A few days had passed since Jack and Bill had learned about Gregory Williams and what he had done to Elizabeth. Information was coming in slowly about his whereabouts; nothing was conclusive about where Williams was. Some reports said he was spotted in Ottawa, perhaps looking for Elizabeth where he last saw her. Then a report came that said he was in Hamilton; another said he was in Winnipeg making his way closer to Hope Valley. Jack and Bill agreed to keep this a secret for now; they both thought it would be easier on Elizabeth if she didn't know anything until they were certain where he was going.

Since learning about the wedding, the children were eager to help out with the plans. Elizabeth decided to let the children have three hours a week after school to work on wedding projects and things for the house that Jack was building. The boys wanted to help with the building, so Elizabeth had asked Adam Miller to help out. They were making a table and chairs. The girls were working on wedding decorations. Elizabeth taught them how to knit little bags they could put the rice in that would be thrown at the happy couple after they were married. The girls were also interested in learning to cross stitch after they saw the work Elizabeth was doing. Elizabeth had ordered them some easy piece to work on, like table scarves. They loved sitting in the school house asking Elizabeth questions about her wedding and doing their needle work.

On this particular day, while things were happy and light by the school house, trouble stood nearby just waiting for a time to pounce. Gregory Williams had made his way to Hope Valley after learning Elizabeth was now living there. He had been skulking around for three days, learning what he could about her by eavesdropping on the town's folk. He was livid to find out Elizabeth had been cheating on him with the Constable, that she was going to marry him. He had wanted to find the Constable and kill him, but decided he wanted to find Elizabeth first. He wanted her to watch him kill the Constable and remember what he could still do to her. So he waited and watched, bidding his time until he could get her alone.

From his vantage point, he saw the children exit the school; he check his watch and noted is was 3 o'clock. Earlier in the week he had watched as the Constable would come by to walk Elizabeth home. Today, he made sure that wouldn't happen. He made sure that some Mountie business would keep the Constable away, allowing him to make his move on Elizabeth. What he didn't know was the boys and Adam Miller were working along the far side of the school.

Gregory marched his way up the steps of the school and opened the door. He walked in and surveyed the room, noticing that Elizabeth was not alone. Several of her students were still with her. He muttered to himself, upset that she wasn't alone. He then decided to continue with his plan and if he had to kill a couple of the little girls, so be it. Nothing was going to keep him from Elizabeth any longer.

Just then, Roseleen looked up and saw him. "Who are you?" she asked.

Elizabeth turned to see who Roseleen was talking to and screamed. "What, what are you doing here?" She stumbled over her words as fear set in. How she wished Jack would stop in just to see her, though she knew he wouldn't be by for another 45 minutes or so. She screamed again when Gregory pulled out a gun and started waiving around the room, pointing it at some of the girls to make a point.

"Do as I say, Elizabeth and these pretty little girls won't get hurt. Now, I want you to send the children home and then you and I are going to pack your things and we are going to leave dusty, no good town and go live the life we deserve. You have already taken away 4 years of our lives. I intend to make you pay for that." He started coming towards Elizabeth with that familiar glare in his eyes. Opal, who was standing to the side of Elizabeth, started to cry. He pointed the gun at the little girl, who then let out a scream of her own.

Outside, Adam and Gabe, who were working on sanding down one of the nightstands, heard Elizabeth's screams. Adam, who had been told by Jack about Gregory and who Jack had asked to keep an eye out for, moved towards one of the side windows to look inside. He motioned for Gabe to do the same with the other window. When Adam saw Gregory with a gun pointed at Elizabeth and Opal, he mouthed to Gabe to get the other boys to go search for Jack. In the meantime, Adam continued watching through the windows, looking for an opportunity to save Elizabeth and the girls.

Inside, Elizabeth, who was initially frightened by Gregory, was starting to get angry. She was sick of being scare of him, especially after he threatened her students, innocent children. She was about to say something to Gregory when Emily, who was behind Opal, started sobbing. "Don't take Miss Thatcher from us. We love her and can't wait for her and Mountie Jack to get married."

Gregory turned his head towards Emily and pointed his gun at her. "Shut up, you stupid little girl! This is between Elizabeth and me. Mind your place and keep quiet". He started waiving his gun around the room. "That goes for all of you. If you want to live and go home to your parents, you keep your mouths shut!"

Emily and Opal threw their arms around each other and tried to keep quiet, but they were so scared that they both whimpered, causing Gregory to once again point the gun to them. "I said quiet!" and he jerked his finger on the trigger of his gun.

"Nooooo!" Elizabeth screamed and jumped in front of the two scared girls.

At that moment, Jack arrived, having been found by Gabe. He started for the side of the school to work out a plan with Adam when he heard Gregory yelling and Elizabeth screaming as a gun went off. Jack charged up the steps, his heart pounding as he sent up a quick prayer that his Elizabeth would be all right. Adam was at his heels. Both men were greeted with a scene of the girls holding each other and Gregory yelling at Elizabeth, calling her a stupid women for jumping in from of the gun. He tried to pull Elizabeth up from the floor, but she dug her heels in, refusing to make it easy for him to take her.

Jack pulled Gregory off Elizabeth and started arresting him. Gregory pulled himself from Jack's grasp and cackled at him. "So the man you cheated on me with has come to your rescue. Well, guess what Elizabeth? My plan was to kill the Constable in front of you. It looks like my dream will come true. Say good bye to the Constable, my dear." He picked up his gun and aimed it at Jack. He was about to pull the trigger when a shot was heard from behind him. Gregory fell to the ground. Everyone in the room looked up and saw Bill. Caleb had found Bill and informed him of the situation. He rushed to the school house and found Williams about to kill Jack.

Jack checked Williams pulse and noted there wasn't one. He breathed a sigh of relief that Elizabeth's turmoil was over. He then looked over at Elizabeth and noticed she was bleeding profusely from her arm and it looked like she might faint. "Elizabeth!" He said as he rushed to her aid. He looked at her arm and noted she had been shot in the shoulder. Her face had gone pale and she still looked like she might pass out at any minute. He picked her up in his arms, turned to Bill. "Can you take care of everything here? She needs a doctor right away."

"Of course, Jack. I will make sure the children get home safely, then come back to take care of his body."

"Jack, I have my wagon here. Let me bring it up front and I will take you to town to see the doctor." Adam said, then turned to rush out of the school house. Jack quickly followed him and placed Elizabeth in the back. He sat with her, holding her hand the entire ride into town.

When they arrived at the doctor's office, Jack ran as fast as he could with Elizabeth in his arms to see the doctor. He paced back and forth in the waiting room while Dr. Matthews examined and treated her wound. It seemed like he had been waiting for hours for the doctor to come out. At one point, Abigail came in having heard what happened from Bill. She was almost as scared and worried as Jack was. Finally, Dr. Matthews emerged from the exam room.

"How is she, Doc?" Jack asked nervously.

"She is going to be fine, Constable. The bullet went right through her shoulder. She will be sore for a while and will need to wear a sling. I suggested she take a few days off from school and rest. From what she told me, I think her students could use a break from classes too."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief as Abigail murmured "Thank heavens she will be fine".

"May I go see her?" Jack asked.

"Or course. She has been asking for you. I would like for her to stay the night. I will be here to monitor things. I don't mind if you want to stay with her. I have a feeling she is going to have a hard time sleeping and if she does sleep, she may have nightmares."

Thank you, Dr." Jack rushed into the exam room. He found Elizabeth lying on the bed, tears flowing down her cheeks. He flew to her side and gently put his arms around her, making sure he didn't jostle her shoulder. She leaned into him and continued to sob. He rubbed her back and whispered "Let it out, Sweetheart, let it all out." He continued to hold her until her sobs quieted down. She pulled away from him slightly and gave him a small smile. "When you are ready, Elizabeth, I would like to talk to you about what happened at school. I am going to need a formal statement from you."

"I can talk about now, Jack." She saw him about to protest so she put a finger to his mouth to silence him. "I want to get it over with so I can move on with my life, with our life. One question though. Is he really dead?"

"Yes he is. He won't ever hurt you, or anyone again." He took her left hand in his, played with the engagement ring on her finger and said. "Tell me what happened."

"The girls and I were working on the wedding projects. Maybe only five or ten minutes had gone by when he entered the school house. He waived that gun around, telling me that he had come for me, that he was going to take me to pack my cloths and we would leave Hope Valley to get married. The girls were upset with what he was doing and saying. Opal started to cry and he pointed his gun right at her. At that point, I had had it. I became angry at him; angry that he was threatening my students, innocent children, angry that he wouldn't accept that my life was not meant to be with him. I was about to say something when Emily cried out that she loved me and didn't want him taking me away. He turned towards her and told her to shut up, he told everyone to be quiet, that he would kill anyone who made any more noise. That scared Opal and Emily even more and they both started whimpering. Gregory started to pull the trigger and that's when I jumped in from of the girls."

Jack gently hugged her again; he was proud of her for standing up for herself and protecting the girls. A part of him was upset that she could have been killed by Williams but he pushed that thought out of his mind. No good ever came from going over "what ifs" in his mind. "Elizabeth, you were so brave to stand up to him. I am so proud of you." He brought her free hand to his lips and kissed it. "Dr. Matthews said I could stay the night with you in case you need me. If everything goes well tonight, I can take you home tomorrow."

"Yes, he told me. I am happy you can stay. I may have nightmares tonight." She leaned back on her pillow and yawned.

"You should try to get some sleep, Sweetheart. You had a very trying day." He kissed her forehead, then went to pull a chair over towards her bed. "I love you, so much! I am so grateful that you weren't seriously hurt today."

"I love you, Jack, with all my heart." She then closed her eyes and said a quick prayer hoping she could have a restful night's sleep.

Jack sat at her bedside, just watching her sleep. She appeared to be resting comfortably, for the most part. Every once in a while she would attempt to roll over on her wounded shoulder but the pain would stop her. Jack decided to put his head down on the bed and get some rest.

Elizabeth made it through the night with only one nightmare. Jack helped her through it and she went back to sleep after only a few minutes. In the early morning hours, Elizabeth woke up to see Jack's head lying on her bed, his hand holding hers. She brushed her fingers through his hair as he slept, thinking to herself how grateful she was to have him in her life. Her thoughts then turned to what happened in the school house the day before. She felt so guilty that Gregory had frightened her students and almost killed them. How could she face the mother's knowing she was the reason their daughters may also have had nightmares? She could only hope they would accept her apologies.

How does the town react to what happened in the school house?