A huge thank you to AngelStreets, bbflabradors, Mary Jo, Bobbi Bindings, LisaNY, Cheylin Boston, mp511cole, lsockett, FicFanChick, Heartie, Cass Pine, Pink Elephant5, Yvonne and all of the guests who left reviews for me. I have enjoyed reading each and every one of the reviews. Thank you all for your kind words. Thank you for embracing the flashback style of writing and letting me know this, it helped my confidence.

And for accepting me into the Heartie community and encouraging me with my writing. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it, so warm and welcoming.

And most importantly to the lovely LisaNY - who has pre-read and edited every chapter, which I most definitely needed, and then still reviews everything. I apologise Lisa for all the very raw writing you received from me. And for helping me develop the idea that I had and fleshing it out, picking me up when I was ready to stop writing and just being an ear at the end a message at anytime of the day. And when you're on the other side of the world, literally it may have been anytime of the day. I can't thank you enough.


Glancing up at the clock, Jack decided it was time. Easing himself up and off the cot, he placed the sketch pad onto his bedside table. After one last glance at his finished sketch, he brushed down his pants.

Bending down to stoke the fire, he watched the flames flick around the stove for a few minutes allowing himself a moment or two to think about what he was about to do. He was about to change his life completely, even though at one point in his life, he had believed that if Mounties had wanted him to have a wife, they would have issued with him one. Smirking slightly to himself, he looked down to scratch Rip behind the ears.

"Wish me luck, Rip."

The lazy dog simply looked up at his master with wide eyes.

Jack shook his head slightly as he moved around to his desk to retrieve the precious dark blue box. He tugged at the drawer and found it locked, he couldn't remember even locking it. Tapping his pockets, he couldn't feel the key at all. He slipped his hands into the pockets to find them both empty, even after he turned them inside out.

Turning around to search through the papers on his desk, pages started to flutter off the desk, but there was no key to be found on the desk. Jack felt his heart start to quicken when he realised that he wasn't sure where he had even left the key. He continued to search around his desk hoping that it might magically appear.

He scurried over to his jacket which was hanging near his bed and systemically started going through the pockets within his red serge. Nothing!

Jack huffed as he sat down on the edge of his bed, patting his pockets again, hoping that the silver key might suddenly appear.

"Come on Thornton," he told him, his eyes scanning the room. "You're a member of the Royal North Western Mounted Police and you see things that people miss all the time."

Scanning over the various clothes he had hung up. The key wasn't in his tunic, wasn't in the pants that he currently wore. In no other articles of clothing could it be in. Where could he possibly have put it? This was maddening to Jack.

Jack huffed again, as if he wasn't nervous enough, but right now he couldn't even get to the engagement ring. His frustration was reaching a breaking point as he rubbed his hands over his face. His elbows rested on his knees, and face fell forward. And there he stayed for a few agonizing minutes.

Looking up at his desk, he saw a flash of silver. Brow furrowed, he moved towards the desk. He ran his hand over the lip of the desk drawer and bent down where he came face to face with a small silver key, still in the lock hole. Smiling slightly to himself, he couldn't believe that this whole time that the key was right there.

Once the box was on the desk, Jack threw the key into the drawer, there was no need for it to be locked now. Straightening his back up he flicked open the top of the box. Pausing slightly, he ran his thumb over the high set diamond, reflecting on what he was going to do.

Never would he have thought that this was going to be his life. He began to wonder what his life would have been like if he had been posted to Cape Fullerton. He never had thought that he would have taken his career posting here in Hope Valley, nor would he have ever imagined how busy his life would be as a Mountie on the Western Frontier. He had courted adventure and wanted a life where he would be chasing dangerous criminals, he had never wanted to be a baby-sitter. And when he had been posted here, that's exactly what he thought he had been sent to do. It would have never gone through his mind that he could court the woman he thought wouldn't last a month on a diet of coal dust.

Now he was about to propose marriage to a high class society woman. Elizabeth Thatcher had changed his life and everything was about to change, for the better.

Snapping the box shut, he pocketed the item into an inner pocket of the blue suit jacket. Smiling to himself, yet again, he buttoned up the top of his jacket buttons as he reached for the door. With one last glance down at Rip, he nodded slightly as he shut the door behind himself.

With a slight bounce in his step as he walked, Jack landed with a slight jump on the dusty main road. The closer he got to Abigail's café, the more nervous he became, his steps started to slow.

"Thornton, you've faced dangerous criminals!" he muttered to himself. "This is asking the woman that you love to spend the rest of her life with you. You know that you have some of her family supporting you. At the end of the day, she loves you Thornton, and that's all that matters," he continued as he made his way over to the private side of the café. Slowly he eased the door open, listening to the laughter that came from within.

Leaning up against the doorway, he smiled to himself as he took in the scene in front of him. Elizabeth was running around the sitting room, packing her clothes into a suitcase, Clara was sitting mending an article of clothing, Rosemary was sitting with a cup of tea whilst Abigail regaled them all with a story involving herself, Pastor Frank and a walk in the park.

Jack drew back slightly. He had never really found out what had transpired between Abigail and Bill Avery, and it was not any of his business. He knew that Elizabeth had more of an understanding. Bill had returned to Hamilton and last he had heard was that Bill was working within divisional headquarters. He had noticed that Abigail had been spending more time with Pastor Frank Hogan. The pastor seemed to be a gentleman who respected all the townspeople of Hope Valley, and for that Jack was grateful. However something deep down didn't quite sit right with him about Frank, but for now it wasn't that Jack was ready to explore…Just yet. Rather he had a more pressing matter to attend to.

"And why Jack Thornton, don't you look like you have something on your mind," Rosemary sang out to him.

Startled out of his thoughts, Jack looked up to find everyone in the room, bar Elizabeth, looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" Rosemary questioned.

Jack raised an eyebrow at her, without saying a word.

"Well, what is it you have on your mind?" she continued.

Jack struggled for an answer, he stood there for a moment, mouth slightly agape.

Abigail laughed to herself slightly. "Jack, would you like to come in and have a cup of coffee?" she invited.

Jack shook his head, gesturing towards Elizabeth with his head. Elizabeth still had yet to notice Jack in the doorway. Abigail smiled back at him knowingly.

"Elizabeth," he called, palm outstretched, "take a walk with me."

Elizabeth looked over at him slightly startled. "But," she started to protest, clothes still in his arms.

"Leave it," he said simply. "Come for a walk"

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment longer, knowing that she needed to pack; she and Jack would be leaving on the stagecoach in the morning. Looking over at Jack, her resolve began to waiver. Placing the last of her clothes down, she picked up her coat on her way over to slip her hand into Jack's. Whilst the weather was still quite warm, Elizabeth thought that she should take a coat, just in case.


As they walked down towards the end of the porch Elizabeth tucked her arm into Jack's body, sliding them closer together.

"You know," she started. "I hope you have finished your packing. The stagecoach will be leaving early in the morning," she told him.

"Yes Miss Thatcher," he replied cheekily. "I have finished. I am sure that I do not need to take as much to Hamilton as you do."

"Jack!" Elizabeth scolded. "You're being incorrigible."

Jack smirked, showing off his dimples, pulling her slightly closer and tighter.

"So, Constable Thornton," Elizabeth started as she changed the subject slightly. "Is this walk going to be taking us anywhere in particular? Or are you just trying to distract me from my packing?"

"Well, I thought we could go to the saloon," Jack started, as he began to lead her towards the doors. Elizabeth looked up at him warily. "We have experienced many moments there," he continued before suddenly changing direction.

"Or we could sit on the porch of the jail. As I sure you have spent many moments sitting there thinking about me," he teased.

Elizabeth gasped, mouth open.

"But I think there is going to be time for that later," he concluded as he took her to the livery.

Letting go of her as they reached Taylor. "Maybe we could take a riding lesson," he told her as without any warning he took her by the waist and hoisted her up into the saddle. "We haven't done that for a long while."

"JACK!" Elizabeth looked very startled sitting on top of the horse, she was not dressed for this, with her dress hiked up slightly and ankles showing.

"And whilst they aren't your knees, I am happy to be here admiring your ankles," he smiled.

Elizabeth began to protest as Jack helped her down.

"Jack Thornton, if you're going to play games I am yet to have finished my packing," she crossly told him.

"So…" Jack drawled. "You don't want to visit the mine with me?"

"Jack…" Elizabeth warned.

Jack didn't say anything as he pulled her back close. They started towards the area where they had shared their first kiss. There Elizabeth saw a blanket laid out along with a basket. She looked at Jack expectantly.

Jack smiled warmly at her. "I know you have many other things you need to do, but I also know that once we arrive in Hamilton we aren't going to have time to ourselves. I just wanted to savour a few quiet moments with you before the mayhem," he told her as he helped her take off her coat; it was quite a warm night.

"Before you sit," he continued. "Let me show you the lake I found when I was doing my rounds a few weeks ago," he finished.

Just around the bend Elizabeth saw a small lake and a clearing of land. Out in the not to far distance she could make out her school house, only a few minutes' walk away. As they made their way closer towards the lake, Elizabeth was sure she could see the beginnings of another building.

"Jack? Where are we?"

Jack took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it. "This," Jack started, suddenly feeling nervous. He cleared his throat. "This…is where I thought we could build our first home."

Elizabeth paused momentarily, too shocked to say anything.

"Elizabeth? What I'm trying to say is…" Jack turned slightly. "I had all of these things that I wanted to say to you…but what I want is really…"

Elizabeth turned to face Jack and her foot didn't move. Instead of facing Jack, she ended up sliding on the slippery edge of the lake. The next thing she saw was water as she tumbled into the lake, pulling Jack with her.

Scrambling to right himself, Jack began to frantically look for Elizabeth not realising that the lake was shallow enough to stand, the water only reaching just above his knees.

"Elizabeth!" he called. Upon turning towards the sound he heard, he found Elizabeth up to her waist in water too, giggling to herself. He began to wade towards her.

"And to think that being a school teacher is safe…" she giggled as she watched Jack come towards her. She started to take in the sight of Jack as he neared her, she felt herself begin to blush as she could see Jack's white button up shirt cling to his body and become slightly see through.

She didn't allow him to say anything as he reached her, rather she reached up and placed her hands around his neck and pulled him down whilst leaning up to get access to his lips. Jack reacted in the way she wanted him to. His hands making their way to tangle in her hair.

Only when the need for oxygen became too much did they separate. Jack rested his forehead against her, breathing heavily. He could see that Elizabeth too was trying to catch her breath and before he could stop words came tumbling out of his mouth.

"Marry me," he whispered.

Elizabeth's breath caught, her eyes widening.

"God Elizabeth," he started, his hand tightening around the nape of her neck slightly, pulling her face even closer to himself. "There is so much more that I want to say and you deserve so much more… Marry me."

Elizabeth's eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. "Yes…" she answered equally as quietly. "Yes!" her voice became louder and more confident.

Jack let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding as he lent down to capture her lips again. Without breaking contact, Jack swept her up into his arms and started out of the water. Elizabeth pulled back to look at him.

"We need to get out of the water," he sensibly told her as he walked towards the blanket and their discarded coats. Once he had placed Elizabeth back onto her feet, he made quick work of helping her put her coat on and then finding another blanket from the basket to place around her shoulders and then started packing up.

"Jack," Elizabeth called, stopping his work. "Let's just sit and enjoy the moment."

"But Elizabeth you're wet… You need to get out of those wet clothes, you're going to catch a cold," he argued as he watched her wring out her skirt.

Elizabeth stood her ground, lowering herself onto the picnic blanket. Jack sighed as he put the basket down. He watched as she pulled her coat slightly tighter around her and wrapped the blanket around her legs, hoping to stem off the cold that she was feeling after getting wet. There was nothing stopping this girl.

Jack knelt down next to her, taking her left hand into his, his other hand reaching up to cup her face and gently pulling her to face him. Elizabeth's eyes sparkled as his hand left her face. Reaching into his jacket pocket he slipped out the box and then scooped the ring into his hand, he tightened his hand around the small piece of metal, feeling the diamond dig into his skin slightly, almost giving him some extra strength to say what he was feeling.

"Elizabeth Thatcher…I would have never thought that this is how my life would have turned out. I know now that I was wrong when I told you that if Mounties were supposed to have wives, we would have been issued with one. It just takes a special woman to be a Mountie's wife, and for me that special person is you. It's because of you that I'm here, from the baby-sitting which I know was wrong, to seeing you in Hamilton and watching you learn to adjust to life in a small coal mining town. Now when I look at my future, all I see is you. I've seen you as a teacher command a class and take on challenges that I would have never thought you would have succeeded at. You've proven me wrong each and every time. Elizabeth, when I spent time with you out on the homestead, it was clear to me that you were the one for me. I want that life with you. I know there isn't anything that we can't face together and I want to face all the challenges of our lives together. I want to hear our children's feet running on the wooden stairs and listen to you tell them stories before they go to sleep. I want to build our lives together. I know that we might not have the same life that you are used to in Hamilton but I love you…and I fall in love with you a little more everyday… So Miss Elizabeth Thatcher…" he asked as he open his hand to reveal the engagement ring. "Will you marry me?"

Elizabeth gasped at the sight of the ring.

"I don't need big mansions and fancy clothes Jack, I just want you. So yes… yes I will marry you."

Jack's smile grew even wider, he didn't even know that it was possible to feel this happy as he slid the ring onto its rightful place. Gathering her up into his arms, he kissed her.

Elizabeth's gaze slipped down towards the ring, watching as the diamonds caught the last rays of light.

"It's perfect Jack. It's the most beautiful piece of jewellery I'll ever own," she told him as she snuggled into his side, enjoying the warmth that he gave off.

"So…" she started. "Tell me about this house you want to build," she told him.

Jack smiled as he hugged her tighter before beginning to tell her of his thoughts for their house.


So that is it... The last chapter! Thank you once again for reading and sticking it out.

There are photos of the ring on my blog if you want to take a look. Link is in my profile.

Until next time... Em