"I'm disappointed in you, Elizabeth," Jack told her as he stood beside her as Lucas waved as he drove by. "You have been acting like the entitled, self-centered, city girl who first came to Coal Valley. I though being here had changed you but you haven't been acting like it. Perhaps you should just run home to Daddy."

Elizabeth turned in shock to look at her late husband. She didn't want to believe Jack would say something like that but then he had always called her out and challenged her. It was one of the things that had made her grow as a person after coming west.

Before she could say anything though, Jack vanished and she was left alone with the reality she had created. The worse thing was, Jack was right. She had been acting like the Elizabeth who had first come to Coal Valley. She had been looking for the easy life she had known growing up. The life Lucas could provide her but Nathan never could.

"Look out!"

The shout drew everyone's attention, including Elizabeth's. As she took in the scene that had brought about the shout, Elizabeth felt her heart stop. A car had come around the corner and headed toward Little Jack. As everyone else watched in horror, Nathan rushed into the street, gathered Jack in his arms, and turned away from the car as it hit Nathan.

"No!" Elizabeth shouted. "No, no, no, no."

The word continued to come out of her mouth as Elizabeth was unable to look away from the scene.

"Elizabeth, wake up. You are all right," came Rosemary's soothing voice though it sounded distant.

Elizabeth focused on her friend's voice. She seemed to follow the voice to the light. Opening her eyes, Elizabeth immediately closed them again, as the light hurt her eyes.

"Let me get the blinds," Rosemary said.

Elizabeth listened to the footsteps moving, away from her. They stopped briefly and then she heard the footsteps again. Wondering what was going on, Elizabeth tried opening her eyes again.

"Nurse, she is awake," Rosemary said quietly. Elizabeth could see her friend by the door even as she blinked a few more times.

Elizabeth became aware of an ache in her body. However, the back of her head hurt the most. She reached up and felt a lump under cloth. Looking around she realized that she was in an unfamiliar room.

"Rosemary, where am I?"

"The hospital in Union City," Rosemary told her. "Do you remember why?"

"No," Elizabeth told her.

"Then let's wait for the doctor," Rosemary told her. "Just relax. You have been unconscious for about three days."

"Jack?"

"Jack is fine. Lee is currently watching him."

Elizabeth was relieved. The doctor came in shortly, followed by Nathan.

"Do you mind if Mrs. Coulter and Constable Grant are here while we talk, Mrs. Thornton?" the doctor asked.

"No," Elizabeth replied, though she didn't understand why Nathan was there after the way she had treated him. She also noted that he did not look as if he had recently been hit by a car.

The doctor examined her and then started asking questions. Some she answered without a problem, others she could see the confusion on Rosemary and Nathan's faces as she said the answers. Eventually, she learned that it was two days before Christmas following the prisoner transfer in which the Mountie had been shot. Though she could remember so much more happening apparently it hadn't. The doctor asked her what she did remember. As she thought about, she could remember riding Sargent up on Jack's land. Something had startled Sargent, he had reared and she had fallen from the horse.

At that point, Nathan told her that Sargent had made it to town without her. He had come right up to Nathan, Bill and another Mountie he was talking to, pawing at the ground. As he had been fully tacked, Nathan had instructed Bill to gather some others for a search and then mounted Sargent.

"That horse to me right to you, Elizabeth," Nathan told her. "You were unconscious when I found you. Carson had come out and he recommended taking you right to the hospital. You've been here since."

"Have you been here as well?" Elizabeth asked.

"I have," Nathan admitted. "Both on Mountie business and to keep an eye on you."

"What Mountie business?"

"We'll talk about that when you are feeling a little better," Nathan told her. "Rest for now."

Elizabeth did feel tired and unsettled. Closing her eyes she drifted back to sleep even as Nathan sat down in the chair Rosemary had vacated.