The Fourth visit

"Come on Uncle Nathan! I want to get these fish home!" Allie moaned. She kicked at some grass in frustration.

"Coming Allie," Nathan grinned at her. He smiled at her urgency, even though there was plenty of time to get the four trout back to the house and into a frying pan.

Allie suddenly stopped, "Uncle Nathan, what is over there?" Nathan slowed and looked at the direction that she was pointing.

"Oh, that's the local cemetery," he patiently replied as he slowly caught up to her. Allie's face twisted into her usual, let me think about this, look.

"So, do you think that Mrs. Thornton's husband might be there? I heard he died when they were living here." Allie inquired turning back to her uncle. Nathan stopped and took a moment to answer, "Well, that would make sense wouldn't it?"

"So do you think we could go look for his grave? Or at least look at who else might be buried there?" Allie suddenly forgetting that there were four fish hanging from her hand dashed towards the fence looking for the entrance.

"Uh, sure, why not?" Nathan followed with his long strides. Allie beat him to the small gate and opened it, entering minutes ahead of her uncle. "Allie, please be respectful, it's not somewhere to play around in." Allie rolled her eyes in disgust. She walked carefully through the various memorials. There were some that were small and some a little larger. Some were couples, and a few were children. She frowned thinking of how her own Mother's grave was miles away. She hadn't visited it in many years, so she could barely remember what it looked like. She suddenly stopped, peering at several at once.

"Hey Uncle Nathan, there are a whole bunch here with the same date on it. Why do you think that is?" Allie looked over to him as he approached her.

Nathan swallowed, "Well, I heard there was a mine explosion few years ago and many men lost their lives."

Allie's mouth fell open. "Are you saying that is why there are so many kids without their dads here?" Nathan nodded soberly. "Wow, that makes so much sense." With a new sense of soberness, Allie continued to explore when she found the headstone that mentioned Jack Thornton. She paused and knelt down gently. She touched the face of the stone, carefully outlining the letters. Nathan approached her from behind, wondering what she was thinking about. He had never told her the details of his decision to come to Hope Valley. "This was only a short time ago. Poor Mrs. Thornton, she must be so sad." Allie turned to him with traces of tears rolling down her cheeks. Nathan frowned slightly but waited to see what she where she was going with this. "Uncle Nathan, do you think it would be okay if I put some flowers on this grave? Would Mrs. Thornton mind? I mean, I haven't put flowers on my momma's grave in a long time and I miss being able to do that. And I am sure Little Jack would do so if he could." Nathan blinked his eyes rapidly as his heart swelled in his chest.

Swallowing several times, Nathan replied, "Of course, I think that would be wonderful." Allie ran out of the little yard and quickly gathered a small bouquet of flowers. She fastened them together with another flower and gently put them on the ground near the stone slab. She reached down and adjusted the blossoms so that they were to her liking. She then looked around at the other small plots with a small frown on her face.

"Uncle Nathan?" Nathan, so engrossed in watching her, jumped.

"Yes?"

"Do we have enough time to gather flowers and put them on the rest of the graves?" Nathan looked around, keenly aware that the fish were only going to last so long. He smiled.

"Only if you let me help you." The two of them quickly gathered a bundle of flowers that they spread around the yard, brightening up the somber space.

Soon they had finished their task and started walking home with the four fish dangling between them. Allie, with Nathan's arm around her, smiling with a grin that Nathan had not seen in a long time. Maybe they would make this a regular event.

Later that afternoon, Elizabeth was carrying little Jack as they walked through the grass. Elizabeth also had in her hand a basket of beautiful daisies and a blanket. The air was the perfect temperature, so it made it an easy decision to take her walk that day. She carefully opened the gate of the cemetery. The heaviness in her chest increasing as it usually did when she made this short journey once a week. However, as she looked around, she noticed that there seemed to be quite a few flowers carefully placed on the graves that had not been there in the past.

She was more than a little puzzled until she saw the perfect little bouquet on Jack's plot. She gently touched the petals of the small blossoms. Her heart swelled in gratitude to whomever had taken the time to put it there. Little Jack, noticing the pretty flowers as well reached out for them. "No no, these are a gift to daddy. Let's keep them nice." Elizabeth gently chided. She replaced the bouquet just as she had found it. She and Little Jack sat down and began to talk.