And the Heart is Brave
Chapter 18
Bill Avery got off the phone with his connection at Mountie headquarters and rubbed his jaw, mulling the information he'd just gotten. He had pulled some strings, gotten an old friend who owed him a favour to access Nathan Grant's personnel file and what he'd learned had surprised him. It was all there in his file. Nathan hadn't been assigned to Hope Valley. He'd asked to be placed here. Bill Avery shook his head, mulling the mystery. Why would Nathan have wanted to come here, to Hope Valley? Not to be unkind to the town he loved, but Bill knew no Mountie would ask to be assigned here. Not to what was basically a small hick town out in the middle of nowhere.
So what was he doing here? Bill wondered. Why would an up-and-coming Mountie with plenty of opportunities to climb the ranks ask for such a lowly assignment? And why hadn't he told Elizabeth he had once known Jack? Was there some connection there? Bill looked down at the photograph on his desk in front of him, the faces of the cadets staring back at him. He'd traced many of them, now scattered far and wide and there was one, one close enough to visit face-to-face. Calvin Roberts was now working a desk job in Union City. Bill picked up the phone. He would make a call and arrange a visit. He'd wait to tell Elizabeth of his findings so far. He'd wait until he had more to tell her. Because he would. He would have more to tell her. He would get to the bottom of this mystery if it was the last thing he did.
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Nathan Grant stood at the bottom of the schoolhouse steps, his mouth agape in surprise. It was two weeks after his dinner at Elizabeth's house and he was there because Allie had forgotten her lunch pail and he was bringing it to her. But now he was surprised. The doors to the school house were flung wide open, propped in place by two bricks on either side. But it was the noise that surprised him the most. The noise coming from inside was boisterous and unlike any schoolroom setting he'd ever attended.
Nathan ascended the stairs then stood at the threshold of the room, even more surprised as he surveyed the room. It was what could be described as contained chaos. Most of the pews had been pushed aside, freeing up a large space in the middle of the room. Long sheets of large-sized paper were spread across the floor and many of the students sat of the floor, some were even flat on their stomachs, as they busily coloured or painted. Other students darted from one place to another, mixing paints or stringing streamers. The chatter and noise was deafening. Nathan took a step into the room, depositing Allie's lunch pail nearby and scanned the room again. He spotted Elizabeth in a corner near the front, directing children as they came to her with questions or asked for guidance. Next he spotted Allie sitting cross-legged before a drawing as she leaned forward with her paintbrush. He approached her and crouched next to her.
Allie turned her head at her uncle's sudden appearance at her side at school. "I brought your lunch, Allie, it's back there," Nathan explained, swiveling to gesture towards the table at back.
"Oh, thank you, Uncle Nathan!" Allie said gratefully. She knew she had forgotten her lunch today but when she'd realized it it was too late to go back for it.
"What are you working on, Allie?" Nathan asked, curious at all the commotion, directed at some project the class appeared to be working on.
"It's for Founder's Day," Allie told him. "We're painting murals for Founder's Day," she said, gesturing to her own section on the large sheet in front of her. "What do you think?" she asked his opinion.
Nathan surveyed her work, a realistic drawing of a train and train station. Why they must be painting stories about the town's history, Nathan realized, and Allie was painting when the trains had first come. "I think it's great, Allie," he enthused. "But I have to get going now, okay?" he said and squeezed her arm. He hadn't meant to be an interloper to the proceedings, he'd just meant to drop off Allie's lunch. At Allie's nod to him, Nathan rose to his feet and turned.
"Elizabeth!" Nathan said in surprise when he met her eyes as she stood close to him. He hadn't seen her approach.
"Nathan, how nice of you to visit the class," Elizabeth said in a teasing voice, her brow arched at him.
"Um, I just came to bring Allie her lunch," he fumbled a gesture towards his niece. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude..."
"Nathan, don't be silly," Elizabeth dropped her teasing tone. "We're delighted you came by. I'm sure the children would love to show you what they're working on, if you have time."
"I have time," Nathan answered.
Elizabeth turned, inviting Nathan to follow as she began an explanation. "We're going to have an open house for Founder's Day here at the school. I thought we'd do murals depicting the town's history and hang them all around the room," Elizabeth stopped to gesture from one far wall, sweeping her arm around to the front and then down the other side. "That way visitors can walk around the room, visiting the town's changes in chronological order," she explained.
"Elizabeth, that's a wonderful idea!" Nathan enthused. How enthusiastic she was. About her classroom, about her teaching. No wonder Allie loved to come to school, loved learning and loved her teacher. It certainly was nothing like the schoolrooms he remembered of his boyhood, strict and stifling in their dullness. And Founder's Day. Was it Founder's Day again already? He remembered the one from last year. The one where he'd stammered to Elizabeth the inane comment that "the founders would be p-proud." She had flustered him then, he wasn't as tongue-tied with her now, but he was then and the remembrance still made him wince.
"This one was hard," Elizabeth paused before another mural on the ground, her hands clasped in front of her. Nathan looked down. It was scenes of the coal mine, from when Hope Valley had once been Coal Valley and there had been a terrible mine tragedy. Alongside the scenes of mining the children had drawn a simple memorial with the words "We Remember" on it and then underneath were the names of the miners, the miners lost that day. "This one was hard," Elizabeth repeated. "But I think it's important to acknowledge all of the history, even the losses, and not just the good parts. Don't you think?" Elizabeth asked, looking over to meet his eyes.
Nathan nodded to her, but there was a question in his eyes. She'd said it was important to acknowledge all of the losses. Elizabeth read his question, understood it. She nodded back to him, then gestured him to follow her. Elizabeth led Nathan over to another mural, knowing before he looked what it would be. "The children wanted to make it," she told him simply and Nathan nodded in understanding. Nathan peered down at the drawing. A man in red serge sitting proudly on a dark horse, with the simple words "Mountie Jack" underneath. Nathan's eyes went back to Elizabeth's, a tender understanding in them, a gentle compassion, before Elizabeth turned, drawing his attention to other drawings, other works commemorating the town's history.
There were drawings of the switchboard and telephones, when automobiles had first appeared, when electric lights were first installed. And buildings. Depictions of what was once open space now inhabited by structures, the images all dated and carefully chronologized.
"Elizabeth, you've done an amazing job here," Nathan whistled appreciatively as he surveyed the work.
"Not me," Elizabeth countered modestly. "It's the children..." she trailed off, only to be interrupted by one of the children who'd come up to her.
"Mrs. Thornton, can you help me hang this?" the child asked.
"Yes, of course," Elizabeth agreed, taking the stringed streamer from the child's hand and moving towards the side of the room, a waiting ladder there. Elizabeth hoisted her skirts with one hand, dangling the streamer from the other and ascended two steps of the ladder. She twisted her body, in an attempt to pin the streamer to the wall when she suddenly lost her footing and began to wobble alarmingly. Suddenly Nathan was at her side, reaching his hands around her waist as he pulled her down from the ladder to set her safely on the ground as Elizabeth let out a gasp at the sudden unexpected contact. Immediately releasing her after his rescue, the palms of his hands burning from the contact, Nathan said, "Here, why don't you let me do that?"
Elizabeth swallowed then nodded, as Nathan reached to take the streamer from her hand. She guessed it was impractical and unsafe of her to be climbing ladders in her long skirts. "Here I'll hold the..." was all Elizabeth got out as she reached to hold the ladder for him before she realized he had already brushed past her and was pinning the streamer to the wall, easily reaching high to do so. Elizabeth brushed her hands down her skirts as she cleared her throat and looked away. "Well, um, I guess that works too," she said under her breath, only remembering now how tall Nathan was, that he didn't need the ladder.
Nathan stayed a while after that, helping to hang the streamers, and then the finished murals all around the walls of the schoolhouse, then he helped the children push their desks back into place. Elizabeth stood at the front and clapped her hands for attention. "Alright children, settle down, take your seats," she commanded with authority as the children moved to do her bidding.
"Children, I'd like you to thank Constable Grant for visiting today and helping us with our project," she instructed the children, as the children turned their heads towards Nathan standing at the side of the room.
"Thank you Constable Grant," the children chanted in unison, all except Allie who silently mouthed the words "Thank You Uncle Nathan" in an exaggerated fashion and wagged her head at him, jutting her chin in his direction. Nathan winked back at his niece and suppressed a smile.
"Now please open your readers and turn to Chapter 2," Elizabeth was instructing. "Ill be back in a moment," she said, walking towards the aisle and inclining her head, indicating to Nathan she would walk him out.
As the pair met outside on the front stoop of the schoolhouse, Elizabeth turned to Nathan. "Thank you for coming today, Nathan. I think the children really enjoyed it." And she had too, Elizabeth thought, if she were being honest.
"Happy to help," Nathan said simply. "And like I said, I think you've done an amazing job," he repeated his earlier compliment.
"I think the children have," Elizabeth agreed. "I think...I think the founders would be p-proud," she stammered, immediately feeling flustered at her stammer. And what an inane thing to say. Why had she said that? And why did it sound so familiar? She looked over to Nathan, wondering if had noticed her peculiar statement, only to find Nathan studying her, a puzzled look on his face. Elizabeth swallowed. "I won't keep you longer, Nathan, I know you must be getting back to work," she said.
Nathan nodded, placed his hat on his head and with a tip to Elizabeth he turned, descending the schoolhouse stairs.