Author's note: A bit more romance in this chapter, then I end things on a cliffhanger, trouble on the horizon. I'll probably need to take a short break from writing as I have other things in life to attend to, but I will definitely try to come back to the story soon.
And the Heart is Brave
Chapter 24
Nathan sat on the stoop of Elizabeth's rowhouse a few nights later, one arm braced across a raised knee, a tin cup of coffee held inside the curve of his hand as he waited for Elizabeth to return from inside the house. She'd gone to fetch her shawl, the night air still warm but a bit breezy. They'd taken to sitting out here in the evenings after dinner, on nights Allie was over at a friend's. He and Elizabeth would sit out here on her front stoop, the front door left ajar so Elizabeth could hear Little Jack if he roused from his sleep upstairs. A single lantern behind them lit the night air, enough to see by, with the added glow of light from the windows.
"More coffee, Nathan?" Elizabeth asked upon her reappearance. Nathan looked up at her to shake his head no, as he watched her return to her spot next to him on the top stair of the stoop. As they resumed their quiet conversation, both were startled and turned simultaneously to look as the door to the house next to them suddenly opened.
"Lee Coulter, of course I want to sit outside!" Rosemary hissed at her husband. Why wouldn't she want to sit outside on their front stoop? Didn't they do it often? Okay, so this was the first time, but there was always a first time! Slapping Lee's hands aside as he tried to forestall her, Rosemary exited onto her own front porch, pretending a casual air. "What a lovely night!" she greeted the pair opposite her, as Elizabeth's and Nathan looked over to fix their eyes on her. "I think we'll just sit outside too," she said, gesturing with her eyes towards Lee that he'd better join her or else.
Lee Coulter sighed, knowing it was a lost cause and moved to join his wife as she sat down on their own front stoop. He made a small gesture towards Elizabeth and Nathan, a slight shrug of apology, as if this was all out of his control.
"Yes, a lovely night," Rosemary was opining, raising her face to the nigh sky and deeply breathing in the night air. "Why it feels like romance is in the air, don't you agree Lee?" she asked cheerfully.
"Yes, I guess," Lee replied on a sigh. Rosemary and her ways. Rosemary and her meddling and annoyingly interfering ways. He loved her, but sometimes she was a lot to take, like right now for example.
Elizabeth and Nathan had glanced at each other at Rosemary's mention of "romance", knowing they were now under a microscope, that their romance was the romance Rosemary was hinting at.
"Don't you think it's a romantic night?" she turned the question to the pair opposite as Lee suddenly said her name, drawing it out warningly, "Rosemary..."
"What?" Rosemary countered. "I'm just talking, just making conversation," she informed him, stifling his objection. "So...," she turned to Elizabeth and Nathan to ask brightly, "you two doing anything romantic lately?" she asked, fishing for details.
As Elizabeth and Nathan merely gaped at the question, Lee had had enough. Pulling Rosemary to her feet by her elbow, he told her firmly, "I think you've had enough night air."
Rosemary pouted but allowed herself to be pulled back inside her house. She wasn't getting anywhere anyway. Why, Elizabeth and Nathan hadn't even said one word to her the whole time! On a dissatisfied humpff she headed back inside her house with Lee and the door closed them.
Alone now, Elizabeth looked over at Nathan apologetically. "I'm...I"m sorry about that. Rosemary can get a little..." she trailed off, not knowing just quite how to explain her friend.
"No, no, it's fine," Nathan brushed off Elizabeth's apology, but his mind was working the word Mrs. Coulter had used. Romance. This was a courtship, after all, a romance, like she had said. But what had it been so far? Dinners at Elizabeth's, walks to church together, quiet evenings sitting on her front stoop? Was any of that romantic? he wondered. The questions niggled in Nathan's mind, because he wasn't sure of the way of it. Just what this courtship business entailed. He hadn't had much practice at it before now and it niggled in his mind that Elizabeth deserved more. Deserved more than cooking him dinner most every night.
But Mrs. Coulter seemed to understand it, know the ways of it. Already an idea was forming in Nathan's mind. Yes, he would, he thought to himself. Yes, he could. Because Elizabeth deserved more and he would see she got it.
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Nathan Grant paced outside Rosemary Coulter's house the next morning, trying to work up the nerve for the somewhat unpleasant task ahead of him. But he was resolved, he would do it, he would at least try. Because Elizabeth deserved it. She deserved it and so much more.
Spotting the flash of red passing repeatedly in front of her window, Rosemary Coulter finally lost patience and pulled open her front door, calling to the figure outside. "You planning on wearing down the path in front of my house, or are you going to come in?" she asked bluntly.
Nathan, hat in hand, stopped pacing and turned to her. "Come in, if I may," he stated his preference.
Rosemary nodded to him, then turned to disappear back inside, leaving the door open for him to follow behind.
"Constable Grant. Nathan," Rosemary said as she turned to face him once he'd entered her house.
"Mrs. Coulter. Rosemary," Nathan echoed in kind. They had had this peculiar greeting between them for some time now. First the formal address, then the casual, as if they both knew they were not one or the other. Too acquainted for the formal address, but not yet friends enough for the casual.
"What can I do for you today?" Rosemary got right to the point, wondering why the constable had been pacing outside her door, something obviously on his mind.
Nathan scratched the back of his neck. "I wonder if I could ask your advice, your help," he said.
"You want my help?" Rosemary repeated with surprise. "With what?"
Nathan inhaled. "With Elizabeth," he answered. He would find out what he needed to know and do. For Elizabeth, he would do it.
"You want my help with Elizabeth? What do you mean?" Rosemary was a little slow to follow along.
"I'm asking your help with Elizabeth. For your advice on what to do. On how to court her. On what she might like," he finally got out.
Rosemary blinked at him. Then a sudden gleam of delight came to her eyes. Oh, she usually GAVE a lot of advice to people, but for them to actually ASK for it was rare and oh, how this delighted her. "Of course, Nathan! What do you want to know?" she asked.
"Well, I haven't had much practice with it, with courting," he said. "So I was just wondering what I should do that would be romantic. You know, romance, like you were talking about last night," he explained the impetus for his visit today.
"Oh, have you come to the right place!" Rosemary enthused, clasping her hands in front of her. "I have a million ideas!" she told him, pulling him over to the settee, about to give him an earful full of them.
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Elizabeth walked down the path to Nathan's house a few nights later. He had told her would look after dinner that night, so even with her misgivings about a burnt offering, she had asked Laura to stay late to mind Little Jack. She dressed in one of her nicer outfits, simple but pretty and feminine and headed to his house at the appointed time.
Reassured that she didn't smell any smoke from his front porch, she rapped lightly on the door. She was surprised when it opened and Nathan stood on the other side, dressed in a dark suit over a white shirt, a stringed tie at his throat. He appeared to be alone, perhaps Allie was visiting a friend. At Elizabeth's arched brow, Nathan invited her in. "Elizabeth, come in."
Elizabeth entered Nathan's house then sucked in her breath. The room was filled with flowers, vases and vases on every surface filled with hothouse flowers. And on the table, an elegant cloth accented a handsome setting, with covered dishes of food awaiting the two diners. Two candles in the center flickered a warm light over the offering. Elizabeth turned startled eyes over towards Nathan. What was all this?
"Don't worry," he was quick to reassure her. "I didn't the cook the supper," he said, remembering his burnt offerings of the past.
"Then how?" Elizabeth asked. If he hadn't cooked it then...
"I had the cafe cater it," he informed her. "It was Mrs. Coulter's...Rosemary's...suggestion," he clarified. Yes, Rosemary had been quick to suggest the catering once he'd informed her of his proclivities in the kitchen. Or maybe she too smelt the frequent smoke spilling from his house.
Elizabeth lowered her head to peer up at him from under her lashes. "Rosemary? You had Rosemary help you with all this?" she asked, unbelieving.
Nathan nodded, then drew close to Elizabeth to take her hands in his. "Elizabeth...I...I haven't had much practice with this. With courting," he told her, letting her know letting her know she was his first serious relationship. What with his training, then Allie, then moving from place to place there had never been time nor opportunity to form personal attachments. His responsibilities had precluded it. Nathan swallowed. "And I want to do this right," he said. "I know things haven't been very romantic up till now. But if you'll just be patient with me, I promise to try to get better at it, with practice," he said.
"Nathan!" Elizabeth exclaimed softly, touched by his words and his efforts. Had he really done that? Had this tall, proud Mountie humbled himself to ask for help, to ask Rosemary Coulter of all people, to ask for help in courting her? And he had done it for her. Elizabeth was more pleased by that than by the fancy dinner that awaited her.
"And I hope to get more practised with a few other things as well," Nathan said.
"With what?" Elizabeth asked. What else did Nathan want to practise?
Slowly Nathan drew his eyes down from hers, to her lips, to linger there briefly, then lifted his eyes back to hers, the meaning of the slow deliberate voyage unmistakable.
Elizabeth sucked in her breath. Kissing? He wan't more practice with kissing? They had only kissed that one time, that time out in the street, but it appeared that too had been on Nathan's mind of late. And hers too, she thought, sudden colour flooding her face at the notion.
"Why are you doing that?" Nathan tilted his head, squinting an eye as he studied her.
"Doing what?" Elizabeth asked, rattled and discombobulated.
"Turning all pink like that. It's very pretty," he noted.
"I am not," Elizabeth denied her blush, denying what was obvious.
"Yes you are," Nathan reinforced the truth. "Wait," he said, as sudden understanding came to him. Was she blushing? "Wait. Did I do that?" he asked, wondering. Had he made her blush? Was that possible?
"You did not," Elizabeth denied again. But Nathan blinked, realizing the truth, his eyes widening in sudden delight, one corner of his mouth lifting into a crooked smile, his crooked smile. He didn't know why her reaction pleased him, but it did. He let out a small laugh.
"I'm going to have to remember this!" he told her, his meaning clear. Now that he knew he could make her blush, he would try again. He would try to make her blush in future.
"Don't you dare!" Elizabeth blustered the words with forced authority. "Now what's for dinner?' she demanded to know, changing the subject, pulling her hands out of his as she bit her lip, suppressing a smile, and turned towards the table.
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Elizabeth sat on the front stoop of the schoolhouse a few days later, in pain. She'd dismissed her class moments earlier, then hobbled down the schoolhouse aisle before realizing she could not go any further. It was these new shoes, these new button up boots she'd recently purchased. They were all the fashion and Rosemary had encouraged her to try a pair, the slight heel giving Elizabeth added height. But, unused to the heels, she had gone over on one ankle almost immediately. It had hurt at the time, but nothing seem damaged, certainly nothing broken, and she had continued her day. But as the day progressed, the ankle had hurt more and more, until now she could barely walk on it.
Elizabeth pulled back her skirts as she sat to peer at her ankle. Already she could see swollen flesh spilling from overtop the boot-top. She thought to remove the shoe but even the attempt, even touching it, caused sharp pain to course through her. Well, what was she to do now? she wondered. She wasn't that far from the town, the schoolhouse within eyesight of the town buildings, but in her current state, it might have been miles away. And she out here all alone. She puffed her cheeks out with a sigh.
Elizabeth sat there about ten more minutes, then spotted a splash of red colour heading in her direction. She let out a sigh of relief. Nathan. Nathan was headed to the schoolhouse, either to meet Allie, who had already left, or to see her. Whatever the reason, Elizabeth was thankful for it now. She watched as he approached her.
"Elizabeth?" Nathan said her name in a question as he drew near, looking around him. What was Elizabeth doing just sitting here, all alone, no one else in sight.
"Nathan, would you please fetch my horse from the livery? Or maybe borrow Lee's automobile and come back here?" she asked without preamble.
Nathan's eyes grew wide at the strange request. "Whatever for?" he asked.
Knowing she was not going to get away without giving at some explanation, Elizabeth said, "I've hurt my ankle. I can't walk back to town."
"Hurt your ankle?" Nathan asked, taking a step closer, tilting his head to peer in the direction of her ankle, now well hidden from view by her skirts.
Elizabeth nodded, making no attempt to show him the evidence. "It's not broken. I've been walking all day on it. It's just very sore," she admitted. "So if you would just go get..." she started to say before Nathan interrupted her. He had come before her and stooped slightly, his arms outstretched.
"Come on," he said, gesturing the invite with his fingers, as Elizabeth's eyes widened at the implication.
"Nathan! Nathan, you can't carry me back to town!" she objected.
"Why not?" Nathan countered, studying her. "You don't look too heavy," he remarked, thinking that was her objection.
"Nathan, you can't carry me through town! What would people say?" she asked, horrified at the prospect.
Nathan pivoted to look back at the town, as if the answer was there. "I don't know. What would they say?" he countered.
"Nathan, they would think...they would think..." Elizabeth couldn't quite say it, thinking that the sight of such an intimacy would set tongues to wagging.
"Elizabeth, people already know we're...we're..." he trailed off. People already knew they were courting. Besides, this wasn't about that, it was about getting Elizabeth medical attention. "Elizabeth, this is silly. You can't mean for me to go all the way to get your horse or a car and then come all the way back," he reasoned. "I can have you over to the infirmary in a few minutes."
Elizabeth sighed, then let out a curt, "Fine." As Nathan reached his arms to her and she carefully placed her own around his neck, she added, "But if this goes wrong, I'm blaming you."
"So noted," Nathan drawled, hoisting Elizabeth into his arms easily, as he turned to begin the short trek back to town.
As Nathan strode through the streets of Hope Valley towards the infirmary, Elizabeth hid her face in his shoulder as curious eyes turned to them. Heavens, this was embarrassing, Elizabeth thought. She looked ahead for a second, wondering how close they were to the infirmary, when she spotted a figure in a burgundy coloured dress topped with long blonde hair approaching them and Elizabeth groaned aloud. Oh no! Not Rosemary! She quickly turned her face into Nathan's shoulder, the ludicrous hope that maybe Rosemary wouldn't notice her.
But Rosemary had, and came before the pair, stopping them in their path. "Elizabeth! Nathan!" Rosemary exclaimed gleefully, her hands clasped in front of her. "Why didn't you tell me you were eloping?" she teased with delight. "Don't tell me that dinner we planned the other night already did the trick?" she couldn't help herself, the humour of it all was too much to resist.
Elizabeth looked over to her friend, glaring with something like chagrin on her face. "Rosemary, I hurt my ankle!" she said, gesturing her whole hand towards her foot.
Rosemary affected a pout. "Oh, what a shame. Not as exciting as eloping to be sure. But let me get the door for you," she offered, a tidbit of help to make up for her teasing the moment before, as she sprang up the stairs outside the infirmary and opened the door.
Elizabeth sighed as Nathan strode up the stairs and took her inside.
It was a few minutes later that Dr. Carson Shepherd stood before Elizabeth as she sat on the examining table, a pair of scissors in his hand. "It has to come off, Elizabeth," he told her. "And there is no other way," he said, informing her the boot had to be cut off, her foot had swollen too much and this was the only way.
Elizabeth let out a disappointed sigh. She supposed it had to be done. It was just...this was her brand new shoes! "Alright, Carson, go ahead," she agreed, acquiescing to logic and reason.
A short time later, after determining there was no break, that it was in fact a severe sprain and her foot suitably bandaged, Elizabeth hopped down off the examination table onto her good foot, the other raised carefully off the ground. "I'm sorry I don't have crutches, Elizabeth," Carson apologized. He'd just recently given a pair to a man with a broken leg and hadn't had time to replace them. And Elizabeth's ankle would be swollen a few days at least, maybe a week.
"It's okay," Elizabeth was saying. "I can manage," she said optimistically. "Rosemary, can you ask Lee to bring his car over?" she asked her friend hopefully. Rosemary had stayed with her while Carson had examined her ankle.
"Oh, what a shame!" Rosemary exclaimed. "Lee is out of town and took the car," she explained regretfully, but funnily enough, without an ounce of regret in her voice. "I guess we'll just have to ask..." she trailed off, already heading to the door to open it as Elizabeth tried to call after her to stop her.
"Constable," Rosemary said to Nathan, who stood just outside the infirmary doors. He had waited outside while Elizabeth was being examined, waiting to see if his help might still be needed. As Nathan went to follow Rosemary inside, Elizabeth began protesting.
"No, I'm good," she said. "Rosemary, just give me your arm and I'm sure we can make it," she said.
But Rosemary's mouth was agape. "Elizabeth, you can't mean to hop all the way home!" she exclaimed.
Elizabeth proceeded to hop in Rosemary's direction, to prove her intent to do just that when she suddenly lost her balance and began to flail her arms wildly. Instantly, Nathan was at her side and scooped her into his arms.
"Nathan!" Elizabeth began to protest.
"Quiet, Elizabeth!" Nathan commanded, tired of her protests, her objection to him helping.
"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed at being told to be quiet. Wasn't that her job? To tell her students to quiet down? She wasn't used to the word being used on her.
"I said quiet," Nathan repeated, his voice firm. Understanding that Nathan was at the limit of his patience, Elizabeth pursed her mouth, emitting another "Fine" under her breath.
Nathan turned towards the door, as Rosemary quickly went to open it wider for them and Elizabeth sighed at the repeat performance. The repeat performance they would be giving the town as Nathan carried her home this time.
"Wait," she commanded, and Nathan stopped a minute in the threshold of the door, standing crossways there. Elizabeth reached down and drew her skirt up just slightly, revealing her bandaged ankle.
"Whatever are you doing?" Nathan asked.
"Just letting people see I've hurt my ankle," she said, wanting it known, wanting it known why Nathan Grant was carrying her home. Nathan rolled his eyes and shook his head. Would be ever understand women? he wondered, as Elizabeth settled back in his arms and he proceeded out the door.
He was about halfway to Elizabeth's rowhouse when he became acutely aware of her. Elizabeth was squirming in his arms, trying to position herself more comfortably and it was becoming quite distracting. "Elizabeth," he finally said through gritted teeth. "Could you please stop wiggling around so much?" he asked.
"Sorry," Elizabeth apologized, not realizing her squirming was proving distracting to Nathan, not annoying, and Nathan let out a sigh that she was at least holding still now.
Inside Elizabeth's rowhouse Nathan set Elizabeth carefully on the settee, to Elizabeth's perfunctory "thank you", while Laura rushed to find a pillow to place on the small low table in front of her. After Elizabeth had eased her foot onto the pillow she beckoned to her small son, who toddled over to her.
Nathan headed to the door, then gestured for Laura's attention and the young woman met him there. "Laura, if Mrs. Thornton needs anything you can't manage, you come find me right away, okay? I'll either be at home or the Mountie office," he whispered the instructions.
"Okay," Laura agreed. She'd already agreed to stay the night to help Mrs. Thornton now that she'd injured her foot.
"Good," Nathan said, then headed out the door.
Back at the Mountie office, Nathan hung his hat on the peg by the door and loosened the button at his throat, shaking his head at what had transpired in the past thirty minutes. His mind wandered to one thought in particular more than the others. How sweet Elizabeth had felt in his arms. Soft and womanly, the faint smell of roses emanating from her. Was that her hair or just her? he wondered. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts as he approached his desk. He hadn't seen it at first, when he first came in, but he saw it now. A telegram, neatly placed on his desk in front of his chair. Nathan sat down and opened the telegram, reading the brief sentences and a dark expression came over his face.
Of course it would be now, he thought. Now, when he and Allie had settled into Hope Valley, to a place that finally felt like home. When he was happier now than he ever had been in his whole life. When he had Elizabeth in his life and everything was going so well. Of course it had to be now. Nathan studied the telegram. Ten days. He'd be here in ten days. The one man who could ruin everything.
His father.