Chapter 87 – Wednesday Evening

As soon as Wynn was able to get away, he grabbed Dee and McGinty before heading back to the mayor's office to talk. For a moment, Wynn thought about grabbing Bill. Wynn had seen Bill leave with Lee to go check on the men that were working and then he assumed that Bill would be at the cafe or jail. Wynn wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he knew that he needed more information, but also didn't want to tip off William Thatcher that he knew that Wynn knew that he was coming.

"McGinty." Wynn said. "I am not questioning your integrity, but I need to know. But why was I just learning about this right before the meeting?"

"Sir." McGinty said. "I received the message and went straight to Jack. Bill thought I was heading to the cafe to eat, so I sat for a bit before I went to talk to Jack. I wanted to talk to Jack before I told anyone else. The message had been sent to Benson Hills. When Mr Nichols saw it, he knew that I was in Hope Valley and sent it here as soon as he saw the message. From what I understand, his assistant took the message and it was set to be delivered to the Mountie office. I know that Mia wouldn't have sent it unless she was sure. I know that she is scared of Mr Thatcher and wouldn't want him to know that she said anything, but I also know that she spoke to me before I left Hamilton that she felt that it was unfair the way that Mr Thatcher was treating Elizabeth. She said that Elizabeth had always been kind to her and never treated her badly. I am also sure that Mia sent the message as soon as she was able to."

"Okay." Wynn said. "I just don't understand how she would have known that information."

"Sir." McGinty said. "I have learned over the years from first my aunt and now, Mia, working as servants, that if you really want to know what is going on in a place – ask the hired help. Especially servants that are there all the time. They will know more about what is going on in the household than many of the people that live there. Good help, learn to keep their eyes and ears open at all times and get good at tucking information away. They also tend to share information with others, so that they can head off problems before they arise. It tends to be how they keep their jobs and become trusted employees."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Bill said. "But the kid is right. If you want to know what is going on – ask the hired help."

"I didn't hear you come in, Bill." Wynn said.

"No, problem." Bill said. "Anything that I need to be worried about?"

Bill was looking right at McGinty, but he didn't return Bill's gaze. He kept his eyes downcast.

"We need to tell him." Dee whispered.

"You're right." Wynn said. "Bill, come sit with us for a moment."

The four men went to sit down at the table.

"First was there something that you needed, Bill?" Wynn asked.

"I was just going to let you know that the men were finishing up for the day and starting their supper." Bill said. "Also, all the men that will be leaving on Friday have been notified and are meeting in front of the saloon to head out by 7am. Pastor Frank and Andy have arranged for wagons to take the men. Andy also let us know that he is going to have wagons available for the men with families to come back here on their days off. Now what is going on."

"Thank you for the update." Wynn said. "Now we may have a problem on our hands. I am not sure what is going on, but I trust where the information came from. Apparently we have received communication that William Thatcher and a lawyer may be on their way here to try and force Elizabeth to go back to Hamilton with them. Jack has been notified, but at far as we know he has not told Elizabeth. The last thing that she needs right now is additional stress."

"Well." Bill said. "As one of Jack's groomsmen, William Thatcher has no legal leg to stand on. Both were consenting adults and the marriage is valid. I am not sure what he thinks he can do, but we will deal with whatever happens."

"We all know that." Wynn said. "The plan for right now, will be to have one of the four of us meet all incoming stagecoaches. I believe that starting tomorrow, they will be back to their regular runs. Granted, special order ones may come in at any time."

"In that case, we need to talk to Mr Graham over at the stagecoach office." Dee said. "I think that we need to know if there are any incoming stagecoaches other than what is scheduled. I will do that right away in the morning."

"That sounds like a good plan." Bill said.

"I also think that we need to be careful of people asking for Jack or Elizabeth at this point." McGinty said. "I know that people around town are glad that Jack is doing better and it sounds like he may be allowed to rest at his house by the weekend, but I think that we need to be careful if people start asking about them. There are a lot of new people in town and there will be more coming. Unless it is a parent of a student or official Mountie business, we encourage people to leave Jack and Elizabeth alone right now."

"I couldn't agree more." Wynn said. "I know that school will be starting again on Monday, so we will have to keep an eye on things if Jack is at his house."

"Knowing Charlotte." Bill said. "I am sure that either Elizabeth or her will be close if Jack is at home. Especially if he is still under orders to rest."

"I think that you're right." Wynn said. "We still need to be aware. Beyond that, I am not sure that there is much more that we can do other than be ready."

"We need to talk to Jack again." McGinty said. "I told him I would talk to him after talking to you Sir."

"I will handle it." Wynn said.

"Yes, Sir." McGinty said.

"Now Bill and McGinty." Wynn said. "I want you to try and meet with people from the Silverton settlement. I want to know when they first rented the land, who they paid and if papers were signed. I also want to know who was collecting rent the last few months. If you can't get a name, get a description. I want to know who it was and how he was connected to Gowen. I know that I told them to come over tomorrow, but if you want to start tonight, go ahead. Also McGinty, as I noted beforehand, I would like you to ride morning rounds until further notice. If you feel there is something that needs to be checked in the evenings, go right ahead. Feel free to use either of Thornton's horses if yours needs a break."

"Yes, Sir." McGinty said.

"Now, gentlemen." Wynn said. "I have paperwork to do. Dee stay for a moment."

Wynn waited until both McGinty and Bill had gone down the steps before handing Dee a message that he had been writing.

"Get this out." Wynn said. "Also tell your mother she better deal with her brother before I do."

Dee left to get the wire sent, but he was sure that his mother was already on her way to Union City to get Becky, but he would do what he could. The plan was for her to get Becky from the hospital tomorrow and travel to Buxton then to get an early stagecoach to Hope Valley to be here by lunch Friday. Before he headed up the stairs to the mercantile, Dee quickly looked at the message that his father had asked him to send. It was to Superintendent Anderson. He breathed a quick sigh and headed up the steps. Dee took a chance and also wired his aunt, Elizabeth's mother, to see if she could help. He just hoped that it didn't backfire on him.

While Wynn worked on paperwork, Bill and McGinty set about talking to the people from Silverton. It was still early evening and not even past the supper hour, so they didn't think that people would mind talking to them. They really didn't want to have to wait until the next day, given that Wynn wanted all the information on Gowen as soon as possible. Bill was still trying to figure out if there was still more information that he knew that he didn't realize. He kept racking his brain, but was coming up empty. He was trying to think of other people that both Gowen and Jonas knew. He thought if all else failed, at least the Mounties could check out the names. If nothing came of it then he had tried, but if Gowen had used Jonas' name what other connection had he used.

Bill and the others were glad that they were able to get people out of the saloon and they would be out of the school after Friday. Granted there would still be people in tents, but it would be temporary. Bill knew that he was going to have his hands full with the saloon opening back up and all the extra people in town, but he was also glad that he would have McGinty there as well as the Delaneys for the time being. He just hoped that there were any major problems before Jack was able to get back to work.

Jack and Elizabeth chose to venture downstairs for supper. They chose to sit in the kitchen. Jack wanted to move and he knew that he also needed to. There was something for resting, but he also knew that his lungs would heal better if he was moving. He also knew that he had to be careful, but he figured a trip to the outhouse and downstairs for a meal wasn't going to be over doing it. He really wanted to go back to house and get back to work soon. He also knew that it would take some time before he was back to one hundred percent. He was hoping that it was sooner rather than later, especially with Elizabeth pregnant. He knew that he needed to be able to work on his house soon. The cafe was fairly busy, but Jack and Elizabeth didn't mind. Not many people knew they were down in the kitchen.

The supper rush was just winding down when Wynn and Dee came in. Dee had headed right to the kitchen to grab some coffee and saw Jack and Elizabeth downstairs. They invited him to join them even though they were almost done. Dee excused himself and went and grabbed his father. Together they sat in the kitchen with Jack and Elizabeth. As they were sitting there making small talk, Dee and Wynn avoided talking about things going on in town. Elizabeth knew that they were hiding something from her and she was not happy. She was determined to get the bottom of what they were hiding.

"So, Dee." Elizabeth said. "Anything interesting happen today? I know that McGinty came and talked to Jack earlier."

Dee immediately looked to his father for help. The moment that Dee looked to Wynn, Elizabeth knew that they were most definitely hiding something from her. She also knew that Dee had trouble lying to her and she was going to use that to her advantage at the moment. She put on her best scary teacher face and turned to him once again.

"Winston Nathaniel Delaney, Jr." Elizabeth said. "Don't you dare lie to me. I know that there is something going on and I want to know right now."

Dee and Jack both flinched. Neither would look at Elizabeth and kept their eyes downcast as they ate. Wynn knew that they were leaving it to him to calm Elizabeth down.

"Beth, dear calm down." Wynn said. "We were just trying to protect you. We didn't want to upset you and we aren't even sure what exactly is going on. We are trying to figure it out and I promise that nothing will happen."

Turning to Wynn with her scary teacher face, little did she know that it had no effect on him.

"I want to know right now." Elizabeth said.

"Tell her." Jack said. "She has a right to know."

"It is your father, again." Wynn said.

"Now what did he do?" Elizabeth asked, her voice laced with anger.

"From what we understand." Wynn said. "He met with a lawyer and is supposedly on his way here with the lawyer to terminate your marriage and take you back to Hamilton. Now, before you get upset. I have sent a message to my Elizabeth to try and stop him. I have also talked to McGinty and Bill and we won't allow anything to happen. He has no legal leg to stand on and if he tries to take you by force, he will be arrested for attempted kidnapping. We won't allow him to take you."

Elizabeth took a deep breath before she spoke. She knew that she had to calm down. She also trusted her uncle and Jack. She knew that they wouldn't let anything happen to her. She had to trust that they would all protect her, no matter how much she didn't think that she needed it.

"Thank you for telling me." She said. "I think that we need to wire mother, she may be able to talk him out of it."

"I already did." Dee said. "I took a chance and sent her an urgent wire for her eyes only. I just hope that this doesn't blow up in our faces."

"What did you say?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not much." Dee said. "I didn't tell her that either dad or I was here. I just said that I heard that William was heading to get Elizabeth and that he should let her live her life."

"Thank you." Jack said. "So what is the plan?"

"The plan." Wynn said. "Is for you to continue to recover, Jack. Bill, McGinty, Dee or myself will meet all incoming stagecoaches for the next few days. If he does happen to show up, we will refuse to tell him where you are. We have also decided that until further notice, there will be limited access to either of you. I also know that Beth will be going back to school next week, but it is what it is. We will deal with whatever comes. I don't want either of you to worry about it."

"Thank you, Wynn." Jack said. "I was a little worried this afternoon when I talked to Joe. I debated telling you right away, Elizabeth, but I also don't want you to worry. I know that there are tensions when it comes to your father and family. I don't want to make things worse, but he is not being rational. He needs to respect our relationship, we are adults."

"I agree that he needs to respect our relationship." Elizabeth said. "I just wish that you would have talked to me. I thought we talked about this. We had promised that we wouldn't keep things from each other."

"I was just trying to protect you." Jack said.

"Beth." Wynn said. "Don't be mad at Jack, he was trying. I also debated telling you. The last thing that you need right now is to get upset. The last thing that I want is a repeat of what happened in Hamilton. Now that we know that you are pregnant, I worry about you. There is no doctor that we can call if something happens. Please don't be mad. We were just trying to look out for you."

"I am fine." Elizabeth said. "Please give me some credit. Just because I am pregnant, doesn't mean that I am going to break. I have dealt with my father and his unreasonable expectations for years. I might have been able to word things differently for Mother to help. If he shows up, I don't know if I want to see him. I will just have to decide later, but I doubt that he will show. He most likely would send someone."

"Okay." Wynn said. "Sorry, I promise that I will let you know if anything else comes about. Like I said, we were trying to protect you. You don't need the stress and I worry. Now, you both should head up. It has been a long day and we have more ahead of us. Elizabeth, are you heading to the funeral tomorrow?"

"I don't know yet." Elizabeth said. "I was going to talk to Faith if Jack can come, otherwise I think I might stay here with him."

"Elizabeth." Jack said. "As much as I want to go, I don't think that I will have the strength. I have no emotional reserve right now and I can't handle burying children right now."

"I think that is a wise choice, Jack." Wynn said. "Tomorrow is going to be hard for everyone. I think if you are feeling unsure about going it is okay. Abigail let people know at the meeting that she would understand if it was too hard for anyone to be there, but encouraged them to pray for the families. I would encourage the same. Maybe while we are at the funeral, you could spend some time in prayer for those families and all in attendance."

"We will do that." Elizabeth said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I am suddenly tired."

"I will go with you." Jack said. "Please let Abigail know that we have turned in. Also let her know about our plans for the funeral."

"We will." Dee said. "I am going to stay here for a bit."