Author's note: Thank you to anyone following along with my story, and sorry to the last poster about messing up that Henry was banned from being mayor as part of his sentencing. I sometimes get a little sketchy with details about the show, I watch it but don't really re-watch to catch all the fine points. But I needed/wanted him to be mayor for my plot, so he is. Also, I lied. In my first post I said I would like to write Lucas' story in the future, but I'm going to try and incorporate it here now, that's how the show does it, all the stories concurrently so he'll get his too. Oh and one more thing...please suspend your disbelief in things coming down the road...there's a plotline coming up down the road a ways and I really don't know a lot technically about how things work to be entirely accurate, so I'm just going to wing it and hope you all just follow the story allowing a bit of leniency for any misinformation or inaccuracy. Oh by the way too, the chapter titles aren't really titles, just little cue words to remind me what chapter I'm working on. Thanks all, now back to Hope Valley!
Rosemary Coulter looked out the front window of the dress shop anxiously. Where was he? Where was that husband of hers? He was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago to pick her up and Rosemary did not want to be late. But she knew it was probably hard for him to get away from the mill, in the middle of the afternoon, long before the end of the work day. It wasn't exactly easy for her to get away either, Rosemary thought, but she'd managed to get Clara to mind the dress shop for her.
"Whew!" Rosemary let out in relief, as she straightened away from the window, having spotted Lee's automobile heading in her direction.
"Clara, I'm off now," she called over her shoulder as she went out the front door, standing on the walkway outside as her husband pulled up alongside her. Rosemary did not even wait for Lee to get out and open her door but she immediately reached for the handle and climbed inside.
"You ready?" Lee turned to her to ask gently, his gaze locking to his wife's.
Rosemary inhaled, exhaling "Yeah" in reply, something deep and important passing between them.
"Okay," Lee said as he straightened back, turning the wheel of the automobile and pulling out into the street.
Sitting on the schoolhouse stoop while her students played around her during afternoon recess, Elizabeth Thornton looked up at the passing automobile, her brow puzzled when she recognized the occupants. Lee and Rosemary. Lee and Rosemary heading out of town on a Tuesday afternoon workday. Not given long to puzzle on the strange anomaly, Elizabeth reached for the cowbell beside her, ringing it loudly and calling her students back to class.
Lucas Bouchard stood in the doorway of one his guestrooms at his saloon, his hands on his hips and his head tilted way, way to the side, his eyes squinting a bit as he took in the sight.
"Miss Miller, I presume," he drawled in amusement, running his eyes over a pair of black stocking-covered ankles, their owner laying prone on the floor along a wall, a dresser pushed out of the way and obscuring most of her body behind it. But there was no mistaking those ankles, or who they belonged to. Fiona Miller and the scandalous display of her ankles had set the town afire since her arrival in Hope Valley.
Hearing her name, Fiona reared up from her place behind the bureau, emitting a painful "Oww" when she hit a low windowsill on her way up, a hand to the bump on her head.
"Please, don't get up on my account," Lucas drawled for the second time, a small smirk playing about his mouth.
But Fiona was already on her way up, brushing her skirt as she rose, a display of handtools scattered around her along with a great deal of telephone wire.
"Lucas, are you sure you want telephones in all the rooms?" she asked. She'd only just begun to install the necessary wiring but it seemed a daunting task, installing telephones in all the guestrooms of the Queen of Hearts saloon.
"Hope Valley may be a small town," Lucas countered. "But I offer world class accomodation," he explained his desire to equip his hotel with the most modern of conveniences, that now being telephones in each room.
"I know," Fiona conceded. "It just seems a big job."
"Well, if you don't think you can handle it...," Lucas trailed off, raising a brow at her and shooting her a look.
Fiona's chin immediated jutted at the challenge. "I can do it," she announced firmly, something in her eyes firing back at him.
"Well then, I'll leave you to it," Lucas said, the smirk back, before he turned to leave.
Only getting a few steps away along the hallway, Lucas heard a thump and then a few muffled, "dang, dang, dang,"s, presumbly coming from Miss Miller as she bumped her way back down to the floor. Lucas shook his head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.