Charlotte spoke easily with Clara while Elizabeth and Rosemary got refreshments. She had a feeling her family was going to be very surprised at her news. Sometimes, she was still surprised about what she had done herself. It hadn't been planned, but then so much in her life tended to be spur of the moment decisions. Even marrying Thomas had been. She had been playing hard to get for the handsome young Mountie. It was part of the game for her. She figured that if he truly had feelings for her then he wouldn't give up. When a new posting had come in for him, he had told her he would write. She had said she didn't want to write but instead they should get married so she could come with him. Thomas had never been much for spur of the moment choices. He preferred to analyze things from all sides but to her surprise, he had led Charlotte to the parsonage where they had asked the pastor to marry them the next day.

Marrying Thomas had been a choice she had never regretted. Even knowing the hardship and heartache there at the end with his injury, she would do it all again. She hoped that she would be able to say the same about this decision.

Elizabeth and Rosemary returned, and the ladies were enjoying refreshments when there were footsteps on the stairs. The men were clearly starting to bring things downstairs to the new master bedroom. The unmistakable voice of Bill Avery was heard barking instructions. Tom's comment about getting stuck with the old man reached the ears of the women, who smothered their laughter even as Bill retorted back.

By the time the two had gotten the headboard down the steps and made an appearance in the dining room, all four women had schooled their features. Tom came into the room first. Upon seeing his mother at the table, he immediately stopped without warning.

"Did you forget how to walk? Keep moving! This bed isn't going to reassemble itself, you know," Bill grumbled from behind the headboard, still unable to see the ladies at the table.

"Mom! Where did you come from?" Tom said, seemingly not hearing Bill's complaint.

"Well, hello to you too," Charlotte replied, placing her teacup on the table as she leveled a gaze at her son.

"Mom?" Bill muttered, changing his grip on the piece of wood he was still holding to peer around it.

"Well, I am not your mother," Charlotte responded, changing her gaze to Bill. "And you are still the same old complainer as you always were, I see."

"What is it with you Thorntons. I am not old!" Bill exclaimed.

"Yes, you are," Charlotte told him. "We both are. I just seem to have grasped that idea faster than you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bill asked, as the other men came downstairs with less complaining than the first pair.

"Well, it is part of the reason I am here. One, of course, is to see my grandson, daughter-in-law and her new husband and daughter, as well as my son."

"Tacked on at the end as always," Tom said under his breath.

Charlotte had gotten to her feet, and she patted Tom's cheek. "I love you just as much as everyone else despite all the worry you cause me," she assured him, before continuing. "However, I also decided to sell the ranch. Tom has shown no interest in it, and I am getting too old to be working that hard. Was thinking I might settle down around here."

Bill dropped his end of the headboard, thankfully missing his feet. It was Tom who spoke though.

"You sold the ranch!"

"Don't tell me now that you were ever coming back to settle down there. You have barely visited since you ran off two days after your seventeenth birthday."

"No. I'm not upset that you sold it for that reason," Tom said. "I guess I just always thought of you and the ranch as one. It seems weird to think of you not there. What will you do?"

"Well, I am not going to sit in a rocker and watch the days pass, that's for sure," Charlotte replied. "I am hoping to watch my grand kids grow up though and I am sure I can find things in the community to occupy me. Part time work on a farm. Maybe the livery could use help with the horses. I know horses." She patted Tom's cheek again. "I promise not to hover over you too much."

Glancing behind him, Tom saw that Bill hadn't yet picked up his end of the headboard again. Placing his end on the floor, he leaned it against the wall before reaching out to give his mother a hug.

"As long as you are happy, then I am happy for you," Tom told her.

Charlotte hugged her son briefly before leaning back to look him in the eyes. Gone was the anger that had been so dominant for so long. Instead, she saw a confidence and a contentment there that reminded her of both her husband and her eldest son. Though the Mounties had taken both Thomas and Jack from her, it would seem that they had given her back her youngest son. Assuming, of course, that he stayed safe during his years of service.

As soon as that thought came to her, Charlotte pushed it aside. She knew she couldn't think like that. Besides, a lot of Mounties retired in their old age, Bill being one of them. If the Mountie turned judge had managed not to irritate someone enough to have them shoot him then surely Tom could manage it.

Having wrestled the feather tick down the stairs on his own, Nathan had left it leaning against the wall at the foot of the steps as he made his way into the dining room. Getting to her feet, Elizabeth made her way over to her husband. Taking Nathan's left hand, she led him forward.

"Charlotte, I would like you to meet my husband, Nathan Grant," Elizabeth said. "Nathan, this is Charlotte Thornton."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Nathan said, holding out his right hand to her. "I have heard a lot about you."

Charlotte took his hand and gave him a wink. "You can only believe about half of what you hear. The rest is a mixture of exaggerations and rumors, some of which I probably started myself."

Nathan grinned. "I will keep that in mind," he told her.

"And you, young man, I can see the light back in Lizzie's eyes when she introduced you. That alone makes me like you," Charlotte told him. "Just don't do anything that will make me change my mind about you."

"I will try not, too," Nathan told her. "Our home is going to be a bit crowded with Elizabeth's mother and sister arriving tomorrow, but if you need a place to stay for a while, we will figure something out."

"No, I have no intentions of imposing on anyone. I stopped by the Amaryllis on my way into town and got a room. Nice to see the place has a little bit more class, though I may need to find a place for a good game of cards."

"Poker games still take place there," Lee told her. "There is a room set aside just for that. I don't think some of my men would have forgiven me if I had taken that away altogether in the renovations. They work hard and like a place to unwind."

"Good to know," Charlotte said. "I'll have to see if anyone is willing to lose some money to me once I get settled in a bit. First though, I am here to help in anyway with the vow renewal and getting the house ready for the new baby. I'll also have to look for a piece of land I can build a nice, cozy little cottage on. I don't want a lot of house to have to keep clean but I would like a place I can still call mine."

"I've got the list of available plots in my office," Bill told her.

"Or, you are welcome to build a place on our land. There would be room," Nathan told her.

"Jack would love having his grandma Lottie nearby," Elizabeth added.

Charlotte nodded. "Something to consider," she said. "But that can save until after the vow renewal. Maybe even until after the new little one arrives."

"If we don't get back to work, that little one might be here before the furniture is set up down here," Bill interjected sourly.

Though everyone knew the judge was exaggerating, it was a reminder that there was still a task to be completed.

Later that night, Nathan lay in the bed in their new bedroom, waiting for Elizabeth to return from checking on Jack for the third time since she had tucked him in. Despite the locks on the doors that he couldn't reach, and the fact that he had been shown where his parents' new room was, it was his mother that seemed worried about the extra distance between them. Nathan knew everyone would get used to the new arrangement with time. He just needed to be patient with his wife until then.

What he was hoping was that with the nursery down here, the baby crying in the middle of the night might not mean that all three kids were awake every time.

The bedroom door opened, and Nathan looked over. "So was Jack still sleeping?" he asked casually.

"Yes," Elizabeth replied, closing the bedroom door partway behind her. Turning, she headed toward the bed, untying her robe. "I know. I am being silly."

"You are being a mother who isn't used to being so far away from her child," Nathan countered, understanding in his voice. "I do get it. The first night alone with Allie being my sole responsibility, I must have checked on her twenty times during the night. This isn't all that different."

Elizabeth smiled at him as she slipped the robe from her shoulders and draped in on the chair. "Except that you were suddenly playing mother and father for a four-year-old," she said, as Nathan held the covers for her to climb under. "I have been a mother for five years and I know perfectly well that he is safe and sound in his bed."

"But you're afraid that if he wakes up and needs you, that you won't hear him," Nathan said as they both settled in bed, snuggled against one another.

"Yes," Elizabeth admitted.

"Allie is still upstairs with him. We already know he will seek her out if he gets frightened. He also knows where our room is."

"I know," Elizabeth whispered as Nathan reached over and turned out the lamp.

"Besides, I have my Mountie hearing, remember," Nathan told her lightly, kissing the top of her head as she laid in his arms.

"I want Mountie hearing," Elizabeth murmured.

"I find it hard to picture you at Depot even if they did accept women," he replied. "Besides, you have something just a good."

"What's that?"

"A mother's intuition. Even after I left home, my mother seemed to know exactly when I needed to hear from her the most. If Jack needs you, you'll know."

He felt Elizabeth nod her head as it rested on his chest. "You're right," she replied. "Besides, I really shouldn't keep you awake. You must be tired after all the work you guys did today."

"The fact that you ladies gathered the smaller belongings and moved them helped a lot. Though I am glad you listened to reason and stayed down here to put things away."

"Now who is worrying too much?"

"A husband's prerogative," Nathan told her. "The only thing I can do to help care for the baby at this point is to take care of you."

"You are doing a wonderful job," Elizabeth assured him.

"Are you going to be okay finishing preparations for you mother and sister's arrival alone?" Nathan asked. Though Gabriel and Faith had been content to be in the row house a bit following the baby's arrival, their friends had been hoping that wouldn't be necessary. They were hoping that the Kinslows could be settled in their new home before the arrival of the new family member. With the dizzy spells that Faith was having, Gabriel had become concerned with that as well. He had come to Lee asking if there was anything he could do to help speed up the building of the home. Lee had confessed that they had already been putting in extra hours, which was why the addition to the Grant home was done already. He had told Gabriel that if he wanted to help out, the crew would find a way to put him to work. Nathan had already been putting in time helping with the home and that was his plan for tomorrow. The cradle he had been fashioning for the Kinslow baby was already done. Nathan had been hoping to simply put it in the new home but that depended on the baby's arrival.

"I will be fine. It would be nice if Faith could be settled in her home before the baby comes. Not to mention that means that Carson and Dahlia can then be out of the hotel and work on Charlotte's cottage can begin," Elizabeth said. "How do you really feel about her living so close?"

"I am perfectly okay with it," Nathan assured her. "She's family after all."

"But she's a link to my past with Jack. Lucas always went on the defensive when she was around."

"Well, that was Lucas' problem. I know perfectly well that if Jack was still alive you would still be with him. Sometimes, I wish that was the reality because you would have been spared some of the heartache. Charlotte is Jack's grandmother. Allie is thrilled that she wants to be her grandmother as well," Nathan replied. He reached out and laid a hand on Elizabeth's swollen stomach. "She will make a wonderful grandmother to this child and any others who come along. While even I will admit to not wanting her living in the same house with her long term, her own space on our property is perfectly alright with me. It'll be good for the kids for her to be nearby. Perhaps Jack will even fell less left out with the last name, with his Grandmother Thornton being so close."

"Oh, I hope so. As much as I want little Jack to be your son, he is also Jack's legacy. Him keeping his father's name is important to me."

"I know," Nathan said. "I hope for your sake that Jack comes to realize the honor it is to carry on his birth father's name. I just think it might be too much for him to grasp at this time. Right now, he just knows he's different."

"Family is complicated," Elizabeth said with a sigh.

Nathan snorted. "That I know all too well," he admitted. "Let's both try to get some sleep now."

"Maybe I should . . . "

Nathan tightened his hold on his wife. "Jack is fine. Go to sleep," he assured her, placing another kiss to her hair.

He heard Elizabeth's soft sigh and knew she was at least going to try to listen to his reasoning. Closing his eyes, Nathan waited for sleep to claim him.