Hello, everyone! Sorry about the time it took to see an update. We've found a new place. Not much is unpacked, but I will have a little more time to work on my stories. Thanks for all of the positive feedback and your patience!
Chapter 17
Welcome Back, Mrs. Thornton!
A few weeks had passed and the only thing that had changed was the weather. Winter was definitely setting in, which the reporters camping out soon began to grumble even more. Gabe had been in contact with Constable Monroe who had found more damning evidence against Hargraves and Croaker, and had managed to fill in some holes in the story. But since Nathan was the victim, he couldn't technically do any of the investigating himself.
Nathan had taken the car William Thatcher had given him, (something he still couldn't grasp!) and drove to a trapper's cottage between Brookfield and Hope Valley to meet up with Gabe and Bill. He saw Hero and Apollo outside as he pulled up and stopped the car. Both Gabe and Bill were giving a look of shock.
"Well, since I'm still not technically allowed to ride yet," Nathan explained as he got out.
Bill looked like Nathan had betrayed him.
"I feel like we should have been in contact a lot more than we were," Gabe said as they walked inside. Bill nodded in agreement.
"Well?" Bill growled out as he looked at the two Mounties sitting near him.
They both got him caught up.
"Monroe said he's figured out how Nathan ended up on the path without his Mountie gear, when Cliffard Olsen said he was left behind without being checked. But he is waiting to get here to say it. He doesn't trust the phones or telegrams, and I can't say I blame him," Gabe said.
Bill and Nathan nodded.
"Hargraves and Croaker are also on their way. They sent a telegram to Boyce informing him of needing his help," Gabe said.
Both Bill and Nathan looked at each other in worry.
"When do they get here?" Bill asked.
"They get to Hope Valley in a week. Boyce is supposed to meet them there," Gabe replied.
"They'll be traveling in with the Christmas festival crowd," Nathan pointed out with a rub of his forehead.
Gabe nodded.
"Any luck with Boyce?" Nathan asked.
Bill shook his head.
"I still don't trust him not to be a rat," Bill explained. "But we need him in Hope Valley, if I am going to be of any use to you."
They both nodded.
"So, what's the plan?" Nathan asked.
"Monroe is also on his way back, we can say he was the back-up you ordered for the festival, and I will be there as well," Gabe said.
"I will bring Boyce back on the same day that Hargraves and Croaker are supposed to be in Hope Valley. He will be staying in the cell, but we can have him walk around a bit."
Gabe and Nathan nodded.
The men said their farewells as they each left. Nathan couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something, but he drove back to Hope Valley.
And he almost crashed into it on his way home. Or it would be more accurate to say that he almost ran into Hargraves on his drive home. Hargraves was wearing civilian clothes and standing smack dab in the middle of the street and glaring at Nathan once he registered who was driving, but the man hadn't tried to move.
Nathan pulled slowly forward and rolled down his window a tidge.
Hargraves gave Nathan a cruel smile.
"Doing rounds in a car now? I've been told that the outlier community is under Kinslow's jurisdiction," Hargraves commented.
"He needed to check on something, I took over for the day," Nathan said.
"Just for today?" Hargraves said skeptically.
Nathan didn't bother replying.
"What brings you here, Sir?" Nathan asked.
"I'm bringing my step-son here for the festival. I was told to get here early because the Valley Voice has caused some stirring up," Hargraves said.
Nathan eyed him. Hargraves met his look back.
"What I'm saying now is completely between two men...you can't win this fight. Redact your story, say that you were mistaken about what happened due to your memory loss, and I will order my people to back off," Hargraves said in a near whisper.
"And what happens if I don't?" Nathan asked.
"I will take away everyone and everything that you have ever cared about," Hargraves threatened.
Nathan thought about the threat. He knew that it was absolutely real, but he had never been able to let bullies win.
"I don't lie, Sir. I won't lie about what happened," Nathan glared back at the man. He had no idea why Hargraves was so set on seeing him destroyed personally, but he knew that things were about to get a whole lot worse.
"I figured that would be your response. Just remember that everything after this choice is on you," Hargraves stated as he walked away. "Oh, and Constable Grant, I'm so sorry, about the row house. Those old boards are just so susceptible to fires."
Nathan looked at him in horror before he went as fast as he dared in the car.
When he pulled up to the row houses, there were three bucket lines going in an attempt to calm the swell of the fire on his house. Nathan watched in horror for a few seconds before he realized that his house was a loss.
"Turn the water to the others! We don't want them to catch!" Nathan ordered loudly and firmly.
Everyone turned to look at him in surprise, but they all followed his instructions immediately. Nathan was looking around the people but didn't see his family in the crowds.
"Elizabeth and Jack took them to the Saloon," Lucas explained as he saw Nathan's frightened gaze.
Nathan met his eyes.
"Allie heard someone puttering around outside, just before the fire started. They were able to get Ruth outside before it went up. Lee used his car to drive them into town and let us know that we needed water and buckets. I put them in the rooms I keep reserved for you," Lucas said kindly.
Nathan looked at him in thanks before he went to grab a bucket to help. But he was stopped by Dr. Sheppard literally taking it away.
"You're not well enough yet," the man said tersely. "There will be a time where you will be able to do something with this, but you've got some people to talk to first. Lucas, show him to his room!"
Lucas nodded and gestured Nathan away from the row houses. Lucas drove Nathan's car, sensing he needed time to process. Nathan felt the guilt of his choice to not redact the story.
"Constable, are you alright?" Lucas asked gently.
Nathan just shook his head.
Lucas snuck Nathan into the saloon through the kitchens and up the stairs. They walked softly across the floor, before Lucas pulled out his key for room 4 and unlocked the door. Lucas was immediately nose-to-nose with an old pistol being held steadily at his face.
He looked surprised to be staring at one considering who he had left in there.
"Lucas! Don't you knock?" Rosemary Coulter's voice rang out through the open door.
"I didn't want anyone looking out," Lucas said softly as he turned his gaze to Nathan standing in the hallway with him. "And I'm pretty sure you didn't have one of those when I left. I mean really, Rosemary, do you even know how to shoot?"
Nathan just sniggered at Lucas digging himself a deeper hole as they entered.
"Her father was a Mountie, Lucas," Nathan said as if that should explain everything.
Rosemary and Allie both nodded in agreement.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Lucas asked.
Nathan just gave him an assessing look.
"You don't have close friends who are Mounties," Nathan stated.
"That's obvious," Rosemary said with an eye roll as she lowered her weapon.
"What does my lack of Mountie knowledge have to do with anything?" Lucas asked in bewilderment.
"Because those of us who are around the life more would know that no Mountie would leave his loved ones behind without knowing how to defend themselves," Elizabeth said. "Jack tried to convince me to teach me to learn to shoot, but I've never been particularly comfortable around them. But I also lived next to the Coulters, and Rosemary is my best friend and they were around a lot, which he knew."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Lucas asked.
"I knew Jack as a child. We grew up together. Both of our fathers were Mounties. Both of our fathers made sure we knew how to shoot and defend ourselves. I'm quite good at it actually," Rosemary said.
Lucas looked at her in shock. Then his gaze fell on Allie, and gave her a questioning eyebrow.
"I don't know how to, yet. But only because we didn't stay in Fort Simpson," Allie explained. "I do know how to get a full grown man down, though."
Lucas gave a skeptical look her way.
"I can prove it," Allie said.
Lucas looked like he was nodding just to appease her, which Allie took as a challenge. Allie stuck out her hand as if to shake his. Lucas put out his. She grabbed it hard and squeezed at exactly where the pressure point is. Lucas yelped in pain and startled back in surprise as he shook it in pain.
"I've taught her to be able to take me down," Nathan explained with a smirk after Lucas met his eyes.
"I believe it," Lucas said as he rubbed his hand once more.
The group smirked.
Lucas left quickly after, while the Grants, the Thorntons, and Rosemary Coulter all watched Nathan as he processed what had happened.
"I ran into Hargraves before getting back into town," Nathan said softly as he took a position at the window, watching the comings and goings of the people on main street. Most were looking to the row houses with fear.
Everyone looked back in shock.
"Actually, I need to make some calls," Nathan admitted.
"Lucas put us in a room with a phone," Archie admitted as he gestured towards that bit of civilization by the bed.
Nathan shook his head.
"What did Hargraves want?" Elizabeth asked.
"He wants me to redact the story," Nathan said.
Everyone gasped.
"Are you?" Allie asked.
Nathan shook his head.
"I told him that I'm not a liar, and I won't become one for this," Nathan admitted.
Everyone gave him a proud smile.
"But he also mentioned that something had happened at the house," Nathan finally finished, guilt lacing his tone.
They all looked at each other in surprise.
"What happened here?" Nathan asked.
"I heard someone messing around our backyard. It sounded too close to the house; I went to check and scare whomever it was off, but he had already started the fire in the corner near the wood pile. I went inside to let Grandpa and Grandma know. We got her outside just as it took hold," Allie said.
"We saw what was happening with the smoke and Lee drove their car to the outside of their house, to get Ruth inside. I couldn't be left behind, so I grabbed Jack and came here. Rosemary stayed to protect all of us," Elizabeth said.
"I knew something wasn't right," Rosemary admitted.
Nathan nodded in acknowledgement, but was still feeling guilty and it showed in his body language.
"This isn't your fault," Elizabeth reprimanded.
"Isn't it?" Nathan added softly.
Elizabeth glared firmly at him.
"If I hadn't refused Hargraves demands…" Nathan stated before looking at his family.
Elizabeth continued to glare.
"How much of your house was left when you got back?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not much," Nathan admitted.
"How far out of town was Hargraves and your conversation?" Elizabeth asked.
"About a 30 minutes drive," Nathan admitted.
"Can a row house be inflamed to the extent that it was in 30 minutes?" Elizabeth asked.
"Actually, in the right conditions, it can only take 5 minutes," Nathan argued.
"And winter as the air is heavy with snow moisture?" Elizabeth asked.
Nathan shook his head that that was unlikely.
"Not to mention, the fact that there was no way for Hargraves to send a message that quickly to whomever lit the house on fire. Hargreaves was betting that you wouldn't take his deal. Your house would have burned down either way," Rosemary added.
Nathan looked between the two women before conceding both of their points.
"So, what are we going to do?" Rosemary asked.
"I need to talk with Bill and Gabe first," Nathan admitted.
Nathan had decided that he was going to send a telegram to Gabe to come to Hope Valley ASAP. When he was finished, most of the town had been crawling back to their homes with ash and soot all over their bodies. He watched as they all gave him sad and tired smiles. They were all thinking about how lucky it was for Nathan to have thought ahead with the trunks. They hadn't lost anything irreplaceable. But Nathan could also read the fear in their eyes. Who's next?
Nathan sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck before walking to the saloon to go to sleep.
The next morning, Nathan was looking at the remains of his house, when Gabe rode up on Apollo in a flash.
Gabe looked shocked and horrified.
"We're all safe," Nathan said.
Gabe nodded once, before they both started looking at the crime scene and started processing it. It hadn't taken long for them to find the starting point, and to determine that it was arson. The tracks of whomever it was, were lost in the tracks of the people who had participated in the bucket lines.
Gabe and Nathan walked some distance out of town, to speak more freely.
Nathan then described his conversation with Hargraves, and what had happened.
"I'm beginning to hate the man," Gabe growled.
Nathan nodded in agreement.
They couldn't prove Hargraves threat without a witness, and it would be who would an investigator trust more, a super or a constable? And they both knew how that would play out.
"They obviously know about Boyce being caught. We should have Bill escort him back," Gabe added. "And only the three of us on protection detail."
Nathan nodded in agreement.
"What do we do about the threat to the town?" Nathan asked wearily. "We can't prove that this is severe enough to put it on lock down. And so far they've only attacked me."
Gabe thought about it for a moment.
"I know it will seem a bit extreme, but could they all go on a holiday trip somewhere?" Gabe asked.
"Not without financial help, and I don't know where they would go, and how do we tell them this without the others getting wind of it?" Nathan pointed out.
Gabe shook his head in frustration. He had come to be friends with the people here, as well.
"I'll contact Bill, and we'll discuss it when he gets back," Gabe added.
Nathan nodded in agreement before they both went back into town. Nathan stood post while Gabe did the paperwork.
Bill was manhandling Boyce as he dragged him into the Mountie Office in Hope Valley. The men glared at each other as he shoved Boyce into the cell and locked the door firmly. Bill turned around and the look he gave them suggested that he didn't trust having a sensitive conversation with Boyce around and where he could hear it, but they also couldn't trust anyone to watch him while they met.
They were all wrapping their brains around this problem, when Bill was looking out to the street, gasped, and then shook his head and smirked.
"I think I know someone who we can trust," Bill said before going onto the boardwalk, as a lone horse rider had pulled up out of the saloon. The rider was wearing men's riding pants that were often seen by ranch hands, and a grey bandana and a brown hat. Gabe and Nathan followed Bill outside.
"Charlotte, this is a pleasant surprise!" Bill said as he greeted the rider.
The person looked up from the tying of their horse. And she smiled.
"Bill Avery, you are a sight for sore eyes," the woman greeted. "But I am here to see Elizabeth."
"And meet your grandson, I bet," Bill added.
She nodded.
"Before that begins, however, I need a favor," Bill said.
Charlotte looked at him in surprise and in suspicion.
"What kind of favor?" she asked.
"The Mountie kind," Bill said as he eyed the jail house behind her.
She nodded once.
"Alright, I'll do it, because Tom would have," Charlotte said with fondness and pain.
Bill smiled at her kindly before turning them towards Nathan and Gabe.
"Constable Gabriel Kinslow and Constable Nathan Grant I would like to introduce you to Charlotte Thornton," Bill introduced.
"Mrs. Thornton," Gabe said politely with a light bow.
"Ma'am," Nathan added.
"Boys, what kind of trouble have you brought to this tiny ass town?" Charlotte asked firmly.
Both looked at her in some surprise. But Nathan recovered first. Elizabeth would have kept her updated on the comings and goings and would have included him.
"We're trying to catch some bad and corrupt Mounties, and one is in the jailhouse. We don't trust having a sensitive conversation around him," Bill explained softly.
"And you don't trust anyone else to watch him? So, it's three of you against the rest of the Mounties! Not good odds boys," Charlotte reprimanded, but she took her pistol out and checked the interior before walking inside.
Gabe and Nathan both shook their heads at the firm woman.
"Alright, let's make this clear, if you make a move that makes me think you are trying something, I will shoot your feet first! Got it!" Charlotte threatened Boyce as they walked to Bill's Office.
"For some reason my idea of that Mrs. Thornton wasn't at all what I pictured her as," Gabe said as they entered.
"Charlotte is definitely someone you have to meet in person to get the full effect," Bill admitted. "Tom loved her fiercely, though. Said that she was exactly the type of woman strong enough to love a Mountie. And despite her rough nature, he loved her all the more for it."
Gabe and Nathan smiled and nodded.
"So, what's our move?" Nathan asked when they got each other caught up.
"We can ask some of the families if they want to leave. I doubt very much that they will, but having the offer will help," Bill said. "They won't have to pay for travel; that will be covered."
"How are we passing this along?" Gabe asked.
The men plotted to the best of their abilities, then they relieved Mrs. Thornton of her duty as prison guard. Boyce looked terrified of her and was happy that she was being switched out. Gabe stayed in the Mountie Office so that Nathan and Bill could discuss with the townspeople what needs to happen.
Bill led Charlotte up to the saloon rooms where Elizabeth and Jack were staying under the protection of the Grants and Rosemary. They knocked on the door.
Elizabeth answered while holding Jack.
"Really, Elizabeth, you should ask who it is during these times?" Bill reprimanded her as she opened the door.
"I could hear you," Elizabeth defended herself.
"Hello," Charlotte said.
Elizabeth shifted her gaze to her mother-in-law. "Charlotte! What a surprise!"
Elizabeth leaned out to hug her, which was an awkward embrace.
"Jack, this is your Grandma Charlotte," Elizabeth introduced. Jack beamed at her, recognizing the woman from Auntie Rosemary's and Uncle Lee's wedding pictures.
"Grandma, Lotte," Jack said excitedly.
"Hi, Jack!" Charlotte took him into her arms and held him closely.
"He obviously knows about you. I tell him about Jack and you and Tom all the time," Elizabeth admitted.
Charlotte smiled in gratitude.
"I expected nothing less. I'm so sorry it took me so long to come back here, but I felt that it would hurt too much," Charlotte admitted. "Now, I know that I should have come sooner."
"I'm just glad you came. Family is very important," Elizabeth said firmly as she looked Charlotte in the eye.
"I agree. So, your new man is quite dashing," Charlotte said with a wink.
Elizabeth blushed.
"You've met already?" Elizabeth asked quietly.
"Briefly. I was doing Bill a favor," Charlotte said. "He introduced me both to Constable Grant and Constable Kinslow. I'm quite certain that between the two of them in uniform, the females of Hope Valley are all swooning on the boardwalk."
Elizabeth laughed.
"I doubt Nathan would see it about himself, but yes, there is quite a lot of staring and taking slow strolls past the Mountie Office," Elizabeth admitted.
"And his parents are here?" Charlotte asked.
"For now. Archie and Ruth are here to support Allie, his daughter, and him," Elizabeth said.
"Granma Roof!" Jack said excitedly looking around the room for his other grandmother and showing his disappointment when she wasn't around.
Charlotte looked at him in surprise.
"He calls them Grandma and Grandpa?" Charlotte said with pain.
"Only Ruth, and we've tried to get him to stop, but they loved each other quite fiercely when they met, and it was before Nathan and I started courting," Elizabeth explained.
Charlotte nodded as she was trying to get her head around this.
"Are they good people?" Charlotte asked.
"The best. Archie has had problems in his past, but he hasn't taken up the cause of those problems in well over a year now. He's trying to earn a second chance," Elizabeth explained.
Charlotte looked down at Jack who was happily babbling away in her arms. It was his look of complete happiness that made her mind up. If her grandson saw good in these people, so would she.
"Everyone has a past, and everyone has something to hide, but if he is making amends, then that is a good thing," Charlotte stated.
Elizabeth nodded.
"Would you like to meet them?"
Charlotte could only nod in response.
Elizabeth led Charlotte to the Grant's room door. She knocked gently three times before it was opened by Allie.
"Hi, Mrs. Thornton," Allie greeted.
Elizabeth and Charlotte both reflexively nodded in acknowledgment.
"Hello, Allie, I would like to introduce you and your grandparents to someone very important, are they well enough?" Elizabeth asked.
Allie nodded and opened the door only wide enough for them to get through. Allie did a check out the door before shutting it and bolting it and leaning against the door.
"You must be Constable Grant's daughter," Charlotte said as she watched the young girl take a position by the door.
Allie beamed, "I am," she stated proudly.
Charlotte nodded in approval.
Archie and Ruth were both looking on in curiosity. Charlotte met their eyes. Ruth's was assessing her in a moment. Charlotte had seen many Mounties do the same over the years. It was how they got their gut instincts fleshed out. But she met Ruth's back.
They ended up both smiling at each other.
"Archie, Ruth, and Allie, this is Charlotte Thornton, Jack's grandmother on the Thornton side. She is my mother-in-law," Elizabeth explained.
The pleasantries were exchanged.
"Well, I like her," Charlotte and Ruth both stated after the exchange.
Everyone laughed.
"Why are you staying in the saloon?" Charlotte asked.
"Nathan's house was burned down yesterday," Elizabeth explained.
Charlotte's eyes went wide.
"We think it's a warning to him and to us because of the story," Ruth said.
Charlotte nodded.
"Do you know who it was?" Charlotte asked.
" A Mountie named Hargraves and people close to him," Elizabeth said.
"Hargraves!?" Charlotte exclaimed. "Andrew Hargraves?"
The others nodded.
Charlotte gasped and sucked in some breath.
"I hadn't realized he had been promoted," she said flatly. "Actually, I'm surprised he's still a Mountie."
They all looked at her in confusion.
"If he's who you're up against...actually, I shouldn't say more than this, but I need to talk to the others, excuse me," Charlotte said as she put Jack in Ruth's arms and then left with a worried look on her face.
Charlotte immediately found Bill and Nathan and glared at them long enough for them to collect Gabe and go back to Bill's office.
"Why didn't you say it was Hargraves?" Charlotte demanded as she glared at Bill.
"You know him?" Bill asked in surprise.
"Personally, no. Of him, yes," Charlotte sighed.
Bill gave her a look.
"Look, Bill, I'm the long time widow of Tom Thornton and mother to Jack Thornton, I still have my sources within the Mounties, who keep me updated. Jack and Hargraves had an altercation in the Northern Territories. One bad enough, that I thought Hargraves would be heavily leaned upon to resign. So, I'm surprised he was promoted," Charlotte explained.
Nathan looked at Gabe.
"Did Thornton ever mention Hargraves to you?" Nathan asked.
"No, but we only saw each other at the beginning," Gabe responded.
"When was this altercation?" Bill asked Charlotte.
"Towards the end of the fighting," Charlotte said.
The men were silent as they processed this, and it didn't look good for Hargraves' motives in assigning the tracking mission, then giving Nathan the full punishment, then assigning Jack Thornton to the training detail.
"Why would Jack take a mission from someone whom he didn't trust?" Nathan asked the people who had met the man.
"Because he was a man of integrity. He wouldn't be able to not do something about a bully, much like you couldn't be bullied into telling a lie," Bill said. "He must have known something was off and was going to investigate himself."
"Hargraves looked truly surprised when the scouter returned about the landslide and when they brought back his body, though," Gabe reflected.
"I don't think that Hargraves was counting on mother nature to do what he wanted to do. It also would give him an easy out. And given what we have seen him capable of..." Bill admitted.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment.
"Charlotte, we will need you to contact your sources," Bill said wearily.
Charlotte nodded.