Elizabeth was just finishing up her day when she saw Nathan slip in through the saloon door and sit down. Almost every day he would come to get Allie at the end of each school day unless he'd made arrangements to have her go home with Emily - but he would usually wait until the children had left and then come in and get her. So it wasn't normal for him to come in before the class was dismissed. Elizabeth also could see that he wasn't wearing his red serge, which he usually had on at this time of day.

As Elizabeth had the students bring their slates and chalk up to the front of the class, she saw Nathan casually ask Albert to sit by him. At first, Albert seemed afraid, as if he'd done something wrong, but Nathan seemed to ease his mind with just a few words and then Albert sat down next to him.

It looked to Elizabeth like Nathan had brought in a couple of baseball cards that he was showing to Albert, and she smiled. He always seemed to understand that with his height and the authority of the red serge, he could be intimidating. Nathan used that intimidation when it suited him, but right now, she could see that he was making an effort to do the opposite.

Allie was accustomed to being the last one out, and she would generally stay at her table and draw until it was time to go. So as Elizabeth watched the last of the students leave, she went over to Allie and pointed out her uncle and said she was going to talk to them. Allie just nodded and smiled and said "Okay," going back to her picture.

As Elizabeth walked toward them, Nathan looked up and Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. Nathan nodded and she sat on the other side of Albert.

"That's a good one," Albert said, pointing to the 1908 Sam Crawford card. "Crawford had seven home runs that year, best in the American League."

Nathan smiled, and nodded. "You know your baseball, Albert," he said.

"I have an Ed Walsh card from '08, he had 269 strikeouts that year." Albert smiled and reached into his pocket. "You want to trade?" he said, making Nathan laugh.

Smiling, Nathan said, "That would be a good trade if I weren't such a big Tigers fan. I just can't let go of Crawford, but I'll take a look at home and see what I can trade, and we'll talk. Deal?" He put out his hand and Albert shook it, smiling. "Deal."

Now Nathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace that Albert had given Elizabeth. Nathan saw his quick look over to her and said, "Miss Thatcher asked me to return this to Mr. Spurlock, and before I do, I just wanted to ask you a little about it. You said you caught it fishing?"

Albert looked back and forth between them and now he was looking a little frightened.

Nathan put a hand gently on his shoulder. "You're not in any trouble, Albert. You haven't done anything wrong. I just want to know what you saw." Nathan's voice was very soft and gentle, and Elizabeth could see that Albert was calming down.

Then Nathan winked and said, "But most of all, I want to know if you used bait or a lure to catch this little treasure. I might need to do some fishing out there in the creek."

Albert grinned and said, "Worms."

Nathan laughed softly. "Ah, worms. Good to know." Nathan leaned back and Albert relaxed a little more.

"So, Miss Thatcher tells me that Mr. Spurlock asked you to look for this necklace, is that right?" Nathan asked casually.

"Y-yessir," Albert said. "He said he lost it out in the creek and that he'd seen me out there." Albert frowned and looked at Nathan, "I'm not in trouble? he asked.

Nathan shook his head. "No, you're not in trouble."

"Can you keep a secret?" Albert said, looking back and forth between Elizabeth and Nathan.

Nathan nodded again and said, "It's a part of our jobs to keep secrets. Do you have something you want to tell us?"

For a moment, Albert looked down at the baseball card he still had in his hand. Then he put it carefully back in his pocket and said softly, "Mr. Spurlock scares me."

Nathan smiled. "I'll tell you a secret of my own, Albert. He scares me a little too."

Albert looked up quickly. "He does?"

Nathan nodded. "But sometimes we have to do what's right even if it scares us." Nathan paused for a moment. "Did you see something?

Albert looked at Elizabeth and she said, "Don't be afraid, Albert. You can trust Constable Grant."

Albert took a breath. "I was in the bushes, because a lot of stuff ends up there, from in the creek. I found a nice pocket watch once. It didn't work, but it was pretty. So I was in there and I looked up and saw Mr. Spurlock with..."

"Who was he with, Albert?" Nathan said softly.

"Mrs. Montgomery."

That was such a surprise to both Nathan and Elizabeth that they looked at each other for a split second. Then Nathan continued.

"And they were alone? Just the two of them?"

Albert nodded. "I saw Mr. Spurlock give the necklace to Mrs. Montgomery and she got really mad. She took it and threw it into the creek and I saw where it landed, and that's how I found it." Albert looked at Nathan. "Will that get me in trouble? I know I should have given it back to him."

"Don't worry. You're not going to get in trouble. Did Mr. Spurlock know you were there... that you saw?" Nathan asked.

"No. I went through the bushes until I was pretty far away and then I walked back on the path. He thought I just got there. Then he asked me if I wanted a penknife and told me the necklace fell out of his pocket."

"And Mrs. Montgomery wasn't there any more?" Nathan asked.

"No, before I crawled away I heard her say that she would rather live in a tent and starve before she'd let him... well, she didn't say what, but she was really mad."

Elizabeth sat up a little straighter and her cheeks went pink. She looked at Nathan and he could tell how angry she was. He looked at her with a warning and turned to Albert again.

"We're very glad you told us this, Albert. When you say you're afraid of Mr. Spurlock... has he ever done anything to scare you? Did he ask you about the necklace?"

"I told him I couldn't find it. He was mad, but he wasn't mad at me. He was just mad."

"We're not going to tell him you told us all this, Albert. It's a secret, and we'll keep it. But it's best you stay away from Mr. Spurlock, okay?"

Albert raised his eyebrows and smiled a little. "That'll be easy..."

Nathan laughed softly. "That's good. And you were right to tell us. Now you go on home, and I'll let you know if I have a baseball card that might be a good trade. As long as it's not a Tiger," Nathan said, winking at him.

"Yessir," Albert said.

As he went out the door, Elizabeth and Nathan looked at each other. They'd been so focused on Albert's story that they hadn't noticed as Mayfield and Spurlock had passed by the window. And they definitely hadn't noticed when Spurlock had narrowed his eyes as they talked to Albert Bickley.

Elizabeth frowned. "Cat? And Mr. Spurlock? How can that be, Nathan? Have you ever seen them together?"

"No," Nathan said, and Elizabeth saw him pause and look away.

Elizabeth frowned. "What do you know?"

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "How do you know I know something?"

Elizabeth laughed and just tilted her head. "Because I know you."

He smiled at her. "I have to go talk to Cat. She and Spurlock are the only two who are suspects in the church burning."

Elizabeth's face showed her horror at that statement. "Cat? You can't possibly think..."

Nathan put his hand over hers on the table. "I don't think Cat burned down the church, Elizabeth. But I also wouldn't have thought she would be out by the creek with Spurlock getting an expensive gift from him. Now, it might be a coincidence that I was already planning to talk to her about her whereabouts when the church caught fire, but I've learned not to believe in coincidences. And now I hear that she might have had a..."

"Do not say relationship, Nathan. That is absurd." Elizabeth said quickly.

Nathan shook his head. "No, I don't believe that. But Cat is a fine woman, Elizabeth. She's raising three children alone and she's been living in mining company housing. I wonder if he might have been threatening her somehow."

Elizabeth tilted her head. "With an expensive necklace?"

"There are all sorts of threats. What Albert said? That she would rather live in a tent or starve than..."

Elizabeth shivered involuntarily. "I don't want to know the rest of that sentence."

Nathan stood and took her hand. "I need to talk to Cat. Will you come with me and watch Allie and Emily? I know Miles and Gabe have been working on the miners' housing after school."

Elizabeth nodded. They walked up the middle aisle and Nathan saw that the bookends he'd made were on her desk. Between them were her school texts. He smiled. "You kept them here, but took home the books?"

Elizabeth touched the carved wood on Abigail's row house. "I love to look at them." She smiled up at Nathan. "I spend more time here than I do anywhere else. I like to watch us wave to each other," she said softly.

Nathan put his arm around her waist and looked at them with her.

"There's a belief in the Far East that when you make something with your hands, that your chi, your essential energy, goes into the piece and stays there. And when you give that thing you made to someone else, you are giving them a part of yourself."

Elizabeth looked up at him in wonder. "You will never stop surprising me, will you?"

Nathan smiled. "I hope not."

He tightened his arm around her waist and now their faces were very close. Both looked over at Allie and she was bent industriously over her drawing. Nathan took Elizabeth's hand and walked her around behind the blackboard. She laughed softly and said, "You're making a habit of this, Constable."

"And I won't be able to do it again once the new church is built, because you're getting that blackboard you wanted on the wall." He bent to kiss her and Elizabeth didn't feel like fighting him anymore. She hadn't seen him all day and it felt so good to be in his arms with his lips warm on hers. After a few moments, she came to her senses and moved her lips to his cheek, sighing.

"I want to buy Sarah," she said, voicing a desire she'd been thinking about all day. She knew it would get his attention.

Nathan pulled away, his eyes bright. "You do? When did you decide that?"

Elizabeth straightened her hair and smoothed down her skirt before venturing out from behind the blackboard. "I think I started deciding on our ride, but today I was reading some parts of Black Beauty to the children, and I just decided that I wanted her. I'm going to settle it with Jed today. It makes me sad that Sarah doesn't have a... family."

Nathan laughed softly and took her in his arms again, not thinking about the fact that they were in the classroom. He put his mouth near her ear and whispered tenderly, "I love you, Elizabeth."

Nathan decided to walk with Cat up to his row house where they could talk privately. Elizabeth was starting dinner for the children, which was always an adventure, and Cat didn't want to go far.

"What is it, Nathan?" Cat asked. He knew that she wasn't the type of person who needed a lot of preamble to a conversation. Most of the time she was interested in the meat of it and didn't need a lot of preparation.

"A couple of things, Cat. I need to pin you down a little more on where you were during the vigil at the mine."

She looked up at him with clear eyes. "And the second thing?"

"I need to ask you about Charles Spurlock." He took the necklace out of his pocket and simply held it in his hand.

Nathan was watching for a reaction, and he got one. Cat stopped walking and stood for a time, just looking at him, and he could see the wheels turning in her head. He could tell that she wanted to talk about it, but wasn't sure how to start. "Never thought I would see that again," she said softly, looking at the necklace in his hand.

"Cat. Do you trust me?" Nathan said softly.

Slowly, she began nodding. "Yes. I do."

"Please tell me what's going on. Let me help you. Everyone in this town knows how strong you are. You don't have to do everything on your own."

The kindness in his voice and the concern in his eyes finally put her over the edge. Cat's eyes filled with tears.

They had been standing on the far side of Nathan's row house, and now he took her over to the steps and sat her down. Nathan stood at the rail and listened as she talked. At first, she was reluctant, hesitant, but as she continued, she became more confident. In truth, it felt so good for her to finally tell it.

"My husband, Joe, was a good man, Nathan. He was a wonderful father. But he made mistakes. He had a weakness, one that he was terribly ashamed of, one that no one knew about, and the children didn't know about." Cat paused and caught her breath.

She continued, looking down at her hands. "He liked to gamble. Played cards with some men in Silverton. Often he would win, but more often, he would lose. He kept chasing that big win that would get us out of debt." Cat stopped and shook her head, remembering. Nathan gave her the time she needed.

"There was no talking to him, I couldn't keep him from going. He dug himself in a deep, deep hole." She looked up at Nathan, and could see that he was affected by her story.

Nathan took a deep breath. "Cat, no one but Elizabeth knows this, and since you're being brave enough to tell me about Joe, I can trust you enough to share this with you." He narrowed his eyes and looked directly at her. "I understand better than you know what you're describing. My father is a gambler, and our family has felt the pain of it since I was very young. I just want you to know that really I do understand." Nathan nodded so that she would continue.

Cat smiled and said, "Thank you for telling me that. I've felt very alone with this secret." She blinked back tears as she continued, "There was a card shark who saw that Joe was a desperate man and he just kept giving him more and more credit. A week after the mine disaster, that man showed up at my door and asked for his money."

Nathan frowned. "Did you tell him you'd just lost your husband?"

Cat nodded and sighed deeply. "He didn't care. He wanted what he was owed. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go to my friends, I was too ashamed, and Joe was a good man. There was no way I was going to let this town think poorly of him."

Nathan said, "And how does Spurlock fit in?"

Frowning, Cat's eyes went cold. "He's the only one who knew. He played cards with the same men, with Joe. He knew I was in trouble. He came to me and offered to help. He said he would pay off the debt if I would just... be friendly to him." For a moment, Cat was unable to speak, and Nathan was doing his best to control his anger. How a man could prey on a newly-widowed woman with that sort of intention was something that made his blood run cold.

After a pause, Cat continued. "He played on my worries for my children, he actually thought that I was weak enough, that I..." Nathan saw Cat visibly controlling her anger and her disgust, and he let her take her time.

"He tried to give me that necklace and I was harsh in my rebuke, I was so furious. I told him I would rather live anywhere and that I would starve before I would…" She looked up at Nathan, her green eyes on fire. "...and I hurled that necklace back at him so hard that it landed in the creek. He was really angry."

Nathan nodded, controlling his own anger. "And what about the card shark?"

"Ah, well, it took a while. I used part of Joe's death pension, and I spent a lot of sleepless nights making candles for extra money, but finally I paid it back. All on my own." She looked up at Nathan and raised her eyebrows. "The night of the vigil."

Nathan nodded and exhaled. "That's where you were that night. Settling the debt."

"Yes."

Nathan shook his head, frowning."Cat, why didn't you just tell me that when I first talked to you?"

Cat sighed and looked down at her hands again."Because I'm not the only one who adored my husband. My children had already lost so much, I couldn't let them lose their good memory of their father too."

Nathan nodded slowly. "I understand." He looked down the row of houses, thinking. Then he turned back to Cat and said, "How can I find this card shark?" Nathan asked.

Cat narrowed her eyes. "You would do that? He's not a very reputable man, Nathan, I don't even know if he would confirm my story."

Nathan smiled warmly at her. "I believe you, Cat. I have no doubt you're telling the truth. But there are people in this town who need more than that. If I can rule you out completely, there's only one other person left as a suspect in the church burning."

Cat looked directly at Nathan, her eyes cold. "He did it, Nathan. I can't prove it, but there were things he said to me. Threats… that there might be more to lose than just my home. And…" Cat paused, unsure whether to continue.

"What, Cat? Tell me."

"I'm not one to point fingers, but that church went up pretty fast, didn't it?"

Nathan nodded. "Faster than the teacherage, and it was a much newer building."

Cat stood up and looked Nathan in the eye. "When I make candles, I need to use whale oil. He came to my house while I was out back gardening and he was looking in my shed. I keep close count of what I need to make candles because I was so worried about money. After he left, I noticed there was a can missing."

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "Whale oil? That's hardly used anymore."

"Yes, and I would guess I'm the only one in town who has it. Ned says no one else ever orders it. After the church burned…" Cat's voice caught. She looked at Nathan, her eyes filling. "I was so worried that was what started the fire. It's extremely flammable. I… I… worried that he might have been trying to get revenge for my spurning him…" A tear slipped down Cat's cheek. "I've been so afraid, Nathan."

Nathan's jaw was clenched in anger, but he calmed his voice as he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "When was the last time you talked to him, Cat?"

She looked down. "Sunday at church. He came up to me and told me how much he enjoyed the sermon. He said he hoped that… we could talk privately. I said that would never happen again, and he turned on his heel. He was very angry."

Nathan took a long breath and calmed himself. "I don't want you going off alone until we get this settled, Cat. I'm going to ride out to Silverton and talk to your card shark, but first I'm going to check again at the burn site and see if I can find any evidence of that oil." Nathan motioned for Cat to follow him and they walked back down to her row house.

When they reached the steps, Nathan turned to her. "Don't worry, Cat. Very soon your house will belong to you, and I promise I'll get to the bottom of this. If I have my way, Spurlock is going to prison for a long time and you won't ever see him again."

Cat took a deep breath and her eyes filled with tears. "I've prayed so much and so hard." She reached up and put her hand on his arm. "And I truly believe that you and Elizabeth are the answer to those prayers. We're so blessed to have both of you in Coal Valley."

Nathan put his hand over hers and smiled. "Blessings go both ways, Cat."