Hope for Tomorrow
Chapter 25
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Nathan made a quick dash to the infirmary before church to check on Gunther. Faith was there in the morning monitoring him relieving Carson after night duty. "Gunther is faring well, Nathan. He's been under observation and has showed no signs pointing to anything severe. He's a lucky man."
"That's great! I was afraid we might be dealing with another scenario like Rick went through, but this proves what I've known all along, Gunther's got a hard head!" Nathan teased, "but, I shouldn't be joking, it could have been a lot worse."
Nathan walked around the curtain and spotted Gunther laying in bed. "Hey, why aren't you doing rounds?" Nathan barked.
"Ha-ha, you trying to get my goat?" Gunther laughed.
"As soon as church is over, I'll be back with some of Ma's vegetable beef soup," Nathan promised.
When Nathan arrived at church he was a bit late, but he saw Dee up front in her usual spot by the piano with Allie who had brought her guitar to play while Dee sang.
Nathan was proud of his ladies. Dee was glowing with her pregnancy and didn't have any of the moodiness some of his buddies had warned him about. He thought that he should give her a back rub more often as she was always rubbing her back lately. Allie was developing into a pretty but still precocious young lady. Her helping out with caring for her grandparents was a huge help and he was thankful she accepted the responsibility to do her part.
Apparently, Flo and Ned had picked up his ma and dad and taken them with to mass as they weren't with Dee and Allie. He wondered how Molly and Bill were doing this morning assuming they left on their honeymoon to Vancouver.
As he slid down between his two ladies, he had to settle his mind down, and close his eyes so he could thank God for the arrest of the two robbers, and his Mountie friends who took care of everything while he enjoyed being Bill's best man. He was also so grateful that Gunther seemed to be doing much better than he feared. His ma was right, God is good!
The congregation was still in a joyful mood from the wedding, and belted out the songs under Dee's direction with Allie's playing her guitar and Angela the piano. Pastor Joseph was expanding on the message of yesterday's service. He wanted to hit the point home that marriage takes three with God as their focus. Being that so many of the townsfolk were married, he found an attentive crowd.
Over at the O'Neill barn where mass was being held, Trevor had his eye on Lisa Peterson. He had really enjoyed his time with her last night. They had danced most of the night together and hit it off easily.
When Luke asked Trevor to go with him to mass, Trevor wasn't sure until he remembered that Lisa would be there. He and Luke sat behind Lisa and her parents. He watched her as she listened intently to Fr. Ricardo. He could tell that Lisa was a faithful parishioner. Luke noticed too and was happy that Lisa might just be the key to bringing Trevor back to church.
The Morettis were leading the recessional song when Trevor moved up to be in the same row as Lisa. When the song ended, Trevor stood at the end of the row smiling at her. Lisa not knowing what to say, returned his smile with a sweet grin.
"Good morning Lisa!" Trevor said enthusiastically.
"Good morning Trevor!" Lisa returned his greeting, "Are you staying for the potluck?"
"I don't know, I just tag along with Luke," Trevor answered as he looked around for Luke. He spotted Luke talking with Mark. "I'll stay if you are. I can always walk back to town if Luke leaves."
"Oh Trevor, are you sure? I don't want you to bother your leg on account of me," Lisa seemed concerned.
"Hey, I danced most of the night and didn't hurt it, so walking won't be so bad. Besides, I've got nothing better to do. I'd rather be here with you," he barely got that last sentence out.
Lisa's mother and father saw her talking with Trevor and left her alone. They knew that she had been lonely especially with Lana gone off to nursing school. The families all shared dishes of food they brought and spread them out buffet style on a long table in the barn. If people wanted to eat, they usually just sat and ate from the plates on their laps, except for the older folks like Emily and Archie. There was always an extra table or two for them.
Trevor asked Lisa to take a walk sit outside with their plates of food. Several folks had brought blankets and Lisa grabbed one from her parent's automobile. They were enjoying a warm fall weekend that probably was one of the last ones for a while.
"Tell me about yourself, Trevor."
"Oh, heck, I'm just an ordinary guy. I like to work on automobiles though. I'm opening a repair shop at the gasoline station. You ought to come by sometime," Trevor invited Lisa.
"That sounds fascinating. How did you learn about fixing automobiles?"
"School in Detroit Michigan."
"You're American?" Lisa asked.
"Sure am, born and raised."
"What brought you to Hope Valley?" Lisa was very curious.
"Luke told me that there was no mechanic here and I had to get out of Detroit, so I got a government loan and bought the place sight unseen, just trusted what Luke said was a good opportunity," Trevor explained.
"How do you know Luke?"
"From the service," Trevor answered quietly.
"The service? What?" Lisa didn't follow.
Trevor looked off, not sure how much to say but he felt Lisa was a good person, someone he could trust so he started, "Yeah, a buddy I grew up with, Bobby, and I joined together. We were thinking it was patriotic to join the Canadians even though our parents were against us getting into the war. We were assigned to the same unit as Luke, trained as tank mechanics."
"Yeah, Luke's a great guy. But, why did you say you had to get out of Detroit?" Lisa was still curious and kept on asking questions.
Trevor was uncomfortable and didn't know how to answer her questions, "Look Lisa, let's talk about something else besides the war, okay?"
Feeling badly, Lisa reached for Trevor's hand and told him, "I'm sorry Trevor, I was in the war too, with my sister. We saw some very heartbreaking situations. You don't have to share with me. Not now." Lisa looked at Trevor with such caring, that he couldn't resist and held her hand in return.
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After church everyone was busy talking about the wedding and how much excitement was caused by the robbers. Word was that Nathan was very much the hero. When he and his family stepped down the church steps they were smiling and nodding as if he were some famous person.
Dee holding on with her arm through his, pulled him down closer to her and whispered, "What a lucky lady I am to be with the man of the town!" and kissed him on his cheek.
Nathan laughed and told her to stop it. "They're looking at you Dee, how lucky I am to have you!"
The ladies were busy chatting together about something that Dee wasn't privy to. She felt left out, but when Rosemary saw her watching, she winked, which left her curious but not anxious.
When Nathan left for a few minutes to tell a few people how Gunther was doing, Dee walked over to Rosemary and joined the ladies. After Rosemary cleared her throat, which Dee thought was odd, she quickly said, "Like I was saying ladies, with the October Hope Valley Thanksgiving coming up in a few weeks, there is just no rest for us. Let's gather the Chickadees with us and we'll begin our plans!"
Faith joined right in, "I loved it last year when we had a talent show! Maybe we can do that again?" she nodded looking around for support.
"Well, I think that would be fun, yes, but I had more thoughts," Rosemary started. "Wouldn't it be fun to have a craft fair too? We could make things that might be bought for gifts like a Christkindlmarket!"
Fiona asked, "What is that exactly?"
"It's a German Christmas Market! The smell of roasted nuts, fresh pretzels, bratwurst and hot spiced wine, the sound of festive music, and the glimmer of sparkling Christmas ornaments, all in a cozy atmosphere – a visit to the market takes all your senses on a journey!" Rosemary announced dramatically lifting her arms to the town with a flair.
"Oh, yes we could host this for the Christmas tree lighting!" Dottie added excitedly.
"Along with Christmas caroling!" Faith piped up.
"Wait a minute ladies, is this for the Thanksgiving celebration or the Christmas tree lighting? Don't forget we have the Christmas pageant on the day of the Christmas tree lighting," Fiona reminded them all.
"You're right, let's first plan the Thanksgiving potluck. It should be at Billees like last year, all right?" Rosemary looked for affirmation.
There was no objection. "We can still do the talent show, if you'd like Faith. So, would you please head that up?"
Faith agreed, "I suppose since I brought it up, I should follow through, so yes."
"Great," Rosemary nodded. "We can start our crafts when we meet at Minnie's Cafe with everyone. Then, after our potluck and talent show, together, we can finish up any ornaments we haven't finished."
"I will volunteer my husband to provide hayrides for the children," Minnie offered.
"I'm sure they'll enjoy that! I know Jack would," Elizabeth added.
"Paul too," Rosemary agreed. "This way we can focus on our crafts without everyone seeing them before the Christkindlmarket!"
"Don't forget some of us ladies bid on men for a dance or a serenade at the summer Family Festival, so we have to make sure there's time for that at the Thanksgiving celebration!" Fiona smiled broadly. "I won my bid for James Scholl and I'm not letting him off the hook!"
The ladies thought this was becoming bigger than they thought. Everyone would be needed to work on this celebration and the Christkindlmarket, but it seemed they could pull it off, with determination.
"Look, we don't have all the ladies here right now. There's more that'll be back in town after mass. I'm sure we'll get more help!" Dee reminded them.
"You're right, tomorrow at Minnie's we'll get this all figured out," Rosemary concluded.
"I just love this time of year!" Dottie exclaimed.
"So do I, but I'm not sure when little bun will join us," Dee sighed. "I feel like a stuffed turkey that you could cook for Thanksgiving!"
Rosemary listened and joined in, "If you're feeling so uncomfortable, don't worry about helping Dee. There will be plenty of help, I'm sure."
Dee was relieved to hear that, she had been having some pretty hard backaches and her feet were swelling. In fact, she had told Elizabeth that she didn't know how long she could teach music. She had suggested that Mrs. Moretti might be interested in helping in her place.
Elizabeth thought that was a keen idea since the whole Moretti family was very musically talented. She thought she'd ask Mr. Malone to go with her to ask. After all he was very nice to Elizabeth, so maybe he wouldn't mind.
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When Nathan brought Gunther some of his Ma's homemade vegetable beef soup, like he promised, with a huge slice of buttered bread and a slice of apple strudel, Gunther immediately felt better.
Faith didn't complain, as he brought enough hot soup for her too and some to take home to Carson. "Tell your Ma she's the best!" Gunther grinned. "This is the way to a man's heart." he laughed.
"And a woman's heart too!" Faith agreed.
"So, besides the food, how do you feel now?" Nathan inquired. Nathan was concerned that he wasn't out of the woods yet.
Faith put down her spoon long enough to answer the question for Gunther who was gobbling up his food. "He's coming along nicely. I know he's bored, but I want him to stay here one more night and we'll test him to make sure he's all right to go home."
"What? Another night?" Gunther was disappointed.
"Well, Gunther, you were off balance this morning, so I'm taking precaution. I'm sure you'll be able to go home tomorrow." Faith reassured him.
"Hey, listen to the doctor. She knows what's best," Nathan said. "Just to let you know, you'll be having a roommate now. The recruit, Andy Roberts will be arriving tomorrow. I'll be picking him up and taking him to the house. Headquarters thought this would be a good time for him with you being hurt."
"Oh, wow! That'll be great. It can get mighty lonely by myself. I'm looking forward to having him."
"I'm going to get his bedroom ready today. I'll talk to you later on," Nathan said as he left, "Get better!"
"Yes sir!" Gunther nodded in agreement. He didn't want to spend another night, but he knew he had to.
Over at the barn after mass, Trevor enjoyed talking with Lisa When he held her hand, he felt like he needed to know her better, but he wasn't ready to share with her about his time in the war. He was surprised though that she had helped in the war too.
His curiosity got the better of him and he asked her, "Lisa, I don't want to talk about the war in any depth, at least not now, but I do want to know about you and your experience. Would you like to share with me?"
"Well, I worked in an office. I was strictly working clerical duties. Things like filing, typing, and answering phones. I met some very high officials, some were arrogant and some were very nice. The people I worked with were mainly women like me and I made some good friends," Lisa started.
"Where were you stationed?" Trevor asked.
"I was in Toronto for training. Lana, my sister, was with me. She was assigned to nursing training. After we both finished our training, we were sent to France. Lana was close to the actual fighting, working in a hospital. We wanted to stay together and since we volunteered, they let us. So, I worked in the military office of the same hospital."
"That must've been good to have your sister by your side." Trevor smiled.
"It was, I wouldn't go anywhere if we weren't together. Mom and Dad were not happy we were stationed overseas, but they felt we would be safe and together, so it made it easier for them too."
Trevor looked at her and studied her face, as it was soft with big eyes and long lashes, with a sweet smile. He admired her for being such a brave young woman volunteering to travel so far away from her family to help.
Then she told him that her sister, Lana, who was a nurse, saw so much pain and suffering when she took care of the wounded or even cleaned up those who came to her already passed. When the sisters would come together at their apartment at the end of the day, her sister had days when it was too much for her and Lisa would encourage her to cry if need be. When the conversation reached this point, Trevor quickly stopped and asked if he could see her another time.
"That would be wonderful Trevor, I'd like that."
With that Trevor gave her a big grin and said, "Great, maybe next weekend then?"
Luke came over when he spotted Trevor and told him he was leaving to go back to town, so Trevor told Lisa he'd talk to her real soon and left.
Monday, over at Minnie's Cafe, the ladies were all meeting to pick up the discussion where they left off yesterday. It was a full house as the word went out that it was important to attend but for 15 minutes earlier than they told Dee. Quickly, they discussed having a baby shower for Dee. They would surprise her at the town's Thanksgiving celebration. Instead of a craft time after the potluck and talent show and while the children were going on hayrides with their fathers, that's when they would surprise Dee with a shower for little bun. Rosemary was watching out the window and spotted Dee walking up to the cafe and warned the ladies to hush about the shower.
Minnie welcomed all with her usual charming hospitality offering coffee, tea, and muffins. It was great for all the ladies to be together to discuss not only the upcoming events, but to share recipes and just talk.
After a quick prayer led by Minnie, those that were involved in the discussion yesterday quickly filled in what the others missed. The Chickadees were excited as usual always willing to lend a helping hand or give a suggestion. They definitely were a fun bunch.
"So ladies, Faith will be inviting everyone to participate in the talent show," Faith clapped. "Remember how much fun that was?"
"Oh my, it was! We talked about it all the next week!" Dottie popped up.
"You and Ned were so cute doing that silhouette skit behind the sheet!" Fiona piped up with a cute memory to share.
The ladies all decided that the talent show would go on. It was going to be a potluck like last year with roasted turkeys as the main dish of course. Even though Molly and Bill were on their honeymoon, Flo knew Bill would be willing to grill those birds outside like he did for the pig roast this summer.
Dee offered to bring desserts with Emily's best and Allie's help. All the ladies told her not to worry. She was too far along to be standing over the counter baking. She was surprised they were so concerned for her, but insisted she was fine.
"No, no darling, you need to put your feet up. Before you know it, you'll be up at all hours of the day and night. Time for you to rest up!" Joyce said kindly.
"Yes, let us pamper you while you have the chance!" Debbie grinned.
"All right ladies," Rosemary smiled, "we seem to have the Thanksgiving celebration off to a good start. Next time, we'll meet and discuss the Christkindlmarket!"