Elizabeth woke up to the sound of dishes rattling in the kitchen. She looked up and the clock and noticed it had been an hour since Jack had left for work. She wondered if Eric was in the making himself some breakfast. At that moment her own stomach growled. She smiled to herself. She was happy that she seemed to be finally over the morning sickness and she felt like eating. She got out of bed, slipped on her robe and went to the kitchen, where she found Eric mixing something in a bowl.

"Good Morning, Eric. What are you up to?" She said.

Eric looked at her and grinned. "Morning, Elizabeth. I woke with a hankering for pancakes. I hope you don't mind that I made myself at home in your kitchen."

"Not at all." She put a kettle on the stove to make tea for herself.

"Do you feel like some breakfast?" Eric asked as he set the pancake batter down on the counter to rest for a few minutes.

"Yes I am and pancakes sound delicious." She sat down at the table. Even though she wasn't nauseous she felt very tired this morning. Must be the excitement from the day before.

Eric noticed how tired his sister looked. "How are you feeling?"

"I am just tired today. I think the excitement from yesterday has gotten to me, but I wouldn't trade the day for anything."

"Nor would I." Eric gave her a kiss on her cheek. "I still find it hard to believe that I was found and have found you again. When I started to remember things, I spent a lot of time wondering where you were now. Thankfully Bill had showed up looking for me and told me everything about your life now. I was glad to hear that you were not in Hamilton, that you have found happiness and love here in Hope Valley."

"Hamilton was never a place I wanted to live. Being a high society lady was never for me. When Charles came to propose to me and I turned him down, he kept saying how it didn't make sense that I would turn away from Hamilton society and all the comforts it would bring me. He refused to understand that I was happy living here, that I loved my job, that I had wonderful friends and I was hopelessly in love with Jack. He kept calling Hope Valley a dusty little no good town."

"That definitely sounds like Charles. I am so glad you turned him down. I could never see you being happy with him. Especially after seeing you and Jack together. He is hopelessly in love with you too." He squeezed her hand. "Speaking of Hamilton, I was up for a while last night and I was thinking about the family. I think we should send a telegram home, despite how things were with Father."

"I was actually going to talk to you about that today. I agree that we should send work to Mother and Father. There is something we should talk about though."

"Is it about Father coming here to try and drag me back to Hamilton and join him in the business? If so, I am going to stand my ground and tell him I am staying here. Hopefully I will have that job at the saw mill by then."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Father does business with the saw mill."

"He does? Oh, well. I still want to work for the mill. It's not like Father is going to move his whole business out here. He would never leave Hamilton."

"That is true. From what I understand, the mill here only supplies wood for a couple of his customers in Vancouver. He uses mills that closer to Hamilton for his other clients."

"I can deal with that." Eric said as he stood up from the table. "Are you ready for the pancakes?"

"You bet I am." She said. "After we eat, we can go into town to send the telegram. We should also send one to Julie. If you want, I can introduce you to some of the people and maybe we go for lunch at the café. We may be able to get Jack to join us."

"That sounds like a great plan." Elizabeth went to grab a piece of paper so they could write the telegrams while they ate their breakfast.

Dear Mother and Father,

This message is going to come as a complete shock to you.

Eric is alive and he is staying with Jack and me.

He is going to get a job and settle in Hope Valley.

More to follow in a letter

Love, Beth

Dear Julie,

I have some exciting news for you, Little Sister!

Eric is alive!

He is going to settle down here in Hope Valley.

Hope we get to see you at Christmas!

Love, Beth

A couple of hours later, the siblings began their walk into town. They were stopped a few times by people wondering who the man was walking with the married school teacher. Elizabeth was quick to explain the story without going into much detail. Once they had the telegrams sent, they walked to the jail.

Elizabeth opened the door and walked in, pleased to see Jack at his desk. "Hi, Handsome Mountie!"

Jack looked up from his desk and a huge smile grew on his face. "Hi, Sweetheart! It's so good to see you!" He then noticed Eric. "Hello, Eric! Is Elizabeth showing you the town?"

"Yes, she is. I have met some of the people too."

"Jack," Elizabeth said. "Do you have time to join us for lunch at the café?"

"Of course I do. I was just finishing up a report and was going to head over. My stomach has been growling for about twenty minutes now." He reached for his hat and they all walked of the jail and headed to the café.

As they walked inside, Abigail was in the dining room clearing off a table. The café was unusually empty for 12:30. She looked up and smiled as she saw her best friend and company. "Hi, Elizabeth. I am so glad you came in with Jack and Eric. Are you here for lunch?"

Elizabeth returned the smile. "Yes, we are here for lunch. Is something going on today? You aren't usually this empty at this time of day."

"I was busy from about 11:30 to just a few minutes ago. Guess people were hungry early. It's better for you though. You won't have people asking you questions about Eric. Although I did hear you have been introducing him to some of the folks."

"Yes I did." Elizabeth left it at that.

"I have beef stew and chicken and dumplings for lunch today. I know Jack will have the beef stew since it's his favorite but would you and Eric like?"

Elizabeth thought it over for a moment. She knew the chicken would be lighter but her mouth began to water when she heard there was beef stew. She decided to go for it. "I would love to have the beef stew."

"Make it three." Eric said as he smiled at Abigail.

"Coming right up."

They enjoyed lunch together with Abigail sitting with them. Elizabeth and Eric shared stories about their childhood, which Abigail and Jack laughed over. When Jack got up to start his afternoon rounds, Elizabeth and Eric decided to leave as well. Both were feeling a little tired. The pair walked home as Elizabeth told her brother tales of her life after Eric had been reported missing.

Coming up in the next chapter: Reactions to the telegrams