Nathan was in his office later that week filling out some needs assessments for headquarters in Union City. They were moving ahead with plans to position an additional Mountie in Hope Valley. Nathan still wasn't convinced their plan made sense but he was doing as he was told. Time would tell if it worked out. It was almost time to head home for the evening and he was looking forward to dinner with Allie and Sarah.
He heard the door open and looked up to see Elizabeth walk in carrying her school basket and looking hesitant. Elizabeth hadn't been in Nathan's office since that day months ago when she'd told him she loved him but wasn't in love with him.
As much as Nathan was confident he was in a better place in his life he still couldn't help but remember the pain he experienced that day. Seeing Elizabeth searching for words he started. "Is there something wrong with Allie?"
"No, no Allie is fine. She's doing very well actually." Elizabeth took in a quick breath and her eyes darted nervously back and forth. "I just wanted to let you know I heard you and Sarah Crawford are courting and I wanted to let you know I'm happy for you."
"Thank you Elizabeth." Nathan knew that word had made it through the rumor mill about him and Sarah but outside of a few people not many had said anything to him. After a few moments he realized Elizabeth wasn't leaving. "Is there something else?"
"No, no," Elizabeth hesitated. "Nathan, I hope you're happy."
"Thank you Elizabeth, I am." Nathan didn't really think there was any more to say than that and returned his attention to his report.
Hearing the sound of the door creaking open, Nathan and Elizabeth turned to see Sarah walking in the door carrying a large basket. Nathan moved quickly to relieve her of the basket.
"Hello Nathan, Elizabeth." Sarah tried to sound casual but was curious as to what she'd walked into. "Nathan I thought I would stop by and see if you're ready to walk home. I thought we could go together. I've got everything we need for dinner."
Nathan walked over to Sarah and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "That sounds wonderful. Let me just wrap up this report."
Elizabeth stood awkwardly feeling as though she was intruding. "Well, I better get going. Enjoy your dinner."
Once Elizabeth was gone Sarah turned to Nathan, "Is everything okay Nathan? There's no problem with Allie is there?" Sarah knew topics between Nathan and Elizabeth were mostly limited to Allie and school.
"No, Elizabeth was actually here to tell me that she's happy for us." Nathan still wondered if that was truly the intent of Elizabeth's visit. Brushing off any thoughts of why else she may have been there Nathan said "let's go. I'm starving."
Sarah and Nathan made their way to the Grant's row house and found Allie finishing up her homework. "Hello sweet girl. How's the homework?" Nathan was proud of Allie's diligence in getting her work done without him being there to monitor her.
"All done. I wanted to finish before you came home so I could help Miss Crawford with dinner." Turning to Sarah, Allie asked "what are we having?"
"I thought since it's been so cold lately so I made chicken noodle soup. I also brought some fresh bread and a salad. For dessert I thought we could make some chocolate brownies. I brought everything we need to make them and they can bake while we eat dinner. How does that sound?"
"Delicious!" Allie pulled out a mixing bowl and she and Sarah started mixing up the ingredients while Nathan was upstairs changing out of his uniform. He could hear Allie and Sarah talking downstairs and he felt as though his heart was complete. He was so thankful at the relationship Allie and Sarah were building. As he came down stairs he heard Sarah tell Allie she thought it would be okay if they were less formal together.
"Allie, I think Miss Crawford sounds very formal. What would you think about calling me Miss Sarah?" Sarah asked.
Allie responded. "I would like that very much but I better check with my dad. He gets a bit funny sometimes about being respectful to adults."
Nathan walked into the kitchen. "I think Miss Sarah sounds perfect and there is nothing funny about being respectful to adults. It's important and when you treat adults with respect they will respect you back."
Allie slid the brownies in the oven just before they sat down to dinner. While they ate the conversation focused on the upcoming Christmas festival. Allie wanted to be in charge of the kid's ornament station. "I've got lots of experience making ornaments. We had to have a lot more when we came to Hope Valley and could finally have a big tree." Allie gave Sarah some ideas on what they would need to make different ornaments and said she would make examples of each kind so it would be easy for kids to copy them.
"Well, speaking of trees we need to talk about when we're going to get our trees. I was thinking we need a big one for our house and, Sarah, we should get one for your apartment." Nathan had been working with Bill to get his land purchase finalized. He'd been told he should be able to sign the papers within a couple of weeks. He hoped to have it done before they went looking for their tree so he could surprise Allie with an early Christmas present.
"I would love that Nathan but it can't be very big. I don't have much room. It would be nice to have one though. I love the smell of a Christmas tree. Let's see, the festival is Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Christmas Eve is on Monday and Christmas Day on Tuesday. Goodness, that's almost a full week of celebrating Christmas! Could we go the Sunday before the festival?" It had been several years since Sarah had a Christmas tree. Actually it had been several years since she'd even celebrated Christmas. It used to be her favorite time of year at the bookstore. She and her father would decorate and put a tree in the middle of the store. On Saturdays they would serve hot cider and gingerbread cookies. It was always festive. After her father had passed and she'd sold the bookstore she just didn't have the desire to celebrate by herself. This year, celebrating with Allie and Nathan and organizing the festival helped erase those years of being alone at Christmas.
Nathan and Allie both noticed Sarah reflecting and that her eyes were tearing up. "What is it Sarah?" Nathan reached his hand out and took hers.
"I was just thinking of the years after my father died when I didn't want to celebrate Christmas at all. This is the first time in years that I'm excited for the season and I have you both to thank for that."
Allie got up from her chair and went to Sarah wrapping her in a hug. That was all it took for the tears to spill from Sarah's eyes. "Miss Sarah, we're more excited about Christmas this year because you're here too."
Nathan had to excuse himself and start clearing the dishes so Sarah and Allie wouldn't see the tears on his cheeks. Collecting himself he asked if the brownies were ready to come out of the oven. "They smell fantastic! Do you think they're done?"
Allie went over and pulled them out. "They look done to me. We have to let them cool down a little before we cut them." They retired to the sitting room talking more about the plans for the festival. Sarah told them about the different vendors they had. Allie was looking forward to the sleigh rides. "Dad, what are you looking forward to?"
Allie and Sarah both knew how Nathan felt about crowds so they were curious what his answer would be. "Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing how much fun the two of you are going to have. I also admit that I look forward to it being over so things get back to normal a bit and we can enjoy your break from school." Allie had off the week between Christmas and New Year's and Nathan was hoping to spend extra time with her.
Sarah laughed. "I have to agree. As much fun as it's been to organize and as much as I'm looking forward to the actual festival, I look forward to some time to relax. Clara said she would be happy to take on some extra hours at the store so I may get to take a couple of days off."
Nathan reached for her hand. "If you do, I hope you'll consider spending them with us."
Sarah nodded. "If you'll have me, I would love to."
Allie broke the mood jumping up to get the brownies. "Come on, they're probably ready to eat."
After enjoying one too many brownies Nathan offered to walk Sarah home. As they walked Nathan told her that he'd heard from his father that he wanted to come for Christmas. "He has the same week off that Allie does so he asked if he could come and stay with us."
"Nathan that sounds wonderful, I would love to meet him." Sarah could see that Nathan had reservations. "What is it Nathan? Don't you want to see him?"
"Remember when I told you we'd been estranged? It's because he was in prison." Nathan sought Sarah's face to gauge her reaction to that information. He went on to explain what it was like growing up with a father who was a gambler and had to steal to pay his debts and try to support his family. "I blamed him for Colleen marrying Dylan Parks. If he'd been a proper father maybe Colleen wouldn't have felt the need to marry the first guy who came along."
Sarah felt sad for Nathan. She also admired the man he'd had become given the example his father had been. "Nathan, your life could have gone in a very different direction given the challenges you experienced growing up. But you didn't let that happen. That speaks volumes about you. Did you become a Mountie to avoid becoming like your father?"
"I don't think I was ever destined to be a gambler like my father but I do think I joined the Mounties to try and be better than he was. My mom didn't deserve any of what my father did to her. She stood by him even when Colleen and I told her to leave him. Finally when she realized he was taking her jewelry she'd had enough." Nathan remembered the tears his mother shed when she realized the broach given to her by her mother was gone.
"I'm so sorry Nathan. I can't imagine what that must have been like. How were you and your father able to reconcile after so much difficulty?" They were now standing outside of Sarah's apartment bathed in the small light outside her front door.
"Believe it or not it was Elizabeth who challenged me to give him a chance." Nathan told Sarah about having to arrest his father and the subsequent investigation into the stolen necklace. "It ended up that he didn't do it. I realized I was letting my anger at him cloud my judgement and it got in the way of Allie having a chance to know her grandfather. She so desperately wanted to know him and his stories of her mother. I realized I needed to open myself up to a relationship with him for Allie's sake."
Sarah reached up and gave Nathan a soft kiss on his lips. "Nathan, you never cease to impress me with the kind of man you are. You could have easily written your father off but instead you put Allie's desires ahead of your own pain."
"Thank you Sarah, for not judging me. My father is someone I need to forgive and maybe having him here will give me the opportunity to do that." Nathan kissed Sarah good night and made his way home thinking how excited Allie would be to see her grandfather. He would get in touch with his father tomorrow and extend an invitation. Christmas would certainly be interesting this year.