Chapter 57

Spring time is Here

It had been a very long winter, and spring was finally right around the corner. Things and people were making Hope Valley their home. Rosemary had opened her dress shop right after New Years and it seemed to be a success. Nathan Grant and his niece, Allie had become memebers of the town right after Christmas and Lee and Rosemary were officially a couple now.

Today, Friday, was the last day of school before spring vacation next week.

"So,boys and girls, your homework for the spring break is to write a 500 wordd essay on what or who is an inspiration to you. It can be a person or something special and it won't be due until a week from Monday. So don't worry if you aren't sure what to write about yet, you will think of something. Be safe and have a great vacation.

"Miss Thatche, her is the book that you lent me. The 10 yr old girl handed her back the book, Little Women. I really enjoyed it! Thank you for letting me borrow it." Elizabeth invited her newest student to walk to town with her.

"Your very welcome Allie, I really love to see my students enjoying the classics. I wanted to tell you, that you are doing a great job catching up with all the assignments in school. I know that it hasn't been easy." They were just coming into town and they both saw Nathan waving at them.

"Hi Uncle Nathan!" Allie ran and jumped into his arms.

"Hey there Elizabeth, how are you? Jack wanted me to tell you, if I saw you, if you could meet him at the restaurant whenever you got done with school." Nathan smiled at her and was just so thankful that she was Allie's teacher.

"Thanks Nathan, I'm doing well. I'll head over there now, thank you for telling me." She told them both goodbye and hurried toward the restaurant. Walking inside, her eyes scanned the room for Jack. Finally she saw him in the far corner at a table. Heading over to him, Abigail caught her eye and waved.

"Is this seat taken Sheriff?" Looking up, he gave her one of his grins that she loved so much. He jumped up and pulled out her chair for her.

"Hey I ordered us some hot chocolate, just because I know that you love it so much. Jack reached out and started to tickle her. She started giggling uncontrollable and begged him to stop in between giggles. I have plans to go check out a parcel of land today that I've had my eye on for awhile for the ranch. Would you be interested in coming with me to check it out? We can take Rip and Scout if you like, I'm sure they could use the exercise."

"I would love to go with you, let me just get the check." Elizabeth started to get up, but Jack let her know that Abigail had said that it was her treat today.

"That's nice of her, she is such a good friend. You are right about Rip and Scout ha ha. That snow storm that we had in March had them cooped up for weeks. So I say yes to taking them along! Are you about ready?" They both got up, waved at and thanked Abigail as they headed out the door. They decided to pick up Scout first and then grab Rip on their way out of town. The parcel of land was actually within walking distance of town. As soon as they got to her house, she opened the door and their sat her little buddy in his cage. He was just about potty trained but she was keeping him in his cage until the start of next week. Grabbing his leash, she opened the door and she let Scout outside. Seeing Jack, who had quickly become his friend, ran over to him. Scout was so happy to see him, somehow he knew as soon as they started to walk towards totown, he was going to see Rip. They started to walk into town, and stopped in front of the jail.

"Let me go inside to grab him, we'll be right back. When Jack went inside, Elizabeth picked up Scout so that she could get some snuggles. In return, she got lots of kisses all over the face. However, as soon as he saw the jail door open, the hugs and kisses were over:) Ok everyone are we ready?" Walking for about 25 minutes, they came to a clearing with a tremendous view. This would be a wonderful place to build a house and to start a ranch.

"Oh Jack, this is just beautiful." The view was absolutley amazing and the mountains were breathtaking. No matter what side of the house the windows would be, Jack would be able to enjoy the magnificent view of the sunrise and sunset everyday.

"You really like it?" Jack wanted her honest opinion.

"Yes why?" Elizabeth looked at him with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Because it's going to be mine. I looked at it yesterday and asked Mr. Davis if he would be able to wait until today for a final answer. I loved it as soon as I saw it, but I wanted you to have the final say. I value your opinion Elizabeth. Of course I wouldn't want you to help with any of the building but would you please help me design the inside of the house and the ranch?" Jack seemed more and more excited everytime he said something to her.

"Of course I will, thank you for asking me to help you." Elizabeth would do anything to help him. He thanked her and pulled her into his arms, and gave her a kiss that took her breath away. No one was around so it wasn't a quick kiss, it was a slow kiss that let the other know just how they felt about each other. All of a sudden, she felt a drop on her nose and Jack felt one on his head. The drops started to fall faster and bigger, and soon they were gettting soaked. Laughing, Elizabeth grabbed 4 month old Scout while Jack grabbed Rip. They figured they could run faster carrying the dogs, rather than having them follow behind. By the time they got to town, all 4 of them were soaked anyway. By the time they got to the jail, of course it had quit raining. They both looked at each other, complete with water dripping of their hair and faces, they just decided to keep going to Elizabeth's house. It was a nice warm day out so the dogs pretty much dried off by running in the sun. However, Hope Valley's Sheriff and his lady were still a bit wet. Deciding on sitting on the porch swing until they were dried off, they watched the pups playing in the yard.

"Hey Elizabeth, I wanted to ask you something. Since Nathan is here in town as deputy, I decided to take a few days off. Would you be interested in going on a camping trip with me and Rip?" Elizabeth was so happy that he felt good enough to ask her and he wasn't as nervous to talk to her as he was at .

"I would like that very much as a matter of fact." Elizabeth thought that she would keep the fact that she had never been camping a secret. Thank you so much for inviting me, when are we going?"

"I was thinking of Sunday after church, is that okay? I know that you have a week off of school, that's why I wanted to ask you. The place that I want to take you camping is actually closse to the land that I am buying, so we can walk. Although we'll still take Sergent to carry the tents and supplies." She nodded in agreement and told him that it all sounded perfect. Jack told her that he would be away the weekend, but he would pick her up at her house at 3:00 on Sunday afternoon. He then told her that he needed to go start getting things ready to go for his trip. She tried to not look sad that he couldn't stay the evening with her. He leaned over and kissed her on the nose and asked her to give him a smile. She obliged and told him goodbye. Jack went over and picked up Scout and brought him back to Elizabeth. If allowed, he would follow Rip right down the road. Taking him inside, she held onto him for a few moments. Giving him so snuggles and a kiss on his head, which was still a tiny bit wrinkly, they took a seat on the couch. She decided that they needed a quiet night at home, just her and her little buddy.

Sunday Afternoon

It was about 2:30 and she was just about ready to go. She was just waiting for Jack. She was just so excited to go on this adventure with him, and to maybe sleep under the stars. She had everything ready to go, including stuff for Scout. Jack had texted her when he got back in town and told her not to worry about food or a tent, that he would take care of those things. She heard a knock on the door finally, she had been waiting rather impatiently. Whenever she was apart from Jack, she missed him horribly. She had such a fun and special time with him everytime that they were together. He made her feel like she was someone special, not the way that Charles had made her feel her whole life.

"Woof! The sound of Scout barking and whimpering at the door brought her back to the present. Opening the door, she told him to come on in.

"We're all ready to go:) I can bring Scout with us right?" Elizabeth looked and gave Jack a puppy dog look, which made him laugh.

"Of course you can! Who else would keep Rip company? Besides we can't have this little guy spending the next few days all by himself now can we? With that he bent down to pat Scout, who was starting to get to be a big puppy. Scout loved the attention and Jack was rewarded with multiple kisses. Alright little buddy, I'm glad to see you too. Let's go put all your stuff on Sergent."

They put Elizabeth's pack, that Jack had given her to put her things in, up where it was secured. Already on there were his things, all the food and tents. Things were going to be so much fun, she was very excited.

"Alright we're all set and ready to hit the trails." Jack grabbed hold of the reins and walked in front of Sergent and guided him towards town. They started out walking towards town, waving at their neighbors. As soon as they got out of town, Jack grabbed ahold of Elizabeth's hand. She loved when Jack held her hand, it made her feel safe, protected and they came to the place where they were going to camp, Elizabeth felt the need and spoke.

"Um Jack, I think that now is the time to tell you that I have never been camping. I don't know what to bring, how to cook on a campout or never have slept in a sleeping bag." Elizabeth almost looked like she was going to cry. She was ashamed that she didn't know how much fun a campout could be.

"Hey don't worry about it:) This is going to be fun! Leave everything to me, all you need to do is just relax." He just started to unload the supplies from Sergent, while she was enjoying the scenery.

"Can I help set up the tent, I want to learn how to put it up? How about right here?" She pointed out a nice and flat spot that was clear of sticks.

"Well that normally would be a good spot, but you see these little plants with 3 leaves, that's poison ivy. I'm sure that you know what that is, so we don't want to put the tents down there." Jack grabbed another bundle and started to unwrap it, and by the looks of it, it looked like another tent.

"Why are you setting up another tent Jack?" She didn't want to assume anything, but she should have known that Jack would've thought of her needs before he asked her on the trip.

"Elizabeth, this one is your. I will always remember what you said the time that we were together. You told me that it was important to you to wait until marriage, to express the physical side of your love to a man. I want you to know that your decision is important to me as well, because all I want is for you to be happy. I don't take that promise that you have made to God and to yourself lightly, and I admire you for it." Together they put up both tents, got the fire going and unpacked everything off of Sergent. What a lovely campout they were going to have.