Caleb didn't know what to feel. He'd been running from the Grants for so long, it amazed him that he was willingly going toward one of them. And it was Nathan, of all people.
Nathan had always been pretty clear that he thought Colleen had made a bad marriage, and Caleb had no argument for that. He had no idea why that beautiful, smart, fiery woman loved him. But she did.
The day he'd met her he'd decided that he had to have her. She was like some kind of drug to him, and Caleb knew that he could be pretty charming when he wanted to be. He hadn't planned on marrying her, and he sure as hell wasn't ready to have a kid - but somehow, less than a year later, he had a wife and a little girl.
Caleb frowned and looked out of the train window. He watched the untouched snow in the miles of fields going by. It looked pure white enough from here, but he knew that up close it was dirty and pockmarked. Nothing was ever the way it seemed.
He missed Colleen. Caleb didn't know how that could be, since he hardly saw her once the kid was born. It was just too much for him. The crying, the diapers, Colleen tired all the time. So he'd found reasons that took him away. He figured he'd wait until Allie was old enough to fend for herself and he'd go home and have his wife on his own once in a while.
How'd that work out? Caleb thought dismally. He'd been all the way up in Fairbanks when he'd heard that she'd died. It seemed Nathan had sent messages through the Mounties to every miner's camp in the Yukon and parts north, and one of them finally got to him. He'd never responded to Nathan, but he'd taken the news hard and had lost himself in the bottle for a while until he ran out of money.
Then, the miracle had happened. When everyone else was packing up and going home with empty pockets, Caleb had found a vein that had gold hidden inside pockets of quartz. It kept him busy for quite a while, and he pulled enough money out to pay his bills and put quite a bit away to boot. He was just looking around for his next venture when he'd heard from the Mounties that Nathan was looking for him again.
This time he was much easier to find. He'd stopped drinking and now lived at a respectable boarding house in Dawson City. He was doing odd jobs so he could keep his money in the bank until he decided where he wanted to invest it. He hadn't been in a fight for a couple of months now, and he felt like he was climbing out of the hole he'd dug for himself during all those years. Caleb had a sneaking suspicion that, against all odds, he was growing up. And by a strange coincidence, he'd been uncharacteristically wondering lately if his daughter would be proud of him.
Allie. Alice Rebecca. Named for his mother and Colleen's. Now his mother was gone, following his father into a relatively early grave, which was another reason Caleb was beginning to wonder whether he might live his life a little differently. For so long, money had been his driving force. Now he had it, and Caleb had to admit he was feeling a little adrift.
Allie. Caleb closed his eyes. He was having a hard time imagining her as something other than the red-faced, foul-smelling, constantly crying lump that Colleen carried with her everywhere. She was four and a half years old now, and Caleb had no idea what that meant. Do kids talk at four? Do they walk? He'd never paid enough attention to find out, but suddenly he found he wanted to know.
Caleb pulled out Nathan's letter and read it again for what must have been the tenth time.
Caleb Butler
Dawson City, YT
Saturday, 4th March, 1911
Caleb,
There is a matter I would like very much to discuss with you. You may not know that your daughter has been with me since just after Colleen's death, and since I've been unable to find you, I was named her Legal Guardian in a Court of Law last summer.
Beyond the legalities, I love her very much, and wish to continue raising her. I have a job with the Mounties that will be long-term in the town of Hope Valley in Alberta. I won't be leaving here, and for the time being the Mounties find it to be a good arrangement as well. Should they change their minds, I will change my employment. I've made this my home.
I've recently married, and my wife and I would like very much to adopt Allie formally. Since we haven't heard from you in more than four years, we must assume that either you don't want to be found, or you've fallen prey to some grave misfortune.
If I don't hear back from you within a month, on 4th June, 1911, I will begin the legal process of adopting Allie, and we will list her mother as deceased and her father as permanently absent.
You can get in touch with me through the Mountie office with your assent and we will send paperwork up to be signed. Or you can ignore this message as you have all the others and a Judge will sign for you in absentia.
Nathan Grant
Constable of Hope Valley
Alberta
Caleb folded the letter and leaned back. He couldn't blame Nathan. He knew he'd been a terrible husband and a worse father. The Grants never understood how he could love Colleen and never be there for her. Colleen understood, and that was all that mattered to him at the time.
Caleb didn't dislike Nathan. In truth, it was the opposite - he was deeply jealous of him. With his tall, square-jawed steadiness, you'd have thought he walked on water to talk to Colleen or her mother. Caleb just got tired of the unspoken comparisons that always crept into the glowing conversations about his brother-in-law.
Well, I'm different now, Caleb thought.
Now he had money and some self-respect, and Caleb knew better than anyone where he'd fallen short. The biggest feeling he had was regret. If he could lie in bed with Colleen just one more time, he thought he'd give his left arm to do it.
It was too late for that. He couldn't make it up to Colleen.
But maybe he could make it up to their daughter.
Constable Nathan Grant
Hope Valley Alberta
9th March, 1911
Nathan,
I know what you think of me and you are mostly right. But I Hope that you will try to Give me another chance.
I am sure you've cared for Allie the Best you can and I thank you. I think it is Time for me to get to know my Daughter.
I will take the Train tonight and should be in Benson Hills in a Few days. I will come to Hope Valley to the Mountie office to find you.
I was wrong a lot of times. But I loved your Sister.
Caleb
Elizabeth exhaled and brushed a tear away just as it began to fall from her lower lashes. Nathan had his head in his hands with his elbows on the desk. "He sounds different," Nathan said. "That's what scares me the most." He leaned back in his chair and it protested with a high squeak. "The Caleb I knew would have been angry and threatened me." Nathan leaned forward again and picked up the short letter from where Elizabeth had dropped it on the desk. "This Caleb sounds like he wants to try to be a father." Nathan shook his head and grimaced. "I should never have gotten in touch with him."
"I still don't believe that, Nathan," Elizabeth said softly, taking both of his hands in hers across the desk. "He could have shown up any time. You're not hiding anything. You're easy to find." She squeezed his hands. "This needed to happen."
Nathan exhaled. "I know. And I suppose it's better to face it now while Allie is so young. It would be harder to pull her away from us later…"
Elizabeth watched in wonder as her husband's eyes filled just at the thought of losing Allie. Her heart breaking, she reached out across the desk and caught a tear with her thumb. "Oh, Nathan," she said softly. "What can I do?"
He ran a hand across his face and took a deep breath. "Help me to know what's right to do." He looked at her with so much pain in his eyes that Elizabeth walked around his desk and stood next to him in the chair, folding him into her arms. He laid his head on her breast and tried to concentrate on her soft, steady heartbeat, and he breathed with her for a long moment. It always soothed him and it was no different now. Elizabeth was his calm center.
Nathan looked up at her. "It will be what it will be," he said. Then unconsciously, he placed his head lower, on Elizabeth's abdomen. They both knew he was taking some measure of comfort from the fact that, even if the worst came to the worst with Allie, there was another life growing there.
Abigail heard noises outside the front door and looked up at the clock. "Goodness! I'm five minutes late opening!" She stood quickly and put her apron on while she talked to Clara. "We'll have lots of time to finish that conversation with you living here." Abigail grinned and came back to hug Clara. "And I'm so glad you are."
The front door rattled and Abigail pulled away. "They'll be wanting their coffee. Five minutes is like five hours to that crew." Abigail started to go toward the door when she saw Clara putting on one of the aprons that hung from the pegs. "What are you doing?"
"I'm helping you," Clara said, matter-of-factly. "I need to earn my keep somehow." She gave Abigail a dazzling smile, and both women stood a little taller. Abigail linked arms with her and they walked down the aisle to the front door.
"Together," Abigail said, happily, as she unlocked the door. She and Clara stood aside as the men, mostly the Saturday workmen from the Coulter Mill, rushed to find their favorite tables. The same tables, and the same orders every day. There were a few women who sat down by the pot-bellied stove for warmth and as far away from the raucous men as possible.
Last through the door was Mike Hickam, and Clara realized quickly that he had his own table as well, which made sense since he was the manager of the mill now. While they'd sat at the kitchen table at Nathan and Elizabeth's, he'd told her about his boss and what had happened, and about how he was now in charge until Mr. Coulter came back.
She smiled at him and he smiled back. "Coffee?" Clara asked, her eyes sparkling.
Mike nodded and then raised his eyebrows and leaned toward her. "So I take it everything went okay? Abigail wasn't mad?"
Clara laughed softly. "Oh, no, she's wonderful. Not mad at all." Clara looked around at the now-full cafe and realized that there were a lot of people wanting her attention. She leaned down and said conspiratorially, "I'll tell you later."
Mike had to take a deep breath just at the sound of that. "I'd like that. When do you get off work?"
Laughing as she turned, Clara said, "I have no idea. I just started five minutes ago!"
Mike said quickly, "I was thinking that you might like a tour of Hope Valley… since you're new here… and I…" Mike was rapidly losing steam. It had sounded so much better in his head early this morning.
Clara smiled brightly. "I'd love that," she said. "Let me help some of these people and I'll come back."
Mike just beamed at her and nodded back. His eyes never left her as she walked down the path between the tables taking orders. It was a little like watching her at the train station in Benson Hills, but so much better. Because Clara was no longer a fantasy. She was real.
Fred Burnham woke with a start from a fitful sleep aboard the Canadian Pacific Railway's bumpy ride down the route from the Yukon to Alberta. He was disoriented, and it took him a moment to remember why he was even on the train.
Caleb Butler.
That's right. He'd been following Butler for some time, just waiting for him to take his money out of the safety deposit box, and finally he'd done it. Went in and out of the Dawson City Bank and then straight to the train station. Before he'd known it, Burnham had purchased a ticket and followed him on board without so much as a toothbrush.
That wouldn't matter once he got his money. He could buy a thousand toothbrushes.
Fred knew that Caleb had cheated in the card game where he'd lost his land. He just couldn't prove it. So he'd watched and waited while Caleb had worked the rock and found nothing for months and months. But then, he'd watched him go into the Assay Office and go straight to the bank and Fred knew that he'd hit something.
Over and over, he'd watched him. He thought about ambushing him on his way to have the gold valued, but that would only get him a days-worth of the claim, and Fred knew he deserved it all. So he'd been patient and waited until Butler finally took money out instead of putting it in.
Butler was three cars ahead of him on the train. Fred heard him buy a ticket to Benson Hills in Alberta, and that's where they would both exit the train in two days. He didn't have any idea why Butler was going to Benson Hills, and he didn't care. He'd have to get a hotel room, and then Fred would wait until Caleb was asleep and he would get his revenge.
Reaching into his coat pocket, Fred felt for the hilt of the knife. He wrapped his fingers around it and closed his eyes, imagining again his quiet entry to Caleb's room, using the pillow to cover his nose and mouth, the silent thrust to the heart, turning the knife to allow the blood to flow freely, and then waiting until his struggle ceased and Fred could leave the room with the knapsack that held the money that had been stolen from him. Simple.
Fred had waited ten long months for this. Finally he would get what was coming to him, and no one was going to stop him.
