The rest of the week passed quickly and before they knew it, it was time for the shopping trip.
Elizabeth opened the door to an excited Allie the morning of the trip. "Good morning, Allie. Good morning, Nathan." Like usual Jack ran up to them the moment he heard their voices and begged his Na'tan to pick him up.
"Hi Jack," Nathan said, just as happy to see the toddler. "Are you excited to spend the day together?"
"Yes!" Jack cheered.
Elizabeth laughed, "He hasn't stopped talking about you since I told him last night. Are you sure you're okay spending your day off watching him?"
"Of course, Elizabeth."
Just then Rosemary entered, cutting off their conversation. "Good morning everyone!"
"Good morning, Rosemary. We're just waiting for Abigail and then we'll be ready to go."
"I'm right here," Abigail called as she quickly followed behind Rosemary into the house.
"Are you excited, Allie?" Rosemary asked.
"Yes, thank you for including me on your trip," Allie said to the women.
"We are delighted to have you come with us. Are we ready to go now?"
"You can go out to the car, I'll be there in a minute after I grab my coat," Elizabeth told them. She put her coat on, gave her son one last kiss, thanked Nathan again, and quickly kissed him before she joined the others in the car.
"We'll be back by four o'clock at the latest," Elizabeth reminded Nathan who had joined them outside.
"Have fun!" Nathan and Jack waved goodbye as the car disappeared down the road. "What should we do first?" he asked the young boy.
"See New'tan," Jack said.
"You want to go see Newton?" Nathan confirmed as Jack nodded vigorously.
"Have you been to Benson Hills before?" Abigail turned around from the passenger's seat to ask Allie.
"No, I've never been shopping in a big city before. Dad brings me back things when he has to go on assignments out of town, but we order everything else through the mercantile," Allie answered.
"You're going to love it. And we're stopping at one of my favorite restaurants for lunch," Rosemary told her.
"Really?" Allie asked, becoming more excited. "I haven't been out to eat in years." Suddenly Allie became nervous. "Is my dress fancy enough?"
Elizabeth smiled at her, "Don't worry Allie, your dress is beautiful." Allie looked relieved but still a little worried.
"Allie," Elizabeth reached out to squeeze her student's hand. "I promise you'll love it. Just have fun today."
Allie squeezed back. "Thank you, Elizabeth."
After Jack was bundled up in his coat and hat they made the walk to the livery.
"New'tan!" he cried from Nathan's arms, seeing the horse in its stall.
"Do you want to give him an apple?" he offered, handing the boy the apple they had brought.
Jack took it, and carefully held it out to the large horse. He laughed when Newton gently took it but licked the toddler in the process.
"Horsey," he said, petting the brown creature. Jack was already an animal lover and he wasn't even two yet.
"Saw'gent," he requested, turning his attention back on Nathan.
The man was confused for a second before piecing together what he was asking. "You want to see Seargent?" With a nod of approval, they said goodbye to Newton and walked over to Jack's horse's stall.
"Dada's horse."
"Yes, Jack. That was your Dad's horse. And maybe one day it will be yours." Jack may be young, but he grasped concepts fairly quickly. Nathan was glad that Elizabeth trusted him with her son. He loved Jack already and enjoyed spending time with him.
Their first stop was a fancy dress store. Rosemary may work at Dottie's, but she still enjoyed shopping at different stores for inspiration on the newest trends.
Wandering around the store, Allie had her eye on one dress in particular. She preferred her jumpers over frilly dresses, but this one was different. It was pastel green with a pretty collar and white trim. It was a little nicer than most girls wore to school but not overly fancy.
"I think it would fit you," Rosemary said, watching Allie gaze up at the dress for the third time.
Blushing at being caught, Allie sighed in disappointment. "It wouldn't make sense to buy a dress I would only wear occasionally. Besides, I'm sure it's expensive."
"Let's have you try it on," Abigail suggested. Soon, Allie was stepping out of the dressing room in the gorgeous dress. It looked even better on her than it did on the rack.
"It fits you perfectly," Elizabeth commented.
Twirling, Allie looked at herself in the mirror. She loved the dress but knew it wasn't practical.
"It's a little fancy for school," Allie said, sadly.
Elizabeth shook her head. "It looks great on you. You could wear it to church or other activities. I think it would be fine at school." She watched Allie so happy in the dress, the soon-to-be teenager had already grown up a lot in the few years they had been in Hope Valley.
Rosemary went over to inspect the fit of the dress. "After I do a few small alterations it'll be perfect."
"But," Allie started to protest.
"No buts. It's my gift to you," Rosemary cut her off.
"Thank you, Aunt Rosemary," Allie said, hugging her aunt. "This is the best shopping trip ever."
The three women laughed as Allie went back into the dressing room to change.
Next, they went across the street to get lunch. Finding a table, they chatted about their plans for the rest of the day before the waiter came out with the menus.
"Elizabeth, what is this?" Allie asked, pointing to an item on the menu.
Elizabeth chuckled, "it's just a fancy way to say a beef dish." When their food arrived, Allie was amazed by the presentation of the simple sandwich she had ordered.
They enjoyed their lunch, talking about Hope Valley, Allie's interests, and the upcoming holiday.
Splitting up, Allie went with Rosemary to find Christmas presents for her friends and family. Abigail and Elizabeth explored other shops for Christmas gifts.
"Do you think Allie would like this?" Elizabeth asked her friend, holding up a popular book.
Abigail nodded, "I think she'd love that book. You should get her the whole series."
As Elizabeth looked around for the other two books, she talked to Abigail about what to get Nathan for Christmas. "The kids are easy to shop for. I think I could get Jack a ribbon and he'd be happy. I have no idea what to get Nathan."
"An idea will come to you. You just have to pay extra close attention to what he says in conversation."
"I know!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "He mentioned his carving tools were getting dull. Maybe I should get him new ones?"
"That's perfect. Where would we find those?"
Meanwhile, Rosemary and Allie had just left a children's store where Allie chose a stuffed bear for Jack. Now, she wanted to pick out Elizabeth's gift. Allie had already decided what she wanted to get for her teacher. Her dad had run his gift for Elizabeth past Allie, and she wanted to get something to go with it. Letting Rosemary in on the secret, they went in search of the perfect present.
"I had a great time today. Thank you for bringing me," Allie thanked the adults, back in the car after a full day of shopping.
"We had a good time too, Allie," Rosemary said. "We should be back in a little less than half an hour."
Another car suddenly came out of a small road heading directly towards them. Rosemary hit the brakes to prevent them from getting into an accident. Three men jumped out of the vehicle and pointed a gun at them. Terrified, Allie grabbed onto Elizabeth's arm. "Get out of the car, or we'll kill her," they commanded, pointing at the older woman passed out in the back of their car.
Elizabeth heard Abigail's sharp intake of breath, and she realized that the woman was her mother. This was not how Elizabeth had wanted to meet her best friend's mother, but she was glad that she was still breathing. The four of them exchanged looks and slowly stepped out of the car. Allie tightened her grasp on Elizabeth as they left the safety of the vehicle. "What do you want?" Abigail asked, her glare deadly focused on the men.
"We want to make a deal with the mayor," one of the men said, the gun still pointed in their direction.
"I'm not accustomed to making deals in the middle of the road with a gun pointed at me," Abigail said, strongly.
Abigail standing her ground surprised the men. They were expecting to easily take her and force her to help them get the money. They stood silently staring at her until one of the men stepped closer to her and said, "If you want to see your mother alive again, you will come with us."
"Only if you leave her here, unharmed, with my friends and promise to leave all of them alone," Abigail shot back.
"Abigail," Elizabeth protested, but Abigail's sharp look back at her stopped her from saying anything else. She knew that her friend was determined to take control of this situation without anyone getting hurt.
"Fine, but we're taking the car," the man said.
"You're stealing the car," Abigail corrected. "Now once you carefully take my mother out of the car and bring her over to me, I will go with you."
After Abigail's mother, Samantha, had been brought to the side of the road where Elizabeth, Rosemary, and Allie stood with the items from their shopping trip, Abigail got in the car with the men. She was grateful the men weren't smart enough to tie them up or fight back against her conditions. She knew that these were the robbers that Nathan had warned her about, and was grateful she had taken the extra precautions. Abigail was more concerned about her mother's health than her own safety.
"We're a few miles away from Hope Valley," Rosemary said, coming back from surveying their location after the men were out of sight.
"Samantha is still unconscious," Elizabeth told them, becoming more concerned. The older woman hadn't woken up and they needed to get her medical attention as soon as possible. They were trying their best to hide their worry from Allie, but the young girl was very aware of the danger they were in.
"Elizabeth, you and Aunt Rosemary can stay with her and I'll go get help," Allie bravely offered.
"That is very noble Allie, but I don't want you going alone. I'll stay here with her, and your Aunt Rosemary can go with you."
Allie became increasingly worried. "What if they come back and take you too?"
Elizabeth pulled the girl to her in a hug. Elizabeth wanted to protect her student, but she also didn't want to make promises she couldn't guarantee. "If that were to happen, which I don't think is likely, then someone will come and rescue us just like someone will find Aunt Abigail."
They knew that time was not on their side if they wanted to get to Hope Valley before nightfall. Elizabeth pulled away from the hug and kissed the top of Allie's head. "Be safe. I love you." She didn't even think about the last part of what she had said. It just flowed out naturally.
Tears welled up in Allie's eyes and she threw herself back into Elizabeth's arms. "I love you too," she murmured into her teacher's coat.
Rosemary was watching the exchange from a few feet away. She was moved by the strong bond they shared. It went much deeper than an average teacher-student relationship. She knew that with Allie's mother not able to be with her, Elizabeth had become a maternal figure to the girl. Even in the middle of a crisis, there was a happy moment that came out of it.
Nathan was getting increasingly worried with every minute after 4 o'clock that passed without the return of the women. At ten past four, he finally decided to go and look for them when Lee knocked on the door.
"Maybe they had car troubles," Lee said as they quickly walked into town. Lee went to find Bill while Nathan found someone to watch Jack.
Knocking on the back entrance of the cafe Nathan was greeted by Clara. "Good afternoon, Constable. Is something wrong?" she asked, noticing the expression on his face.
"The women haven't returned from their shopping trip yet, but they could just be running late." As Nathan said that he knew it wasn't the case. Elizabeth would have called him if she thought they would be late. He regretted not insisting to go with them, especially after he found out the gang of robbers had been spotted heading towards them. A cloud of dread came over him. The robbers. What if they had taken them? "Could you watch Jack for a little while? Bill, Lee, and I are going to go find them."
After handing Jack off to Clara, Nathan met up with Bill and Lee.
"We are going to need something to get them home if the car isn't working," Lee pointed out.
"Why don't you two go find Henry and ask to borrow his car while I go saddle the horses," Bill suggested. "We'll meet back at the livery."
They found Henry in his apartment, and the man insisted on going with them. He wouldn't admit it yet but everyone knew that he had developed a stronger interest in Abigail recently. They were quickly on their way to find the women.