AN: Wow, chapter 100! I did not expect this story to go this long. It is kind of cool for chapter 100 to be posted on Christmas Eve - kind of my present to my readers! Thank you Katie for always be willing to take a red pen and polish a chapter up!
After spending a little while getting reacquainted with the Hope Valley infirmary, where he had updated Faith's chart after examining her and reviewed the charts Faith had indicated were most pressing, Carson locked up the infirmary to meet Dahlia at the Amaryllis for supper. Though nothing other than blood pressure seemed amiss with Faith, Carson planned on keeping a close eye on his colleague to make sure nothing went wrong. She deserved to have every happiness that life deemed fit to send her way.
As he walked into the Amaryllis, his eyes fell on Dahlia as she came down the steps. He had finally realized that was true for him as well, and with Dahlia he could truly say he was content. The people of this town had taught him it was okay to be happy after the death of his wife, something he had passed on to her. Bringing Dahlia here seemed to be the final piece to their happily ever after.
Going over to the stairs, Carson met her at the foot. He gave her a quick kiss before offering her his arm and leading her to an empty table. The service and the food were just as nice as the renovated hotel was. At one point during their meal, Archie came to introduce himself and welcome them to Hope Valley. When he offered them the apartment over the infirmary, Dahlia quickly spoke up to refuse, not wanting to put him out of what had become his home. She assured him they would be fine in the room for the time being.
"Besides, it will be nice having someone else to do the cleaning for me for a little while after the last couple of years of being a caregiver to my late husband," Dahlia replied.
Archie nodded, a look of empathy coming over him. "My son took on the biggest load of being caregiver when my ex-wife was ill at the end, but I was there for the very end. It isn't easy, at any age," he said holding out a hand to her.
Dahlia took it and let Archie give her hand an understanding, comforting squeeze. It was all that was needed between two people who understood what the other had gone through.
As they were leaving the Amaryllis after supper, Dahlia said to Carson, "I think you were right. I think I am going to love it here in Hope Valley."
"There is something special about this place," Carson replied.
Having been told how to get out to the Grants' home, Carson led his wife to his car which had been unloaded from the train and delivered to the Amaryllis. Once they were both inside, Carson set out for his friends' home. His eyes saw both how Hope Valley had been when he left as well as what was there now. Though changes had taken place, the town still made him feel at home.
As he helped Dahlia out of the car in front of the Grant home, Carson noticed Nathan hiding behind a bush not far away. His friend put a finger to his lips and nodded toward the house. Chuckling, Carson shut the car door, offered his wife his arm and then led her toward the house. He assumed Nathan was playing a game with the kids, and it made him feel that longing for kids as well. Dahlia had admitted she couldn't bear children and that her late husband had never wanted to adopt. Since he had proposed, the two of them had discussed the possibility of adopting a child or two once they had settled somewhere. Carson was hoping that place would be Hope Valley.
Leading Dahlia up the porch steps to the door, Carson let his wife do the knocking as he held his medical bag in his other hand. A distant, "I'm coming," drifting through the door and the two visitors waited patiently. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Elizabeth, the dish towel in one hand indicating that she had been in the kitchen when they knocked.
"Carson!" Elizabeth exclaimed, her face lighting up at the sight of him. "I wasn't expecting you to stop by tonight. I thought you would want to rest after traveling."
The doctor smiled. "I wanted to come introduce my wife, Dahlia, to you and Nathan," Carson told her. "Dahlia, this is Elizabeth. It was her little speech long ago that convinced me to come back and operate on my first patient since my late wife and kept me here in Hope Valley."
Elizabeth blushed. "I wasn't the only one out to get you to stay," she admitted. "I just found you first."
"Either way, your speech changed the course of my life, and if I haven't thanked you for that, I am now."
"You're welcome," Elizabeth replied, opening her arms for a hug.
Dahlia let go of her husband's arm to allow him to accept the hug. After Carson released her, Elizabeth turned to the woman and welcomed her to Hope Valley with a hug as well.
"Come on in," Elizabeth invited stepping aside. Out in the yard she spotted Jack, with Muffin following, searching for his sister or Dad. "Nathan is playing hide and seek with the children."
"Yes, I spotted him," Carson said softly as he let Dahlia proceed him into the house. "How are you doing, Elizabeth?" he asked as she shut the door behind the three of them.
Elizabeth's hand went instinctively to her swollen belly. "I am doing well. This past year has been one of healing, but with Nathan and Ally's help, Jack and I have done a lot of that. I might regret the choices I made that led me here, but marrying Nathan rivals marrying Jack as the best choice I ever made," she told him. "Why don't the three of us have a seat in the living room," she said, waving toward the room off the entryway. "Can I get you anything?"
Carson and Dahlia both declined and the three found seats - the doctor and his wife on the settee and Elizabeth in one of the wingback chairs.
"Faith mentioned you have had some worries about your pregnancy."
Elizabeth blushed. "Everything seems fine, and Faith assures me that it is, but I fear going through everything I felt last year with the miscarriage. I'm probably being silly."
"There is nothing silly about your emotions," Carson assured her. "You can come to me any time you need reassurance, even if all you want to do is listen to the baby's heartbeat," he told her.
"I went through three miscarriages myself," Dahlia told her. "That first one never completely leaves you. I was never able to carry a pregnancy past four months, and you look to be further along than that. I will pray that things continue to go smoothly for you."
"Thank you," Elizabeth replied. "I am sorry for your losses."
"Thank you," Dahlia said. She looked over to Carson who nodded his consent. "Once Carson and I get settled here we are going to check into adoption. My late husband was never interested in pursuing that avenue, but a part of me still wants to be a mother."
"It is very rewarding, however it comes about," Elizabeth assured her. "I've always thought Carson would make a wonderful father and I am sure you'll make a wonderful mother."
"Once we have a proper home, I was planning on taking Dahlia to Lillian's orphanage in Brookfield," Carson said.
"She'll be happy to see her. Where are the two of you staying right now?"
"We have a room at the Amaryllis," Carson replied. "The plan is to move into the row house the Kinslows are currently occupying once their new home is built."
Elizabeth nodded. "Well, the good news is that the crew finished up with our addition here and most of them will be going to help with the Kinslow house next door. The skeleton crew has managed to get the foundation laid so far. Jack loves going to the property line and watch the men work."
"Maybe he'll be a builder himself one day," Carson commented.
"That would definitely make me happy," Elizabeth admitted as the front door opened and Nathan, Ally and Jack came into the house.
Carson got to his feet to greet Nathan, the two forgoing a handshake and instead sharing a brotherly hug. Nathan and the kids were introduced to Dahlia. Jack introduced Muffin, who was faithfully following the boy around. After the introductions, Ally took Jack upstairs to entertain him until bedtime.
Nathan got himself a cup of coffee and while he spoke with Dahlia, Carson and Elizabeth went into another room for a quick examination. As he checked Elizabeth's vitals, he found what Faith had - a textbook pregnancy. For a moment he thought the baby's heartbeat didn't sound quite right but then he heard the perfect heartbeat of a new baby. He chose not to say anything to Elizabeth. There was no reason to give her something unnecessary to worry about.
Afterwards, Elizabeth and Carson rejoined their spouses in the living room.
"So, Elizabeth tells me you would like to deliver the baby?" Carson inquired, looking at Nathan.
"I would, though I still would rather have you right beside me when I do so. That is, if you don't mind."
Carson shook his head. "If Elizabeth is all right with it, then I don't mind at all. Usually, I have the fathers hiding outside, but I think it will be a unique experience for you and Elizabeth to share the moment together."
"After delivering in a cabin, in the middle of the woods during a snowstorm, I just want to be in familiar surroundings this time around," Elizabeth replied.
Nathan reached out for her hand as he had moved the other chair across the room to sit next to her. "We will keep you close at home these next few months," he promised, giving her hand a squeeze.
"And as you are due at the end of August, snow shouldn't be a concern," Carson added.
Elizabeth laughed. "I sure hope not."
"So, Carson you wrote that the two of you got engaged but I wasn't aware that you were married already," Nathan ventured, curious as to the latest development in his friend's life.
"It came about kind of quickly," Carson, admitted, reaching out for Dahlia's hand. He glanced over at her and she nodded for him to continue. "As I already mentioned to you the last time we talked, I proposed back in April. Dahlia and I had been spending a lot of our free time together and while she had been dealing with some conflicting feelings of her feeling toward me, she had seemed more at ease with those feelings."
"At times things just seemed to move so fast. I felt guilty about falling for someone so soon after Pierre's death, though my late husband had told me he wanted me to find someone new to share the rest of my life with."
"I am very familiar with those feelings," Elizabeth said softly. "I didn't handle them well."
Nathan lifted the hand he still held and gave it a kiss.
"Oh, I had my moments as well," Dahlia admitted, casting a glance at Carson. "After some of the things I yelled at him when I was at my low points, I am not sure why he showed up the next day - and asking my forgiveness no less. The man is a saint."
Carson felt heat rise in his cheeks. "I wouldn't go that far."
"Me neither," Nathan said softly.
Dahlia chuckled. "Carson admitted he had some venting sessions with you over the phone, Nathan. I am glad he had someone to talk to."
"I did my own venting at times," Nathan admitted. "It is good to have friends even when they are far away. Though I am glad you decided to come back to Hope Valley as well. Passing up that Inspector promotion to keep Ally here was the best choice I ever made. It may not have been a smooth ride, but it did eventually bring me to the love of my life," he said, looking starry eyed at Elizabeth.
It was Elizabeth's turn to blush and to get attention off herself she asked a question of her visitors. "So how did the two of you meet?"
Carson had anticipated being asked that coming back to the town he had called home for a few years. He and Dahlia had talked about how much of their story they wanted to tell.
"Believe it or not, I literally ran into Dahlia on my first day at the Baltimore hospital. I was paying more attention to the papers in my hand than where I was going and she was coming to visit Pierre, who was on comfort care in the hospital. She had a tea and sandwich that she had picked up on her way back to the hospital from a brief visit home."
"Pierre had a blood disease that took him slowly from me. I tried keeping him at home for as long as I could, but it got to be too much, so he was admitted to the hospital where I would have help with his care."
"I know that feeling well," Nathan told her. "If it hadn't been for help from her neighbors and church friends, I never would have been able to care for my mother at home at the end like she wanted."
"We had no family in the city, and no friends close enough to help in that way. I had a few friends I had made in the short time we had lived there who did stop by with casseroles and helped clean the house, but it wasn't enough. Pierre had only had his job as professor of history at the university for a year before he fell ill."
"As I had ruined her meal, I offered to replace it for her," Carson said picking up on the story once again. "Given the skeptical look she shot me, I don't think she expected it."
"Most of the doctors at that hospital thought they were better than everyone else, especially the patients," Dahlia explained.
"Still, she gave me her husband's hospital room and we parted ways. Not knowing how the hospital cafeteria food was at that time, I went to the sandwich shop across the street to replace her meal."
"He even added an apple turnover."
Carson shrugged. "It was the least I could do after making you wear your first meal. When I dropped it off to the room, Dahlia was munching on a graham cracker as nurse had brought her. She seemed surprised when I showed up in the room. Pierre was never my patient, but I kept stopping by after that, seeing how they were faring. A few times, her husband was awake enough that I talked with him. I was sitting in the room with Dahlia the night Pierre passed."
"It was such a relief not to be alone that night," Dahlia said. "Carson was my shoulder to cry on that night and many times after. He guided me through all the necessary steps following Pierre's death. I am sure I would have felt overwhelmed and just sat down somewhere and cried if I didn't have his help. Actually, he found me a couple of times sitting in my house crying."
Elizabeth reached out a hand that Dahlia took. "I felt the same way after Jack died. My friends and students are what kept me going and then I found out that I was pregnant with our son. I knew I had to keep going for his sake."
Dahlia nodded. "I would have had no one in the city whom I was really close with, if not for Carson. After the funeral, I went back to doing sewing for both neighbors and some of the shops that would have too much at one time and just needed temporary help. Carson kept checking in on me. He spoke of his experiences with his own wife and gave me someone to express my own feelings with, even if that expression wasn't always cordial. I am not sure when I started to have feelings other than friendship for him but when I did, I felt guilty at first despite Pierre having told me he didn't want me to be alone the rest of my life. The evening before he passed, before Carson had stopped by to sit with me, one of the last things Pierre had told me was 'to find someone to share my heart with even if that someone turned out to be my new doctor friend'. It was like he could see something we couldn't in those early days."
"As for me, I found myself falling for her shortly after her husband's funeral," Carson said. "However, I knew I had to keep those feelings to myself. She needed time to grieve and properly say good-bye. So, at first, I just concentrated on being the friend I had wished I had when my wife passed. I think it was about seven months after Pierre's death that Dahlia told me she thought she was falling for me but that she was still struggling with guilt over it happening so soon after her husband's death. I told her that I could understand where she was coming from and would be patient."
"And patient he was," Dahlia chimed in. "I lost count of how many times I told him I couldn't continue with the relationship, but he was always there the next day when the emotional outburst had passed. When Carson finally did propose, Pierre's last words came back to me, and I knew he would be happy for me. When Carson mentioned the opening here in Hope Valley for another doctor, I knew he needed to take it. He wasn't like the other city doctors, and I knew he was often at odds with his colleagues. Small town medicine was what he was supposed to be doing, so once he had Faith's blessing to return, I knew there was only one option - for us to marry so I could come with him. I didn't want to do a long-distance relationship even for a little while."
"We were married by the pastor of the church we had been attending with the pastor's wife, adult son and the son's wife as witnesses," Carson said. "It was hurried, but being able to bring Dahlia back home with me was worth it."
Carson saw Nathan and Elizabeth look at each other. There was communication going on between the couple though Carson wasn't sure what it was. It was Elizabeth that finally spoke.
"Nathan and I are doing a vow renewal for our one-year anniversary on June 14th. We are keeping it small, but as our relationship has changed so much in the past year, we wanted to celebrate that. Rosemary has been handling the preparations. Would the two of you want to join us?"
"That's next Monday?" Dahlia said.
"I know it is late notice," Elizabeth said. "Rosemary will fuss about a change, but she'll also happily make the changes necessary. I know others here in Hope Valley would love to celebrate your happy news with you Carson and you two deserve some kind of celebration for your union."
"You're sure you don't mind?" Carson ventured, looking from Elizabeth to Nathan.
"Not at all," Nathan replied. "Besides, a second couple will get some of the attention off of me."
The four of them shared a laugh as Carson looked to Dahlia, sharing their own silent communication.
"We would love to do a double vow renewal with you," Carson finally replied.
Elizabeth smiled happily. "Great! I will need to go see Rosemary right after breakfast about the change."
"Can I come with you?" Dahlia asked. "I would be more than happy to help her with whatever needs to be done still."
"Of course."
"We will come pick you up tomorrow morning Elizabeth, and I'll drive both you ladies over to the Coulters before I open the infirmary."
"And I'll make sure the two of you get home after your visit, though Cosmo and the wagon will be a bit slower than Carson's new ride."
With plans set, the two couples said goodnight and Carson and Dahlia headed back into town.