"I have a surprise for you," Nathan said, as the school room emptied out and he walked up the middle aisle to the blackboard.
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and whispered, "I'm not letting you take me around the blackboard again, Constable."
Nathan laughed and said, "Not a bad idea, but that wasn't what I had in mind... right now..."
"Is this surprise something you can show me here, or do we have to go somewhere?" Elizabeth said, intrigued.
"We go somewhere," Nathan said, as he went over and gave Allie a kiss on the top of the head. He sat down next to her and looked at her picture. "Horses," he said, as Allie beamed up at him. "Very nice."
"Sarah," Allie said, pointing to what Nathan could recognize as a brown bay horse.
He hugged her. "I can see that. She's a very pretty horse." He started to pull together her drawing things. "Let's get ready to go, sweetie. I have a surprise for Miss Thatcher."
Elizabeth wasn't sure where Nathan was taking her, but she didn't expect it would be through the door from the saloon to the kitchen. Tom was just bringing out a block of ice and he nodded his head at her. "Elizabeth," he said, and then smiled at Nathan.
Frowning, Elizabeth said, "What's going on?"
"Patience," Nathan said. He put his arm around her, while holding Allie in the other arm. "You know, I've noticed that you have a little trouble with patience, Elizabeth."
She made a face at him and laughed as they walked through the kitchen behind the saloon. She couldn't believe that after all the time she'd spent in the saloon, she'd never been back here. It was, not surprisingly, filled with the aroma of chili and fresh-baked bread.
Nathan took her through another door and pointed out a storage room that looked, from its brand new wood and shelving, as if it had just been built. It was very large and held all the stores for the drinks and food served in the saloon. Nathan raised his eyebrows and said, "Tom's new storage room. Just finished!"
Elizabeth's mouth was slightly open and she wore a perplexed look. "That's... nice...?" She looked up at Nathan with her head tilted. "Is this my surprise?"
Nathan shook his head and smiled his crooked smile. He took her hand and led her out through another door, and although Elizabeth was a little turned around, she thought they were heading in the direction of the street.
Suddenly, they found themselves in what was clearly Tom's old storage room. It had a few cans left on the floor-to-ceiling shelves and it needed a good cleaning, but it was a good-sized room and looked to be well-built. There was a door that was boarded over with musty curtains over a window. Elizabeth pulled back the curtain and was surprised to see the Mountie office directly across the street.
She turned to Nathan and he just smiled at her. Suddenly she started to see it. Shelves, a door to the street... a Library!
Elizabeth laughed and nodded. "It's perfect."
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "I thought so, too." He started walking around the room, showing Allie. "We'll put books in here. Lots of them. And people will sit over there at a table and they can read them."
Allie peered at the shelf closest to her and made a face. "Dirty," she said, looking up at him.
Nathan laughed and looked at Elizabeth. "We do have a bit of work to do. But with cleaning, and paint..."
Elizabeth grinned, her eyes bright. "There's a bookseller in Hamilton where I've spent many happy hours. I was going to get in touch with them anyway for the new school room, to ask for some posters for the walls, artwork and book readings. I can get extra for the walls here."
Nathan smiled back at her, loving her enthusiasm.
"I can see it, Nathan. A library." She walked to him and put her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said softly, and then she leaned up and kissed him.
This time, Allie didn't shout out kisses! She simply walked over to them and put her arms around their legs while Nathan and Elizabeth looked down at her and laughed softly. Each put a hand on one of her shoulders and they stood there happily in the musty storeroom that would someday be a library.
Elizabeth looked up at Nathan and he put his hand tenderly on her cheek. It seemed to him that they were feeling a little more like a family every day.
Nathan and Allie were making it somewhat of a habit to stop off at Abigail's for a time after walking Elizabeth home. Abigail loved it; and these days they could be assured of taking home some sort of baked goods, or leftover roast, or shepherd's pie that Abigail would insist on giving them.
"I'm going to forget how to cook," Nathan said, as Abigail wrapped up yet another plate of food for them.
"After what you've done for this town, Nathan, it's the least I can do." She looked around at the kitchen and the living room of her house. "I can't believe this is going to belong to me. It wasn't even a dream that Noah and I could imagine, to be able to buy it from Henry Gowen. Even if he would sell. I think he's always enjoyed having this hanging over our heads." She turned and opened the oven, knowing by instinct exactly when the scones were done to perfection.
Elizabeth smiled and raised an eyebrow, taking Nathan's hand under the table. "And speaking of things Nathan has done for this town..." She looked over at him. "Nathan may have another surprise for you. Tell her, Nathan," Elizabeth said excitedly.
Abigail turned around and wiped her hands on her apron. She raised her eyebrows. "What now, Father Christmas?" she said laughing.
Nathan hesitated and Elizabeth couldn't wait any longer. "A Coal Valley Library!" she said.
Abigail grinned. "Well, you are running out of room in the Mountie office. I walked by there the other day and it looked like you had ten people crowded around your bookshelves."
"And he's ordered Encyclopedias!" Elizabeth burst out.
Nathan laughed and looked at Abigail. "I'm doing a very good job of telling you this news, aren't I?"
Elizabeth laughed and clapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry," she said. "I'm just so thrilled. The children will have resources for their reports, and I'm thinking we'll just go through the Encyclopedia book by book!"
Abigail grinned. "That's wonderful. I have some books up in the attic that I could donate, and I'm sure others will too."
"Yes!" Elizabeth said. "And you can't imagine the number of books my father has in his library in the house in Hamilton. Some of them only read once by me, tucked in corners. I'm going to write Julie and have her pack some up and send them to me. Father will never even notice," she said smiling.
Nathan said, "Florence Blakeley was just saying the other day that she wished she had something to occupy her time during the day, so I spoke with her about managing the Library and she said she would love to."
Abigail took a deep breath and untied her apron. She put three scones on a plate and came to sit with Nathan, Elizabeth and Allie. She clearly had something she wanted to tell them.
"Speaking of occupying our days..." she began, a little tentatively. "I went to see Henry Gowen yesterday."
"Henry Gowen? Whatever for?" Elizabeth frowned and picked up one of the blueberry scones that Abigail had just taken out of the oven. She broke it in half and offered some to Allie, who gladly took it and then bent over her dolls again.
"You know the building at the end of town, on the other side of the saloon? It used to be a café. There was a time when all the single miners would eat their meals there." Abigail took a sip of her tea. "It was food without the drink of the saloon, but the food wasn't really much better than Tom's chili," Abigail said, laughing softly. "The couple that ran it just couldn't make a go of it, and they left town for Cloverdale soon after. I remember thinking at the time what kind of a menu would work for a café. A place serving sandwiches, soups, teas, baked goods and other confections? But I had Noah and Peter to care for, so it wasn't even a possibility..."
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "So you talked to Gowen about renting his building from him?"
Abigail looked down at her teacup, and Nathan could tell she was a little uncomfortable. She spoke softly. "Nathan, you've done so much for us, and it's such a gift that you allowed us the opportunity to own these houses..."
It dawned on Nathan, and he nodded, saying, "Ah. You want to trade your row house for that building?"
Abigail looked up sharply to see his reaction. Nathan was smiling and it gave her the courage to go on. "It has two rooms upstairs, and a sitting room downstairs." She looked quickly at Elizabeth and took her hand. "You would still have your own room, and I love having you with me. The rooms are actually larger than the ones here, and you'd be closer to the school..."
Elizabeth squeezed her hand. "Abigail, this isn't about me. How do you feel about it? About... leaving your home?"
Abigail looked around. "When Gowen threatened us with losing the row houses, I had a chance to really think about how I felt. Yes, this is a place where Noah and Peter and I made so many memories..." She looked back at Nathan and Elizabeth. "But Noah and Peter are gone, and nothing will ever bring them back. Perhaps it's time for me to make new memories in a place that doesn't constantly remind me of the old ones."
Nathan smiled. "And what did Henry say?"
Raising an eyebrow, Abigail said, "He told me that the saloon was plenty for a town this size. I said that people need variety, a place to gather, to break bread together." Abigail laughed softly, "And when that didn't move him, I told him I believe a café can get people to spend their money in town instead of going to places like Union City and Benson Hills for their outings. Then his eyes lit up."
Elizabeth was hanging on her every word. "And then what did he say?"
Abigail sat up straighter, looking very proud of herself. "He told me to make him an offer." She looked at Nathan. "I told him I would think about it and get back to him to today. I wanted to talk to you first, Nathan. To be sure you didn't feel..."
Nathan reached out and took her hand across the table. "Abigail. If owning this row house allows you to use it as collateral to fulfill a dream, it makes me happy."
Exhaling in relief, Abigail squeezed his hand. "I was so hoping you would feel that way." She looked back and forth between Elizabeth and Nathan. "I haven't been this excited about something since that mine took my men. I really do think I can make a go of it, and all of the new miners coming into town are single and have no one to cook for them, not to mention how many there are in town already."
"I can see people flocking to your cooking, Abigail." Elizabeth took another bite of her blueberry scone and sighed. "These are heavenly. You know, my family has employed some of the best chefs from some of the finest culinary schools, and your scones and pies are lighter and tastier than any I ever had at home."
"Do you really think so?" Abigail said, looking even more hopeful.
"I know so," Elizabeth said, popping the last of the scone into her mouth.
"These were my grandmother's recipe. Noah did love my baking. I took great pride in cooking for Noah and Peter. And they did often brag to others about my cooking, but they only had me to compare to. Certainly not that fancy big-city food that you're talking about."
"Well trust me, they were right," Elizabeth said. "Whether in the big city or here in Coal Valley."
Abigail's eyes went wide and she looked at both of them. "Oh, my," she said, suddenly realizing what a chance she was taking. She would be giving up her home in hopes that an untested business would succeed.
But as she looked at her friends, Abigail knew that she wouldn't be alone.
Billy Hamilton understood one thing about himself, and that was that he was destined for greatness. The fact that it hadn't found him yet in his thirtieth year of life only meant that he needed to look a little harder.
He'd been through a lot of towns in the last twelve years and had done more menial jobs than he wanted to think about, but this was his time. He could feel it.
Billy's last job at the shipyard in Cape Fullerton had been a minor disaster, and he'd gotten out of town by the skin of his teeth with a Mountie on his tail. Working for William Thatcher offered good pay, but not nearly as good as "borrowing" bottles of rum from his shipping boxes. That nosy Mountie, Thornton was his name, had been sniffing around and had caught him in the act, but Billy had managed to give him the slip. So he thought it might be best to lay low for a while in the smallest town he could find.
The wagon had been waiting in Buxton for the six men who were headed to the Northern Pacific Mining Company to dig out of their mine in Coal Valley. Billy knew that coal work was hard, hot, and dangerous, but he didn't intend on doing for very long.
Because Coal Valley's size wasn't the only reason Billy had chosen that particular small town. Billy knew that one of his best qualities was his charm. He'd practiced it on plenty of pretty young women and had been highly successful, but they weren't the type of women that helped a man get ahead in the world. And Billy had learned something while he worked for William Thatcher – sometimes it was more valuable to read the society pages than the business section of the newspaper.
He pulled the newspaper article out of his pocket again and unfolded it. It was falling apart and Billy thought he had it practically memorized by now.
Miss Elizabeth Thatcher, middle daughter of William and Grace Thatcher of Hamilton, Ontario, is traveling west this month. Despite being an heiress to the vast Thatcher fortune along with her two sisters, Viola and Julia, Miss Thatcher intends to bestow her considerable gifts as a teacher on the poor and underserved children of Coal Valley in Alberta. The Cape Fullerton Courier wishes her the best of luck in her travels, and commends her for her good works.
The newspaper article was dated three months ago.
Billy had been rattling along in the buckboard wagon with four other men for the entire day and his backside was sore. What kept him going was knowing for a certainty that he would leave Coal Valley in style, with money in his pocket and a steak, a baked potato, and some fine whiskey in his belly.
He'd even changed his last name to Hamilton in order to remind Miss Thatcher that her future didn't reside in a dusty backwoods town in the west. She belonged back in society in her hometown, and he intended to be at her side. At least for a while.
He didn't know if Miss Elizabeth Thatcher had managed to find a suitor yet in Coal Valley, though from her picture in the paper, she was very pretty. He imagined that she probably hadn't found a man who was as well-read, as charming, as handsome, or as attentive as Billy would be.
Billy took a deep breath as they pulled into town. If by chance, she had found someone, he would make short order of that small-town hayseed. He leaned back and smiled, feeling a little like the king of the world just before his coronation.