Jack lit the last candle and sat down on the blanket next to Grace. He pulled her in closer and they looked up at the stars.
"Please come back safe" Grace said.
"It's only Mountie training. I will be just fine" Jack said.
"I know. Just be careful" Grace said.
Jack kissed her cheek.
"I will" Jack promised.
"And promise you'll write every day and come home when you can?" Grace asked.
"I promise. Mountie training is only 6 months and then we can start our life together. Jack said.
Grace smiled "I can't wait"
Grace and Jack kissed. After they kissed, they looked at the stars together
The train nudged Jack Thornton Jr. awake. Jack opened his eyes and looked out the window. It was morning. Jack yawned and stretched his arms. He got up from his seat and went out into the train. He saw the breakfast cart. He paid for his meal. He went back to his seat and put the small table down. Jack started to eat his breakfast and looked out the window. It has been four years since he had been in Hope Valley. He had been assigned to Forts far away from Hope Valley. For the last two years, he had been fighting to take back the Northern Territory. He was fighting the same fight that he had fought long before he was born. Jack led his own units. Some of his men came home and some did not. This weighed heavily on Jack. This weighed heavily on Jack that he started having nightmares. Those nightmares rolled over into his daily life and if a car backfired, he would get anxious and think he would be under enemy fire.
The doctor's called it shell shock. The men who came back from the Great War were experiencing the same thing. The Mountie's decided to give Jack extended leave to figure out his shell shock. When he was ready to come back, he would be assigned to Hope Valley. Jack had to admit that it would be nice to be in Hope Valley. He would be back with his family. His mother, his stepfather Nathan and his little brother sister. He had another younger brother but he was away at college.
And then there was Grace Myers. He remembered the first time he saw Grace. They were both five years old. Her family owned the rail company and moved there to see the construction of the railroad. Jack always joked that they were from different sides of the track. Grace's parents were a lot like his mother's parents. Rich. Uppity. Grace's parents did not want her to hang out with the son and stepson of a Mountie. It was below them. But Grace wasn't like her parents. She did not care who his father was. When she walked into his classroom one day and sat next to him, he got butterflies. When they were 16, they shared their first kiss. They fell in love. When they had finished school, Jack signed up for the Mountie's. His whole heart wasn't into being a Mountie but he wanted to honor his father and make his stepfather proud.
He promised Grace that he would come back to Hope Valley. They wrote each other every day. His first assignment was over 200 miles away from Hope Valley. They still wrote each other. After two years, he was assigned to fight in the Northern Territories. They still wrote each other, but the letters were sporadic. After leading a Unit and being the only survivor, he only wrote Grace once in a while. After watching more of his men and friends die, Jack didn't write for some time. Grace kept sending letters, but those letters would go unanswered. Finally, Jack wrote Grace telling her to move on. He was still in love with her but decided that he didn't want to bring his darkness into her life. He didn't want her to carry any of the darkness. She was the light of his world. He had not seen Grace in four years. Promises were broken. He would atone for that. Jack heard the conductor announce that Hope Valley would be their next stop. Jack stood up and grabbed his items from the overhead compartment. As the train started to slow down, he saw that church his father had built for his mother, he smiled. He was finally home.
