Friday was a nice day for the end of March. The sun shone brightly. The temperature was higher than it had been of late, though a heavy coat was still necessary. If one stood still and just listened, they could hear Mother Nature's symphony as the sun and temperature melted snow and ice, causing it to drip from trees, buildings, and other objects.
Gabriel and Lillian decided to walk into Hope Valley instead of taking the horses. The last couple of days had been a whirlwind of plans, and though there would be more planning taken place at the Queen of Hearts, Gabriel and Lillian wanted to take a few moments to enjoy each others company. The long walk from the Grants home to Hope Valley would allow for that, despite the wet ground. However, Lillian borrowed pair of rubber boots from Elizabeth and held her skirts up out of the melting snow, while Gabriel simply wore his high uniform boots. With the sun shining, and a few birds singing, the two set out.
For the first part of the trip, Gabriel and Lillian walked in silence, their hands clasped. They found serenity in simply being together. So much had happened in such a short time. The last week had been a flurry of activity. In this moment, they could simply be together.
The serenity was disturbed by a deer loping across the road several feet in front of them. The sudden movement caused, Lillian to jump and gasp. Gabriel instinctively reached out to steady her, even as Lillian started to giggle.
"You would have thought I saw a bear," Lillian joked, as the two continued their walk.
Gabriel chuckled. "That was a bit of a surprise," he admitted. "I would also much rather cross paths with a deer than a bear. Or a snake for that matter, though it is still too cold for them to be out and about."
"You really do not like snakes, do you."
Gabriel shook his head. "I really do not," he admitted. "Though I may not want to let Christian and Vincent know that. Who knows what those two might do if they find out Brookfield's Mountie does not like snakes."
Lillian laughed, even as she leaned her head against Gabriel's arm. "Your secret is safe with me," she told him. She gave a contented sigh. "I like just being able to be alone with you for a few moments," she said. "Though maybe we should have brought Billy with us," Lillian added. "Elizabeth looked tired. Maybe leaving her alone with three children, especially when Nathan doesn't know when he is getting home, is not the best idea."
Nathan had stopped by on his way out of town to Red River Falls to give them that news. An eight-year-old boy from the town had run off after an apparent argument with his stepfather. Though the local Constable had recruited volunteers to send out a search party, he had also requested help from Mounties of the surrounding towns. Both Constable Randall and Nathan had ridden out to help with the search.
Gabriel patted her hand. Though he had been willing to stay home, Elizabeth had insisted they go even though she had been tired this afternoon. "If we don't pass Rosemary or Lee on our way in, we'll find them in Hope Valley and ask them to check on Elizabeth. As for the children, Billy will be a big help with Little Jack and Ally is getting dinner for all of them. That god daughter of mine is a good cook. Probably a better cook than Nathan at this point, though do not tell him I said that."
Despite her worry, Lillian giggled. "I won't," she promised.
"I also told Ally to come get us or the Coulters if she feels uneasy about anything," Gabriel added.
Lillian nodded. She should have figured Gabriel would have made plans for multiple outcomes.
The talk turned to light conversation as they continued their walk. Though neither had put it into words, both wanted a break from the plans of the wedding, which would be the main topic this evening with Lucas and Fiona. They passed Rosemary, Bridget and Ivy just as the town came into view. Gabriel and Lillian passed along their concerns about Elizabeth though she had insisted they not cancel their plans along with the news that Nathan was out of town for an indefinite period of time. Rosemary assured them that she would check in on Elizabeth on her way home and that Lee and she would be home that evening and at the most, just a yard away.
Saying good-bye to Rosemary, Gabriel and Lillian continued to the Queen of Hearts. Despite it still being early, the saloon was already fairly crowded. However, they had barely stepped into the place when Fiona was at their side.
"Good afternoon," Fiona said, a bright smile on her face. "I staked out a table for us back there in the corner by the stairs," she told them, pointing to where the said table had chairs propped up on it along with a sign that said reserved. "Lucas and I want to treat you both to dinner and then we will discuss wedding plans, though if the dinner discussion ends up drifting to the wedding plans, that is fine too."
Lillian smiled. Fiona was clearly excited about being a part of the planning, despite not knowing either her or Gabriel that well.
"That sounds like a wonderful plan," Lillian replied with Gabriel echoing his agreement.
Fiona led them over to the reserved table, sending a silent message to Lucas who was behind the bar with Gary. Lucas gave her a little wave. When they reached the table, Fiona reached for the reserved sign to set it aside.
"I will get the chairs," Gabriel said. "Even you independent women need to let us men act like gentlemen from time to time," he joked, as he reached for the first chair.
Fiona laughed. "As long as you know that I am completely capable of getting those chairs myself." She placed the reserved sign against the wall.
"Oh, I have no doubt about that," Gabriel assured her, as he continued to put the chairs down.
"Your independence is one of the many reasons, I love you," Lucas told his wife, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"And I love that you are willing to simply walk beside me," Fiona told him, looking up at her husband briefly before looking in Gabriel's direction. "You will do well to remember to do that with Lillian as well," she told him.
Gabriel gave her a quick salute. "Yes ma'am," he told her lightly as he placed the last chair on the floor.
"He already does that," Lillian replied, smiling at Gabriel as she continued. "I never thought I would find a man willing to marry me while I run an orphanage. Gabriel not only loves me but he makes each of the children at the orphanage feel special whenever he is out there."
"I got to say, I admire the two of you for what you are about to do - get married and have the children to worry about as well as adjusting to living together," Lucas said. He looked down at Fiona. "As much as we love one another, we have had a few arguments trying to adjust living with one another."
Gabriel reached out for one of Lillian's hands. "We'll figure it out," he said, gently drawing her closer.
"I am sure you will," Lucas said. He motioned that they should take their seats as he continued speaking. "Nathan and Elizabeth sure made it look easy enough," he commented. "I see them with Jack and Allie and I cannot help but think that I could have messed that happiness up for the four of them," he commented as he seated Fiona.
Across the table, Gabriel seated Lillian and then he and Lucas sat across from him. "I also would have missed out on the happiness I found with Fiona," he admitted.
"Things always happen for a reason, even if we do not know why," Lillian commented. "As much as I wish Grace and I could have grown up together, if we had, we would have been different people than we were. I would not have experienced the things that I did during my search for her and she probably would not have been trying to look after hard to place children. As hard as it can be at times, I love what I do, and things had to happen like I did for it to come about."
Lucas looked from Lillian to Fiona.
"I did not exactly trust you when you came into town," Fiona told him. "If you had asked me to dinner then I probably would have told you no," she admitted.
Lucas chuckled. "A lot of people did not trust me back then," he admitted. "Perhaps Lillian has a point. Perhaps how things played out was exactly how they were suppose to work out."
"The wedding getting moved up is about the only good thing I can think of that came out of the ordeal I just went through," Gabriel admitted quietly, as Lillian reached for his hand.
A quiet descended on the table. As Nathan had left town to look for Gabriel, Lucas and Fiona knew the basic of what had transpired though not the details.
"How are you doing?" Lucas asked, the question conveying concern while allowing Gabriel the ability to give a brief answer or a more detailed one if he wanted.
"Physically, I am fine," Gabriel replied. "The emotional healing is taking a little longer," he admitted. "However, with Nathan and Lillian's help, I am getting there."
"Glad to hear it," Lucas replied as a waitress came to take their order.
The conversation shifted away from the more serious topics at that point. As plates were being placed in front of them, Lillian asked Fiona and Lucas to tell them about their wedding.
"We ended up going to San Francisco for the wedding," Fiona told her. "That is where I grew up and where my family still is. Every time I have pictured my wedding, it was always in the city and as much as I love Hope Valley, I couldn't imagine not having my wedding in San Francisco."
"I had been to the city before, and was more than happy to go there for a wedding. My parents met us there," Lucas added.
"We decided to get married on Christmas Day," Fiona said.
"Easy way for me to not forget my anniversary," Lucas quipped, earning a chuckled from Gabriel and a soft elbow in the side from Fiona.
"We decorated the church was decorated with holly and poinsettias. My bridesmaids wore dark green dresses."
"Grace is going to be in green," Lillian supplied. "It is Grace's favorite color and I thought we could get her a dress she would be able to wear again."
"A very good choice," Fiona agreed. "I simply did green because we went with Christmas colors. Green dresses and we all carried red roses."
"That sounds gorgeous," Lillian commented.
"Not as gorgeous as the bride," Lucas commented.
Gabriel glanced over at Lillian. "I have a feeling I might be saying the same thing," he commented, causing Lillian to blush.
"Men can be such flirts, can't they?" Fiona said conspiratorially to Lillian. She was trying to sound annoyed but the annoyance didn't quite reach her voice.
"You know you ladies would not have it any other way," Gabriel countered, a charming smile gracing his features.
"You make a good point," Fiona countered. "Anyway, we had the reception at my parents house. My mother was always a fan of Christmas and the decorations this past year were not lacking. I could have done without quite so much mistletoe."
"Oh, you know you enjoyed having a reason to kiss me every ten minutes," Lucas chimed in.
Fiona shrugged, though she shot her husband a smile. "We took our time coming home from San Francisco, stopping to see several places. That trip served as our honeymoon. When we got home to Hope Valley, our friends here held a dinner at the café to celebrate the wedding. It was such a sweet thing to come home too."
"We have already been told to expect a reception when we returned to Brookfield," Gabriel replied.
"There is something to be said about belonging to a community who is there when the chips are down and also happy to celebrate the good times with you," Lucas commented. "I was always happy to move from place to place, looking for the next challenge. Now, everything I need is right here in this little town."
The two couples continued to talk about things as they finished their meals. Around them, more people had shown up. A poker game had started at a table across the room. Dr. Shaw, who had come to fill in for Carson and Faith, had joined them.
Seeing that his waitresses were busy, Lucas cleared the table, telling the other three to start making their plans. He knew that Fiona could fill him in on anything he needed to know and as decorating was not his forte, his input would not be missed. Instead, Lucas got them refills on their drinks, all three of them drinking ice tea, and then circled while Fiona started making plans with the happy couple.
"Rosemary thought that peach would be a nice color to go with the dark green of Grace's dress. So the color scheme will be white, silver, green, and peach," Lillian informed Fiona.
Fiona nodded as she made notes on the writing tablet she had.
"We are doing both the ceremony and the reception here, right?" Fiona asked.
Lillian nodded.
"So, where do you want to come in from? It might be a bit cold coming in from outside. If you wanted to come in from the back rooms, you and Grace could get ready in Lucas' office."
Lillian glanced at the staircase behind her. "What about coming down the staircase?" she said tentatively.
Fiona followed Lillian's gaze, her mind picturing the scene. She then glanced at the newly painted silver arch that sat along the wall. "I like it," Fiona said. "We can decorate the banister with greenery and white bows. The arch is now silver and I am sure the fellows could figure out how to set it up at the foot of the stairs. You could do the ceremony right there at the foot of the stairs."
Lillian nodded excitedly. "I like it. Then the rest of the room could be set up fro the reception without the need to move things around before the reception. Where would I get ready?"
"I already booked four rooms for my family," Gabriel told her. "I am sure someone among them would be willing to let you use their rooms."
"Which of your family members are coming, again?" Lillian asked.
"My parents and Matthew are coming. Matthew is old enough to be in his own room. Angela and her husband are coming with their children, which are going to use cots in the room. Then Victoria and Evelyn are both coming though their husbands are staying home with the children. They said they would share a room. Victoria's husband is a teacher and couldn't find a substitute. He is also going to keep tabs on things at the ranch for my father, so Evelyn's husband can concentrate on his own ranch."
"So it is just your sister Lisa that I won't meet of your siblings?"
Gabriel nodded. "I am not surprised. They live in Ottawa. It is a bit of a distance to travel with such short notice. They are thinking about coming for a visit this summer though, because Lisa does want to meet you."
"That will be nice," Lillian replied before turning her attention back to Fiona as the discussion returned to wedding plans.
They had been planning for about an hour when the door of the Queen of Hearts burst open. Many people turned their attention to the door, Gabriel among them. Spotting Ally, Gabriel was on his feet. Spotting him, Ally rushed toward him.
"What is it, Ally?" Gabriel asked.
The young girl took a couple of deep breaths before she replied. "Mama says she is in labor. Mrs. Coulter was going to our house and I was supposed to come into town for the doctor. As he was not at the infirmary, I came here."
Gabriel looked toward the poker game, where Dr. Shaw was taking a drink from his mug of beer. All participants of the game had returned their attention to the game.
"How many beers has the doctor had?" Gabriel asked Lucas who had come back over to them.
"I believe he is working on his third."
"Well, he is not going anywhere near Elizabeth," Gabriel said determinedly, keeping his opinion of the doctor to himself. Carson had asked the doctor to be in Hope Valley for just this eventuality. The fact that the doctor had chosen to drink alcohol did not sit well with him.
"Someone, needs to help Mama," Ally chimed in.
Gabriel reached out to place a hand on his god daughter's shoulder. "I can deliver the baby," he assured Ally. "How did you come into town?"
"I rode Holly. She's tied in front of the infirmary," Allie replied.
"All right. I am going to ride Holly back," Gabriel said, reaching for his coat which was on the back of his chair.
"I will bring Lillian and Allie out in my car," Lucas volunteered.
"Thank you," Gabriel said.
"Be careful," Lillian told him, as he leaned in to give her a kiss.
"I will," Gabriel promised, before kissing her.
Gabriel looked at his god daughter. "Do not worry," he told her. "Your Mama is going to be fine," he assured Ally, placing a kiss on the top of her head before hurrying for the door.
Lillian reached out for Ally and pulled the girl close.
"Mama was so pale and in pain," Ally murmured, as she held onto Lillian.
"That is perfectly normal for someone about to give birth," Lillian said, smoothing Ally's hair with one hand as she held her close. "Try not to worry," she told the girl. "Soon, you will be able to hold your new baby brother or sister."
"I still want the baby to be a girl," Ally said. "But if it is a baby brother I will love him just the same."
Lillian smiled, knowing the truth in the girl's words.
"I am ready whenever you are," Lucas said softly, now standing by Lillian's side, a coat already on.
Lillian nodded. "Ally, I need to get my coat on so we can go," she told the girl, releasing the girl.
Ally took a step back, quietly. When Lucas put an arm around her shoulders, the girl did not protest.
Lillian went for her coat to find that Fiona was already holding it up for her. "Thank you," Lillian said as she slipped her arms through it.
"I'll be praying for everyone," Fiona told her.
"Thank you," Lillian said as she buttoned up her coat. She looked toward Lucas. "We're ready."
Lucas nodded. Keeping one arm around Ally's shoulders, he offered his other arm to Lillian. Slipping her arm through the offered arm, Lillian let Lucas guide both her and Ally from the Queen of Hearts.