Chapter 7 – Nathan Makes a Decision
Finally, as Nathan became aware of his surroundings, he immediately pulled back. He dropped his hands and stepped back. Carol was confused about what had just happened. She had been enjoying a wonderful kiss with Nathan and then he abruptly stopped.
"I am sorry." Nathan mumbled. "I shouldn't have done that."
Nathan was embarrassed and flustered. He couldn't even raise his head to look at her. He was surprised that she didn't just slap him for being so bold. Carol had froze because she had been thinking about doing the same thing, only Nathan had beat her to it. Realizing that Nathan was embarrassed and she was going to have to take the next step, she took a step closer to Nathan entering his personal space again. He backed up and she moved forward again. This happened for a couple of steps until Nathan was back against the wall and Carol was so close he could feel her breath on his neck when she breathed out.
"I should go." Nathan said, looking for an escape.
"It is okay." Carol said, putting her hand on his arm.
The moment she touched him, he felt that electricity again. He looked at his arm and then looked at her. She took her left hand and cupped his slightly stubbled cheek. She then leaned up and captured his lips. She kept pushing the kiss until he responded. Not thinking, Nathan slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Carol's right hand traced a path up his arm and then her fingers threaded into his hair behind his ear. She played with his curls as she continued to kiss him.
At one point, Nathan let out a little moan. When Carol finally pulled back for some air, she rested her head on his shoulder. They still held each other.
"That was amazing." Nathan rasped, low and sultry. "But I think we need to stop. What if someone comes in?"
Carol took a step back and raised her head to look into the clear blue eyes that had hunted her for the number of days.
"What if I don't want to stop?" Carol asked.
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked, his voice still low.
"I mean." Carol said. "We obviously have feelings for each other, so why should we have to stop?"
"What exactly are you asking?" Nathan asked. "I am a Mountie and an honorable man. I also want things to be clear. I am not …."
Carol reached up and put her finger across his lips.
"Shh." Carol said. "I am not asking you to be dishonorable. I am asking if you feel like I think you feel and I feel how I feel, why do we have to stop. I have been wracking my brain all day trying to come up with reasons that this wouldn't work, but I can't. The only thing I know is that I can leave. I can't walk away. So where does that leave us?"
Nathan stood there dumbfounded for a moment. He couldn't believe what she was saying.
"What about your job?" Nathan asked. "Your family?"
"I will find a different job." Carol said. "My mother is gone and my father is married to his career. My sister is married and living somewhere in California, I think. So what they think doesn't matter. It only matters what we want."
"What will people here think?" Nathan asked.
"I think they will be happy if you are happy." Carol said. "Granted, a few of the single ladies might be jealous, but that is their problem."
"And you are okay living here?" Nathan said. "Knowing we won't have much."
Carol smiled. She hadn't even thought about the trust fund she had, but never touched.
"I am sure we will manage." Carol said.
She knew she would have to tell him she was pretty well off later, but she didn't want to ruin it right now.
"What about Allie?" Nathan asked.
"What about her?" Carol asked. "She is a lovely girl. I actually talked to her for a bit today when she was working at the mercantile. She asked if I was staying and seemed disappointed when I told her I didn't know yet."
They stood there so close, yet miles apart.
"Any other arguments?" Carol asked. "Because I've been through all of them today and I don't have a single reason why we shouldn't be together. If you say, we don't know each other. We will learn. If you are worried about your job, don't. You don't need permission and if someone says something, I will remind them all you have done for the force."
Nathan reached into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the ring. He then took a half step closer to Carol, she responded by moving into his bubble again.
"I have never felt like this." Nathan said.
"Neither have I." Carol said.
Nathan leaned down and kissed her again. When he pulled back and rested his forehead on hers, he brought his hand up showing her the ring. The ring itself was a simple solitaire diamond with three smaller diamonds on either side, set in gold. It wasn't the largest ring, but it was perfect because it was from Nathan.
"Do you want me to get on one knee?" Nathan asked.
Carol nodded. Nathan moved back and dropped to one knee. He cleared his throat and looked up at her.
"Carol Jean Lockland." Nathan said. "I am not the most romantic man and at times, I have trouble speaking. I am a simple man who likes simple things. If you can live with that, I would love to share my life with you. So will you marry me?"
"Yes." Carol said.
Nathan slipped the ring on her finger, then stood to kiss her again. He cupped her face in both his hands and they shared a pretty passionate kiss.
"We need to tell Allie." Carol said.
"She is at Emily's house." Nathan said.
"How do you want to do this?" Carol said. "She needs to be the first to know."
Nathan thought for a moment.
"I got it." Nathan said. "Can you go down to the dock by the pond? I will go get Allie and tell her we need to talk and bring her to the pond."
"Okay." Carol said.
Before she left, she brought her fingers to his lips again. She brushed her thumb back and forth.
"Don't want her to see my lipstick." Carol said.
Nathan blushed.
"Go." Carol said. "I will see you in a bit."
Nathan took a deep breath and calmed his racing thoughts, then went to get his little girl who wasn't so little anymore.
…. …. …. ….
While Nathan and Carol were in the livery, Jack was enjoying an evening with his wife and child. He loved to spend time with JT playing Mounties on the floor or listening to him talk about what he did. Jack felt so bad that he had missed so much time with him, but there was nothing that he could do about the past. At least he was able to move forward. Jack was playing with JT on the floor when he stopped and looked at Elizabeth who was finishing up cleaning the kitchen from supper. JT came over and ruffled Jack's hair because he wasn't listening.
"Daddy." JT said, when Jack looked at him.
"What?" Jack asked.
"What you looking at?" JT asked.
"Sorry." Jack said. "I was watching Mama. She is so pretty and I am so glad to be back with both of you."
"Me too." JT said. "Mama no more sad."
Jack smiled.
"So Mama talked about me?" Jack said.
JT nodded his head and then went to the table and grabbed the photo from their wedding. He came back and showed it to Jack.
"Favorite." JT said.
Jack looked at the photo and smiled bigger.
"I will let you in on a little secret." Jack said. "That is my favorite as well. Your Mama was so pretty that day."
"Mama always pretty." JT said.
"Very true." Jack said. "But I think it is also time for someone to get ready for bed."
JT ran from Jack giggling. Elizabeth scooped him up as he ran around the table. She looked over at Jack, who just gave her a dimpled grin. Elizabeth shook her head and then took her son upstairs to get him ready for bed. She was glad to have Jack back, but it had only been a few days and she saw that he was still just the big kid at heart. She wondered how it would be if they had more children. Little did she know that they would find out sooner rather than later. Jack got up and put the picture back where it belonged. He saw the other photos there and smiled that nothing had really changed. He couldn't wait to add the new photos that Fiona had taken. He looked at the photo of JT as a baby. He picked up the frame and brushed his finger across the boy's angelic face.
"He was such a good baby." Elizabeth said. "Everyone loved him and he had them all wrapped around his finger. Though I think Nathan and Bill were his favorites. He was happy with pretty much anyone holding him."
"I am so …." Jack started.
Elizabeth put her finger to Jack's lips.
"Don't." Elizabeth said. "I know. We can't change it, we can only move forward. Just promise me that you will be here for the next one."
Jack took Elizabeth's hand, kissed it and smiled at her.
"Nothing could keep me away." Jack said.
"Good." Elizabeth said. "Now your son wants his daddy to read to him."
"Meet you in our room in about a half hour." Jack said.
"Promise." Elizabeth said.
"Promise." Jack said.
Jack headed up to read to their son, while Elizabeth picked up the downstairs before heading up.
…. …. …. ….
Nathan worked really hard to keep his face neutral as he headed to talk to Allie. He didn't stop to talk to anyone, just tipped his hat and kept moving. Anyone casually looking at Nathan wouldn't notice anything different and just would think that he was probably worried about the case. He stopped and took another deep breath before he went up the steps and knocked on the door. He heard Emily call that she would get it.
"Hi, Emily." Nathan said. "I need to speak to Allie."
"Come in." Emily said.
"Actually, I would prefer if Allie came outside." Nathan said.
Emily turned and called for Allie. She came to the door and looked at her dad and then tilted her head and looked at him again.
"What is wrong?" Allie asked.
"Nothing is wrong." Nathan said. "I just need to speak to you. Please come outside."
"Just go." Emily said. "The sooner that you go, the sooner that we can get back to what we were doing."
Allie just nodded and stepped outside. Emily shut the door and Nathan stepped off the porch.
"Well, come on." Nathan said.
Allie sighed and followed her father.
"Thank you." Nathan said. "I wanted to talk to you in private because a lot has happened today. You need to know about what is happening before other people."
"Are we leaving?" Allie asked. "I thought you said we could stay. Is this because of Mountie Jack?"
"We aren't going anywhere." Nathan said. "At least not right now, but we may move next year."
"Fine." Allie said. "Is that all?"
"No, there is more." Nathan said. "I know that you were hurt by everything that happened with Mrs Thornton, but I don't want you to take it out on Mountie Jack or even Little Jack. There were things that happened that were beyond their control."
"I told you I would be nice." Allie said.
"So the first thing that I need to tell you." Nathan said. "Also, this is family business, so it doesn't get repeated, though some of it will be made public in the coming days and weeks."
"I understand." Allie said.
"So Superintendent Hargraves has been arrested and is in jail." Nathan said. "He will be there for a very long time."
"Is it because of what he tried to do to you?" Allie asked.
"Yes, in part." Nathan said. "But his list of crimes is long and involves a lot of people. Next, Mr Bouchard is still in jail and he is going to be there for a long time. We are still learning of everything that he did. Just know that hurting Emily, Opal and Little Jack are the low end of his charges. As some of this information comes out, we are going to have to be there to support Mrs Thornton and those close to her. See Mr Bouchard was sent here to ruin Mrs Thornton because his mother and uncle wanted something that her family had and they thought that if they ruined her reputation that they would be able to get it. Mountie Jack is talking to her about those things, but we need to be understanding and not contribute to the gossip."
"Okay." Allie said. "Is that why Mountie Jack came back, to save Mrs Thornton?"
"Yes." Nathan said. "Also because his undercover assignment was done and he could finish the rest of the investigation being a Mountie again."
They were getting close to the pond, so Nathan stopped Allie and turned her to face him. He leaned down so he could look her in the eye on her level.
"You know that I will always love you, no matter what." Nathan said.
Allie nodded. She felt like she was in trouble, but couldn't think of anything that she had done.
"You also said that you wanted to see me happy again." Nathan said.
Again, Allie nodded.
"So if being with someone made me happy." Nathan said. "Would you be okay with it?"
"Sure, Dad." Allie said. "But you aren't dating anyone. You said you and Dr Faith decided to just be friends. The same with you and Miss Mei."
"I know." Nathan said. "I am not talking about them."
"Okay." Allie said. "There aren't many other single ladies, other then Miss Fiona and some of the mine widows, but if you are happy then I will be happy for you."
"Good." Nathan said.
"I mean it isn't like you are getting married tomorrow." Allie said, with a roll of her eyes. "So it isn't like it will affect me much. I have a year or at most of school left."
"What if I wanted to get married before that?" Nathan asked. "Would you be okay with some moving in with us? I know that it would be an adjustment for all of us, but in order for this to work, you need to agree."
"I guess." Allie said. "What are you going to do, get a mail order bride? They still do those right?"
"I don't know." Nathan said. "But that is not what is happening."
"Then I will be okay." Allie said. "It is not like you are inviting a stranger into the house?"
"Good." Nathan said. "I am glad you understand."
"Can I go back now?" Allie asked.
"Finish walking with me to the pond?" Nathan said. "I have been so busy this week, I haven't hardly seen you."