The next day Elizabeth finished getting ready for school and went downstairs, where Charlotte was rocking Jack as he cooed up at her. She stayed still for a moment drinking in the beautiful sight, and allowed herself to imagine Charlotte rocking her own Jack. As if sensing her presence, the older woman looked up and smiled. "Look at how pretty your mama is, Jack," Charlotte said. The women smiled as he smiled and cooed in response, making them melt.

"How are you doing this morning? Are you ready to go?" Charlotte asked, handing Jack to her for a goodbye.

"No, I'm not ready at all, but I know I have to," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "It helps that you are here and will be watching him though I know that Florence, Cat, or Molly would have been happy too. If you need to, they can watch him for a bit if you want them to."

"I will be fine, and I can't see needing a break from him though I will keep it in mind. I was also thinking that maybe we could visit you during lunch so you don't have to go long without at least seeing him."

"That would be great," Elizabeth said without looking away from her son. "I just love you so, so, so much."

"You should probably get going since it's your first day," Charlotte said with a smile.

"When I come home, I'm going to bathe you and feed you and read to you and…oh yes, kiss you," Elizabeth said, cuddling her son and having difficulty moving.

"Lizzie, he will be fine while you are gone," Charlotte said. "You don't want to be late, and you still have to go by the mercantile to get that string remember?"

"All right," she said, handing him over to his grandmother. "If you need anything…."

"I know where to go." Charlotte said quickly, interrupting before adding, "I promise he will be fine while you are gone."

"Say goodbye to Mommy," Charlotte said, waving his little hand. Elizabeth headed to the mercantile feeling a bit lost without her son. She ran into Abigail as she reached town.


"Good morning, Elizabeth. How are you doing this morning?" Abigail asked.

"I'm struggling to be honest. I mean, I am glad to be teaching my students, but…."

"You hate being away from your son."

"I do, and even though I know he is with Charlotte, I worry that he might need me, and I'm not there."

Oh, Elizabeth. I know how much teaching means to you, but this must be so hard on you.

"It's harder than I ever imagined. But I really don't have a choice in the matter. Thank you again, Abigail, for Charlotte because it helps that she is with him. He adores her so much and just smiles and coos at her."

"I'm glad she's here too, so you're not doing this alone. Between the café, keeping an eye on Ned's progress hooking up the switchboard, and doing my mayoral responsibilities, I haven't spent much time with you."

"That's all right, Abigail. I understand, and if I can help you, please let me know," Elizabeth said, giving her friend a side hug. "You are amazing, Abigail. I still can't believe the telephone is coming to Hope Valley."

"Oh, thanks Elizabeth, that means a lot. It was time for our little town to step into the future, although Bill disagrees with that."

"I'm sure he doesn't," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "Did I tell you that I received a letter from Grace?"

"No, you didn't. How are they doing?" Abigail replied.

"They are doing great, and Grace appears to find a certain veterinarian handsome. She mentioned that Lillian seemed to similarly afflict by their local Mountie." Elizabeth said, giggling.

"Oh, how I miss those early days, especially when you and Jack first arrive," Abigail said, chuckling. "It was a wonder that the sparks that flew in those early days didn't catch the town on fire."

"Especially when we first met, and he was so angry about being reassigned. Do you remember that first time you invited him for dinner?" Elizabeth said, laughing.

"Oh, I certainly do though at first, I didn't pick up on the tension; it wasn't long after I did."

"Anyway, she asked if I would come for a visit because two children are struggling in school. The teacher suspects there may be a learning issue, but she doesn't know how to identify it. I was going to ask Rosemary to drive me since I have Jack. I was also going to see if Charlotte wanted to go with us."

"If you tell her that there are some potential matches to be made, I'm sure she will be more than happy to go."

"Potential Matchmaking? Who and where?" Rosemary said, having come up at the tail end of their conversation. "Are you referring to Grace and Chuck or maybe Lillian and Gabe?"

"I guess she already knows," Elizabeth said. "Grace wrote me a letter asking me to come down and do some testing on 2 children they recently received who are struggling in school. I was telling Abigail about it, and I'm wondering if you could drive me there and back since I have Jack. I was also going to see if Charlotte wanted to tag along with us and see Gabe."

"I would be happy to do that. It's been a while since I visited. We could stay overnight and come back the next day. When would you like to go?"

"How about we leave after school tomorrow and then return Sunday? That way, if I find the issue, I have time to develop ideas for the teacher to use to help the children. It would also give me time to talk to Gabe and catch up. I haven't talked to him since I met him at the funeral. I want him to meet Jack too."

"Perfect. I also have some clothing items we gathered a few months ago that I still have to take to Lillian." Rosemary said. "Now, Abigail, are we still set for 4:00 pm?"

"I'm going to check on that right now. Ned is supposed to have our switchboard hooked up, so we will be ready to get the call from the phone company."

"All right, I will have the band ready and waiting," Rosemary said.

"The band? Hope Valley has a band?" Elizabeth asked, surprised to hear about it.

"Well, of course, we do. You remember we have had one since our Christmas parade. We can't have Hope Valley's very first telephone call go by without a celebration."

"Your right Rosemary. How silly of me. I must have forgotten about our band." Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes and looking at Abigail.

"That's all right, Elizabeth," Rosemary said, patting her shoulder. "Well, I should probably go. Time to squeeze in one final rehearsal." Then she ran off towards Lee's office, looking for Hickam.

"Are you and Charlotte coming?" Abigail asked

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it, and I'm sure Charlotte will be meeting me in town after school. I'm making this a learning opportunity for my students."

"I would expect nothing less, Elizabeth," Abigail said with a chuckle. "You have a way of turning everything into a creative lesson for the children."

They entered the mercantile to see Laura at the counter and Ned over by the switchboard with a fist full of wires, confusion, and frustration evident.

"Oh. Good morning, Laura." Elizabeth said, smiling at her former student.

"Hi, Mrs. Thornton, Mrs. Stanton."

"Good morning, Laura," Abigail replied before Ned diverted her attention.

"Did the fishing line I ordered come in yet?"

"It's coming later this morning," Laura replied.

"Oh," Elizabeth said, a bit distressed. "I need it for my telephone project today."

"I can take it to the school when it comes in." Laura offered.

"That's very sweet of you, Laura; thank you."

"How's it going, Ned?" Abigail asked. He was concentrating, so he hadn't responded. "Ned?" she called out again.

"Oh, I just have to figure out how to connect some of these wires," Ned said nervously. His nervousness was very evident on his face.

"Will you be ready in time for the call?" Abigail said, beginning to doubt that they would be.

"Oh, absolutely," Ned answered quickly, too quickly.

"He told the telephone company he knows what to do," Laura whispered.

"Well, I'm sure he'll figure it out," Abigail said, trying to be confident.

"I'd better get to school," Elizabeth said. She could see that Abigail was far from confident and was concerned.

"Do you think that Ned is going to be ready?" Elizabeth asked.

"Truthfully, I don't, Elizabeth, and I'm wondering if we should postpone the call."

"From what I saw, I think Ned looks overwhelmed. Can you have someone from the company come and work on it?" Elizabeth asked. "Maybe he just doesn't want to disappoint you, Abigail, so he hasn't said anything."

"I think that you are right. I'm going to wire the company and have them send someone. Then I have to figure out a way to break the news to Ned without hurting his feelings." Abigail said.

"Good Luck, Abigail," Elizabeth said as she headed towards the school.

"See you after school Elizabeth" Abigail called out. Elizabeth turned, gave a brief wave in acknowledgment, and continued on to school.


"Good morning, Abigail," Lee said. "How is everything this morning?"

"I think we will have to postpone the phone call," Abigail said.

"Ned still hasn't completed connecting the wires, huh?" Lee said. Abigail shook her head and sighed. Their attention was drawn to movement outside the saloon where Tom was loading a wagon. They walked over to see what was happening.

"Hey, Tom. I haven't seen you behind the bar in a while." Abigail said.

"Yeah. Well, I've been in Union City." Tom said.

"Oh, we had wondered what happened to you," Lee said.

"Is everything all right, Tom? Is there anything we can do for you?"

"My mom's ill, so the wife and I moved up there to take care of her. I thought it was temporary, but it's not."

"It has been too much trying to keep up the business and being in Union City. We had received an offer for the saloon through a friend. So after my wife and I discussed it, we decided to accept the offer and sell the saloon."

"Oh!" Abigail said, "I'm sorry to hear that, Tom. Everyone will be sad to see you go."

"I mean, I love this saloon and the people of Hope Valley. But as I said, it was just too much trying to be in two places at once."

"Listen, for what it's worth, in my experience, I've found that the happiest people are generally the people that put family first. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck. You do what you got to do." Lee said.

"I wanted you to know that the buyer has a reputation for being an honest businessman. I don't want you to think I just sold it without caring about who the buyer was." Tom said.

Abigail smiled softly and placed a hand on his arm. "Tom, if there is one thing I know about you, it is that you would never do something like that."

"Thank you for that, Abigail," Tom said, giving her a brief hug.

"Can you tell us any information about the new buyer?" Lee asked. "When will he be here?"

"His name is Lucas Bouchard, and from what I was told, I think you will see him within the next few weeks. But until then, the saloon has to be closed since I no longer own it." Tom replied apologetically.

"That's all right," Abigail said, "Let's just hope that the new owner will be here soon. Take care, Tom, and let us know if you need anything."

"Thanks. I'd better get moving." Tom said, stepping up on the wagon.

"Bye, Tom," Lee said. "We will certainly miss you around here."

"Thanks, Lee. I'll miss being around here too." Tom replied as he urged the horses to move. Abigail and Lee stood for a moment, silently watching his wagon for a few minutes.

"I can't imagine Hope Valley without Tom running the saloon," Abigail said.

"What do you think about this, Lucas Bouchard? It's not going to go over well with the town, especially with the saloon being closed until this man gets here." Lee said.

"As if I don't have enough on my plate, now we have this happening," Abigail said.

"Well, let me be there when you tell Bill, all right?" Lee said, chuckling. "Although maybe if you let him dig into this Bouchard's background, he might be appeased."

Abigail laughed. "Do you not remember who Bill is, Lee? He will be investigating him regardless of what I say."

"That's true." Lee said, "Have a good day Abigail,"

"Thanks, Lee," Abigail said. "Wish me luck!"

"That goes without saying. Glad it's your job and not mine." Lee said before heading over to his office.


Abigail sighed and headed to the café, trying to figure out how to have Ned wire the company. As much as she didn't want to, she wasn't confident that Ned would be able to get the switchboard working in time. Maybe Henry was in the café and could help her come up with something. She walked in, hoping that Bill wasn't there, but that hope was smashed when she saw Bill standing by the stove preparing breakfast.

"Good morning, Abigail," Henry said.

"Good morning, Henry. Morning Bill," Abigail said.

"You should feel proud, Abigail," Henry said.

"Why is that?" she replied, a bit confused.

"Well, for bringing the telephone to Hope Valley. It's a big deal." He said.

"Oh, the telephone's going to be everywhere someday, Henry. I just happened to be mayor when it came here."

"In a small town like this, though, I'm sure it took some persuasion," Henry said with a smile.

"Well, maybe a little," Abigail said, a little uncomfortable at the compliment.

"I understand Lee's getting one in his office, too," Henry said

"Yes, and there will be one in the mercantile, the jail, and my office," Abigail explained.

"That's a great start, Abigail," Henry said with a smile.

"Thank you, Henry. I appreciate that. However, not everyone is happy about it."

Ned came in carrying something in his hand. "Wire just came in, Abigail. The telephone company wants to know if we'll be ready for a 4:00 call."

"What do you say, Ned?" Abigail said, hoping he might want someone from the company to come. "Are we going to be ready?"

"Abigail, as much as I want to say yes, I think someone needs to come," Ned said dejectedly.

"Then that is what we will do. But Ned, it's not your fault we have to reschedule. There have been a lot of things happening over the past few weeks. So go send the wire and let it go." Abigail said, relieved that that was a problem solved.

"Sounds good, Abigail, thank you," Ned said with a relieved smile.

"So, who isn't happy to be getting the telephone here in Hope Valley?" Henry asked.

"The telegraph has worked fine for almost 80 years now," Bill said, answering the question before Abigail could.

"Well, progress marches on with or without us, Bill," Henry said with a chuckle.

"I don't like change unless it is necessary. I don't see why we need the phone to come here." Bill said. "We have been fine without it."

Seeing that the café was now empty, Abigail sighed and locked the door. Bill and Henry watched her, then looked at each other in question.

"Abigail is something wrong?" Henry asked.

"Well, depends on how you look at it, I guess," Abigail said, sitting in a chair across from Henry, indicating that Bill take one too.

"Sounds serious, Abigail. What's happened?" Bill asked immediately, on alert.

"Lee and I ran into Tom while he was loading some things on a wagon." Abigail began.

"Oh, I 'm glad he is back," Henry said. "I'll have to stop and say hello."

"Yes, well, you won't find him there because he finished moving his things out of it and is on his way back to Union City."

"What do you mean moved his things out, Abigail?" Bill said.

"He sold it because his mother is ill, and he had difficulty running the saloon from there. They had received an offer, and after thinking about it, they took it."

"What did he say about the buyer?" Bill demanded. "Why didn't Tom let us know before he sold it?"

"He said that the man, Lucas Bouchard, has a reputation for being an honest businessman. As for why he didn't say anything, I got the impression that things were getting tough, and Tom saw the opportunity to sell but hadn't initially planned on it."

"Abigail, what aren't you telling us?" Henry asked, picking up on her nervousness.

"The saloon will have to remain closed until the new owner arrives." Henry and Bill just sat back and groaned.

"Well, let's hope that the new owner comes sooner than later," Bill muttered. "I'm going to see what I can find out about this man."

"I wish he had given us some heads up because I would have liked to have bought it," Henry said.

"Henry, given your track record, I don't think that would have been a good idea," Bill said with a smirk.

"Bill!" Abigail said, glaring at him. "That was uncalled for, and you know it. Now, I understand that there is still a bit of mistrust and bad blood between you, but that is enough. Besides, it's a done deal since it has a new owner, or have you both forgotten?" She was becoming annoyed as they bickered back and forth. So, she decided to take charge of the situation.

"Henry, you go to work now, and Bill, see what you can find on this Lucas Bouchard. Maybe if we are lucky, you can get some kind of contact information so that we can get in touch with him."

"Fine!" Bill said.

"All right, Abigail," Henry said, agitated by his argument with Bill. "But you know people will be upset if you don't get the saloon open. There won't be any place for people to stay when they come."

"Thank you for that report," Abigail snapped. "Neither of you is to speak of this to anyone unless I say so. I'm not going to have a bunch of people upset and coming here wanting answers I don't have." They nodded and headed in separate directions to do what Abigail said, afraid to incur her anger if they didn't. Abigail watched them go with a satisfied smirk, then turned and started cleaning up the café. Shortly after, Bill returned and handed her a wire informing them that the phone company would send out a representative on Monday's stage.

"Did you find out anything about the new owner?" Abigail asked.

"No, hopefully, I will be able to soon, though," Bill said. Abigail noticed that he was still looking at her like he wanted to say something.

"What are you going to do? At some point, you are going to have to tell people something. You remember how it was when the bank had issues."

"I know, and your right Bill. I just want us to have answers before we tell them." Abigail sighed.

"I'll do what I can to help Abigail." Bill said, "Don't worry, we will figure this out. Tom would never put Hope Valley at risk by not doing some research on him."

"Thanks, Bill," Abigail said. "We will have to try and make the best of things until we know more."

"How was Elizabeth this morning?" Bill asked. "I was thinking of heading over there to check on her."

"She would love that, I'm sure, Bill. She was struggling with leaving Jack. Charlotte is going to take Jack to see her at lunch. Maybe I'll walk over with you so I can tell her about the postponement of the phone call." Abigail said.


Elizabeth was enjoying her first day back but also missing her sweet boy. It wouldn't be long before Charlotte would be with him during her lunch break. With a sigh, she turned her attention to the planned lesson.

"Come, children, we are going to do a project involving how our telephone outside since it's such a nice day." The children quickly ran outside, excited to be outside and with their beloved teacher.

"All right, here you go, Cody." She said, handing him one of the empty tin cans she had attached to a wire. Now, I want all of you to move that way and keep going until the line goes tight."

The students followed her and stood together with her waiting for the next step. "Now speaking into the can creates sound waves which are converted into vibrations. The vibrations travel all the way down the fishing line until they're converted back into sound waves at the other end. It will give you an illustration of how the phone works."

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Cody asked skeptically.

"Oh, I have no doubt it's going to work," Elizabeth said, answering him through the can.

"Wow. Can you hear me?" Cody said, speaking through the can.

"Loud and clear," Elizabeth said once again, speaking through the can. The kids began talking excitedly about the experiment.

"Now I want all of you to pair up, and you're going to make your own." She said, watching as they began pairing up. "You can even experiment with lines of all different lengths."

"I thought we were waiting for more fishing line?" Robert said.

"Just turn around; it's arrived," Elizabeth said with a smile. She saw that Bill was approaching, holding the wire in his hand.

"Sheriff Avery! We're making telephones that really work," Cody said.

"Here you go, Cody," Bill said. Then looking at Elizabeth, he explained, "Laura was busy, so I offered to bring it since I was coming to check on you."

"Everyone, go ahead and get started. That was very sweet of you, Bill."

"You're welcome. So how are you doing?" Bill said as they sat down on the steps nearby.

"Pretty good but I hate having to leave Jack at home," Elizabeth said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him soon when Charlotte stops by for lunch."

"Oh, Abigail wanted me to tell you that the phone call is postponed until someone from the phone company arrives to connect the wires," Bill said with a smile.

"You seem pretty happy about that, Bill!" Elizabeth said with a laugh. "Abigail told me you were less than thrilled we were getting the telephone here in Hope Valley."

"Don't get me started on all that again," Bill said. "I have other things I need to focus on, like keeping the town safe." He noticed that she seemed troubled by his words.

"What's wrong, Elizabeth?" Bill asked, reaching over to grab her hand.

"Why haven't we got a replacement Mountie for Jack?" Elizabeth asked. "I mean, I'm not saying you can't do the job, but I'm just surprised we don't have a replacement. I'm unsure if I'm ready to see someone else in that office."

"It's all right, Elizabeth, I'm not sure why there hasn't been one, but like you, I'm not looking forward to that day. We could use another Mountie, in any case. I will try to reach out to Patrick or Sam and see what they know. If I find out anything, I will let you know; I promise."

"I appreciate that, Bill. I really do. I can't tell you how much I appreciate how you have nee there for me. With you watching over us, Hope Valley is in good hands, so there's no rush. I think I'm just trying to prepare for that day."

"Abigail and I are here if you ever need to talk, and I know that there are others here too. She also mentioned that you are going to Brookfield tomorrow, so be sure to say hi to Gabe and the others for me."

"I will, Bill. I'm looking forward to seeing them and Gabe meeting Jack."

"Well, I'd better head back, Elizabeth. Abigail has me doing some things for her, and I need to see how it's progressing." Bill said, getting to his feet.

"Thanks for coming by today to check on me," Elizabeth said, standing and giving him a quick hug. "This teacher feels very loved by her town."