Chapter 105 – A Tiny Bump
After Jack and Elizabeth went upstairs, Dee turned to his father.
"Do you think that they are okay?" Dee asked.
"I think so." Wynn said. "They have been through a lot lately, but they have each other. They also have other people looking out for them, so things will be fine. It may be hard, but I think as long as they have each other they will be fine."
"What about Uncle William?" Dee asked.
"I am not sure what he is going to do." Wynn said. "We will do what we can to protect Jack and Beth, but I also think that if anyone can get through to William and Charles it will be Jacobs."
"Did you know that he knew about us?" Dee asked.
"I figured that he did." Wynn said. "I have known about his grandfather and uncle for some time. Jacobs really is a great Mountie, but he is a much better lawyer. I am just glad that he is on our side. He had turned down a promotion to Inspector before. I am just glad that I am not giving him a choice this time. He deserves to be promoted."
"Me too." Dee said. "I am glad that he will be close. I think that he will be good for the area. Maybe you would consider putting me out here with Jacobs around. Did you see Bill's face when he was talking?"
Wynn looked at Dee, but wasn't going to address him having a different post at that point. Wynn knew that his wife would not be happy with him if he gave Dee a different post.
"I did." Wynn said. "I am sure he still has a million questions for the boy."
"I am sure." Dee said.
Dee took a couple of breaths and looked at his father again.
"Are you mad at Beth?" Dee asked.
"Yes and no." Wynn said. "They should have told me, but I get why they didn't. There is nothing that I can do about it. It is just frustrating, because it will always be an unsolved case."
"I understand that." Dee said.
Dee finished up the dishes and then got ready for bed. He made up his cot near the stove. While Dee got his cot set up, his father got ready for bed in his room. Dee closed up the house, leaving the back door unlocked in case Charlotte wanted to come in. He banked the fires and turned in. Dee knew that it would be a long day with having to deal with William and Charles as well as his mother coming in the afternoon. He was also excited to see Becky again. He was so glad that she was coming back, he wasn't sure she would make it when he left her in Buxton on Christmas Eve.
Jack and Elizabeth headed upstairs knowing that Dee and Wynn would take care of things downstairs. Elizabeth changed into her nightgown and sat at her vanity to brush out her hair. Jack shed his shirt and went to wash up. When he came back, he put his pajama pants on, but left his shirt off. He walked up behind Elizabeth and put his hands on hers stopping her motion of brushing.
"Let me." Jack said.
Elizabeth smiled, which Jack could see in the mirror. She released the brush and let him finish brushing out her hair. When Jack was done, Elizabeth went to pull her hair into a braid. Jack again stopped her hands.
"Leave it down." Jack said. "I like it down."
"Not tonight." Elizabeth said. "I don't feel up to it."
Jack just looked at Elizabeth, but didn't say what he was thinking. He hadn't really been thinking that, but when she said it, he thought about it as well.
"Okay." Jack said. "But you can still leave your hair down."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "But you may need to help me with it in the morning."
"Anytime." Jack said.
Jack went and turned the bed down as Elizabeth went and washed her face. When she got back to their room, she saw that Jack was in bed sitting up without his shirt. She just had to shake her head. She would never get tired of looking at her husband. She also knew that thinking about the way that Jack looked made her blush and Jack thought it was cute when she blushed. She loved how defined his muscles were. She loved to run her hands over his chest muscles and then down to his abdomen. She knew that if she danced her fingers across his stomach that she could make his muscles twitch under her touch. As she was looking at Jack, she noticed a new scar along his right chest, near his armpit. She hadn't noticed it before, but she made a note of it. She also noticed the bruises on his chest, although they had faded some, she could still make them out. The deep purple had faded into more of a lighter purple with yellow undertones.
"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes." Jack said.
"Really?" Elizabeth asked, touching near his wound.
"It is just a scratch." Jack said. "I have had worse. It is fine. I will keep an eye on it and let Faith know if it changes. The other bruises are healing and I don't think the cut above my eye will leave a scar."
"How is your breathing?" Elizabeth asked.
"Getting better." Jack said. "It will take some time. If I remember correctly, pneumonia takes some time to heal. The biggest thing will be not to over do it. I think it will take a little longer, because I think I injured my ribs when I fell as well."
"Thank you for telling me." Elizabeth said. "Will you tell me if things get worse?"
"Yes." Jack said. "How are you doing?"
"I am okay." Elizabeth said. "I know that there will still be times where I don't feel good or am more tired, but right now, I am doing good."
"Good." Jack said. "The same goes for you. I want you to tell me if there is anything that you need. I want to be there as much as possible for you. I want to go to your appointments when I can. I know that you are doing all the work of growing our child, but I want to do as much as I can to be involved."
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "One way that you can be involved in helping get ready will be to get the house built and make sure that the furniture for the baby is ready. I was going to ask you if you could make the cradle. I don't mind getting a crib, but the cradle that the baby will use at first, well, I was hoping that you could make it. It would be all that more special."
"I will see what I can do." Jack said. "I may have to have Lee help me. Things for the house are ready as soon as the ground is dry enough. I have ordered lumber from Lee, but I need to make a couple of changes and get more lumber."
"What are you going to change?" Elizabeth asked. "I thought we had things set."
"I decided to add on to the library." Jack said. "It will be combined with the home office, but there will be the ability to close off the office with pocket doors. I also decided to make the office a little bit bigger."
"Whatever you feel is needed." Elizabeth said. "As long as I have a large master bedroom with a large wardrobe and feather bed. I also want my large open kitchen and dining room."
"Yes." Jack said. "The changes that I have decided to make won't affect that. If anything, it will add more space, because it will add another bedroom upstairs."
"Good." Elizabeth said, putting her hand on her stomach. "I mean I don't mind having them share, but if there is a large age difference it might be nice that they have their own rooms."
"No matter what, it will work out." Jack said. "Now enough talk, I want to cuddle with my wife."
"No argument here." Elizabeth said. "I want to cuddle with my husband."
Both snuggled down under the covers. Jack wrapped his arm around Elizabeth and pulled her close. Jack held her to him and placed a hand on her stomach to which he gasped.
"Everything okay?" Elizabeth asked.
Jack let go of Elizabeth and pulled the covers back. Elizabeth rolled over to look at Jack, but he stopped her when she was on her back. He pulled the nightgown up and looked at Elizabeth's stomach. A smile spread across Jack's face.
"You have just the tiniest of bumps." Jack said. "I don't think it was there this morning. I am so excited to see our child grow."
"Tell me that when I am fat and ugly." Elizabeth said.
"You will never be ugly." Jack said. "You are growing our child and I think that is amazing. You will always be beautiful to me."
"Thank you." Elizabeth said.
Jack leaned down and kissed Elizabeth, his hand on her tiny baby bump. Jack pulled back and grinned at Elizabeth.
"I love you." Jack said. "I wish I could show you just how much I love you right now."
"Jack." Elizabeth said. "Not tonight. Wynn and Dee are downstairs and I don't want to have you over exert yourself."
"Fine." Jack said. "Not tonight, but soon."
"Okay." Elizabeth said.
She pulled her nightgown back down and turned to snuggle back into Jack. Jack pulled the covers back up and pulled Elizabeth back to him. He once again put his hand over her stomach. It was like he was cradling the baby in his hand. That is exactly how they both drifted off to sleep. As Elizabeth drifted off to sleep, she was thinking about how lucky she was to have Jack beside her. She was grateful for her aunt, uncle and cousins, but she was saddened by the actions of her father. She missed how close they used to be. She wanted a relationship with her father, but she was not going to subject her husband and children to a negative environment. Jack leaned over and kissed her shoulder in his sleep and Elizabeth snuggled down into his chest and hold. Elizabeth took a deep breath and let her breathing match Jack's as she fell asleep.
Friday morning Dee was up first and got the coffee going. He knew that it was going to be a long day, but he didn't mind. He was glad that his mother was going to be arriving and was even happier that he had been able to keep it a secret from his father. While the coffee was heating up, Dee got dressed in his uniform. By the time that Dee was ready for the day and looking for breakfast, Elizabeth came downstairs about the same time that Wynn came out of his room.
"Morning." Dee said. "Coffee should almost be ready. I was just going to make breakfast."
"Sit." Elizabeth said. "I will make some French toast."
Neither moved, so Elizabeth turned and gave both of them a scary teacher face. Both Wynn and Dee immediately sat down.
"At least let me get the coffee." Dee said.
"Okay." Elizabeth said. "That is still one thing I need to get used to."
"Is the smell getting to you?" Wynn asked.
"Yes." Elizabeth said. "But I will be okay. Just take it to the table."
Dee took the coffee to the table for him and his dad. He then grabbed the plates and set them on the table. Elizabeth quickly made the French toast and by that time, Charlotte had come in and Jack had come downstairs.
"Morning, Charlotte." Elizabeth said. "Didn't hear you come in last night."
"I ate at the cafe." Charlotte said. "I knew that you all needed to talk, so I stayed in town and then went straight to my tent."
"You could have eaten with us." Jack said.
"It is okay." Charlotte said. "I had a nice time with that new Mountie, Jacobs. He is a very nice young man. We sat and talked. I like him."
"He give you your gun back, yet?" Jack teased.
"So much sass." Charlotte said, shaking her head.
"Sorry, Ma." Jack said.
"For your information." Charlotte said. "Yes, he gave it back. The only reason that I even gave it to him was because I didn't want to make things worse for you guys. The last thing that you needed was for me to cause a problem. But don't get me wrong. I might still have words with those three sitting in the jail. I will not allow anyone to disrespect me or to talk about you the way that they did. They and others need to learn to respect people, especially those who are charged with enforcing the laws of this country."
"Understood." Jack said.
"Charlotte." Elizabeth said. "It is not worth it. Talking to those three is like talking to a wall. They think that they can do whatever they want without consequences."
"Monclair is going to face consequences." Wynn said. "As far as the other two, it depends on if they are willing to listen to reason and take the deal. If not, they will have a hard time justifying their actions to a judge."
"Would it be possible for me to talk to them?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know if that is a good idea." Jack said. "I don't want you to get upset again."
"Wynn?" Elizabeth said.
"If you want to talk to them." Wynn said. "I will allow you, under a few conditions."
"Okay, what?" Elizabeth said.
"First." Wynn said. "Dee, Jacobs and myself need to be present. Second, you need to remain calm. I am worried about this stress, the effect that it has on you and the baby. You need to start thinking about things like that. I know that stress is not good for you right now. Neither is getting working up and upset at your father like what happened in Hamilton. I firmly believe that it was stress that caused my Elizabeth to lose our baby. I don't want something like that to happen to you. I know that you can't eliminate all stress, but you don't have to seek it out."
"Okay, I understand." Elizabeth said. "Anything else?"
"Yes." Wynn said. "It will only happen after we present the deal."
"Fine." Elizabeth said. "I will go with you into town when we are done with breakfast. Now eat up."
"Wynn." Jack said. "Please lead us in prayer."
"Heavenly Father." Wynn prayed. "We ask that You bless us this morning. Please keep all of those safe that are traveling today. Please give us all the words that we need to speak. Be with us as we are mindful of that today is the day that You allowed your Son to die for us. Bless this food to our bodies. Amen."
"Amen." Everyone echoed.
