"I'll find a job," she said without hearing, "I'll take care of me bairn. Ye don't have ta worry." Her voice was weak sounding now, she was so very tired. She hiccupped a few times and Jacob seemed to calm down too now that his mother wasn't freaking out.

The sight of her grandchild wiggling calmed Lottie's troubled thoughts. She had a legacy. The sound of young children would once again be heard in her home.

"Do ye want some tea?" she asked to try and change the atmosphere to something more pleasant.

William let go of his daughter and moved away a little to give her some space. "Ye won't find a job anytime soon, lass. Ye'll go straight to bed after yer tea. Ye'll need to recover, and ye'll need all the sleep ye can get, for ye won't get much in the comin' weeks. Yer mam can tell ye all about that."

"No... I won't burden ye," she said very softly, then shook her head softly at the offer for tea. "I'm tired, Da," she said, suddenly looking the part of someone who just grew up and had the biggest reality check of her life. She sighed and buried her face against her son's tummy, nuzzling the boy. "I'll be your da and ma," she whispered to the babe before getting up and walking slowly and painfully toward the room she shared with her sister.

Ruth wouldn't get far. Kate jumped up from the step where she sat eavesdropping the conversation. "Ruth!" She took the last few steps down and hugged her sister, careful not to hurt the baby. There was a part of her that was hurt about how her sister had left them and ignored them. But a greater part of her wanted life to go back to normal - or well, sort of normal -, with Ruth and John home and her parents not so stressed. She wanted to believe that Ruth's return was the beginning of that. "I've missed you so much." She wasn't lying, for her voice broke when she said that.