Author's Note: Hello, everyone! This is a fall-themed story that features Nathan and Elizabeth (as well as Jack and Allie)! I meant to publish it earlier than this point, but it took me longer than anticipated to edit it! Also, I initially intended this as a one-shot/one chapter story, but felt it was too long to post as one chapter, so it will be broken up into 6 pretty short chapters, which I will post gradually, thanks to a kind soul who recommended that method to me!
If you're not a fan of the Nathan and Elizabeth pairing, you'll probably want to refrain from reading this story. Also, if you still like the television series When Calls the Heart, you'll probably want to refrain from continuing to read my author's note, as in it, I share my honest, unfiltered thoughts about the direction the series took.
I have a lot of feelings about When Calls the Heart and what ended up happening on the actual show. I understand and respect that there are MANY different feelings and different perspectives on the series.
I just have to preface this story by saying this: I still CANNOT believe they did not put Nathan and Elizabeth together. They were something special, something innocent and true (which is missing in much entertainment these days), and their chemistry was captivating. Many have referred to their love story as the "greatest love story never told," and I have to agree 100%. That's the perfect way to describe it!
One-and-a-half years later, I still feel absolutely gobsmacked if I let myself think about how the Season 8 finale played out—not only because Nathan and Elizabeth's beautiful and meaningful love story that had been building up was completely thrown away, but also because in one fell swoop, the characters and principles of the show were destroyed and the rules of good storytelling were broken. (The network also produced the opposite of the peaceful, warm feelings one expects from one of its shows...for me, at least!)
Unfortunately, what was originally my favorite show became a show that makes me feel sick when I think about it. My days of watching the show ended on May 9, 2021.
On the bright side (sorry to be such a downer, I just have VERY STRONG FEELINGS about the show!), I've found peace in letting Elizabeth and Nathan live on in my mind and in writing about them as I envision them. I wrote this autumn-themed story in hopes of bringing their "magic" to life and hopefully bringing some joy to fellow Nathan and Elizabeth fans. It is one of my small attempts at trying to create an alternate reality to what's being shown on screen now. I've read a lot of Elizabeth and Nathan fan fiction, and I've really appreciated the beauty in the stories and how they helped me heal.
In a bit of a twist, I made Elizabeth the shyer one in this story—though both Nathan and Elizabeth are timid in the story, and though it can be argued that Elizabeth was pretty shy toward Nathan on the show as well (because, at least in my view, they were seemingly trying to show she had feelings for Nathan and were seemingly leading up to an N & E pairing...until they didn't).
In any case, my heart will always believe in the beauty and magic of Nathan and Elizabeth!
An Apple for a Teacher
Chapter 1: Unexpected Fellow Orchard Guests
"Jack's ready to pick apples. Time to go now."
Elizabeth looked down at her almost three-year-old son as he assertively made his declaration, his miniature chin lifted in determination, his blonde eyebrows—which looked like bent rays of sunshine—furrowed in resolve. Her eyes lit up with love as she smiled softly at him, and they burned bright and warm like a soothing, cozy fire on a crisp fall day, a day much like the one that the town of Hope Valley was currently experiencing.
"I'm ready to go apple picking too now, my sweet boy," Elizabeth responded, her words falling embers of maternal affection and care that travelled from her lips to her son's ears and into his heart. "Let me just grab our sandwiches for our picnic, and then we can leave." Her protective mama bear nature then emerged as she added, "Oh, and we need to make sure we put on your coat before we leave. I don't want you to get sick from the autumn chill."
The afternoon was a delightful one. Autumn had indeed struck, as there was a distinct briskness to the air that had not been there just a week before. At the same time, the sun's rays balanced out the chill with their benevolent warmth and graciously shone down on Elizabeth and Jack, keeping them at a comfortable temperature. The apple orchard to which they had ridden from on Sergeant, Elizabeth's late husband's horse, was comprised of two rows of apple trees that seemed to perpetually stretch into the distance like ocean waves, along with a clearing of prairie grass between the two rows that separated them from each other, not unlike how Moses parted The Red Sea. As autumn was in its early stages, the apple trees' leaves were still mostly a vibrant shade of green, but a handful of them had sporadically started to turn a sunny, daffodil-like shade of yellow. The crimson apples that hung copiously from the trees' branches, combined with the trees' lime green leaves that were bespattered with the occasional handful of yellow, created a pleasing visual contrast and paralleled an impressionist painting, with all of its small and compact, yet detailed brushstrokes.
Elizabeth sighed contentedly, taking in the beauty of her surroundings and drinking in the cool air. She savored the agreeable weather as she alternated between pulling apples from the trees' branches and gently placing them in her basket, which she shared with Jack, and hoisting Jack up onto her shoulders so he could pick some in turn. What a wonderful day God has given us, she thought to herself, taking a moment to thank God for the gift of the day and the gift of His creation.
Suddenly, the autumn wind carried voices over to Elizabeth's ears, much like how it blows fallen leaves from their original location to new destinations, propelling them forward to new pastures.
"That apple you picked right there is a real beauty," The first voice—which was gentle and kind, yet strong and masculine—remarked appreciatively. It sounded familiar to Elizabeth, and she had a hunch to whom it belonged, but it was still too far away for her to ascertain its owner with complete confidence. In an attempt to listen harder, Elizabeth squinted her eyes, hoping that would somehow miraculously help amplify her ears' ability to hear clearly. Meanwhile, momentarily oblivious to the nearby voices, Jack had discovered a ladybug in the soil that blanketed the ground beneath them, and he was intently observing it amble around.
"I just hope this apple tastes as good as it looks. Sometimes apples look good on the outside but are absolutely nasty inside. Sometimes people can be that way. They may appear to be beautiful, but their hearts need some adjustment on the inside," a young female voice responded, and the girl who answered sounded animated and wise beyond her years…much like….
"Allie, I see some other good potential candidates for our basket hanging on that tree over there," the male voice noted. Now that he had said his niece's name, Elizabeth knew her initial conjecture about the first voice's owner was correct. She froze in place, even though it wasn't quite the season for that yet. Snowmen and snowladies weren't going to be born until late fall started to give way to the beginnings of winter, and yet Elizabeth was looking oddly like a premature snowlady right now, minus the carrot nose. The weather wasn't cold enough yet to warrant her freezing, yet she found she could not move. Though she tried hard in her everyday life not to let challenges completely derail her, Elizabeth was the kind of person who, when faced with the decision to fight or flee a situation that tested her beyond her limits, found herself often opting for a third option not as commonly referenced: she swiftly turned into a statue and completely lost her ability to make decisions.
The truth was, the man to whom the voice belonged, Nathan Grant, seemed to always have that effect on Elizabeth, no matter what the season. He had the uncanny ability to make her freeze and lose her nerve, but paradoxically, that's because her heart was always warmed by him. Sensitive to her needs and the needs of others, both when fulfilling his role as a Mountie and when he traded his Mountie uniform for civilian clothing, Nathan had a very caring, considerate, and tender way about him that both beautifully complemented and stood in contrast to his great physical strength and agility. And even though Elizabeth found herself feeling timid and self-conscious in his presence, she also felt unequivocally at peace when talking to him—when she managed to get words out, after she got some momentum—and safe to be herself.
It was a strange irony of sorts that befuddled her. She couldn't quite understand it—how she felt simultaneously shy, yet remarkably at ease around Nathan, and how her brain and body tended to freeze when he was nearby, while her heart turned into an unrecognizable sort of slush.
As a teacher who prided herself on being well-prepared for the lessons she taught to the young and impressionable minds of Hope Valley, on knowing what to say to break up classroom fights and drama, and on understanding how to best help students with problems—whether those problems be school- or life-related—she was exasperated by her tendency to feel flustered and disoriented around Nathan Grant. In his presence, she felt as if she was eternally attempting to embark on a sea voyage with wayward waters and kept losing her footing while trying to board the ship. Yet, she found, Nathan was always there to steady her.
In the back of her mind, Elizabeth recognized she had felt similarly toward her late husband, Jack. Gone from earth at a premature hour, when he had still so much life yet to live, he had been the one other man in her life with the capacity to both disorient her and steady her. It terrified her that like Jack, Nathan just happened to be a Mountie, too. Elizabeth couldn't help but think of the possibility of getting close to Nathan, only for him to have his life also suddenly snatched from her grasp by the quicksands of death as Jack had. This possibility seemed to continually hover in the back of her mind, a haunting menace that unnerved her.
Still unable to move, Elizabeth stayed firmly planted in place behind the tree she had been gathering apples from. Her eyes looked like bright blue robin's eggs hiding amidst the crimson apples as they peeped between the branches of the tree. She spotted Nathan and Allie emerging from a canopy of apple trees on the lefthand side, about 20 feet away from her and Jack, who had been picking apples from the righthand row of trees. Seeing the father and daughter pair step out into the clearing between the two rows of trees, Elizabeth held her breath.