Lee looked up from the papers in front of him. Outside, he could hear the sounds of the town in the morning. Just as he was about to return to work, the office door opened and Abigail walked in. "Good morning, Lee," she said, walking up to his desk.

"Morning, Abigail," he replied. "Is there something you need?"

As she was about to answer, Hickam came in. "Lee, have you seen what Mr. Walden is doing?" He asked rapidly, out of breath.

"No, I haven't." Lee responded.

"He's got a big crew in and he's building houses."

"Seems a little late in the year to be starting on houses." Abigail commented.

"It does. I'll check it out later, Hickam, but thanks for letting me know."

"Of course. I'd better go." Hickam turned. "Lee. Abigail."

"Bye Hickam." Abigail said, then she turned back to Lee. "I was just coming to tell you about that."

"Guess he beat you to it." Lee smiled briefly.

"I'm worried, Lee." Abigail's voice turned serious. "Something is happening to our town and I'm not sure how to – or if we even can – stop it. What exactly happened with that vote? Was it really that easy for Walden to change it?"

"I know." Lee nodded. "Mr. Walden got under the town council and me too easily. I don't know what he's planning or what I'm going to do about it. As far as the vote goes, Mr. Walden took the papers that we were supposed to vote on and forced Bill to sign and approve them."

"Do you have proof?"

"That's the problem. I don't have proof for anything that Walden has done, otherwise he'd be in jail."

"So just because Bill signed the papers he owns the land?"

"Well, Bill is the official judge. His signature is enough to give Walden the town's land, regardless of the vote or even my word."

"We need to change that." Abigail thought hard.

"I know. Believe me, I know." Lee sighed. "There are a lot of things I need to fix. Do you have any ideas?"

Abigail thought for a moment, then opened her mouth. "Watch." She advised. "Wait. Do some research, think hard, and I'm sure the answers will come."

"That's the hard answer." Lee admitted.

"You'll make it through." Abigail smiled. "And if you ever have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them."

"Thanks." Lee nodded. "I think I'm going to see what Wyman Walden is up to."

"That's probably a good idea. I'm going to help with the lunch rush."

"That's a good idea too." Lee stood from behind his desk. He followed Abigail to the office door and threw on his coat and scarf, then opened the door and stepped out into the cool weather. "Hopefully we get a white Christmas," he commented.

"Hopefully Elizabeth and Nathan haven't offered too much." Abigail replied with a smile.

"As long as it's not me," Lee returned lightly.

"I'm helping them too." Abigail nodded. "But we're busy. Christmas is only two weeks away."

"I know. It's coming up so fast. Anyways, I'd better go. Bye." Lee rushed down the stairs and down the road to him and Rosemary's office. Before he left, he stuck his head in the office to tell Rosemary where he was going. "Hi sweetheart," he said to get her attention.

"Oh, Lee." Her head snapped up. "I'm sorry, I was busy."

"That's okay. I was just stopping by to tell you that I'm going out to Wyman Walden's land."

"Are you checking up on him?" Rosemary smirked.

"I'm seeing what he is doing on his land." Lee replied evenly.

"Mmhmm. Well, if you find anything interesting, tell me." Rosemary nodded.

"I will. I'll be back soon." Lee promised.

"Bye." Rosemary mumbled, turning back to her papers.

"Bye," Lee turned and went back to his car. He started it up and drove out of town towards Wyman Walden's new land. In the distance, he saw a lot of piles of lumber and men working. As he drew closer, he realized just how much lumber there was – and how busy the men were. He parked his car and hopped out, walking towards the construction. He walked around, looking, until Mr. Walden came up to him.

"Mayor," Walden greeted him smoothly. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I was just seeing how the buildings are going." Lee said. "Looks like you've got your men working hard."

"Well, I'd like them to get as much done now."

"Isn't it a little late to be building?" Lee commented.

"I need to get these done as soon as possible."

"If you don't mind my asking, what are these buildings for?"

"They're houses. For people."

"Oh." Lee nodded.

"If you don't mind, I have a lot of work to do," Walden began.

"Not a problem. I do too. I'll see you around." Lee shook his hand, then turned and walked back to the car.

Rosemary was working hard on her paper, putting the finishing touches on her newspaper. With Robert and Allie's help, she was just completing the last of her first round of printing. When the office door opened, she jumped and her head snapped towards her husband. "Oh, Lee!" She stopped and then chuckled. "You scared me."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were focusing so hard." Lee apologized, walking over to his desk.

"That's okay. Did you see anything of interest on Walden's land?"

"From what I can see, he's building a lot of houses as fast as he can."

"Hmm. Interesting. I wonder what for."

"People, I would imagine." Lee responded dryly.

"Clearly." Rosemary rolled her eyes. "Well, hopefully my article will work."

"Hmm."

"Do you want to read it before it goes out tomorrow?"

"I can't. I have to go again." Lee stood up.

"You sure are busy," Rosemary commented.

"You are too." Lee replied. "But I know. I can't wait for Christmas and a couple days off. I think I'm going to talk to Jesse about taking on some more work. Being mayor has taken up more of my time than I thought."

"I've noticed." Rosemary nodded. "Well, I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, sweetheart." Lee closed the door behind him.

Rosemary looked down at her newspaper headline. Right there, in bold lettering, was the main article: PLOT AGAINST THE TOWN! She smiled as she placed the stack of papers on the side of her desk.

In the morning, the Valley Voice was dropped on everyone's doorstep. News always spread fast around Hope Valley, but it went even faster now that the newspaper was out. Jacob picked up a copy sitting on top of some barrels and read the front-page article. His mouth dropped open and a slight smile crossed his face as he read what Rosemary had written. Oh how Mr. Walden would love to hear this! He took the paper and walked over to Wyman Walden's main buildings, stepping inside. "Mr. Walden," he began. "You might want to read this."

"Oh?" Mr. Walden accepted the copy of the Valley Voice from Jacob and read the article. His eyebrows drew together as he read what Rosemary had written.

"That's on every doorstep in town." Jacob said.

Walden put the paper down sharply. "Well, it appears that I might need to have a few important words with Mrs. Coulter."

"She already dislikes you." Jacob pointed out.

"I'll make sure she dislikes me enough to stop writing about me." Walden pushed his chair out and stood. "Thank you for telling me, Jacob. If you'll excuse me, I have to go."

"Of course." Jacob nodded.

"Mind if I interrupt your lunch break?" Nathan asked as he closed the schoolhouse door behind him.

"Of course not." Elizabeth looked up with a smile. "Do you need something?"

"I wanted to see if you've made any progress on our Christmas idea before I head out."

"Where are you going?"

"Remember, I'm going to Union City to the Mountie station there. I need to ask about some help."

"Ah." Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, I remember now. Yes, I have made progress. I plan on going to the Mercantile to order some stuff and to the Café to talk to Abigail. Everything is coming together well."

"Wonderful. I'll get a few things while in Union City. You're still having Allie for supper?"

"For sure."

"Alright. I should be back by about nine."

"We'll be waiting." Elizabeth promised softly. "Be safe."

"I'll try." Nathan leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Have a good evening." He said as he turned to walk out.

"It won't be as good without you." Elizabeth called after him. He stopped and smiled, then kept walking.

Rosemary sat in her and Lee's office, reading over her article. It certainly had gotten her point across. All morning she had been getting calls and visits from people in town who agreed with her. They had to do something with Walden, but she didn't know what. She absently tapped her pencil against the side of her desk. Hmm, what to do? The sound of the door opening made her jump and she looked up in surprise at Mr. Walden. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Coulter."

"Go-good afternoon, Mr. Walden." She greeted him coolly.

"I have some concerns about the article you wrote." He began.

"Concerns? I wrote my thoughts and opinions on it."

"I'm aware. But your opinion is clearly biased."

"Biased against what? You? How you snuck the vote past the council? That's truth, not bias."

"So you have proof for these heinous actions?"

"Of course. I was there."

"It'd be your word against mine," he reminded her. "And I think you should stop writing lies about me."

"What if I'm writing the truth?" She countered boldly.

"What if I take away the paper?" He returned.

Rosemary gulped, but kept going. "You couldn't. Lee would never allow it."

"Oh really." Mr. Walden smiled a fake smile. "Maybe he won't have a choice."

At that comment, Rosemary stood angrily. "You may say what you want, but it is my paper and I have the right to put in it whatever I want."

"It's your choice." He said with a sneer. "Have a good day." Then he turned and walked out.

Rosemary did not reply, but sat back down at her desk. Her hand was shaking. "I'll have to be a little bit more careful," she said softly. "And I'd better not tell Lee."

That night at supper, Rosemary was quiet. Mr. Walden's words still bothered her and she still wasn't willing to tell Lee. Lee was still mulling over what to do, so he didn't feel like saying much either. However, he did look up once. "Rosie?" He ventured.

She looked over at him. "What?"

"My sister called today and she was wondering if she and her family could come for the holidays."

"Of course. That'd be great." A smile crossed Rosemary's face. "When were they thinking about coming?"

"They already have Christmas plans with Jake's side of the family, but they wanted to come down next weekend, I think."

"I think that'll be fine. It's the same week as Nathan and Elizabeth's big party, so it'll give us something to do."

"Maybe you should call her and figure things out."

"I'll do that tomorrow. Sounds good." Rosemary ate another bit of food.

"Sweetheart?"

"What is it?"

"Are you sure that's okay? You don't sound very excited." Lee noted.

"Yeah, it'll be great! I'm very excited, just a bit tired."

"Alright." Lee nodded as Rosemary stood to clear the table. "Let me help." He said. "You go sit down, and I'll take care of this."

"Nonsense." Rosemary shook her head. "You don't have to do it all."

"I'll wash, you dry." Lee said with a smile.

"Alright." Rosemary relented with a small smile of her own.

Together, they washed, dried, and put away the dishes. By the time they were done, the kitchen and dining area were sparkling clean and they had talked and laughed. Rosemary still couldn't get Walden's face or voice out of her head, but she wanted to put it aside. Lee knew that Rosemary wasn't telling him something, so after the kitchen was cleaned up, he pulled her over to the living room and they sat down together. "Spill." He directed.

"Spill?" Rosemary looked up at him. How had he guessed so quickly? She gulped. "Spill…what?"

"Whatever's on your mind." Lee looked firm for a moment, then smiled. "I can tell when something is bugging you. What is it?"

"It's nothing."

"Rosie."

"Well, I didn't want to tell you because I thought you'd be mad," Rosemary began.

"What would I be mad about? I'm rarely mad."

"You'd be mad about this."

"Just tell me." Lee entreated.

"Remember the article I wrote for the Valley Voice?" At Lee's nod, she continued. "Well it was about Walden, and it might not have said some very nice things and he didn't really like it, so…" Rosemary's voice dropped. "He paid me a visit."

"Oh?" Lee arched his eyebrow. "What kind of visit?"

Rosemary gulped. He was getting mad. "To tell me that he wasn't pleased with what I had written." She noticed the look on Lee's face. "Now, he wasn't being mean. He had a fair point and-"

"So, he threatened you?" Lee asked. Rosemary said nothing. "Did he threaten you?"

"Maybe a little." She said quietly.

"You're right. I am mad." Lee sat back in disbelief. "I'd better talk to him."

"You don't really have to," Rosemary pleaded, remembering what she had written.

"Yes, I do. I can't have him walking around threatening people, especially you, without doing something about it. Can I read the article?"

"Well, uh, maybe you shouldn't." Rosemary hedged quickly.

"Maybe I should."

"I think I have an extra copy at the office. You can read it…tomorrow." Rosemary half-smiled. I've got to find that copy and get rid of it.

"Okay. But I'm still going to talk to him."

"Be careful." Rosemary warned. "Maybe you shouldn't. It's not that important."

"It involves you, and you are very important, so it's important."

Rosemary smiled and shrugged.