Nathan was sitting on his front porch carving another animal for Allie; this time, a turtle. They'd been out by the pond just before dinner when she'd seen one for the first time, and it had prompted Nathan to tell her the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Of course, now Allie wanted to be able to act out the story, so the next two animals for her considerable menagerie would be a turtle and a rabbit.
Nathan had been thrilled to find out that Cat Montgomery's row house was only two doors down, with Carla Noonan and her son Jacob in between. Since he'd had Allie, Nathan had been so grateful for the help of the mothers around him. In Benson Hills, he'd found a neighbor with a little girl near Allie's age, and she'd been willing to care for Allie whenever he'd had to go out of town on Mountie business. Nathan was hoping it would be the same in Coal Valley, and if anything, this broken-hearted town had been even more willing to bring Allie into the fold.
Emily Montgomery and Allie had quickly become fast friends. Emily was a year older, and having grown up with two older brothers, she was glad for once to be the one doing the teaching and for having someone younger to play with. Allie adored Emily already, and would often ask to run down the row houses to find out if she wanted to play. In the short time they'd been in Coal Valley, there had even been a time or two that Cat had asked if Nathan could watch both girls at the Mountie office while she ran a quick errand.
So, as Nathan carved the tortoise for Allie, he was thinking about how his life had changed since she'd come into it. Nathan had been drawn to the brotherhood of the Mounties in part by a life dominated by women, primarily his mother and older sister. His relationship with his father was troubled and complicated, and he'd never had a brother of his own, so he sought out thousands of them. Wearing the red serge into practically any town in Canada yielded him immediate camaraderie and a shared language with other Mounties, but although women might stare at the uniform, it didn't really bring them closer to knowing Nathan Grant.
Since he'd had Allie, however, Nathan had found that there had been a huge shift in the gender of those who surrounded him. Nathan was so deeply grateful for the way mothers who saw a single man raising a little girl were drawn like magnets to help. He had no idea how he would have survived both the loss of Colleen and the addition of Allie to his life without the maternal care he felt around him. He'd wondered if it was only a large town like Benson Hills that offered this gift, but now that he was in Coal Valley, he was beginning to think it was universal.
Allie was only four, and according to Cat, the official age to begin schooling was five years old. So for a year at least, Nathan knew that his work as a Mountie and his parenting of Allie would present the same challenges as it had in Benson Hills. So far, Allie had been just fine with coming to work with him, and Cat and Carla had been happy to pick her up when needed. As Emily and Jacob went off to school in two days, Nathan would have to adapt. In fact, he was beginning to understand that the parenting of a child required constant adaptation.
Nathan turned in his chair and smiled as he watched through the open front door as Allie played. He'd loved her from the moment Colleen had brought her into the world, but their relationship now had surprised him with how deeply important it had become to him. Beyond the fact that Allie was a piece of his sister, Nathan loved Allie's mind, her affection for those around her, and her sense of humor. When he allowed his thoughts to weigh him down, Allie seemed to know and could always pull him out of it. Although he never wanted to give a little girl of four that responsibility, sometimes Nathan wondered who was caring for whom.
Turning back, Nathan looked up at the sky. The sunset was spectacular tonight, and Nathan stood up from his chair to get a better look. Emily was playing on her porch two doors down, and Cat came out to bring her inside to help with the dinner dishes and then have dessert. She saw Nathan and waved, and then she turned, also looking at the gold and orange in the sky. They both squinted, noticing that something wasn't quite right with this sunset. For some reason, the orange had dipped far down on one side and appeared to be dancing.
"It's a fire..." Cat said, at first to herself, and then she called out to Nathan. "A fire!"
Nathan moved quickly, pulling on his red serge and gathering up his hat and belt. He was glad he hadn't yet changed out of his jodhpurs and boots for the night. "Allie?" he called out, and she came from around the kitchen counter where she was playing with her dolls. "Get your coat please, Allie, and some toys. I need to work."
Allie knew that tone of voice, and she especially knew the word work, so she ran back and gathered up her three favorite dolls and two of her carved animals. They were going either to the Mountie office or she was going to Emily's. She hoped it was Emily's.
Nathan scooped Allie up and walked quickly to the Montgomery's. He looked up at Cat and raised his eyebrows in a question. "Of course," Cat said. "Come on up, Allie, we're having cobbler for dessert. Blueberry."
Allie ran up the steps and Nathan said, "Thank you. Again."
"Don't be silly," she said. She looked off in the distance and shook her head. "Oh, Lord," she said, suddenly. "Nathan, I think it might be the teacherage."
Nathan followed her gaze, his heart pounding. Elizabeth.
During the time it took him to sprint to the livery, saddle Newton and get out to the teacherage, Nathan's heart was in his throat. It wasn't until he saw the lone figure - her braided hair hanging down almost to the middle of her back, wrapped in a blanket but still shivering - that he was able to calm himself.
Nathan set his jaw, jumped down from Newton and walked to her. "Are you alright?" he asked Elizabeth softly. "You're not hurt?"
She shook her head vigorously. He could see her tear- and soot-stained cheeks glistening with all the colors of the fire, but she seemed unharmed.
Elizabeth looked so little against the backdrop of the fire, and she was probably in shock. Nathan couldn't imagine how she was feeling. All he wanted right now was to do or say something, anything, to comfort her. But instead, they stood in silence and watched as the fire quickly set about consuming the small wooden structure.
Everyone knew there was no saving the building. Even the members of the Coal Valley Volunteer Fire Department were standing and squinting their eyes at the blaze, knowing it was a lost cause. Nathan had seen earlier what an old building it was, and had even made a mental note to come back and fix the railing on the stairs that was wobbling dangerously. He looked at it now and watched as it wobbled and fell, throwing a fountain of embers into the air.
Next to him, Nathan heard Elizabeth gasp softly, and then he heard a sniffle and then a sob. Now he couldn't bear it, and he turned to her, putting his hand gently on her shoulder. "Miss Thatcher?"
She turned so quickly he hardly knew what had happened, but there she was, her face buried in his red serge, and her arms, complete with blanket, wrapped around his waist. For a moment he was so surprised, he didn't move. But then Nathan dropped his heavy riding gloves on the ground and put his hands around her back. She clutched him even tighter, and he could hear her crying.
Nathan held her, moving his hand gently up and down her back. "Oh, it's okay. No one got hurt... and from what I saw, if there was ever a building that needed burning down, it was that one." Elizabeth was in the middle of a sob and she was so surprised by what Nathan said, that it melded with a laugh and turned into a hiccup of sorts. She looked up at him, still clutching him for dear life. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face still covered in soot except for two long tracks that had been washed away by her tears. So how was it that by the light of the fire, Nathan thought he had never seen anyone more beautiful?
"It's my first day," she said plaintively, the tears still falling.
Nathan reached up simply to wipe away a tear, but after he'd done that, it seemed impossible for him to remove his hand from her face. It stayed there, almost with a will of its own, his thumb moving back and forth softly on her cheek.
Elizabeth closed her eyes. In her fear and her exhaustion, she had lost all sense of herself, and she felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole. She leaned into Nathan's hand, feeling so comforted by that simple touch that she never wanted it to stop. She'd been so alone just moments ago, and now she wasn't.
But fires draw crowds, and though it was relatively dark, it was hard to miss the new young schoolteacher in her nightgown and a blanket, clinging tightly to the new young Mountie in his red serge. They were quite the picture, outlined by the colors of the fire, and Nathan thought half the onlookers might be interested in more than the blazing building. It surprised him to realize that he already cared more for her reputation than he did for his own.
"Miss Thatcher," Nathan said, softly, "I'm going to take you to Mrs. Stanton's house. It's on my way home, and she'll be able to help you." Elizabeth opened her eyes and nodded. Nathan could see that all the fight was gone from her. He turned with one arm still around her and walked her carefully over to Newton.
Elizabeth turned back suddenly. "My clothes, my... oh," she said, looking at the charred remnants of the building and realizing again that absolutely everything she owned was now gone, except for the nightgown she wore and the boots she had quickly put on as she ran out the door.
"Do you want to walk or ride?" Nathan asked. Elizabeth looked down at her boots and then gave him a pained look. Her feet still hurt from the walk this morning. Before she knew it, he had taken her by the waist and boosted her up into the saddle. Again. And finally Elizabeth smiled.
"You're getting very good at that, Constable Grant," she said, sniffling and looking down at him.
He smiled up at her, and it didn't escape her notice that he hadn't removed one of his hands from around her waist. "Practice makes perfect, Miss Thatcher."
Elizabeth sighed deeply, and he could feel her shudder. Nathan took his hand away and pulled the reins over Newton's head. He looked back up at her, "You okay? You're not going to fall out of the saddle, are you?" And just when he was forming full sentences, the moonlight caught her hair and he remembered how it felt to have her in his arms, and his brain took a leave of absence. "...because...well, that would be..." He trailed off, forgetting completely where he was going with that thought.
With a tilt of her head, she sniffled again and said, "...that would be...?"
Nathan frowned, wondering if it was too soon to joke. "Very unbecoming of a Thatcher..." he said, and immediately regretted it.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him, feeling that he was making fun of her again. "I think I can manage to keep myself in a saddle, Constable Grant."
"I... I didn't mean..." Nathan started, feeling a colossal bout of stuttering coming on. He looked up at her, and finally settled on, "Sorry. I was trying to cheer you up."
"Mission accomplished, Constable. I feel so much better. Perhaps we should just not talk," Elizabeth said. Her indignation had cured her sniffles and in fact it had brought her almost completely back to her senses. What had she been thinking? Throwing her arms around a Mountie, and especially one who thought so little of her? That was unbecoming of a Thatcher, she thought, holding tightly to the horn on the saddle and attempting to sit up straight with some dignity. The truth was, she was so completely spent that if she wasn't careful, she might just fall off of his horse. Elizabeth couldn't remember being more tired.
Nathan sighed and took Newton's reins. Neither of them spoke a word for the walk to Abigail Stanton's, which thankfully wasn't far. Both of them would be surprised to know that their thoughts were nearly identical as the row houses came into view.
It's for the best. I need to keep my distance anyway. But for that moment... it felt so good to feel so completely safe in another person's arms.
Nathan watched as Mrs. Stanton took yet another chick under her wing. He was grateful that Abigail said not a word about the loss of the teacherage. When she asked if there was anything else to bring inside, Elizabeth started crying again, and Nathan simply shook his head.
"Oh, I know I have some things that will fit you. I have far too many dresses anyway," she said kindly, putting her arm around Elizabeth. Abigail looked at Nathan. "Thank you, Constable. This was the right place to come."
Nathan tipped his hat. "Thank you, ma'am." He waited until Elizabeth turned, as he was hoping she would. He touched his hat again as he spoke as gently as he could. "Miss Thatcher."
Elizabeth's eyes were so sad and soft as she looked at him. "Thank you, Constable," she said, almost in a whisper.
And as the door closed and he started to walk Newton back to the livery, all Nathan could think was that he'd had the bad luck to meet Miss Elizabeth Thatcher on what had to have been the worst day of her life.