I always wondered why Elizabeth wore a ring on her right hand since season 1. Did it hold some significance from her past in Hamilton or was it just something she wore? Well it bothered me so I wrote a one-shot about it including Nathan! This specific story is set sometime in season 7.

disclaimer: I do not own the characters from When Calls the Heart. They belong to Janette Oke & Hallmark Channel.

Enjoy the story :)

Elizabeth couldn't believe it. How could she be so careless? She purposely put it in her pocket so she wouldn't lose it but that's exactly what she did. It's too precious to her to be lost. This couldn't be happening.

"What are you doing?" a deep voice coming from above her broke through her thoughts.

"Nathan" Elizabeth says startled as she falls back. Putting a hand to her chest she takes a deep breath out to calm her racing heart.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Allie forgot her lunch pal. I came back to retrieve it for her" Nathan holds up his hands as a sign of surrender while Allie's lunch pal hangs from one of them.

Elizabeth takes a deep breath out and pushes a hair out of her face with the back of one of her hands. Without another look at him, she turns back around continuing to search on her hands and knees for what she lost.

"You didn't answer my question you know" Nathan stated with a puzzled expression on his face and a tilt of his head to the side. He thought it strange how she was on the floor of the church building.

Without looking at him, she answers him in a small voice. "Sorry. I lost something very dear to me and I'm trying to find it" with her eyes filling with tears, she keeps looking around the floor behind the back benches.

Nathan immediately notices the slight break of her voice and assumes that it must be something truly irreplaceable for her to get this worked up about. Kneeling down on one knee, he reaches over placing his hand on top of one of hers to stop it from moving. Giving her hand a squeeze, he asks, "What are we looking for?"

It's at that moment she looks over at him with watery filled eyes and a small smile slowly forming. She takes a deep breath out before answering his question.

"A ring"

With a unspoken question in his eyes, Nathan sets the lunch pal down on the bench and starts searching around for the item.

Elizabeth watches him for a moment before answering his unspoken question.

"It was a ring that my Aunt gave to me when I was a young girl. She figured I needed something to hold on to while she was gone"

Nathan stops his search and looks back over in her direction. Searching her eyes he catches the different emotions floating in them and senses she needs time to think. Not wanting to press her more on the matter, he makes his way across the aisle to the other benches giving her the time she needs.

After gaining some composure and coming back to reality, Elizabeth speaks up with a smile on her face as she watches him search for the missing item.

"Always patient"

Nathan pauses in his search a second time, keeping his back towards her, as a small smile forms on his face. Not addressing the compliment, he continues searching.

"You know my Aunt was the one who inspired me to become a teacher"

Nathan quickly reacts to the given information and swiftly turns around at her comment with pure curiosity showing over his face. "I didn't know that."

"Not many people do. I don't talk about her much" Elizabeth says with a sad smile as she looks down at her hands in her lap. She slowly fidgets with a piece of her dress in between her fingers as she takes a slow breath out. Normally she wouldn't be comfortable talking about her past with just anyone but this wasn't just anyone. This was Nathan. She could tell him anything.

"She must have been a very special Aunt" Nathan softly replies looking over at her with a small smile trying to gauge her reaction. He notices her fidgeting with her dress and wants to cover his hand over hers to calm her down. Instead he leans back on his heels and waits patiently for her next words to be spoken.

"She was" Elizabeth agreed as a tear slowly falls down the side of her cheek, "Taught me how to skip etiquette class." Wiping away the tear quickly, Elizabeth let out a small laugh.

Nathan responses with a laugh of his own towards her comment and carefully observes her across the aisle. He straight away perceives how much she is trying to control her composure. The protector side of him can't help but want to take the pain she is feeling away. He clutches his fists by his sides to keep him from doing something foolish like reaching out to her and focuses his attention back to the conversation.

"I remember the moment I knew I wanted to be a teacher just like her. I was eleven years old and my Aunt Elizabeth came back from out west to attend my grandmother's funeral. " Elizabeth says as she starts to remember back to a time where everything was different and foreign to her. A time where her Aunt was a role model to a younger version of herself.

"It was after the funeral that Auntie Elizabeth wanted to speak with me"

Aunt Elizabeth motioned with a tilt of her head for eleven year old Elizabeth to follow her outside as she walked out. "Are you alright sweetheart?" she asked as her arm wrapped around her niece.

"Yeah. I'm sad for Viola and mother. They were both so close to grandmother" young Elizabeth replied as she lowered her head and wiped a tear away from her wet cheeks.

"You have a caring heart Elizabeth. Never forget to always use it for others" her Aunt spoke with gentleness as they made their way to the garden of flowers behind the house. She gave her niece one more squeeze around her shoulders before releasing her grip and continuing to walk in the beautiful garden.

"I want to care for others with you out west. Can I come with you please Auntie Elizabeth?" eleven year old Elizabeth looked up with pleading eyes and her hands crossed together.

"You must follow your own path that God has paved for you, Elizabeth" her Aunt immediately replied as she kneeled down to look at the flowers. This currently was not the first time her young niece has asked this specific question and she expected it not to be the last either.

Eleven year old Elizabeth looked down with gloomy downcast eyes once more before switching gears and asking another question. "Can you please tell me two more things about the people there?"

Her Aunt Elizabeth looked up at the blue sky with a smile as she answered her niece's question.

"Number one: they always want to learn. Whether it be about a smelly bug on the ground" her Aunt wiggles her fingers in the air before tickling younger Elizabeth. Her Aunt continued with a smile on her face and her niece's laughter filling the air "or how a house is built, they always are eager and willing to learn new things"

Kneeling down to grab a daisy, her Aunt continues to smile as she holds the flower in between her fingers.

Young Elizabeth catches her breath from laughing before speaking once again. "Number two?" Eleven year old Elizabeth eagerly asks waiting to hear more about the people who has captured her Aunt's heart.

"Number two: They always cherish the moments they have with each other"

Turning towards her niece she gently takes Elizabeth's small hand and opens it up. Setting the Daisy in her hand, she says, "Don't ever forget to cherish the people in your life, Elizabeth. Life is precious and each moment with someone you love is a gift"

Looking out at the rest of the daisies in the garden, her Aunt closes her eyes and breathes the fresh air into her lungs. The wind washes through her curly brown hair as it sprinkles its way across her freckled face.

Watching her Aunt closely, eleven year old Elizabeth mimics her Aunt's movements as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in.

"Remember what I told you about daisies?" Her Aunt abruptly asks picking up another Daisy in her hand and looking over at young Elizabeth.

"Every time you pick a daisy remember to thank God for His blessings. No matter how small" Eleven year old Elizabeth proudly quotes from memory as she fingered the Daisy in her own hand.

"That's right" Her Aunt smiled lifting a hand to brush a hair out of her niece's face and places a soft kiss on her niece's cheek.

"I wish you didn't have to leave so soon Auntie Elizabeth" young Elizabeth commented with tears filling up her bright green eyes.

"I will always be with you, Elizabeth. And to remind you of that…." slowly slipping off a ring, her Aunt places it down into eleven year old Elizabeth's hand, "here" she gently closes the palm of Elizabeth's hand into a fist. "To remind you that I will always be with you"

With that, her Aunt Elizabeth stood up tall and continued on walking throughout the beautiful garden humming a hymn as she went.

|1917|

"It was that day I knew I wanted to follow my aunt's footsteps and be a teacher" Elizabeth smiled as she looked down at her lap wiping away a tear from her cheek.

Nathan stood up from his position across the aisle and silently made his way to Elizabeth's side. Kneeling down, Nathan gently spoke, "I know she would be so proud of the person you have become."

Elizabeth slowly glanced into his eyes with a small smile and watery filled eyes.

"And the teacher that you are" he finished as he wiped a tear falling down her cheek away with his thumb.

"Thank you, Nathan" Elizabeth took a deep shaky breath out and continued on "You know I never truly took what my Aunt said about cherishing each moment you have with someone you love to heart until Jack died. Opened my eyes to how much I took for granted and how much I forgot to cherish the people that I love"

"Never too late to start" Nathan uttered quietly with a smile as he held out the missing ring in the palm of his hand and watched for her reaction. His smile widen as he watched the recognition cross over her face.

Elizabeth's eyes widened with surprise and grabbed the ring out of his hand, "Nathan! Where did you find it?"

"By the front…" before he could finish his statement Elizabeth happily lunged herself forward into his arms. He gave out a laugh as he wrapped his arms around her and tried to steady himself on his heels so they wouldn't fall.

"Thank you, Nathan" Elizabeth softly breathed before leaning back out of his embrace to look at him with a blush covering her cheeks. She quickly wiped at her wet cheeks with a smile.

"You're welcome" he replied as they continued to look into each other's eyes. They both were communicating with one another without a word being spoken. Satisfied with what he found in her eyes, Nathan gave her a wink as the corners of his mouth formed into a smile on his face once again. He jumped up from his place on the ground and offered a hand down to Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked at his hand with a smile before redirecting it to look into his eyes. Taking his offered hand, she quickly get lifted up back onto her feet.

"I better get home with Allie's lunch pal before she gets worried. Will you be alright?" Nathan asks her to ease his mind as as he grabs the lunch pal from where he set it down.

Elizabeth replies with a silent nod of her head as she continues to watch him with a smile.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow" Elizabeth confirmed with a smile still plastered on her face as she watched him leave through the schoolhouse doors. "Tomorrow" she murmurs quietly to herself as she watches his red serge leave the school yard and fade from view.

The next morning Elizabeth found herself running late to school. Normally she would have plenty of time to get things settled before the children piled in for the day but today was not one of those days. Quickly making her way to the schoolhouse, Elizabeth spotted some children already playing outside in the schoolyard.

"Good morning children" Elizabeth quickly announces with a wave as she makes her way towards the schoolhouse stairs.

"Good morning Mrs. Thornton" the children reply over their shoulders as they continue with their outdoor activities consisting of baseball and jump rope.

Making her way inside the building and towards her desk, she stops dead in her tracks as she catches sight of something that wasn't there yesterday. The new items that laid on her desk were a note and a single daisy. Walking slowly towards the desk, she reaches out and picks them both up.

A daisy to remind you of God's blessings. I know I thank Him everyday for the blessing of our friendship. - N

Smiling down at the note and the Daisy in her hand, she looks up catching the one person she didn't expect to be standing at the entrance.

Nathan