Disclaimer – I own nothing.

Dear Father,

I want to start off by saying thank you. I know that you can see the caliber of man Jack Thornton is or you never would have offered him that position – regardless of how I feel about him.

You are correct in your assumptions of his character, he may not have grown up in the society that we are accustomed to however his parents raised him well. I'm sorry 'well' is such an inadequate term to describe the man I have come to know. Jack Thornton is smart father; he's talented if you could only see his skill with a pencil or paintbrush. He is kind beyond belief, always putting others before himself. He would be absolutely horrified that I am telling you this but he took reward money he received for putting a terrible man away and spent it on a church and schoolhouse for a town in desperate need, and then he spent weeks putting in the time and effort to actually construct that building. This is a godly man, a man who would give his life for the people he holds dear. His wife will be safe. Safe and loved and well cared for- even if she isn't wealthy, she will be fulfilled.

You are also a smart man father. You could see what was between us from the moment we arrived and though I know you wish that I would return to Hamilton and marry Charles, you know that I couldn't be truly happy doing that. You know that my happiness lies in a small timber town in the great wild-west; you know that my happiness lies in a church classroom and you know that my happiness lies in the heart of a Canadian Mountie. Can you not find your happiness in the knowledge that I have found mine?

I love you father and I will be eternally grateful for the love and opportunity provided to me by you and mother .Thank you truly from the bottom of my heart for a life anyone would have been lucky to live. Now it's time for me to create my own life and I'm going to do that in Hope Valley.

I hope you can forgive me,

With love and thanks your daughter,

Elizabeth

William Thatcher folded the letter for the hundredth time since he'd received it and tucked it back into the breast of his riding jacket. He'd left the stage coach the moment they'd told him they were waiting out the storm. He'd planned this trip to Hope Valley the second he had finished the letter the very first time. His plan, to change his daughters mind and bring her home or to give her the acceptance she so clearly craved and leave her to her new life – he still wasn't sure, he'd decide when he saw her, when he saw this town of hers.

After everything they had gone through with Julie he simply couldn't leave the response to that letter to anyone or anything other than himself. Deep down he understood the reason this felt so much more urgent than Julie's fiasco. Julie was all impulse and feeling, she reacted so quickly and with so little thought that what she had done, running off to find an inappropriate lover had actually been something he'd always thought they might have to contend with.

Elizabeth though. Elizabeth more even than Viola, had always been so practical. She'd been cleaver from the moment she had entered the world. Just like with his expectations on Julie's future endeavors he'd known from the beginning that Elizabeth would never be content to simply be a wife. Elizabeth needed challenge and adventure. He had hoped with everything in him that teaching would be enough.

He'd seen the connection from inside the house and he'd walked out firmly intent on disliking the young man. He may have been born in the night but it hadn't been the previous one. In that moment it had been all he could do to remind Elizabeth that her place was above that young mans and she deserved more.

He couldn't deny that the man's moral standing was superior. He'd handled his brother appropriately and had done the respectful thing when he'd left Elizabeth with her family. Unfortunately that had made him dislike the young man even more. There had to be a fault in him that he could bring forward, but when eventually he had to admit that the man was decent and that his daughter was clearly in love he'd done the honorable thing. He'd offered Constable Thornton a chance at a career. He'd offered him possibility and the boy had declined. Of all the things that should have been the moment he was looking for. That should have been the moment he was waiting for make Elizabeth see how ungrateful he was.

The problem was that he had not been ungrateful, he'd been proud. The Constable was proud of himself and his profession and William Thatcher respected that. That one moment that should have been a key to the young man's demise had had the complete opposite effect and in that moment he'd seen a glimpse of what his daughter saw.

He'd completed the picture with her letter. If that letter didn't prove his daughter was lost he didn't know what would. His only option had been to go to her and he was damned if he was going to let a little snow get in his way.

He'd hired a horse, rolled his few belongings into saddlebags and done something he hadn't done in since he was a lad – he was on a mission. He just wasn't quite sure what that mission was.

He'd rode into town, his body more sore than he thought it had ever been to see a main street torn apart. He was fully aware that a town of this size wouldn't be able to plow the streets but what were the tunnels and walls of snow all over the place. He had to leave his horse at the saloon before he caught a glimpse of the red jacket worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police entering the café down the street. It only took him a moment to get there but it was already too late. He watched in horror as the young man fell to his knee before his daughter and what seemed like half of their town.

He was still outside but he could hear it all.

"I realized something last night Elizabeth. I may feel a need to prove myself to your family and maybe even to myself; that I can deserve a woman as smart as kind, funny, compassionate…as breathtakingly beautiful as you. But maybe, just maybe I don't need to prove it all right away. Isn't that a part of marriage, shouldn't I always be striving to prove that I am worthy of this relationship? Well I can promise you that Elizabeth, I can promise to never stop trying to be better, to never stop working on us and without a doubt I can promise to never stop loving you…even when you're being ridiculous." The Mountie was good. He watched as the words visibly affected his daughter and he was damned if they didn't sound good to him as well. But then that last line, like a punch right to his gut. "I don't need your families approval" followed by a question that should have been run by him, her father, first.

He'd heard enough, he stepped into the café the door clanging against the back wall and nearly every head turned to take him in. Every head except the two he most wanted to see.

"What is going on in this town?"

"Father!" Elizabeth stood from her chair her face swiftly changing from devotion to shock. He watched her process the fact that he was standing in her town and then he watched her look down at the Constable a look of pure sadness written there. The Constable did the right thing and returned to a standing position, the ring box snapped shut and he would be lying if he said the sound hadn't echoed around the room. Elizabeth's dipped down to the closed box and William knew exactly what would have progressed had he not entered the café.

"Mr. Thatcher," Jack stepped forward taking charge of the situation, which was completely unacceptable.

"I think we need to have a conversation Constable Thornton." And taking the control back, he removed himself from the café and waited for the boy to follow. It didn't take long.

"Mr. Thatcher, would you come with me? I have a place we can talk privately." Jack made his way through the snow to a barn and was outside on his horse in moments. William groaned inwardly at the thought of getting back on a horse, but he was not about to let the Mountie in on that fact. He climbed into the saddle and followed the red uniform out of the small western town.

They didn't ride for long when William Thatcher took in the sturdy two floor house with a covered porch that wrapped the main floor. It was larger than he would have thought to find near the small town.

Jack climbed out of his saddle and wrapped the lead rope around the front bannister then he waited for William to join him.

"Listen Mr. Thornton, if this is some attempt to prove…"

"I don't want to interrupt you Mr. Thatcher. I have an extreme amount of respect for your daughter and therefor I respect you as well but I do have something to prove to you and its only one thing. You and I both know that I love your daughter and that she loves me. So the only thing we have to discuss is whether I can provide the life she deserves."

"Your definition of what my daughter deserves may be different than my own." He had to admit it-he was impressed with the lad. There were many more accomplished men who would not have had the audacity to speak to him with such directness. A part of him wondered if Charles would have fought him for Elizabeth's hand had he disapproved.

"Please come and see the home I'm building for your daughter," Jack motioned to the front door and though William was hesitant he took the lead up the stairs. Jack handed him a key and he opened the front door. Stepping inside the home William Thatcher was taken aback.

The house was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Walking in there was no foyer instead you entered immediately into a large open family room. To the left he could see an eat-in kitchen blocked only by a large stone fireplace that was open both to the family room and the kitchen. Half way into the room was a wide staircase that led up to an open balcony running the length of the second floor. The second floor was unfinished but he could see the frame of what looked like three bedrooms. To say he was impressed would have been an understatement. He was in awe.

"We have many good friends here in Hope Valley; I wanted a big open space where we could have people for dinner after church. Back here behind the staircase is a small indoor privy. There will be another larger one on the second floor between our bedroom…" the constable cleared his throat clearly uncomfortable with that sentence giving William back a little of the power he'd lost when he'd walked into this home.

"and one of the spare rooms. There will be two rooms upstairs, hopefully for children." He swallowed again and William sighed. Grand children now wouldn't it just be the thought of grandchildren that finally swayed the strict business man. "And there is another room down here, just there. For family who might like to visit. Elizabeth's family is incredibly dear to her and I have absolutely no interest in keeping her from them. Despite the distance between us all, I wanted a comfortable place for anyone who might want to stay awhile." William's palms began to sweat as his heart tugged. His hand moved up to his chest to pat the place where Elizabeth's words had been written.

He wanted desperately to believe that he'd come on this trip to save his daughter but maybe he'd simply come to be certain everything she had written him was the gods honest truth. Could this man be entrusted with dare he say his favourite daughters' heart?

"What's that room there?" William pointed to a door off the Kitchen and the two men walked over. When Jack opened the door Mr. Thatcher could not contain his gasp. It was a small room, the walls on either side where floor to ceiling bookshelves and the Constable had built a desk into the back wall but it wasn't that that took his breath away, the entire back wall was one large window. It overlooked the backyard and beyond that the mountains and valley.

If Mr. Thatcher hadn't been instantly able to picture his lovely daughter seated at the desk writing a novel or working on her school work - his future grandchildren within eye sight playing in the back yard he wouldn't have been able to say he knew his daughter at all. This little room made large by the impressive craftsmanship was Elizabeth in every minute detail.

"What if she said no?" It was an absurd question, but it was all he could think to ask. This room was made for his daughter, what would he have done with it had she not said yes. But then he it hit him like a bolt of lightning.

There was no way she was going to say no.

"FATHER! JACK!" Elizabeth's voice rang out from the front porch and William Thatcher's lips split into a grin so wide his cheeks began to hurt.

"Would you two get out here, if you don't I'm coming in Jack Thornton and you'll just have to get over this ridiculous surprise."

"She hasn't seen it?" William looked to Jack the smile still firmly in place.

"I wanted to surprise her, once it was finished." And there he went again, surprising him.

"Well let's not ruin it," they walked outside to see Elizabeth's borrowed horse searching the snow for some stray grass and Elizabeth, cheeks rosy with cold and her hands on her hips.

"Now you listen here Father, I wrote you that letter in hopes that you would see the man I've come to see. If you rode out here through a snow storm to take me home you'll be sorely disappointed. I'm going to marry that man behind you if it's the last thing I do and no one is going to stop me." William looked from his daughter to Jack Thornton and saw the young man wisely biting the insides of his cheeks, desperate to keep the laughter and glee in check.

"Well, you had better go ahead and do it then." William watched in delight as the young couple looked at each other and then to him. Perhaps he'd always known why he was coming to Hope Valley. She'd been clear in her letter; she loved the boy, perhaps as a father he'd just needed to make sure he loved her back. Truly loved her.

A/N – I am absolutely gobsmacked at the reaction from the previous chapter. I was so worried about that proposal, that maybe it wasn't romantic enough or something so I was thrilled to bits when I read your reviews. Thank you all so much for reviewing…it feeds my soul almost as much as the love between Jack and Elizabeth!