Thank you all for your positive feedback. I'm happy you are enjoying that Nathan and Allie are moving forward with their lives after Elizabeth. Hope you enjoy getting to know a bit about Sarah in this chapter. They say write what you know so I've included a scenario loosely based on something from my past in this chapter. I'll be curious to see if anyone can guess what it is.
Chapter 8
Sarah watched Nathan walk out the door and quickly followed to lock it and close shop for the day. She moved to the window drawing the curtains and couldn't help but peer out following the Constable's form as he strode back to his office. Sarah wondered how a Mountie Nathan's age ended up in a sleepy town like Hope Valley. Coming from Union City most of the young Mounties Sarah was familiar with were looking for action. It made Sarah curious to know more about Constable Nathan Grant's story. His friendliness was a welcome surprise.
Dottie had alerted Sarah that she would find Hope Valley very different from Union City. Gone were the crowds of people always scurrying from one place to another, rarely stopping to say hello to their neighbors. Though she'd only been in town for a couple of days, Sarah was finding the truth in Dottie's words. Rosemary Coulter was the first to make her introduction as she burst into the store just after opening that first day. Dottie had told her a bit about Rosemary before she left Union City. She described her as a woman with unbridled energy who made it her business to know everyone and everything about Hope Valley. It was no surprise that she'd left the relative quiet of the dress shop to re-instate the town newspaper. Sarah's suspicious nature had her wondering the purpose of Rosemary's early morning visit. Was she there to check up on her and report back to Dottie? Sarah felt guilty when she realized that Rosemary's purpose had only been to meet and welcome her to town. Rosemary had been so gracious and asked if she could do a brief article on Sarah to introduce her to the community. Again, coming from the city Sarah was taken aback that anyone would think her arrival in town newsworthy but, nevertheless, she agreed to an interview and looked forward to meeting with Rosemary later in the week.
Dottie had shared many stories of Hope Valley with Sarah. The tragedy of the mine disaster that had killed so many husbands and sons of the women in town shook her to her core. Sarah couldn't comprehend the enormous loss the women had experienced and how they could rebuild their lives after such trauma. She remembered when her own mother had passed away when she was still a young girl. She had watched her father struggle to run his business and take care of her and knew that it had been difficult to balance it all while still working through his own grief and helping his daughter recover from losing her mother.
The story of Abigail's Café fascinated Sarah. The courage of the café's namesake, who'd lost both her husband and son in the disaster, was inspiring to Sarah. Having worked in Dottie's Union City store for three years, Sarah was well aware how difficult it was to run a successful business. It was even harder for a woman to make her way in a world full of aggressive, often ruthless, men who would easily disregard a woman's business acumen and her drive to succeed. Sarah wished she could have met the woman who picked herself up from enormous loss and funneled her energy into creating a cozy, welcoming place for people to gather. While Sarah had only been in for breakfast, Abigail's seemed the perfect spot for a cup of tea, a delicious baked good, or a home-cooked meal served with friendly service. Sarah knew that Clara, who she would work with at the dress shop, also worked at the café both cooking and serving. Clara sang the praises of her mother-in-law who had taken her in after her husband Peter's death. Sarah hoped she would get to meet her one day.
Sarah had always shown an interest in business. Her father had his own bookstore in Buxton where she had grown up. Sarah loved to spend her afternoons and weekends at the store dusting the books, arranging displays, and helping customers find just the right book for their interests. She could often be found in the corner of the store engrossed in a Jane Austen's novel. Her father was more progressive than most men of his time and included Sarah in many aspects of the business. Sarah was exceptionally gifted in math and early on her father had shown her how to do the ledgers. Sarah loved working with her father and was content to spend her days at the bookstore.
That was until Tom Hastings came into the store looking for a book for his niece's birthday. Sarah had helped him navigate the children's book section and as they shared small talk they found they had several things in common. Both had grown up in Buxton, had an interest in books and were from small families. Tom had gone to University and recently graduated as a solicitor and gone to work at his father's firm. His constant attention to Sarah had pleased her father who was concerned his daughter was spending so much time with him at the bookstore that she was going to end up with no prospects for a suitable husband.
Not long after they'd started courting Tom had proposed to Sarah and she'd accepted. Tom was everything Sarah thought she was looking for in a husband. He had a good job, was handsome, and was attentive to her, and a good conversationalist. It wasn't until their wedding date grew closer and Tom was pressuring her to leave her job at the bookstore that Sarah started having second thoughts. She loved working and the feeling of confidence and independence it brought her. Tom couldn't understand why Sarah wouldn't be happy fillng the role of solicitor's wife attending social teas, entertaining clients and maintaining a beautiful home that would help move them up the social ladder.
As the wedding date grew closer Sarah was waking each day with a sense of trepidation that wouldn't leave her. She was feeling trapped as she knew that her father was very excited by their union and her friends were always telling how lucky she was to have someone like Tom want to marry her. Sarah wasn't sure what to do and while she didn't want to disappoint her father nor hurt Tom she realized that being unhappy in a marriage wasn't going to be fair to anyone. Finally working up the courage she sat with Tom and told him that while she cared for him very much she didn't love him as he loved her and she had to break off their engagement. Tom reacted angrily and told her she should reconsider. He threatened that prospects for a husband would be bleak once it was known how fickle she'd been to break things off with a man of his standing. While Sarah regretted the pain she may have caused she did not think of herself as fickle. Having now seen Tom's true colors the sense of relief she felt told her the decision she'd made was the right one for her.
It was just a few months after the broken engagement that Sarah's father passed unexpectedly from a heart attack. Sarah's world went into a tailspin. Suddenly she was all alone in the world with no support system. Her girlfriends had ostracized her believing their friend had made a mistake in ending the engagement to Tom. Sarah felt guilty wondering if the stress of her broken engagement had caused her father's heart attack. The fate of the bookstore was in her hands and while she loved it and felt she owed it to her father to keep it open. After a few months she realized that it was just a constant reminder of what she'd lost. The memories of her father caused her great heartache.
With so much pain surrounding her life in Buxton Sarah made the decision to sell the bookstore and leave her hometown to start anew in another city. She'd found the opportunity at Dottie's Dress Store in Union City after seeing an ad in the Buxton newspaper. Sarah had never paid a lot of attention to fashion so was unsure if it would be a good fit for her. What she did know was that succeeding in a job had more to do with believing in yourself and being excited about what you were doing than how much experience you had. Sarah corresponded with Dottie and traveled to Union City to meet with her in person. They'd hit it off immediately and while Dottie could see that Sarah's fashion sense could use some work she was more impressed with Sarah's business acumen. Dottie could teach fashion but having someone who understood the business side of things was rare and she knew Sarah would be a great asset to the store.
Sarah's new life in Union City was challenging getting used to a new city, new job, and making new friends but it was just what she needed to make a fresh start. While the pain of her father's passing still lingered and would always leave a hole in her heart she knew he would be proud of her decision to start a new life for herself.
The years Sarah spent at Dottie's in Union City were an education not only in the women's fashion business but also in building a life for herself on her own. While it had its challenges it was also rewarding to know that she could succeed on her own terms. When Dottie first broached the idea of Sarah taking over the shop in Hope Valley the idea took a great deal of consideration on Sarah's part. While the idea of moving to a small, tight knit community sounded like a nice change it also terrified Sarah to think of living in a place where everyone knew everyone and all their business too. Sarah had grown up in the city where neighbors barely spoke to each other. What would it be like to know everyone in town? The thought equally excited and terrified Sarah. It was with that thought she had accepted the move and headed to her new home.