Dear Readers: This is 14th of my vignettes. They go in sequential order, but each one has a different unique theme. I hope you have fun reading all of them.
"Jack and Elizabeth Vignette One"
"Vignette Two – The Cold Winter" -Jack and Elizabeth cope with the rough winter.
"Vignette Three – The Test: Don't Fail Me Now" – It's fun and romantic.
"Vignette Four – Gypsy Woes" - The most light-hearted in my mind.
"Vignette Five - Blind Faith" -Drama, Suspense, New Friends, and powerful love.
"Vignette Six - Wedding Dust" –The romance of getting married and the hours afterwards.
"Vignette Seven - The Rules of being a Wife" -Jack and Elizabeth's first weeks as husband and wife.
"Vignette Eight – Changes" - Elizabeth's in danger . . . and so is Jack. Lots of drama.
"Vignette Nine – The Lingering Scent of Lavender - A ghost story.
"Vignette Ten – Snowfall" -The newest member of the Thornton family arrival.
"Vignette Eleven – Wishes and the Necessary Vessel" -Elizabeth's innocent wishes take a strange turn.
"Vignette Twelve – Time" - A injured Jack tries to make it home to his family.
"Vignette Thirteen – Poetic Justice" – Elizabeth and her son find themselves in the midst of a criminal plot.
VIGNETTE 14 - THE SURPRISING SOUND OF A CLUE
Chapter 1
"I think our son is deaf," Elizabeth announced worriedly as she stared at little Jack Thatcher Thornton who was crawling across the floor of the main room of the old mercantile building which was now the Thornton's living room.
Jack and Elizabeth had been living in Bear Creek for more than a year now. When they had arrived in the town which was slightly bigger in population and size than Hope Valley for Jack's new assignment, the building in the center of town was the only available space for the growing family. Situated directly across from the jailhouse, it had been perfect for them. First as a temporary schoolroom and then as their baby's first home. With its large front room designed for customers and shelves of merchandise, it was the perfect place for a baby to crawl and explore.
Jack looked up from his cup of coffee and chucked softly. "What are you talking about? Our son is not deaf."
"I think he may be. I'm really worried", Elizabeth replied as she ran her fingers on the cover of the children's book on her lap and continued to apprehensively stare at their son.
"Why would our son be deaf?" an amused Jack asked.
"I don't know", she whined. "Maybe it's congenital. Or maybe it was a loud noise he was exposed to. Or that time I had scarlet fever."
"You had Scarlet fever, not him", Jack reminded her with a smile.
"Maybe he got it through my breast milk."
"He did not get anything through your breast milk except a full stomach. He is not deaf."
Jack looked at his son who had stopped crawling on the floor and was now lying on his back and playing with the toes. "He is perfectly fine. Stop worrying. You worry about everything with him. Last week you thought he wasn't gaining enough weight and the week before you thought he was gaining too much."
"This is different! This is mother's intuition."
"Mother's intuition?"
"Yes, mother's intuition."
"Well, my Mountie's intuition tells me that he is just fine," Jack remarked with a smile. He picked up the newspaper and continued to read an article on the heat wave which was threatening to kill crops in the area.
"He's not responding to the sound of my voice. I noticed it yesterday. And then again today."
"Why should he? You are around him constantly. You read to him constantly. You talk to him constantly. I'd be more surprised if he did react to the sound of your voice. Your silence would catch his attention", Jack teased.
"It's not just that. He never cries."
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked in disbelief. "He was colicky for weeks. All he did was cry. Every night I paced the floor with him!"
"But not recently," Elizabeth insisted.
"Because he's a happy baby. He gets fed. He gets changed. He gets more attention than any baby has the right to."
"He should react to me when I talk to him", Elizabeth insisted.
"Elizabeth, he is fine. He's quietly entertaining himself on the floor. Let him be."
"Watch", Elizabeth instructed.
"Thatch, sweetie, come to mommy and I'll read you a book," Elizabeth called out to the little boy.
Thatch, as Jack Thatcher Thornton was usually called, continued to lay on the floor indifferent to Elizabeth's voice. The only difference from his early position was that he was now pulling on the tail of the family cat, who had lain down next to him.
"Mommy will read to you", Elizabeth tried again, keeping her voice sounding happy and inviting. "Come here and sit on my lap."
The little boy moved his head sideways to avoid the swatting tail of the cat but ignored Elizabeth.
"It's a wonderful book. With pictures of your ABCs."
The despair was evident on Elizabeth's face as she looked at Jack; her son hadn't reacted at all to the sound of her voice.
"See! He didn't even react to me."
Jack smiled at Elizabeth. Without a word to her, he turned his face towards Thatch and spoke in the normal volume of his voice. "Son, how'd you like to go see the horsies?"
The effect was immediate.
Thatch smiled and make a gleeful sound as he turned to look at Jack. He hastily turned over and began crawling to his father.
Jack chuckled and stretched out his arms, picking up his son.
"It looks like we are going to the livery. Wave bye-bye to mommy", Jack instructed as he carried his son on his hip and walked towards the front door.
Thatch, babbled a bye-bye, and happily stretched his arm out, opening and closing his pudgy little hand towards a flabbergasted Elizabeth as he eagerly looked forward to visiting the livery.
While the males in the family were giving attention to horses rather than a slighted Elizabeth, she pulled several articles of clothing from the bedroom closet, removed them from their hangars, and began to neatly fold them.
Horses! Big stupid animals over a book!
He'll never be a teacher like me if he prefers horses over books!, she thought in disgust.
When she had a stack of four blouses and four shirts, she put the pile in the corner of the room and moved to the baby's drawer, where she took out several items, folded them, and added them to the pile.
The trip to Hamilton wasn't for another two days, but with the house now quiet it was the perfect opportunity to do some packing for the two-week trip.
It would take three days to travel by train to Hamilton and another three days to return home. That left them eight days to visit family.
Last week, over a breakfast of bacon and eggs, Jack had been holding his son on one knee and trying to eat with one hand while Elizabeth had read aloud the latest letter from her parents. Grace and William Thatcher had made it clear that the Thorntons were overdue for a visit.
Expecting Jack to come up with a reason why a trip to Hamilton wasn't practical, Elizabeth had set down the letter, poured herself some more orange juice, and had already decided she wouldn't argue with him. But to her surprise, Jack had stopped eating and pensively looked at her for a moment before responding that it was a great idea.
"A great idea? Did you hear what I said? Mother and father want us to come for a visit."
"I heard you."
"You hate Hamilton."
Jack had swallowed a forkful of eggs before replying casually. "I don't hate Hamilton. I admit that I didn't like it when we were first courting, but that was a long time ago."
"Jack, you really want to go to Hamilton? Fancy restuarants with fancy overpriced meals? Fancy people with fancy overindulgent attitudes? You can handle that?" she had asked skeptically.
Jack had leaned back in his chair and given Elizabeth a tired look. "We need a vacation."
Her face went from skeptical to sympathetic as she looked at her husband. Her mind going over the exhausting and harrowing past few months.
I had Scarlet Fever.
Jack's been busy with advanced training course.
And he was attacked and almost killed by that awful mountain man with an ax.
The baby and I somehow . . . although I still barely believe it. . .ended up in the midst of that devious plot to cause a rise in cattle prices, and well . . . then we were both taken hostage.
My goodness, we do need a vacation!
Thirty minutes later, the breakfast food had been forgotten at the table, as the couple had checked their calendars, sent a telegram to Hamilton, and eagerly planned their vacation.
"We'll stay at my parents", Elizabeth said. Her head rested on Jack's chest as they lay in bed that night. His arm surrounded her. Through the open window came the sound of chirping crickets and sometimes, if they were lucky, a light breeze which made the curtains flutter.
"That will be nice. You can use a little pampering."
"So can you." Elizabeth ran her fingers along Jack's torso. "We'll have breakfast served every morning, our beds made for us, our laundry done."
"Dinners of filet mignon."
"And ice cream", Elizabeth said as she pictured the cool delicious treat which seemed to appear as if by magic in the hands of a servant at her family's dinner table in Hamilton, and was a sad rarity in rural Bear Creek.
"You can buy some new clothes."
"I'll have a chauffeur to take me places."
"Maybe I'll even drive your father's car", Jack added as he stroked Elizabeth's hair and thought about the deep green colored Roadster with leather seats which was kept parked in the garage behind the Hamilton mansion.
"We can try a shower. Mother liked the one they had installed in her bathroom so much, that she had one put in for company."
Jack didn't respond immediately, and after a while Elizabeth wondered if he had fallen asleep. She wouldn't blame him if he had; it had been another long day for him with his Mountie duties.
She was almost asleep herself, when she felt her hand being lifted up. Without saying a word, Jack brought the hand to his lips.
He kissed it slowly. Taking his time. Letting his lips remain against her flesh.
These were the moments she liked best. The soft quiet moments.
Well, maybe not best. Because what he started to do next, she liked even better.
He shifted his body, rolled on top of her, and supported himself on one bent forearm. His lips were warm and sensual as he kissed the skin left bare as his fingers pushed aside the top of her nightdress.
He took his time, enjoying the taste of her skin.
Cupping her face with one hand, he moved his lips to hers, kissed her passionately, and then returned his attention to her bare skin.
When he ran his tongue down her cleavage, a tingling went down her torso.
Her skin already warm from the late summer's humid night air became more heated by his touch.
On Tuesday morning, the platform at the station was loud and crowded.
The train, which was scheduled to stop in Bear Creek twice a week, had cancelled last week's Thursday's arrival, disappointing more than dozen passengers. Those passengers, now holding new tickets, were currently sharing the platform with two families taking advantage of the school holiday, several cattlemen going to a conference in Calgary, three traveling salesmen, a young lady going off to a new career as a Secretary in Montreal, a man with an engagement ring in his pocket who was waiting for his love to disembark, and an assortment of other travelers, including the three Thorntons.
"Are you sure you locked the door?"
"Yes. It's locked. And, Elizabeth, the jailhouse is right across the street. The substitute Mountie will keep an eye on the place. For goodness sakes, he can't help but notice if someone were to break in. And Lucy will keep an eye on the library for us. And she and Michael will take care of Rip and Comet. Everything is taken care. Stop worrying. We're on vacation."
When the train pulled in late, ten minutes past the scheduled arrival time, the scene became a chaotic hum and buzz of activity as passengers without assigned seats jostled to get aboard while others attempted to disembark.
The Thorntons, holding tickets to a private compartment, stood back from the crowd to avoid the shoving when passengers realized that some of the car doors were broken and that travelers were being funneled into the functioning doors.
A tired-looking train attendant pointed down the platform as he called out to the crowd. "These doors are broken. Ticket holders for compartments 12 through 20, you must enter and pass through another car to get to your reserved seats! These doors are broken! Use the doors at the other ends."
"We're in compartment 16", Jack remarked as he looked at his ticket. Elizabeth held their son in one arm and a small bag in the other, while Jack carried the two heavy bags down the platform as smoke from the engine's stack attempted to billow through the sky.
The air was so humid that the grey smoke seemed to remain stagnant over the platform as the Thorntons climbed aboard the locomotive.
Elizabeth wondered why they had bothered paying the extra charge for a private compartment.
An older woman – who Elizabeth guessed to be between the ages of 55 to 60 – had been walking by the open door of their compartment when she caught sight of the Thornton family. Deciding that little Jack Thatcher Thornton was the most precious baby ever to live, she had made herself at home on the leather upholstered bench-seat next to Elizabeth. Ooohing and awing over the boy, asking Elizabeth questions, and keeping a conversation going for more than an hour.
"It's going to rain", the woman said for the third time as she finally stood up and excused herself to go to the dining car for a drink. "My shoulder always lets me know."
"Are you sure you don't want to come for a bit of refreshment? Your husband can watch the boy", the woman said with a glance to Jack, who looked up from the book he was reading.
Elizabeth managed a small smile but politely declined.
She didn't want to hear any more about the woman's pregnant daughter, or her husband's prize steer, or the quilt she was making. And if she had to hear one more time about the woman's arthritic shoulder and how it always ached when it was going to rain, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from giving the woman a science lesson on humidity and weather patterns.
Elizabeth just wanted silence. Beautiful peaceful silence.
The silence on the train was getting overwhelming boring.
"Any idea how much longer it will be?" Elizabeth called out to Jack. She was leaning across the open window sill of the train compartment looking at her husband who was approaching from the outside.
Forty minutes earlier, the train had been speeding along at a nice peaceful rhythm. The compartment's three occupants had the bottom half of the locomotive's window pushed up, and a continuous rush of air had kept them cool. Elizabeth had been reading a book, Thatch had been asleep on the floor in a bed of blankets, and Jack had been dozing off himself when suddenly the train, which had been traveling swiftly through valleys and open fields, had begun to jerk slightly and then slowed down considerably until it finally came to a complete stop.
Jack had immediately opened his eyes and looked curiously at Elizabeth, who had merely shrugged.
When the couple looked out the window, they had seen nothing but trees. There were no homes. No buildings. No signs announcing that they were on the outskirts of a town.
This was most definitely not a scheduled stop.
After ten minutes of sitting in the compartment, which was getting warmer and warmer as the train baked in the sun, and wondering what had caused the stop, Jack and Elizabeth noticed passengers disembarking from the front of the train. A minute later, the conductor had knocked on their door.
A minor broken piece of equipment. It should take an hour to fix. That's what the conductor had said as he recommended they walk around outside and stretch their legs. Elizabeth had encouraged Jack to go outside while she fed the baby.
Now, as she set the well-fed boy on the floor, she buttoned her blouse and waited for Jack to come closer.
"No idea. The engineer said it may be another 45 minutes", Jack replied to her question. He stood under the window looking up at her.
"It's stifling in here. We'll join you."
"There's apparently a waterfall close by. Want to go check it out?"
Elizabeth handed the baby out the window to Jack. "Sounds good."
"What are you doing?!" Jack said in alarm as Elizabeth swung a small bag over her shoulder and began climbing out the window herself.
"The doors in this car are broken, and it's too far to go all the way down to the next open door. This train is too hot and crowded to fight the people probably still milling in the aisle. I want off." Elizabeth answered as she held her skirt up to her thighs and swung her legs over the windowsill. "Help me down."
"You're pregnant!"
"Just barely. Now help me"
Jack set Thatch on the ground, and with an amused look on his face, reached out and grasped Elizabeth by the waist, helping her to the dirt. "You really are amazing. Always a surprise."
As they walked towards the wood-line, they passed other passengers, already on their way back to the train, having visited the waterfall while Elizabeth had been feeding the baby. They nodded hello or paused to speak briefly.
"It's beautiful", a mother remarked to them as she held tightly to the hand of her eight-year old daughter. "This one wanted to jump in."
"So much cooler than the stuffy train", a lady in a paisley dress explained as she passed them with a smile.
"We dipped our toes in", a man – who appeared to be in his early twenties – remarked as he held the hand of a blushing young lady, who appeared to also be in her twenties and totally enamored by the man at her side who had taken off his jacket and had his sleeves rolled up.
Elizabeth was beginning to wonder if perhaps the passengers were delusional from the heat when they entered the woods and she immediately felt relief in the shade of the trees' canopy.
"It's probably ten or fifteen degrees cooler than on that train or by the tracks", Jack remarked as Elizabeth sighed in pleasure while they walked towards the distant sounds of the waterfall.
"Too bad we don't have our bathing suits", a man called out with a good-natured chuckle before taking a long breath on his cigarette and walking past them, moving out of the way as they came side by side next to some large pine trees.
"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Elizabeth as the stream came into view. The steep descent of the water as it rapidly tumbled over the rocks looked cool and inviting.
A short time later, the rush of the water as it plummeted over the rocks drowned out the sound of the train's ten-minute warning whistle.
The man in the blue uniform with grey piping on the slacks walked along the side of the locomotive from the engine towards the caboose, urging the passengers along as they hurried to climb back aboard and resume their journey.
"Let's go. All aboard."
"That was the five-minute warning whistle", he bellowed exactly five minutes later when the whistle pierced the air.
When the conductor, sweating from the heat, reached the caboose, he turned around and began walking back the length of the train towards the engine, scanning the forest as he walked and listening to the engineer blow the two-minute warning whistle.
He glanced at his watch. Counting down the last final two minutes.
The final minute.
The final seconds.
Grabbing a hold of the railing, he hoisted himself aboard the first car just as a train attendant entered.
"Every compartment is occupied and I didn't notice anyone missing from the unreserved seats", the attendant declared.
"Let's get this train back on schedule!" the conductor shouted out to the engineer as he gave him the thumbs up.
"I love you", Jack declared as he looked at Elizabeth crouched down on the shallow edge of the pool of water at the base of the falls.
She had taken off that baby's socks and was holding him up as his feet cooled in the water while she pointed out parts of the waterfall, which awed the boy with its powerful rush. She looked so natural with their son in the wilderness that Jack couldn't help but smile.
Elizabeth turned and grinned back at Jack. "I love you too."
"We should get back to the train. Find out how much longer it will be", Jack remarked as he reached for the boy and took him from Elizabeth's arms.
He glanced around and with a surprise realized that they were the only three people left in area. They had been enjoying the scenery so much that Jack, usually so observant, hadn't even noticed as the other passenger had wandered back towards the train.
Thatch promptly indicated that he wanted to ride on Jack's shoulders. With a gentle instruction to hold on tight, Jack hoisted him over his head and placed his legs securely around his neck.
"It's just so beautifully peaceful here", Elizabeth remarked. "It's like we're in a paradise."
"This has been a nice unexpected break but I hope they've got the train fixed. It's still another five hours to the next station."
Elizabeth reached out and took Jack's hand as she clamored on the rocks, and the family made their way back through the trees to the railroad tracks.
"I don't understand! Where is it?! How could it leave without us?!" a shocked Elizabeth exclaimed.
When the family emerged from the woods, they had looked around in confusion. Wondering if perhaps they had come out of the woods at the wrong place.
But there were the tracks. Right there in front of them.
The same tracks on which the train had been. The same tracks were the train was supposed to still be.
"Stay calm", Jack instructed as he tried to take his own advice. Which was considerably hard to do with a wife and young child stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Hundreds of miles from the nearest town.
With no supplies. No horse. No camping gear.
"They were supposed to blow a ten-minute warning whistle!"
"They must have. We just didn't hear it over the waterfall." Jack looked at his watch. "We were gone about 20 minutes. They probably blew it right about the time we got there. And we missed hearing the subsequent whistles too."
"But how could they leave us?!"
Jack stared off in the distance. His eyes following the tracks. "If they don't get too far and realize they've left us, they'll be able to back up. As long as it's straight tracks. But I don't see them."
"How long do think it will be until they notice we're missing?"
"I'm surprised they didn't notice already", Jack said with a frown. "They should have checked each compartment before they left. What kind of derelict train company is this?"
Elizabeth suddenly got a stricken look on her face. "Oh my God, no", she said in despair as she looked down the long line of empty tracks. "I locked the compartment door and put a 'do not disturb' sign on it."
"You what?!"
"I was breastfeeding the baby and didn't want the train conductor or that irritating woman to bother me. And then I climbed out the window. The door is still locked with the note on the door."
"But they should have looked in the compartment windows", Jack countered.
"I closed those little curtains. I was breastfeeding," she repeated apologetically.
They think we're in our compartment", Jack said quietly as he realized that the train probably wouldn't be coming back for them anytime soon. Or even today.
And most likely not tomorrow either.
They were alone. Except for the elements of nature.
Jack turned around in a 360 degree circle looking for something to make the situation not so dire.
There was nothing.
He saw a vast wilderness and empty train tracks. His wife in her fancy traveling clothes and expensive new shoes, and his little boy in an adorable outfit looked totally out of place. As if the large hand of a mythical god had picked them up from a city and dropped them into the most alien place possible.
Jack didn't want to think about how he was going to be able to provide and protect his family for the next forty-eight hours.
All he could think about was what they didn't have. No horse. No tent. No hatchet. No food. No canteen.
Up next: Chapter 2
