An:
"I thought I told you not to get hugely pregnant by the next time I saw you." Viola teased dryly as the seamstress made hasty notes about the alterations that would need to be made to the cream colored dress so that it would close in the back.
"I do apologize, Sister, it wasn't my intention to ruin your wedding day with my pregnancy." Elizabeth said, equally as dry. Viola smiled, and took a sip of her tea.
"Really you look very nice, Beth. What is it they say about expecting women? There's a glow about you. You're..radiant." Viola assured her. Elizabeth looked at her skeptically.
"Did Jack tell you to say that?" She asked.
"What? Of course not." Viola laughed. "I'm saying it because you're my sister, and you look beautiful. Almost too beautiful. Hm."
"Hm?"
"I just mean that I'm supposed to be the most beautiful woman at the wedding. I should have put you in something more comely." Viola said as she circled Elizabeth before ending up in front of her, and taking her hands.
"Gosh, I've missed you."
"As I've missed you." Viola said, and embraced her sister before drawing back quickly. "Ow! Pins, that's why you shouldn't try to hug someone during a dress fitting." Elizabeth laughed, and smoothed out her sister's hair.
"Don't worry about a thing Viola, I've no doubt you're going to be the most beautiful woman at the wedding. I've seen your dress...If anyone is going to be radiant, it's you. Sir Lionel is a very lucky man." Viola smiled, and looked down at her shoes. "Where's mother?"
"Browsing next door." Viola sighed, and Elizabeth groaned. "I'm sorry, but you should have expected that if you showed up slightly changed from the last time she saw you, she'd want to buy you new things."
"I don't need any new things." Elizabeth protested.
"I know that, and you know that, but mother certainly doesn't." Viola laughed. "It brings her so much joy. Just let her spoil you today, and get it over with."
"We should be spoiling you, Viola! You're getting married!"
"That's another thing- when you got married, mother didn't get to take you out and buy you new things. She's been bitter about it for months." Viola sighed.
"She should have just taken you!"
"She did- several times! I've more petticoats and gloves and corsets than any one woman could ever need! And yet it wasn't enough to satisfy her." Viola explained. "Besides, I'm sure you could use a few new things, maternity wear; Oh, just wait until the baby is born! She'll be sending you a shipment of white frilly things like that!"
"I hope she realizes I've only brought one trunk with me."
"Do you think mother would hesitate to buy you trunks? Dear me Beth, You really have forgotten what Hamilton is like!" Viola said. "Not to mention she's still bitter over the whole Julie fiasco! We're lucky she hasn't taken it out by drowning us in frilly night things."
"Have you heard from Julie recently?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly realizing that there was a very real possibility that Viola didn't know about Julie's baby.
"No. Not since she ran off. You're the only one who's been in communication with her so far as I know." Viola shrugged, and ran her fingers over samples of lace on a side table. "Why?"
"Viola…" Elizabeth said, reaching for her sister's hand.
"What?"
"She's pregnant, Viola."
…..
"Oh my goodness." Elizabeth groaned as she looked at the packages of things that littered her old bedroom. "Do you see this? My mother is insane!" Elizabeth whispered, collapsing back on the bed.
"It isn't...too much." Jack said, but he was already overwhelmed thinking of where they would put all of this.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to store some of this in the cellar…" She sighed. "Most of it is maternity wear...Well, we can put some of my clothes in a trunk and put them in the cellar, and then after the baby comes, we can put the maternity clothes in a trunk, and put them in the cellar. It'll work."
"You're so smart." Jack said with a smirk, and then laid on the bed beside her. She laced their fingers together, and snuggled up a little closer.
"Mm. We have to get dressed. It'll be dinner time soon." She sighed. "I'd rather just stay here."
"Long day?"
"Much too long." She turned her face towards him. "But not as long as your day I'm sure. Spending the whole day with William Thatcher- what did you even do all day?"
"Let's see, we talked, he told me about the benefits of relocating to Hamilton. I believe he was up to reason thirty seven when you returned home." Jack said. "He really doesn't believe returning to Hope Valley would be in our best interest."
"I'm sorry Jack. I wish I could have been there with you."
"No you don't." He accused, and she laughed.
"No, I don't. But I can't imagine having to talk to my father the entire time I was at the seamstress's." Elizabeth sighed, and after only a moment's hesitation, she rolled carefully so that she was laying on top of him, not exactly an easy feat, considering the new bulge of her belly. Jack looked startled, but not displeased, by this sudden turn of events. "Maybe I should make it up to you, constable."
"I thought you said we had to get dressed for-" Elizabeth gave him a dubious look. "What am I saying?" He laughed, and kissed her. Needless to say, neither of them cared that they were a bit late for dinner.
…
Dinner, as it turned out, was a bit awkward. When Jack and Elizabeth had descended the stairs, having dressed a bit hastily, with Elizabeth's hair a bit eskew, there was little doubt in anyone's mind as to what the young couple had been up to, and Charles seemed to be extremely on edge.
"Hello Charles." Elizabeth said with a smile as she briefly embraced him.
"Just look at you Elizabeth! You're...Wow." Was all he could manage. There was a quiet throat clearing from behind them, and Elizabeth peered over his shoulder. "Oh, how rude of me. Elizabeth Thatcher-"
"Thornton." She corrected sharply.
"Elizabeth Thornton, I'd like to introduce you to Edith Swanson." He said. Elizabeth smiled at the young blonde woman. She was incredibly pretty, if not a bit slight, and shorter than Elizabeth by a good inch or two.
"Mrs. Thornton, It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Edith said, slightly inclining her head. "Charles has told me so much about you."
"Call me Elizabeth, please, and the pleasure is all mine." Elizabeth said, and then she remembered Jack's presence beside her. "Oh! This is my husband, Constable Jack Thornton."
"Constable Thornton? He's- You're the one who caught the Toliver gang, aren't you?!" Edith gasped.
"I had quite a bit of help." Jack said.
"Yes, from Horses and red table clothes! He's much too modest." Elizabeth said as he put his arm around her waist.
"My my, Charles told me you'd married a mountie, but he didn't say that you'd married a hero!" Edith laughed, and Charles quietly steamed.
"It must have slipped my mind." He said with a tight smile.
"I see congratulations are in order. Charles failed to mention that you were expecting a child!" Edith laughed.
"That's not a man's place." Charles said, shrugging. "I didn't know it would be of great interest to you besides, seeing as you had never met Elizabeth."
"Now that has been remedied. I'll be delighted to speak to you about what Charles was like as a young man. He's rather tight lipped about this particular subject, and I can't get his parents to budge." Edith said.
"That's no problem, I've hundreds of stories." Elizabeth assured her, and they smiled at eachother.
"Elizabeth, Jack, such a pleasure to see you again." Sir Lionel said as he shook hands with Jack. "You're looking very well, Elizabeth. It's always a glad thing, to welcome a new family member."
"Thank you, Sir Lionel. I feel the same way, welcoming you into our family. It brings us all such great joy." Elizabeth told him. She reached for her sisters hand, leaving Jack to speak with Sir Lionel.
"Viola, you look beautiful tonight!" Elizabeth said, and she really did. Her long, red hair cascaded down her back, contrasting nicely against a deep blue gown.
"I might say the same thing to you...but your hair is a bit eskew." She said, blushing a little as she did so. "Really Elizabeth, you could not wait until the evening?"
"I...don't know what you're talking about." Elizabeth said, glancing slyly over at her husband, who looked rather at ease with Sir Lionel, all things considered. "I am sorry it took so long for us to get dressed...My changing figure limits my choices in the matter of dress more and more by the day, it seems."
"You say that, but still you are beautiful." Viola said, gently adjusting a few of the wayward strands of her sister's hair. It was at this moment that one of the Thatcher's servants entered the room to announce dinner. Jack was at his wife's side in a moment, offering her his arm, which she took with a smile. The atmosphere at dinner was a bit tense, despite Edith and Sir Lionel's best efforts to keep conversation flowing. Charles seemed to spend most of the meal staring down at his food, making one word replies when absolutely necessary. Elizabeth and Jack whispered to each other, laughing, almost unaware of the rest of the people around them. Viola watched them with a sigh, and glanced at Sir Lionel, who smiled warmly at her. She smiled at him, and took his hand beneath the table. She did love him, in her own way, but she couldn't help but feel that they would never share the same level of intimacy and connection that Jack and Elizabeth shared.
"Everything was delicious. My compliments to the chef." Elizabeth said when they had finished a heavenly blueberry trifle. They gathered in the sitting room, Elizabeth sitting by Edith, talking and laughing as she recounted childhood memories she had shared with Charles."He had poison oak all up and down his arms and legs for a week after that one!"
"Oh my goodness!" Edith gasped. "Charles, these stories are darling! I don't know why you wouldn't share them with me! Elizabeth, you are just a delight!"
"And I have a thousand more Charles stories where those came from." Elizabeth said with a grin. Charles sighed, and walked out onto the terrace. Edith looked quizzically at Elizabeth, who was looking pensively after Charles.
"Edith dear, have you seen my china? I don't believe you have! Not to mention the crystal." Viola said. "You simply must come to see it."
"Oh- Yes, of course, I would love to!" Edith said, linking arms with Viola as they left the room. Viola glanced over her shoulder at Elizabeth, and mouthed "Talk to him." She nodded in acknowledgement, and then looked to Jack, who seemed to read her mind. He nodded, and quickly jumped on Sir Lionel's invitation to join Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher in a game of cards. Elizabeth carefully rose from her seat on the sofa, smoothed the dress over her growing baby bump, and walked quietly out the door. He was leaning against the railing, staring out into the darkness. Elizabeth sighed, and leaned on the railing beside him.
"Alright Charles. What's bothering you?" She asked, and he looked at her.
"Did you have to tell Edith all of those stories?" He grumbled.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't think you'd mind so much! Those stories are some of my favorite memories of my childhood here."
"Right." He sighed, and suddenly hit his hands against the rail.
"Charles?" Elizabeth gasped.
"I just don't understand Elizabeth! I don't understand why you chose him over me."
"Charles, We've been over this before. I didn't make a choice. When I met Jack, I just...Knew he was the one." Elizabeth said. "He was always the one for me."
"That's what I had been thinking about you for our entire lives, Beth! I thought things were going our way, I thought that I had started to get to you, and then, the next thing I know, you're marrying some Mountie in the middle of nowhere!"
"Where is this coming from Charles? I thought that you and Edith were-"
"Edith isn't you, Elizabeth." Charles said. "I thought that I could move on, but then you came here, and I saw you, looking so beautiful, so full of life, and even though I knew, seeing you, pregnant with another mans child...Don't you get it Elizabeth? It should have been us, you and me. That should be my baby."
"Charles!" Elizabeth gasped. "How could you say that?"
"Because it's true Elizabeth. You know that it's true."
"No, Charles." She shook her head.
"If there had been no Hope Valley, had been no Jack-"
"I told you Charles, I don't do "What if". There's only what is. And what is is that I love teaching the students in Hope Valley. I love Jack Thornton more than almost anyone else on earth. The only person I love more, is this baby. His baby, Charles." They stood in silence for a moment, when suddenly, his lips connected with hers. "Mmp!" She sputtered, and cocked her elbow back to punch him square in the nose. He stared at her in bewilderment, and she looked at him in disgust. "What. was. That?"
"Elizabeth, I-"
"No, You know what, I don't want to hear it." She laughed. "I've been nothing but kind for you, when you came to Hope Valley, and then tonight, all of the letters we've exchanged- And now you've disrespected me, you've disrespected Edith, but more than that, you've done nothing but belittle my husband, and now you've completely insulted him. I loved you like a brother Charles, but I see now that was can't continue on this way. I think it's best if we minimize contact with each other. Goodbye, Charles." She turned sharply on her heel, and walked back inside the house, walking directly past the group playing cards, and up the steps to her bedroom, for the moment completely unaware of the fact that they had seen everything through the windows.
AN: So, maybe this chapter took an unexpected turn? Either way, I hope you liked it! More to come soon!