"Silas?" Elizabeth suggested.

"Uh, no. It sounds like he's eighty five years old."

"Leo?"

"The lion?"

"Jasper."

"Sounds like Casper and he won't be a ghost, so no."

"Zander."

"It sounds like we are too lazy to give him a whole name. What list are you looking at, Elizabeth?"

"I found it online. What names do you want?"

"I can't find any that I like. None that go with Thomas as the middle name anyway."

"We could name him Jack." She kissed his cheek and moved even closer to him on the bed. "I'm partial to that name."

"I don't want to name him after me. I want him to be his own person and have his own identity. I don't want him to always be confused for me just because our names are the same."

"That makes sense. I just want you to know though, you are pretty wonderful. If he had to be mistaken for anyone, his amazing father would be a good choice."

"Thank you."

"I mean it, you know."

"I know." His lips met hers in a slow, sweet kiss. "I love you." He moved his hand to her tummy. "Both of you."

"If it's a girl, I know what name I want," she told him after kissing him again.

"Ok."

"Well first, I want her middle name to be Charlotte, for obvious reasons."

"My mom will love that."

"I know." She sighed. "I found a name a few weeks back and I instantly loved it. I can picture her even. Blonde curls, green eyes, beautiful."

"What is it?"

"Finlea. Finlea Charlotte Thornton."

…..

Julie sat in her apartment and smiled. She and Mike had been texting almost non-stop since they decided to date.

"Wanna go out to dinner?" he asked.

"When?"

"Now?"

"It's three oclock, Mike."

"Technicalities."

"Ok. Let's go."

"How much time do you need to get ready?"

"I'm ready, if you don't mind seeing me in jeans and a t-shirt."

"Don't mind at all. I'll come pick you up."

Julie was trying to change herself. She was trying to be more patient and not say exactly what she thought at the moment she thought it. She was also trying not to care so much about what other people thought, for example, going to dinner in jeans rather than spending an hour on her hair and finding the perfect outfit.

About five minutes later she heard his knock. Her heart beat just a bit faster as she walked to the door.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Yep." She closed the door behind her and locked it and then followed him down the stairs to his truck. "I like your truck."

"Thank you. I bought it about a year ago. It was more than I wanted to spend but Renee said that I should buy it because I never did anything for myself. Now, I can't seem to let it go."

"You don't need to let it go if you aren't ready."

"It makes me think of her every time I drive it. The same with my house. I am grateful that I can sleep at the dispatch and drive an ambulance most of the time."

He opened the door for her and then closed it, slowly walking around the front to climb inside the driver's side, berating himself for bringing up Renee when he was trying to move on.

"Mike," Julie said as he got in.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked about her."

She moved over so she was sitting next to him and then put her hand on his arm. "Mike. I don't expect you to magically forget her or move on just because you ask me to dinner. I don't want you to forget her. She was a part of you and your life and you were happy with her. I like to think that part of who you are now is because you knew her."

He looked at her for a long moment and then kissed her cheek. "Thank you for saying that."

She smiled at him and buckled herself into the middle seat instead of sliding back over. He was grateful. He wanted her close, even if it meant just their legs touching.

He drove slowly through town and then entered the highway. "Where are we headed?"

"I heard about Music on Main in Bozeman. There's live music and food and dancing. It's a nice day so I thought we might do that."

"That sounds nice."

"We are a little early so I wanted to pick up a gift for Charlotte and Bill too."

"Ok." She moved her arm slightly so that her hand was in the crook of his arm. "Is this ok?"

He nodded and smiled. "You look beautiful tonight, Julie."

"Thank you. You're very sweet." She felt her cheeks heat.

The sun shining on her made her auburn hair even redder and her blue eyes bluer, and it brought out a few freckles she had on her nose.

When they arrived in downtown Bozeman, they found a parking spot down the street from a few specialty shops. One in particular caught Mike's eye. It was a gift boutique that had hand-blown glass in the front window. "Let's go in here."

She followed him inside and immediately knew they would find a gift for the wedding couple. There were antiques and hand-blown glass. There were old books and silver picture frames. "Mike, look at this." She picked up an antiqued silver picture frame with the word "Family" engraved on the bottom.

"It's nice. You should get it."

She nodded and continued to follow him around until he saw a hand-blown glass heart with, "Love is a perfect bond of union" painted on it. "Mike, that is gorgeous."

"It's is. I think they would love it."

They wandered a bit more, made their purchases, and headed further down the street. "Let's get ice cream," she suggested, pulling his arm and leading him down the block.

"We haven't had dinner."

"Sometimes dessert before dinner is best."

"Why is that?"

"Not sure, but either I just made it up or I heard it somewhere."

Mike chuckled and continued following her to the ice cream shop.

After ice cream it was just about time for the live festivities so they locked their gifts in the truck and found a spot in the crowd and waited. Mike felt the back of her hand bump against his. Instead of holding it though, he moved and rested his arm around her shoulder. "Thank you for coming with me, Julie."

"Thank you for asking me."

Normally, at this point, she'd be hoping for a kiss or initiating one herself, but this was different. Mike was different and losing his wife almost a year before meant he had to be ready for that step, not her.

She patted his hand that was still on her shoulder, and slipped her arm around his waist.

The band in front of them started playing a cover of one of Mike's favorite songs, Blake Shelton's "God Gave me You."

He held his hand out and led Julie to the edge of the crowd to dance.

I've been a walking heartache

I've made a mess of me

The person that I've been lately

Ain't who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me

Watch as the storm goes through

And I need you

'Cause God gave me you for the ups and downs

God gave me you for the days of doubt

For when I think I've lost my way

There are no words here left to say, it's true

God gave me you, gave me you

There's more here than what were seeing

A divine conspiracy

That you, an angel lovely

Could somehow fall for me

You'll always be love's great martyr

And I'll be the flattered fool

And I need you, yeah

God gave me you for the ups and downs

God gave me you for the days of doubt

For when I think I've lost my way

There are no words here left to say, it's true

God gave me you

On my own I'm only

Half of what I could be

I can't do without you

We are stitched together

And what love has tethered

I pray we never undo

Julie watched Mike mouth the words as he stared into her eyes. She had a sad thought that he was probably thinking of Renee when he appeared to be thinking of her, singing to her.

He pulled her close, her temple now resting against his chin. Oh, how she wanted it to be her that he was thinking about.

She could see that the man holding her close, was going to be the biggest test of patience that she had ever or would ever experience. She knew he would be worth it though.

…..

"Pete, I need to go to the hospital," Clara told her husband over the phone.

He was at Thornton Acres, a good twenty minutes away from Clara. "Are you in labor?"

"Yes, my water broke. Please hurry."

"Honey, it's going to take awhile for me to get there. Can you call Charlotte to take you and I'll meet you?"

"Peter Stanton! You better not miss this! You need to be there when he takes his first breath."

"Baby, I'll be there. Call Charlotte!"

Charlotte rushed over and got Clara to the hospital just as her contractions were hitting full force.

"Oh gosh!" she moaned through her pains. "Where is Pete?!"

"He will be here, just breathe, Clara."

Charlotte was aware that the little boy inside Clara had a problem with his heart. She prayed hard that he would be ok and would live.

"What are you naming him, Clara?"

Clara took a deep breath and grabbed Charlotte's hand, needing something to hang on to.

"Zane Peter Stanton. Zane means "Gift from God"."

"He certainly is. What a wonderful blessing children are."

"I just wish he wasn't sick," Clara said, her voice breaking. "I don't know what I will do if…"

"Clara, please don't think that way."

"I'm just being realistic. The doctor said it could be serious. Surgery is risky and with him being so little…"

Charlotte knew the pain and fear of having a sick child. Charlotte thought of her baby that she lost many years before and even though she had died too early to survive outside in the world, the pain and fear was the same.

Thankfully Pete arrived a few moments later and Charlotte was able to go sit in the waiting room with Abigail who had also arrived.

…..

"Jack, this is amazing." They stood at the lookout of Shoshone Falls. It was breathtaking. The power of the falls and the beauty of God's creation took their breath away.

Jack watched quietly, his arms wrapped around her. "I found a boy's name."

"You did? What is it?"

"Drake."

"Drake Thomas," she whispered, tilting her head slightly, letting him kiss her neck. "I like it a lot."

"But…"

"No buts, I like it."

"But you don't love it."

"I don't not love it."

"I'll keep looking." She could hear the disappointment in his voice.

She turned and looked at him. "Jack, if it's a boy, Drake Thomas is perfect."

"Good because if this is a girl," he said gesturing to her tummy, "I reserve the right to use that name for the son we are bound to have."

"What if we have five girls?"

"Then number five is Drake, girl or boy."

"Deal!"

Later, after a picnic close to the falls, they headed back to the hotel to rest up for their drive the next day. Their plan was to drive to Utah to see Arches National Park.

For dinner, they found a Noodles & Company, thinking pasta shouldn't upset Baby Thornton.

They got into their pajamas, turned on old I Love Lucy rerun, and ate noodles.

…..

Pete was in awe of Clara. After twelve long hours of labor, she finally pushed Zane Peter Stanton into the world, all 7 pounds 6 ounces of him. He screamed and wiggled but seemed healthy. However, because of his condition, the doctors and nurses immediately took him over to the corner to give him oxygen and monitor him.

Pete kissed Clara and smiled. "Good job, babe. I'm so proud of you."

She nodded and cried into his neck. "I want to see him, Pete. I need to, just in case…"

"Shhh. Clara, please." She had always had that in the back of her mind and it annoyed him to no end. He refused to think of their tiny boy dying. Parents weren't supposed to outlive their children.

"Doctor? I need to see him, please!"

"Mrs. Stanton, before we take him to NICU, we will make sure to bring him over."

"Thank you."

A few moments later, the nurse wheeled him over. He was still crying and wiggling. "Hi, Zane. It's Mama. I love you so much." The tears streamed down her face and Zane heard her voice and stopped crying. "Please get better, baby. Your Daddy and I need you."

"I'm sorry, we need to take him now. As soon as possible, we are going to bring you a breast pump so we can feed him that healthy stuff only you can give him."

Clara nodded. The nurse put her hand on Clara's shoulder. "Don't worry, sweetie. We'll take good care of him."

"Thank you."

About an hour later, instead of bringing a breast pump, the nurse brought Zane. "Someone needs his Mama."

"I get to feed him?" Clara could barely control her joy.

"Yes, ma'am. Zane here is breathing well. The doctor will fill you in but let's get him eating. He's been hungry for a little bit."

"Do you want me to go?" Pete asked.

"No, of course not, honey."

It took a bit but eventually he was latched on correctly and eating greedily. It was wonderful. Clara had never known such love.

She held her hand out to Pete and asked him to join them on the bed. He stood up and sat next to them, his arm around both of them. He was so grateful that he seemed ok. He had been scared of losing him before, he just hadn't let himself accept it. Now, seeing him nursing and breathing well, he felt content.

After awhile, he was sleeping again and Clara decided she should too. She handed Zane to Pete and then closed her eyes.

Pete brought his knees up and laid Zane on them so he could get a good look. He was a handsome little guy. He looked like Clara but he could tell he had his nose. His hair was sparse, but brown, and he couldn't see his eyes but he suspected they were brown too.

"I love you so much, Zane. I didn't know it was possible," he whispered. His tears started flowing. "You have made your Mom and me so blessed. Please be ok. I know now what we would be missing if we lost you. I don't think I could bare it."

Clara listened as he spoke. He had been scared. Just as scared as she had been. "Pete?"

"I'm sorry. I was trying to be quiet."

"I love you, Pete."

"I love you."

"I'm glad we are a team. I can't get through it without you."

"I'm not going anywhere." He wrapped his arm around her , inviting her to come closer. She accepted and fell asleep laying next to her boys.