Chapter 53 Who is Lucas Bouchard?

Lucas was upstairs laying down trying to fight a headache, knowing that he and Elizabeth were soon going to have a serious discussion about his past. He lay there for about an hour and the door to the bedroom opened.

"Lucas Bouchard would you like to tell me what that was all about?" Elizabeth asked with her hands on her hips.

"Come sit down." He patted the bed next to him. "I am going to start at the beginning leaving nothing out. Please know Elizabeth, I did not intentionally hide anything from you. It just never really came up. I want you to know these things about me, but some of them are hard to talk about."

"Okay, I am here for you Lucas. I love you!" She reassured him by grabbing his hand and intertwining their fingers.

"On my 18th birthday I moved to Stanford, California. There I attended Stanford University during the day studying entrepreneurial business and investing. At night I would attend the Houdini School of magic, I had always wanted to be a magician as you know. I would work at the Menlo Park saloon in San Francisco on the weekends working the bar to pay for my apartment. It was about an hour away. I did not want my parents to support me. I wanted to be able to stand on my own two feet. I graduated from Stanford in 1908. I moved to San Francisco after graduation and invested all of my extra earnings from my job, which is where my fortune started to build. My life seemed to be going pretty well until I was walking home one evening and saw this old lady getting mugged in an alley. I jumped in to help her and she was able to get away. I was not so lucky Elizabeth. There were six men all with knives, there were just too many for me to do anything about. They stabbed me seventeen times and left me for dead." His hands were now shaking and his eyes turning glossy as he was reliving that dreadful evening.

"Lucas, I am so sorry. I had no idea. That is where the scars came from?" Elizabeth said now squeezing his hand for support.

"Yes. There was an older gentleman named James Anderson that just happened to see everything from his window and as soon as the men were gone he helped get me to a hospital. I didn't learn until later that it was his wife I saved. It took me six months to recover in a major hospital. James and his wife, Mable came to see me everyday while I was in there. They were so grateful for what I had done that they gave me a large sum of money to further fund my investment. They would not take no for an answer. After, I recovered I moved to Japan. I had decided I would never be in that situation again. My father being a Canadian Ambassador happened to know a man named Kando Jigoron who invented a form of martial arts called Judo in 1882. I stayed with him for three years while he taught me. It focuses on three major principles self defense, physical culture, and moral behavior. With every fight there was a new lesson to learn. He became like a second father to me. This is where I get my love for travel and my inability to accept failure. I also learned how to channel my anger and practice patience. My father also helped with that. He taught me to always use Judo for good and you should always pay it forward. I thought maybe I would go into law enforcement for awhile, but didn't like the idea of always being around danger. After I had learned everything I needed to know, I moved to New Orleans. Are you still with me?" He asked.

"I am just fascinated to be learning so much about you." She said giving him a sweet kiss.

"Unfortunately New Orleans was not good to me. That is where I met my best friend Alan and his wife Janette. It is also where I got in trouble with Amos Dixon. Amos would loan money to people who didn't have enough to start their businesses, which was nice. So I thought, except through Alan I learned that Amos would just keep increasing the interest. The loans would never get paid off. Six months later Alan turned up dead floating in the river. Amos was never connected to the death. Janette was left alone, heartbroken and Amos was harassing her for her husband's debt money. I made a deal with Amos over a hand of poker. I win her debt is clear, but if I lost I would pay him double the money. I noticed he was cheating and so I cheated too. It only made matters worse once he found out. I promised to help free her from Amos and his goons. He had a lot of men working for him. Than one day as I was walking down the street to her business, I saw the smoke rolling out from the windows. I rushed in and was able to get her out before the ceiling collapsed. I testified against Amos and he went to jail, but we both knew it would be short lived. I helped her move to Cape Fullerton and start a business there and set her up with an apartment. I bounced back and forth between San Francisco and Cape Fullerton for three years helping as many people as I could in any way that I could. That is where most of my fortune came from. People would be so gracious they would give me money even if I refused it. I would invest it. One day when I was having coffee with Janette she showed me the add for the saloon and I thought the name of the town and the idea of owning a gathering place were interesting so I made the offer and moved to Hope Valley in 1915. That is my story. I was really hoping to settle down just like I said. I liked the idea of a smaller town. I never really got serious about any of the five women I had been attracted too. I moved around too much and they either wanted my money or something more physical that I was not willing to sacrifice. I wanted that to be special and when I met you Elizabeth, I just knew that you were the one for me. So that is my story and how I learned to fight. I only use it as a last resort because I can seriously hurt people. I always offer a solution first and give people a choice before I resort to violence." He said as he looked in her deep blue eyes. "So I try not to relive those times. Some of them are not all pleasant."

"Lucas, that is awful. I am so sorry you were put through all that. I feel like we just connected on a much deeper level though and I am so glad you let me in darling." She said as she pulled him in and wrapped her arms around him. He returned her embrace.

They both lay down emotionally exhausted to take a nap and fell asleep in each others arms.