Hello! My apologies for this chapter being so late. I had to do quite a bit of research for this + upcoming chapters to try to stay true to the time period. Chapter four will be up very soon, though. Once again, thank you for your kind feedback- it's always appreciated. Enjoy chapter three!
Also- due to the word limit on the chapter names, this chapter is labelled as "Chapter Three - FHTH, Part One." The real name of this chapter is "Chapter Three - From Horseback to Horsepower, Part One."
Sounds of clinking silverware and utensils filled the cluttered kitchen as Nathan absentmindedly flipped a charred grilled cheese sandwich. Waiting for the other side to brown, the tall Constable sauntered towards the window and looked out at the beauty of nature, admiring how the lush grass swayed in the breeze, with a series of bright green and muted yellow.
It's genuinely in the eye of the beholder.
Outside the dusty window pane was the bench that previously hosted Elizabeth, her son, and himself. He looked out, recreating the scene that occurred a couple days ago in his head. Nathan smiled as he remembered how the twinkle in Elizabeth's eyes miraculously returned, and how little Jack squealed in delight at his antics. It was no lie that he enjoyed being around the Thornton Duo, and, if he was being honest, the more he saw Elizabeth, the more his heart soared in hopes of winning her love.
Love shouldn't be a competition, he thought, letting out a pent-up sigh.
The sound of a door slamming forced him back into reality. His ever-so-lively niece looked around the room, then pranced to her uncle, giving him a sly smile.
"Hi Uncle Nathan," she said.
He casually leaned against the window frame and looked at her curiously. "Hi Allie, how was school? Is something going on?"
"No…" Allie squinted her dark eyes for a moment, studying Nathan. "Uncle Nathan, were you daydreaming about Mrs. Thornton again?" The preteen smirked, and raised her eyebrows conspiratorially.
Nathan's jaw dropped, and then closed, and then opened again. "No… I… Uh…" He stammered.
Allie let out a rollicking laugh and pretended to wipe tears from her eyes. "Ah ha! I knew it. It's obvious, you know. Why don't you talk to her?"
The tips of the Mountie's ears began to tinge red. "Well, I did. On Sunday." Nathan crossed his arms over his blue, plaid button-up triumphantly, and looked down at the girl with a smug, yet embarrassed grin.
Allie rolled her eyes and proceeded to imitate air quotations with her fingers. "Sure. You 'talked.'" She paused, and scanned the room again with a grimace, wrinkling her nose. "What's that smell?"
Nathan looked back to see what Allie's eyes were focused on. He groaned as a bitter, acrid odour enveloped the room. Black smoke emanated from the stove top, and what once was a grilled cheese sandwich was now a heap of ashes. Allie looked up to the ceiling in disgust. "Love. Oh, the things it does."
Nathan shot an exasperated glance at his niece as he rushed to clean the incinerated mess of bread and cheese. Careful not to burn himself, he reached for a grey tea towel, grabbed the handle of the pan, and thrust it off the stove. The scorching, iron skillet clattered on the countertop with a bang. Why, oh why, did he always burn everything!
Suddenly, an unexpected knock sounded at the door, right after the Mountie made sure the fuel in the stove was burning at a safe rate for him to walk away. Nathan nodded towards the door, waving around the cloth in hopes of extinguishing the dark smoke from the unforeseen company. He twisted the metal handle, and propped the door open with a grunt.
"Hello?" Nathan asked, his foot still fidgeting to keep the door open, not yet aware of the person in front of him. He finally looked up from his feet as the unknown persona spoke.
"Hey!" Lee Coulter exclaimed with a wide smile. Nathan returned the gesture with an exhausted one. Noticing the Constable's very weary demeanor, he frowned. "Uh oh. What's wrong?"
Nathan stepped out of the way so that there was space for Lee to enter his home. "I would offer for you to come in, but…" He threw a hand back at where his cooking disaster occurred. "Your respiratory system would be better off out here."
"Why? I don't see any-" Lee's sentence was halted when he gingerly stepped inside Nathan's rowhouse and turned his head side to side, searching for what could be the problem. The only thing he noticed was Allie rummaging around the many wooden kitchen cabinets, continually keeping the white sleeve of her purple jumper up to her nose. She was clearly on the hunt for something. In an instant, the acrimonious stench flew up his nostrils. "Nevermind. I gotcha, alright," he finished with a cough, shying away from the open door.
"Yeah…" Nathan said, cringing at himself while ushering Lee to where the grass and gravel road met in front of his house.
Lee stifled another wheeze, chuckling to himself. "Nearly as bad as Elizabeth was."
Now it was Nathan's turn to look surprised. "What do you mean?"
Nathan knew that women were expected to do the housework in a household, so he assumed that all ladies had a good grasp of the concept of cooking and baking. He himself always wondered, though, why only the women needed to cook due to societal constructs. Nathan thought it would be nice to create a meal, together, with his wife (although, he would need to learn how to cook, and get married, first). He liked the thought of doing something together with someone. Especially if that someone happened to be his future Mrs. Grant. Doing life together sounded really nice. If he ever even got to that point…
So, because of his assumptions, he assumed Elizabeth had always been a fantastic cook. Which he now found out were false.
Lee unhinged his jaw, ready to speak, but stopped when the plonking of running feet came forth from Nathan's house.
Allie rushed out the entryway, unintentionally cutting off Lee's response, twisting her mouth distastefully. "I found some beef jerky, Uncle Nathan." She held out a bag full of the cured, salty meat. "You can eat it," her uncle reached out for the food-filled pouch, examining the contents. "But as for me, I'm heading to Anna's. Her mom actually knows how to navigate the kitchen."
Nathan rolled his eyes at her teasing, then gave her a grateful smile at her efforts. "Thanks, kiddo." He squeezed her arm lovingly. "Have fun."
Allie scampered off, thanking God her friends' family could make a meal.
When Allie became just a figure in the distance, Lee presented Nathan with a grin. "Hey, you look like you could use a break! What do you say about learning how to drive? You know, change of scenery, after…" He waved towards the door, cracked open slightly so the disheveled kitchen was visible.
Nathan's left eyebrow shot up his forehead as he stuffed the bag of jerky in his pants' pocket. "I don't know, Lee… My luck hasn't been too good today."
His friend let out a small chuckle and patted his arm. "How bad can it be? Everyone starts somewhere. Let's give luck a whirl!"
Nathan grimaced at the thought of returning to the grilled cheese graveyard. Did he really have anything better to do, though? He shrugged his shoulders and started to head inside to grab a light jacket. "Okay Lee, I'll give it a shot."
After opening a window for circulation, and donned in his brown jacket, Nathan returned to the porch of the Grant rowhouse and shut the door firmly behind him.