When Nathan reached Toronto, he was temporarily stay at an old friend's apartment that he was renting out. After Nathan was done unpacking, he sat down on the couch. While there were cars going by down on the street, the apartment was quiet. Nathan was used to the noise that Allie, Colin and the animals made.
The silence made Nathan uncomfortable so he went to go see the land that Nathan and Allie would be living on. It was not as Nathan imagined it. It was a big property but it was in between two houses. The barn would have to be small and so would the stables.
After the disappointment of the land, Nathan decided to walk in downtown Toronto to clear his head. As Nathan was walking, he heard a child's laugh. It sounded exactly like Baby Jack's laugh. Nathan looked around until he saw a father holding a child. Seeing that caused Nathan pain in his heart.
That night, Nathan called the Coulter's house. Allie wasn't in at the moment and would call him tomorrow. As Nathan laid in his bed, he thought about how much he missed Allie, Elizabeth and even that little town of Hope Valley.
The next day, Nathan started his job at his old firm. Nathan wore his lucky blue suit. Nathan was excited for his new position because he was going to decide which cases the firm would handle when it came to property cases.
Nathan was waiting in the lobby when Vincent came out to greet him.
"Nathan, my boy! So glad to have you here!" Vincent said.
"I'm glad to be here." Nathan said with a smile.
"I bet. Let me show you to your office." Vincent said.
Nathan followed Vincent into an executive office. The office was huge and had a view. Nathan's eyes widen.
"What do you think? Better than a dinky library." Vincent said with a laugh.
Nathan wanted to say something at the dinky library comment but bit his tongue.
"And here is your assistant, Greta." Vincent said.
A small blonde young woman walked in.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Grant. I'm here to serve you in any way possible." Greta said.
"Nice to meet you." Nathan said and shook her hand. As he was shaking her hand, Nathan looked at Vincent who winked at him.
Greta walked back out to her desk.
"Greta is looking for her MRS. degree if you know what I mean." Vincent said with a smile.
Nathan was not entertained.
"I'd like to get to work." Nathan said.
"Right. Here are the cases we want you to go through. Pick ones that you want the firm to represent. Once you have done that, Greta can bring the cases over." Vincent said.
"Got it." Nathan said.
"I'll leave you to it. You have the best view of the office. And I'm not talking about the view out the window." Vincent said looking at Greta.
Nathan gave a polite chuckle. Nathan was glad when Vincent left. Nathan took off his jacket and put it on the back of his chair. Nathan wasn't sure why he was surprised by Vincent's behavior. He was always like this when it came to woman and Nathan just followed along to impress his boss. But ever since Allie entered his life, he saw women differently. He wanted to treat them with respect as he would want any man to treat Allie with respect.
Nathan started reading the cases. Out of the ten cases that Vincent left for him to look at, he chose two. One was a pro bono case and the other one was a group of business owners who were getting evicted from their land for no reason.
He gave Greta the files and went back to his desk. As he was walking back to his desk, he saw a folded piece of paper next to his chair. It had fallen out of his jacket pocket. He opened the note and read it.
"Don't forget about us."- Elizabeth.
Nathan sat down in his chair. She must have slipped it into his jacket pocket when they hugged at the stagecoach. As Nathan was sitting in his chair, there was a knock at his door. It was Vincent.
Vincent came in and threw a file on his desk.
"Why did you put that one in the pile?" Vincent asked angrily.
Nathan opened the file. It was a big company that wanted to evict homeowners from their land. It was the poor part of Toronto and those residents couldn't afford housing anywhere else.
"It's a poor neighborhood. Those people wouldn't be able to afford to live anywhere else." Nathan said.
"Who cares? This company gives us thirty percent of their business. Pays everyone's salary, including yours." Vincent said.
"There is plenty of empty land that they can use." Nathan said.
"But they want that land. You aren't in the prairie anymore. This is how we do business." Vincent said.
Nathan nodded. He thought back to the last 9 months of his life. He thought about Allie and how proud she was of him when he won against Lucas. He remembered his father who was proud of the man Nathan had become. Finally, he landed on Elizabeth. He looked at the note. Don't forget about us.
Nathan stood up.
"You're right Vincent, this isn't the prairie anymore and I hate it. I think I'll go back there now." Nathan said putting on his jacket.
"If you walk out that door, don't expect a job when you decide to come back to the real world!" Vincent yelled.
"Save it!" Nathan said and walked out the door.
As Nathan walked out of the building and onto the street, he felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders. Before going back to his apartment, he stopped at a phone booth to make a call to the newspaper to give them a small tip that a well-known company may be trying to steal land from the poor part of the city. When they asked for his name, he told them; Lucas Bouchard.
Nathan quickly gathered his belongings at the apartment. If he was lucky, he could make the two o'clock train. Nathan hailed down a cab that took him to the train station. He was able to get a train on the two o'clock train.
Nathan looked at his ticket and smiled.
"Uncle Nathan!" Allie yelled.
Nathan turned around. It was Allie.
"Allie?" Nathan said.
Allie ran over and gave him a hug.
"Did you come here alone?" Nathan asked.
"Of course not. You need to have an adult with you." Allie said.
Nathan looked up. Elizabeth was walking over to them.
Nathan stood up.
"What is going on?" Nathan asked.
"About an hour after you left, Allie and I started missing you. We decided to pack and come to Toronto. Lee drove us to the Union City train station and we made our way here." Elizabeth said.
"Both of you missed me?" Nathan said with a sly smile.
"Yes. Both of us." Elizabeth said.
"Can I get some popcorn?" Allie asked.
Nathan smiled.
"Sure." Nathan said. He pulled out his wallet and gave Allie money. She ran to get some popcorn.
"I got your note." Nathan said.
"I should have said it in person." Elizabeth said.
"What did you mean by us?" Nathan asked.
Elizabeth paused.
"In Jack's final letter to me, he said to open my heart to love again. I never thought it would ever happen or it would happen so soon. But then you came to Hope Valley. And little by little, my heart started to open. When you were almost killed in the mine, I was scared. My heart couldn't take another loss. But then when you left, I went to the library and looked at your plaque. I needed to do what I was afraid to do. And that is opening my heart to you." Elizabeth said.
"I read your book. I think it should end with the protagonist going with her heart." Nathan said.
"And what should she do to show him that she loves him." Elizabeth asked.
Nathan pulled Elizabeth closer. He put his lips softly into hers and gave her a soft kiss.
"That." Nathan said.
Elizabeth smiled.
They kissed again but more deeply and longer.
"I think we might miss the two o'clock train." Allie said.
Nathan pulled away from Elizabeth and looked at his watch.
"You're right. We better get going." Nathan said.
"We don't want to miss the train home." Elizabeth said.
Nathan smiled.
"No. We would want to miss the train back to home." Nathan said.
Allie, Nathan and Elizabeth grabbed their luggage and boarded the train home. Elizabeth fell asleep on one of his shoulders while Allie fell asleep on his other shoulder. He smiled at both of them. There is no place he would rather be.