CHAPTER 11 June 1919

Bea had been in Hope Valley 2 days now and already spoken to, even made friends with a couple of the town's folk, Clara, who ran the saloon, had been so welcoming and friendly.

That first night when she sat in the corner of the saloon itself eating dinner Clara had introduced her to Faith, the town's doctor. She had joined Bea for dinner and by the time she left they were like kindred spirits. Both women making their way in what had always been male professions. Faith had invited her to call in at the Infirmary which Bea was looking forward to.

On her first full day, she met Mr. and Mrs. Yost who ran the mercantile, Ned and Florence they now insisted on being called. Bea had explained that she would be sending regular telegrams to England, and would that be a problem, which of course it wasn't. She had also enquired about the possibility of having any mail sent C/O the post office if she decided to stay longer. Ned assured her again this wouldn't be an issue, he would gladly do that, but could he be cheeky and add a condition to that. Bea had of course said yes, I like cheeky.

"Could we keep any stamps that UK mail may have?" he laughed, "after you have opened your letter of course. I am a bit of a collector you know."

"You are more than welcome to them Ned I will ask those I write to if they can try to use different stamps every time" she giggled back.

The next morning Bea had woken early, she was always an early riser and had washed and dressed. It looked as if it was going to be a glorious summer day, today I will have a walk over past the schoolhouse and around the meadow she thought, time to start exploring a bit. Her plan for the morning was to head over to Abigail's and have some breakfast. She had taken a liking to the pancakes everyone seemed to eat here. Porridge was her normal breakfast, it kept you going all day. Some days when she was working, she could go from morning to night without anything except her breakfast, so she made a point of never skipping that one meal. After that, she intended to drop in at the Infirmary if Faith wasn't busy. She was interested in the way things worked here, were they that different from home?

Looking out the window the little town was starting to wake up. As she turned to head out a flash of red caught her eye. She turned back just in time to see that the red was actually the jacket of a Mountie, how magnificent these men looked. During her journey, she had noticed a few, all very resplendent in their cardinal red, jodhpurs, and boots. She imagined PC Evans, the local policeman back home dressed that way and laughed to herself.

Checking herself in the mirror then picking up her little shoulder purse she headed out.

Jesse, who she now knew was Carla's husband, was busy bringing a delivery in.

"Morning Bea looks like we are going to have a beautiful day."

"It does indeed Jesse, I think I might explore a bit today, just around the town. I would like to venture a bit further afield but will get my bearings first. Oh, Jesse would you know if it is possible to hire or even loan a horse from someone, well I would need a saddle and tack as well, I would pay of course?"

"I am sure someone would lend you one Bea, let me ask about it for you?"

"That is wonderful, thank you?"

"Mind Bea if you do start heading off out be careful, don't stray too far off the main tracks it is so easy for even us locals to lose our bearings. I should know," he laughed, "I have done it a couple of times much to Carla's disapproval."

"Oh dear, well if you can get lost then I will be extra careful, that tends to be the sort of thing that happens to me."

They both laughed.

"Well leave that with me and I will see if I can sort something for you."

She wished him a good day, that seemed to be the thing here, back home everyone just tended to wish each other "Good Morning." Bea was finding these little differences intriguing.

Abigail's was quite busy; she couldn't see an empty table. She was about to turn and leave, maybe come back in 15 minutes when a gentleman spoke,

"You are more than welcome to join me, Miss Gregory I believe, let me introduce myself, Henry Gowan.

"Thank you, Mr.Gowan I will, and please just call me Bea everyone does."

He pulled the chair out for her "Then I am just plain Henry."

What a wonderful smile this gentleman has, it hid many sorrows, Bea could sense it. That sixth sense of hers didn't miss much. When she was younger it had taken her quite a while to grasp that not everyone, in fact very few, saw, heard, felt things as she did. Now she just accepted it, embraced it. Dad had always said it was a gift, a special gift to be used wisely, and she did. It was part of who she was, part of what made her "special" as those who knew her always said.

Clara had taken her order for blueberry pancakes and brought her coffee. Henry wanted to ask all about the journey she had taken to get to Hope Valley. Bea had happily relived the journey.

"What a brave young woman you are Bea, to undertake that on your own."

"I never felt alone Henry, my Uncle Charles had organised it so well, he had his spies out."

"I would do the same thing," Henry laughed.

"Your uncles worked in shipbuilding you said."

"Yes, they did, between them, they built up a run-down shipyard on the River Tyne in Newcastle, that is in north-east England. They had a fine reputation and business was booming. One of the bigger shipyards based up in Glasgow offered to buy them out, they wanted to branch out, they had big shipping contracts for coal. The north-east is one of the big mining areas in England, with the River Tyne, then we have the Tees and Wear too, it made sense for them to try to get a foothold in the area. It is ideal for shipping coal off all over the world. I know much discussion went on and, in the end, the yard was sold."

Uncle Harry retired, and Uncle Charles became a consultant, he didn't intend to do that, but his experience was much sought after. He has travelled all over the world, hence his network of spies." She laughed again.

Henry sat absorbed in every word she spoke. He could listen to her all day, but he had a meeting to get to. Maybe today he could get to the bottom of what was going on with Lucas.

"It has been lovely talking to you Bea, I would love to hear more, but I must get on. Maybe another time?"

"Oh, sorry Henry was I rambling, I am sorry"

"Far from it, and I will willingly listen to you if you do," he smiled that lovely smile at her.

"Enjoy your breakfast and the rest of your day Bea."

"You to Henry, hope your meeting goes well."

Henry had walked into the café that morning feeling very apprehensive about the meeting he was due to have later that day, he had a feeling it wouldn't end well. He was worried. Now as he left, he somehow felt lighter, brighter, what an amazing young woman that is he thought. He looked forward to hearing more stories about her life, yes, he would look forward to that.

Having finished her breakfast and another cup of coffee Bea paid her bill, she couldn't get used to this Canadian money, she spoke briefly to Clara and then headed off to pop in on Faith.