He gave her a sarcastic smile. "I think you are the one responsible for these wrinkles, and maybe even a stray gray hair here or there," He said pointing to his head.

"Oh, you are always grumpy when we run late." She gave him a light swat on the shoulder.

"Well, you think by now, we'd learn to be early or at least on time, but noooo…" He teased as he finished the last boot and helped her to her feet. "Here you go." He held up her coat as she put one, then both arms in.

"Lee Coulter… I'd think by now you'd realize you are married to the 'Belle of the Ball'. Nothing happens in Hope Valley until I arrive. The 'Belle' cannot be late… she simply is the event." She waved her hands with dramatic flourish.

"Yeah, well, let's go, 'Mrs. Belle of the Ball'." He smiled and put his hand on the small of her back, assisting her to the car.

Lee maneuvered the Model T onto the dirt road leading them into town, the soft beams of the car lights shining on the path before them. The sky was already beginning to darken as the sun had set a good thirty minutes ago. Oh, how Rosemary looked forward to the spring, where the days would become longer, the sunlight giving them life and awaking them from the dormancy of the long, long Hope Valley winter.

He shifted the car into second gear and then placed a soft hand on her knee, drawing her away from her thoughts.

"I didn't get to check in with you, but you're doing okay? I know it was a heavy session this morning," His words were gentle and laced with love: that deep unconditional love she was just now starting to recognize.

She nodded. "It was a lot, but it is actually going better than I thought. It's definitely not easy… but I am getting the answers I've been after for so long." She felt proud of herself for facing all the drama that was brought her way. Sure, she still wasn't quite sure of Harriet's timing, why she was visiting Hope Valley now, but perhaps that question could be answered tonight over supper.

"I'm glad for you, Rosie." He looked over to her, and although the car was dark, she could have sworn she saw a warm sparkle in his eye.

"I'm thankful to you, Lee. Without you… I couldn't face all this. I probably would have run away a long time ago." She squeezed his hand and he smiled.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. I do believe you are changing, Rosemary Coulter."

"What me? Changing? I am still your Rosemary, filled with pizzazz and glamour and… flamboyance."

He cracked a smile at her choice of words. "That you are, Sweetheart, that you are. I just mean… I see a depth to you that wasn't there before."

"Are you calling me superficial?" She teased him, knowing he did not mean such a thing. But instead of joining in with a teasing lilt to his voice, he continued on seriously.

"No, I didn't mean that… I just mean…" He sighed, "I am proud of you. You used to do this awkward dance around any topics that would go too deep or too personal. Now… now it is like you realize that perhaps facing those things head on, while uncomfortable, can lead you to a new place of freedom."

She was quiet for a moment, soaking in his words. "Maybe it's because I can finally let down the walls I've kept built up for so long. Perhaps it is because I've realized that… well, both you and God… you accept me. You love me without stipulations, without limits."

Lee cupped her hand with his own. "I knew you'd come around to seeing things my way."

"Oh so you had this all figured out, did you?" She teased him.

"I'd like to say so, but only God has all things worked out. But I have a feeling things are just about to turn around for us. You'll have a new lease on life with all this behind you. You'll be able to move on. And we… we will continue to work on our new home and hopefully have it finished in time for the baby."

She put a hand on her stomach. "That would be nice."

She was just starting to day dream about the wallpaper and furniture for the baby's room when Lee yanked his hand from hers and placed both hands on the steering wheel. He leaned forward and peered out the front of the Model T's window. "What in tarnation?"

Rosemary lifted her eyes. A large billow of smoke rose up, up, up into the sky from the center of their beautiful Hope Valley.

And here they had thought things had taken a turn for the better…