A WEEK LATER

Jack knew that he needed to tell Elizabeth about their money problems. He also knew that the longer he waited, the worse it would be.

When would be the best time to tell her? When she's exhausted from taking care of the babies? Nope. When they got the next hospital bill that he couldn't pay? Not then either.

Joey let out a squawk from his crib across the room. Jack got up and picked him up, checked his diaper which was fine, then walked two short paces to the rocking chair, hoping the motion would put the little guy back to sleep. It didn't. Which meant he was hungry. He ate a lot for such a little guy.

"Jack?"

He walked over and handed him to Elizabeth. He watched for a moment and then kissed her forehead. He walked over and got dressed.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to check on the horses."

"Its 4:30."

"I know. Might as well get an early start."

"Jack, what's going on?" She knew he hadn't been sleeping and he had been really quiet.

"We need to talk. When I come in for breakfast."

"Ok." He looked back over at her feeding their son. He'd never loved her more. He was about to let her down. Disappointment in her eyes was far worse than anger. He walked over to her and kissed her long and deep.

"I love you, beautiful."

"Jack? What's going on? You're scaring me."

"I'll be back in about three hours."

Jack walked in the house three hours later as promised. He didn't expect to see his Mom though.

"Morning, Ma. What are you doing here?"

"I called her," Elizabeth told him. "I figured we should be able to talk without worrying about the kids. I just fed Joey so we have about two hours."

"Where will we go?"

"We are going to the living room and Mom and the kids are going up to our room."

He nodded. "You go ahead. I need to grab something from the office."

Elizabeth walked out and Charlotte kissed him on the cheek. "She loves you. Just be honest."

About two minutes later, Jack sat his ledgers and a pile of papers and envelopes on the coffee table and then joined her on the couch.

"Jack?"

"I have some things to tell you, Elizabeth. It's not easy to just tell you so it may take me a moment."

"Ok."

"I don't even know where to start." After a moment, she spoke.

"Are those bills?"

"Yeah. This pile is paid and this, unpaid. As you can see the unpaid pile is pretty large compared to the other."

"What kind of bills?"

"Medical, electric, mortgage, insurance. I'm making payments on the medical ones and I'm almost caught up but now, we will have more."

Elizabeth picked up the top bill in the stack. "Jack, this is from when Fin was born?"

"Yeah. I only have about six more months of payments."

"How bad is our situation?"

"Not good. Mom is the cosigner on the mortgage. Hank called her and she paid our mortgage up to date. I don't know what to do. I'm drowning here, Elizabeth."

"Jack, do you remember our wedding?"

"Of course I do. It was the best day of my life."

"Then you remember our vows. For better or worse, richer or poorer? We promised to be there for each other. I didn't know about this but you also didn't tell me. Those vows work both ways. We are both responsible for everything that happens."

"I don't know what to do. I don't know how to fix this."

"You are not going to. WE are. It wasn't fair to exclude me from this and it certainly wasn't good for you either."

"I didn't want to put more on you. You have Fin, your mom is sick, now Joey. How could I bring it up?"

"Because we made those vows. No secrets, babe."

"I'm sorry," he said, a hopeless expression on his face. She reached for him and they hugged for a few moments.

"I forgive you." She pulled back and kissed him. "I love you, cowboy."

"I love you too."

…..

It had been the longest week of Mike's life. He felt like he hadn't slept a wink in seven days, even though he had, when he was at work at dispatch. He had gone back to work three days after the babies came home and Charlotte had been taking over for him at the house.

This morning though, he got home from his night shift and Charlotte wasn't there. So instead of sleep, he washed clothes and made a crockpot full of stew for dinner.

Then, he heard Claire cry so he headed in to see if Julie needed help.

She was trying to dress the babies but they weren't liking it too well. "What's going on?"

"The appointment is in 30 minutes and Kendall pooped all over her outfit and then Claire threw up on hers. Now, they are both crying and I'm on the verge."

"What appointment?"

"Pediatrician. It's at 9. Did you forget?"

"Yeah. Here let me help." He tried to stifle his yawn but failed.

"I'd say stay home and sleep but I'm not sure if I can do this on my own."

"No, I want to go." He snapped the last snaps on Claire's sleeper and then moved over to Kendall. "Are you wearing that?"

"My nightgown? No, Michael, I will not be wearing this to the pediatrician."

"Just checking." She nudged him with her hip and laughed. He chuckled and before long they were both laughing.

"Honestly, I might have forgotten if you hadn't told me, so thank you."

He finished Kendall and then glanced at Julie who was half dressed in a pair of black stretchy pants. "You're beautiful, Julie."

Her eyes met his in the mirror. "Maybe one day I'll agree with you." She pulled one of his hoodies over her head and threw her hair in a pony tail. "For now, this is what you get."

He reached for her, slipped his hands around her waist, and kissed her softly.
"This is exactly what I want." She smiled and blushed and then scooped up Kendall. He picked up Claire and then they were on their way.

…..

Jack and Elizabeth worked on a tighter budget and figured out what they would need every month to not be hurting too much.

They talked about selling off Tom's parcel of property, but Jack only wanted that as a last resort. Then Elizabeth suggested asking Mr. Wallace on the next ranch over, if he would want to lease some land from them. Jack agreed to talk with him. She also said she was going to check into tutoring opportunities at the school.

The very next day, Bill came to see Jack.

"Hey, Pop. Good to see you."

"You too. I was wondering if I could chat with you about something."

"Of course." They walked to the barn and took a seat on a couple bales of hay.

"So, Char told me that things are tough for you right now." He noticed Jack clench his jaw and blush a bit. "Now, in all fairness to your mother, she didn't want to keep anything from me because she was using our money to pay the mortgage."

"I hate that she had to do that. I'm going to pay you back as soon as I can."

"I appreciate that but it's not necessary. I see you as my son, Jack. I may not have genetic ties to you, but that doesn't matter to me one bit. I see you as my son, and Elizabeth is my daughter, and those beautiful babies in there are definitely my grandkids."

"Pop, I appreciate that and you know we love you too."

"I want to buy a piece of property from you. The piece that Tom used to own."

"That's fifty acres."

"Yes. I would like to buy that from you and build a house for your mother. She's never really liked the lake house so I want to build something that she loves. That she picks."

"I appreciate that you want to help but you don't need fifty acres to build a house."

"I want fifty acres. I want a barn and horses. I want a pond too." Bill stood and walked up next to Jack who was looking out the barn door. "Jack, this way the land stays in the family. I think your dad would want that, don't you?"

"Yes." Jack turned and looked at his step-father. "Pop, this is something that I'll never forget."

"I love you, son." He stuck his hand out for a handshake. "Deal?"

"Deal." Jack hugged him instead and he felt the last year of stress and pressure lift off him.

…..

Jack invited Bill and his mom over for dinner the next night. Tonight, he just wanted to be with Elizabeth and their children.

"Babe?"

"Yeah. Kitchen." Fin sat in her high chair eating pieces of banana and crackers. Elizabeth had the baby wrap on and Joey was comfortably snuggled against her chest asleep.

"Hey. I have news. Big news." Elizabeth slid the chicken in the oven and turned.

"You do? Tell me."

"Pop came over today. He wants to buy Tom's land."

"Oh. Why?"

"He wants to build a house for Mom. He says she doesn't like the lake house. I think he really just wants to help us."

"That's very much like him to do something like that. Did you agree?"

"Yes."

"Thank goodness."

"Dadada!" Fin yelled, feeling neglected. She held up a gooey piece of banana to feed Jack.

"Yum yum, Finlea Grace. Thank you." He opened his mouth and accepted it. "Mmm. Give me a kiss, Elizabeth."

"Uh no. I don't want gooey bananas anywhere near me."

"Oh come on, be a good sport."

"Time to feed Joey." She walked away, laughing.

"That's ok. More for me!" he called after her.

….

Julie took the twins to see Elizabeth the next morning. She started the car about ten minutes before she wanted to leave and then she carried the car seats out one at a time and clicked them in.

"I can do this," she told herself. She drove the twenty minutes to the ranch and then reversed the process getting them in the house.

Then she went back out to the car and realized she'd forgotten the diaper bag at home. "Really?"

She walked back in, grateful Elizabeth had diapers she could use, even if a bit big for the girls. After all there was a two pound weight difference between the cousins.

"I forgot the diaper bag, Beth."

"Oh. That's ok. You can use stuff I have."

"How did I forget that? Good grief."

"Just be glad you remembered both girls."

"Good point."

"Hey, Jules, let's get a picture of Finny and the babies and text it to Mom and Dad."

"Great idea."

It seemed like an easy thing to do but all three newborns decided to start crying at the same time and Fin didn't know what was going on. The one picture they got ended up with Fin looking behind the couch and the babies all screaming in their car seats on the couch.

"It seemed like a good idea," Julie said as she picked up Claire and then scooped Kendall into her other arm.

"Hey, you're pretty good at that."

"Sometimes. Nursing both of them alone is not something I have down yet. That's kinda the reason I came over this morning."

Joey was settled again in Elizabeth's arms and Fin was playing with her giant pink and white Legos on the floor.

They both looked up when the doorbell rang. Elizabeth stood up and walked to the door. "Clara! Come in. Hi, Zane!"

Zane ran in and went straight to the living room. "Z wait!"

"Its ok. Fin is in there and Julie and the babies too."

"Oh, Beth. He's so adorable," Clara said, looking down at Joey. "Can't wait for my little guy to get here." She rubbed her tummy and smiled. "Can I hold him?"

"Yes, please." They wandered into the living room where Julie was still walking and bouncing the girls.

"Its like baby central in here," Clara said as she moved a car seat and sat down on the couch.

"I think we should do this once a week," Elizabeth suggested. "Like a Mommy and Me thing."

"I'll be going back to work in May, but until then, sure," Julie said.

"Well, then Mike can bring the twins."

"I'll suggest it." Julie thought Mike actually would like that a lot.

The twins started to whimper. "Ok, so here's the thing, ladies. I hope that no one will be offended when I basically flash you. The babes need to eat."

"Its fine, Julie. We are all ladies here. But I will put a blanket next to you in case Jack or Pete walk in."

Elizabeth stood up and grabbed a light blanket. Julie put a pillow on her left and right side and then maneuvered Claire to eat first. "Ok, Beth. Can you help with Kendall, please?" Elizabeth turned her so she was in the right position and then held her tiny head while Julie got her arm underneath her. "Perfect. Thank you."

"I'm kinda glad I only have one at a time."

"I'm glad I started with two. Now, next time, when I have one, it will seem like a piece of cake."