Our first holiday season as a new family flew by fast this year. Nathan and I enjoyed ringing in the new year at home. It was bittersweet, as it was the last new year I will celebrate in this row house. I'm excited for what this year has to bring. A new baby and a new house. The children are excited for their new little brother or sister. Jack is hoping it will be a brother, so he can play baseball with him, though Allie reminds him that a sister can play baseball as well. Jack is thriving through the care of both Faith and the new diabetic clinic. I am definitely counting my blessings this year.

Another big change coming for us this year is an addition to our schoolhouse. The town council has agreed to bring in an assistant teacher. With our new project based learning, having more hands will aide in supervising the children in their different projects. Plus, with Jack's health and a baby on the way, having help in the classroom will give me more flexibility should I need to take time off.

They hired a young woman that has been teaching in Capital City for several years. She insisted she was looking for a change. Hopefully she will find what she is looking for in our small, yet growing town.

Elizabeth sat back at her desk, looking out the window at the melting snow. They had had a relatively mild January, and with February almost here, she was hoping the temperatures would start warming up. Nathan and Lee were hoping to get started on their houses once spring set in. The hope was for them all to be moved in by mid-May, so that they could be settled before the baby came.

Elizabeth was nervous for her new assistant teacher to arrive, but also grateful. All these years she had had to rely on folks in town to step in for her if she was ill or had an emergency. It would be a great relief to now have a steady presence that could step in when needed.

"Good morning mama!"

"Good morning mom."

Elizabeth looked over at the stairs as Allie followed Jack down to the kitchen. Allie had just recently taken to calling her mom, and she loved every minute of it. Bill was working on the official adoption paperwork, and they were planning to do a small ceremony by the start of March.

"Good morning you two. Breakfast is on the table, your dad is already out on rounds. He left early this morning, hoping he could get home early tonight so he could help make dinner. Let's eat up, so we can get to school."

Nathan was on his way back into town, almost done with his rounds. The wind was whipping at his cheeks, and he was longing for a nice hot cup of coffee. As he rounded a curve, he saw a car off to the side of the road, with a man staring at a wheel and a young woman off to the side, looking distressed. So much for coffee he thought.

"Hello. What seems to be the matter?" He said as he got closer.

"Constable, I'm so glad to see you. I seem to have an issue here with my tire and could use some assistance." The man by the car said.

"Of course, I'll see what I can do." Nathan said as he made his way down to help.

The young lady looked up at Nathan and smiled bashfully.

"Ma'am." Nathan tipped his hat.

Her cheeks seemed to blush, but in the cold, Nathan wasn't sure if it was blush or just the cold stinging her cheeks.

"Where are you all headed?"

"Hope Valley. I picked up Miss Fletcher here at the train station."

"Ah, well, that's my town. Let's see if we can get you all fixed up and back on the road." Nathan was ever thankful for his thick Mountie gloves, which protected both against the cold and helped him get the grip he needed to help realign the tire and get the car back on its way.

"Well, looks like that should do it."

"Thank you ever so much Constable." Miss Fletcher beamed up at him.

"All part of the job, ma'am. I'll see you around Hope Valley then." With that Nathan tipped his hat to the taxi driver and Miss Fletcher, and got back up on Newton and made his way back to town once he saw the car successfully start back on the road.

Miss Fletcher dreamily stared off after their rescuer. She was already warming up to Hope Valley and it's handsome Mountie.

Elizabeth sat at her desk getting some grading done. Allie had taken Jack after school to get a new comic book, then go visit with Pal.

"Hello, Mrs. Grant?" Elizabeth was startled, she hadn't heard anyone enter the schoolhouse, her mind had been so occupied with her students' work. She looked up and saw a young woman walking down the aisle towards her. "Hi, I'm Amber Fletcher, your new assistant teacher."

Elizabeth stood and walked over to greet her.

"Miss Fletcher, yes, it's so nice to meet you." Elizabeth shook her hand as Amber nervously rambled away.

"This is such a lovely schoolhouse. I've never taught in a one room schoolhouse before, though I've read a lot about them. I read a lot, oh, and I tend to talk a lot and fast when I'm nervous...I'm sorry. It's been quite a day. My train got here late, then the taxi broke down on the way here, but luckily a handsome Mountie came to our rescue. Oh, my and here I'm talking your ear off. Well, I should leave you be and let you finish your grading, I just wanted to say a quick hello, but I'll be back tomorrow morning a half an hour early so I can go over your expectations before the children get here. I can't wait to get started. Good night, ma'am." And with that Miss Fletcher left the way she came, leaving Elizabeth standing there, mouth open ready to talk.

Well, this was going to be interesting she thought.

Later that night Nathan came home to the children playing a game of checkers on the floor in front of the couch, and Elizabeth in the kitchen pulling out the ingredients for dinner. He gave his children each a hug and went over to give his wife a hug and kiss.

"Hello, I'll go change and come back and help."

"Sounds great, my handsome Mountie." She smirked at him. He lifted an eyebrow, as he sensed there was a bigger meaning to her words, but he headed off to change.

As they started on dinner, Elizabeth asked. "So, anything interesting happen on rounds today?"

"Not really, pretty much a normal day." He thought for a minute. "Oh, I did help a taxi driver and a woman he was driving get back on the road."

"I heard. Apparently, a dashing Mountie helped rescue my new assistant teacher."

Nathan gave her a curious expression.

"You really don't know the affect you have on women, do you, my love?" She teased.

"There is only one woman I care to have any effect on, and somehow I managed to get her to marry me." He came behind her and leaned over to give her a kiss.

The next day, Nathan accompanied his family to the schoolhouse. Helping his wife carry her project board to class. As they got to the steps, they saw Miss Fletcher waiting for Elizabeth on the steps. She brightened up when she saw the Mountie headed her way. Allie and Jack ran off to play with their friends before school started, as Nathan followed Elizabeth up the steps.

"Good morning, Miss Fletcher." Elizabeth greeted the young lady but saw that her eyes remained focused on her husband. She knew she was about to bring her some disappointment. "Miss Fletcher, I think you met my husband yesterday, this is Chief Constable Nathan Grant."

"Ma'am. It's nice to see you again, glad you made it to town with no further incidents."

"Uh, yes, thank you Chief Constable." Elizabeth saw the look of disappointment, not that she could blame her, there was no denying her husband was a handsome man, even if he was completely oblivious to that fact.

Nathan dropped the board off and gave Elizabeth a quick kiss on the cheek, as he nodded towards the new assistant teacher and headed off to work.

"Mrs. Grant, I'm sorry about yesterday. I had no idea he was your husband."

"Please, it's Elizabeth, and no apologies are necessary. I quite agree he's a handsome Mountie, it's part of the reason I married him." She gave her a wink, and the Amber gave her a bright smile. With that they got to work prepping for the school day and going over expectations.

The day went well, and as Elizabeth walked home, she felt very confident that they had made the right decision in bringing Amber on as an assistant teacher.

As they were lying in bed that night Elizabeth was filling Nathan in on her observations about the new teacher. "Plus, I already know she has good taste."

"Is that so?" Nathan inquired.

"Mmmhmmm...she instantly picked up on the dashing good looks of our town's Mountie." Nathan chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss.

"It will be nice to have much needed help. I'm starting to get some of my energy back, but this baby is definitely growing faster than I remember with little Jack. Perhaps this baby is taking after their father's height." She said as she tried to get herself in a comfortable position in Nathan's arms.

"When's your next appointment with Faith?" Nathan asked as he stroked her hair.

"Tomorrow, I almost forgot, I'm glad you asked. My memory has been awful lately."

"Give yourself some grace, sweetheart. You're teaching a classroom full of children, helping a new teacher settle in, taking care of Jack, and growing a whole person." He kissed her temple. "Just remember I'm here to help you in whatever I can, love."

She looked up at him with gratitude. "I'm so glad to have you here with me through this Nathan. It was so hard going through all of this alone last time."

"Well, you don't have to face any of this alone now." He nestled her closely and gave her a soft kiss. Before long he heard her deep breaths of sleep. He looked over at her in wonder. He still sometimes had a hard time believing he was married to the love of his life and counted his blessings daily at the new life they had created together. Thoughts of their baby-to-be entered his mind as Nathan drifted off to sleep.

"I know you said I could be showing sooner with the second baby, but I didn't expect to be this big this soon." Elizabeth sat on the examining table, ready for her routine checkup.

"The baby does seem to be measuring a bit larger than normal, but every pregnancy is different. Let's give you and baby a check." Faith put her stethoscope over her ears and listened at the baby's heart rate. "Well, the baby's heart rate sounds healthy... wait...hold on."

Elizabeth panicked and looked down at Faith. "What is it?"

Faith's eyes had gotten big, as she listened intently to her stomach.

"Faith, is everything okay?"

Faith looked up with a huge smile on her face. "Sorry Elizabeth, I didn't mean to worry you, everything is just fine. But I think I found out the reason why you're showing a lot more than we had thought you would at this point."

Elizabeth slowly walked in shock to the jail, Faith's words playing over and over in her mind. She stepped inside, thankful to see her husband sitting behind his desk and thankful he seemed to be alone.

Nathan looked up, and noticed his wife looked pale. He instantly got up and walked over to her.

"Lizbeth, what is it, are you okay, is the baby okay?"

Elizabeth shook herself out of her stupor and looked up at him with a huge smile on her face.

"Everything is just fine, I'm fine, and our babies are fine."

"Oh good, I... wait, what? Did you say babies?"

Elizabeth just nodded.

"As in..."

"We're having twins, Nathan!"

Nathan's eyes got huge, but he scooped his wife up and hugged her close. "Twins?!" He released her and put his hand on her cheek and pulled her in for a big kiss. "I hope spring starts soon, we'll definitely need that bigger house sooner than later." He said as he pulled her back into a hug.