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And the Heart is Brave

Chapter 20

Elizabeth closed up the library a few nights later, just after dark. She'd gone in the evening for a few hours so that people who worked in the daytime could visit and make their book selections. Little Jack was already in bed and Rosemary was sitting for her.

As Elizabeth made her way home she passed the Mountie office and noticed the lights still on. Nathan must be working late, she thought. She hadn't spoken to him about Bill's revelations yet, she had wanted to give herself some time to think things over. For while the discovery that his reasons for coming to Hope Valley were honourable, it still conflicted her. She had always been unsure of Nathan's feelings. She knew her own were growing, but he'd never given any indication of his. And maybe the small attentions he paid her were simply because he was fulfilling a promise and not because of some personal reasons of his own.

Elizabeth sighed. Maybe now was as good a time as any to begin the conversation, to clear the air. She approached the Mountie office door and turned the handle.

"Nathan!" she exclaimed as she entered. "What happened?" she asked. Nathan was standing in front of a pan of water that sat on his desk, his hand dipped inside, the water pink with blood.

Nathan turned towards Elizabeth ruefully. "Just a small injury," he said, embarrassed she had caught him like this.

An injury? Nathan was hurt? Elizabeth moved closer to get a better view. Immediately her mind worked the possibilities. Had he been shot? Stabbed? Fist fight? What kind of dangerous situation had he been involved in? "What happened?" Elizabeth asked again. "Did you get shot?"

Again, Nathan was rueful. "Nothing so exciting, I'm afraid. My horse fell," he explained.

"Your horse fell?"

"Hmm,mmm," Nathan replied. "It was dark, he stumbled and we both went down. I guess my hand hit something on the ground. A rock or something," he said, not really knowing for sure.

Elizabeth studied the pink water. "Why didn't you go to the infirmary? Get Carson to look at it?"

Nathan looked sheepish. "It's late. No one's there. I didn't want to disturb the doctor at home for this," he said, meeting Elizabeth's eyes, not wanting to bother anyone over so minor an injury.

Elizabeth sighed. "Okay, let me look at it," she instructed.

"What?" Nathan said, his eyes growing wide at her suggestion.

"Let me look at it. Sit down," she commanded, pulling a chair behind him. When he made no motion to move she said more forcefully, "Sit!"

Nathan puffed out his cheeks, then sat in compliance as Elizabeth reached for another chair and drew up across from him. Grabbing a small nearby towel she lifted his hand from the water to inspect his palm.

Nathan watched her as she bent over his hand and remarked. "Are you always this bossy? Or have your years of teaching just made you so?" he asked dryly.

A smile tugged at the corner of Elizabeth's mouth as she began to dab his injury dry. "Teaching may have honed the skill a little," she confessed, looking up to meet his eyes with a twinkle in hers. She looked back down to his hand. "It doesn't look too bad, not too deep," she remarked of the cut. "Do you have a first aid kit?" she asked.

Nathan nodded, inclining his head to the cabinet by the wall as Elizabeth went over to retrieve the kit. She opened it and pulled out a long length of bandages and a small bottle of disinfectant. She dabbed his wound clean, then began to wrap the bandage around his palm.

Nathan grit his teeth at Elizabeth's tender ministrations, thinking this was more painful than the cut had been. How careful she was being, glancing to his face occasionally while she worked, making sure she wasn't hurting him. It had been a long time since Nathan had had anyone fuss over him, if ever, and he found Elizabeth's kind attention here in the quiet darkened room just shy of overwhelming, her gentleness and softness, her presence, flooding his senses.

Finishing up her work, Elizabeth announced. "There. I think that's good for tonight. But promise me...promise me you'll have Carson look at it tomorrow?" she asked. At Nathan's nod, Elizabeth stood, intending to leave and Nathan stood as well, in deference to her movement. But Elizabeth hesitated. There was that word. That word between them. Promises.

"Nathan, I want you to know something," she began, swallowing with effort, then bravely pushed forward. "I know why you came to Hope Valley. I know about the promise you made to Jack," she said quietly, collectedly.

Nathan's eyes grew wide. She couldn't know about that. She couldn't have figured it out. At the questioning look in Nathans' eyes, Elizabeth supplied the answer.

"Bill. Bill figured it out. He told me," she said simply.

Bill! Of course, Bill! Nathan thought. Of course he should have known Bill might figure things out one day. Maybe he'd even expected it.

"I know you came here to watch over me and Little Jack," she said. "To make sure we were okay. And I want you to know, you don't have to do it anymore," she told him, relieving him of the duty he'd promised so long ago.

Nathan shook his head, both relieved and conflicted. Because it hadn't been that way at all. Maybe he'd come because of the promise, but things hadn't turned out the right way. Relieved now of his promise to keep it secret, now that she knew it all anyway, Nathan began his story. "Elizabeth, when I first came to Hope Valley I thought I could be of help to you. But it didn't take me long to see you didn't need any help, least of all mine," he admitted ruefully. "You had a whole townful of people watching over you," he told her "You are very loved, Elizabeth," he stated. "But then...then a peculiar thing started to happen," he expanded, his eyes becoming far off as Elizabeth listened intently. "Instead of me helping you, it was you helping me...me and Allie," he noted the irony. "It seemed like every time I turned around there you were, helping us. And it didn't seem right. That was not supposed to be the way of it," he confessed his failure. "So when I was offered that promotion at Christmas I thought, okay, now is the time to go. She doesn't need my help and I haven't been much help to her anyway," Nathan said, drawing a deep breath. "But then...then I found I couldn't leave."

"Allie," Elizabeth said, knowing what Nathan meant. That Allie had become so attached to Hope Valley he couldn't uproot her. And in a strange way, Elizabeth understood the child's stance. One way or another Hope Valley was Allie's destiny. Was it any wonder she had recognized it, and had rooted herself here?

Nathan nodded. "Allie," he repeated to Elizabeth's observation. "So I stayed. And I don't regret it, Elizabeth. I don't regret staying," he said, his words meaningful, and igniting a small flame of hope in Elizabeth's heart.

"I'm glad you did Nathan. I"m glad you stayed," she told him. "And I'm glad we're friends," Elizabeth spoke the simple words.

"I am too," Nathan said.

Satisfied for now, Elizabeth drew a breath and nodded. If Nathan was in Hope Valley now it wasn't just because of his promise to Jack. There was more to it now. And Elizabeth was satisfied with that. For now.

Elizabeth turned to go, then remembered. She turned back. "Nathan, there's one more thing," she began as Nathan looked at her questioningly. Elizabeth swallowed. "I want you to know I intend to keep Jack's promise. Jack's promise...to you," she told him as Nathan grew still and silent at her words. "I promise that if anything ever happens to you," Elizabeth swallowed at the thought, then bravely continued on, "If anything happens to you, that I'll watch over Allie, look out for her, make sure she's okay."

"Thank you, Elizabeth. That means a lot to me," Nathan breathed the words in gratitude.

"And I promise...," Elizabeth continued, drawing herself straighter, taller, her chin just a little higher. What had Superintendent O'Reilly said to her that day? That she was part of the Mountie family. That she was one of them and always would be. "And I promise...I promise never to let her know," she echoed the promise once made between the two men, now between her and Nathan. She eyed Nathan directly, a quick imperceptible nod of her head, then said, "Mountie code."

Nathan eyed the woman before him, her stance just as fierce and proud as any Mountie he had known, the call of duty and honour just as strong in her eyes and he squared himself tall opposite her, both of them one kind, one to the other, and he repeated her words back to her, sealing the promise.

"Mountie code."