Wednesday

The Thatcher sisters prepared to send their parents off that day at the stagecoach, the girls were safe for now. Julie was allowed to stay as long as she pleased while Elizabeth had time to make a better case for her to stay. Elizabeth loved her parents however she was happy to see them go back to Hamilton. Elizabeth went to go help out at the schoolhouse and took Rosemary's advice to let both Jack and Miss Baldwin know that she was still in the running for his heart.

The children were happy to have Elizabeth back to help and she was able to help one on one much more than she had been able to before and she loved seeing how far the students had come in the time she was gone. The students however left, at this though Elizabeth chose to stay and help Miss Baldwin clean up.

"Thank you so much for the help today Elizabeth, I've been really wanting to give one on one attention to some of those students but I only have so much time" Miss Baldwin says gratitude filling her voice.

"You're welcome and I understand, they are such well behaved children but they can be a handful at times" Elizabeth thought that maybe her and Miss Baldwin could be friends if they both weren't going after the same man.

"Also I'm so sorry to hear about your engagement, that's such a horrible thing he did to you" Elizabeth nodded not really wanting to go into her abusive ex fiancé.

"Thank you, however I shouldn't have been engaged to him in the first place, so it was over due" Elizabeth explained she didn't want to delve to deep but she also wanted to lead up to the fact that she wanted Jack.

"Oh my really?" the surprise filling the schoolteacher's voice.

Elizabeth took this as her chance to be honest with the schoolteacher "I'm afraid I wasn't completely honest with you the other day, I know the reason why Constable Thornton has changed in the last seven months."

This peaked Lillian's interest stopping what she was doing to look at Elizabeth; "please, do tell."

"Constable Thornton and I were in a courtship just before I got engaged, needless to say I broke his heart, which I will never forgive myself for" Elizabeth explained she wasn't sure exactly how the schoolteacher would react to this news.

"Oh..." the silence filled the school house neither sure what to say next when Lillian broke the silence "do you want him back?"

All Elizabeth could do was nod as the silence returned both uncomfortable when Elizabeth broke the silence "I just wanted to be honest with you, I still love him."

"I see," says Miss Baldwin but Elizabeth could feel how controlled Lillian's voice was.

"If you're uncomfortable with me coming back to help I completely understand" Elizabeth offers she didn't want to treat this as it had been between her and Rosemary; it was too small of a town for that.

"No, no you helping that is about the children and I can't rob them of that" the schoolteacher responds; Elizabeth nods.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow afternoon then" Elizabeth says, Lillian just nods, Elizabeth leaves and couldn't help having a smile on her face as she walked back to town. She was making progress she just needed to figure out a way to tell Jack.

That night as the women sat around eating supper, Julie was there as Tom was having his meal with Jack at the saloon. They spent their time catching up however once Elizabeth updated them on what Rosemary told her, they all smiled a knowing smile, and then took the time to try to brainstorm ideas for Elizabeth to make amends with Jack.

"Oh you should make him this amazing dinner and only have the two of you and you could tell him then" Julie suggests, however the other women rejected that idea.

"No he wouldn't come if I asked" Elizabeth responds hating admitting that but she knew it was the truth.

"What about you get yourself lost and he has to go find you!" another suggestion from Julie who always had a flair for the dramatics and still thought life was a romance novel.

Abigail had the best suggestion and her opinion was the most valued to Elizabeth "I think you should try to be his friend again, just as you were before, he needs to learn to trust you again." All of the women took this in and ended up agreeing, Elizabeth couldn't help but agree she had lost his trust and needed to earn it back.

"How should I do that?" Elizabeth asks next she had never lost someone's trust like this and had no idea about how to go about gaining it back.

"Well you should tell him you're staying and that you're not going anywhere," suggests Cara, Elizabeth nodded and couldn't help but agree.

"Also you should think about getting closer to Rosemary, I think she could be a good asset to you" Julie finally says giving some advice that Elizabeth will probably actually use. They finished their dinner and turned themselves in for the night.

Thursday

After helping out with breakfast crowd Elizabeth watched to see when Jack returned from his rounds she was prepared to go over and speak with him. She was hoping that they could have another pleasant conversation. She watched him return however she didn't rush to go over, she didn't want him to know that she had been waiting for him to return. Finally she took a small basket of baked goods that they had made that morning and brought it with her to give to him.

She knocked on the door "come in" called the Constable; she walked in a little bit hesitantly.

"Hello" she says formerly, Jack looks up the surprise on his face when he sees Elizabeth in front of him.

"Miss Thatcher" he responds trying to cover up the surprise, she was trying still trying to breathe her heart beating so rapidly.

"I just brought over some baked goods, you haven't been in to the café for awhile so Abigail thought you would like some," says Elizabeth handing over the basket.

"Thank you, tell Abigail thank you also" says Jack, Elizabeth noted there wasn't bitterness in his voice however there wasn't pity either. Elizabeth however stood there for a moment before getting the courage to say what she truly came for "is there something else?" Jack asks finally.

"Oh, yes, I just wanted you to know that I'm staying, I'm not going home, and I just thought you should hear it from me" Elizabeth finally says, a breath she hadn't realized she was holding came out as she watched Jack's reaction.

Jack didn't say anything for a moment, then finally says "oh," with that Elizabeth left, she couldn't help but wish that his response had been a bit more upbeat. However she told him and she was proud of herself for that.