Allie sat outside Uncle Nathan's office in stunned silence. She had come to bring him some food - he never ate when he should - and the door had been cracked open. She could hear him talking with Judge Avery, so she had waited outside on the bench. They had been talking loudly enough that she could overhear everything. At first, she hadn't understood what was going on. Then suddenly it all fell into place. A horror unlike anything she had ever experienced came upon her. She froze in place, unable to move even if she wanted to. Judge Avery came out of the office and walked away, too absorbed in his thoughts to notice Allie sitting there.
She was frightened. Allie hadn't seen her father since she was four years old and she couldn't remember much about him, but she did remember that he was not a nice man. He had hit her many times. Her mother had tried to stop it, but often that resulted in her mom being hit too. Allie remembered feeling safe for the first time when Uncle Nathan had become her guardian. He was a nice man, a good man. She was never afraid of her uncle.
The fear rose until it became suffocating. How could she go back to living with her father? How could anyone allow it?
Grief hit next. How could she leave Uncle Nathan? He was more a father to her than anyone else had been, and she loved him dearly. How could she get on without him? She knew her father wouldn't allow Uncle Nathan to see her ever again. She didn't know how she knew that, but she knew it just the same.
The fear and grief grew until they hit a level that wouldn't allow her to sit still any longer. She bolted up and took off like a shot down the street. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she couldn't just stay sitting. She ran and ran and ran, her eyes unseeing, just trying to get away from the feelings swirling inside of her. Finally she came to a stop at the school. Sitting on the steps, Allie burst into uncontrollable sobs, giving vent to her emotions. She cried harder than she ever had before in her life, even when her mother died. She had finally found a place to call home with Uncle Nathan. Life was good here, and life was good with him. Now it was all going to be yanked away from her.
Allie let the sobs continue, not realizing how loud they were. She didn't care. Life as she knew it was about to come to an end.
Elizabeth sat at her desk in the school, working on grading some papers. It wasn't often she came to the school on a Saturday, but she'd been feeling a little swamped lately and wanted to catch up on grading. Little Jack played on the floor contentedly, rolling a toy car around in circles. He was making small babbling noises, so Elizabeth didn't at first notice the cries coming from outside.
A muffled wail soon caught her attention. She frowned, looking at her son in concern, but he was playing happily with his toy. She strained her ears, wondering if it would come again. It did, and this time she heard the sobs accompanying it. Now truly concerned, she hurried to the door and opened it to the chilly afternoon air. Her heart caught. Allie was practically laying across the steps, her head cradled in her arms, crying as if her heart were breaking.
"Allie!" Elizabeth exclaimed, sitting on the steps next to her student. Allie looked up, her eyes bloodshot and puffy, tears streaking her cheeks. "What's wrong, honey? Did something happen to your uncle?" A shot of fear smote her heart, thinking that something had happened to Nathan.
"N...n...no!" Allie stammered out between sobs. "He's...going...t...to...take...m...me...away!"
Confusion furrowed Elizabeth's brow. "Who's going to take you away?"
"My...my...father!" Allie cried, flinging herself into Elizabeth's arms and crying against her chest. Elizabeth still felt confused, but she held Allie tightly as the child cried, her arms wrapped around Elizabeth's neck like a lifeline. Allie's father hadn't been in her life since she was four years old. How could he try to take her away now? Nathan was Allie's guardian; her father was not.
Eventually, Allie's sobs lessened. She leaned heavily into Elizabeth, clearly exhausted. Elizabeth stroked Allie's hair in long, soothing motions, hoping the gesture would help the girl feel better. Allie gave a long shuddering sigh, her breath coming in raspy spurts from crying for so long. Elizabeth pulled a hanky from her pocket and wiped Allie's face, smoothing the tears from her face.
"Now, Allie, tell me what this is all about."
Allie didn't move, but she began talking in halting sentences. "I heard Uncle Nathan and Judge Avery talking. They said my father is going to take me away. There's nothing Uncle Nathan can do to stop him."
"Nothing?" Elizabeth asked. "Are you sure they said there was nothing that could be done?"
"Well, there was one thing, but it's not going to happen," Allie replied with a sniffle.
"Why not?"
"Because it's impossible. Even I can see that it's impossible."
Elizabeth frowned. "Nothing is impossible, Allie. I'm sure if there's a way out, your Uncle Nathan will take it. Can you tell me what it is?"
Allie sniffed again and looked up at Elizabeth, her brown eyes swimming with tears. "He would have to get married in less than a week."
"Oh." Despite what she'd said seconds ago, Elizabeth could see why Allie thought it was an impossible situation. It was. Hoping to distract Allie, Elizabeth said, "I know you were only four when you last saw your dad, but do you remember anything about him?"
Her words had the opposite effect of what she'd intended. Allie shrank into her and her face became a mask of fear. "Allie? What is it?"
Allie buried her head in Elizabeth's shoulder. Her words came out muffled. "I don't remember a lot, Mrs. Thornton, but I do remember he was not a nice man."
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked. "Was he an angry man?"
"Yes," Allie said, her body trembling. "All the time. Especially when he'd been drinking."
"Your father was a drinker?" Elizabeth said slowly. She lifted Allie's face. "Did he ever hurt you, Allie?"
The tears started falling from Allie's eyes again. She simply nodded, affirming Elizabeth's fears.
Elizabeth's heart dropped to her stomach, her arm instinctively curling protectively around Allie. "How often?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, hardly knowing if she wanted to know the answer.
"Most days," Allie answered. She sniffed again, and quiet sobs began to shake her body. "I can't go back to him, Mrs. Thornton! I just can't!" She started to cry harder. "And I don't want to leave Uncle Nathan! He's the best person I've ever known. He's like a father to me. I want to stay with him, not go back to that man!"
Elizabeth held Allie tightly. She spoke before thinking about the words coming out of her mouth. "You won't, sweetheart. I promise you, you won't."
Allie's sobs lessened, and she lifted suddenly hope-filled eyes to Elizabeth. "Really? How?"
Realizing her mistake, but refusing to take back the words, Elizabeth pushed the hair back from Allie's eyes. "I don't know yet, but you can be sure I will find a way."
Allie didn't say anything, but her eyes showed her gratitude.
A babbling of jibberish caught their attention. Little Jack was at the top of the stairs, delighted to see Allie. He scooted down the steps one at a time and crawled into her lap. Allie held onto the little boy tightly, kissing his cheek and murmuring to him. The three of them sat there huddled together, Allie drawing comfort from their presence.
Elizabeth's mind was on the promise she had given Allie. She didn't know how she was going to manage it, but she was determined not to disappoint the child. She couldn't stomach it if Allie were sent back to an abusive father. No, she was not going to let that happen.
Nathan paced his living room, desperately trying to come up with a solution to the problem he found himself in. There was no way he was going to let Allie go, but he didn't know how he could possibly stop it. His mind whirled with ideas, all of them impossible. He let out a frustrated sigh, trying to keep quiet so as not to wake Allie. She was upstairs in her room, having finally fallen asleep after a fitful evening. He'd found out that she overheard him talking with Bill, and that had added to his heartbreak. He had hoped to find a solution before telling Allie the news.
A knock sounded at the door. Nathan briefly considered not answering it. He was in no mood to talk to anyone. But he answered it anyways, thinking there was a possibility it could be Bill.
He pulled open the door, and there stood Elizabeth. His heart gave an involuntary lurch.
"Hi, Nathan," she said. "Can I come in?"
Silently, he nodded, stepping back so that she could enter the house. He closed the door behind her, wondering what she was doing there at this hour. "Is everything alright?" he asked.
"No," she said directly, turning to face him. "Allie told me everything this afternoon."
"I see." Allie hadn't mentioned that to him.
Elizabeth folded her arms over her chest. "Nathan, Allie can't go back to her father."
"You know that and I know that," Nathan said, feeling frustrated. "But my hands are tied, Elizabeth. There's nothing I can do. I've been wracking my brain all day for a solution, and nothing is coming to me."
"Allie said the only way you can keep her is to marry. Is that true?"
Heart dropping once again, Nathan nodded without a word. They had found themselves in a hopeless situation.
"Have you considered a mail-order bride?" Elizabeth asked.
Nathan gave a harsh laugh, the sound of a man in desperate straights. "Yes, I've considered that. I even looked to see if there was any way to expedite the process, but the sorry truth is that even if I did try that option, no one would be here within a week."
Elizabeth looked almost as worried as he felt. He knew she loved Allie deeply, like she loved all her students. This had to be affecting her too. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but was uncertain of doing so. He waited for her to decide.
Squaring her shoulders, Elizabeth plunged ahead. "What if you asked one of the women in this town?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Nathan said, wondering for a moment if he'd heard her right.
"You could ask someone in Hope Valley to marry you, and then you could keep Allie," Elizabeth repeated, looking him right in the eyes.
He laughed again, this time incredulously. "Elizabeth, I can't just walk up to a woman and say, 'I need a wife so that I can continue raising my niece. Would you like to enter into a marriage of convenience?'" He shook his head. "No one's going to accept that."
"You'll never know if you don't try."
"Right," he said, coming to stand in front of her, almost close enough to invade her personal space. He'd never dared to get this close to her before. "And who is going to go for that, Elizabeth? You?" He pointed at her, raising a brow. Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed bright pink. He continued on. "Fiona? Florence? Molly? No." He shook his head. "The single women in this town deserve to marry because they are in love, not because their town's Mountie needs a wife for the sake of his niece. I couldn't ask that of them."
"Even if it means losing Allie?" Elizabeth asked softly.
Nathan's eyes filled with tears again. He didn't even bother hiding them from Elizabeth. "What else can I do? Her father has the claim on her. The law is on his side, not mine." He cleared his throat, afraid his voice would break if he didn't. "It's an impossible situation."
"Nothing is impossible, Nathan," Elizabeth said gently. "There's always a way out."
"If there is in this case, I can't see it," Nathan replied glumly. He sank onto the settee and buried his hands in his face. "I just can't see it."
Elizabeth was quiet for several moments. When she spoke again, she sent shock waves through Nathan's entire body.
"I'll marry you."
His hands dropped from his face. He stared at Elizabeth, mouth agape, not believing what he had just heard. "You'll what?"
Elizabeth's face showed traces of hesitation and uncertainty, but she was also determined and resolute. "I'll marry you, Nathan." She nodded as though affirming the decision to herself. "It'll be convenient for both of us. You'll get to keep Allie, and Jack will have a good father figure in his life."
Nathan was silent for a moment, fighting the emotions rising within him. As much as he was attracted to her, he couldn't ask her to throw away a chance to remarry for love. From what he had heard, she and her late husband had a long and beautiful love story. She deserved to find something like that again, not to be saddled to a man she didn't love. He knew he could easily fall in love with her - if he was honest, he was already well on his way to being in love with her - but he couldn't ask her to marry him when she didn't feel the same way. He had been under the impression lately that she wasn't interested, and for her to marry him just for convenience's sake felt wrong. He couldn't let her do that.
"Elizabeth, I…"
She cut him off before he could finish. "Nathan, I think it's what's best for everyone."
He shook his head, staring at her. "Not for you, it's not," he said. "You would be giving up the chance to find love again. I can't be the one who gets in the way of that."
"You wouldn't be getting in the way. I know full well what I'm doing, Nathan. It's the only way, and you know it." She looked down, blushing slightly. "Besides, like you said, it's for convenience. We'd be more like roommates than husband and wife. But it would benefit the children." She walked over to him and held out her hand, as though making a business deal. "What do you say?"
He looked at her hand, then into her eyes. He saw equal parts fear and courage in their depths. He took her hand in his, refusing to shake it but rather holding it gently, hardly daring to believe this was real. "Elizabeth, are you sure? This will affect you the most."
She glanced at their joined hands, taking a deep breath as if to steady herself. "I'm sure."
He stood, silent for a long time just looking at her. "Alright," he said finally. "I guess that settles it."
She smiled at him tremulously, all her emotions written across her face. She was nervous but resolute. "I guess it does."