Chapter 5 -Duty
"I wish you didn't have to go to this course", Elizabeth said as she set down the letter in her hands and looked up at an excited Jack who had crossed the room and was now at his desk.
"It's a great opportunity! You'll be fine without me. It's just for three weeks. And it's not for another few months. I'll make sure that Michael and Lucy keep an eye on you", Jack remarked as he looked at the calendar.
Weeks ago, when Jack had first mentioned to Elizabeth that he might be selected for advanced training, she had been supportive.
Now that he had actually been selected, she was anything but supportive.
It had been almost three weeks since Elizabeth had recovered from Scarlet Fever and Jack had been home every night after his work at the jailhouse. Helping with laundry. Preparing simple meals with her. Walking the baby and softly patting his back when the small infant was colicky. Talking sweetly with Elizabeth in the quiet darkness as they lay next to each other in bed.
Elizabeth had secretly decided that she never wanted Jack gone away from home again. Not ever. Not one night away from her.
"But Jack, it's for three weeks. The baby will only be a few months old. I'll be working. It's just not the best timing."
Jack picked up the letter from the couch cushion next to Elizabeth and gave her a disappointed look.
"Elizabeth, we talked about this when I applied. You said it was okay. The snow will be gone. The weather will be fine. We're living in town so if you need anything, there are people to help."
"I know. But -"
"This is important to me. I really want to do it. You're just worried about handling Thatch by yourself for three weeks. How about you have Julie come for a month? She'll love it. You two will have a great time together," Jack offered optimistically.
Elizabeth was about to argue more but Jack seemed so excited about getting selected.
"I suppose it would be fun. I haven't seen her in ages", Elizabeth acknowledged. "I could ask her to bring me some new clothes from the boutiques. I haven't been shopping in forever."
Elizabeth got up from the chair and walked into the bedroom with Jack following behind her. She opened the small closet and started pulling out skirts, blouses, dresses.
"Of course, she doesn't know my size anymore. Since the baby," Elizabeth remarked as she held up a skirt and then threw it on the bed with some others.
"I'm sure the fashions are changing. I read an article that said corsets may be going out of fashion. Can you imagine? If that's true, it will take ages for new styles to get to this small backward town. I wish I had a good excuse to never have to put my corset back on."
"Jack, are you even listening to me?" Elizabeth asked as she carried two blouses with her to the mirror. Standing in front of the reflective glass, she held one, then the other, up to her body.
I've lost a lot of baby-weight already. Thank goodness that Jack's cooking's no better than mine. But even when I can fit in these outfits, they're . . . boring! Old. I wore them so often before I got pregnant. It's been ages since I've been to a pretty French boutique, she thought with a slight frown.
Elizabeth tossed the blouses on the bed and picked up a dress. She frowned again as she saw herself in the mirror. Turning away, she picked up another blouse and examined it.
"What do you think? Time for a new wardrobe?" she asked.
"Jack?"
Elizabeth looked over at Jack when he didn't respond.
Her heart quickened when she saw him standing across the room.
Staring at her.
Their eyes locked and she couldn't look away. Without meaning to, she bit her lower lip nervously.
Slowly, without a word, Jack moved towards her.
She had been his wife for almost two years and yet the nervousness was back.
The hesitation.
She thought about her body. The stitches after childbirth. The doctor's instruction to wait.
And they had waited. Between the tired nights. His trips away. The Scarlet Fever. They had waited.
Now Jack looked at her in a way that she hadn't seen in months. Not since the last month of pregnancy and then the nine weeks after.
When he touched her with his hands, she knew that this time they wouldn't stop.
This time they wouldn't worry that it was too soon.
This time they wouldn't pull back.
The blouse in her hands fell to the floor.
She moved in his arms like silk. Gliding over his skin. When she took his hand and moved it lower, his heart quickened.
His mouth kissed her passionately. As if he couldn't get enough of her.
Worried he was moving too quickly, he slowed himself. Resisting the urge to move faster. Asking if she was sure.
When she encouraged him to continue, his fingers remembered exactly where to touch. How to make his strokes the perfect pressure. The perfect rhythm.
How to fit his body to hers.
The next week brought warmer weather and more work for Elizabeth.
After more than two months of indulging Elizabeth, the town people were eager for her to get back to work full-time. Although they totally understood that pregnancy and childbirth were tiring, and that Scarlet Fever was a serious illness, they had gotten together at a school board meeting and decided that enough was enough. It was time for longer school days.
"They're just sick of having their children home all afternoon", Elizabeth declared to Jack in a huff.
"That's because their children aren't as wonderful as our little boy," Jack responded quietly so as to not awaken his son as he carefully set down the sleeping infant in his bassinet.
"Let's get to bed. You're got a long day tomorrow."
"Elizabeth where's the baby?" Jack asked when she walked in the jailhouse the next day at the end of her morning shift at school.
Elizabeth detected the slight concern in his voice.
Despite the fact that it had been several weeks since Elizabeth had temporarily lost track of the baby when she overslept, Jack still became nervous when their little boy wasn't with one of them.
"He is just fine. Stop worrying", she said with a smile.
"I'm not worried. I'm just wondering where he is. You do know where he is, don't you?" Jack asked hesitantly.
"Yes I know where he is! I'm with that boy practically 24 hours a day. And right now is no exception. He happens to be with me visiting his Daddy's office", she said with a grin as she turned around.
Jack chuckled when he saw his son attached to Elizabeth's back.
"It's a papoose! A cradle carrier! Michael made it for me. I can keep my hands free when I do chores and walk around, and Little Jack gets to see everything!" she explained happily over her shoulder.
"He's actually not seeing anything right now. He's sound asleep", Jack informed her with raised eyebrows and a wry smile.
"Well maybe he is now. But he wasn't earlier! Everyone in town was admiring him. The students loved it. The Native Americans use them all the time! I'm going to use it every day. Not only does it keep my hands free but I don't have to struggle to get his carriage through the snow. It's perfect!"
"Perfect?" Jack asked. His eyebrows raised again as he smirked. "How do you sit down? Or get him in or out? Or wipe his nose? Or talk to him?"
Elizabeth frowned.
"Okay. So it's not perfect", she admitted.
"I actually would like to sit down. Do you mind getting him out?" she asked as she nodded her head towards the baby on her back.
"I've been on my feet for hours. Lucy put him in for me before school but I can't figure out how to get him out by myself and I didn't want the students to do it. I have no idea how to sit with it on my back. And my shoulders are starting to get sore. He's actually getting heavy." Gosh, how do those Indian women do this?
Jack laughed as he gently took his son from the carrier and placed the boy against his own chest while Elizabeth clumsily extricated herself from the papoose carrier.
"I'll be home in a few hours. How about we have an early dinner and then spend a nice relaxing night in front of a warm stove. I'll give you a shoulder massage", he offered.
"Hi sweetie, dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Mail's on the front counter. You got an official looking letter", Elizabeth called out when she heard the jingle of the bell over the front door a few hours later and Jack yelled out that he was home.
Elizabeth was scooping some butter into the pot of freshly mashed potatoes when Jack followed the sound of her voice and walked into the kitchen.
"What was in the mail", she asked as she gave him a quick glance and returned the butter dish to the icebox.
"I've been cut," Jack said with a frown as he looked at the letter in his hand. "They decided to only take twenty students instead of forty. Budget constraints."
"I've been cut from the course," he said again in a stunned voice.
"You don't have to go?! That's fantastic!" Elizabeth couldn't hide her pleasure that Jack wouldn't be leaving.
"No. It's not fantastic", Jack responded tersely. "I need the course for promotion and choice assignments. This was important to me."
"You'll go the next time", Elizabeth said casually as she stirred the pot on the stove.
"I may not. I was lucky to get selected this time. I was really looking forward to it."
"Why did they cut you?" Elizabeth asked meekly, suddenly feeling guilty that she had been happy to hear the news.
"I'm one of the youngest. I've been out of the academy less time than some of the others. And I don't know. . . , maybe they also don't think I'm good enough to retain."
"Don't be silly, Jack. Of course, you're good enough. It was just budget cuts. And like you said, you're still young. You'll go the next time."
"Elizabeth, you don't get it," Jack said bitterly. "If they've decided that I don't need the training, then they've decided I'm not a top choice for promotions. It also means that I'm available to be rotated on TDY."
"Rotated? What do you mean rotated on TDY?" she asked.
Suddenly Elizabeth felt nervous.
"They've got some four-month assignments coming up to remote locations. TDY. Temporary Duty. I was exempt from consideration because of the advanced training course. But now, my name goes back in the pool of potential selectees for TDY. And it's an unaccompanied tour. Instead of a three week course, I'd be gone for four months of duty. You and little Jack couldn't come with me."
"Four months?! Four months without you?!"
Elizabeth lay quietly in bed. There was nothing left to say. In fact, Jack hadn't said much since dinner.
Their plans for an early dinner, a nice relaxing night in front of a warm stove, and a shoulder massage had turned into an early dinner, a tense night, and a cold shoulder.
Elizabeth knew Jack wasn't mad at her. But he was disappointed.
Disappointed that he had been cut from the course.
Disappointed that Elizabeth's initial reaction to the news was joy.
Disappointed that he may have to leave his wife and son for four months.
What if he has to go away for four months? What the heck will I do for four months without him?!
Up next: Chapter 6
