Chapter 2: Preparing the Floats

The next few days were a buzz with the Hope Valley community setting up for the Christmas holiday. Lee and his men cut down the the biggest and fullest tree in the forest to set up in the center of town. Florence, Molly and their team of women were decorating Main Street and the Wishing Tree once it was up.

Elizabeth and the children were busy planning out what they would perform that year for the annual Christmas Eve program and how they would decorate both the float for the parade and the schoolhouse for their program.

By the end of the week, the Main Street of Hope Valley was all decked out for the Christmas season. The livery was open to the community to work on their parade floats and festival booths when they had the free time to do so.

Nathan and Bill decided that they would team up to decorate a wagon that represented both the Mountie and Judge's offices and they would have their horses pull the wagon. The two men just did not know how they were going to decorate the wagon for the day of the parade.

"You weren't here that year that we had the parade the first time. The main float that the Grand Marshalls rode in had replicas of the church and the rowhouses. And then, the school made their version of the North Pole. I think we should do something like that." Bill said, lost in thought.

Just then, Scout came running into the livery and barked at the two men. Nathan rolled his eyes and went back to examining the wagon closer to try to gain some inspiration for some sort of idea. After a few minutes, he froze in his spot and looked back at Scout with a big smile on his face.

"Bill! I've got it! We should make a replica of the Mountie office but give it a dual purpose. Let's make it into a doghouse for Scout. When the parade is over, we can either put the doghouse outside of the Mountie office or Allie and I can put it in our backyard." Nathan said, anxiously trying to read Bill's face to see his reaction to the idea.

Bill grinned and nodded his head excitedly as he responded, "Nathan, I think we've got a plan."

Bill walked over and scratched Scout's ears as he said, "Good job Scout! Thanks for the idea!"

Nathan just shook his head and rolled his eyes again as he responded, "Please… do not encourage him!"

Bill just chuckled as he scratched Scout's ears once more and then moved over to where they had their paper and pencil. He then called Nathan over so that together they could sketch out their plans for their float.

Scout walked over to where they stood going over the plans and watched them for awhile. Eventually, he made his way to the corner of the livery, grabbed a blanket off a bale of hay and situated himself, falling asleep soon after.

Everyone worked hard over the next few weeks. By the time it was the Monday before Christmas, all the booths were set up around Main Street.

The Coulters were walking down the street pushing Goldie in her carriage and Lee looked over at his wife who was beaming with pride as she gazed on their community.

"Rosie, you have done a magnificent job setting everything up!" Lee said as he praised his wife and lovingly kissed her cheek.

Just as he drew back, Nathan and Bill walked up behind them.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! You've done a great job organizing things Rosemary!" Bill said.

"It looks amazing Rosemary! You should be proud of yourself. I know Elizabeth is quite proud of how things have turned out." Nathan said as he smiled over at Rosemary.

The friends chatted for a few minutes about the various booths that were set up and the plan to run them during the next several days.

"Well, I really must go and do my rounds. You three take care. Bill, I'll catch up with you later." Nathan said as he turned to walk away but not before patting Bill on the shoulder.

The school children set out a table to create homemade ornaments. Across from them, Rosemary had set up a table with an assortment of handmade Christmas greeting cards. Next to the table with the cards, Lee had created an in-town mailbox. Part of Robert's job over the next week was to deliver the Christmas cards that were completed each day.

Bill walked with the Coulters back over to their table and then bid them goodbye as he continued to Pastor Joseph's booth. Joseph was busy preparing the Canfields infamous barbecue. After Bill got himself a plate of ribs, he walked with his plate and utensils over to one of the tables and took a seat.

As he ate, Bill gazed around his small town. He had truly come to love Hope Valley. They all had been through so much in the past year, Bill reflected. His eyes fell upon the booth that was set outside of the pharmacy. Mei had set up a hot cocoa and hot cider booth. She stood there smiling at some of the townspeople as she served them their drinks. Mike was over there as well helping her. Bill chuckled to himself as he observed one of the newest couples in Hope Valley. They weren't an obvious pair until you saw them in action and then you realized how much they complimented one another.

"At least some people found love here in Hope Valley", he muttered to himself as he pushed his plate aside when he finished.

"Feeling sorry for yourself Bill?" said a chuckling voice from behind him.

Bill turned around to see Henry standing there holding two bags of roasted chestnuts in his hands and wearing a smile on his face.

"Henry. Why are you in such a good mood today?" Bill asked in his regular gruff tone.

Henry handed him a bag and then came around to the opposite side of the table to sit down.

"Ah, I was just taking a break and saw you sitting over here. These chestnuts at Fiona's booth smelled so good that I couldn't resist so I figured I'd share." Henry answered with a smile.

Bill nodded as he peeked inside the bag, picked out the chestnut that he wanted and popped it into his mouth. He closed his eyes for a moment savoring the warm, nutty flavor that he was tasting.

"So, what's this you were saying about love in Hope Valley?" Henry said as he popped another chestnut into his mouth.

Bill waved his hand in front of his face and said, "Oh, that? Just an old, lonely man grumbling."

Henry eyed Bill as he ate and nodded his head in response. As he finished his bite, he cleared his throat.

"It won't be like this forever Bill." Henry answered.

"Bah. It sure feels like it. I haven't had any luck in that department in a long time. I'm proud of you though Henry, in the way that you took the initiative with Abigail. How's that going?" Bill asked as he scoured his bag for another chestnut worthy of his time.

Henry smiled and looked around before answering Bill.

"It's going well. I mean we are taking things slow, but I never in my life expected to say that I was courting Abigail Stanton." Henry said with a far-off look.

Just as Bill was about to respond, Nathan came over and sat across from both men on the opposite side of the round table. He held a bag of freshly baked gingerbread cookies from the cafe in one hand as a half eaten one was in his other hand.

"Does Elizabeth know about your cookie habit?" Bill joked as he looked at Nathan and shook his head.

"You bet she does! Who do you think gave me this bag just now." Nathan answered as he pointed over to the young teacher who was still over at the cafe's booth speaking to Minnie.

Henry chuckled as Bill grunted and rolled his eyes.

The three men sat at the tables and chatted for a while but as Henry finished up his bag of chestnuts, he excused himself from the table. When he walked off, Nathan looked intently at Bill.

"Having a hard day, Bill?" Nathan asked in a lighthearted but serious tone.

"I guess you could say that. I'm just having a lonely moment with the holiday season, that's all. I truly thought things might have worked out with Madeline, but I was mistaken. But hey, it's like I told you before. At least I reached out and tried to take the chance, right." Bill said as he once again gazed about the town, deep in thought.

Nathan nodded his head as he listened to Bill. He felt bad that Bill was going through this, especially now that he and Elizabeth had finally found one another. If there was anything that he could do in his power to help Bill, Nathan would do it in a heartbeat.

After a long silence, Bill looked back at Nathan and chuckled. He grabbed his rib plate and the dirty utensils and motioned for Nathan to follow as he took the dishes back to the wash bin at Joseph's booth.

As the two started walking down the Main Street together, Bill looked over at Nathan and said, "I was just having a moment. I'll be fine Nathan. I simply have to keep reminding myself that there's so much more good things happening than bad right? Everywhere we go, it looks like Christmas - the season of giving. What do you say as we walk around that we try to offer our services to anyone who may still need help with their float before Friday's parade, huh?"

Nathan nodded in agreement at the idea that Bill had just suggested.

"That is a great idea, Bill! I mean it is our job to serve the Hope Valley community and I can't think of a better way to do that. Let's go!" Nathan said enthusiastically.

The two men walked off on a mission to find anyone they could that still needed the extra hand before the big day on Friday.