Nathan remained sitting at his desk as Julie walked out the door. He shook his head as he heard her murmur to herself, who knew it could be so much fun," and then giggled as she walked away.
'What had he gotten himself into? Was he really going out on a date with the sister of the woman he loved?' He continued sitting there pondering their conversation in an effort to understand everything that she had told him. Obviously, he would have questions that needed answers, but what could that mean in the long run? What would he want to happen in the future?"
A few moments later, his thoughts were interrupted by Bill entering his office, smirking. "I see that Julie stopped by to see you?"
"You knew about all of this?" Nathan asked. "Why didn't you say anything? More importantly, are you the one who told her to come see me?"
Bill sat down in his chair, he still considered it his and put his hand up. "First, calm down. Yes, I knew but only a few days ago. However, it wasn't until this morning, when Rosemary stopped by my office, that I knew about Julie's plan to pretend to date you. As for why I didn't tell you, I didn't know that you would be involved in the plan, and we weren't sure you would want to know what was happening given the circumstances."
"Good thing I hadn't had the chance to ask Mei out yet," Nathan muttered.
Bill raised his eyebrows at that statement. "You were going to ask Mei Sou out? That new pharmacist?"
"I had thought of doing that, yes. Is there a problem?" Nathan asked, bristling at the tone. "At least she's not someone like Lucas,"
Bill could hear the anger and hurt in Nathan's tone as he took a jab at Elizabeth. But he couldn't prevent himself from saying, "I wouldn't be so sure of that."
As Nathan went to respond, Florence came running into the Jail. "BILL! Nathan! Have you both heard?"
"Heard what?" Bill growled, annoyed at the interruption but too curious about the news to reprimand her.
"We have a new family that just moved into the Old Miller Place. "Florence said, still gasping for breath. "A Widow and her three children."
"Oh well, looks like Elizabeth's class will be increasing this year." Bill mused.
"That will make Allie happy," Nathan agreed.
"Oh no, her children are older," Florence corrected. "The son looks to be Hickam's age, and the girls are around Fiona's age. Excuse me, but I must go tell Molly,"
She turned to leave, but before walking out the door she looked over her shoulder and whisper yelled, "Have a good time on your date tonight," then, after giving a wink, she was gone.
Nathan turned back to Bill. "Care to explain your comment about me asking Mei Sou to dinner?"
"Not, really, No," Bill replied before heading back to his office, leaving Nathan staring at his retreating back dumbfounded.
When it came time for Nathan to get ready for his da… "No, this is supper!" he corrected himself. "This is definitely not a date."
Though embarrassed, he was glad that Florence had teased him about Julie. It had gone a long way to ease his mind that people understood what was really going on, and as she said, their reputations wouldn't suffer.
Julie opened the door with a big smile before he even knocked. "Why Corporal Grant, my sister, was right!"
When Nathan looked at her questioningly, she replied, "You do look handsome in blue." Julie explained before leaning over conspiratorially. "Though between you and me, she said she loves your blue plaid shirt best."
Before he could determine what to say in response, she had more of Elizabeth's secrets to disclose.
"Of course, she says you look handsome no matter what you're wearing and smell like pine and cedar, which are two of her favorite scents,"
Nathan blushed and cleared his throat.
"Uh… Well, thanks, Julie, you look lovely as well. Shall we?" Gesturing with his arm for them to head toward the café.
"I think we shall," Julie answered with a giggle. They had started walking when Julie leaned over and said, "I recall where I have seen that suit before?"
"Oh?" Nathan asked, wondering when it could have been.
"You are wearing it in the picture of the two of you at Clara's wedding. Beth carries it with her."
Nathan looked at Julie in shock and saw the mirth in her eyes. If she was anything like his sister, he was about to get answers to many of the questions he had about Elizabeth that had been plaguing him. Unlike Elizabeth, Julie was quick to fill the silence as they walked.
"Rosemary told me Allie is out of town. When is she due back?"
"Not for another ten days," Nathan replied with a sigh.
"I'm looking forward to meeting her. Beth told me that she is quite an artist. But don't worry; my interest stems from a love of teaching others what I know and possibly learning new things. I guess you could say it is my passion. I even went to art school to learn how to master various techniques. Beth already warned me to go through you for boundaries." Julie assured him, seeing that Nathan was concerned, and her comment set off his protective mode.
"I appreciate that, Julie," Nathan said with a smile. "My sister Colleen was also an artist. In fact, you remind me of her."
"Then I will take that as the highest compliment, Nathan."
Nathan smiled, pleased by her words. There was something about Julie that was comforting. Part of it he knew was that she reminded him of Colleen a lot, but she had a warm and genuine personality that put a person at ease.
They reached the café, and Nathan opened the door for her. The café was busy, but Bill had reserved the table by the window as planned. They wanted the word to get to Lucas that he had taken Julie out.
They spent the next two hours talking about a myriad of things, including childhood pranks that they had pulled, and he learned that Elizabeth was quite the prankster in her youth. As they sat talking over dessert, Bill joined them. The cafe was closed, and he had noticed the lightness in Nathan as Julie kept him laughing.
"So, have you ever captured any criminals?" Julie asked him.
"A few. I think the biggest one was a member of the Tolliver gang. It wasn't the leader but one of his brothers. It was just before I got custody of Allie. A few days later, I heard he escaped when his brother Nate helped break him out."
"Oh, they aren't really brothers, you know that, right?" Julie said.
Nathan looked at her. "I did, but I wonder how you would know that."
Oh….Um…Well….You see…"
"Julie is an expert on them, especially Nate." Bill teased. "Aren't you? So is Elizabeth. Thanks to Julie."
With a grin, Nathan looked at her and encouraged her to answer.
"You know it is getting late, and we should let Bill get to bed. I'm sure he is ready to go home."
"It's not that late, and Nathan wants another piece of pie, right?" Bill said with a smirk.
"Oh, I do. It will go perfectly with another cup of coffee and the story that Julie is going to tell us." Nathan said.
"How do you even know about that anyway, Bill? You weren't even here back then." Julie said, exasperated.
"Well, Jack told me, but then I also spoke with Patrick. You remember him, right?" Bill asked slyly. "I know that he says he will never forget you."
Julie giggled, "Oh, yeah. Patrick. I really made him work overtime."
"Are you referring to Superintendent Patrick O'Reilly?"
"Oh, I hadn't realized that he had gotten promoted. You see when I knew him, Father hired him to escort me here to visit Elizabeth back when it was still Coal Valley."
Julie giggled as the memories came back to her. "It turns out he was given the task of being my, well, I guess you would say, bodyguard. It turned out he was also Jack's replacement, but that is another story."
Nathan just sat there, fascinated by what he was hearing.
"Anyway, when we were sightseeing around Coal Valley on horseback, I was trying to escape him. I told him I had to use the restroom, but I just wanted to get away from him and explore independently. That is how I came across a cabin in the woods and found Nate Tolliver."
Julie sighed. "He was so handsome and then told me that his brother made him do these things so that I would feel sorry for him, though I didn't know it then. But as they were taking him away, I walked up and slapped him for it, and felt much better."
"Tell him where you found him," Bill said.
"It's really… all right, it wasn't the smartest thing, but I came across him in a cabin in the middle of the woods with a gunshot wound. He pulled a gun on me, but then he apologized. He asked me not to tell anyone where he was. That his brother made him do the things he did, and he didn't like doing them. He didn't look too well, and I promised I wouldn't and would return the next day with food and medicine.
"After he pulled a gun on you?"
"Well yeah, I wasn't going to sit there and let him die in the middle of nowhere."
"Of course not," Nathan said, trying not to laugh.
"So anyway, I spent the next two days caring for him."
"Where was Elizabeth? Did Jack notice that you were disappearing?"
"Well, I would go when Beth was teaching. Jack was busy with personal issues involving my sister and a reposting to Cape Fullerton."
"The day Jack left, and Patrick became the official Mountie; I snuck Nate back to Abigail's. Then we had the doctor come in and treat him for lead poisoning. I lied about who he was, and he slept in Abigail's spare room. I think we told him that Nate was hunting with some friends, and somebody accidentally shot him as they were trying to take a deer, though neither Abigail nor Beth believed me. He told me he would turn his life around so we could be together."
I'm guessing that didn't happen,"
"No, it didn't. Right after he left for the cabin to get his money, his three goons came into town and kidnapped me and Elizabeth so I could show them the cabin where I found him. They were after the loot. That is what you call it, right?"
At Nathan and Bill's nod, Julie continued, "Then I found out once we got there that he was playing me along the whole time. He even kissed me before returning to that cabin and told me to wait for him. Can you believe it?"
"Jack told me Patrick said that he had hardened criminals easier to handle than Julie."
"Oh, that's so sweet," Julie cooed.
Nathan shook his head. "I don't think he meant it as a compliment Julie."
"Oh well. I'm taking it as one anyway."
"We probably should be getting home now," Nathan said, taking a last swig of his coffee.
After hugging Bill, Julie allowed Nathan to escort her home.
Reaching her door, Julie thanked him for a wonderful evening.
"I can honestly say that I had a nice time as well. It's been a while since I laughed so much." Nathan agreed.
"I'll figure out our next move and let you know," Julie whispered as she hugged him good night. "Working undercover is so much fun." Then with a laugh, she went inside.
As he walked away, two pairs of eyes watched him leave, and neither was happy with the turn of events. By coincidence, both were watching from the saloon. One was jealous, while the other was smiling in anticipation of a new challenge.
Nathan arrived home chuckling as he recalled the evening with Elizabeth's sister. Rather than be awkward, he had a lot of fun and was intrigued by the stories that Julie had told about Elizabeth's time before he knew her. In some ways, their banter reminded him of how things had been when he and Elizabeth were close friends. He was shocked that Elizabeth had a copy of the keeper photo she kept close. What could it mean?
Before that thought could flow, he tamped it down and focused instead on Allie and how much he was looking forward to her coming home. Unlike other nights in recent months, he fell asleep with a smile.