Part 1: Chapter 45: 1888: Winnipeg,
Nate Becomes the Beacon of Fairness
Over the next three days, the family, with the exception of Edith, came back everyday to say goodbye and give their love to the Harrises and Wainscotts. While Agatha was never around when the family was, she always had left her presence known with Regina's favorite flowers. Ophelia had pointed out the flowers everyday commenting on how nice they looked, and how Regina must be enjoying them.
The last night as everyone was packing for the train ride back to Red Deer, Nate couldn't find his toy General. This led to a massive man hunt of the large house and the grounds, but Nate's beloved toy was nowhere to be found. The last place Ophelia could remember seeing the toy was in the mausoleum earlier that day. So, James volunteered to take Nate to the mausoleum to see if the toy horse was there.
As the carriage turned into the pathway towards the mausoleum, Nate watched a woman in a traveling coat pull at the newly applied locks, and bend her head to the doors in sadness. Just before she realized that where she was, was the carriage's destination. She stood erect, looked around to her left and right, but realized she had nowhere to go. She took in a deep breath to fortify her nerves and turned around.
James had stiffened in his seat when he saw the woman.
"Who's that, Uncle James?" Nate asked, pointing to the woman.
James sighed and narrowed his eyes.
"Someone who knew Regina," James replied.
"Why didn't she come to her funeral?" Nate asked.
James picked Nate up and walked to the door.
"That is an excellent question, although her answer is something to be desired," James glared at her.
Agatha just stood in silence as she stepped away from the door.
"Why are there locks on the doors? They weren't here before," Nate pointed out as he watched his uncle take out the keys.
"To stop unwanted people from going in," James replied as he took off the lock and chain and opened the heavy marble door. They took a few steps inside. James put Nate down so that he could light some of the lanterns inside.
"Aren't you coming in?" Nate asked back to Agatha as she hadn't entered with them.
Agatha shook her head.
"Why not?" Nate said as he sat beside her.
Agatha didn't say anything but looked back at James.
"Uncle James won't mind. You're a friend of Auntie Gina's," Nate said kindly.
"I know for a fact that he does," Agatha said, but gave a kind look back.
"Nate," James said firmly from inside.
Nate didn't move.
"Nathan Grant!" James reprimanded.
Nate just turned his blue eyes to his uncle and narrowed them much like his mother did when she is cross and figuring something bad out.
"Uncle James!" Nate said in his own shock and reprimand. "You can't keep the locks on the doors!"
"Why not?" James asked.
"Because what if someone who isn't bad wants to visit? What if we want to visit and you're not with us? You're locking out the good people to stop the bad people," Nate said in his longest sentence spoken in front of a stranger.
Both James and Agatha were stunned at this.
James was struggling internally with all of this.
"Would Harris and Auntie Gina want to be locked away?" Nate asked. "I didn't like it last year. I can't imagine them being okay with it. You and Auntie Edith have always made sure my doors aren't locked since then."
James visibly flinched at the reminder. He sighed heavily, before shaking his head as answer to the question.
"No, they wouldn't," James admitted.
Nate gave him a smile back.
"So, the locks will stay off?" Nate asked.
"Yes, the locks will stay off. Now, we have a toy to find," James reminded him.
Nate stood up and held his hand out to Agatha.
Agatha looked at him in surprise.
Nate just smiled up at her.
She took it. Nate walked her over to the tombstones.
"This is my Uncle Nathan, Harris' father. I never met him, but Mama says he was a good person," Nate pointed to his uncle's spot.
"I met him a few times," Agatha admitted in a whisper.
Nate and James both looked at her in surprise.
"What was he like?" Nate asked.
"We don't have a lot of time for me to go into detail about that. But here is what you need to know: I encouraged their relationship, and your mother did a good job in naming you," Agatha said.
Nate beamed at her.
James was shaking his head and caught the toy horse in his peripheral vision.
"Nate, I found what we came here for," James said as he picked up the horse and showed it to Nate.
Nate smiled brightly.
"General," Nate said with relief, before grabbing the toy and hugging him tightly.
Nate then walked outside of the mausoleum and waited for his uncle on the steps of entrance.
"Regina wrote about them. She mentioned that this family, but especially Nate, acts like a lighthouse to those who can self-reflect and change their ways. She was right. I've never seen you change your mind so quickly," Agatha whispered.
James gave her an inquisitive look.
"Society James was stubborn, bull headed, and very black-and-white. There were only two sides to a position," Agatha pointed out.
James nodded at that deduction.
"To be honest, early soldier James was also the same way. I've never been very good at seeing the middle ground," James admitted.
"And yet Nate got you to see and agree to it in five minutes," Agatha pointed out.
James nodded.
"And I probably would have left the locks on had he not been here," James also admitted.
Agatha nodded.
"Agatha, I am still angry with you about how you're handling Regina and Harris. I can't say that I will have Edith send you letters, or that I will outwardly seek your friendship. But I won't make it harder for you, or anyone, to visit their graves if the mood comes upon you. I will have a guard, that will stay because there is too much money, and Richard has proven that he doesn't care about desiccating graves, but they won't block true grievers paths and the locks will stay off the doors," James said.
"I understand why you are angry, and to be honest, I would be more surprised if you weren't. But thank you for the change in heart," Agatha said as they walked out.
They said good-bye on the steps of the mausoleum. Nate waving good-bye from his uncle's arms.
Ophelia gave James the same glare Nate had given him at the mausoleum once they were back, and James had explained what had happened. The entire family was looking at him in shock (he hadn't told anyone about the locks or guard). But Ophelia's stern glare with folded arms, sent the same look of shame and guilt into his body that Nate had sent earlier.
"Nate already gave me that same glare, and I expect the lecture as well," James said as he met Ophelia's chocolate eyes.
Her eyes narrowed.
"I would hope so! Someone had to correct you. But you're also forgetting that the mausoleum is a FAMILY place. The WHOLE FAMILY should have been part of your decision process," Ophelia reprimanded.
James nodded at that as well.
"That was also wrong of me. I can only say that being around Society so much this past year, has had me go into old and bad habits, I had thought I had gotten rid of," James explained.
"Well, if that is Society James, I don't care much for him," Archie gave him a look.
"I don't either. I didn't then. Which is partially why I became a soldier. No better playing field than a battlefield to make the men equal," James said.
They all looked at him with their own stern glares.
"I am sorry," James added.
They all gave him one last look. None were sterner than Ophelia's, but she eventually uncrossed her arms and nodded in satisfaction.
"Don't let it happen again," Ophelia said.
James nodded back.
Archie smiled at him and stuck out his hand for a handshake. James took.
"We all still have a lot to do before our train ride tomorrow," Ophelia pointed out.
They all nodded in agreement and kept to their preparations.
It was with a lot of luggage that the family made it to the train station in Winnipeg early the next morning. The Grants were still sitting in the regular seats. Edith and James were in a compartment.
They spent the days of travel fairly well. It was Constable Wiggins who met them at the train station in Red Deer with two wagons to help with all of the luggage. It was into the evening that the family had returned in their mourning black clothes. The carriage left the station first with Edith, Rachel, Sally, and Molly inside. James was driving it. The Grants and Constable Wiggins followed with the carriages, one driven by Archie, one driven by Wiggins. The family had agreed to spend their first night back in the Normandeaus' home. This was so that they could unpack and figure out where the children's birthday presents were going to be stored.
Most of the books, half of their new clothes, and Colleen's dollhouse and art supplies were staying with the Normandeaus.
James would ride out with the Grants the next morning to help get them settled as Edith recovered from more traveling than she was used to, but also to look over the house and yard and help with repairs. As they were all on the long stretch of road to their house, everyone had bated breath, hoping, but barely, that nothing had happened to their house since they had left.
"What is that?" Archie said as he squinted his eyes in the distance.
James looked as well, then smiled.
"It's a sign!" Colleen said happily.
And she was right. On a large sheet stretched to make a banner, the Clarke family had written out "Welcome Home, Grant Family!" and there were several handprints from the various family members.
"This is a much better 'welcome home'," Archie said with a smile.
They were even more surprised, when the entire Clarke family along with Wiggins in civilian clothes came out of the house and started cheering and clapping.
Archie pulled their wagon to a stop at the front door.
"What are you all doing here? Isn't school still in session?" Ophelia asked.
"It is, but we figure that since Ms. Fletcher's method of teaching can only loosely be called teaching, we told her that we needed the girls for important family business today," Emily explained.
"We're here to help with whatever you need help with," Kevin said as he shook Archie's hand.
The families just hugged each other. Before the men started unloading and moving about the luggage and new items. As they were moving things upstairs, they soon began to notice a problem.
"Nate's and Colleen's things won't fit in the same room," James pointed out as they set down one of their heavier trunks and looked around the small room the siblings had shared.
Archie and Kevin both stepped up and looked around as well.
"Do you want to move one of them into the guest room?" James asked as he looked at Archie.
"I don't know if either will be okay with seperatin'," Archie explained, but had to admit that the space was limited for both.
"They'll have to separate eventually," Kevin said.
"Oh yeah, how would ya know? Pretty sure yer girls are doubled up," Archie pointed out.
"Yeah, and that's because they're girls. And I know from personal experience that the fighting gets 1000 times worse when they need space," Kevin said.
James and Archie both laughed at the look of suffering on Kevin's face.
"Don't get me wrong, I love my daughters, but I still wish we had one son to offset the female overlords," Kevin whispered.
James and Archie both laughed harder.
"We should get their input," Archie said as he gestured the men away from the door.
They walked back downstairs, then explained the problem, and the solution. Both
Colleen and Nate looked at each other and held their hands as a first instinct.
"Mr. Clarke is right in that you both need the space to grow. You've both grown quite a bit just in the last year," Ophelia pointed out.
"Nuh uh," Colleen shook her head. "We didn't grow much."
Ophelia just grabbed a ruler and pencil and marched them both upstairs to their growth markers. Colleen sighed but put her back to hers. Ophelia marked the spot. Then did the same with Nate.
Colleen had grown 3 inches. Nate had grown 4 inches, and while they hadn't noticed it before, Colleen had to look up at him.
"But we've always slept in the same room!" Colleen protested.
"Not at first," Ophelia said.
Colleen glared back.
"Ya wouldn't leave his room," Archie explained.
Colleen just pouted, crossed her arms, and tapped her toe.
"You'll be able to have your own space. Your own decorations," James added as he bent down to look Colleen in the eye. "I also bet that with a little persuasion from a united front, we can convince your parents to let Auntie Edith and I help pay for new paints."
Both Nate and Colleen looked excited at that.
When they turned to look at the Grant parents, all three of them were looking eagerly at Ophelia and Archie.
Ophelia was glaring at James.
"We will only move into our own rooms, if we can paint it the way we want it," Colleen stated firmly.
Archie was laughing at watching Ophelia's struggle with the situation.
"I feel like this is giving into little terrorists, but since you need to move into separate rooms anyway," Ophelia said.
The others smiled.
"Who's getting the new room?" Kevin asked.
The family went silent again.
It was decided that since Nate was going to be a lot bigger than Colleen and the guest room was slightly bigger, that he would get the bigger room.
The family went about unloading what they could and putting what they could in their proper places. James and Archie were making a list of repairs they would need to complete before Archie would have to work every day except Sunday.
They made plans to meet up after school and work the next day, so that the children could pick their bedroom colors.
Sorry about the short chapter, but the following events don't fit well with these! Thanks for the positive feedback!