Thanks for reading and reviewing. Decided to add something.
Dolores 'Dee' Channing was tired.
She still didn't know why Edmund couldn't have been the one to drive down to Hope Valley to meet with Mr. Yost at the mercantile and deliver the toys. Her specialty was designing and actually making the toys. A thing she did with her parents, both of them were artists and her father made the wooden toys. Edmund was the salesman, the charmer and more importantly the one who liked to travel.
Union City was home, had always been and would always be. Not that going to Hope Valley for a few hours changed that. She knew that it didn't and it wasn't like it was her first time going out to deliver toys but she didn't want to do it.
Not today.
She knew why her family were insistent that she be the one to go and she appreciated their concern but she was fine. She really was.
It wasn't her fault that Steve had changed his mind about marrying her seemingly at the last minute, i.e. one month before the wedding. Like she'd told whoever was listening, at least he'd had the good sense to break it off before the actual day. Except that today was the day that she had been supposed to have gotten married. The day she was supposed to become Mrs. Steve Dingwall and move to Washington. She had never been enthusiastic about the idea of moving to a bigger city and leaving everything she knew and loved behind but marrying a politician's aide who wanted to get into politics himself meant moving there and she had been ready to do it for Steve. What she hadn't wanted was to become a housewife but making toys was about the only thing she really knew how to do and Steve didn't think it was a good enough occupation for a politician's wife.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Edmund asked after they had put the last of the boxes into the boot of the car.
"If I say I'm not will you go instead?" she quipped.
"I'm going to Hamilton," Edmund reminded her, "you know we have to make both those deliveries but you can still ask Sally to go with you." Sally was Dee's best friend, but she was also engaged to Edmund and they going to Hamilton where Sally was from originally in order for Edmund to meet her parents.
"You can't meet her parents with her," Dee told him, "And besides I think this trip will be more meaningful if I do it by myself."
"Honey, you're going to be fine," Mary, their mother hugged her, "if you weren't going to be fine, you'd have shown signs already, and a trip to Hope Valley is just what you need. It's a beautiful place with good people."
"But it's not too late to take the train," Bo, their father told her, "it will take you longer to return but at least you won't be alone."
"I'm a grown woman," Dee reminded them, "Last time I checked I was over thirty years old."
"Age has nothing to do with it," Bo told her, "just say the word and your mother and I will make the trip."
"I can't do that," Dee reminded them. "You have a meeting this afternoon and I'm the one who decided that I didn't want to be in town on the day that I was supposed to get married."
"That Steve Dingwall is a fool," Mary said, "but I guess that's what will help him in his career."
"That he is."
Dee hugged her parents and Edmund and set off for Hope Valley.
''
Dee stood outside the mercantile and looked around the town; it was much smaller than Union City but it was greener and more breathtaking, she could see mountains and forests and she could bet that there was probably a river or a lake not far from the town center.
"You must be Dee," Mr. Yost called to her.
She had been in the mercantile a few minutes earlier and had been informed that Mr. Yost had stepped out for a brief meeting but would be back soon.
"Yes," she smiled and held out her hand. "Dee Channing."
"I would know you anywhere," Mr. Yost told her, "you're the very picture of your mother. How are your parents?"
"They're fine," Dee told him.
"Come in and meet Florence," Mr. Yost told her, "and then we'll unload your car and look at the toys.
"These are exquisite," Florence was looking at the dolls, "and the children here just love them. I'm told you're part of the designers and makers of these."
"Yes," Dee agreed. "I love working with wood, although we are now looking into making toys from other materials as well."
"The wood carving are so intricate," Mr. Yost said, "it must be quite the work."
"I honestly don't think of it as work," Dee told them, "I love making them."
The Yosts went through all the boxes and after counting everything they made out a payment form. Mr. Yost was going to pay the money into the Channings' account so that Dee wouldn't have to carry it around to ensure that it didn't fall into the wrong hands.
"That's a beautiful doll."
Dee looked at the three newcomers into the shop. She could tell that they were teenagers who were probably past the age of playing with dolls. Florence had left one of the dolls, as well as a truck and some balls, out on the counter for display.
"Yes it is," Dee replied.
"Have these just come in?" Anna asked picking up the doll.
"Yes," Florence replied, "this young lady makes them and she brought us a few."
"Really?" Allie asked, "you make these?"
"I sure do."
"How much are they?" Emily asked Florence. "I don't play with dolls anymore but I'm sure I could find a place for this doll."
Allie and Anna nodded.
Florence told them the price and brought out a few more dolls for them to choose from. They made their choices and got some ices as well and went outside.
"See," Florence put away the money and added two more toys to the display. "Your toys are very popular."
Ned came back from the bank and Dee prepared to leave. She had promised her mother that she'd take back an apple pie from Abigail's café, so she went by to get it.
Twenty later after she'd gotten her mother's pie and eaten a slice herself, and had some coffee as well, Dee went back to her car to start her journey back home.
"Is there a mechanic in town?" Dee asked Ned. She'd tried starting the car three times but she'd failed to get it started.
"I'll get Thomas," Mr. Yost told her. Thomas Matthews was the mechanic and his shop was two shops away from the mercantile.
"I'm sorry," Thomas told her after he'd taken a look at her engine, "you seem to be have some trouble with the fuel filter."
"What?" Dee was dismayed. "But the car was serviced barely two weeks ago."
"Your mechanic probably forgot to change it so now it's clogged and the car cannot move," Thomas said.
"So what do I do now?"
'Personally I would recommend get a new one and replacing it," Thomas told her. "Unfortunately I don't have any new filters in my shop at present."
"Can't you just clean it or something?"
"I could," he told her, "but I'm guessing you had trouble starting the car today."
"I did," she agreed, she had chalked it up to nerves because of the non-wedding but now she could see that she'd had also had trouble increasing the speed inspite of the fact that she'd filled up the tank.
"I know it's not ideal," Thomas told her, "but I can't just let you go onto the road with a car that will cause you some trouble."
"How long will it take to get the filters?"
"I reckon I'll have some in two days."
"Two days?" Dee couldn't see herself staying in Hope Valley for two more days. She would take the train and return when the car was fixed. At least they had a telephone and Thomas would tell her when it was ready.
"You may not have to stay in Hope Valley longer than you'd hoped," Florence told her when she told them what Thomas had said.
"Ah yes," Ned agreed. "Let me call Bill and see if Nathan is still here."
Bill explained the situation to Nathan and he and Allie were more than willing to drive Dee back to Union City. They would pick her up at the mercantile and then head out of town.
Nathan watched the woman getting out of the mercantile in shock. It couldn't be her, could it?
Nathan was out walking at night, like he sometimes did. He'd finished work hours ago and even had supper with Allie and after she'd gone to her room he'd told her to lock up, as he going for a walk.
He'd found the young woman crying behind the theatre, he didn't even know how or why he'd ended up there he usually walked to the town gardens. She was obviously distraught and after telling him that she didn't want to talk it about she'd gone on to tell him how her fiancée had ended their engagement, how he didn't think that she was suited to be a politician's wife, how he had started seeing the daughter of the man for whom he worked and he'd fallen in love with her and that it was probably for the best as they'd never really been suited for each other.
Nathan had never found out her name but he'd sat with her and listened to her and held her when she wanted to cry some more; after that he'd walked her to a hotel where they'd found some worried people who had been looking for her and he'd left.
He had thought of her once or twice and prayed that she was fine but he'd never imagined that he would see her again and in Hope Valley of all places.
"Dee," Ned introduced them, "this is Nathan Grant. Nathan, this is Dee Channing. Dee, Nathan is a good friend of ours. He'll see you home safe."