And the greatest of these is Love

Chapter 32

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Like last year, Bill had already checked with one of the local ranchers to save him not just one, but two of the fattest pigs he had for the pig roast. Every time he had a pig roast the town could smell it cooking all day long from the crack of dawn. Cooking it slow and steady basting it and turning it in order for the flavor to be perfect. Once he got it started, he had several of the men take turns keeping an eye on it throughout the day

While Bill was outside tending to the pig roast, Kenda and Jane were inside Billees decorating for the dinner along with anyone that happened to walk in with a side dish or dessert. Whoever wasn't helping on getting the trailers decorated for the parade were busy setting up for the town meal.

Lucianna was there bright and early with her helpers, Joyce and Maryann. Luckily they thought to make as much ice as they could ahead of time to keep the side dishes cold that needed chilling, pitchers of lemonade, and brewed plenty of coffee. They arrived at Billees happily working in the kitchen accepting any side dishes or desserts that were brought in. There were samples of international tastes of Swedish, Italian, Polish, and German foods among others. Elsa cooked her Swedish meatballs (köttbullar) with mashed potatoes (potatismos) and cream sauce. Hannah Burmeister was proud to give Sauerbraten and dumplings, and the Morettis and Romanos brought in Gnocchi, Spaghetti all Carbonara, and Risotto alla Milanese.

The Chickadees were great cooks too, Debbie donated baked beans, Jane brought a marinated vegetable salad, Joyce brought deviled eggs, potato salad, and Maryann was very generous providing Polish cuisine of kielbasa and kraut along with corn on the cob.

Debbie and Kathy were at Minnie's Cafe where the sweet table was. There they had used Minnie's beautiful flowered table cloths on all the tables and displayed all the desserts with a little note card indicating the name of it. No one except the bakers themselves knew who provided which dessert except for Emily's apple strudel.

Debbie herself had generously provided several desserts herself. She brought peanut butter brownie trifle, strawberry cheesecake bites, oatmeal cookies, and snickerdoodles. Kathie donated a big cake, Jane too brought in an apple cake, and Joyce brought in fried apples! Like last year, Liz knew her almond cookies were a hit so she brought them again this time. Suzanne knew her husband wanted his favorite lemon bars so she offered those. Margaret entered her fudgy brownies, and Dawn's tasty peanut butter cookies were a favorite of the children so this year they got their wish again. Diane brought her grandmother's delicious banana bread, and Linda went all out with her peach cobbler!

The official judging would be done by King James, Prince Jake, and Prince Rick casting their secret votes after tasting a sample but it was a hard decision and they kept asking for a second sample which Kathy denied.

"There won't be enough for all your kingdom," she teased.

The judges just couldn't decide, so they were all declared delicious and delectable!

Teresa, Marge and Brenda had collected pies for the pie-eating contest later, but donated Maryann's three pies to the sweet table to make sure there was plenty of desserts.

As the day progressed it became sunnier and a beautiful breeze came sweeping down from the Rockies. After the food was all collected and ready, there was loud honking at the start of the parade, so the townsfolk gathered along the main street to watch the parade!

First in line was the big beautiful fire pumper with a huge red bow that Rosemary had decorated it with. There was Henry sitting proud and tall in the driver's seat wearing his new outfit that no one saw but Dottie insisted he wear. It didn't matter, as he was definitely enjoying himself waving at everyone along the road. He had a surprise with his son, Christopher using the hose to sprinkle a few children in the crowd. The people were delighted to see Christopher, but oohed and aahed at the sight of the their brand new fire pumper. They clapped heartily for Henry and Dottie who were sitting in the passenger seat for being such generous benefactors!

Following in second was Lee driving the new ambulance. It too had a big red bow on it. Drs. Carson and Faith were waving from the back dressed in their white coats and stethoscopes around their necks. Lee fired up the circling sirens and flashed the lights and waved at everyone. Because of the noise, Rosemary sat out of the ambulance and watched from the street with little Grace and Paul which disappointed her, but the crowd was so grateful to Lee and Rosemary for this emergency vehicle that they knew was needed giving them a loud and long applause.

The Mounties were decked out in all of their splendid uniform of Red serges, trousers known as breeches, Stetson hats, a Sam Browne belt and knee-high Strathcona boots and leather gloves. Sargent Nathan Grant was in the front riding tall and handsome on Newton.

When he smiled the ladies always swooned, even Elizabeth. It was those dimples and crystal blue eyes that charmed them so easily. His honor and integrity had impressed the men of the town and his kindness and compassion was an inspiration to everyone. But, Dee held the key to his heart and she blew him kisses while holding their son, Christopher. Next to her one side was his Dad, Archie, and his Ma, Emily. On the other side were her parents, Bertie and Ted Gleixner and brother Walter. Dee was happy that her sister, Dorothy with her husband, George and their children, Robert and Roberta joined them too.

Flanked on either side of Nathan were Constables Gunther Burmeister riding on his horse, Sandy and Andrew Roberts riding on his horse, Cody. Both of them were striking as they proudly trotted in step alongside Nathan. Hannah Burmeister happily waved and told everyone near her, "Gunther is my son!" Andrew was totally surprised to see his parents in the crowd and just about fell off his horse, but kept his composure as he smiled broadly at them both. Nathan quietly chuckled to himself happy that his secret surprise was accomplished.

Right behind them followed Constable Gabriel Kinslow and other local Mounties, and a few retired Mounties with Bill Avery. They were staying to play the baseball game versus the men of the town of Hope Valley. This was a big attraction for many out-of-towners.

Right behind them were a few horses with garlands of flowers around their necks, as Lana Peterson rode Shiloh and Lisa Peterson rode Stardust and Allie rode Penny. This was a great opportunity to advertise for their Peterson family horse farm. Having very pretty ladies riding their horses helped too!

The School Band brought some lively music to the scene. Mr. Landis was in town as he was still the pianist for Benson Hills Clubhouse where he played solo and for Dianna Starr and James Scholl, so he was more than willing to co-ordinate the children for Dee into a melody of Hot Cross Buns followed by Merrily We Roll Along. The children were pleased as punch and even though the band wasn't all in sync they certainly got a lot of applause.

Next were the Boy's Scouts carrying the Canadian flag while the Girls Guides sang O' Canada. Showing off their patches sewed on their sashes and wearing their uniforms they waved as they walked. When they passed the townsfolk stopped to salute the flag or sing the anthem with the Girl Guides.

The Moretti family choir joined in singing fun songs that

The rowdy baseball team, The Hope Valley Stallions were right behind the Scouts carrying bats on their shoulders or mitts in their hands cheering "We are the Stallions, the ones to beat!". The coaches were walking with them, Matthew, Mark and Luke, keeping them in line.

There were tractors with trailers of men ready for the baseball game from Coulter Lumber and Gowen Oil, along with a few others like Kevin Townsend, Ben Carmon, and Trevor Donovan.

Finally came the Royal Court trailer pulled by two of the Peterson Farm bigger stallions who were also wore flower garland around their necks. The Hopefuls had decorated the trailer in silver and gold streamers and balloons. There were two big chairs they had covered with gold material directly in the middle of the trailer. On both sides of them was placed a chair for the princess with her prince standing behind her.

Queen Fiona looked dazzling with her crown, sash. and scepter. Her big brown eyes gleamed with kindness and appreciation as she waved to the towns folk feeling a surge of happiness. King James was quite handsome and debonair in his wardrobe and very good-natured for going along with his fiance's wish. When he smiled he too left the ladies a bit weak with his sky blue eyes and flashing smile. They both enjoyed having Christy and Rick as well as Violet and Jake with them and they all just relished in the gaiety of the parade as some curtsied and bowed as they passed by.

James' brother, Carl was bowing and laughing hysterically behind their parents and shook his head at his brother. James ignored him and made a mental note to do something to him later. When the parade ended, everyone joined their families and went over to Billees, to grab a bite to eat before the baseball game started.

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Everyone seemed to be in the best of spirits after the parade and with their stomachs full of a marvelous buffet of international dishes and the roast pig they were quite content.

Queen Fiona announced, "The games and races will open after the baseball game. We have games for all to play thanks to Jackie and Linda and their helpers from the Chickadees. There will be the ring toss, sack race, wheelbarrow race, egg on the spoon race, tossing the ball in the bucket game, and the water balloon toss!As suggested, if anyone wants to play, you are asked for a penny to play each game which will help fund the equipment for our new school gymnasium!"

The children all clapped and jumped up with excitement. This was going to help make their new school up to date with the surrounding towns.

Superintendent Will Malone smiling, stood up and announced, "On behalf of the Jack Thornton School, I will be a willing participant in the dunk tank. This opportunity will be two pennies each time, but please don't drown me," he laughed.

Elizabeth was sitting with Will Malone along with her brother-in-law, Tom, and little Jack. She was surprised by Will's announcement and joined in with Jack and Tom clapping. Jack was thrilled to have his Uncle Tom with him, but he did seem to warm up to Will Malone too. Tom noticed that Will seemed keen on his sister-in-law, and wasn't too sure what he thought about that, but kept silent just observing. He was relieved that his mother didn't come to the festival as she might just have said something to Elizabeth.

"We appreciate your offer, Superintendent Malone," Fiona nodded with a huge smile, "thank you! Now, Susanne and Sheri have a list they gathered of other "dunkees", so please share with us who they are."

"To our delight the baseball coaches of the Hope Valley Stallions all agreed to be dunked again this year; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Plus we had other volunteers joining this year, Trevor, and Constables Gunther and Andy!" Sherri informed.

The crowd began to buzz about who they wanted to dunk, when Lee stood up and good-naturally said, "I suggest that Henry and I both offer our services to support the gymnasium, I'm sure our workers would love to dunk their bosses, what'ya say Henry?"

Henry was taken aback. He was a dunkee last year and got dunked three times and thought that was the last of it, but his son, Christopher was there to egg him on, so he just couldn't say no, not with Dottie watching him too. "All right if you will, I will. What the heck, my employees will probably line up for this!"

With that the crowd roared with laughter and men were counting their pennies alongside the boys who wanted to dunk their coaches.

The Mounties left for the RCMP office to get changed out of their uniform and into casual clothes to play baseball. There was a mixture of old and young alike. Bill was the Captain of their team of Nathan, Andy, Gunther, with some retired Christopher Herrmann and John Michaels. Constables Gabe Kinslow, Rory Callahan, Jim Meyer and Stephen Palmer from local towns. Knowing they had one too many, John Michaels offered to be score keeper and back-up in case anyone was injured.

When they got to the field they began tossing the ball and warming up. It was a good thing, some of them just kept missing the practice pitch while others couldn't catch a long hit without stumbling down to the grass.

Matthew was the Captain for the workers team. They had Pastor Joseph, Jesse Flynn, Bob Landoch, "Big Will" Andersson, Mike Hickam, Mark, Luke, and John with Trevor as their scorekeeper and back-up.

The worker team watched them practice and laughed at them. "What a bunch of clowns," Matthew chided.

"Don't get too big for your britches, Matthew," Joseph warned with a wink. When the Mounties left the field after practice, then Matthew took his team out to warm up.

The Mounties watched with awe at how far Will could slam that ball high and far out past the field and gulped. The coaches were darn good since they had been practicing with the boys all summer and knew all the rules. The only one that was an easy target was Bob Landoch and they took note of that. Otherwise, they knew they were up to a big challenge.

Bill encouraged them, "All right men, remember we are Mounties!"

They all replied together, "One for all and all for one!"

No one was ready for the desserts over at Minnie's Cafe after such a delicious buffet, just as Debbie and Kathy figured, so they announced that the Cafe would open after the baseball game. Meanwhile, Billees was open as Luciana and her crew worked cleaning up and keeping cold water and lemonade ready to quench any thirst.

Teresa, Marge, and Brenda took down the names of the men who were going to enter the pie-eating contest and there were quite a few! Nathan was definitely the first one to offer again this year and told them already before he left as did Bill, Jesse, Joseph, and Will. A few others decided to join in the fun, Ned, Kevin, Tom Thornton, Walter Gleixner, and Ben Carmon. They had plenty of time to make room for the pie-eating contest which would also wait until after the game.

As expected, it didn't take long to clean up with quite a few pitching in, so most of the folks were already heading to the baseball field and laying down blankets.

Dee took Archie and Emily home to rest along with Christopher. She hated to miss the first half of the game as she wanted to watch Nathan play. Her mother and father told her, "Go ahead Dee and go back to the game. Your father and I could use some down time now too. Don't worry about Christopher. We'll probably lay down on your bed and relax so we'll be right next to his room."

"Are you sure Mom?"

Dee's father nodded, "Go have fun! We'll all join you in an hour or so. Besides, Dorothy and George will want you with them too. Now, run along!"