Chapter Two – The Namesake

"Don't be silly, Jack. No one stole our baby," Elizabeth argued even as she was finding it difficult to concentrate. "Why would someone steal him?"

"I don't know. You're a Thatcher. Maybe someone wants money."

"Most people in town don't even know I'm a Thatcher. I came here as a Thornton. No one would steal our baby", she said adamantly, trying to keep the anxiousness out of her voice.

"Then where the hell is he?!"

"Let me think!" she practically screamed in desperation.

Jack placed his hands on the low dresser, his elbows locked as his straightened arms supported him. He leaned his head down, taking a deep breath before looking up again.

He turned around and faced Elizabeth. "Okay. Let's stay calm. Let's just think about this."

"Did you maybe sleep walk? You've been really tired. You said that you didn't get much sleep at all while I was out of town. Could you have taken him somewhere and not remember it?"

"I'm in my nightie." Elizabeth answered in annoyance as his suggestion. "People would have noticed me walking down the street in the snow in my nightie and stopped me,"

"Did you ask someone to come babysit him? Maybe Doreen?"

"No. Why would I do that?! You're here and it's a Saturday. I don't have school. I didn't ask anyone to come babysit him!"

"Well, then someone came and took him", Jack countered.

"I haven't noticed any strangers in town lately," he added as he thought about who may have possibly taken their son.

"You've been gone for three days", Elizabeth reminded him angrily.

Jack raised his eyebrows at Elizabeth's tone.

"I'm sorry I've been gone", he said steadily as he looked her in the eyes. "But we can talk about that later. Someone took our son. Let's figure out why. And who. And get him back."

"Did you hear anything while you were in bed? Did the bell jingle over the door?

"I don't know", Elizabeth answered distractedly as she walked over to the window and pulled on the top wooden rail, even though Jack had already told her that it was locked.

"Did Rip bark?"

"I don't know."

Did you hear the baby cry?"

"I don't know!" she yelled in frustration.

"Did you hear anything?"

"I don't know!"

"Think, Elizabeth. This is important." Jack's voice was harsher and more professional than he had intended.

"I know it's important!" Elizabeth shouted back. "I'm not an idiot!"

Jack tried to keep his voice even. "I never said you are an idiot. But our baby is missing."

Elizabeth looked around at the empty room.

Her voice was full of guilt and caught in her throat.

"I'm just a terrible mother."

She looked at Jack. Waiting for him to disagree. But he didn't say anything.

Instead she saw the look in his eyes.

A mixture of worry and bewilderment over how she could have lost their precious baby.


Elizabeth nervously paced the floor. She picked up her son's blankets and held them against her chest, inhaling his sweet baby scent of powder, delicate soap, and dribbled breast milk.

She tried to keep the tears from starting. But Jack noticed them anyway.

"Someone stole our baby", she sobbed when he put his arm around her.

"No sweetie. You were right before. No one would steal him because you're a Thatcher or for any other reason. We know everyone in town. Everyone knows our baby. No one would take him to harm him or to keep him from us. And you wouldn't have walked in your sleep with him. And you're not a terrible mother. You're a wonderful mother. Everything's going to be okay. We just have to figure out what happened ", Jack said encouragingly.

"I'll get our baby home. I promise", Jack said gently as Elizabeth clung to him. "I just need you to think about what could have happened. Just think, sweetie."

Elizabeth buried her head in Jack's chest, her tears soaking his shirt. "I'm sorry, Jack. I don't remember anything."

"You get dressed, sweetie. I'll start going door to door."


"Maybe someone came and took him to be helpful", Elizabeth suggested as Jack started to move away.

"What are you talking about?" Jack looked at her in puzzlement. "People don't take babies without asking to be helpful."

"Maybe Lucy did! We help each other out!" Elizabeth offered, suddenly feeling hopeful.

"She wouldn't just take him without telling you, would she?" Jack was doubtful, but like Elizabeth, he prayed it was true.

"She would have left a note! Look for a note!" Elizabeth instructed as she broke away from Jack's embrace. She hurriedly looked around the bedroom and then ran throughout the mercantile with Jack following after her.

The couple hastily looked around.

The desk. . . The small table by the front door. . . The long display counter in the front room. . . The table where they ate their meals.

All empty of a note. Nothing.

"The eggs!" Elizabeth cried out as she saw a basket of eggs sitting on the kitchen counter. She had noticed them earlier when she had made her cup of tea but she hadn't thought anything of them at the time. Now she remembered that she had used most of her eggs at dinner last night. And yet, this morning, the basket was full.

Elizabeth ran to the basket, almost tripping over their cat, who meowed loudly as Elizabeth stepped on the animal's tail. But Elizabeth didn't care.

Thanks goodness. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as she grabbed the note peeking out from under the basket of eggs.

Elizabeth,

You were sound asleep and Little Jack was crying. I figure you were exhausted with Jack being out of town. I took the baby back to my place. I'll feed him and keep him 'til you show up. Lucy

"Thank goodness!" Elizabeth said aloud with a huge sigh. She relaxed her shoulders, wiped her eyes, and gave Jack a weak smile through the few wayward tears which were still running down her cheeks.

"Everything's good", she said as she allowed herself to finally breath.

Jack grabbed the paper from Elizabeth's hand and stared at it. Desperate to see for himself the writing that said that his son was safe.

"Little Jack?" he questioned.

"That's what she calls him. She says he's like a miniature version of you. Let me just get dressed and we'll go get him. See everything turned out okay."

Elizabeth was remarkably calm now that she knew her baby was safe. It was like she had been in an upside down world which had suddenly righted itself and everything was back to normal. Her baby was safe. Nothing else mattered.


"Elizabeth!" Jack called out after Elizabeth as she hurried towards the bedroom.

"Yes?"

"What does she mean 'she'll feed him'? Thatch doesn't take a bottle. We've tried. Is he taking a bottle now?"

"Oh, . . . yeah", Elizabeth said evasively. "Not exactly. She finds a way."

"Elizabeth", Jack said sternly. "What do you mean she finds a way?"

"It's nothing really. She just feeds him", Elizabeth said as she grabbed a simple blouse and skirt off of hangers.

"What do you mean 'she just feeds him'?"

"It's not really a big deal. She nurses him."

"She nurses our baby?!"

"Just once before. Well, maybe twice", Elizabeth said as she looked at a shocked Jack. "Okay, three times. This is the fourth time."

"Why in the world does she breastfeed our baby?"

"To help out", Elizabeth answered as if it were obvious.

"Why does she need to help out?!"

"It's hard, Jack. Being a mom is exhausting. And you've been gone a lot. One day, she was watching him and I was just running a quick errand to the school house. But I ended talking to some parents and before I knew it I had been gone over an hour. The baby got hungry and started screaming. Lucy can't handle a baby being unhappy, so she fed him for me"

"Didn't that bother you?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"I was shocked at first. But I had to admit it was helpful. And it's not that unusual. There have been wet nurses throughout history. Some women need them. And some women just want them."

Elizabeth continued talking as she hurriedly tucked her blouse into her skirt and then reached into her dresser drawer for a pair of socks.

"Queen Victoria had wet nurses for her children. Did you know that she had nine children and she had a wet nurse each time? Of course that was because she hated the idea of breastfeeding. She found it distasteful. Didn't think refined women should do it. How stupid is that? I love the idea of breastfeeding. Holding him close. . . . I know Queen Victoria was ruler of the United Kingdom and Great Britain and Ireland but I think she was an idiot. How could she not want to breastfeed her own babies. I mean really, how –"

"Elizabeth", Jack interrupted.

"Oh . . . I guess I was getting a little off point."

"Just a little. Can we get back to you and stay away from the royal family for a minute. Why did you need help?"

"Okay. Right. Sorry about that. Well, another time, I was busy with school again . . . and it happened again. I was late getting back to the baby. And one time I was simply exhausted and asked her to watch him so I could take a nap. "

"Have you breastfed their baby?" a stunned Jack asked.

"Just once or twice," Elizabeth said dismissively as she laced up her boots.

"Why?!"

"The first time, Lucy had been in a lot of pain because of the C-section. She had stopped taking the morphine but she was having a really bad one day, so she took some more. But then their baby wouldn't take a bottle either and she didn't want to breastfeed him because he'd get the morphine. And I was there. And I had milk. And well, it just made sense."

"And the second time? She had taken morphine again?"

"Um, no. The second time was because of the chicken", Elizabeth said sheepishly.

"The chicken?"

"She was showing me a recipe. That Chicken Kiev that you loved. You said it was delicious!"

When Jack just stared at Elizabeth in confusion, she continued with her explanation.

"She was rolling up the flattened chicken breast. Around the ball of butter and herbs. Showing me how to make it. Her hands were messy and she was making enough for both our families. And then their boy got hungry. It was just easier for me to feed him while she finished making the Chicken Kiev. Our boy doesn't mind sharing. He gets enough.

"And you got a nice dinner out of it", she added matter-of-factly as if that made up for everything.

"Your breasts are not interchangeable with hers! Even for Chicken Kiev!"

"For goodness sakes, Jack. We know that. The babies know the difference. Your son likes mine better and Michael likes hers better. But they accept either one if they're hungry enough."

"Please tell me that when you say Michael, you mean baby Michael and not Lucy's husband", Jack said with a shake of his head.

Elizabeth chuckled. "Yes, I mean baby Michael. But they actually call him 'Maddy' now."

Jack looked puzzled. "What?"

"Maddy. They call him Maddy. Short for their last name Madison. It was too confusing having two Michaels in the house."

"Which reminds me, we have got to come up with a name for our son. We can't keep going back and forth between Thatch and Pumpkin and Baby Thornton, and Little Jack. And we are not naming him Pumpkin."

"Okay. But let's get him back first."


""Aren't you worried about getting them confused?!", Jack thought aloud in puzzlement as they quickly walked down the street and he considered that the two women breastfeed each other's babies.

Elizabeth giggled. "No. I'm not. Now let's go get our son. Whatever his name is".


Now that they had retrieved their son and he was back in their home, Jack's heartbeat had finally slowed down to a normal pace.

"You know that boy is my whole life? You and that boy", Jack said as he sat slumped on the couch and watched Elizabeth with their son.

Jack rested his elbows on his knees. His head in his hands as he rubbed his face before looking at them again.

"And I think I just lost ten years off my life when I thought something had happened to him."

"I'm sorry, Jack. But Lucy didn't know you had come back to town. You were a day early. She was just trying to help. I'm not sure she realized how worried we'd be."

"Considering that when we got there we practically tussled with each other to see who got to hold him first and that your eyes were red, and mine were pretty moist, I'd say she's figured it out."

"I'm so sorry, Jack", Elizabeth repeated tenderly when she saw how much the incident had affected him.

Jack ran his hand across his eyes, wiping away the wetness still welling up, as Elizabeth carried the freshly changed baby over to him and placed the small boy in his father's arms.

Jack's kissed his son's tiny fingers as the infant reached his hand to Jack's mouth. "Hello, my sweet little boy", he whispered softly to the baby.

"I really like Thatcher as a name" he announced as he looked at his son. "Surprising as that may seem. I like it. It fits him. It just seems natural when I say it. I guess I have a thing for Thatchers," he said with a smile.

"I really like Jack. It fits him. He's wonderful just like you", Elizabeth countered with her own smile.

"We just have to let the little pumpkin choose." Jack offered with a shrug and a chuckle.

"How?" Elizabeth scoffed. "He's not even five weeks old. The only thing he's capable of choosing is which breast he wants to feed from first."


I am never telling anyone about this! Elizabeth said with a shake of her head thirty minutes later as she used the wet washcloth to wipe the ink from her right breast and then from her left one.

"Okay. It's official." Jack held up the birth certificate as Elizabeth walked into the front room buttoning up her blouse.

"Jack Thatcher Thornton. I have to admit that I'm kind of proud to have him be named after me. But I still may call him Thatch."

"Perfect." Elizabeth smiled at Jack, who gave her a big grin in return.

"Is this how we're going to name all our babies? Let them choose themselves," he said good-naturedly as he got up from the desk and put his arm around Elizabeth.

"It really is the only fair way. But we are never telling anyone how we let the baby choose!"

"Agreed," Jack laughed.

"But what if our babies always choose the one you want?" he asked with slight concern.

"Jack, there's a fifty-fifty chance that the baby will choose the one you want," Elizabeth said as she picked up the baby from the bassinet and snuggled him.

"I suppose you're right", Jack replied as he leaned over and kissed her. "There is a fifty-fifty chance."

We are not telling Daddy that I know that you always go to the right breast first, Elizabeth thought with another smile as she gave their son a kiss. That will be our little secret. But I'll let Daddy win with the next baby. . . Well, maybe I will. Depending on what name he chooses.


"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. That I was so angry and rude to you this morning. I was just scared", Elizabeth said in the moonlight as she rolled onto her side and looked at Jack lying next to her in bed.

"I know. . . . but we do need to talk about me being gone sometimes. When the weather gets better, I can get more done in the daylight and I won't have to be gone so much overnight. But it's part of my job, Elizabeth. Traveling the area. And you know I've also applied for that three week training course. If I get accepted, you'll have to manage without me."

"I know. And I love that you're a Mountie. It will get easier in a few weeks when he sleeps through the night."

Jack climbed out of bed and walked around to the other side. Reaching into the bassinet he picked up the sleeping infant.

Cradling his namesake in his arms, Jack climbed back into his side of the bed. Without needing to be told what to do, Elizabeth began moving the pillows into the center of the bed, forming small barriers.

"How about we let him sleep with us tonight?" Jack said quietly as he laid the baby down in the empty area between the pillows.


Elizabeth, happy to have her family together, failed to remember her fateful wish that she could sleep all morning. For that reason, it wasn't the last time she carelessly used the term "wish". Perhaps if she had remembered, she would have been more careful with her choice of words in the ensuing weeks.

Up next: chapter 3