Part 1: Chapter 47: 1888: Red Deer, Alberta
A Somber Summer
The Grants spent as much time as possible in the Clarke house during the month of July, trying to offer help and support. Edith Normandeau was also trying to support them, but couldn't be a physical presence, although she did write a letter of courage and hope. But the longer the search went on, the less hope they had. Archie couldn't often be with them, due to his agreement with his boss, and it showed how much that he didn't like not being able to help more. But Kevin and Emily also understood Archie's position and were thankful for the help he could give.
Nate, Colleen, and Ophelia were all over when they could be, however. So, they had a firsthand look at how it was affecting the entire family. Natalie was blaming herself, knowing that as the oldest she was in charge of taking care of the younger siblings, and she left them alone. Elle and Becky were also feeling guilty. Colleen was doing what she could to try and makeup for being the one who had walked away first. Nate's own nightmares had increased again, and he wasn't getting much sleep.
Kevin worked on the family farm as much as possible, as a way to distract himself. But he was the one who was taking the kidnapping the hardest. Kathryn had been the loudest and most ornery of his daughters, and not hearing her loud laughter, loud questions, trailing after her sisters. Hell, he would even be glad to hear her loud arguments just to be able to hold her again!
It was the exact end of July, when Mr. Croft returned, and made Archie's schedule more flexible, but that was also the day that he saw James and only one of the Mounties return with a hard look about them. Archie had only seen them go into the fort before the fort was closed behind them. But Archie knew James well enough to know that things hadn't gone well.
Archie had only rode onto the road towards the Clarke farm, when the gate opened and James was back on General and the Mountie followed him out.
"Sir, with all due respect," the man said.
"Go home. You did what I asked. This task is mine," James replied tersely as he glared at the younger man.
"Sir," the man persisted.
"Don't make me order you," James growled.
The man saluted before riding out of town. James watched him ride away.
"Hello, Archie," James said before turning to him.
Archie raised his hand in greeting.
"I can't tell you anything until I speak with the Clarkes, but you're smart enough to guess at our results. Ride with me?" James said.
Archie nodded in agreement. They rode to the Clarke farm in silence.
The family all saw the return of Major Normandeau sans little Kathryn, all of them had settling feelings of despair in their stomachs.
They all went into the living room and sat. Kevin and Emily were both sitting next to each other, giving James a lost look.
James took a breath to fortify himself.
"We tracked Kathryn as far as we could. But we lost the trail in the Northern Territories. We believe that the people who wanted the children, for whatever reason, have paid enough money for the people up there to keep their mouths shut. I also think that they stopped taking her inside. A couple traveling is more inconspicuous than with a little girl with a long mark across her face. We would have continued, trying to find a trail after, but one of my Mounties was in a fight and fell from his horse hard enough to give him a nasty concussion. We needed to bring him back to his family, and we don't track, especially in those parts, alone," James said.
Emily sucked in a painful breath.
"Do you think we will ever get her back?" Kevin asked.
James looked at them.
"It is not impossible. But highly improbable," James said with regret.
Kevin nodded.
"I'm not closing the case. If we hear of anyone with the right age and markings being spoken of, I will, of course, go after her," James added.
"We have a lot to talk about," Emily said through her tears.
The Grants all stood up, as did James.
"Let us know if we can help in any way," Ophelia said.
Kevin and Emily both nodded silently.
The Grants then left the Clarkes alone in their living room.
"What do we do?" Natalie asked in a whisper.
"Do we mourn her? Do we try and get a little spot in the cemetery?" Emily asked.
"Why would we? She's still alive! And in the arms of criminals doing only God knows what to her!" Kevin yelled.
"Kevin!" Emily reprimanded.
Kevin turned his glare to his wife.
"We pray for her. We pray to God that he is merciful and has her die young. Because the longer she stays with her captors, the more evil they will do," Kevin said. "Even if she lives, they will kill her spirit. She won't be our Kathryn."
"Kevin! The girls," Emily said pointed to their three terrified daughters.
"They need to know that the real world is hard," Kevin said as he left to go outside on a long walk.
"Mama," Becky said once he had left.
Natalie and Elle both looked just as sucker punched.
"I'm sorry, Mom. It's my fault," Natalie said as she cried hard.
"This isn't anyone's fault except the people who took her," Emily said as she looked each daughter in the eye.
They all crowded around her and stayed in her arms while they processed what had happened.
Once the Grants made it to their own home, they were also having to fend off the guilt of their children.
"I'm the one who walked away first. Do you think they will still be my friends?" Colleen asked her father worriedly.
"It's not yer fault," Archie said to Colleen. Ophelia nodded in agreement.
"They were after me. If Kathryn hadn't tried to stop them," Nate said from his position with his face buried in Sirius' fur.
"That's not true, either," Archie started to say.
"They said so," Nate whispered for the first time to his parents.
Archie was stunned silent with that. He turned to his wife, who was also shocked by this admission.
"Does Uncle James know?" Archie asked.
Nate nodded before turning his tear-streaked face back into Sirius' fur again.
"Oh, no." Ophelia whispered.
Archie nodded. "He's going to try and drown himself," Archie remarked as they had seen how much this had affected him already.
And in fact, James Normandeau was actually taking much longer in his shower and bath than normal. Part of this was the fact that he hadn't showered properly in a month, but also because he was trying to figure out how to tell Edith about what had happened.
"When you're done trying to drown yourself in your bath water, your wife would like to embrace you," Edith's voice flitted through the door to the cleaning room.
James sighed as he dried off and dressed.
Edith was waiting impatiently on the other side of the door. She didn't wait for any further comment before she pulled her husband into her arms. James had missed her terribly. He always did, but he missed her gentleness the most. She didn't even flinch when he couldn't stop his tears. Eventually, they made their way to the parlor where they could talk.
"I take it it didn't go well," Edith said.
"Didn't go well is an understatement. We tracked her as far as we could before we needed to turn around due to another Mountie's health. I…I…I…almost went on anyway," James admitted quietly.
"Isn't one of your biggest rules, don't track by yourself?" Edith glared at him.
"It is, and my men knew it. But I also felt, I still feel, like I owed it to the Clarkes to do everything in my power to get Kathryn back safely," James explained.
"So, how did you end up back here?" Edith said.
"Bill Avery is more stubborn than Ophelia," James admitted with an eyebrow raise. "He flat out refused to let me leave him behind. Said, he didn't care if he got fired for breaking a direct order, that I wasn't going further into the Northern Territories without backup."
Edith gave him a slight smile.
"Well, I am glad he did," she said.
"The other Mountie is in poor shape as well. He needed to be around his family," James said softly.
Edith nodded.
"You seem to be taking this assignment a lot more personally," Edith said as she watched the tears start again.
"That's because it is."
Edith looked at him with a questioning glance.
"Nate told me before I left that the kidnappers were after him," James whispered.
Edith took in a gasp.
"Do you think it's Blinky Morgan again?" she asked in worry.
James shrugged.
"It could be. But I've pissed off a lot of different people this year alone. I do think it's someone who has a reason to be angry at me and has a vendetta. Someone is going after my family," James said.
"Maybe, we should put adoption on hold, then?" Edith whispered out tentatively.
James looked at her in hurt and shock.
"Neither of us want to put a child in harm's way. No one will attempt to go after me," Edith said.
"That's a stupid move because I would die without you," James whispered.
Edith gave him a long caress.
"Nevertheless, I'm too hard to get to. But a child would be easier to get to. They almost got Nate twice! They did get Kathryn Clarke. Your enemies know that your family is your weakness. We can't do anything about being close to the Grants, everyone already knows, but we can control the safety of any future children. It's not forever, just until it's safe," Edith whispered.
James nodded in agreement.
"That is the most ridiculous reason to put adoption on hold!" Ophelia lectured from the parlor as the family met for Sunday dinner, and the women were inside as the men were talking in the yard.
Edith gave her a look.
"Your family will never be completely safe. Even if James could quit his job right now, and do something else a lot safer, or even live off his inheritance, there are too many people angry at him for something or other and could attack him whenever. But James is too much of a soldier to quit at it, and he will continue to be one, for a long time, which means he is going to make more enemies," Ophelia pointed out.
Edith looked at her in pain and shock again.
"How is all of that NOT a reason to not adopt?" Edith asked in offense.
"Because you've proven, multiple times with Nate, that you both can protect the children you adopt. No family is completely safe, and yes there are issues with being the family of a soldier as tough as James is, but I also believe that it's not impossible, and you both would be much happier with children than without," Ophelia argued.
"Those are valid points. But I still think it would be better to keep it on hold," Edith said.
"Edith, don't let your insecurities get the best of you," Ophelia commented as a last remark.
The men had come back inside and ready for dinner.
"What are you all up to this week?" Edith asked as they started the first course.
"We're registering Nate for school," Ophelia said as she looked at her son.
"Are you excited to go to school?" Edith asked kindly.
Nate shook his head.
"Ms. Fletcher scares me," Nate said.
"She's not even his teacher yet, and he already doesn't like her," Edith said in astonishment.
"She's that bad," Archie said.
Ophelia nodded in agreement.
"Well, just know that you are a very smart boy, and you're going to do very well," Edith smiled at him.
Nate shrugged in response.
On the following Tuesday, when Ms. Fletcher started new student registration, the Grants were in a line behind some other families. They hadn't had much time to spend with the Clarkes and ended up seeing them as a family in the street near the schoolhouse.
"Hello!" Colleen greeted, but without her normal exuberance.
Emily gave a small smile. Kevin glared before stalking off.
Colleen and the rest of the Grants were all watching him in pain.
"I'm sorry. We're still not handling…well. But Kevin is the worst," Emily admitted.
The Grants all nodded in understanding.
"Anything we can help with?" Archie asked.
"Actually, can you talk to Kevin?" Emily asked. "He just keeps biting everyone's head off."
"Happy to," Archie agreed.
Emily smiled in thanks.
The Grants were finally ready to register Nate.
"Hello, Ms. Fletcher," Ophelia said kindly as they walked inside.
Ms. Fletcher looked up as they stopped and gave a critical eye to Nate.
"Full Name?" she asked with a sigh.
"Nathan Archibald Grant," Ophelia said.
Ms. Fletcher just glanced up at Archie with judgement but wrote it down.
"Age?"
"Five."
"Birthdate?"
"18th of April 1883."
"I imagine that nothing has changed from the contacts since Ms. Grant's form?"
"That's correct."
Ms. Fletcher finished writing something down.
"Alright, Mr. Grant, follow me," Ms. Fletcher showed him into a private room.
Nate looked back at his parents in fear.
"Go on, Nate," Archie encouraged.
Nate slowly followed Ms. Fletcher into the room before she shut them in it. He looked at the closing door in apprehension before his parents were blocked from view.
"Sit down, Mr. Grant," Ms. Fletcher indicated a chair across from her desk.
Nate stiffly sat down.
"Will you read the letters you know, please?" Ms. Fletcher said, pointing to the board behind her with the English alphabet.
Nate knew them all. But he couldn't force the sounds to come out of his mouth. Instead, he was looking at the board in a panic.
"What's this one?" Ms. Fletcher pointed to a 'C.'
Nate's blue eyes followed her finger. But his mouth wasn't saying anything.
"Let's try some numbers," Ms. Fletcher pointed to the list of 1-10. "Name which ones you know."
Nate knew all of them. He could add and subtract them. But his mouth wasn't opening. He was a quiet person. He only spoke if he was comfortable, and with Ms. Fletcher looking disapprovingly down at him, with her door shut, and no one in his family to give him a feeling of safety, he wouldn't talk.
Nate looked down at his hands and kicked his feet back and forth.
"Mr. Grant, please go outside while I speak to your parents," Ms. Fletcher sighed heavily as she dismissed him.
Nate followed her instructions while Ms. Fletcher asked the Grants to come into her office. Colleen could see how badly her little brother was shaken up about the time spent in Ms. Fletcher's room.
"I know she's horrible, but you've got all of us fighting for you," Colleen whispered as they waited on the front steps of the school. Archie and Ophelia both left the schoolhouse in anger.
"Mama?" Colleen asked in surprise.
"Not now, we're going to visit your aunt and uncle first," Ophelia said tersely as Archie picked up Nate. They ushered Colleen down the steps and walked briskly to the fort.
The Mounties on duty all realized that something had happened with the Grants and had let James know. So, James ended up meeting up with them just after the family had cleaned and met Edith in the parlor.
"What's wrong?" Edith asked as she saw the anger of the parents, even Archie, Nate's fear, and Colleen's bewilderment.
Archie just started swearing in Irish again.
Ophelia handed over the note Ms. Fletcher had given them.
Edith opened it and read it.
Nathan Grant as of today is not academically ready for school. He has shown no knowledge of even basic numbers and letters. He needs a tutor or to be taught them by the retest date, just before school starts, or we can't take him in.
Edith bunched up the note in anger.
"What happened, Nate?" James said calmly as he bent over.
"She scares me," Nate said in a whisper, "door was shut."
Nate buried his face in his mother's skirt.
"So, you didn't talk while she tested you?" James asked.
"That's what she said. We tried to explain to her that Nate won't speak unless he's comfortable. We tried to tell her that he should be tested with us in the room, but she wouldn't have it!" Archie yelled angrily.
Edith sighed heavily. Then she strode into their parlor to grab Nate's books. She thrust them at James.
"You go right now and tell that woman that she needs to test Nate with Archie or Ophelia present, or I will have her license!" Edith demanded as she glared angrily at her husband. James took the books and knew that he wouldn't be allowed back unless this mission was a success.
"Shall we?" James said as he gestured for the Grants to go in front of him.
Archie and Ophelia were both laughing.
So a funny story! A story that gets told about my older sister quite a lot of when they were registering her into school for the first time, my sister didn't say much to her teacher (who was much better at her job than Ms. Fetcher), but she didn't show that she could recognize letters and numbers, and my parents were disappointed at potentially not being able to register her that year. But later, as she was playing with our dad's keyboard, she was identifying letters and numbers. When he asked why she hadn't done that for the teacher, she replied, "Daddy, you told us not to talk to strangers!" So, I wanted to incorporate a bit of that into Nate's testing for school.
Thanks for the positive feedback!