Chapter 4 School Day #1

Lucas walked into the saloon and found Gustav in the kitchen.

"Gustav, I am not going to be here this week. I will be taking the ledgers home with me and the schedule to work on them. Can I get you to make a big pot of chicken soup for me to pick up after school? I will drop by in the mornings just to check in."

"Okay!" Gustav Replied.

He gathered up all the paperwork he needed and placed it in his car. Then he headed over to Gowen Petroleum. He walked in the door to find Mike on the phone with a vendor. He politely waited until Mike was finished.

"Mike I am not going to be able to be here very much this week. Can you handle the books and paychecks for this week? I will pop in of a morning, but that might be all you see me this week. You can call me at home if you need me. "He handed him the number.

"Okay Lucas, is everything okay?" Mike asked.

"Yes, Elizabeth is sick and I have taken on some extra responsibility this week."

"Alright well I will take care of things here. I hope Elizabeth gets feeling better real soon."

Lucas closed the door to the office behind him as he left and headed to the school. He walked in and turned on all the lights and thought, "What am I doing?" Lucas felt so overwhelmed. He admired Elizabeth for wanting to be a teacher, having such an impact on children's lives was terrifying to him. He was taught at home by tutors for much of his life, so being in a class environment was all pretty new to him. He wrote a French sentence on the board and a list of 20 famous poets of the 1900's. At this moment he was glad that he new French and loved literature. He felt so anxious.

The children started to arrive with confused looks on their faces. Lucas could feel his palms getting sweaty and the anxiety rushing in. This was a lot different than performing magic tricks in front of people. He definitely did not want to disappoint Elizabeth. Regardless of his anxiety, he put on a friendly smile. He greeted all of them as they came in and sat down just like Elizabeth did. Once they were all seated he began to speak.

"Good morning everyone! Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. Coulter have both come down ill, so I am going to be the substitute for the next week until they are better. We are going to do a couple of things over the next week. The first one is learn some French. We are going to make get well cards for Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. Coulter and do them in the French language. The second thing we are going to do this week is pick one poet from this list on the board. Then you will need to pick one of their poems and interpret what the poem is about and write a little essay about it. We will go to the library after lunch every day this week to work on the poem project. Are there any questions?"

"Mr. Bouchard!"

"Yes Opal!"

"Will you be helping us?"

"I will."

They spent the morning learning how to say get well (se rétablir) in French and started putting together their beautiful cards. Elizabeth had a bunch of crafts in the room for them to use to put together their beautiful cards. They worked on that all morning and then were dismissed for lunch. Lucas sat down in the chair and put his head back when all of a sudden Allie came running in.

"Mr. Bouchard! Mr. Bouchard! Come quick Opal fell in the pond!"

Lucas sprang to his feet and without hesitation he ran out the door and jumped into the pond. It was ice cold and the initial shock took his breath away. He grabbed onto Opal and drug her out of the pond.

"Class is dismissed for the day! See you tomorrow!" He informed them.

Lucas wrapped his jacket around Opal and carried her to the infirmary. They both walked in soaking wet.

"What happened? Faith asked.

"I fell in the pond. I am so cold Dr. Carter. Mr. Bouchard saved me!"

Lucas just stood there shivering.

"Are you hurt anywhere Opal?" She asked.

"No, I am just cold."

"Lucas, just take her home and advise her mother to keep an eye on her and watch for fever. Tell her to give her a warm, not hot, bath. Bring her back if she spikes a fever." Faith advised.

Lucas carried Opal home and explained what happened. She was very grateful. After she took Opal inside, Lucas walked back to the saloon and picked up the chicken soup from Gustav. He went up to an empty suite and took a warm bath. He had grabbed a fresh suit out of his office.

"Well day 1 went well." He thought sarcastically to himself.

He went to the library and checked in all the books. He didn't really want to show up at Elizabeth's early, but in all honesty he just wanted to be at home. He didn't know how Elizabeth did it. The kids had a question for everything. Even questions about him and Elizabeth! Questions he was not ready to respond to.

He pulled up in front of Elizabeth's house and grabbed the Soup out of the back of the car. He carried it inside and put together a bowl for Elizabeth. He made her some fresh tea and carried it upstairs. He peeked his head in and she was asleep.

"Elizabeth!" He said as he gently nudged her arm.

"Lucas! You are here awfully early. How was school?" She asked confused.

"It was great!" He replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Lucas I know you too well, what happened?"

"Opal fell in the pond so I had to send everyone home early." He remarked.

"Oh my!"

"That was my thought exactly." He told her.

"Is she okay?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, she was just cold. They are just going to watch her for signs of hyperthermia. The water was freezing."

"Wait, did you jump in after her?" She giggled playfully trying to imagine the scene unfolding in her head.

"This situation is very amusing to you isn't it." He grinned. Moving on, how are you feeling? I brought you some fresh tea and soup."

"I feel a little better, I did sleep a lot. I had a lot of time to think about this, what do you think about inviting both of our families to spend Christmas here this year? I really want them to meet you!"

"Whatever makes you happy Elizabeth!"

This would work out perfectly. Lucas had already planned his Christmas proposal, but was going to need to speak to her father anyway. He was all for inviting their parents for the holidays. He had hoped to surprise Elizabeth on their wedding with the house, but now he thought he would give it to her as an engagement present.

"I will go get you some stationary and be right back." He said.

He walked downstairs grabbed her stationary sitting by her journal and a pen and returned to her. "Here go ahead and write to them and I will mail it for you tomorrow."

They had sat there for at least an hour talking.

"Elizabeth, I love you! I need to go take Laura home and tend to Jack. I will swing in tomorrow morning."

"Lucas, I love you too! Good luck." She winked.

"Always the tease!" He chuckled.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead and her hand. "I can't wait for you to get well. I will see you tomorrow."

Lucas drove home and met Laura at the door. "Good evening Mr. Bouchard."

"Good evening Laura." He pulled out some extra cash and gave it to her.

"Thank you Mr. Bouchard!"

"It's my pleasure Laura, have a wonderful evening!' He took Jack from her.

"Well Jack it is dinner time." He put Jack in his high chair, and gave him some soup.

Lucas made his own bowl and sat down at the table. Jack was just playing in the soup. Lucas knew at this point he was going to have to get creative. He took a bite of his soup.

"Jack this is so yummy! If you don't eat I can't give you this most delicious chocolate cake."

"I want cake."

"After, you eat your dinner Jack."

"I want mama."

"Jack mama is sick and we have to let her get well so you are going to stay with me for a little while okay!" He sniffled a little and then ate his supper. Lucas gave him a little piece of cake.

Lucas ate and when Jack was all done he grabbed a rag from the kitchen and washed Jack up. He took Jack upstairs.

"Jack you need to try to go potty and then its bath time."

"No potty!"

"Jack just try and after we get you cleaned up for the night, we will play for an hour and I will read you a story before bed."

"Okay!"

Jack splashed water all over the floor. Lucas had some rubber duckies he had bought just for Jack. Jack held them out of the tub and squeezed the water onto the floor.

"Jack no! You squeeze the water inside the tub, like this." He filled the ducky with water and squeezed it inside the tub while making ducky noises.

"Quack! Quack!"

Jack giggled. "Again!"

"Quack! Quack!"

He giggled some more. "Again!"

"We are done Jack. It's time to go play with your wooden trains."

He lifted Jack out of the tub and dried him off. Then he used the towel to mop up all the water. He helped Jack with his clothes. Then they went into Jack's room and played with Jack's wooden train set for an hour. Lucas was already feeling the exhaustion of the day set in. He had a new found respect for Elizabeth. All he could think of was sleep.

At 9:00 Lucas picked Jack up and placed him in the bed and covered him up. Lucas lay on the bed next to him and picked up The Wind in the Willows. He began to read and after 10 minutes Jack had fallen asleep. Lucas kissed his forehead and turned out the light.

He hated the fact that he still had all his work he brought home with him to get done before he could go to sleep. He grabbed his ledger and the schedule and headed off to his office. Three hours later Lucas was finally finished. It was well after 1:00 in the morning. He was going to bed. He went upstairs peeked in on Jack and headed to his room. He washed up put on his nightshirt and cap and lay down.

He thanked the Lord for helping him through the day and his mind fell into a deep slumber.