The small town of Coal Valley buzzed in excitement. In the saloon, Elizabeth Thatcher sat at her desk, watching the children put the finishing touches on their signs.
"Miss Thatcher?" Opal and Claire both asked, raising from their seats and walking towards the teacher. Elizabeth smiled at the excited little girls.
"Yes girls?" She replied. The girls held up their signs.
"Do these look good? I want mine to be perfect for Daddy." Claire said confidently with a smile, the little girl could hardly contain her excitement.
"It's beautiful. Both are. I'm sure your daddy will be proud." Elizabeth said with another smile.
"Thank you, Miss Thatcher. When does Daddy get here?" Opal asked curiously, she too was excited for the Mountie's return.
"Soon. In fact. Children please grab your signs and line up at the door. It's almost time for the Constable to return. Quickly." Elizabeth called out to the class. The children rose with excitement, grabbed their finished signs and quickly rushed to line up at the door. Elizabeth moved to the door also.
"Alright children. Follow me." Elizabeth instructed as she opened the door and began to lead the children out of the saloon.
The street was busy as the whole down came out to welcome the Mountie back home. Hanging above the road was a large banner that the children had made. It read Welcome Home Mountie Jack and all the children and many of the adults had written their name on it. Lee Coulter had put the banner up the night before in preparation for the arrival.
"Okay children. Come line up along the decking here. Make sure to hold up your signs nice and high so the constable can see when he rides in." Elizabeth reminded the children as she organised them in line across the decking. The members of the town also began to do the same, holding flags and signs of their own as the faint sound of galloping horses drew nearer and nearer.
"Look over there." Someone called out as everyone looked down the road, cheering, to see a large sea of red serges and horses made their way into town. At the front of the group, was Coal Valley's constable, proudly riding in, searching for his young daughter.
Elizabeth watched from behind the children as the Mounties drew nearer. She had to shake her head and take another look as she watched the Mountie at the front.
'No.' She thought to herself. 'It couldn't be.'
As Jack got closer and closer to the children, his face became clear to Elizabeth. It was him. Her fears had been confirmed. Elizabeth caught Jack looking at her and quickly turned and ran towards the café.
"Daddy!" Little Claire called excitedly as her father stop his horse in from of the children. Jack swung off his horse and ran to his young daughter.
"Hi sweetie. I've missed you so much." Jack said, breathing heavily as he picked the 5 year old up into an embrace. Claire began to sob into her father's neck.
"I missed you too Daddy." The little girl muttered between sobs as she held on tightly to her father.
Meanwhile…
Abigail and Rosemary watched with concern as Elizabeth suddenly ran off. Before walking off, Abigail turned to Rosie and said.
"Rosemary, watch the children, I'll go see what's wrong with her."
The older woman entered the café through the back door quietly where she saw Elizabeth leaning on a chair breathing heavily, tears streaming down her cheeks. Abigail slowly moved towards the younger woman.
"Elizabeth?" She said quietly, making her presence known to the young teacher. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just didn't feel well." Elizabeth lied, trying to settle her breathing.
"I can tell you're lying. Elizabeth, you can tell me anything. I promise." The older woman pushed, making Elizabeth sigh in defeat.
"There's no point arguing. That man. The Mountie. Jack. Claire's father. Whatever you know him as. I has my suspicions based off the names and stories, I just didn't think it to be possible. I didn't want it to be possible. Until now."
"Until what Elizabeth? What's going on?" Abigail asked intrigued and worried for the woman.
"I uh-uh. Um. Seven years ago, I met a man. He was a Mountie. My father had ordered him to watch me in Vancouver when I moved there to work on my first teaching post. The Mountie's name was Jack. Jack Thornton." Elizabeth stated.
"Our Jack Thornton?" Abigail questioned, shocked, already assuming the answer.
"The very same. We hadn't known each other more than 6 months before we started courting. It was wrong but Jack understood my need to find who I really am and I felt comfortable with him. We married after a year. A month after our wedding, I fell with child. Our daughter, Clarissa Jane or as we nicknamed her, Claire." Elizabeth continued, taking a deep breath and sighing at the end.
"You were married to Constable Thornton and you're Claire's mother." Abigail stated for confirmation. Elizabeth just nodded.
"But Jack said that his wife died." Abigail added.
"That's because he thought I did. My late father, William Thatcher, owned Hamilton Shipping, a large company that drew a lot of trouble to our family. There were two men who worked for my father, one was a childhood friend and another, a con man. Both men tried to pursue and banded together after I rejected them. They were after me even though I was married and a mother. It got to the stage where I was in real danger and the police got involved. They relocated me to a small town in the United States while they searched for the men. I was Elizabeth but with a different last name and different look. I lived there until it was safe for me to come home. I couldn't bring my family, it wasn't fair on Jack and both would be put in danger. So they told Jack I had died in a car accident on the way home from school. I missed the dearly but I wanted to protect them." Elizabeth said with a frown, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Oh dear. That must have been hard on you and your family. I'm so sorry Elizabeth. If you're here now, then what happened between then and now?" The woman asked curiously, sitting down opposite Elizabeth, giving the teacher an encouraging smile.
"A year ago, I was told I was free to return to my life but when I got back, everything was different. Jack had been reassigned his posting and I had no idea where he was, my parents both passed while I was gone, my sisters were living in the mansion with their husbands and children. I thought Jack had moved on and I didn't want to disrupt that. So, when I heard about this teaching position, I decided to accept it and come here. I didn't know Jack and Claire would be here." The young teacher said, wiping her eyes with her hand.
To be continued…