Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights go to the actors, writers and creators of the show "When Calls The Heart".

(3/9/2018)

CHAPTER 35

Elizabeth met up with her new teaching partner, Cassie, on Wednesday. They sat down in the classroom and organised their class plan and quickly moved about, setting up things ready for the following week.

Elizabeth had already gone to the art supply shop on her way to work and bought a bunch of coloured paper and some different wall motives that she thought they might be able to use. The store had some graphite pencils on sale so she had bought some for Jack while she was there.

The plan was that Cassie would be working every Monday and Tuesday while Elizabeth would teach on the other days. Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised by Cassie. They were similar in many ways and seemed to instantly agree on a lot of suggestions and decisions.

"How many children do you have Elizabeth?"

"Three girls. 8, 6 and almost 4."

"I have a boy and he's 3."

"You've just moved to the neighbourhood?" Elizabeth asked as she stuck a picture of a parrot to the wall in their reading corner.

Cassie was standing on a chair hanging green crepe paper vines from the ceiling.

"Yes, I came from interstate. My ex-husband is a bit of trouble so I moved here to get away from him. I saw the teaching position come up and thought it was perfect. I got Bailey into childcare straight away so everything just fell into place."

"You're very brave moving interstate with your son. Do you know anyone else in town?"

"Not really. I found a babysitter to look after Bailey today but if we can get this all sorted I would prefer not to come in tomorrow. Perhaps we can do the rest over the phone?"

"Why don't we just get the decorating done and then you can come over to my place tomorrow and bring Bailey and we can finish off the lesson plans then. He can meet some new friends. My girls have young cousins so they should all get on fine."

"That would be great!" Cassie said enthusiastically.

Elizabeth and Cassie madly raced around the classroom until all the areas had finished being set up. As they were about to leave, there was a knock on the classroom door and some of the other teachers came in to say hello. Elizabeth was bombarded with questions before she could introduce Cassie to them.

"Elizabeth, dear, so sorry to hear about what happened to your husband?"

"How are you holding up?"

"It's such a terrible thing to have to go through?"

"Have there been any improvements in his condition?"

Elizabeth didn't know who to answer first so decided a general response would be best. "Jack is much better. Thank you for your concern."

Elizabeth turned to Cassie. "Everyone this is Cassie, the other first grade teacher that I will be job sharing with." Elizabeth introduced each of the other teachers to Cassie and the grade they taught. Sharon, Celeste, Bernie and Taylor all gave Cassie a wave.

"Cassie, you must come to dinner on Friday night with us. It's a welcome back dinner to start the year off. Elizabeth, you will be coming won't you?" Taylor asked.

"I'm not sure. I will have to check."

"Of course" Sharon said with a sympathetic look. "Hopefully we will see you both there. I will put the details up on our Facebook group. Elizabeth can you add Cassie? Ta" she said as the four ladies swept out of the room again.

"What was that?" Cassie asked quietly.

Elizabeth just laughed. "Don't worry. They're harmless. You will get used to it."

"I don't know" she said with scepticism. "Do you mind me asking what they meant about your husband. Jack was it?"

"Yes. Jack's in the army and had an accident at the beginning of the school break. He suffered from quite a severe head injury."

"Oh no. That's terrible. Is he okay?"

"He had some major memory issues but he's getting there slowly. Jack actually went back to work on Monday."

"Well that's good news. It must have been a very tough few weeks for you and your family."

"It hasn't been easy but we've had a lot of ups and downs. Thankfully there are more ups of late" Elizabeth smiled as she picked up her bag. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes" Cassie said, following her lead.

Elizabeth walked with Cassie out to her car. "I will text you my address, so come by when you're ready in the morning. We're usually up early."

"Okay. Thankyou so much for everything Elizabeth."

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow."

Elizabeth drove straight home and walked in the door to hear silence. Charlotte's car had been out the front but the girls were nowhere to be seen.

Elizabeth texted Charlotte before getting stuck into making dinner. She had it all ready and cleaned up when she heard the front door open and the little voices travel toward her.

"Hi girls."

"Mommy!" Eve rushed forward to give her a hug.

"Where have you been?" Elizabeth asked.

"Just to the park" Charlotte answered. "Sorry I left my phone here."

"That's fine. I got dinner on so that worked out well. Did you have a good day?"

"We had a great day but I'm truly exhausted" Charlotte said with a sigh.

"Lucky you're staying here then. Jack should be home soon. Why don't you go have a rest and I will call you for dinner? Oh, you're off the hook for tomorrow too. Turns out I don't have to go in after all."

"That's good. I'm not sure I could manage another day of hide and seek and running races! Thanks Elizabeth. I might take you up on that rest though. I'm not as young as I used to be!" Charlotte said as she made her way upstairs to the spare bedroom.

Elizabeth had been going to get Viola to look after the girls but since Elizabeth found out about Viola's pregnancy she didn't think it was fair for Viola to look after Elizabeth's three plus her own two. Charlotte had been more than happy to do it and was going to stay the night instead of driving back home in between.

Jack made his way home in a barely awake state. He drove up the drive and sat in his car for a moment, trying to gather enough energy to walk inside the house. He was only up to his third day following Perkins around. The 5 am starts of the last two days and the constant thinking was both mentally and physically exhausting. Jack sat there, his hands resting on the steering wheel and his forehead on his arms.

Elizabeth had heard Jack's truck but after ten minutes he still hadn't appeared. She went to the window and peered out in the dim light. She couldn't see the interior light on and there was no light from his cell phone. What is he doing?

Elizabeth opened the front door and walked to the driver's side door and peered in. She could see his outline leaning over the steering wheel. Elizabeth opened the door and she was surprised when Jack didn't move. She put her arm gently on his shoulder.

"Jack, honey?"

She saw him slowly stir and realised he was asleep.

"Come on Jack. Let's get you inside to bed."

He made a slight noise that sounded like a groan but she was able to undo his seat belt and help him out of the car. She put his arm around her shoulders and put her own hand around his waist and helped him into the house and upstairs.

Elizabeth manoeuvred Jack onto the bed, pulling off his shoes and was going to help him out of his clothes but he rolled over burying himself into her pillow and she heard him sigh. He was fast asleep. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile. She pulled the blanket from the bottom of the bed and rested it over him.

Elizabeth shut the bedroom door before checking on Charlotte.

"Charlotte, I'm serving dinner now" she said softly.

Charlotte was stretched out on the bed. She stirred slowly.

"That's okay, Lizzy. I'm exhausted. I'll just stay here."

"Okay. Goodnight Charlotte. Thank you for today."

"Goodnight Lizzy."

Elizabeth served up dinner for the girls and put them all to bed before she went out to Jack's car and brought all of his gear in. She emptied his training gear into the laundry before hanging a fresh uniform on a hanger at the door. She polished his shoes and set them beside his things. She carried a fresh set of training gear upstairs to leave in the bathroom for him for the morning. Elizabeth checked over everything again, making sure she hadn't forgot anything before she went and packed some food for the following day and stuck a sticky note on it in the fridge.

The house was so quiet. Elizabeth made her way around the place tidying up. She went through her own work things, getting them ready for tomorrow when Cassie would come over and found the graphite pencils that she had purchased for Jack.

Elizabeth opened the basement door, switching on the lights, she quickly descended to put the pencils where Jack would find them. When she got to the bottom of the stairs though Elizabeth was overwhelmed at what she saw. There were drawings everywhere. Some were black and white, some were coloured but every wall featured different pictures.

One wall seemed to be memories of her and the girls. The sketches from the Central Park picnic were there as well as others of Halley as a baby and the ones on their wedding day. Another wall was memories of other people. She could see there were quite a few with Shane, as well as other people that she didn't know, most likely military people.

The other wall surprised her. They weren't lost memories on that wall. They were current memories, mainly of her, but some of the girls. There were a few from the beach and when they were playing in the backyard with the sprinkler. There was even one of Rip. But the pictures of Elizabeth were everywhere. Pictures of her dressed in different clothes almost every day over the last couple of weeks. Then there were the close ups. Her hands, her hair, her eyes.

Elizabeth couldn't pull her eyes away from it all. It was like she was in a museum surrounded by artwork. She stood there and stared.

Jack's alarm went off at 430 am and he startled awake feeling very disoriented. He sat up and realised he was in bed and his wife was next to him. Jack had no recollection as to how he even got there. He shook his head and pulled himself out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready and found his training gear sitting there ready for him. He didn't remember putting it there.

Jack got ready, kissed Elizabeth on the cheek and went downstairs to find his bag and uniform waiting at the door. There was a fluoro pink sticky note on the door.

Don't forget your food in the fridge. Love you. E

Jack smiled at her note before going back to the kitchen and found another sticky note saying 'Jack' on an insulated lunch bag in the fridge. Jack grabbed it and took all of his things to the car before climbing into his truck and starting the engine. Here we go again.

The physical training had not been as hard as he had been expecting. He had been able to keep up so far but he thought perhaps the lead trainer might have been going a bit easier on the group because Jack was there. Sure enough that morning they were up for a 10 mile run. Jack groaned to himself. His cardio definitely needed some improvement. Looked like today was going to be the day it would have to improve.

Charlotte left early that morning, saying goodbye to Elizabeth and the girls before driving home just after the peak hour traffic should have eased.

Within ten minutes, Cassie and Bailey arrived. Bailey was a cute little boy with white blonde hair and glasses. He was terribly shy at the beginning but within ten minutes of coaxing by his mother, he was running around the backyard with Halley, Gracie, Eve and Rip hot on their heels.

Elizabeth and Cassie sat at the outdoor table and went over the remainder of the lesson plans. They had everything organised well before lunch, so Cassie and a reluctant Bailey left, with an open invitation for Bailey to come back whenever he wanted to have a play.

As Cassie buckled Bailey into his seat and walked around the car, she called out to Elizabeth.

"So will you be going to the dinner tomorrow night?"

"Yes, so long as Jack gets home in time to watch the kids. Do you have a babysitter?"

"Yes. The lady I got yesterday, Joan, said she could do it."

"That's great. I will see you there then."

Elizabeth saw Cassie hesitate. "Would you mind if I came and picked you up and then we could go together?"

"No that's fine. I will just have to confirm with Jack tonight. I will let you know."

"Okay. Thanks Elizabeth."

"Bye Cassie."

Jack came home that night exhausted again. Elizabeth was really getting worried about him. At least he made it in the door this time, but he collapsed on the couch and was asleep within minutes. Elizabeth served the girls their dinner and they quietly ate before heading upstairs. Once they were asleep, Elizabeth came back down and did the same thing as the night before. Cleaned out his bags, put a load of washing on and set out all of Jack's clothes for the following day. She was midway through packing his food, when he emerged in the kitchen doorway.

"Hi babe" she said as she wrapped the last sandwich she had prepared and put it in the lunch bag.

"Hi" Jack replied, still clearly tired and his eyes trying to focus.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starved."

Elizabeth spun around and grabbed his bowl of pasta out of the fridge and put it in the microwave to reheat.

She put a drink on the table, with some cutlery before putting the now hot plate of pasta with it.

"There you go. Sit down Jack."

He walked over slowly and sat down. It took him a few minutes before he was able to focus on the fork and to start shovelling the pasta into his mouth.

Elizabeth finished off cleaning up the kitchen.

"I know you're tired but I had to tell you I've got a work dinner tomorrow night. Will you be able to get home in time so I can go?"

"I don't want you to go Elizabeth" he said in between a mouthful of pasta, not looking at her.

Elizabeth assumed he was saying that because he couldn't handle the girls after his long work days.

"Jack, it's just dinner. I will sort the girls out before I leave and I will have your dinner ready when you get home. I won't be very late."

"No. After last Friday, I don't want you going."

That was not what Elizabeth had been expecting.

"I won't be on my own. There will be a bunch of women there. Dinner is at 6. I'll be home by 8."

"You're not going." He was adamant.

"Yes, I am" she said angrily.

"Don't you dare leave this house!" he said slamming his fork down on the table.

Elizabeth was shocked at his tone. "What does that mean?!"

"You heard me, Elizabeth. I can't protect you if I'm not there!"

"I still got hit when you were there."

It slipped out, but Elizabeth knew that was a bit of a low blow.

"You don't need to remind me!. All the more reason for you to stay at home."

"Jack, you can't stop me from going" she said turning back to the sink to pull the plug out of the water. When she turned back around, Jack was in her face.

"Yes, I can. My decision is final. You're not going."

To be continued …

This doesn't sound like Jack … hmmm.

(Next chapter is coming. I will try and get it done today!)