Chapter 57 After the Holidays/Ice Storm
Everybody felt that after the holiday letdown, the weather was gray and cold. The children in school had to settle back in their routine. Little Jack had to get used to Mom being back in school. Life was quiet in the Mountie office and Nathan was grateful for that.
The only thing buzzing to life were Julia's plans of expansion in Hope Valley. While neither Nathan nor Maura were shocked at the speed and determination Julia attacked her new plans, the rest of Hope Valley was used to a slower pace. Even though it was winter Julia went forward on adding onto the library which led to many interesting discussions with Lucas. However, nothing stopped Julia. William and his assistant were constantly busy ensuring the plan was being implemented. Julia was now touring properties for a Boarding House and looking for someone appropriate to run it.
Nathan ran into Lucas at the construction zone one day and Lucas said "Nathan I had no idea that Julia and her group would be so active". Nathan just nodded in agreement. While it was common knowledge in the town that Nathan was attached to the wealthy Regan's; the townspeople had accepted them all as part of the town and treated them normally. Nathan was grateful for that as he never wanted notice.
Nathan did receive good news about his patents shortly after the first of the year and they were approved. Lee and Nathan were moving forward with their business adventure as well.
Nathan and Elizabeth were busy settling in after the holidays and the cold long nights had them sitting in front of the fireplace with the children playing and reading. They spent almost all evenings together at one house or the other and generally shared dinner together. Little Jack loved the extra attention and Allie enjoyed the family spirit. She had not seen her Dad this happy in a long time.
A warning came in that Hope Valley should expect an ice storm in the next few days and the town dutifully prepared. It did not appear that it would be as bad as the snowstorm they had in December.
As predicted the sky looked like gunmetal and ices pellets fell from the sky. However the severity of the storm caught them by surprise. Most people just stayed indoors as the weather was dismal and the walking difficult.
All seemed quiet in the town and Nathan went home for the evening. He was just home when he heard the bells ringing and knowing something was wrong he went storming into town. As he approached the town he saw smoke coming from the train station it looked. Bill caught up with him and they made their way over to the train to see several cars crumbled and off the tracks. The ice had buckled the line and there was quite an accident. Many of the townspeople showed up to help and Nathan and Bill helped organize a lot of them. Wagons were shared to transport the injured to the Infirmary with the lesser injured being held in the saloon. Nathan, Lee and Jesse helped to extricate the passengers and at one time a large bar fell on all their shoulders causing them pain.
By this time the whole town became involved. Ned opened the mercantile for all the necessities needed. Maura and Clara with Gustav's help opened the café making ongoing pots of coffee and sandwiches. Joseph and William helped on transporting survivors of the crash and lines were forming everywhere as the ice continued to fall. Once again Julia stepped in to help Carson. Laura came to stay with Little Jack as she knew Elizabeth would be needed. Elizabeth gathered the children from the train wreck and took them to the school to keep them from seeing the suffering that was going on. With Julie and Allie's help she got all the names of the children and the parent's names so they could be matched up later. Townspeople brought quilts and blankets for the children to use and toys and games were donated as well.
When things calmed down in the school she went to town to see what else needed to be down. Some parents did get patched up easily and then went to collect their children from the school. However, Elizabeth saw a terrible sight as there was a young man sitting in the saloon silently crying. She later found out his young bride of two months had been killed in the accident. All around her she saw people dazed and unfocused. Many of them had bandages on some part of their body and some had their arms in slings.
Bill informed her that Nathan and the other men were making sure the railroad cars were cleared and then they would be back in town. He told her it would be days before the mess was cleaned up and Carson had his hands full with some who were seriously injured.
It was a terrible and overwhelming sight, but Hope Valley pulled together to help the victims as best as possible. Bill had already called the Railroad about this. She checked with Laura and she would stay the night with Little Jack and then she headed back to the school. Julie and Joseph stayed to supervise the school crowd and Elizabeth took Allie home. She had gotten word to Nathan that she would take care of Allie. Once home they found Laura and Little Jack asleep. Elizabeth decides to take Allie to her own house for some needed sleep. She takes care of the heat and sends Allie off to ready for bed. Quickly Allie came back with mounds of quilts and pillows and asks if they can have a campout in front of the fire like she did when she was a little girl. Elizabeth realizes that Allie too is impacted by all the destruction and sadness of the day and doesn't want to sleep alone. They make up pallets on the floor and Allie makes up one for Nathan as well. Elizabeth readies for bed as well and together Allie and Elizabeth drift off. Before sleeping Allie says "Thanks for doing this I don't want to sleep alone." Elizabeth just gives her a squeeze and soon all is silent.