The next morning, Lilly was up bright and early as she had to work the breakfast shift at Abigail's. She bid her family her farewells and promised she would be home around lunchtime. Once she arrived at the café, Abigail had plenty of orders that already needed to be served to the various customers. Lilly grabbed the coffee pot and went around to the different tables refilling cups. Once she went back to the kitchen and saw a plateful of chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and bacon, she knew immediately who had ordered it. She smiled and grabbed the plate before taking it over to him, "One five year old special for Constable William Thornton," she joked and placed the plate in front of him.

William looked up from his newspaper and smiled, "Hey Lilly."

Lilly sat down across from him, "So did Uncle Jack and Aunt Elizabeth tell you? About?"

"My Dad and your Mom, yeah," said William, "Kind of crazy isn't it? If it had worked out, we wouldn't even be here."

"I know," sighed Lillian.

"Hey, Lilly?" asked William and Lilly looked up at him, "Um, I know you have to work right now, but I wanted to know if we could talk sometime soon. I wanted to ask you a question."

Lilly's heart began to race and her palms started to sweat a little bit. Was William going to ask her what she thought he was going to ask her? Or was it going to be something completely non-related? She took a deep breath and said, "I get off at noon. Where do you want to meet?"

"Um, I'd like to go someplace private, so maybe outside of the church? I don't think Mom is there currently. She set up her classroom yesterday," said William.

Lilly smiled and said, "Okay," she stood and grabbed the coffee pot, "I better get back to work. Becky scolds me enough; I don't need to give her any more reasons."

William chuckled and smiled, "Go."

At 12:30 PM, Lillian still hadn't arrived to the church. William paced in front of the stairs, looking at his watch, "That girl is always late."

"Yoo hoo!" Lillian waved, running over towards William happily. Once she approached him, she gave him a quick embrace and said, "Sorry, I'm late. Clara had a little trouble with the baby, so I had to stay at work longer."

"It's no problem, Lilly," said William. He gestured towards the stairs and nervously asked, "Should we have a seat?"

"Sure," Lilly beamed. The pair sat down and Lilly turned to William, "So what did you want to ask me?"

William took a nervous breath and rubbed his hands together before he spoke, "Well, I have a confession to make about you. I've had a crush on you for a really long time."

"Well, of course you have! For how long?" asked Lilly, raising an eyebrow.

"For as long as I can remember. I was just too afraid to do anything about it. I mean, our parents are best friends, your brother and I are best friends, and you're like a sister to me. I'm afraid I'll mess up and ruin our friendship if it doesn't work out in the end."

"Wait? If what doesn't work out?" questioned Lilly in confusion.

William stood and began to pace, "Well, I talked to your father about it yesterday and I'm pretty sure Uncle Lee is as good as he's ever going to be with this topic, so here it goes," William stood Lilly and took her hands in his, "Lillian Coulter, would you like to court me?"

"William," Lilly sighed, "You haven't gotten your first assignment yet. You could be stationed in New Brunswick tomorrow."

"Well, Mom and Dad make it work. Besides, if I get my way, that won't happen."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Lilly.

"Well, I can't be certain, but I requested a posting at Cape Fullerton," informed William, "It's only 90 minutes from here by car, a little bit longer by horse or coach, about 3 hours then, but with Cape Fullerton being fairly close, it means I could come home on some weekends and holidays. And one of the good things about Cape Fullerton is it's not as dangerous as other postings."

"Isn't that the posting Uncle Jack initially wanted?" asked Lilly.

"Yes, but your rich father probably won't request a transfer to here to babysit you," said William and Lilly giggled, "It's not going to be perfect, I know. You still have your family and job in Hope Valley, but I've been thinking about this for a while. So?" asked William hesitantly.

Lilly smiled and kissed William on the cheek, "Yes."

Lilly practically skipped home she was so excited. When she arrived at the Coulter residence, her mother was in the kitchen preparing sandwiches for everyone, "Lilly, there you are."

"I know, I know. I said I'd be home at lunchtime, but Clara arrived later because of Seth and then I was at the church with William," she explained.

Rosemary shot her head up but smiled, "Oh, what did he want?" Lilly didn't say anything, but only smiled, "Oh Lilly Bug, I am so happy for you!" Rosemary threw her arms around her daughter.

"Well, I don't know where the courtship will take us, but it's in God's hands," laughed Lilly nervously.

Rosemary laid a hand on Lilly's shoulder, "Well, you know if you need to talk about anything, I'm here to listen, right?"

Lilly nodded, "I know. Thanks Mom."

Rosemary smiled and squeezed Lilly's shoulder before she said, "Lunch is ready, you can go eat. Lee, Aaron, Violet, lunch is ready!" she called. Lee and Aaron came out of the office and Violet hesitantly came down the stairs and joined her parents and siblings at the table. All of them noticed she wasn't eating much, "Violet, sweetheart, what's wrong?" asked Rosie.

"I don't feel well," said Violet, "I'm not really hungry and my head hurts," she rubbed her head.

Rosemary felt her daughter's forehead, "Well, you do feel a little warm and you have been complaining about how tired you've been for the past few days. Let me go get the thermometer and I'll check your temperature."

"Before you go, Mommy, can I ask you a question?" asked Violet.

"Of course," responded Rosemary.

"Aren't I too young to get pimples?" asked Violet curiously.

Rosemary and Lilly scowled at each other in confusion, "Sweetheart, what pimples?" asked Rosemary. Lee and Aaron also seemed confused.

"I have pimples on my arms and legs. And my belly," Violet held up her arms to show them.

"Uh oh," said Lilly taking Violet's right arm while Rosie observed her left, "Violet, I hate to break it to you, but those aren't pimples."

"Then what are they?" asked Violet.

"Those are chickenpox," informed Rosemary.

Violet's eyes widened, "Chickenpox? Does that mean I'm going to turn into a chicken?"

Rosemary laughed, "No, honey, it just means you're getting sick. That's why you have a headache and don't feel hungry. Everyone gets chickenpox at some point in their life. I had them, Daddy had them, your brother and sister had them…"

"At the same time," commented Lilly.

"Don't remind me," said Aaron, "You blamed me for giving them to you."

Lee and Rosie chuckled at the memory. When Aaron was four, he had gotten chickenpox. Two days later, the spots appeared on Lilly, who had been six years old at the time. Ten days of calamine lotion, oatmeal baths, gloved hands, and keeping them from scratching itchy spots (boy had they been sneaky), "It's a childhood rite of passage, Violet," assured Lee.

"Now go upstairs and change into your pajamas. I'll make you some chicken noodle soup and have Lilly run to the mercantile for calamine lotion and oatmeal so I can help take the itch away," Lilly nodded and grabbed her clutch so she could go to the mercantile.

"But I don't itch right now," Violet shook her head.

"Oh you will," Lilly, Rosie, Lee, and Aaron all said at the same time.