AN: Another chapter for you, my delightful readers! Please enjoy!
"No...I don't like it over there. If we could just try moving it this way…" Elizabeth said, going to push the crib.
"I don't think so Elizabeth, you're not doing any lifting! That's what we're here for." Lee laughed, and gestured for Frank to come help.
"Thank you, both, I really do appreciate the help!" She said, going over to the bookshelf. "If you could just move the box of books over here, so I can arrange them, I'd be extremely grateful!"
"Not a problem." Frank lifted the box with ease.
"Alright boys, you've done your part. Go on down stairs- Cassandra and Rosemary have dinner on the stove, and there's some hot cider for you too." Abigail said, going to take her place next to Elizabeth, who was carefully sorting the books into piles. "Need some help?"
"Oh, sure!" Elizabeth smiled. "It's the strangest thing- I've had so much energy the last few days! I haven't felt this good since before my pregnancy!"
"I've seen it happen a million times. You've gone into nesting stage- your body giving you lots of extra energy so that you can get everything ready for the baby!" Abigail grinned.
"I'm glad- I feel like they've been running out of room in there...but I know that they'll wait, just a little longer." She said, more to herself than to Abigail.
"You still have two months, Elizabeth. Jack's only been gone for five weeks, he could come back any time." Abigail said optimistically. Elizabeth smiled, but she wasn't so sure. The news from Jack in the letter she received yesterday seemed a bit...dismal, though not without hope. And she would take all the hope either of them could muster, and cling to it. "Now that we're alone, will you tell me what you're going to call the baby?"
"Abigail, I told you-"
"I know, Nobody gets to hear it until Jack announces it." Abigail pouted just a little, and Elizabeth couldn't help but chuckle. "Can I take a guess?"
"Wel-"
"If I guess, will you tell me?"
"I suppose that's fair." Elizabeth smiled, and set a book of animals on the shelf.
"Beatrice?"
"No."
"Anne? Grace? Isabella?" Elizabeth shook her head at each name."Mary? Veronica? Olive? Nancy? Lois?"
"I'd just give up if I were you, Abigail! You'll hear it soon enough!"
"I don't give up easily." Abigail sighed. "Mark?"
"Again, no." Elizabeth laughed.
"I'm not giving up." Abigail warned her.
"I know." Elizabeth smiled warmly at her friend. "I think you'll approve when you hear it...but I'm not going to say it until after Jack announces it." she said firmly.
"...Wilbur?"
"Abigail!" Elizabeth laughed, and winced. She pressed her hands to her back and watched in awe as baby Thornton did a somersault in her belly. "I'll never get tired of watching that…"
"It is pretty amazing." Abigail smiled. "How's Julie doing?"
"Very well, according to her last letter. They saved up enough for a flat with two rooms, and she got to choose the paper for the baby's room. Mother and father sent them a box of baby things, just like the one they sent to me… she's so very happy." Elizabeth smiled as she thought of her beloved younger sister.
"And how's Viola?"
"She says that she's wonderful, and I almost believe her. But there's something just a little different in the way she writes now, like she has something to prove."
"Many women feel that way after the loss of a baby. Everyone has to see just how well you are, that nothing can keep you down too long. I actually perfected my bread and pies after I lost my first baby, I devoted so many hours to it." Abigail explained.
"To fill a void."
"Huh. I never thought of it that way, but I suppose you're right."
"Viola said that she has taken up needlepoint again; she was always very good at it when we were younger, but when she had her season, she said it was too time consuming, and she had better things to do. But she's thrown herself into it. She's promised to make something for baby's room, after she's finished with the banner she's making for her church."
"It sounds like she's enjoying it, at least."
"She is...she always liked it. I never seemed to have much patience for it. I always wanted to be doing something...more!" She sighed and looked down. "Perhaps if I'd taken more care, Id have been able to make those curtains when I got married!"
…
She looked over the resumes of a half a dozen teachers, and still could not seem to find anyone suitable to take over for her. One seemed too strict, the other too lenient. Another was deemed too harsh and cruel, and another almost too coddling.
"What are you doing?" Rosemary asked, coming from out of nowhere and taking the seat across from her at Abigail's.
"Rosemary, you startled me!"
"I didn't mean to."
"It's alright. I'm looking for a replacement."
"Whatever for?"
"For my teaching job? I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to keep it up much longer, especially if I want to keep the baby from coming early...But it's difficult. I love the children so much that I can't imagine letting anyone else take over." Elizabeth sighed.
"I could do it!" Rosemary said suddenly.
"You?" Elizabeth gasped, and then caught herself. "No, Rosemary, aren't you much too busy?"
"But I"m not! Remember that little...thing we were discussing at the baby shower? Well, it turns out I was right, and it was nothing, so I"ll have heaps of free time!" Rosemary said, and Elizabeth noticed that there was a slight twinge of sadness in her voice. "Besides, I've been thinking, maybe the reason I'm so uneasy about the idea of having children is because I've never really been around children. So if I could just spend a bit more time with them…"
"But Rosemary, it's more than just spending time with them! It's planning lessons and giving homework and tests, it's caring about each and every student as if they were your only student. It's very taxing." Elizabeth said slowly.
"I know, but I do think I could do it, Elizabeth! I know that when I've substitute taught for you in the past, I've made mistakes, but I know that I could do much better this time around!" Rosemary begged.
"I don't know Rosemary...though, I do suppose it might be nice if the children had someone that they knew in the classroom." Elizabeth mused.
"And, then, you could take off all of the time in the world, and by the time you're ready to teach again, Maybe I"ll be the one who needs maternity leave!" Rosemary insisted. Elizabeth bit her lip, and thought for a moment.
"You'll have to formally apply, with a letter, and a resume, not just a theatrical resume, mind. Give it to me, and I'll put your name up for the mothers who employ me." Elizabeth said, and Rosemary clapped her hands before taking Elizabeth's hand across the table.
"Wonderful! I'll go do that right now! You won't be sorry!" ROsemary chirped, and almost ran from the cafe. Elizabeth chuckled quietly, as Abigail came by to warm her tea.
"You made someone very happy." she observed.
"Well, she's more than qualified...she really is very smart. I think if she put her mind into it, she could really be a wonderful teacher." Elizabeth explained. "And it would save me the trouble of trying to find someone from somewhere else. I've seen more than twenty applications, and I havent seen even one that I really feel should be considered."
"You should have seen us trying to pick someone before you came. Goodness, it was a battle!" Abigail sat down across from her, as the cafe was mostly empty. "The only thing anyone could agree on was that we desperately needed a new teacher."
"How did you make the choice?"
"It's simple. Your age aside, you were the most qualified teacher… not to mention the fact that I thought your youth would be an asset, facing the challenges you would have to." Abigail explained.
"I always did think you might have had something to do with it." Elizabeth smiled.
"Now, it wasn't all me. The other mothers had to agree conclusively." Abigail said, holding up her hands. "We all knew you were the right choice for Hope- well, for Coal Valley. And we were right."
"And thank God you brought me here." Elizabeth laughed, putting her hands on her stomach. "I keep thinking of all of the little things that had to happen for me to get to this point in my life...married to a mountie, having a baby... If you hadn't hired me to be the teacher here, If my father hadn't bribed the mounties and had Jack sent here, If Rosemary hadn't left Jack, if Jack and I hadn't gotten caught up in the mine during that storm...So much could have happened to prevent it, and yet…"
"Fate, Elizabeth, and God's will." Abigail said. "It's the little things in life, all the ways things could go wrong that doesn't, everything that works out, when you don't understand how it could be possible, that's God's will."
"God has been so good for me. It is hard to believe." Elizabeth sighed. "I just miss Jack so much. I hate that he's gone, I miss him so much it aches...but then, almost everything aches right now, the baby's settling down lower now, I can feel it."
"The midwife in the book?" Abigail asked with a wry smile.
"It's amazing how much you can tell is happening if you've got a book to explain it." Elizabeth smiled. "I pray every day that Jack will be home in time for the baby to come. I pray all day, really."
"I know. I pray for that too." Abigail took her hand. "Have faith, Elizabeth."
"I've got to have faith...sometimes I feel like it's all I really have to hold on to. But then I look around, and I see everyone I love, everyone who cares for me...It's wonderful, and yet-"
"You're feeling guilty, because all you want is Jack." Abigail nodded. "I know. I've felt that way before, sometimes I still feel that when I think of Noah, or of Peter."
"It's selfish of me, when I know that Jack is alive and well."
"You aren't selfish for wanting to be with the one that you love, the one who loves you more than anything." Abigail insisted. "And for that matter, I don't really think there is a single selfish bone in your body. Elizabeth, you do everything for other people."
"Look who's talking! Abigail, you're literally the best woman that I know!"
"Have you seen yourself, Elizabeth?"
"Goodness, this could go on all day!" Elizabeth laughed with exasperation.
"It certainly could!" Abigail nodded.
"I love you, you know that?"
"I do. And I love you too."
AN: There it is! I'll have another one for you ASAP!