May 23

Harriet's high-pitched giggle broke the silence of an otherwise very quiet Main Street in Hope Valley this Saturday morning. Rosemary's brown velvet button boots struck the boardwalk in even strides as she approached the sheriff's office. Was it her imagination or had her boots shrunk a size this past week? How heavenly it would be to get home and release her feet from the burdensome shoes and perhaps have a good soaking. But alas, that must wait as she had a huge day ahead of herself.

She tapped the door couple of times, resisting to roll her eyes when she heard the obvious shifting and whispering going on the other side.

"Oh dear! I was due at the church half an hour ago!" Harriet's whisper traveled through the door.

Rosemary opened the door and entered the room, the image before her causing her to giggle. Harriet was smoothing her rumpled hair and Bill had a stain of pink on his cheeks… in the color of her mother's fondest lipstick. The two had jumped apart quickly as if they were two teenagers who were just caught smooching.

"Sorry if I am interrupting… anything." Rosemary let her eyes travel back and forth between the two of them. Harriet took out her silver-plated mirror compact and took her time in assessing her appearance before snapping it shut. Obviously there was not one remorseful or embarrassed bone in her body. But Bill, oh Bill, he was a much different story. He promptly turned crimson, nearly matching the lip color on his cheek.

Rosemary chuckled at his awkwardness, and then remembered what had brought her here in the first place. She turned to Harriet. "It's past time we get to the church. Elizabeth will be there around two."

Harriet nodded and slipped her compact into her handbag.

Rosemary turned to Bill who was successfully wiping the lipstick away with a large handkerchief. "Aren't you joining the men out at the shooting range?"

Bill balled up the handkerchief and threw it on the desk. "I'm not sure it is a good idea leaving the sheriff position unmanned this afternoon." But the gleam in his eye said he'd like nothing more than to join the men in Jack's bachelor celebration.

"Oh you ought to go." Harriet waved a hand dismissively. "All us ladies will be tucked away in the church celebrating Elizabeth while all you men are out on the range with Jack. I know you've been wanting to try out your new colt revolver." Harriet wiggled her eyebrows.

Bill cleared his throat, pulled the revolver from his belt and admired the new contraption. "Yes, yes I have. Can you believe this is limited edition? Only government issued authorities receive one."

Bill looked down the barrel of his newest tool. After a moment more, he gave the gun a wistful look and placed it back in its holster at his side. The longing in his eyes couldn't have been more apparent.

Rosemary glanced at Harriet and they both exchanged a knowing look. "We will all be right as rain. Truly. You should go. If anything were to turn up troublesome we'd know where to find you."

"Oh, I couldn't do that." Bill's hand still rested on the barrel of his gun, but his eyes roamed over to the board across the room. With two or three big strides, he had crossed the room and was peering at the posted wanted notices. "I guess I can take this one down," He motioned to the picture of Fife that had a penciled slash through it and the writing 'Capture pending' by his name.

He scoffed. "That was nearly two months ago. Last I heard they had the man surrounded. Rumor is he broke his leg. Now that's a sitting duck if I ever did see one." Bill pulled the notice from the board and crumpled it up.

His eyes roamed over the rest of the notices and Rosemary followed suit: Billy the Kid who was wanted way out east near Hamilton and a few cattle thieves in Edmonton. Rosemary peered at the image. Just a bunch of country bumpkins. Nothing local. Nothing that should keep Bill from his special day of celebration with his dearest of friends.

Bill stepped back to his desk and opened the drawer, taking several packets of ammunition from the drawer and placing it on the desk. "Congratulations," he gave them a crooked smile, "You ladies have convinced me. I'm going to join the boys out on the range."

He placed the extra ammunition in his leather bag. "After all, it isn't every week your old bachelor buddy gets hitched."

+++ (Ten minutes later)+++

Rosemary pulled the Model T up to the front of the churchyard. Due to Harriet's dilly-dallying they were running late and had a mound of work to get to before Elizabeth's arrival. She maneuvered out of the driver's seat and pushed the seat forward, struggling to grab the crates in the back. Harriet joined her, her arms outstretched to receive anything Rosemary needed her to carry.

"Here are the table centerpieces," Rosemary lifted a crate filled with the fragile vases and handed it to Harriet. "And here— I'll put tablecloths on top." She placed the satin tablecloths that would serve for both the bridal shower and wedding reception on top of the crate.

Harriet clicked her tongue. "You shouldn't be lifting any of this."

Rosemary shrugged. "It's not that heavy. Plus I am just handing it off to you."

"You're eight months pregnant! Let me do the lifting please." Harriet said in such a matter of fact way Rosemary knew she meant it.

"Okay, if you insist." Rosemary walked ahead and opened the church door, which Pastor Frank had left unlocked for them. Entering the church she realized it was mustier then she preferred. She'd just open a few windows and let the fresh spring air in.

Thankfully, Pastor Frank and some of the men had already set up the tables they would need. Now it was their turn to decorate, to turn the place into a party fit for Elizabeth, to celebrate her upcoming union to their very own Jack Thornton. The wedding was exactly two weeks away and today they would celebrate with the bride to be before all the details of the wedding would sweep her away.

Harriet entered the room with the crate and tablecloths and set them down on a nearby table. Rosemary approached the table and then took a minute to steady herself and breathe.

Harriet shuffled with urgency through the box. "Oh dear." She shuffled again through the contents. "Don't tell me we forgot the lace doilies!" Harriet's voice rose an octave in concern as she shuffled through the crate one more time as if they would magically appear. "I don't remember putting them in the car this morning, do you?"

Rosemary thought back on this morning. It was all a blur. Lee had helped them load up the car before he rode out to Edmonton to pick up Jack's bachelor gift from the men: a new revolver. Sure Jack had enough government issued guns, but the men wanted him to have something special and of his own. So Lee headed to Edmonton bright and early and was to meet the men at the range straight away afterward. She and Harriet had been busy the last several weeks working on all sorts of items for the bridal shower and the wedding. Perhaps they had left the lace doilies by the sewing machine?

"I'll go out to the car to check." She called out to Harriet, who followed her out.

"Oh—" Rosemary paused by the stairs to hold a crick in her back.

"Are you alright?" Harriet nearly collided with her as she stopped suddenly.

Rosemary rubbed the spot on her low back. "You're right. I shouldn't be lifting. I'm fit to be tied with all the physical limitations these two are putting me through." She rubbed her back a moment more and then suddenly feeling better, continued down the flight of stairs.

Harriet regarded Rosemary warily, but then must have decided she was okay because she opened the car door and looked through the remaining two crates.

"You see anything?" Rosemary called out.

"No. We must have forgot them." Harriet's voice was sad and resigned.

"Drat." Rosemary rubbed her back. How could they have forgotten them?

Harriet bit her cheek and a tear sprang to her eye. "And after all the work we poured into those doilies. I just wanted today to be perfect for our Elizabeth."

Rosemary knew very well that the day could still be very successful without the addition of the lace doilies but after seeing Harriet dab away a tear, she knew she had to find them. Although she had personally helped with several, Harriet had been the one to find the pattern and secure the yarn necessary through a special order in Eaton's Shopping Catalogue, even paying for it from her own spending money as a gift to the bride. Yes, her mother had gone to all pains to make Elizabeth's day special. It was almost as if the success of this event determined if Harriet truly belonged here in Hope Valley. Rosemary knew what she had to do.

"I'll just have to go home quickly then." She nodded towards the Model T. "In this thing it won't take me long."

Harriet blanched. "Oh no. I couldn't ask that of you."

"You didn't. I offered. I know how much those doilies mean to you. To us. To Elizabeth. I'll just run back and get them and be back in a jiffy."

Harriet shook her head, but before she could say anything Rosemary put her hand on top of Harriet's.

"It's already decided. Flo and Molly should be here in—" she glanced at the hand watch in her bag, "twenty minutes. Just begin laying out the tablecloths and center pieces and they will help with the rest."

Harriet dipped her head. "You know Lee would skin me alive if he knew you were going on your own."

"I'll take full responsibility." Rosemary lifted one of the boxes and handed it to Harriet before picking up the next one and walking it to the stairs of the church house. "After all, what could happen anyway?"