Part 1: Chapter 35: 1887: Red Deer, Alberta,

Leaving Winnipeg

"Remember today's secret code language is French," Edith said firmly and with a soft whisper to the children.

Archie and Ophelia had taken to watching the lessons in the afternoon.

"I've a treasure map with clues to your buried treasure, your Uncle James has had the pleasure of hiding for me. The map and clues are in French!" Edith said with her twinkling blue eyes showing her happiness.

"Do we get to keep the treasure?" Colleen asked.

"Yes, and I am quite certain all three of you will like it," Edith said with a tease.

The three cousins immediately started looking at the map and started talking in French. They dashed past Archie and Ophelia sitting at the table, and were heard racing into the parlor.

"Edith, you amaze me," Ophelia said as she watched her two children speak in another foreign language.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was privileged with my education. Some are not. I've always loved filling gaps in learning. And really, I should be thanking you. I wouldn't be tutoring again if Nate and Colleen weren't around," Edith said as she looked at the drawings she and Colleen had worked on of the family during their stay.

"This is more than tutoring," Archie pointed out.

Ophelia nodded in agreement.

Edith blushed.

"Actually, Archie, I want to speak with you about the Irish lessons. I have some language lessons ordered from the local bookstore, but I was hoping you would agree to continue with this secret code game?" Edith asked as she took his right arm and they walked to the balcony to watch the children's treasure hunt.

"What are ya thinking?" Archie asked warily knowing that his time would be limited when they went home.

"Oh, nothing too complex or extravagant, but keeping some of your letters to Harris as part of a riddle competition with Nate and Colleen and write in Irish, of course," Edith explained as she gestured.

"I thinks I can manage that," Archie agreed.

Edith beamed at him and gave him a hug in thanks.

James and Regina both came over to them to see what had the children so excited and had seen the hug Edith gave Archie.

"She's suckered you into something, hasn't she?" Regina teased.

"Keeping up the Irish language lessons long distance," Archie admitted.

"You don't HAVE to, you know." Edith defended herself.

Archie and James just laughed.

"Just like, I didn't HAVE to bury a buried treasure on the grounds," James said.

"Or, I didn't HAVE to age paper wit' tea," Archie added.

"Or, I didn't HAVE to find the exact bookstore that had the exact materials you want," James said.

Edith gave them both a glare.

"Yer a force to be reckoned with, Edith. I've learned to just go with the flow,"Archie teased.

"Well you're a fast learner then, Archie," Regina complemented.

"I learned that wit me wife," Archie said with all the love he had for his wife. Ophelia glared at him.

"See," Archie whispered.

The group laughed.

"Well, if Edith and I are such forces of nature, we are going to go to go find the children and watch them without the commentary," Ophelia said as she held out her arm for Edith to hold. Edith took it and the two women were discussing something with their heads pressed together. Whatever they were saying put smiles on both their faces, although it was hard to tell with Edith.

"That is something I thought I wouldn't ever see again," Regina admitted softly.

"Hmm?" Archie asked, but James understood her point.

"Edith having someone to confide in and laugh with. Ophelia and Edith remind us of how Edith was before she got hurt," James explained.

Regina nodded in agreement.

"That's part of the reason we've embraced all of you," James admitted.

"How's things going with Richard?" Archie asked as he hadn't been part of the team looking into Regina's dowry.

"Not well," Regina frowned.

"Richard is claiming that there's some little subsection that has given him entitlement to her dowry, which is what she's been living on," James explained.

"Not just living on. It's how we increase it as well. I have a friend who's invested for me very successfully," Regina winked. "When Richard and I separated in Sicily, we said that we would live off our own fortunes. I wouldn't ask for his if he wouldn't ask for mine."

"Which worked until Richard partied his away," James added.

"Was it a gentleman's agreement, or was this written down somewhere?" Archie asked.

"We signed a paper," Regina said.

James gave her a look.

"THAT is the one we need!" James reprimanded.

"It wasn't notarized or made by a lawyer," Regina added.

"Doesn't matter. If we have written proof that Richard agreed to keep away from your money," James said with a sigh. "Do you know where you kept it?"

Regina gave him a blank look.

"I don't remember what I did with it, after putting it into a file in Sicily," Regina said sheepishly.

"How much of your things were brought over?" James asked.

"Not much," Regina admitted.

"We'll look here for it to begin with, but I need lists of EVERY single place you have ever been with a file that even remotely looked like it," James added.

Regina nodded. They had been following Edith and Ophelia outside while discussing the situation with Richard and finally caught up with them. Harris, Nate, and Colleen were very close to finding the treasure.

"What's happened?" Edith asked as she saw the look of frustration, but also saw that James felt he had found something important.

"Archie helped us find a lead with Richard," James smiled as he patted Archie's back.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Edith exclaimed.

Ophelia smiled with pride at Archie.

"Well, we'll see, the lead may still be in Sicily," Regina said with embarrassment.

"In Sicily?" Edith said back.

"An agreement we made when we separated," Regina said.

"How long ago was that?" Edith asked.

"Harris was four," Regina said as she watched her teenage son eagerly searching for buried treasure with Nate and Colleen.

"Edith, you're a miracle worker. Harris always drags his feet on language days," Regina complemented.

"I don't think I had much to do with that. All three of them are very curious about things. It makes tutoring them so much easier. And since Nate and Colleen are so young, I hope they can keep at least conversational levels. All of them are smart, but Nate seems advanced for his age," Edith admitted.

Ophelia and Archie looked at her.

"It's how much you read to them," Edith said firmly.

"Or it's how much ya TEACH them," Archie said back.

"I tutor," Edith responded gently.

"We didn't come up with code games in foreign languages," Ophelia said back.

"I only work on skills they already had," Edith said firmly. "You laid down the basics."

"And then ya bloomed a garden," Archie said.

"MAMA! PAPA! Nous avons trouvé le trésor!" Colleen waved energetically for the adults to come where the three were all smiling in satisfaction. The adults all approached where James had hidden the treasure with smug looks. Harris was holding the clues for each location. Nate was holding a trowel which they had used to dig into a garden that hadn't been created yet. Colleen was holding the box of treasures.

"I see that all of you worked together with your roles assigned perfectly," James teased the group. Nate had the most dirt on him, and was still sitting in the dug out hole. The kids each beamed at the compliment.

"What did ya find?" Archie asked.

"We wanted to wait for all of you to open it," Harris explained as he looked fondly at his cousins, who had become like siblings over their time together.

"Well open it, then," Regina encouraged with a twinkle in her eye at Colleen.

Colleen opened the box to find three bags of Ophelia's sugar cookies decorated to look like coins.

"This is the best treasure ever!" Colleen said with happiness as she passed one to Harris and one to her mother.

"Why didn't you give it to Nate?" Regina asked her.

Nate gave her a messy smile, "I dirty. Need wash first!"

"We should all wash up first," Harris agreed, handing his own bag to Regina and Colleen handed hers to Ophelia.

"Let's race back," Harris suggested.

Nate, Colleen, and Harris all stopped at a line and then took off running. Harris stayed at pace with them and was giving them sass and encouragement.

Their family all watched their retreating figures with amusement and surprise. Then they all laughed as they walked into the house behind them.


"Why can't you stay?" Regina asked with emotion as they were all gathered around for their last night together.

"Because Archie could only get three weeks off. When we get back it will be the end of those weeks," Ophelia responded.

Archie nodded.

"You're going back for your job?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, most of us need to work for a livin'," Archie said tersely.

"Find work here. Or better yet just live here with us, I am not at all adverse to having you all live here too," Regina pleaded softly.

"Red Deer is our home, Regina. And it's where Edith and James will be returning once everything is settled," Ophelia reminded her.

"I'm not good sitting around all day," Archie admitted.

"I didn't really think you would go for it, but I had to try! We've gotten used to having you around. Harris has acted more his age playing with his young cousins," Regina said as she pointed to the trio playing knights and dragon.

"We'll miss all of you too," Ophelia said as she hugged Regina.

Regina batted away the tears forming in her eyes.

As it was the last night spent with each other before the Grants would be back on their train to Red Deer, it had been decided by the adults that each child would get to spend one-on-one time with each departing adult (although Regina bowed out of her own due to her cancer flaring that evening). The first rotation was Colleen and James, Nate and Edith, and Ophelia with Harris.

Colleen had asked him to dance with her. So, he had used the victrola with some records and danced around the room with her on his feet.

Edith and Nate were just sitting in Edith's parlor as they listened to the music echoing upstairs. Edith had Nate in her lap and they were just cuddling. But what made this truly special was that Edith had taken off her wig and veil. She wanted to spend time with Nate the way they had when they first met.

Ophelia and Harris were in a private room talking about Nathan.

"Thank you for spending time with me," Harris said at the end of that time.

Ophelia raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"Harris, if you ever want to spend time with any of us, you are more than welcome!" Ophelia added. "Nathan would be so proud of you, and he would tell complete strangers all about it!"

"You think?" Harris asked in hesitation.

"I know," Ophelia smiled at him.

The second rotation was Colleen and Edith, Harris and Archie, and Nate and James.

Colleen and Edith were working on a surprise for the family. But Edith had kept her veil and wig off.

Harris and Archie went fishing in the pond one last time. Harris used this time to ask Archie about things he couldn't ask his mother, and Uncle James had been too busy for.

Nate and James were heading to the stables to feed and ride General one last time. Nate's pockets were brimmed with carrots since it would be a while before they would be reunited. Nate was walking at James' side as they approached. But he walked faster once General's nose appeared.

"General!" Nate said in happiness as he hugged the long nose.

General whinnied in greeting and then started sniffing Nate's pockets, before licking one right out of them.

"Really? We're the law and here you are stealing," James glared at his horse in reprimand.

"He knows they're for him," Nate said in defense as he had scratched General's ears. James shook his head at the two of them. Then he went to saddle his horse, something they were both looking forward to as it had been some time since he had been able to. James expertly grabbed Nate and put him on General. Nate expertly grabbed the horn as James got on behind him. They took a riding path around the gardens and past the pond where Archie and Harris were fishing, each group waved at the other. James instructed General to go a little faster than normal once they were out of sight. Nate's giggles were the only thing he needed to hear.

Once the groups converged again in Edith's parlor, with Regina sitting in her robe, she looked at Edith in surprise for her being without a cover. Everyone else went about without questioning it. Edith and Colleen unveiled their surprises. They had used Colleen's drawing lessons to draw family portraits. Colleen's was obviously more like a kids drawing, but Edith had drawn realistic forms of them. So they had been working on a larger family portrait with everyone in it. Harris, Colleen, and Nate were laying on the ground smiling. Edith was sitting in a chair to the left (with her wig and veil). James was behind her in his uniform. Regina was sitting on a chair near left center, and looking very sophisticated. But behind her was a tall man who had twinkling chocolate eyes and thick brown hair. He was wearing a midshipman's uniform. Next to him, were Ted and Wilma smiling in happiness. Next to them was Archie who was standing behind Ophelia. Labeled in elegant cursive was The Normandeau-Harris-Grant Family.

"Oh, Edith," Ophelia said in awe of the drawing.

"How did you know what Nathan looked like?" Regina asked as he looked at the picture of how Nathan had looked when they had met.

"Ted and Wilma had a photo of him when he joined the ship. I borrowed it to create this," Edith said softly.

"That is EXACTLY how I remember him," Regina said with tears as she reached out to squeeze Edith's hands.

"And you put yourself in it this time," Ophelia said with a smile.

"The only time you'll convince me to do so," Edith said.

"We'll see," Ophelia smirked back.

"I know that technically Harris and Regina are Wainscotts, but I just couldn't bring myself to put Richard's last name on our family portrait, so I made them part of the Harris family as they would have been if Nathan had lived," Edith said with embarrassment.

"No one needed that explained," Archie teased.

"I know that it's too big and fragile to carry home in your house, but I wanted you all to see it before you go back. To remind you that you're part of our family now," Edith said simply as she looked around the people in the room.

Ophelia wrapped her shoulders around her.

"I don't know how we will go without seeing you so often," she said as she hugged her hard.

"Oh that is the same here. Hopefully, we won't need to stay too much longer," Edith said.


"Here are your tickets. We purchased a sleeper cabin, and some money for food," James said handing an envelope to Archie. Archie opened it.

"That's a lot of money!" Archie protested.

"Emergency funds, just in case something happens," James explained. "Feel free to hold onto whatever you don't use until we get back. Or use it for whatever."

Archie sighed and nodded before taking out the train tickets and putting the rest in his coat pocket.

Due to the early hour of their departure, James was the only one at the train station to drop them off, but they had used Regina's car and driver again, to take them to the station.

"Constable Wiggins should be at the train station in Red Deer to help you with your things. He will have our wagon attached to Galileo," James added.

Archie nodded.

"That should be everything, I think. Safe travels," James said as he pulled Colleen's pigtail.

Colleen glared at him through a bleary eye, but she waved back.

Nate was sleepy in his mother's arms.

"Thanks for your generosity once again," Ophelia said.

"It's our pleasure!" James smiled.

He helped them get settled on the train and then exited it to wave goodbye from the platform.

"Bye, Uncle Norman!" Colleen said through the window as the train started moving out of the platform.

They waved until they couldn't see each other anymore.

"Why isn't Uncle Norman coming with us?" Colleen asked as she sat on the bench.

"He still needs to help your Aunt Regina with her problem," Ophelia answered.

"Why couldn't we stay?" Colleen asked sleepily.

"Because your Dad needs to go back to work," Ophelia said softly.

Colleen nodded, then fell asleep on the bench. Nate was already out in her arms.

The train ride back to Red Deer was uneventful even if they felt like they were missing a part of their family with James not there. The family used the down time to write James, Edith, Regina, and Harris letters, read books, explore, play games, and sleep. They would be getting back into Red Deer in the evening of the last day of Archie's three weeks off. When the train was pulling into the Red Deer train station, Ophelia was holding Nate and Colleen. Colleen saw Constable Wiggins first.

"Look there he is, and he has Galileo! Hi!" Colleen waved enthusiastically from her mother's arms. Constable Wiggins smiled and tipped his hat. When the train stopped, he and Archie made quick work of their trunks and piled them into the back of the wagon.

"I hope all of you had a safe trip," Constable Wiggins said.

"It was," Archie agreed then got into the driver's spot and was about to lead Galileo away.

"Do you need some help to get your things in at your home?" Constable Wiggins asked.

"Would ya?" Archie asked, knowing it was completely out this man's way.

"Of course. Constable Wurthers was supposed to work your farm animals like normal. Can't say if he DID as I was getting Galileo and the trunk ready, but we can always hope," Wiggins said as he rode his horse next to the wagon.

Ophelia noticed that the man wasn't really hopeful about this Wurthers.

Colleen and Archie started a conversation with Wiggins, while Nate and Ophelia both were sitting quietly observing the landscape. Nate stiffened in her arms and he let out a gasp of surprise just before Ophelia noticed what he had.

"Archie...Archie isn't that our house?!" Ophelia asked in surprise pointing down the length of their yard. The yard was covered in chicken feathers and the pigs were not in their pens. The barn door was wide open. And all of their windows were broken in and the shutters weren't covering them, the way they had left them.

Archie and Constable Wiggins both followed her finger, and both gasped in surprise. Constable Wiggins rode ahead of them to see what had happened. Once he cleared the barn, he went inside and did a quick sweep of the house, but the people who made this mess weren't here anymore.

"Don't touch anything, unless it is in your wagon! I need to go back to the fort and get help," Wiggins demanded as he jumped on his horse and galloped away.

The Grants nodded in understanding, but looked at the mess of their house and yard from what they could see.

"Mama, who would do something like this?" Colleen whispered.

"Bad people, my dear," Ophelia said, simply trying not to cry in front of her children.


Thanks for the positive feedback. I don't speak any language except English; so, I get my translations from Google.