Friday before break everyone was to excited to get anything done. Many of the children were traveling east to visit family or looking forward to being out of school even if it meant they had to help more on their own farm. Usually Elizabeth dearly missed teaching when school was on break, but this time she was looking forward to it as much at the children were. Apart from Christmas, this would be her only time off until the baby came.
"Alright everyone let's make a deal. If you can sit through this last reading lesson as well behaved as I know you can be, we will skip history and get out early." Elizabeth sighed as they younger children squirmed in their seats and the older ones discussed their plans in hushed voices. They didn't make it through the lesson as well as Elizabeth had hoped but never the less she rang her cow bell dismissing class early.
"She is such a good teacher." James said as Kate gathered her books.
"She is, but I may be bias." Kate smiled.
"James can we walk home with Hattie and Sarah?" Nellie asked coming up to him with Molly behind her.
"Make sure you go straight home" James said. His sisters nodded running off giggling with their new friends.
"What a lonely walk home for you" Kate teased as she slipped her scarf around her neck.
"I was thinking maybe I could walk you home." James offered. Kate froze for a second turning to him surprised.
"But, my house is out of your way."
"I don't mind if you don't mind the company" James said with a little shrug.
"Sure" Kate smiled turning to Elizabeth in the now almost empty classroom.
"I'm going to walk home with James, is that ok?" Kate asked.
"Of course, I'm having tea with Abigail and Rosemary so I will come home with Jack later. I'll bring some dinner from Abigail's." Elizabeth nodded giving Kate a sly look that went unnoticed by James.
"Great see you later." Kate said quickly trying to escape Elizabeth's digging eyes.
"Here I will carry your books." James said reaching for them taking them from Kate's arms to slip under his.
"Thank you." Kate smiled as they left the school house. She followed a step behind James glancing at him, he was taller then her, but shorter then Jack. He had dark brown hair and freckles over his nose from working in the sun all his life. He had soft brown eyes and a kind smile too. Kate blushed when she looked at him to long looking down at her boots.
"Sun is going down already, the only thing I hate about winter is how fast the days are, by the time the day's work is done the sun is gone." James sighed.
"I know what you mean." Kate nodded.
"You don't have plans for the school break?"
"No, we were going to go visit family in Hamilton but other things came up, just as well anyway. How about you?" Kate asked.
"Still trying to settle into the house."
"Which row house are you in?"
"The fifth one on the lane." James said.
"That was our house!" Kate cried.
"Really?"
"Yeah we just moved from there almost two months ago now. Elizabeth and I lived there for a little while when we first came here. Then we moved back after two years and lived there another two until she got married and Jack finished the house." Kate nodded.
"Wow, well it's in good shape, Pa heard about how the row houses could be a disaster."
"It was when we bought it, we painted it and did the floors, are you in the yellow bedroom?"
"Yeah"
"That was my room" Kate smiled.
"That's awesome, it must have been big for just one person, it's tight with the girls and me." James said.
"I know the feeling. Elizabeth and I used to share it when we first moved here. It was tight with just the two of us. We were constantly bumping elbows." Kate laughed.
"So no plans for break at all?"
"No, my best Friend Laura left last week to go visit her family and she won't be back until school starts again. I will probably work at the cafe a little, and Elizabeth did assign some homework. Hang out with my sister and Jack, take my horse for some long rides." Kate shrugged.
"Wait, you have a horse?" James cried.
"Yeah, Jack bought her for me when we moved." Kate smiled.
"and Jack is?"
"Elizabeth's husband."
"Wow a new house and a horse, boy I sure wish I got a horse with the row house." James laughed.
"Here's the house." Kate smiled as they followed the wagon path through the grove coming to the clearing where the house stood in the afternoon sun.
"Wow, this is quite the house."
"The whole town had a hand in building it, it was their wedding gift to Jack and Elizabeth." Kate nodded.
"Bet you have a room in there all to yourself."
"Yup, with two to spare too." Kate laughed, leaving out that it would be long until one was occupied.
"Well I should get home, I told Pa I would help him after school" James said handing Kate her books.
"Thank's for walking me home." Kate smiled.
"Do you want to do something over break? You know since your friend is gone?" James asked.
"Sure, why don't you come over sometime I can introduce you to Gracie and give you a tour of our little town." Kate smiled.
"Yeah, sounds good, see you Sunday at church?"
"See you then." Kate smiled as James turned heading back down the dirt path. Kate grinned rushing into the house to put her books down before going out to the barn.
"Hi Gracie! Come on let's ride down to the grove and write Julie a letter!" Kate grinned hoping onto her horse.
Elizabeth rolled over in bed letting out a sigh as she stared at the ceiling above her. Jack reached out feeling her, turning to his side to face her even though his eyes were still closed.
"What's wrong, you aright?" He muttered still half asleep. Elizabeth smirked, even in his sleep Jack was protective.
"Yes, just thinking."
"You should be sleeping" Jack sighed opening his eyes to look at her.
"Jack, how old were you when you had your first real crush?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ohh 13 I think, we got a new teacher, she was young, just starting out." Jack smirked.
"You have always had a thing for teachers then?" Elizabeth laughed softly.
"Oh don't worry, your much prettier, plus I'm not even sure she ever even remembered my name." Jack chuckled.
"why how old were you?" He asked.
"Fifteen, a new family move in next door, then had a son my age."
"Oh yeah? Anything ever come of it?"
"Oh no, grandmother found out when he wanted to walk me home from church one Sunday, they were what she called 'new money' and I was forbidden from seeing him." Elizabeth shook her head.
"Ouch, well I am glad I met you later in life." Jack smirked.
"Oh for you I would have disobeyed Grandmother." Elizabeth laughed.
"Good to know, why do you ask anyway?"
"I think Kate has a crush."
"What!" Jack cried sitting up quickly making Elizabeth laugh.
"She's to young for that." Jack frowned.
"She's going to be fifteen in a few weeks! That's older then you were and the same age as me." Elizabeth shook her head still smiling at him.
"Well, she's can't. She's still my little shadow."
"Jack didn't you hear her going on and on about the new boy James at dinner. He walked her home from school today."
"Elizabeth! How can you allow this!" Jack said again
"Jack, she's growing up you can't keep her little forever." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him.
'I just… I… I am not ready for this." Jack sighed laying back down.
"Well ready or not." Elizabeth shrugged.
"You need to have a talk with her."
"I will, of course I will. But Jack she's a good girl, we trust her, and James is a sweet boy. He has little sisters he takes good care of and I have heard only good things about his family." Elizabeth said laying down putting her head on it's usual place on Jack's chest as his arm went around her.
"Besides, who knows what they are thinking, they could just become good friends." She said. Jack just let out a sigh playing with the ends of her braid.
"You can't keep her a baby forever, especially when there if going to be another baby in this house come spring time." Elizabeth added.
"I suppose you are right. I for one am glad your on break and can get some rest." Jack nodded his hand finding it's way to her stomach. It was still as flat as ever. It worried him she may have actually lost some weight for not eating much the first few weeks. But her appetite was returning so that was a relief to say the least.
"Me too." She sighed finally feeling tired, having talked out her thoughts with Jack.
"Your going to fall asleep and leave me wide awake to worry about Kate now aren't you." Jack muttered.
"Sorry" Elizabeth laughed softly.
"I love you, go to sleep" Jack smiled kissing her forehead as her head got heavy on his chest.
"Hi Jack" Kate called riding up to him on Gracie with Rip trotting behind her.
"Hello, how's she riding?" Jack looked up giving her a smile.
"Great, I'm going to ride her everyday on break"
"Glad to hear it." Jack smiled.
"What are you doing out here?" Kate asked. Jack was at the edge of the woods farthest from the house. Kate glanced back at the house Elizabeth looked tiny as she hung the laundry out on the line.
"Pacing out a spot for the apple trees in the spring. There's a lot to do in the spring but I would like to get as much of it done now. Elizabeth is going to be in no condition to help and I would like to devote as much attention to her as I can. I figured I would pace of the spots, make sure there's no roots in the way and stake them. That way when the ground thaws I just have to dig the hole and put the trees in." Jack said.
"Are we going to have a whole orchard?" Kate asked
"Not quite, just five or six." Jack chuckled.
"I can't wait to have apples in the fall."
"You and me both, I was thinking about hanging a swing from one of those trees out front, maybe you could help me with that later?"
"Sure" Kate nodded trotting Gracie around him as Rip plopped down by Jack to sleep.
"So anything new at school?" Jack asked counting out his steps and marking another spot.
"Nothing to report." Kate shrugged.
"Any new kids?"
"Sure, I told you about James and Nellie and Molly."
"Oh yes, you did, James is your age right?" Jack asked.
"He's almost sixteen." Kate said. Jack accidentally dropped the hammer on the stake to hard in surprise and he felt the jolt of pain through his arm.
"Oh, so he's older then you" Jack muttered.
"Just a little, hardly a year."
"Some might say a year is a lot."
"I suppose, I'm going to go ride down to the pond, are you going to put the swing in after lunch?"
"Yes, I'll wait for you" Jack nodded.
"Great, see you later" Kate smiled nudging Gracie away with a wave to Jack.
"An older boy Rip… what do you think about that?" Jack asked turning to Rip who lay in the sun. Rip groaned rolling over scratching his nose with his paw.
"Yeah, same here." Jack nodded.
"Here you are, I was looking for you." Kate said peeking her head into the room next to Jack and Elizabeth's upstairs. Jack and Kate had painted it a few weeks but it still stood empty.
"I was just trying to map things out in my head." Elizabeth said softly looking around the room.
"Like what?" Kate asked
"Like where to put a crib and a dresser, I would also really like a rocking chair." Elizabeth smiled to herself.
"Well cradles are pretty small right?"
"Cradles yes, when the baby is that small it will be in our room. I wouldn't expect we need this room for another year or so. But it would be nice to have a place to put it's dresser with clothing and blankets. I saw a nice white iron crib in the catalog at the mercantile that would be lovely."
"What about a cradle where are you going to get that?"
"I thought it might be kind of nice if Jack made that. How work tends to slow down some in the winter, and isn't it a nice idea to rock the baby in a cradle he made himself?" Elizabeth asked.
"It is sweet. I think you should put the crib here, by the window, it's such a pretty view of the sunset." Kate smiled walking over to the big window.
"I doubt the baby will be old enough to appreciate it anytime soon but you are right. And the dresser can go against this wall, perhaps we can get a little rug for the floor."
"Remember that white rocking horse I had at Grandmothers, oh wouldn't that look lovely." Kate cried.
"It would, but I don't think it is something we will get, at least not right now. It will be years before the baby can use it and your room at Grandmothers was larger. There's no so much room for one here."
"When are you going to tell Grandmother? I wrote a letter to Julie last week and I had to back track every other sentence because I kept almost saying something." Kate sighed.
"Soon. I think after school break I will tell the class, that will spread word around town rather quickly and I will write to Grandmother and let everyone at home know then as well." Elizabeth nodded.
"I miss them."
"So so I. I'm sorry we couldn't go see them these few weeks. Maybe next year for break, the baby will be older and we could all go for a visit." Elizabeth offered.
"That would be nice."
"Come on" Elizabeth said putting an arm around Kate leading her down the stairs as they sat down on the sofa.
"So, you have a very important birthday coming up, do you want to do anything special for it?" Elizabeth asked.
"Fifteen isn't all that special" Kate shrugged.
"Of course it is! Every birthday is special. I already told Abigail you want a chocolate cake, shall we have a little party at the cafe? Or we can have dinner here now that we have the room." Elizabeth offered.
"Do you have the energy for this?" Kate asked raising her eyebrows.
"Of course! Kate I am feeling much better, this break did me good and like Faith said once the sickness passed my energy started to come back. Not to mention I always want to celebrate you no matter how I am feeling."
"alright, but nothing crazy ok?"
"You know I can not promise that." Elizabeth pursed her lips together making Kate laugh.
"Come on! You always go so over board on my birthdays!" Kate cried.
"Yes I do, your birthday is every bit a celebration for me too. I made it through another year of you." Elizabeth teased as Kate pretended to be offended making her laugh.
"So, will you be inviting James to your party?" Elizabeth asked raising her eyebrows.
"Maybe." Kate shrugged.
"Mmhmm" Elizabeth muttered as Kate turned two shades of red.
"Do we need to have a talk about rules and how to properly conduct ourself around the presents of a boy?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, please no anything but that." Kate sighed.
"Alright, well if it comes to that will you let me know?"
"I promise."
"You know you are to young for courting, but. I have no problem with you spending time with James are long as you are both behaving properly. This is a very adult thing you are doing and I expect you to conduct yourself as such." Elizabeth said firmly.
"I will" Kate nodded matching her serious tone.
"Good, I trust you will come to me if this ever becomes anything more then spending time together as friends?"
"I will" Kate nodded again.
"Thank you, by the way next time he's here maybe you should formally introduce him to Jack. The idea of you spending time with a boy makes Jack rather nervous." Elizabeth said.
"You told him!" Kate cried.
"Well not in so many words."
"Oh I can't believe you told Jack! No wonder he was asking questions." Kate sighed.
"I didn't know it was a secret. I'm sorry." Elizabeth said quickly.
"It's alright. Just don't tell Rosemary alright?"
"Oh never!" Elizabeth said making Kate smile.
"I think we should go to Clara's shop and pick out some nice pretty fabric for a baby dress." Kate smiled.
"Oh yes that wouldn't give anything away." Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"This is no fun! I want to go baby shopping..." Kate said making her laugh.
"Soon Katie, soon."
"Then Rosemary said she refused to go back into the mercantile until Mr Yost would stop putting the pickled eggs on the counter because they just made her positively sick." Kate said in her best Rosemary voice making Abigail and Elizabeth both laugh as they sat down having tea one afternoon.
"Mr Yost has been keeping those eggs there for years, Rosemary just noticed them now?" Elizabeth chuckled.
"I don't think she could live without the Mercantile, let's see how long that lasts her." Abigail nodded.
"Let's see how long Mr Yost lasts without Rosemary, she's in there almost every other day." Elizabeth said.
"Oh this is an interesting stand off." Kate agreed making them laugh again. They turned when there was a knock on the door.
"No one even knocks on our door, people just let them self in." Kate frowned a little as Elizabeth went to answer it.
"Oh James, good afternoon." Elizabeth offered him a smile when she found him standing on the porch.
"Hello Mrs Thornton, is Kate home?" James asked.
"She is, Katie." Elizabeth called as Kate hurried to the door.
"Hi" Kate smiled.
"Hi, I was wondering if that offer for a tour of the Valley was still open." James smiled.
"Sure, can we go for a walk?" Kate asked turning to Elizabeth.
"Of course, just be home for dinner." Elizabeth smiled.
"Want to stop by the barn first? You can see Gracie." Kate said putting her coat one.
"Yeah, definitely!" James agreed.
"Come on, we will bring her some carrots." Kate said putting a few into her pocket as they went out.
"Have fun" Elizabeth smiled.
"Bye" Kate waved to her as they went down the porch steps just as Jack was coming up on his way home from work.
"Hi Jack, see you at dinner." Kate called as she and James headed to the barn.
"What's going on there?" Jack asked watching them head into the barn.
"James stopped by to ask Kate to take a walk." Elizabeth said.
"Right, right of course." Jack nodded.
"Abigail stopped by for tea, come on, I will get you a cup" Elizabeth smiled heading into the house
"Oh yeah, maybe I will just take a little walk…" Jack started back down the steps.
"Jack Thornton if you follow them I will be sure to let Kate holler at you for all she is worth!" Elizabeth cried.
"Oh all right." Jack sighed following her into the house as Abigail burst out laughing.
"Rip, go with Kate" Jack whispered. Rip jumped off trotting into the barn where Kate had gone.
"Hello" Jack smiled entering the house one evening taking off his coat and hanging up his hat.
"Hi, how was your day?" Elizabeth asked giving him a smile from where she was stirring something on the stove.
"Long, I am glad to be home" Jack smiled going over to give her a kiss.
"Kate is helping Abigail at the cafe tonight so it's just you and me for dinner. Do you mine terribly going out later and picking her up? It gets dark and cold so early now."
"Of course, you mean we have the whole house to ourselves until after dark?" Jack asked winding his arms around her waist from behind and kissing her right where the collar of her blouse met the soft skin of her neck.
"Jack, if you want dinner you have to hold off for at least a few more minutes" Elizabeth giggled squirming in his arms as he tickled her with his nose.
"And if I don't want dinner?" Jack whispered.
"Then we run the risk of burning the house down." Elizabeth smiled.
"Alright, I suppose I can control myself." Jack teased loosening his arms a bit so she could go back to cooking but unwilling to let her go completely.
"Hey, what's this?" He asked suddenly his hand resting right under the waist of her skirt.
"Humm a skirt?" Elizabeth asked moving the pot from the flame now that it was done and turning in his arms raising her eyebrows pretending she didn't know what he was talking about.
"No this, this is…" Jack started running his hand up and down her midsection feeling the slight bump of her usually very flat waistline even without her corset, which she had stopped wearing when they found out she was pregnant.
"Oh, well that would be your baby, I noticed it this morning, it kind of popped out overnight." Elizabeth said softly smiling at him as Jack stared down at her in aw pulling her skirt tight against her. The bump was just barely there, someone who didn't know what to look for probably wouldn't even notice it, but to Jack it felt like everything.
"Oh Elizabeth" Jack breathed softly not moving his hand.
"I think I will need to bring some of my skirts and blouses to Clara soon, nothing will fit by winter I expect." Elizabeth smiled as Jack was still unable to pull his eyes away.
"It's a little more real now isn't it. I'm not just feeling unwell." Elizabeth whispered as Jack tore his eyes away from his hand pulling her in for a kiss lifting her off her feet making her gasp.
"Jack! Jack where are you going?" She giggled as he carried her up the stairs.
"I need to see this in person, then we are going to enjoy this empty house we have because it's not going to be empty for long! Look at you Elizabeth your stunning" Jack smiled putting her down at the top of the stairs and pulling her into their bedroom as she laughed.
