Two days later, Jack returned home from being on call. He walked in the door expecting to find Elizabeth somewhere but she didn't seem to be home.

He found a note on the counter in the kitchen though.

Sweetheart,

Running some errands for the wedding in Bozeman with Julie and your mom. Should be back for dinner.

Love you

E.

"Bozeman? Good grief. All I wanted was to spend time with my wife and daughter. Is that too much to ask?" he asked to no one in particular because he was alone.

So, because he apparently had all the time in the world, he changed into his work clothes and headed outside to do chores, planning to let Pete head home to Clara. At least one of them could be with their wife.

However, when he got to the barn, he found Clara and Pete together, six month old Zane babbling away.

"Hey, guys."

"Jack. You're home."

"Yeah. I can take over chores if you want to go home."

"I thought you'd want to spend time with Elizabeth," Pete told him.

"Well, that was the plan but apparently she's in Bozeman."

"That's why our cowboy is pouting," Clara teased.

"I'm not pouting. I just miss them."

"Well, maybe you should make her dinner or something."

"Yeah maybe. In the meantime, I'll live vicariously through both of you. Take the rest of the day, Pete. You've earned it."

"If you're sure. Thanks, boss."

"You got it."

Jack took the shovel from Pete and started on the stalls. He needed to work out his frustration on something. Might as well make it worthwhile.

A few hours later, after wearing himself out, he went inside, showered and headed to the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner. He found a pork loin in the fridge ready to cook so he made it along with green beans and roasted potatoes with garlic, her favorite.

Then, around dinnertime, he lit a few candles for the table and sat down to wait. And wait. And wait. At about 6:30, he wondered why he hadn't heard from Elizabeth and realized he didn't have his phone.

He thought for a moment and headed to the barn. It was on the bale of hay next to the tack room. He looked at the screen. Two missed calls and six texts.

"Babe? U there?"

Then a moment later, "Jack? Can u call me?"

"Where r u?"

"Julie and mom want to have dinner so I'm going to be home later."

"I guess u r busy."

"I hope u r ok."

He sighed, headed into the house and ate alone. Then he did dishes alone and put away the food. Finally he headed to the living room, lit a fire, and waited again. At about nine o'clock, she still wasn't home so he headed upstairs to bed. He hadn't slept well for a week and he had done enough chores for three men.

He immediately fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

….

Elizabeth and Fin arrived home around ten. She peeked in the living room hoping to find Jack, but instead, she found an empty, dark room. However, the fire was going so she changed Fin and fed her before heading upstairs.

As she walked in the bedroom, she laid Fin in her crib and changed clothes, trying hard not to wake Jack.

"You're home?" he mumbled softly, but loud enough to hear the slight irritation in his voice.

"Yeah. Sorry I'm late. It's good to know you're ok, though."

"What about you? You were coming home for dinner last I heard." He sat up and yawned.

"I called and texted but you never answered."

"I made you, us, dinner, Elizabeth." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

"I didn't know you were doing that. If I had been able to reach you, you could have told me and I would have come home."

"I've been gone for a week. You knew I was coming home today but you went to Bozeman. You stayed there." He sighed, shook his head, and left the room.

Elizabeth wrapped a robe around herself and followed him.

"Jack?"

"I lit candles and I made you dinner. I wanted to spend time with you. We never get time anymore."

"Babe." She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I didn't know what time you were coming home. I thought I'd be here by the time you got here. I'm sorry."

"I missed you so much. I don't like being apart. I wanted you here."

"Honey, I'm here now." She took his hand and led him to the living room couch.

"I'm sorry. I should have been here."

Jack was irritated at the situation, not her. It wasn't fair to blame her when he could have fixed the situation by simply having his phone with him. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I left my phone in the barn. This is my fault, not yours, and you have every right to be away. You need time for yourself too." He pulled her close and covered them with a blanket, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Jack, I know the last few months, especially weeks, have been hard. I've missed you so much. We need to make sure to make time for us."

"Will you go out with me on our anniversary?"

She hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure about leaving Finlea."

"Babe, making time for us means just us. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Fin but we need to get away too."

"Babe, she's nursing right now."

"You have a breast pump. You can make her enough for one bottle. We can leave her with Mom and Bill."

"Jack, can I think about it?"

He wasn't sure if it was his lack of sleep or what but her having to think about spending time with him made him angry. "Goodnight, Elizabeth."

"Jack, please don't walk away."

"Look, I'm too tired to deal with this right now. We'll talk tomorrow sometime."

…

Tomorrow's conversation didn't come though. Tom, Katie, and Elisa arrived and decided to drop the bomb that Tom and Katie were getting married.

At dinner, Charlotte and Bill came adding more chaos to the situation.

"Nana! I missed you," Elisa told her, flinging her arms around her.

Elizabeth made dinner, taking advantage of willing helpers in holding the baby.

Jack and Tom were having a discussion in the living room.

"You barely know her, Tom. How can you be marrying her?"

"I've known her for about nine months. Need I remind you that you proposed to Elizabeth after three months?"

"That's not the same."

"You're right. I've known Katie plenty long enough. I love her, Jack. Elisa loves her. Whether or not you approve doesn't make a difference. I'm a grown man."

Jack sat and stewed. He was being unfair again. This time, he was taking his frustrations with not connecting with Elizabeth out on Tom.

"What's going on with you? Are you sleeping ok?"

"We have a six week old baby. Sleep doesn't always happen."

"Yeah. I remember those days. It takes a lot to keep a marriage going after you throw a child into the mix. I actually was jealous. Riley and Elisa had this connection that I wasn't a part of. She fed her and doted on her and I got pushed to the side a bit. We fought about the littlest things."

Jack understood that completely. It pained him to think that, but he was jealous of his own daughter. A helpless little six week old baby. "What did you do?"

"We made time to spend together. I brought gifts like flowers or her favorite bath salts. I gave her a massage or we just talked about our day. Even though most of her time was taken up by Elisa, I craved time with Riley so we talked every night before going to bed." He shrugged. "It worked until Riley decided alcohol was more important than us, but until then, it was good."

Jack thought about that all through dinner. That was how he felt. He loved Fin with every piece of his heart, but he was craving time with his wife. Until Fin came along, they spent a lot of time together and now, it took real effort to get ten minutes of conversation. On the other hand, he didn't understand why Elizabeth wasn't willing to use a breast pump so they could go out.

"Elizabeth?"

"Hang on, Jack. I can't hear you."

Everyone was having different conversations and it had grown loud and now Fin was starting to whimper.

"We need to talk," he told her loudly.

"Now?"

"Yes. Let's go upstairs."

She sighed and followed him upstairs as Fin started crying louder. She walked into the nursery and laid her down to change her. "Shhh, baby girl. I'm gonna clean you right up and then I'll feed you."

"You know what? Maybe we'll get some time in a few months." He walked out of the room and headed to the barn. He needed quiet. He needed to get away from everything he was feeling. So he saddled up Thunder and rode him to the meadow, tears falling down his face.

He couldn't hold in his frustration anymore. It hurt his heart to feel such jealousy toward anyone, let alone his beautiful, defenseless daughter. "God help me," he prayed. He was at a loss. His wife didn't seem to want to spend time with him or at least figure out how to do that. Now Tom comes, in love with Katie, wanting to marry her, and all he did was give him a hard time about it. "I'm hopeless," he said to Thunder.

….

"Does anyone know where Jack is?" Elizabeth asked once Fin was asleep again.

"He went outside about a half hour ago," Bill told her.

"Everything ok, dear?" Charlotte asked.

"No, not really. I'm going to see if I can find him. Will you listen for Fin, Mom?" She handed her the baby monitor.

"Of course."

"Elizabeth," Tom said, touching her arm. "Before you go, can I speak with you?"

"I really just need to find him. I'm worried."

"It will only take a moment." He led her into the living room. "I think he's feeling a bit neglected. I told him about how I was jealous of Elisa when she was a baby. He seemed to relate."

"Why would he be jealous?"

"With me it was because Riley and I had always had so much time together and then as soon as Elisa came, she didn't have time anymore. She had to take care of the baby and I was no longer a priority."

"I don't know how to fix that. I need to take care of her, don't I?" She felt tears coming. She felt horrible that he was struggling with that.

"Of course you do. Maybe just take care of him too?"

She wiped her cheeks and closed her eyes. "I need to find him."

"Check the meadow past the fences. The one with the lookout over the creek."

"Thank you."

….

It had been about nine months since she'd ridden Storm but she trusted the horse to get her to Jack. Once she saddled him, she mounted and tried to relax herself. She knew the horse could sense her nervousness.

"Ok, boy. Let's go find Jack." She patted the horse's neck and kicked his sides gently.

After about five minutes, she saw a fire in the distance. She rode toward it knowing it would be him. Finally she arrived at his campsite.

"How'd you find me?" he asked quietly. "Let me guess. It was Tom."

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. I need to remember to be less predictable next time."

"Next time? So every time things get difficult you're going to just leave?"

He stayed silent, poking the fire with a stick.

"Jack, that's not like you. You don't leave you're family. We need you."

"It doesn't really feel that way."

"Look, this is new for both of us. We went from just the two of us to three and the third needs us to be present."

"She needs you. You provide food and comfort."

"Even if only that were true, I need you too, Jack."

"Do you?"

"Yes! Why would you think otherwise?"

"You had to think about going out on our anniversary, Elizabeth! Our first anniversary and you wanted to think about it! How do you think that made me feel?" He sat back and stared at the fire again.

"Tell me how it made you feel, Jack."

"Sad, angry, neglected. Hurt and maybe a bit confused. I miss you so much, I'm physically hurting. This thing we are doing, this arguing, I hate it. I don't want to fight with you. I want to be the way we were. I want you to want me too."

"I do, Jack. The hard part is, I can't neglect our child. She's helpless. She needs me."

"I need you."