So...it's been a CRAZY week for us, huh?
I actually wrote this AGES ago and nearly DIED when I saw the new trailer. Truly, I only did a couple of edits on this from what I wrote sometime last summer. It's already kind of existing in an alternate universe, but I hope you still enjoy! I have a lot of thoughts about their eventual proposal, but we'll just set those aside for now haha.
I cannot thank you all enough for the wonderful reviews! I love reading them when they come in and I feel like I don't deserve half the praise, especially since these two make it so easy. I'll hopefully be back next week with another short, and who knows, maybe this week will bring something else for us to freak out about! One can hope, right?
They were on their way back from a trip to Union City, an early Christmas gift he had planned for her, when it happened. It was just the two of them, traveling in for the weekend to see a production of The Nutcracker, and in some ways it had felt so similar to their first trip together to see Virginia Woolf. But they were officially courting now, and had been for quite a while, so at the same time, everything was obviously very different.
Where at the reading they had been amidst a large group, at the ballet he'd sprung for box seats to give them a bit more privacy. They shuffled their chairs so they were slightly closer together, and their fingers remained tangled together until the curtain fell and they joined the audience in applause.
During dinner, she'd smiled at him in the candlelight, just as she had all those months ago. But on this trip, her foot occasionally tapped his under the thick tablecloth where no one else could see. As the year approached 1920, no one gave the young couple in love a second glance, even without a ring on her finger, but it still sent a thrill through both of them.
They walked the streets during the day, afforded more time on this weekend than on their overnight, and she kept her arm looped through his as she leaned into him. Elizabeth could swear they walked every street in the city, taking in the sights and sounds of a life they were both so thankful to have grown up in, but even happier to have left behind.
And in the shops, as they searched high and low for gifts for family and friends back home, she felt the constant warmth of his hand on the small of her back. It was a comfort, knowing he was there with her, and as they paid for the new set of books for the library, the last item on their list, she realized that she never wanted this time together to end.
In other words, the flat tires seemed almost like a blessing.
"We could just…stay out here you know," Elizabeth suggested. Thankfully, she was familiar with the area in which the second tire had blown. With the spare already on and the sun quickly setting, she knew it was their best option. "I'm fairly certain there's an old hunting cabin not far from here."
Lucas didn't look at her as he responded, still focused on examining the tire. "You know we can't do that."
She frowned, walking around the vehicle toward him and crossing her arms when she stopped at his side. "And why not?"
"For starters, everyone would be worried sick," he started, working to pull the tire off the car, "and second, we aren't married." When she didn't respond, he paused his work to look up at her. "Elizabeth," Lucas continued, recognizing the determined look on her face, "you know we can't."
"This is a life or death situation, Lucas."
He laughed lightly, finally wrenching the tire off the car. "I wouldn't call it life or death."
"Hope Valley is easily a few hours from here by foot," she continued before he could argue, "and the only real problem I see with this situation is that if we don't stay, one or both of us is going to freeze to death before we get back. So yes, I would say that this is life or death."
He had to admit that she was probably right. He could set her up in the nearby cabin with a fire to keep her warm until he walked back to town, but the shadows of the trees were growing longer and the temperature was dropping quickly. Already a few stars poked their way through the atmosphere near the horizon, suggesting that the night would be clear and cold.
Plus, as he looked up at the woman he loved, he knew that deep down he wanted nothing more than to enjoy this extra time together.
"You're right," he admitted with a sigh, standing and turning toward her. "But you have to promise me that you're okay with this and that we'll…"
She cut him off by pressing her lips to his. "We won't do anything that Florence would be ashamed of, I promise."
Laughing lightly once more, he wrapped his arms around her. "You're very persuasive sometimes, you know."
Elizabeth grinned, pulling back from him. As she did so, she ran her hand down his arm to entwine their fingers, pulling him along the trail. "I know," she sang, glancing back at him.
Thankfully, the shelter was right where she figured it would be. Abandoned long ago and covered in dust, it was furnished as any small hunting cabin would be. An old stove sat in one corner, a fireplace on the wall across the room. The kitchen was nothing more than a basic sink and a table with a couple of chairs, and in one corner sat a bed. There were blankets on the mattress, thankfully, and a pile of wood still sitting outside, both remnants left by other travelers sheltering for the night.
"Well, this isn't exactly the Union City hotel," Lucas joked, "how did you know this was here?"
She grew quiet for a moment, a memory flashing behind her eyes. "Being married to a mountie usually means you end up knowing where all the abandoned cabins are."
He studied her for a moment, waiting for the stab of pain to pass, to see what she needed to him. Grief, while dimmed with time, would always be a part of her life, and he only wished to ease some of it for her.
Elizabeth shook her head and looked at him, eyes once again bright. As she stepped into his space, her arms naturally found their home around his waist, under his now unbuttoned coat. "And just how are we going to spend all this extra time together?"
Lucas hummed, leaning down to give her a light kiss, "I can think of a few ways."
"Is that so?" she questioned, remaining close, noses nuzzling against one another. "And what about what Florence would say?"
Her comment sent them both into a fit of laughter. "I should go get the bags, first things first," he suggested when they'd caught their breaths. "Why don't you see if you can get a fire started?" With a quick kiss to the forehead, Lucas pulled away, stepping in the direction of the door, although he turned back to wink at her before leaving.
By the time he returned, bags in hand, she had started a fire in the fireplace and wiped off most of the furniture.
"The stove doesn't work anymore," she said casually, busying herself with shaking out the blankets on the bed.
"I could take a look at it," he offered, setting the bags near the door and the basket from their picnic on the table.
Elizabeth shook her head, "don't bother. I already tried everything, and it's alright. The fireplace will keep us plenty warm. Plus, we have each other."
He looked at her with a light smirk. While the room was slowly warming, it was obvious that the chill of winter would still permeate the cabin throughout the night.
"Don't look at me like that," Elizabeth admonished, shaking out the last blanket before laying it neatly across the bed.
"Like what?" Lucas inquired, suddenly making the food his top priority.
"Like you don't believe we can keep each other warm."
A red tint flushed his cheeks. This woman would be the death of him.
"You say that, but you'll eventually remember that I'm sleeping on the floor."
"You will do no such thing, Lucas Bouchard." At some point, she had crossed the room and she hit his arm lightly before sitting across from where he stood.
Perhaps his resolve was wearing thin, or maybe he just loved the way he said his full name, but his only response was a bright, dimpled smile.
They dropped the subject as they dined on leftover fruit and sandwiches. It wasn't quite the same caliber of cuisine they'd enjoyed in Union City the day before, but it was all they needed. When they finished, Elizabeth pulled a couple of blankets and a pillow from the bed under his watchful eye, laying them out on the floorboard in between the bed and the fireplace.
She sat down with her back to the bed, pillow propper behind her, and then turned in his direction, lightly patting the space beside her. "Care to join me?"
It only took a moment for him to cross the room and settle next to her. The fire glowed nearby, providing the only light in the small room. Outside, the breeze brushed up against the cabin and the distant howl of a wolf crept in through the cracks.
Lucas took one of the remaining blankets and covered their legs, which were now pressed tightly against one another. Once he'd leaned back, relaxing into the position, he wrapped his arm around her so she could snuggle against him.
"See, this is much better than trekking through the snow back home," Elizabeth pointed out after a few minutes.
He hummed, but didn't respond further, obviously lost in thought.
She shifted to look at him, watching as he continued to ponder the flames before them. "You know I appreciate you being patient with me all this time, right?"
Her words shook him from his trance. "Of course I do. I love you, Elizabeth, and I will wait as long as you need."
He felt her take a deep breath. "What if I don't want to wait anymore."
Her response caught him off guard and he too took in a deep breath. Lucas knew that she was his soulmate. He'd known from the day he met her outside his saloon, the moment he shook her hand and felt the ground shift beneath him. There was no turning back for him and, it seemed, the same was true for her. But he grew up hearing stories of his parents and their proper courtship, felt eyes on him every second since before he'd even officially started courting Elizabeth, and even though she tested his patience on a daily basis, he also wanted to do right by the woman he loved.
She seemed to sense his mind kicking into overdrive, and she clarified. "I'm not saying…" she started, shifting awkwardly as heat rose to her face. "What I mean is…"
Relief washed over him as understanding dawned. He brought a hand up to her cheek, thumb lightly brushing over the skin there. "You don't have to explain."
"Lucas, I don't…"
He leaned in to kiss her, cutting her off the same way she did with him earlier that day. "Sweetheart, I know we haven't talked about any of this, but know that when I said I will wait as long as I have to, I also meant that whenever you're ready, so am I."
Elizabeth's expression softened.
Lucas reached for her hand, pulling it to rest on his chest so she could feel his heart beating beneath the layers. "I don't care if it takes a year or five years for you to say yes. I'd marry you tomorrow if you wanted, and you know," he chuckled, shaking his head, "you've really disrupted any plans I might have had of proposing."
"You were going to propose?" she asked honestly.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
She wrapped an arm around his middle, the blanket shifting as she pressed herself into him further. With a squeeze, she reiterated, "were you?"
He shifted again, moving away from their cocoon. At first, she thought she'd upset him, watching carefully as he stood to add a couple of logs to the dying fire. He said nothing, and neither did she, as he made his way across the room to his bag and took something out of it.
"Lucas?" she questioned when he continued to stare at whatever he'd removed from the bag. She was about to stand and join him, to apologize for pushing him, when he turned and made his way back. Quietly, he settled into his previous position on the blankets next to her, legs out in front of him.
On his lap rested a small, red box.
"Lucas," she started again, her voice coming out as a small whisper. "You don't have to…"
He turned to her, the box still unopened. "Elizabeth, you have to know that I've known since the very moment I met you that you would be the one to change my life. I knew you'd encourage me to do better, to be better, and that unlike every other town I'd passed through, you'd make Hope Valley my home."
She listened intently, not saying a word, although her eyes would flicker to the box every so often, watching as his fingers ran nervously over the outside.
"When I first arrived in Hope Valley, I wanted nothing more than to spend every moment of every day with you. But I waited. I waited for you to be ready. When we started courting, I wanted to kiss you time and time again, wanted to pull you aside and wrap my arms around you to show you just how deserving you are of love. And again, I waited, because I wanted you to be sure. And since the moment you said you were, I've wanted a million times over to ask you to marry me, so if you're sitting here tonight telling me that you don't want to wait anymore…"
"Lucas, stop."
Her hand fell over his on the box and he turned his head to look at her. She pondered her response, letting out a shaky breath of her own.
"I think it's time that I return some of that patience."
His eyebrow turned up in confusion, "what do you mean?"
"You obviously had a plan. Knowing you, there were probably a million candles involved, but whatever it was, you already knew how you wanted to propose to me."
Lucas chuckled warmly, the tension leaving his body as he began to understand her meaning. "Well, I guess I'd better tell my eleves to call off the lanterns then because obviously that won't be a surprise anymore," he joked, and she laughed with him.
"My point is," she continued, "you spent all this time waiting for me, and I think that it's only fair I wait for you in return. I want you to do this the way you planned, to surprise me the way you do every single day, however and whenever you were going to do it."
He kissed her then, firmly and soundly. The box remained in his lap, but his hands went to either side of her face, cradling her. When they pulled away, she took the box from him. She didn't open it, but he watched as she stood to return it to his bag, shutting it without a second thought.
"What if I was actually going to propose to you tonight anyway?" he suggested later, after she'd returned to his embrace and settled against his chest.
Elizabeth giggled, "you were not. There is no way you were planning on proposing to me while stranded in a cabin in the woods."
"Well, that part may not have been planned, but if I had proposed tonight, what would you have said?"
"If I tell you, will you promise that you won't sleep on the floor tonight?" she teased, her gaze still focused on the fire.
He tightened his grip on her, lips moving to whisper in her ear, "I doubt Florence would approve of that."
She smiled and snuggled closer to him as the exhaustion of the day finally caught up to her.
When the sun rose over the cabin the next morning, the fire had burned down, but Elizabeth wasn't cold. She found herself wrapped in blankets, settled in amongst the warmth of the bed. On the floor just below, Lucas slept soundly.
She watched him for a while, taking in the gentle rise and fall of his breath, the way his hair had broken free of its usually pristine styling in slumber, and felt the surge of love she felt for him. Her answer was always yes, and she couldn't wait for the day when she could wake in his arms.