Nathan knocked on Elizabeth's door at exactly 7:20 the next morning. He could hear the sound of footsteps running towards the door and Elizabeth's voice calling him to come in. He opened the door and was greeted by a smiling Jack wanting to be picked up.
"Hi buddy," Nathan said to the boy.
"Morning Na'tan," Jack responded, resting his head on the man's shoulder.
Elizabeth walked over, having quickly gathered her basket for school. "Good morning, Nathan. Thank you for walking me to school today. Laura should be here any minute." Just then there was another knock at the door, and Elizabeth opened it to see Laura.
"Hello, Mrs. Thornton. Constable Grant," Laura greeted politely.
"Good morning Laura. Jack has already eaten breakfast and seems to be in a good mood, I hope he won't be any trouble for you today."
"He never is Mrs. Thornton," Laura told her. She loved spending her days with Jack and studying while he napped.
Elizabeth smiled, happy to hear that her son was well behaved for his babysitter. "Bye, Jack. I love you," she said, taking him back from Nathan and placing a kiss on his head before placing him on his feet.
"Bye, Mama. Bye, Na'tan," Jack waved and pulled Laura over to see one of his new toys.
The adults waved back, Elizabeth buttoned her coat, and they started their short walk to school.
"Thank you for walking me to school, Constable," Elizabeth said playfully using his formal title.
"Your welcome, Mrs. Thornton," Nathan replied. "I'll see you later?"
"You will. Be safe on your rounds Nathan." She reached up to give him a quick kiss goodbye.
"I promise. I love you, Elizabeth."
"I love you too."
Nathan walked into the Judge's office a few minutes before ten hoping to speak to Bill before the meeting.
"Hello, Nathan. You're early," Bill observed looking at his watch.
"Hello, I wanted to talk to you before everyone else showed up."
"Is there something wrong?" Bill asked, concerned.
"No, nothing like that. Allie asked me last night if I could officially adopt her and I promised her I would talk to you about it."
"With you being a single Mounite and her father still alive it might be difficult but I can certainly look into it."
"Thank you, Bill," Nathan said just as Abigail and Henry walked in.
"Good morning," Abigail greeted them with a smile. "It feels good to be back in this office."
After pulling up chairs around Bill's desk he starts the conversation, "Speaking of that, we are going to have to find a new office arrangement."
"Do you think we can share this office until we find something more permanent?" Abigail asked.
"Of course, we're just happy to have you back," he responded.
"Yes, please fill me in on everything that's happened."
"After you left I took over but once I was appointed to judge it was too much. Nathan offered to help but neither of us had any experience. With Henry's input, we've been doing much better but we had missed payments on a few bills and now we're a little behind," Bill explained.
Abigail nodded, "Thank you all again for filling in for me. I understand it was a lot to handle."
"We were happy to do it but we're glad the better mayor is back now. I don't know how you balance running the cafe, being mayor, and raising a child all at once. It's admirable," Nathan complimented.
"Thank you, Nathan. Being a Mountie and taking on the responsibility of a young child is very admirable as well."
Nathan smiled at the compliment but quickly turned more serious, "I got a message from the Mounties saying that there has been a series of robberies in this area. The last one was in Union City and they think they're heading this way."
"It's likely they'll hit a growing railroad town like ours next," Bill finished understanding the seriousness of the situation. "If they get closer we should request more Mounties. Maybe we can ask some people to stand guard at night too."
"I'll inform Mr. Jenkins as well," Abigail said. "Let me know if they get closer and we can take extra precautions."
"Of course. Is there anything else we need to discuss?" Bill asked.
"We can show Abigail all of the files and paperwork, and then we need to get another desk in here for her," Henry said.
"I just pushed it to the other side of the room when I took over the office," Bill explained.
"Where do you want it, Abigail? I'll set it up," Nathan offered.
"Maybe a few feet away from Bill's?" she suggested, pointing to the spot.
Lucas has been overly stressed since Henry sold him full ownership of the oil company. He had no experience with oil or running a company. He was so overwhelmed he almost bumped into Fiona walking back to the saloon after spending the morning in the office.
"I'm sorry, Fiona. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," he apologized. This was new for him; apologizing immediately instead of trying to shift the blame.
"It's okay, Lucas. Is there a lot on your mind? I heard that you have full ownership of Gowen Petroleum now," she asked kindly.
Lucas sighed. "The truth is, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never run a company by myself before," admitting that out loud was strangely cathartic.
"At least you have a job. My boss fired me after I told him I wasn't moving to San Fransisco," Fiona said.
That put things in perspective for him, and he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Fiona. I didn't mean…"
"I know what you meant. I used to love helping my dad run our family business when I was a teenager. I was considering starting my own business after I lost my job but I don't know what I would sell."
Suddenly an idea came to Lucas. "Would you like to help me with the oil company?"
"I didn't say that for you to pity me. I can find a new job on my own," she said defensively.
"You're the one who would be helping me. Please at least consider it. If I can't figure this out soon I won't be able to pay my workers anymore. I'm already paying them out of my own pocket."
"Really? Are you sure you want my help? I don't have any experience with oil."
"I don't either. You don't have to make a full commitment yet. If you don't like it you can back out at any time. I think this could work well for both of us," he explained hopefully.
"Thank you, Lucas. I accept. When do we start?"
"Eight o'clock Monday morning?" he suggested.
"Perfect," she stuck out her hand.
Lucas shook it, "You don't know how helpful this is to me. Thank you, Fiona."
"Thank you," she said. When she went for a walk to clear her head from her struggles with finding a new job she was not expecting to get a job at an oil company. She was grateful to Lucas for giving her a chance. She decided to get some books out of the library to read about oil before Monday.
Henry had been dining in the cafe a lot more now that Abigail was back in town. "Hello, Clara," he greeted her as she cleared his dishes.
"Hello, Henry. Are you feeling better?" Before he could answer, Abigail came over having heard the last bit of the conversation. Clara shot him an apologetic look and left to serve the next customer.
"What happened, Henry?" she asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, Abigail. I'll be fine. Can we talk about this somewhere else?" he asked. The cafe was full of people here for lunch and he didn't want this conversation to be heard by everyone.
"Will you join me here for dinner tonight? Cody is having a sleepover at Robert's."
"Sure, what time?"
"Half-past seven? The cafe will be closed by then, and we can talk," she said.
"Perfect. I'll see you then."
"I'll see you all tomorrow," Elizabeth rang the bell and released the children for the day. Allie and Opal stayed in their seats finishing a project while she started to clean up. After she cleaned the chalkboard they handed in the assignment, and Nathan walked through the door.
"Hi, Dad," Allie greeted him with a hug. Elizabeth's eyes went wide, hearing the name for the first time.
"Hi, Allie. How was your day?"
"Great! Opal and I finished our book report." Allie informed him.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, Opal," Nathan addressed the young girl.
"Thank you for saving me," Opal said. "Mountie Jack saved me from the fire in the school and I never got to thank him."
"I'm sure he knew you were grateful."
"I didn't think there would ever be a Mountie as brave as Mountie Jack but you are. Can I call you Mountie Nathan?"
"I would be honored," Nathan assured her, and she gave him a quick hug in thanks. As he made eye contact with Elizabeth he saw tears in her eyes.
"Allie, Anna said that she and Emily are going to play in the field. Do you want to come too?" Opal asked her friend.
"Can I, Dad?"
"Sure, just be home by five."
"Thanks, Dad," Allie said happily and ran outside with Opal.
Once the girls were out of earshot, Nathan walked closer to Elizabeth and rested his hand on her arm. "Are you okay?" he asked, brushing away a tear that had fallen down her cheek.
"After Jack died, Opal didn't speak for weeks. She was devastated that he was gone and she hadn't been able to properly thank him. When I finally discovered what was wrong and reassured her she started talking again but it took her a long time to return to her normal self. It means a lot to her that she got to thank you and call you Mountie Nathan. And I noticed another little girl using a new name for you," Elizabeth smiled at him.
Nathan beamed. "Allie asked me last night if she could call me dad. I talked to Bill this morning about starting the process of adopting her."
"That's wonderful, Nathan. I'm so happy for the two of you."
"Thank you, Elizabeth. I'm so happy I have you and Jack in my life, and now I have a daughter too. Even if it isn't official yet." His eyes drifted down to her lips and back to her eyes. They slowly leaned closer together, and their lips met in a sweet kiss.
When Henry entered the cafe Abigail immediately greeted him. While this wasn't an official date they had both dressed nicely and Abigail had set up a special table in the middle of the dining area with a pretty tablecloth and a vase of flowers.
"Hello," Abigail smiled.
"Hello, Abigail. You look beautiful."
Abigail's cheeks flushed. "Thank you, Henry. You can sit down while I go get the food," she said, gesturing to the table.
After they were seated and had food on their plates, Abigail looked at Henry pointedly. "What happened?"
Not surprised by her directness he answered truthfully. "I've been overwhelmed lately and I passed out in the cafe. Carson said I have high blood pressure and I am suffering from exhaustion."
Abigail's eyes went wide, "Are you okay? Why are you exhausted?"
Henry sighed, "Lucas and I were partners in Gowen Petroleum and I wouldn't let him see the books. I hadn't taken a salary and was having trouble paying the men. I couldn't admit that I had failed. I failed at running Pacific Northwest Mining, and then I was failing my own company too. Lucas wanted majority stakes, so I sold him the whole company." Unable to keep eye contact with her, he looked down at his food.
"Henry," she said. When he didn't respond she laid her hand over his to get his attention. "You did not fail. You didn't fail the mining company. You tried to fix the working conditions. It was your superiors who refused to listen to you who are responsible for the deaths. You've worked so hard trying to run the oil company you've exhausted yourself. You paid your workers instead of yourself. You did not fail. You just ran into some problems. How you resolve these problems is what matters now."
"It's over. If Lucas can't pay the workers, he can't keep the business running."
"I wouldn't call it over just yet," Abigail said. "Don't sell yourself short, Henry. You are a great businessman. I believe you can fix this. However, I need you to promise me one thing."
"Anything," Henry told her.
"Rest. Please, Henry. I worry about you, and you won't be able to function if you're exhausted."
"I promise I will, Abigail."