As she prepared breakfast for herself and Nathan, Elizabeth found herself humming. It had been a long time since she truly felt this happy. Perhaps it has been as far back as her son's birth. Little Jack would be turning five in a little less than two months.

Could it really have been that long ago?

Elizabeth pushed the thought aside and continued her humming and breakfast preparations. Nathan had put it best when he said it was time to start a new chapter in their lives. A chapter where they were finally the family, they were always meant to be. Elizabeth truly believed that now despite the fear that had blinded her to that fact for so long.

How long would it be until she could tell Nathan they were expecting an addition to their family?

The question came out of nowhere and Elizabeth hoped the answer was soon. Unlike when she had been pregnant with Lucas' child, she knew there would be no hesitation about sharing the news. Nor would she be able to keep things as quiet as she did then. Nathan would notice the changes in her body that Lucas had dismissed as her simply putting on weight.

She stopped humming as the spatula she was holding fell from her hands at her next thought. Fear gripped her. What if the miscarriage or Lucas' assault had left invisible damage that would leave her unable to bear another child.

Gentle hands on her arms brought Elizabeth out of her thoughts and she found herself looking into Nathan's concerned eyes.

"Is something wrong, Elizabeth?" Nathan asked her.

"What if I am permanently damaged from the assault?" Elizabeth asked him. "What if I can't give you another child?"

"Then we have each other and the two children we have already been blessed with," Nathan replied without hesitation. "Though I would love any other child that comes from our marriage, what we have now is enough for me Elizabeth."

"I really want to give you a biological child, Nathan," Elizabeth confessed, her eyes blurring as tears filled them.

Nathan enveloped her in his arms. He held her close, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"If it is this important to you then how about after you hold lessons today, you and I will go see Faith. There is no point in getting worked up about anything until we have all the facts. Then, we deal with them whatever they are. No matter what, I love you and we are in this together."

Together.

Elizabeth liked the sound of that. There had been no together in her marriage to Lucas. Nor in the relationship prior to getting married. She could see that now.

The fact that she had been cooking scrambled eggs and slices of ham suddenly came back to her. "I am probably burning breakfast!" she exclaimed, pulling away from Nathan's embrace.

"Relax," Nathan told her gently, though he didn't try to hold onto her. "I moved stuff off the heat when I found you staring into space."

Elizabeth had turned to the stove and saw that both pans were no longer on the burner. Picking up the dropped spatula, she set about cleaning it before putting the pans back on the heat.

"I'll make the toast," Nathan commented, moving to start that task.

As she moved back to the stove, Elizabeth found herself casting glances at her husband. This wasn't the first time he had helped in the kitchen, but she had to admit it was nice sharing the task with him.

They got through breakfast without further incident. After eating, Nathan headed outside to care for the animals while Elizabeth went upstairs to get dressed. Afterwards, she returned downstairs to clean up the kitchen before Ellen and the children arrived for lessons. With the kitchen cleaned, Elizabeth grabbed a shawl to wrap around herself as she stepped out onto the porch. Vincent was just coming up the steps and not far away she spotted Gabriel and Nathan talking. She greeted her student and sent him inside even as Gabriel glanced her way. Placing two fingers to the brim of his hat, he nodded his head in greeting. Elizabeth smiled and waved a hello.

Archie arrived with Allie, Jack and Nate next. Nathan went to help Jack down from the wagon even as Allie clamored down from the seat to greet her Dad. Elizabeth smiled and waved to Archie who remained in the wagon. She had a feeling her father-in-law was not going to stay long. After a quick hug for his father, Jack wanted down. As soon as his feet were on the ground, the little boy was hurrying toward her. Coming down the porch steps, Elizabeth knelt to greet the boy, even as she noted that Nathan handed Nate to Allie and then picked up the crate.

Jack was busy chatting about his night with his grandpa, as Gabriel and Archie both started down the driveway. Allie was taking Nate to the pond while Nathan headed toward the barn with the crate. Elizabeth had sat down on the bottom step of the porch so she could give her attention to her son, which is where Ellen and Opal found them as they walked toward the house. Spotting his sister's friend, Jack stopped talking to his mother and hurried to Opal.

"Hello, Opal. Missed you," Jack told her, wrapping his arms around the girl's waist.

"I missed you too, Jack," Opal said, returning the hug.

Elizabeth greeted Ellen as Allie came back from the pond, also greeting Mrs. Weise and Opal. Elizabeth was about to suggest they go inside to start lessons when she spotted three more figures walking down her driveway. As they got closer, she recognized Wilma and Curt Lawson and their son Timmy.

"Allie, Opal, can you please take Jack inside for me?" Elizabeth asked.

The two teens answered in the affirmative. With Jack holding on to Opal's hand, the trio headed into the house. Elizabeth found herself smoothing the skirt she wore as she waited for the new visitors.

"Hello," Elizabeth greeted when the Lawsons were close enough. "What brings you by?"

"Hello, Mrs. Grant," Curt started politely.

"Elizabeth, please," she corrected him, kindly.

Curt nodded. "Elizabeth, we were hoping that you might be willing to let Timmy join the home schooling lessons you are doing?" he requested, his hands on his son's shoulders as they stood in front of Elizabeth and Ellen.

Elizabeth glanced at her partner quickly who simply nodded her consent.

"We would be happy to have Timmy join us, but may I ask why?" Elizabeth asked, looking back to the Lawson's.

"Show her your hand, Timmy," Wilma instructed softly.

Elizabeth looked down as Timmy held up his hand, palm up. Two distinct angry red welts marred the palm of his hand. Elizabeth could not hold back her gasp of surprise.

"Mr. Standish, Timmy's teacher, did that. Claims it was discipline for Timmy continuing to pass notes in class after he was giving a warning," Curt said. "Now, I don't condone my son's behavior. You know I always insisted Timmy follow the rules you set in your classroom. I also never questioned you having him stand in the corner or stay after school as punishment. However, I do not believe it hitting a child for any reason."

"Dad gives me extra chores to do when I misbehave, while Ma just sends me to my room," Timmy supplied.

Elizabeth smiled at the comment.

Curt patted his son's shoulder but spoke to Elizabeth. "Now I plan on filing a complaint through the school board but that will take time. I do not want Timmy back at the school in the meantime but Wilma and I don't want him just missing school altogether. We believe in the value of education."

"I could help Timmy with his schoolwork when he was younger but now I learn things from his homework assignments myself," Wilma said. "Curt works all day."

"I would be happy to oversee Timmy's education for as long as you need me too," Elizabeth assured them.

"Thank you," Curt replied. He glanced at Ellen. "Thank you both."

Elizabeth and Ellen said "you're welcome together." Curt handed his son the schoolbooks he had carried for them.

"I end lessons at one every day, though if I may, I would like to have Timmy stay a little longer today by himself so we can chat about what he has covered in his school year so far. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we meet at the Weise's home instead of here."

"That sounds fine. I will make sure Timmy gets to the right place each day," Wilma said. "We appreciate this, Elizabeth. If we have never said it before, we never believed the allegations against you."

Elizabeth nodded. "Thank you for saying that," she told them. She looked at Timmy. "Let's go get the school day started."

"Yes ma'am," Timmy replied before saying good-byes to his parents and following Elizabeth and Ellen into the house.

Nathan had come out of the barn to see Elizabeth talking with the Lawson's. As the conversation seemed relaxed, Nathan did not go rushing to his wife's side. He did, however, watch from a distance as he walked from the barn to his wood shop. At the shop, he stood outside watching the group until Elizabeth, Ellen and Timmy headed into the house. It would seem that his wife had yet another student. As Curt and Wilma turned to leave, Curt spotted Nathan by the wood shop. Nathan raised his hand in a greeting that was returned by Curt.

Turning back to the wood shop, Nathan reached up to undo the lock on the door and stepped into his shop for the first time since before he had headed to Hamilton. Having seen Lee's desk, Nathan was a little nervous at the prospect as his friend could be a bit disorganized at times. However, stepping inside, Nathan found everything neat and orderly, even his paperwork. Not everything was exactly where he left it, but it could easily be found. Finding his list of what he needed Lee to work on while he was gone, Nathan found everything checked off with a few notes added in Lee's handwriting.

Nathan took the time to locate each project and assured himself that everything was indeed in order. He had even taken his measuring tape out and was double checking some of the measurements when a voice spoke up behind him.

"Being a boss myself, I won't take offense to you double checking the new guy's work."

Nathan jumped slightly and then turned to find Lee standing in the doorway to the shop. The man wore his trademark smile and his eyes danced with amusement.

"Sorry," Nathan said, rolling up the measuring tape. "I would just rather not discover something is off when I am trying to put the table together and one leg is shorter than the others."

"Now that would be a headache," Lee commented. "I did try very hard to cut all the table legs the same size though."

"I am sure you did fine. Chalk it up to me working alone so much over the years," Nathan replied. "Though if you are going to be a partner in this, I should start trusting your work."

Lee stepped further into the shop and pulled the door shut behind him as he spoke. "I have no doubt that you will. It is only natural that you want to check on things this first time after being away. Actually, it might be best if you do. I was trying to not mess anything up, but this is a new skill for me."

"Speaking of new skill, are you sure helping me out is not going to hurt your own business?"

Lee shook his head. "Jesse is more than capable of being manager of Coulter Lumber. I trust him and I trust him to get the help he needs if something comes up that he is unsure of. I have even informed him that the position includes playing secretary for Grant's Wood Creations for the foreseeable future. I will still need to spend some time in the office during the week, but I am actually looking forward to a new venture. I've been doing some simple stuff on my own with wood working but I think I can learn a lot from you."

"I'll be happy to teach you what I know," Nathan assured him before inviting Lee to take a seat so that they could work out a game plan on how to proceed from this point on.

Later that afternoon, Nathan sat on a stool near where Faith sat at her desk, writing in a chart while Elizabeth put the rest of her clothes on after the examination. Allie was at home keeping an eye on Jack. He wasn't sure if it was Elizabeth's chart she was writing in or not and he didn't bother asking. Faith had said she would talk to them both at the same time. Nathan knew that he just needed to be patient. Somehow though, being patient in this instance was so much harder than exercising the same skill in an investigation.

The curtain around the bed parted. Nathan got to his feet and motioned his wife to the chair he had placed his stool next to. Only when Elizabeth was seated did Nathan sit down again. When Elizabeth reached out to him, he comfortingly captured her hand in his. Aware that her patient was waiting for the results, Faith turned on her stool so that she could face Nathan and Elizabeth.

"What did you find, Faith?" Elizabeth asked, her voice trembling a bit with emotion.

Faith reached out and took her friend's other hand, a compassionate look on her face. "From what I can see Elizabeth, all of your injuries from your assault have healed well. I didn't see any scarring. According to Dr. Simmons, the miscarriage was due to the fall. Based on that, there is no reason to think that your chances of a miscarriage should you get pregnant again will have increased."

Nathan heard Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, and he felt that relief more for Elizabeth's sake than his own. What he cared about was that Elizabeth was in good health, not whether she could have more children or not. He knew childbirth held risks even with a healthy mother. Having Elizabeth by his side meant more to him than a possible child. If it should happen though, he knew that the moment that theoretical child became a reality and he held him or her in his hands, that feeling would change.

But he was content with their life just as it was. Should they be blessed with other children that would just be the icing on the cake.

"Now there is a small chance that there is something that a doctor with the equipment at a hospital might be able to catch that I can't, but my advice is to try not to worry and let nature take its course. I can already sense a shift in your relationship which I think will lead to the likelihood of conceiving increasing."

Despite the fact that Faith was a doctor and trying to be tactful, Nathan felt a heat rise in his cheeks. Beside him, he saw Elizabeth's cheeks flush, though she wore a content smile on her face.

"Who knows," Faith continued, pretending to be oblivious to her friend's blushes. "Perhaps we will be welcoming children close to the same time."

"Faith, are you saying . . . "

Elizabeth let the question trail off as Faith was beaming already. "I think I might be. It is too early to know for sure. Maybe it is only wishful thinking, but I hope not. I want to keep it quiet for now, until I am far enough along to confirm, though I did tell Gabriel about the possibility. He plans on taking me to Brookfield so that I can confer with Dr. Simmons in a few weeks."

Elizabeth let go of Nathan's hand and leaned forward to give her friend a hug. "Of course Nathan and I will keep the secret for now but you have to let me know when you know for sure."

Faith nodded. "Other than Gabriel, you will be the first person I share with," she promised.

As the two women broke from the hug, Faith looked from Elizabeth to Nathan. "It is so good to see the both of you genuinely happy again. The fact that you found that with each other feels like things are finally being set right. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Elizabeth assured her.

Faith nodded her acknowledgment to the statement as she asked, "are there any other questions I can try to answer for you?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, Faith. You have set my mind at ease about some things," she looked over at Nathan who met her gaze. "I am glad that Nathan suggested coming to see you instead of me just continuing to fret about the matter."

"I am glad I could help," Faith replied. "And on a more social note, perhaps your family would like to join us tomorrow night for supper. It has been awhile since we could all be together."

Nathan and Elizabeth looked at each other, silent communication taking place between husband and wife. It was Nathan that gave voice to the decision they came to. "We would love to join the three of you for supper tomorrow."

"We'll bring the dessert. I am sure I can talk the children into helping me bake something."

"Wonderful. Does six o'clock work?"

"Yes," Elizabeth replied.

"I'll let Gabriel know this evening," Faith said. "Especially as you will want him to be the one cooking supper," she joked.

As Faith returned to her paperwork, Nathan and Elizabeth left the infirmary. They had brought the wagon into town and headed to where it was parked along the boardwalk nearby. As they reached it, a shout from down the street caught their attention.

"Judge Avery!" Ed Farr called getting the judge's attention. "A brawl broke out at the pool hall. Constable Kinslow was nearby and headed there already but he sent me for you in case he needed backup!"

Nathan looked at Elizabeth.

"Go!" his wife told him, already knowing the question he was about to ask. "I'll go back inside and wait with Faith."

"Thank you," Nathan told her. He might not wear the uniform any longer but depending on how many people were involved, he knew that breaking up a fight, especially if the participants were drunk, could be difficult. Now, with the local drinking establishment near the train station, there was no telling who might be involved in a fight in the pool hall that had opened in September.

Untying Cosmo's reigns, Nathan climbed up onto the wagon street. Checking his surroundings, Nathan gave the horse the signal to move forward. Bill had already beckoned Kevin and another one of Lee's lumber guys over to come assist him if necessary. Hearing the wagon approach, Bill looked up. Like with Elizabeth, there was no need for words. Bill knew Nathan was going to assist without being asked. The fact that it was Gabriel who needed the assistance only increased that certainty.

As Nathan stopped nearby, Bill ordered the two men he had rounded up into the wagon bed as he climbed up onto the seat next to Nathan. At a quick but safe pace, Nathan headed out to the pool hall, which was just a few doors down from the train station.