Early the next morning, after Nathan finished his rounds, he stopped by the row house to talk to Elizabeth. He knocked on the door, and it was opened swiftly by Elizabeth. "Good morning," she began, but stopped when she saw the concern on his face. "Nathan, what's wrong? Is there a problem with Allie?"

"No. Can I come in?" He asked.

"Of course." She opened the door wide, and he followed her inside. "What is it?" She asked again.

"I need your help. I found someone in the woods."

"Someone?" She echoed.

"It's Cody."

"Cody?" Elizabeth looked surprised. "He's here? I need to tell Abigail!"

"One second." He turned and caught her by the arm. "You can't tell Abigail; I promised."

"Oh." She turned back to him.

"They had a fight, and he came back here. I found him yesterday, and I made him promise to stay there until today. Will you come and talk to him? You know him better than I do." Nathan explained.

Elizabeth smiled. "Of course. I'll just ask Rosemary to come over to watch Little Jack."

"Good." Nathan nodded. "Just don't tell her, please."

They shared a smile. "I won't," Elizabeth promised. They both knew that there was no keeping a secret if Rosemary knew it.

In a few minutes, Elizabeth returned with Rosemary. "Have fun, you two." Rosemary smirked at them.

"Thanks, we will." Elizabeth said as she closed the door behind them. She and Nathan looked at each other and chuckled. "I think we're home free." She said as they got on their horses.

"Quick thinking." He smiled. "Follow me." They turned and began to ride towards the forest. It wasn't a terribly long ride, about fifteen minutes. When they reached the cabin, they dismounted and tied their horses. Then they walked up to the cabin and Nathan opened the door. "I'm back." He said simply.

Cody looked up when Elizabeth walked in. "Cody!" She said, coming over to him and giving him a hug. "It's been such a long time."

Cody accepted the hug, but he wasn't amused. "Why did you bring her?" He asked when Elizabeth had released him.

"I thought she could talk to you." Nathan said honestly.

Elizabeth shrugged at him, then turned to Cody. "Your mom is in town," she said.

"I know." He replied. "That's why I'm leaving."

"You can't leave." She protested. "You need to talk to her."

"Why? She doesn't care, she never came for me."

"It's not that she doesn't care, but she was really busy with her aunt."

"Too busy for me."

"Cody, listen. I talked with Abigail yesterday, and she came back to Hope Valley to look for you. Because she's sorry and she loves you. Won't you at least talk to her?"

"She came to look for me?"

Elizabeth nodded. "She's worried sick. Please come back with us."

Cody stared off into the distance, then looked back at Elizabeth. "I need to think."

"Okay. We'll give you time. Come back to town for lunch though." Elizabeth stood.

"I'll think about it." Cody said.

Elizabeth nodded. "I'm glad to see you again, Cody." Then she and Nathan turned and left.

"Good job." Nathan complimented as they got on their horses again.

"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled, although her smile was mixed with a little sadness. "I sure hope he comes. I hate to see either of them like this."

"I'm sure he will. You're great at convincing people." Nathan smiled at her.

Elizabeth smiled a real smile this time. She was forever grateful for his kind nature. "Thank you for taking me. Now, I'd better head back home."

"And I'd better get back to town. See you later."

"For sure." She nodded. They shared a sweet smile, and then parted ways.

Elizabeth made her way to the school. On the way, she met Rosemary, who told her that Laura was watching Little Jack. In exchange, Elizabeth told Rosemary what had happened. "But keep it to yourself," she warned with a chuckle.

"I wouldn't tell anyone!" Rosemary vowed seriously.

"Alright then. Bye!" Elizabeth waved as she drove on.

"Bye!" Rosemary waved back. She turned and headed to Abigail's Café. She had to see the excitement happen! On the way, she said hi to Lee and told him everything. Then she found a good spot in the Café and focused on work and eating some delicious muffins. The morning seemed to fly by as she worked and talked with her friends who came in. It was almost 12:30, and Rosemary was planning on leaving when she heard a knock on the back door of the Café.

"Come in." Abigail called immediately.

The door opened, and Abigail turned around. Her mouth dropped open as she saw Cody standing still in the doorway. Her eyes filled with tears as she moved forward and engulfed him in a huge hug. They stood there for a few moments before Abigail stood back. "What are you doing here?" She asked tearfully.

"Elizabeth told me that you were here." He replied.

"Cody," she began. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you, I was just trying to make sure that my aunt was taken care of."

"It's okay." He nodded. "I'm sorry for being selfish – and running away."

"I forgive you." Abigail gave him another hug. "And I'm so glad that you're here now."

Rosemary smiled to herself, then got up and left. This was not a moment for her to be a part of. She slipped back down to the office to finish getting the paper ready for the next edition. She was surprised at how much that moment had touched her, and even more to find a slight tear in her eyes. Being a mother certainly was a special bond. She got to work as soon as possible to avoid thinking about it.

A few days passed, and Lee began making plans for his bonfire. He was a step ahead of the others in campaigning, thanks to Rosemary's ideas. Abigail went back to running the Café, and Cody settled in too. The weather grew cooler, and everyone seemed to be settled into a rhythm. Finally, the day arrived for the bonfire. Rosemary was thrilled; it was certainly going to be a newsworthy night. And Lee had decided that he was not the only one giving a speech. He was also going to give all the other candidates a chance as well. It was certainly a Lee thing to do.

The whole town gathered on the plain, where the fire was crackling and burning. There were seats for everyone, and there were many groups of people standing around and talking. It was the kind of gathering that everyone loved. Rosemary made her way through the crowd, giving greetings and listening for news. As she was passing Lucas, Fiona, Mike, and Nathan, she caught a bit of their conversation. "…worried about the pipeline," Lucas said.

Fiona nodded. "Something is happening up there, Nathan." She said quietly.

"I'll have to check it out again." Nathan nodded seriously. "Do you have any leads, or ideas?"

"No leads." Mike shook his head. "But someone has been messing with our oil; I can tell."

"This pipeline is really important to the business." Lucas agreed. His voice dropped. "We need it to keep going."

"I'll be doubly careful." Nathan looked up and saw Rosemary. In embarrassment, she moved away to find Elizabeth. But that conversation she would keep to herself, at least until she had investigated more.

She spoke to Elizabeth for a few minutes, then went to go find Lee. "Are you ready?" She asked with a grin.

"For sure." He agreed.

"Are you nervous?" She asked with a smirk.

"I'm trying not to be, but I'm a little nervous that the other speeches will be better than mine." He admitted quietly.

"Well, if you had let me help you…" she pointedly remarked.

He looked at his prized watch. "Nice try. Gotta go, Rosie. Wish me luck." He kissed her cheek, and then hurried up the steps onto the makeshift platform. "If I may have your attention," he began in a loud voice. Everyone turned towards him. "Please, take your seats." He motioned with his hands. There were a few moments of scuffling as everyone sat down. "Thank you for coming tonight." He paused amid much clapping. "I'm thankful that this could happen, and I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Now, for the first speech – Mike, go ahead." Mike stepped up to the platform and Lee stepped down.

Each of the speeches passed as Rosemary took notes. Mike spoke on bringing more jobs and keeping the pipelines open. Fiona brought up starting new businesses. Bill leaned heavily on land, and town growth not controlled by Wyman Walden. Lee had the privilege of being the last speech, and he ended with saying how important Hope Valley was to all of them. "Remember," he began, "that no matter where you go, or what happens here, this will always be our town. And I will do my best to keep it that way."

Clapping rose, creating a loud din as people stood and kept clapping. "Thank you, thank you," Lee said, trying to quiet the crowd done. "Please, go and enjoy the rest of the evening. But before you do, I'd like to thank each of the candidates for speaking, and Rosemary, Elizabeth, Abigail, Joseph, and Nathan for helping me get things set up." More clapping ensued, and Lee stepped down, glad to be out of the spotlight.

"Great speech, Lee." Joseph Canfield clapped his friend on the back. "My vote is cast your way." He finished with a smile.

"Thanks Pastor; I'm glad to hear it." Lee smiled, and then moved on. He was able to find Rosemary, or rather Rosemary found him.

"Did you get the jist of the speeches?" He asked.

"I have lots to write about." Rosemary nodded excitedly. "You did a really good job on your speech," she said sincerely.

"Thank you." He smiled. Her compliments were his favorite, but he couldn't resist teasing back. "I told you I could do it."

"I do remember you saying something like that." She chuckled. "You did great." Rosemary tucked her arm in his. "Now come on, we have people to win over!"

"That's why you're here." Lee said with a grin. "If they didn't like my speech, there's no way they won't like you."

Rosemary said nothing, but squeezed his arm a little tighter. She didn't plan on letting it go for the rest of the evening, either.

The town agreed that Lee's fire had certainly been a wonderful idea. Time was moving on quickly, and before they knew it they would be voting for their new mayor. One thing was for sure, they'd take any excuse to gather together that they could get, especially before the weather forced them all inside.

Three weeks later, Rosemary was finishing the final touches on her newest edition of the Valley Voice, which was an important article about the upcoming vote. Meanwhile, Abigail's Café was serving their breakfast rush. It seemed like they had been busier than normal since Abigail came back, but everyone had always said that Abigail's muffins were the best and her pie was hard to beat, so no one was surprised.

One of the customers there that morning was Lee. He hardly ate anything though, because he was too nervous. The vote was supposed to happen today, and the process would be starting in a few minutes. So he focused on drinking his coffee; he'd have to come up with some kind of project to keep him busy until the results were announced later that evening. He was sure his men would need help though, to get everything finished before winter forced them to stay out of the mountains and forests. "Not hungry?" Abigail asked on her way by.

"Oh." He looked up. "Sorry, not really."

"Nervous for the vote?" She asked with a slight smile.

"A little." He admitted. "I'm going to go find a project to keep me busy."

"Good idea. Do you want this muffin for the road?"

"Sure. Thanks again." He nodded, and then left, heading back to his mill.