Hello! For those who read the last chapter between Saturday Jan. 1 and Sunday Jan 2, please note that I changed some things with the dreams. Nathan is still having them (trauma doesn't magically go away). But I hope the way they are written seems more natural to the characters. Margaret, you asked about my other story. It's called The Story of Nathan Grant. I started that one first, but I'm trying to cover Nathan's life events that influence him to be the Mountie we see at the end of season 7. Season 8 won't have any influence on my Hope Valley section in that one. But I warn you, that part is a long way off from being published. On 's story stream if you find Actually, It's Constable Mrs. Thornton, you can click on my username DragonHeart2006, and you can see the things I've written under my profile name.
Chapter 32
Team Infirmary for the Win
Marie Thornton was quite popular in Hope Valley. With her French accent, her quick wit, and charming personality, it became quite apparent why the perpetual bachelor Tom Thornton would marry her. She also quickly and efficiently began to treat her husband, despite his protests.
"I'm sick," he would cough.
"But not contagious," Marie would glare back as she fluffed his pillow.
"You're pregnant," Tom would add.
"Not an invalid," Marie would argue back.
Carson and Faith knew that Marie was an excellent nurse and also knew her limits as a mother. She never overworked herself.
When she and Tom were reunited, after hugging, she had hit him hard across the back of the head and told him he was a stubborn idiot. To the surprise of everyone who had met him before, he just smiled apologetically and shrugged his shoulders.
Charlotte had the pleasure of introducing Allie to Tom and Marie at the same time. Allie was wearing her riding pants at the time. Right after they were introduced a large spider dangled down in front of Tom, who had a phobia of spiders, and he shrieked away in terror. Allie held out her hands and grabbed it while Marie and Charlotte were laughing too hard to be of any help at all.
"It's just a spider. This one isn't even dangerous," Allie said as she held it carefully and held it up.
Tom just shrunk away more.
"Tom has an irrational fear of all spiders," Charlotte said.
"He's arachnophobic. That's unfortunate," Allie said.
"Quite. Spiders have wonderful uses. If one doesn't go around stomping on them," Marie said firmly as she looked at Tom.
Allie looked between Tom and the spider in horror.
"I'm going to take the spider outside," Allie said as she held her hands so that the spider was safely ensconced in her palms.
"Good idea," Charlotte said with a wink.
"Look, Mom, a spider!" Allie said as she had passed Elizabeth in the doorway. Elizabeth flinched away but nodded and grimaced at her.
"A spider? I see!" Jack demanded.
Allie bent down to Jack's level.
"You have to be gentle and still, Jack. We don't want to scare him," Allie said softly. Jack nodded. Allie opened her hands so that Jack could see.
"Can I hold it?" Jack asked.
"Sure," Allie said as she showed Jack what to do. Jack giggled when the spider was in his hands.
"It tickles!" Jack said.
"Yup. Be careful! You don't want to drop him," Allie said softly.
"Why not?" Jack asked.
"Because he lives in the upper parts of places and he could get stepped on with how many people are around," Allie said.
"I can't reach high," Jack said sadly as he looked up to where Allie had pointed.
"Nope. But we have the best ladder," Allie winked.
"Ladder?" Jack asked.
"Yup. Dad!" Allie called out to Nathan as she stood up.
Nathan turned from a conversation with Lucas and looked at her.
"We need help," Allie said as she pointed down to Jack holding the spider.
Nathan just smiled and knelt next to Jack.
"May I?" Nathan whispered as he held out his hands. Jack nodded as Nathan gently scooped the spider into his hands. Then he walked towards the overhang of the Mountie Office and let the spider go.
Everyone was watching the scene with equal amounts of horror, amusement, and disgust.
"That was a spider!" Anna said to Allie.
Allie shrugged.
"And?" Allie asked.
"You were holding it," Anna argued.
"No, I was rescuing it," Allie said.
"Rescuing it?" Anna said back in more shock.
"Yeah. Mr. Thornton doesn't like them," Allie said. "I decided to bring him outside and back to his home."
"I think Mr. Thornton was more correct about them," Anna said derisively.
"How long have you known Allie?" Robert said to Anna as he stood defensively next to Allie.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Anna glared at Robert.
"How long have you known Allie?" Robert asked again, not letting her get away with this.
"Three years. Same as you," Anna said as she crossed her arms.
"And in those three years how many times has Allie held an insect?" Robert asked.
Anna shrugged.
"Try a guess?" Robert insisted.
"Who can?" Anna retorted back impatiently.
"I can. She's held them at least three times a day, everyday we've seen her. So if you multiply that by 365 for one year it is 1095 times a year. Then multiply that by three again, you have 3285 times at least," Robert explained.
"What's your point, Robert?" Anna asked as she crossed her arms.
"My point is that you can't possibly find that Allie, ALLIE, holding the world's tamest spider, is surprising to someone who knows her so well and is supposed to be her friend," Robert said.
Allie smiled up at Robert.
"It's gross!" Anna persisted.
"No, it's not," Robert said firmly as he took Allie's hand in support.
Jack also stood with her with crossed arms and narrowed eyes at Anna.
"Thanks guys, but I've got this. Anna Hayford, if you think being kind and gentle to all living things, no matter how scary or uncomfortable they look, then I don't know why we are friends," Allie said with a low voice.
"I really don't know who taught you that…" Anna started.
"My Dad taught me pretty much everything I care to know. Including to be kind to everyone and everything," Allie said loudly and firmly. She looked over at where Nathan was holding up the Main St. tom cat away from Mr. Watson's hound dogs. "Have we ever done anything to you to upset you or insult you?"
Anna shook her head.
"Then, I don't see what your problem is," Allie said firmly.
"Insects are weird," Anna insisted.
"No, they're different. And I have never pushed your dislike of creepies and crawlies. But they each have a purpose despite their different natures. You may not like looking at them, I won't force it on you, but I, most certainly, am not you," Allie reprimanded.
Robert stood next to Allie smiling proudly.
Anna huffed but turned away.
Nathan smiled as he finally made his way over to her, still holding the cat.
"Everything okay?" he asked as his eyes followed Anna's retreating back.
"Anna doesn't like that I held the spider," Allie said.
"I really don't know what she thinks she is getting at. It's you! You hold worse than spiders everyday," Robert said.
"Worse than spiders?" Allie asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I would love to see how she handles gutting a fish," Robert said pointedly.
"Not well, probably," Allie said.
Robert nodded.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked gently as he let the tom cat go on the boardwalk.
"I'm fine. To be honest, a lot of the girls in the other places were a lot like Anna," Allie added.
"But they weren't a close friend. Anna is," Nathan pointed out.
"It stings a little. But I think with time it will be okay," Allie admitted as she looked up.
"Well, I for one, am very proud of you," Nathan said as he leaned down to her level.
"You are?" Allie asked.
Nathan nodded.
"You've been showing Jack to be kind in his interactions with new and different things. Jack hasn't been as afraid of the growing number in our yard," Nathan said.
Allie smiled.
"I think Nana Thornton is part of that, though. She's not afraid of anything," Allie said.
"She might be. But that is just giving Jack two more incredibly kind and generous women to look up to."
Allie smiled as she looked down at Jack still standing with folded arms and glaring at Anna's retreating back.
"Awwie not weird!" Jack said decisively.
Allie picked him up and gave him a quick squeeze.
"Thanks, Jack!" she said as she kissed his cheek.
Nathan smiled.
Charlotte had come out into the Infirmary doorway.
"Everything all right?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Nope."
"Well that clears everything up," Charlotte said sarcastically as she came back outside.
"Anna said Allie was weird for holding insects," Jack said.
Charlotte looked at Jack then Allie.
Both nodded.
"You will get that your whole life, I'm afraid, but it's nothing to be ashamed about. In fact I wear my title with pride," Charlotte said as she put her arm around Allie and escorted both Allie and Jack back inside.
Allie smiled up at her.
"Really?"
"Definitely," Charlotte confirmed. "Besides, someone has to take care of the men. They really are such babies!"
There were a lot of manly protests as she walked back inside the infirmary, but had a lot of female laughs and nods of agreements.
Nathan followed them inside.
"Marie, this is Instructor Grant. Nathan this is Marie," Charlotte introduced finally.
"It's a pleasure," Nathan said as he shook her hand.
"Likewise," Marie said with a smile.
Elizabeth was sitting in a chair at the foot of Tom Thornton's bed. Marie was standing next to his head.
"Unca' Tom!" Jack said happily as Allie was holding Jack.
Tom looked surprised.
"Do you really think I wouldn't tell my son about his family?" Elizabeth asked him as she correctly interpreted the reason for his surprise.
Tom looked down with embarrassment.
"Well not when you put it that way. I shouldn't be. But I didn't exactly leave a good impression when we met," Tom said. "I kind of thought the descriptions would have been more along the lines of, 'your coarse, unrefined, wild in antics and thoughts, the black sheep of the Thornton family, Uncle Tom,'"
Elizabeth smiled.
"Perhaps not when we first met. But the same could be said about Julie at the time," Elizabeth reminded him.
"No Thatcher sister is ever coarse or unrefined, Elizabeth," Tom said.
"But you were young and stupid," Elizabeth said.
"Yeah, we were both young and stupid," Tom said with a laugh.
"I know my parents didn't say much, but the family was thankful when you escorted her back home. We didn't realize that you weren't aware of her plans to run away until you came back," Elizabeth said thankfully.
Tom nodded.
"She was quite mad at me when I did. But we weren't ready for what she wanted, and the conversation we had with you and Jack showed just how much," Tom admitted.
"With time, she realized you were correct," Elizabeth added.
"She was the reason I was hesitant to come to yours and Jack's wedding," Tom admitted. "Of everyone in your family, I knew she would be there. And I didn't want to make it awkward."
Elizabeth nodded.
"She was on her own journey of self discovery when you last saw her," Elizabeth said.
"How is she doing now?" Tom asked.
"Well! She's living with Mother and Father in a house in Calgary," Elizabeth said.
"Calgary? They're that close?" Tom said in surprise.
Elizabeth nodded again.
"They bought a house when they found out about Nathan's treatment by Constable Croaker," Elizabeth said.
"What?" Tom asked in confusion.
"Have you not read a paper in the last year?" Charlotte said with a look.
"Not really. I've tried to avoid the news as much as possible," Tom admitted.
"Well, it's a good thing you're in Hope Valley. It was Rosemary's articles that started it," Charlotte said.
"Rosemary? Rosemary is writing news articles?" Tom asked in surprise.
"Oh, it's even worse than that. She runs the newspaper," Elizabeth said.
"I'm going to go find Rosemary or Robert to get you some old papers," Charlotte said as she left.
"So, what happened with Aunt Julie?" Allie asked.
Elizabeth looked at Tom while he blushed.
"We were young and attracted to each other. I wasn't exactly the most rule abiding citizen and she was attracted to someone who would curl Mr. Thatcher's hair without putting her into any real danger," Tom said to begin.
Elizabeth gave him a look.
"What?"
"That telegram that came for both me and Jack said you BOTH were in a car accident," Elizabeth reminded him.
Tom flushed.
"Yeah, well Julie was driving, not me," Tom said.
"Father's car around the streets of Hamilton," Elizabeth said.
Nathan and Allie both looked at Tom in shock. Marie was shaking her head.
"I would have killed you," Marie said.
"Point stands, though. I was someone the Thatchers would never approve of, which made Julie's attraction all that more fun for her. We were young and thought we were in love. We even tried to run away, but Elizabeth and Jack stopped us before we could," Tom said as he looked at Elizabeth.
"And then Julie ranaway on her own to Tom," Elizabeth said.
"And our relationship ended when I forced her to go back home," Tom said. "I'm glad we didn't get married. I didn't realize truly how superficial our relationship was until I met Marie," Tom said as he looked at his wife,
Marie smiled as she gently ran her fingers through her hair.
They all smiled at the image.
"So, is Julie married now?" Tom asked.
"No, she is not," Elizabeth said.
"Why not?" Tom asked aghast. Knowing first hand how much being cared for by Julie Thatcher was heartwarming and life changing.
"Well, let's say that she hadn't met her ideal man yet," Elizabeth said.
"Hadn't?" Tom noticed the past tense. "Then she's seeing someone?"
"Trying heavily to get him to agree that she's supposed to be in Hope Valley is more like it," Elizabeth said.
"Oh, he has," Nathan said under his breath.
Elizabeth looked at Nathan in surprise.
"They're both waiting for more accommodations to be built," Nathan said.
Tom and Marie looked at Elizabeth and Nathan.
Charlotte reentered with her arms full of old copies of The Valley Voice.
Marie and Tom both took some from Charlotte.
"This should get you caught up," Charlotte said with a look.
Tom grimaced at the amount.
"We'll leave you to your reading. It's been a pleasure to meet you, Marie," Elizabeth said as she stood up. Allie and Nathan followed suit.
"Likewise," Marie said with a smile.
The Grants left the Thorntons to their reading. Allie and Nathan walked towards the livery to go on a ride. Elizabeth and Jack walked slowly to the Mercantile.
Bill ended up joining them.
"How's everyone?" Bill asked.
Elizabeth smiled.
"Well enough. Has Carson and Faith said anything different about Tom?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not according to Charlotte," Bill shook his head.
Elizabeth frowned.
"So there's really no hope?" Elizabeth asked in a whisper.
Bill shrugged.
"Not any that we can see at this moment. But we live in Hope Valley, the land of miracles," Bill said with a wink.
Elizabeth smiled.
"How's your Great Expectation?" Bill asked as he looked down.
"Better. He or she has been less violent with the morning sickness," Elizabeth said.
Bill smiled.
"Do you have a sense of what it is yet?" Bill asked.
Elizabeth shook her head.
"Not yet, but with Jack it was almost near the end of the pregnancy when I sensed who he was as a person," Elizabeth said.
Bill gave a quick nod of acknowledgement before parting ways with Elizabeth.
Later that day, Nathan drove Elizabeth, Allie, and Jack to their land and parked in the open space.
"Okay, where do we want things to go?" Nathan asked.
And off they went with a large shed, a large barn, and a large house.
"We're going to go broke with that many rooms," Nathan protested.
"We NEED them, Dad!" Allie protested. "We need rooms for all our out of town family."
Elizabeth and Jack both nodded in agreement.
"Besides the Mounties are paying for the construction and building costs, might as well make use of the free labor," Allie pointed out.
Nathan sighed.
"Alright, I need to flesh out the plans and then we can talk to Lee about costs and start actually building this thing!" Nathan said as they all got back into the car. Nathan drove them safely back through town.
Marie and Charlotte were standing outside looking worried towards the infirmary.
Nathan stopped the car.
"Charlotte?" Elizabeth asked as she opened her door and got out with Jack.
Allie and Nathan both followed.
"Tom's liver is not working properly," Marie answered.
"He started coughing, and vomiting. Dr. Carter and Dr. Sheppard are doing what they can to help him. Both are going over Tom's medical issues and history with a fine tooth comb, but…" Charlotte added.
Elizabeth stood and put an arm around Charlotte.
"Please let us know what you need," Elizabeth said to both Charlotte and Marie.
Bill came over with two bowls of his soup and pushed one into both Charlotte's and Marie's hands.
"You can go home and rest a bit. Both of you have done your share of helping already. I got them tonight," Bill said firmly.
Nathan and Elizabeth both looked at each other, but nodded in agreement. They took their family home. And went about their normal routine as much as they could.
Bill managed to convince Marie to go upstairs to her bed to wait on news. But Charlotte couldn't be moved. Bill sat next to her as they waited outside the Infirmary. Charlotte had her head down. Bill had kept forcing snacks and warm drinks into Charlotte's hands. She ended up glaring at him. Bill glared back.
"I know what you're doing," Charlotte growled out.
Bill just raised his eyebrow.
"Stop it," Charlotte said.
"Someone needs to look out for you, Charlotte," Bill said just as firmly back.
"I can take care of myself," Charlotte said as she looked down.
"You shouldn't have to," Bill added.
Charlotte rubbed her arms.
Bill put an arm around her.
"I'm used to being alone," Charlotte said.
"Me too. But I've learned over the years that it's not what I want in my elder years, to just be someone's generous holiday invite for the old bachelor…and the Charlotte I know would decline those invitations on principle," Bill whispered.
Charlotte nodded.
"I've been through too much," Charlotte said.
"I've been through it with you. Tom was my best friend, in case you don't remember," Bill said.
"How could I forget? I was cooking for both of you. You hadn't learned to cook yet," Charlotte said.
"And you wore dresses," Bill said with a smirk.
Charlotte glared at him.
"Teacher," she said as she pointed at herself.
"I'm aware," Bill added.
Charlotte looked at Bill for a moment.
"You shouldn't be single still," Charlotte added.
Bill gave her an eyebrow raise.
"You're a catch, Bill," Charlotte insisted.
Bill shook his head, "all the women I've courted and married would disagree."
"Nora!" Charlotte growled out. "Never like her."
Bill raised his eyes in shock.
"She was never going to respect you the way you deserved. I thought you were doing her father too much of a favor by marrying Nora to cover her pregnancy. I have no idea how you listened to her chatter. Her voice was so shrill! It made my ears ring and I wanted to put tape over her mouth to shut her up whenever she was around!" Charlotte said.
Bill snorted as he thought about it.
"I'm not surprised that the relationship died when Martin also passed, but that witch should have let you peacefully go, but no, she couldn't let you go without causing you more problems," Charlotte ranted.
"To be fair, I wasn't as honest up front as I should have been about my relationship status around here," Bill said.
Charlotte glared at him.
"Nora didn't have to come here at all," Charlotte argued.
"No, she didn't," Bill agreed. "But I don't think the others are as bad as Nora."
Charlotte nodded in agreement a bit.
"Your habit of keeping what you know close to your chest is good for a Mountie, but not so great as a man," Charlotte added.
Bill raised an eyebrow.
"But a woman who truly understands that men in law enforcement can't talk all day everyday about what they are doing would understand that this is a character trait that has kept you alive," Charlotte demanded.
"And who around here besides you and Elizabeth can truly know that? And I don't think Elizabeth understood it very well to begin with. She tried to get Jack, and also Nathan, to talk about their cases while they were on them," Bill added.
Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"Why have you decided to stay single?" Bill asked back.
"Have you met me?" Charlotte said sarcastically.
"Yes, actually, I have," Bill said.
"I was blessed to have one man love me. I'm not the type of woman who can be blessed with another," Charlotte said as she looked down.
"Do you remember how you and Tom met?" Bill asked.
Charlotte looked up at him in confusion.
"It was a dance. I had to attend as the new school mistress," Charlotte said.
Bill nodded.
"Tom, me, and three other newbs had been recently posted there. We had been attending to create good will. Tom and I were playing poker. We both saw you walk in, and we both were attracted to you. So we decided the only fair way to see who would ask you to dance was to play a round. Tom won," Bill explained.
Charlotte glared at him.
"As you both fell more in love with each other, I let the relationship progress and took a step back so that nothing would be in the way," Bill said.
Charlotte looked at him.
"I think part of me always knew that," Charlotte admitted to her hands.
Bill looked at her.
"Charlotte, may I cook for you?" Bill asked.
"You already have been," Charlotte pointed out.
"On a date," Bill explained.
Charlotte gave him one long look.
"I would like that," she said.
Bill smiled at her.
They were interrupted by Faith rushing out of the infirmary and out to her small apartment to get Marie. Charlotte looked at Bill with an ashen face. Bill just held her more tightly. Neither had the chance to move as Faith and Marie descended the stairs quickly.
"What is it?" Charlotte asked.
"We think we know why Tom wasn't getting better, and we think we may have A LONG shot of possibly getting him better," Faith said.
Bill and Charlotte were inside the door behind her.
Tom was awake with Carson. Marie stood next to her husband.
"We know that the liver failure is caused by heavy drinking," Carson started.
Tom and Marie both nodded.
"But how were your doctors dealing with your alcohol withdrawal?" Faith asked.
"They would give me a shot of whiskey," Tom answered.
Marie rolled her eyes.
"And your shell shock?" Carson asked.
"I self medicated in the bottoms of bottles. You all know this," Tom explained.
"What's your point?" Charlotte asked.
"We know his liver problems stem from his alcoholism," Carson started.
"What we think, we think, that we can treat Tom's liver failure by abstaining from alcohol," Faith continued.
"But you would absolutely have to go cold turkey. No alcohol…at all…for the rest of your life," Carson said.
"Any alcohol would bring about the liver failure. And we also can't guarantee that this will work," Faith said.
Carson and Faith looked at Marie and Tom.
Marie knew exactly Tom's chances, but some hope was better than no hope.
"Do you know anywhere where we can go to work through his withdrawal and for it to be easier for him to live alcohol free?" Marie asked.
Bill smiled.
"Nathan would know," Bill said.
Everyone smiled, as they knew that Nathan would be their first contact the next morning.