Chapter 8 – Mending A Relationship / The Kiss

Elizabeth finished fixing her hair and took one last look in the mirror. She was wearing one of her prettiest blouses, her skirt was neat and pressed, and her skin looked perfect, thanks to putting tea bags on her eyes to reduce the slight puffiness from her tears the night before.

Why am I so nervous? she thought as she turned to her dresser and picked up her small bottle of cologne. Putting a small dab of the scent at the nape of her neck, she knew perfectly well why she was nervous. She was going to tell Jack that her scholarship was paid off as of today when she delivered his shirt.

Between some work for the miners yesterday which earned her $1.55 and then Jack's work for which he was going to pay her $1.50, she had exactly enough money to finish repaying the scholarship.

Elizabeth picked up Jack's shirt and held it to her face, breathing in his scent. She had always liked this shirt on him. This is pathetic. I can't stand around sniffing his shirt! , she thought in frustration.

Elizabeth hoped Jack would be at the jail. She didn't want to face him in front of anyone else, especially that dreadful Suzanne Gowen, if he was at the saloon or Café.

Take a deep breath and just calm down, she told herself. But the butterflies in her stomach refused to listen to her. There's no reason to be nervous. I was silly and over emotional to cry last night. Jack was just a friend. I'm sure, eventually, we'll be able to be friends again. If I can mend clothes, I should be able to mend friendships, for goodness sakes!


Elizabeth pushed back her shoulders, stood up tall, and opened the door to the jail.

"Elizabeth!", Jack said in a startled voice. It was still early afternoon and he hadn't expected her for a few hours.

"Jack", she greeted him awkwardly.

"Here's your shirt", she said, feeling nervous, as she walked across the room and held it out to him.

"I was just about to get out of my uniform now anyway. Wait a minute while I change", he said pleasantly as he reached out his arm.

"Jack", she exclaimed in shock. But she released his shirt to him.

Jack chuckled. "Just turn your back. I'll go change in the cell."

"I can come back later for you to sign the ledger", she offered.

"No. Stay. Please. I want to talk to you", he said casually over his shoulder as he started to undress.

Elizabeth realized that if she tried to cross the room to leave, she might inadvertently see him changing, so she remained still, her back to the cell. She was just wondering what he looked like without his shirt on, when he spoke.

"Okay, you can turn around now."

When Elizabeth turned around, she took a deep breath. Jack, oblivious to his own good looks, pushed his hair out of face, and then tugged on the cuffs of his shirt.

It should be a crime for a man to be that handsome without even trying, Elizabeth thought.

"Elizabeth?" His voice interrupted her thoughts

"I'm sorry, Jack. Did you say something?"

"I said it's perfect. I can't even see where the tear was. You are an excellent seamstress,"

"Well, I've had years of practice", she replied with a shrug.

"I brought my ledger. Here's $1.55 in cash. And with the $1.50 you owe me for the repair – you did say triple?" She looked at him nervously, wondering if maybe he wouldn't think her work was worth triple the normal price.

"I did. And I am a man of my word", he responded with a smile.

"Well, with that $1.50, my debt is paid off."

"How about that", Jack said innocently as he moved over to the desk and looked at the ledger she had opened.

"I can pay you interest if you want, but you hadn't mentioned it, so I didn't think it was necessary".

"Interest?" Jack said with a jolt. He realized he had never even thought about interest.

"It would take me longer, but if -". Her voice trailed off as she felt his closeness.

On my god, no! She's not seriously considering that, is she?!, Jack thought in horror.

How many more clothes can the people of Coal Valley possibly rip up?! His face registered his shock at the idea.

Elizabeth saw the look on his face .

"I'm sorry. I can tell from the look on your face that you assumed I would be paying interest. I'm sorry. It was silly of me not to consider that earlier", she said in dismay.

"No! No Interest!" Jack exclaimed desperately.

Elizabeth, taken aback by his insistence, looked at him curiously.

"No interest. Definitely no interest payments", he reiterated more calmly. If she makes me wait any longer, I'm going to have a heart attack, he thought in exasperation.

"Okay . Well, thank you, Jack. We can put the whole thing behind us."

When Jack continued looking at her and didn't make a move to sign the ledger, Elizabeth began to get nervous. What is wrong with him?, she thought.

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

"The ledger. Do you want to sign the ledger?" Elizabeth motioned to the book.

"Of course. Sorry", he said. He shook his head slightly to clear away thoughts of kissing her, and picked up the pencil.

As he handed the signed book back to her, Elizabeth's hand took hold of the other side. Instead of removing his hand, Jack held it there longer than necessary.

"Elizabeth, I was wondering if you would like to go riding with me. It's still going to be light out for a few hours."

"Are we friends again?", she asked hesitantly.

"I told you that I don't want to be your friend."

"I don't understand", she said. The confusion was evident in her voice.

"Elizabeth" , Jack paused and reached for her free hand.

"I care about you. I want to court you. I thought I made that perfectly clear. Unless you don't want me to. Have your feelings changed?", he suddenly sounded unsure.

He started to drop her hand, but she held onto his.

"But, you've been so distant!", she wailed.

"I wanted to give you time to do your sewing and I didn't want you to feel pressured to spend time with me. I knew you wanted to pay back the scholarship", Jack explained with a smile.

"So, you still want to court me?", Elizabeth asked in astonishment

Jack dropped her hand and walked over to one of the cells. When he got to the cot, he moved aside his jacket, which had been obscuring a bouquet of flowers.

"I picked these for you. I was going to give them to you this evening when I picked up my shirt."

"But how did you know my debt would be paid off today?"

Jack chuckled. "Don't forget. I've been keeping my own tally."


Jack felt the rigidness of Elizabeth's corset through her clothing as his hands held onto her waist and he helped her down from the horse. Not for the first time, he pushed aside thoughts of what it would be like to touch her waist without the restrictive garment.

"I've been doing some reading. In fact, I borrowed some of your magazines," he said as he led her through the grass.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Did you read the article about Arabella Mansfield?", he asked.

"She's the first female lawyer in the United States. She's also a teacher at two colleges."

"She's also married", Jack said.

"And a suffragette."

"Is there anything you don't know?", he asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know the reason for this conversation."

"I think you do"

"You want to become an American female suffragette?", Elizabeth teased.

"No," Jack laughed.

"What is your point?"

"That perhaps it's okay for a woman to have a man by her side, and still achieve her goals, still teach."

"Perhaps", said Elizabeth, as she bit her bottom lip to keep her face from breaking into a broad grin.

Jack loved when she did that with her lip. He had noticed she always did it when she was nervous and pleased at the same time. He also recognized that she probably had no idea of the effect it had on him.

"You remembered that I once told you that I was thinking about teaching college! But that was when we first met. And you still remember?", she realized with a pleasant start.

"I remember everything you've said to me.. . . You're not an easy person to forget." Jack said with a smile.

Elizabeth bit her bottom lip again.

My god, she really has no idea how adorable she looks when she does that, Jack thought.

"It's nice here", Elizabeth said as they looked out into the valley. They stood in silence for a moment, side by side with their fingers intertwined as they held hands.

"I was kind of hoping we could pick up where we left off before things went so badly," Jack suggested.

"I don't know. It was a long time ago. I'm not sure I remember", Elizabeth said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, I seem to remember we were discussing how beautiful it is here, and I said I would like to kiss a pretty girl", Jack said as he turned to face her.

"Any pretty girl?", she teased.

"Just one girl", he said with a grin.

"I just want to kiss one girl", he repeated softly as he let go off her hand, and cupped her face, leaning in to her.

As his lips moved closer to hers, he whispered, "Elizabeth, you're the one. . . . The only one."

Jack's lips tenderly brushed softly against hers. When she leaned towards him, silently inviting him to continue, Jack pressed his mouth to hers. He moved his hands to her hair, keeping her close. The way he held her, like she belonged to him, made Elizabeth go dizzy. Her mouth parted without thought and she realized with a start that she wanted nothing more in her life than to have this man's lips on hers.

She was aware of everything about him. The way his mouth tasted of spearmint, the faint smell of his soap, the feel of his hands as they touched her hair. At the same time, she was all at once unaware of anything around them. She didn't notice the breeze blowing, or the birds chirping, or even the horse moving about. All she knew was that she never wanted the kiss to end.

If someone had asked Jack earlier in the day how many women he had kissed in his life, he would have replied honestly that he had had kissed his fair share. But that moment, when he kissed Elizabeth, Jack couldn't remember ever having kissed anyone else. And if he never kissed anyone other than Elizabeth for the rest of his life, he would be perfectly happy.

In fact, he would prefer it.


Preview to chapter 9: The Trouble with Family

The attractive middle-aged woman, dressed in simple but clean clothing, anxiously handed the envelope to the man across the counter.

"How long do you think it will take to get there?"

The man glanced from the woman's worried face to the address she had written on the envelope, before he replied. "There's a train going out today. But Coal Valley's a small town. I'm not sure how often deliveries get there. Maybe five days. If you're lucky."

"Okay. Thank you, Wilbur", she said as she handed him a coin for the postage.

"I heard about what happened.", he said, feeling her embarrassment.

"I'm sure the whole town has heard."

"I'm real sorry, Mrs. Thatcher."