Christmas Eve night

Lucas took Elizabeth's hand and threaded their fingers together. Noa skipped next to him as they walked down the sidewalk in downtown Hope Valley. He was looking forward to living in a small town as opposed to the city.

"Its cold, Daddy. Can we get hot cocoa?" Noa asked him.

"Sure, sweet pea."

"Hope Valley goes all out, as you can tell," Elizabeth said, squeezing his hand. "We can get hot cocoa at the treat booth."

Lucas looked around, his eye catching on a sprig of mistletoe about two feet away from them. He gave Elizabeth's hand a gentle tug. "Hey, Noa. Stay right here for a second." She stopped and watched as Lucas gave Elizabeth a nice smooch.

"Oooooo," she teased. "Daddy and Mommy, sittin' in a tree."

Elizabeth turned red and gave Lucas a returned kiss. "I love you."

"I love you."

"Bethie!" a familiar deep voice called out.

"Dad!"

"Your dad is here?"

"Yes. They live here too. I was hoping you'd get to meet them tonight."

Lucas felt instant nerves assault his stomach. Meeting the parents wasn't something he did often. Or ever.

"Dad, this is Noa's father, Lucas. Lucas, this is my Dad, William."

"Hi, Grandpa!" Noa said, grabbing his hand.

"Hi, buggy boo," William said, picking up his granddaughter and reaching out to shake Lucas' hand all in one motion. "Nice to meet you, Lucas. You're from New York, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Bethie said you were planning to move here?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's a big move. Are you sure you're ready?"

Lucas had the distinct feeling he wasn't just talking about the move. "Yes. I'm ready, sir."

William raised an eyebrow and shook Lucas' hand again. As if they'd just agreed to something that only the two of them knew about.

"Grace is around here somewhere. Why don't you all come and enjoy the lights with us?"

"Actually, sir, I would like to talk to you and Grace but then, I'd like to spend time with Noa and Elizabeth alone. If you don't mind."

Elizabeth squinted her eyes and Lucas and then took Noa. "Come on, punkin. Let's go get some hot cocoa."

They walked off and Lucas followed William to a spiced cider booth where a beautiful dark haired woman stood, sipping her drink.

"Gracie, this is Lucas, Noa's Dad. Lucas, my wife, Grace."

Lucas bent down and kissed her cheek, giving her a quick hug. "Its nice to meet you, Grace."

Grace looked at his face closely. "Noa sure looks like you."

"Gracie, Lucas wanted to have a chat with us. Why don't we walk somewhere not so crowded.

Grace looked at Lucas again, squinting at him like Elizabeth had.

"Alright."

They walked toward the center of town where there was a gazebo and less people gathered.

"I know you both might not know me well."

"Might not? Son, this is our first time meeting the man who dated our daughter, got her pregnant and just showed back up in their lives after what was it? Five years?"

"Will, he didn't know."

"Its true, sir. Through a series of incidents that led to me not meeting Elizabeth in Chicago five years ago, I never knew about Noa. But I am here now and I want you to know that I love them both. Very much."

William leaned back against the pillar of the gazebo and looked at him for a very long minute. "We'd like a chance to get to know you better, Lucas."

"I'd like that too, sir. What would you like to know. My life is an open book."

"Ever been married?" William asked first.

"No, sir. I've only ever been in love with one woman."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a senior website developer for Cannon and Simpson in New York City. Feel free to google."

"Senior website developer….so you make decent money."

"You don't have to answer that," Grace told him. "Will, that's private."

"He is claiming that he loves Elizabeth and Noa. Don't you think its important that he can provide for them?"

"Then ask him that."

"I can, sir. I do well for myself. With investments I've made and my job, I can provide just fine. I also have a large life insurance policy that will ensure that Elizabeth and Noa and any future family members will be taken care of should anything happen to me. Elizabeth is the beneficiary."

"Elizabeth mentioned you are moving?" Grace asked.

"Yes, ma'am. My plan is by the end of January. We just need to find a house and I need to move out here."

"Where will you be working in Hope Valley?"

"Cannon and Simpson allows me to work anywhere pretty much. I just have to fly back to New York every month or so. I may also just transfer to the LA office."

Lucas stared at his hand and then his watch. "I want you both to know that I love your daughter and granddaughter and I plan on proposing tomorrow morning. I would love to have your blessing."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"Yes. You are both welcome to come over around lunchtime to help us celebrate."

Grace smiled at William and William smiled back. He was proud of Lucas and he barely knew the man. He just did something very unnerving and scary and he passed with flying colors.

"We'd love to and you have our blessing," Grace told him.

"Great. I'm going to head back to the treat booth to catch up with Elizabeth and Noa. It was great to meet both of you."

"You too, Lucas."

….

Lucas found Elizabeth and Noa sitting at a table by an outdoor fire pit. "Hey, ladies."

"Daddy!" Noa said, looking up and smiling. He chuckled at the whipped cream on her top lip.

"You have something here," he said, tapping his own upper lip.

Elizabeth grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes. "You talked to my parents?"

"Mmhm."

She handed him a cup of hot tea. "What about?"

"Stuff. The future. Etc."

She blushed and took a sip of her decaf. "Yeah? Etc?"

"Mmhm. And tonight after a certain someone goes to bed…we need to have a chat too. I brought my laptop and we can look at spreadsheets."

"Gee, that sounds so romantic," she deadpanned. Noa giggled even though she didn't actually know what a spreadsheet was.

"It is, in my opinion. Keeping our lives that we will merge eventually an open book is responsible and necessary. It's the next logical step."

She kissed his cheek. "I love that you think that its logical and romantic at the same time."

He raised his eyebrows and smirked. "Let's finish our drinks and then go see those lights."

A while later, he walked down the sidewalks in a nearby neighborhood, holding Noa's hand in one of his and his arm around Elizabeth's waist. It was perfect.

"This is romantic," Elizabeth whispered, putting her arm around his waist too. "So much better than stuffy old spreadsheets."

"Haha. We need to talk about it, Beth. Its important."

"I know. I'm just…I'm nervous."

He kissed her temple and they kept walking. "Its just me. You don't have to be nervous."

She nodded and he noticed that her eyes looked sad, even though it looked like she was relatively happy.

Later as they sat together in her living room, staring at his budget, she prayed hard that she could just accept that he had money and that it didn't matter at all that she didn't have as much.

"What do you think, Beth? I want complete honesty."

"Complete honesty."

"Yes. You don't have to be nervous. You won't hurt my feelings or make me feel any different about us or you or being Noa's dad. I promise."

She didn't quite know where to start. So she thought for a moment, back to the first month of being Noa's mom.

…..

Four and a half years ago….

Elizabeth didn't know what in the world caused her to insist on moving into her own place within a month of having Noa. That was crazy. Her muscles still hurt and she was nursing so she had to stop what she was doing and do that. In addition, Noa slept only two hours at a time so she wasn't getting much sleep either.

And that thing they call "pregnancy brain" is real. One thousand percent real. The reason she knew was because right now, she had no electricity. Why? Because she had forgotten to pay the bill. It was a simple as that.

She had always prided herself on her independence and now, she wondered if she should just give up and move back to her parent's house.

Had she given it a real shot? No. She had given it a month. She would get online today and pay her electric bill and all would be well.

…..

Current

"Hey," Lucas said quietly, kissing her fingertips. "Where'd you go?"

"Sorry. I was thinking about the first month I lived here. I rented for the first year but that first month, I was so exhausted from being a new mom that I forgot to pay my electric bill. It was a huge deal then. I felt like an utter failure. It was probably from the lack of sleep and hormones and all. But after that, I always paid my bills on time and always managed to give us just what we needed."

"So, what you're saying is paying your own way, even if you didn't have extra money, has always been very important to you."

"Yes. I had to do this big thing alone. Not your fault and I want you to know that I'm not blaming anyone. I just…when I saw your big fancy apartment in big fancy New York City and realized how much money you have compared to me, it hit me strangely. I felt not good enough."

"Babe, I understand now. I need you to know though that when we are married, the money we both make goes to joint family things. It won't matter who makes more, because it will all be ours. You aren't going to need to do it alone anymore. We will be a team."

She nodded and kept her tears inside. It was a relief to know that she had someone to rely on now.

"In that case, can I just say, that the amount of money, that bottom line that you have there," she pointed to the screen. "That's a big number. You made that working as a Senior Website developer?"

"No, that is also a bit of an inheritance from when my grandmother passed away and some stock investments."

She nodded and looked at the man she loved. "You've done well for yourself, honey. I surprised you haven't bought a house instead of that apartment."

"I did want a house and a few kids and a wife and a dog. You know the usual stuff. I just never felt like it was the right time to do it. Maybe it was because I knew deep down inside it was supposed to be with you."

She reached up and touched his cheek. "You are a very sweet, amazing man. I'm so blessed that you showed up in Hope Valley."

"Daddy?" Noa said from behind them.

He closed his laptop and turned around. "Come here, sweet pea. What's going on? I thought you were asleep."

"I want you."

"I'm right here."

"Will you snuggle with me?"

He picked her up and held her close and then with his other arm he wrapped it around Elizabeth's shoulders. This was another perfect moment that he was always going to treasure. His arms around his girls, keeping them safe.