Four Weeks Later…
Elizabeth sat at her desk finishing up her final thoughts before the children arrived for the day. She glanced down and rubbed her now very visible bump lovingly. The children hadn't really said much, but Elizabeth knew they had noticed. The children arrived in the school house and Elizabeth looked up upon hearing the noise, "Good morning children."
"Good morning Mrs. Thornton," they all said minus Miles, who sill mistakenly said 'Ms. Thatcher' every morning. Elizabeth couldn't help but chuckle.
"Okay boys and girls, today we are going to talk about Christmas traditions around the world in preparation as we prepare for Christmas around here. What are some of the traditions you all have with your families?"
"We have a nativity at our house," said Miles.
"We go to services on Christmas Eve," said Gabe.
"Mommy, Daddy, and I always went out to get our tree," said Cassandra.
"Momma and I bake cookies," said Rosaleen.
"They all sound like wonderful traditions," said Elizabeth, "Obviously there are many different ways the world celebrates Christmas, but those are some of the ways we celebrate Christmas in Canada."
"How about you Mrs. Thornton? How do you and Mountie Jack celebrate Christmas?" asked Emily.
Elizabeth thought about her answer, "Well Emily, this will be my first Christmas married to Mountie Jack so we don't have any special traditions yet. But back when I was a little girl in Hamilton, my parents and sisters and I would go to services and then have a big dinner on Christmas Eve with all of our family and friends. And then my Mom would put me and my sisters to bed, but we would stay up all night waiting for Santa."
"But he only comes when you're asleep," said Miles.
"Tell that to my sister, Julie," said Elizabeth, "Then on Christmas Day, my family and I would open our presents and also have a little prayer time in front of our nativity. And my sister would sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus." And even to this day, Julie would still carry on that tradition.
"Will you do all of that with Mountie Jack and the baby?" asked Emily.
Elizabeth glanced down at her noticeable swell and looked up again, "Well the baby won't be here this Christmas, but maybe next Christmas," said Elizabeth. When school let out for the day, Elizabeth headed back home and made an attempt to start dinner. Abigail had helped her learn how to make stew at least.
About twenty minutes later, Jack arrived home and asked, "Well Mrs. Thornton, what am I going to learn about today?"
Elizabeth smiled at him and went back to stirring the stew, "We talked about Christmas around the world and talked about how we celebrate Christmas."
"Which reminds me, remind me to go get our tree soon," said Jack.
"I want to go with you," said Elizabeth.
"As long as you only observe and don't participate," said Jack laying his hands on her abdomen, "And we can decorate our tree, and place our nativity outside, and…"
"Okay honey, I get it, we can decorate," said Elizabeth pushing him away lightly and then bit her lip.
"What?" asked Jack.
"Whose family are we spending Christmas with?" asked Elizabeth.
Jack took a deep breath, "Well Mom, Tom, and I, we actually haven't, you know, celebrated Christmas in a long time," Jack admitted.
"Why not?" asked Elizabeth surprised.
"Because," Jack trailed off, "Because Dad died right around Christmas. And celebrating Christmas has just always been an unpleasant reminder of that fact."
Elizabeth's heart ached for Jack. She couldn't imagine losing someone she loved around this time of year, "I'm so sorry Jack," she said with tears in her eyes.
"Hey it's okay," he said embracing her, "The important thing is that it's our first Christmas together as husband and wife."
"And next Christmas it'll be husband, wife, and son or daughter," said Elizabeth.
Jack smiled, immeasurable excitement building in him every time he thought about the baby, "What about your folks in Hamilton?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "I don't know if we can spend Christmas there or not."
"What if they came to Coal Valley?" asked Jack.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Jack, "Do you remember Viola in Coal Valley for our wedding?"
Jack thought back to their wedding and even though the Thatchers had only been in town a few days, Viola had hated every minute of country life, "True point."
"I can see if we can join them, or we could just stay here in Coal Valley," said Elizabeth.
"Okay," said Jack kissing her and then looked over at the stew, "Honey, the stew is boiling over."
"Oh no," said Elizabeth rushing over to the stove as fast as she could, though most of the stew had boiled over already, "I can't do anything right," she moaned.
"That's okay sweetheart. I still love you," said Jack, "What do you say? Dinner at the café?"
"Yeah, I guess," Elizabeth sighed, "One of these days…"
"Don't," said Jack, "I'm sure Abigail will understand."
The young couple walked over to the café which was fairly busy with customers. Abigail saw Jack and Elizabeth enter and walked over to them, "Good evening Elizabeth, Constable," she greeted, "What do you need?"
"Well I sort of ruined dinner. Again," said Elizabeth, "And…"
"Say no more," said Abigail, "I understand."
"I'm never going to get the hang of cooking," said Elizabeth, "This baby will starve to death after its first year of life."
"You've got a lot on your mind right now Elizabeth," Abigail sympathized.
"And I don't mind cooking," said Jack, "Or keeping your milk supply up."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at Jack, "You realize once this baby is born, you do not get as much time at them right?"
Jack sighed disappointingly, "Oh."
After dinner Elizabeth and Jack walked back to their house hand in hand. When they arrived home, Elizabeth kissed Jack and said, "I'll be at the bathroom. Meet me in our bedroom in a few minutes."
Jack nodded and went upstairs to their room. A few moments later, Elizabeth entered their room with her robe on, "I was actually going to wait until Christmas but I want to give you a little early gift," she said and pulled off her robe. Jack raised his eyebrows and smiled a little, "What do you think?"
"That looks so good on you," he groaned, "It's beautiful and you're beautiful."
"I thought you might like it," smirked Elizabeth sauntering over to their bed. It was a little tight around her midsection, but other than that, the lingerie fit her perfectly. She crawled on top of Jack and he rubbed her thighs and caressed her hips lovingly, "I love you Jack."
"I love you too Elizabeth," he said.
"Then show me," she whispered.
"Gladly," he whispered back.