Part 1: Chapter 46: 1888: Red Deer, Alberta
Nate's First Ride Alone
"Mama!" Colleen waved energetically, the only student who seemed to have any energy after a long day with Ms. Fletcher, after school the next day.
Ophelia smiled as both she and Nate waved at Colleen.
Colleen ran up to them and handed over her lunch pail and books.
"Race you to the Mercantile, Nate!" Colleen challenged.
They both lined up, paused, then took off down the road and into town.
Ophelia just shook her head as she walked quickly behind them.
The children had raced into the Mercantile and found James inside already looking at paint colors.
"Pink and purple for me, please!" Colleen said loudly as they had found him.
"Fuchsia and boysenberry, got it," James teased, reaching for those colors.
Colleen gave him a look and shook her head vigorously, before stepping over to where the colors of paint she actually wanted.
"No, Uncle James! PINK and PURPLE!" Colleen insisted.
"Which one do you want as the primary color?" James asked with seriousness.
"Pink," Colleen said.
James pulled more of those cans from the shelf and less of the purple.
"What about you, Nate, which colors do you want in your room?" James asked as Nate had been looking at the colors.
Nate looked at the colors on the wall for a few more minutes.
"Emerald green and forest green, please," Nate said politely.
James just nodded and grabbed equal amounts of both.
"And what about the rest of the house?" James asked looking at Ophelia.
Ophelia narrowed her eyes.
"That wasn't part of our agreement," Ophelia protested.
"No, but it would be a good opportunity to have free products and free labor," James said.
Ophelia glared back.
"Edith also said that if you don't pick a color scheme for each room that she would have me paint it a clashing yellow and orange," James added.
Ophelia widened her eyes in horror at the image of that kind of house.
"I will let you and Archie discuss the rest of the house as we work on the children's bedrooms," James said.
Ophelia shook her head at the man, as they began to collect the materials needed for the repairs and work inside the Grant house. Nate, Colleen, and Ophelia all walked to the front of the store carrying arms full of painting and sanding supplies.
"This is quite the project you all are taking on," Fred said as he watched each member dump their arms onto the counter to be totaled.
"Uncle James is helping us paint our rooms," Colleen informed him proudly.
"Is that right?" Fred asked skeptically.
Nate and Ophelia both nodded.
"I thought he was taking time off to mourn his sister?" Jessica prodded, having seen each of them wearing black.
"I am. I like to keep busy," James glared at them with his own arms full, "I noticed that you seem to be low on quite a few things that I need to help with the Grants repairs."
"We don't normally sell much of that," Fred said.
James gave the man a steady look.
"When do you get your shipments?" James asked.
"Every Thursday," Jessica added.
"Hmmm, looks like I will be ordering from Calgary then," James said as he paid for the supplies they were purchasing that day.
They walked out of the store and waited for Archie to be finished at work before leading the wagon back to the Grant home. Archie and James immediately went to work sanding down the walls and wood pieces in Colleen's room. Archie kept singing a song as he worked. Colleen sang with him from downstairs.
"The Mercantile doesn't have enough supplies here. I'm going into Calgary tomorrow to get the rest. Edith also wants me to have us repaint everything; not just the children's rooms," James said as he was finishing up.
Archie looked at Ophelia. Ophelia nodded in confirmation about the paints but rolled her eyes at the offer.
"We'll let ya know in the morning," Archie said, knowing they would need to talk about it.
They said goodnight and then enjoyed a quiet evening at their own homes.
Archie and Ophelia discussed the offer in detail, and while not wanting to take advantage of their friends' generosity, they both knew that they wouldn't be able to afford to repaint their house anytime soon. It seemed silly only to do one part. So, they agreed to allow it once.
Over the last weeks of school, and for the month James took off, it wasn't unusual to find him working in the Grant house, either with Kevin Clarke, Wiggins, or Archie. Archie had shown that he was quite good with woodwork himself and had repurposed the furniture that had been salvageable, and then personalized them. Nate helped sand and paint when he could, learning how to do simple maintenance and fixes. Nate was also in charge of keeping General entertained and to write back and forth to Edith in one of their languages each day.
Ophelia kept everyone fed well.
Nate and Ophelia would often pick Colleen up from school. In the afternoon and evenings, is when Nate got short lessons from Archie and James about riding using Galileo. He hadn't been able to ride by himself yet. But he was an eager listener.
The weekend they finished the house and barn, was officially, the first weekend of summer. The school children on the last day were all cheering at having months away from Ms. Fletcher's classroom.
The Grants were having a party to thank everyone who had helped them in some way. Edith insisted on being there, saying that she hadn't had the chance to see the house since the repairs. It was a full house that Friday evening. The Clarkes were all present. So was Constable Wiggins, Ed, and The Normandeaus. James made sure to be by Edith's side the entire time and made sure that everyone kept their distance. But Edith got the full tour of the house.
"It looks like a home again," Edith said to James and Ophelia once they had come back downstairs.
Ophelia and James both nodded knowing exactly how much it hadn't for a long time.
They watched the Clarke children playing tag with Nate and Colleen. The sounds of the animals (all of their farm animals had been replaced) made a nice background noise.
"What do you normally do for summers?" Edith asked.
"Work. The town has its annual potluck at the end of June, which is a good way to be together and have fun," Ophelia said.
"Ophelia always bakes a lot for those," Emily said.
Ophelia nodded.
"Are you still going this year?" Kevin asked.
"Why wouldn't we?" Ophelia asked in confusion.
"It just seems that the town wasn't very helpful when you needed them to be," Kevin pointed out showing his hand around the repaired house.
"I feel like that is because they were being pressured by others. It seems silly to punish everyone for the actions of a few," Ophelia mentioned.
Kevin nodded, but didn't add anything else.
Once everyone had eaten and were conversing with each other, Nate had approached Archie and James with a pleading look. They looked at each other and agreed to give him a lesson. They walked behind him into the barn. Archie pulled out Galileo while James grabbed Nate's saddle. They quickly put the saddle on the horse. Then grabbed the mounting block to help Nate reach better. They quickly told him where to approach from and showed him where to put his foot. He had a few attempts before he pulled himself on Galileo's back. Archie and James then readjusted his stirrups.
They quickly told him how to hold the reins. How to make him stop. How to make him move forward in a walk and emphasized that anything more would be way beyond his skill level.
Nate took all of this in and gently instructed Galileo to move.
James and Archie were walking along either side of him just in case. But he seemed to have a good idea of how to do it. They walked and circled inside the barn a few laps and had him stop and start a few times. Nate was doing very well with all of this.
"Let's see how ya do around the others," Archie suggested.
James nodded.
"Take him to the front of our house, slowly," Archie instructed Nate.
Nate nodded and followed the directions.
James and Archie followed closely, but made sure that they were back far enough so that it was apparent that Nate was in charge of this ride.
"Nate's riding a horse by himself!" Natalie said in awe when she saw him and pointed to him with her sisters. Everyone else went to get a good look.
Nate stopped Galileo by the front porch where his dad told him to stop.
Everyone was beaming and clapping at this accomplishment.
He sat on Galileo's back for a few minutes before he was told to take him, slowly, back to the barn. Nate was following those directions when Natalie started screaming.
"A SNAKE! IT'S A SNAKE! GET RID OF IT!" she had pointed to a gardener snake in the yard.
The snake was just passing through, but each of the Clarke sisters had a phobia of snakes and they all started screaming. The screaming spooked Galileo, and while he didn't rear up, he did take off at a gallop out of the property line with Nate still on his back.
"Nate, hold on to the horn and pull back on the reins!" James shouted, just before they disappeared from view.
Archie was swearing heavily in Irish.
General was already out of the barn and only paused to let James and Archie on, then took off after Nate and Galileo.
They found Nate on the ground near the road, which showed that he had held on for quite some distance. He was winded but smiling and not injured.
"Nate, are ya alight?" Archie asked worriedly as he checked over his son for injuries.
Nate nodded as he took in deep breaths.
James had stood a few feet back, General at attention near him. He saw that Galileo had stopped on the other side of the road. Once Nate had caught his breath, they stood him and walked him to the road.
"Are you okay with riding again?" James asked.
Nate gave him a look as if that was a stupid question.
"Galileo didn't mean to run. It's not his fault," Nate said as he looked at his family's horse fondly.
The group approached where Galileo had stopped on the road. Nate held out his hand to the horse and Galileo sniffed it fondly and in apology. Nate scratched his ears and whispered softly to him. Archie put Nate back on Galileo in his saddle, but also tied the rope around his waist and grabbed the reins to lead him on foot.
The men noticed that Archie's boss was with a man from out of town on the property lines across from theirs. They waved at each other. Before Archie started talking to Nate.
"Tá áthas orm nach bhfuil tú gortaithe. Is breá liom tú, a mhic," Archie said in Irish.
"Thanks, Daddy. I love you, too," Nate said back.
"Nate, you're a natural on a horse," James winked.
Nate smiled.
"Does that mean I can…" Nate started to ask, but both men interrupted.
"No!"
"No, definitely not!"
Nate just shrugged as they walked the horses back home.
"Who are they?" the stranger asked as he watched them go back to their home.
"Archibald Grant, his son Nate, and Major Normandeau," Archie's boss answered.
"Who lives there?" the man asked as he pointed to the land next to the one he was looking at.
"The Grants do," Mr. Croft replied.
The man gave the Grant property a solid look. Mr. Croft couldn't tell if he was happy with the potential neighbors or not.
But he also turned back to the land he had been looking at. It would need work, a lot of work.
"I'll take it," the man said firmly.
They shook hands and then walked back towards the town to settle the paperwork.
Once everyone was satisfied that Nate was okay, and all of the Clarkes apologized profusely for what had happened, the party began to dissemble. Once the perfect weekend into summer ended, James and Archie would be working a lot. The Grants were at the Normandeaus house as much as they could during the days, but with their chores they couldn't stay long. With Archie being gone a lot, taking over for his boss as he went away for his long summer, Nate wasn't able to have many riding lessons on Galileo, which was sad for everyone involved.
As the end of June approached, the town potluck seemed to be more populated that year. The town was growing, but there was also a sense of relief that they were allowed to be around each other again. James was there in official capacity. So were many of the Mounties and soldiers at the fort. James had helped carry over the Grant family's trays of deserts and helped them set up their picnic spot near the trees before he continued on his rounds.
The Clarkes ended up spotting them and joined their group.
"Hello," Emily waved kindly.
Ophelia took the ever-growing Kathryn from her arms, knowing how easily growing children could tire them out.
"Thank you," Emily said in relief.
Ophelia just smiled and tickled the girl.
The families went through the various lines and then ate their meals in good conversation. They noticed that children were playing in the lake, messing with each other. It was early afternoon when something went wrong. There was a growing restlessness from the families by the lake. Finally, someone started screaming in anxiousness.
This got the attention of the families on the outer edges and, of course, the Mounties on duty.
"Stay here, children," their parents instructed them as they noticed the growing panic.
The children stayed for a minute but telling Colleen to stay is not ever a good idea. She walked closer to the groups in curiosity. Natalie went after here, to try and get her to come back. Elle and Becky followed to help. Which left Nate and Kathryn at the edge of the forest.
Both looked at each other, knowing that they were safer with the group, but also not wanting to get in trouble for not following directions. They decided to stay, just in case.
They heard loud splashes and more frantic screaming from a mother, before Nate heard someone in the trees behind them. Sensing that Kathryn was getting scared, Nate handed over his toy Galileo. Nate had stood and turned when someone pulled a sack over his head and scooped him up.
"Gotcha!" his captor whispered before slinking off into the trees.
Nate was squirming as much as he could before he was dropped due to his captor losing his balance. Kathryn had followed them and had thrown a rock at his knees. Nate took Kathryn's hand and ran back to where the town picnic was, but a woman with a mask on stopped their progress. She managed to pick up Kathryn off of the ground. The man came back to get Nate. Nate picked up a large tree branch that had fallen to the ground and took a swing at the woman, but she had used Kathryn as a shield, resulting in Kathryn having a long mark down her right cheek. The man put a cloth to Kathryn's mouth and Kathryn fell into a deep sleep.
"We don't have time to mess around. We need to get out of here now! Before Normandeau can find our trail," the woman said angrily.
"We came for the boy," the man retorted back.
"Leave the boy," she instructed. They pulled Kathryn onto the back of their horses and rode away at a gallop.
Nate had no idea who these people were, but he understood that if he didn't get Uncle James, Kathryn would be lost because she had been brave enough to rescue him.
As all of this had been going on, the situation at the lake was because a girl who couldn't swim properly had been dared to go out into the deep end. She had struggled as her friends laughed at her fear and didn't realize that she had needed help until it was too late. She went down. The Mounties had all jumped into the lake to save her, but they pulled up a blue, drowned girl.
The citizens had all watched soberly as the girl was returned to her family. Then they began to walk back to their spots at the picnic to go home. But it was at the very edges when the Grants and the Clarkes had their own crisis. They had all seen their older children had disobeyed their instructions, but they couldn't see their youngests anywhere.
"Where's Nate and Kathryn?" Ophelia asked the group of girls. The girls turned back and noticed their siblings were missing. The girls' looks of shock and horror made all of their stomachs sink.
"JAMES!" Archie turned to get the man, as he had a gut feeling about this.
James had heard Archie and sensed his worry.
What made everyone truly worried, though, was when General had bounded past the families and into the woods, with his Mountie guard chasing him.
"What happened?" James growled.
"Nate and Kathryn are missing," Archie said as he pointed to their toys that had been left behind.
"Wiggins, to me!" James ordered as he pounded past the tree line. They followed a trail where Nate and Kathryn had struggled and tried to fight off their attackers.
Nate ended up busting through into the forest path breathing heavily.
"Nate! Where's Kathryn?" James asked.
"They…took…her…" Nate breathed out.
"Who?"
Nate shrugged.
"Could you see their faces?" James asked.
Nate shook his head.
"How did you get away?" James asked.
"Kathryn followed me. They were after me," Nate said.
"Only you?" James asked.
Nate nodded.
"I tried to free her like she did me, but I hurt Kathryn instead," Nate said with shame.
"How did it hurt her?" James asked.
"It hurt her face," Nate said softly.
"Which way did they go?" James asked.
Nate pointed into the clearing behind him.
James picked Nate up and put him on General, then mounted behind him. He took off at a gallop through the trees.
James only slowed down to drop Nate back off with his family. The Clarkes were still with them.
"Kathryn's been taken by someone from out-of-town. I'm going to track her, personally; please know that I will do everything in my power to bring her back to you," James said as he looked each parent in the eye. Kevin and Emily both nodded, but they also looked like the wind had been taken out of them.
"It may take time, but I am putting the best trackers I have ever trained on it. They're the ones who caught up with Seamus last time," James tried to reassure them.
"Be safe, Uncle James," Colleen said.
James tipped his head and then took off on General straight to the fort. It was 30 minutes later that James left with a full packed gear on General's back, followed by two out-of-town Mounties.
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