Bullets were coming from every direction. Grenades were going off. Young men were dropping to their death. They had finally found cover. He was shot in the leg. He looked over at the man who had saved him and saw him bleeding out. The young man was breathing heavily but was able to get out a few words.

"Please tell my wife, I loved her."

Suddenly, everything went black.

Jack Thornton suddenly awoke from his nightmare. His face was sweating. It took him a minute to realize where he was. He was on a train. He looked over at his Mother, Elizabeth who was intently reading a book. He looked to his side to see his daughter sleeping on his shoulder. He finally remembered that he was on a train heading to Hope Valley.

Jack took the pillow behind his head and placed it under his daughter's head. He got up to use the restroom. His Mother looked up from her book and smiled. He smiled back and walked down the aisle to the restroom. Once in the restroom, he turned the cold water on, leaned over the sink and splashed water on his face. He dried his face with one of the towels. It was just a nightmare he thought to himself. Another nightmare Jack thought as he wiped his neck with his towel. Jack stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a long sleeve dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was wearing a vest and a tie. He loosened the tie a little. As he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he felt like he was dressing the way his step father dressed. Jack took the tie off and threw it in the garbage. His step father would have never went out without a tie. Jack smirked.

Jack went back to his seat. His mother had fallen asleep. Jack smiled. He took the book out of her lap and put it back in her bag. He took the blanket and put it over her. His daughter was still asleep. Jack reached into his bag and brought out a small box and sat back down in his seat. He opened the box. He took a picture out of the box. It was a picture of his father, Jack Thornton Sr. He had passed away before he was born. Jack had heard many stories about him. He heard about how heroic he was and how he died a hero. Jack wanted to become a Mountie. He had join the Canadian Army and fought in the second Great War. He was going to join the Mountie's after the war. Those dreams were shattered when he was shot in his leg. He rehabilitated his leg as much as possible but had a slight limp that was barely noticeable, but he was disqualified from being a Mountie.

Jack took out the next picture. It was a picture of himself and his stepfather Lucas on the day Jack was deployed. Jack and Lucas had a complicated relationship. When his mother and Lucas married, Lucas adopted Jack. Jack went by Jack Bouchard-Thornton until he was about 10. When Jack was 5 years old, they moved out of Hope Valley and to Lucas's hometown when Lucas's mother fell ill. Lucas took over the publishing company that his mother ran. Lucas was a good provider and never hit Jack or Elizabeth. But he wasn't the kind of father that Jack had hoped he would be. Jack wanted to go fishing, play baseball and do all the things boys his age wanted him to do. But Lucas's idea of bonding is over a book or seeing a play. But their relationship got complicated after Jack was sent to boarding school. Jack did not fit in well with the other kids which led to fights. Jack was kicked out of three boarding schools before he was 12. Jack resented being sent to boarding school, thus resenting Lucas. When Jack was 10, he started going by Jack Thornton Jr. without the Bouchard. This caused friction between Jack's mother, Lucas and Jack. Jack's mother agreed to homeschool Jack. This lessened the friction between Lucas and Jack. As Jack was looking at the picture, he realized how unfair he was to Lucas when he was younger. He was raising another man's child. When Jack was about 10 years old, Lucas and Elizabeth had a baby of their own. Jack's little sister, Emily only lived for 10 days. After that, Lucas was emotionally closed off. Jack looked at the picture and remembered that day. As he was saying his goodbyes, Lucas put out his hand for a handshake. Knowing that he might not ever see Lucas again, he gave him a hug. The embrace only lasted a few seconds but Jack knew how much it meant to Lucas when he saw tears in Lucas's eyes. 6 months after his deployment, Jack received a letter from his mother informing him that Lucas had become ill and passed away. That night when everyone had gone to sleep, Jack cried. Even though he and Lucas never saw eye to eye on everything, he was still the only father he knew.

Jack flipped to the next photograph. It was a picture of Jack on his wedding day with Margaret or as he endeared, his Maggie. At 16, to drive Lucas crazy, Jack decided to hang out with kids who were considered "lower" class. They weren't lower class at all, but their parents worked gritty jobs. Lucas wouldn't be caught in this part of town. At first, the other kids were weary of Jack but soon warmed up to him. They even gave him a nickname, "Richie," because of the part of town Jack lived in. One day, while he was at a diner with some friends, he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was reading a book. She looked up from her book and saw Jack. She gave Jack a smile. Jack smiled back. She went back to her book but kept smiling. He didn't know what possessed him to go over there to talk to her. He wasn't smooth with girls and was shy around them. But with her, it felt different. He didn't feel shy. Jack sat down at her table and said hello. She said hello as she kept reading. Jack introduced himself to her. She introduced herself as Margaret. Jack smiled and asked her if he could call her Maggie. She looked up from her book surprised. She told Jack that the only person who ever called her Maggie was her Grandmother. Jack apologized for overstepping. She got up and closed her book and told Jack that he could call her Maggie. For the next year, Jack chased Maggie. They were from completely different worlds but Jack didn't care. His world was about Maggie. After a year, Maggie stop letting Jack chase her and told him that she loved him. A couple months later, they were married.

Jack had learned that the easiest way to become a Mountie was to join the Canadian Military. Jack was stationed at home until 1939, when Canada joined the Second Great War. Jack was deployed to Britain to help the British fight off the Nazi's. After a year of fighting, Jack was given a month's leave. He spent every minute he could with Maggie. They planned their life out together. They both wanted to raise a family on a farm. The month flew by and Jack was deployed, again. This time he was sent to France to help free France from Nazi occupancy. After three months, Jack received a letter from Maggie that she was expecting a child. Jack was beyond thrilled. Over the next 6 months, Jack and Maggie exchanged letters. They agreed that if the baby was a boy, they would name it Jackson and if it was a girl they would name her Sophie after Maggie's Grandmother. While on patrol, Jack's unit and another unit took on gunfire. Jack took a bullet to the leg. He was laying there and bleeding out. He couldn't move because bullets were coming from every direction. Finally, a soldier he had never seen before or met, dragged him to safety. While saving Jack, that soldier took bullets to the chest and died. Jack lost a lot of blood and blacked out. The next time Jack woke up, he was in a hospital. His body went into shock and he went into a coma for three months. His mother had come to visit him. She told him that Maggie had a healthy baby girl but had died during childbirth. Jack's world was shattered. He told his mother he did not want to see the child. He suggested to give her up for adoption because he couldn't love a child who took the love of his life away. His mother told him that she wouldn't do that and that his father would have never done that had she died during childbirth. After two months of rehabilitation for his knee and recovered from his injuries, he was honorably discharged from the military. He came home, but refused to hold the baby. One night, his mother went out to dinner and asked Jack to watch his daughter. Sophie started to cry. Jack reluctantly went to the crib and held her. As Jack looked at Sophie, he saw that she had his nose. But he also saw that she had Maggie's eyes. Jack started to cry. He had hated this child for taking away the love of his life but realized that Sophie had half of Maggie in her and that Maggie would want him to love this child. After his realization, Jack was a doting father to Sophie. He would hold her every chance he got. He spent every minute he could with her. He loved that little girl.

Jack looked away from the picture and looked at his daughter. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. The next item that Jack pulled of the box was a deed. It was a deed to his father's land in Hope Valley. His mother had transferred the deed from her name to Jack's name after he married Maggie. She had also given him the blue prints that his father had made for the home. After the war, Jack felt different. The nightmares had started. Every time he heard a loud bang, he thought he was back in the war. After the war had ended, fireworks went off and Jack went into a different place. He had flashbacks to the day he was shot in his leg. He remembered watching men die. He remembered how red the blood was and how the war smelled. It was almost as if he was back in the war but he knew he wasn't. His mother had noticed the nightmares and the flashback episodes. She suggested that they all move to Hope Valley and asked Jack to build his father's house. Jack had only been to Hope Valley in his life. He spent the summer there when he was 10. His mother and Lucas needed time to grieve the loss of his little sister. They decided that Hope Valley would be a good place for Jack for the summer. He had stayed with his mother's friends, the Coulter's. It was the best summer that Jack ever had. He learned a lot about his father. There were people who knew him and told Jack stories about him. How his father had saved his mother. How his father built a school/church for the town. It was after that summer that he went by Thornton only. The other time he visited Hope Valley was when he was 15. A friend of his father and mother's had died. His name was Bill Avery. Jack remembered how Bill had told him the most stories of his father. When his mother had suggested that they move to Hope Valley, it wasn't a difficult to say yes. Hope Valley was a small town but had his family history tied to it.

Finally, at the bottom of the box was an envelope with a letter inside. It had the word my love on it. Just before the soldier who had saved his life had died, he took out an envelope from his pocket. As he was struggling to breathe, he asked Jack to give this to his wife and tell her he loved her. Jack took the letter and put it in his pocket. The man had died and Jack went into shock. After the three month coma, Jack found the letter. He tried to find the name of the owner of the letter but it had been three months. The war had taken a shift and units were broken up or deployed elsewhere. Jack kept the letter to honor the man who had saved him. He never opened the letter because it was not his to open. One day, he would find that soldier's wife. Jack put away the contents of the box and put the box back into his bag. He looked out the train window and hoped that this fresh start would give him peace.