Chapter 5

Elizabeth and I just stand there looking at Miss Cartwright. Wait, did she say Baker? Arnold's last name was Grant, that's how it was recorded with the Mounties. "Miss Cartwright, you are the fiancé to Arnold Baker? Do you mean Grant?" I questioned. She shook her head, "Yes, Grant was his mother's maiden name. He tried to enlist as a Mountie right after his parents passed but he wasn't old enough. So, he tried reenlisting and used his mother's maiden name and lied about his age. He was accepted and went into training. He and I were courting but weren't engaged yet. Once he went into training and superiors stressed that they encourage Mounties not to marry, he wrote and told me we could no longer be together so no one with the Mounties knew about me. Shortly after he joined, I became ill. He came through our hometown about that time on his way to further training. One of the locals told him I was ill, he came straight to me and proposed. He said he couldn't live without me being his wife. He left the next day and that was the last time I saw him. When the accident happened, I didn't know, and no one knew to notify me. I had been trying to find out where he was, but the Mounties wouldn't give me any information because they had no record of an emergency contact for him. About 6 months ago the Mounties came through. I overheard them talking about the mix-up after the avalanche. They said it was actually the young new recruit, Arnold, that had died and not Jack Thornton. They had been in his troop and they tried to visit but were transferred before he was well enough for visitors. They had stopped by to check on him as they were passing through and were told about the mix-up . I have been saving to be able to come to Hope Valley to meet you. But I just recently had enough to come." Elizabeth and I couldn't believe what we were hearing. Elizabeth has tears streaming down her cheeks. She stepped up and grabbed Miss. Cartwright's hand. "I am so sorry. I know the pain you are experiencing. The agony can't be described. Please come have some tea so we can continue our conversation." Miss Cartwright nodded, and we headed in. Rosemary walked up noticing Elizabeth's tears. "Oh, Elizabeth what is wrong?" Elizabeth introduced Miss Cartwright, "Rosemary I would like to introduce you to Miss Susan Cartwright. She was Arnold Grant's fiancé. She only found out about the accident 6 months ago." Rosemary gasped, "You poor dear! You must be so heartbroken. I am so sorry for your loss." "Miss Cartwright I would like to introduce you to Mrs. Rosemary Coulter. She is one of my dearest friends and my neighbor. Rosemary would you mind watching little Jack while Jack and I continue our conversation with Miss Cartwright." "Oh of course, Come to Aunt Rosemary little man. Do you want to go see Uncle Lee?" She put Jack Jr. on her hip. "Give mama and daddy kisses. Tell them bye-bye." She leaned in and he kissed us both and waved bye to us.

Elizabeth sat after pouring the tea. I am in shock. I don't know what I am supposed to say. Elizabeth speaks up, "How long had you and Arnold known each other?" She smiled, "Since we were children. We grew up in the same small town much like your little town. We began courting about 2 years before his parents passed and he joined the Mounties. They had pneumonia and died within a couple days of each other. Arnold had always wanted to be a Mountie and once his parents died he decided to register. I begged him not to because it wasn't safe." She stopped talking and looked down. Elizabeth and I could see the tears. Elizabeth went to sit next to her. "I felt the same way but Jack was already a Mountie when we met. I saw the danger first hand several times. He has saved many of us in Hope Valley and captured his fair share of outlaws. The fear almost kept me from being with him but he convinced me that accidents can happen to anyone." Miss Cartwright stood, "I am very tired from my trip. Can we finish our conversation tomorrow?" I stood, "Of course, are you staying above the saloon?" "Yes, I was told that was the only place to stay here." "Yes, it is. Can we meet you for breakfast tomorrow at Abigail's Café?" Elizabeth asked. She smiled and nodded, "Yes, that would be nice. I appreciate your kindness today. I know it must be a shock me showing up unannounced. Thank you for your hospitality. Good night." "Good night Miss Cartwright. I am glad you came. This isn't easy for you. I wish I had known Arnold had a fiancé because I would have insured you had been notified when I woke." "Please it isn't anyone's fault, Arnold was afraid his superiors would not be happy if they found out. And please call me Susan." Elizabeth walked her to the door, she hugged Susan, "I am so sorry. I know how deeply you hurt. Please let me know if I can help with anything." Susan stepped back from the hug, nodded and left.

Elizabeth had little Jack on her hip as we walked into the parlor of Abigail's. Abigail came over smiling taking Little Jack, "What are you doing here so early. I thought you may stay in since Jack had such an active day yesterday." Elizabeth spoke up, "Well it was even more eventful when we got home." She looked at me, "Arnold Baker's fiancé was waiting for us when we got home." "Arnold Baker?" Abigail questioned. "You would know him as Arnold Grant." I said. "What? I didn't think he had anyone to contact that's the reason no one knew it was you in the hospital and not Arnold. Elizabeth explained what Susan told us last night. Abigail was just as shocked as we were. "That poor girl, she must be devastated." "Yes, I think when she saw Jack that it struck her. He had little Jack on his shoulders. I don't think she was expecting us to have a son." Elizabeth was saying when Susan came in the front door. Elizabeth quickly asked, "Can you watch little Jack for a few minutes?" Abigail nodded, "Of course."

We sat down with Susan. "How did you rest last night?" Elizabeth asked. "I rested ok. Thank you for asking." Susan said. Clara approached the table, "Can I get you some coffee or tea?" Susan checked her purse smiles and declines. "Breakfast is on us this morning. It was our idea to meet you here." I explained. With an embarrassed nod, "Tea would be fine for me, Thank you." Elizabeth ordered tea and I ordered coffee. Clara came right back with our drinks. Things were awkwardly quite for a few minutes. Then Elizabeth spoke up, "Susan you came all this way, what can we help you with or did you just want to meet Jack?" Susan looked down at her cup as she fiddled with it. "I did want to meet Jack because he was the last one to see my Arnold alive. I wanted to know how he had been. Did he enjoy being a Mountie as much as he thought? It is all he ever wanted to do. Was he scared? I just wanted to know about those last days." I sat and thought not sure of how much to tell her then I remembered in the things the hospital sent home with me was his saddle bag. There was miscellaneous gear like a compass and his gloves but there was also a picture of his parents, his bible and a journal. I don't know how I forgot about that. "Susan, he did enjoy being a Mountie, we could tell it was a source of pride for him. He was always the first to volunteer for assignments no matter the size or importance. Arnold knew what it meant to be a Mountie. He was one of the bravest Mounties I have met. You should be very proud of the man and Mountie he was." I hesitated worried how she would take the news that I have his saddle bag. "Susan I am not sure how I forgot about it when you were at the house last evening but when I was transferred back here to Hope Valley they sent Arnold's saddle bag. It has his Mountie issued gear but it also has a Bible, a picture of his parents and a journal." "His Bible? You have his Bible? I gave him that Bible. Oh, please can I have it? It means so much to me. And a journal? I never knew he had a journal. Please can I have it?" Susan said clearly very surprised. "Of course, I will go get it." I stood to leave. Elizabeth offered to go get it so that I could share more about Arnold with Susan. I shook my head no, "I will go. You can talk with Susan about your grief. You can support her now like Abigail, Clara, Molly and Florence did for you after you found out about the accident. I won't be long and I am sure she could use someone to talk to." Susan spoke up, "Yes I would like to talk with you. I am just not sure how to get over losing my Arnold. We had a life planned and now I am left with just the things in his saddle bag." I could see the pain in Elizabeth's eyes. I could tell she knew that pain too well. My heart sank just thinking about what she went through while I was away. Grieving and pregnant, torn between joy and sadness. I bent down and kissed her forehead. With compassion, she said, "Of course, I will help any way I can. Ask me anything."

I walk in the row house, headed up stairs. I see the book Elizabeth has written about me. I hope to have time soon to look at it deeper and talk with Elizabeth about it. I entered our bedroom going to the cedar chest where I had stored the saddle bag. I didn't know what I was going to do with it but I am glad I kept it since we have found out about Susan. As I reached down to pick it up under a quilt a saw a stack of papers bound with red ribbon. I picked it up. These are letters from my mother, Tom, Abigail, Rosemary, almost everyone in town. There were even letters from Julie and Elizabeth's parents. The top paper read:

To: Jack Thornton, Jr. My sweet little Jack read these with the love they were written in. You have the book I wrote about your father and you have heard me tell the stories often but these are from people that loved your daddy almost as much as I did. These are their stories of your father that each of them had. They have their own special memories with him, some I have told you from my point of view but now you get to hear it from theirs. Cherish these always and know that your father loved you. We talked often about our children and he loved you even then.

I thumbed through scanning the letters. Elizabeth is so wonderful. She wanted to make sure our son knew me as best as he could. I always knew she was extraordinary but I never expected her to go to this length to insure little Jack knew me. I stood there a moment overwhelmed by the bundle of letters. I went to sit it back in the cedar chest where Elizabeth had them and a smaller piece of paper fell loose. I picked it up and written with a blue colored pencil I read.

Dear Baby Jack-

Your daddy is my hero. He will always be my hero. I am sorry you didn't get to meet him. He was everyone's hero. He is my hero because he rescued me from a fire. It was the day before your mommy and daddy got married. Your mommy was so pretty in her dress when she married your daddy. Cody, Robert, me and some of our friends wanted your mommy and daddy's wedding to be perfect. Ms. Thatcher, that is who your mommy was before she married your daddy was the best teacher ever and Mountie Jack was the best Mountie ever. We just wanted their wedding to be the best. We were practicing lighting the candles and one fell over and the church was burning. Your strong brave daddy came in screaming my name. I yelled out so he could find me. It was so smokey I could not see him. I was so scared. Your daddy found me and scooped me up and ran me from the church. Your daddy is my hero because he saved me from the fire. I wish I could tell him thank you for saving my life. Your mommy said he sees me from heaven and knows I thank him but I still wish I had told him. Your daddy is my hero.

Your friend- Opal

P.S. I hope you are taking good care of Brownie. I wanted him to watch over you because your daddy saved Brownie to.

Sweet Opal, her sweet voice is what I remember most about the day I woke up. She told me that Elizabeth told her I knew but she wanted to tell me herself. Her little voice cut through the void and pulled me back. I need to tell her that she is my hero now. I tied it back with the others, grabbed the saddle bag and headed back to Abigail's.

I walked in through the parlor door and Rosemary sat holding my sleeping boy. She motioned for me the be quiet. I nodded and headed into the dining area. I got to the entry and saw sitting with Elizabeth and Susan were Abigail, Florence, Molly, and Clara. They all appeared to have been crying. How long had I been gone. Elizabeth looked noticing me. I said, "I will come back I don't want to interrupt." Susan spoke up noticing the saddle bag, "Please can I have it?" Before I had a chance to move or reply Florence piped up, "Aren't you going to give this poor dear girl the bag?" "Of course." I replied. Florence gave me a stare, "Well I don't know what took you so long this poor girl has been waiting." "I am sorry I didn't realize how long I had been gone." I said as I handed Susan the saddle bag. She clung to it against her chest as if she was hugging Arnold. My heart broke and I felt guilty for living while she hurt so deeply. As Elizabeth notice my expression she grabbed my hand patted it and gave me a smile. Susan pulled the bag back and opened it. As she went through it she didn't say a word. When she got to the Bible she gasped as she opened it. Abigail stood and offered to let her go through the bag alone. She shook her head, "No please stay, your support means the world to me." Abigail nodded and sat back down. Susan opened the Bible to a marked page. She smiled through her tears and closed the Bible. I was curious what passage she read. She pulled out the journal. I explained "I never opened or read it. I felt like it was a betrayal to his privacy." When she slightly opened the cover a large sum of money fell out. She gasps picking it up. She opened it completely, in the front cover of the book was a picture of her, then she read,

"To my love Susan: I can't write and send letters because of the chance my commander may find out, so I am writing to you here. I want you to know I thought of you always. With all my love Arnold."

She began to cry, Elizabeth and the other women drew in close around her. As she cried but continued to read in the journal. She went to the last page and read:

"My dearest Susan,

I got a new commanding officer yesterday. His name is Jack Thornton. I have heard of his heroics before. He is a good leader strong but compassionate. I might tell him about you. I overheard him talking to another Mountie, he is newly married not even two months. They questioned him about having a wife and he told them that if they have a woman that loves them deeply and is willing to accept the challenges being married to a Mountie brings marry her and love her always. He spoke of his wife Elizabeth with such excitement. It was obvious he loves her deeply. So, I think if I tell him about you everything will be okay. I have been saving for you a ring since we started courting. I even saved while we were apart. I always knew you were the one. I am sorry that I was so awful to you. I am so worried about you being ill. I didn't want to leave you. I am hoping when I tell Constable Thornton about you, he will let me stop when we move south. Susan, I love you deeply, I pray I get to see you soon.

With All My Love, Arnold

"The money that fell out was for my engagement ring. He told me when he asked, he would get me the most elegant ring I had ever seen." Susan cried. Elizabeth wrapped her in a hug. I love the compassion she has for others. I felt awful for her, "Susan, I wish he had told me, so you could've been notified at the time of the accident." "If the journal was in his bag how wasn't it found? All of Susan's information was in there." Florence asked. "When I first looked in the bag, I didn't see it either. I dropped it as I was putting it in the cedar chest, and everything fell out. It must have been on the bottom under his gloves so no one would see it and the bag mustn't been emptied so it wasn't found." Susan sat there quiet. Elizabeth stayed by her side. No one knew what to say. The room remained quite for a while. Susan looked at Elizabeth, "Can you take me to where my Arnold was laid to rest? I want to know where he rests" Susan wants to go to the place my wife thought she had buried me. Elizabeth looked at me, "Yes of course. It isn't far to Cross Creek Meadow."