Friday afternoon lessons were always difficult, especially when the snow was falling outside and the children were anxious to get out and have snowball fights and make snow angels and snowmen.
Elizabeth decided she needed to get the children up and moving, so she had them move all the desks to the church walls and sit down in the middle. The idea of community was very firmly in her mind, thinking about what was to come with Inspector Avery's hoped-for arrival tomorrow. The community would need to pull together to fight Henry Gowen, and she wanted to give the children an idea of what that might mean.
Without giving an introduction, Elizabeth pointed to students and said, "Rachel, you have carrots. Jacob, you have potatoes. Anna, you have turnips..." And she went around the room, giving each child a vegetable or a type of meat, and then finally, she said to Albert, "You are the boy with a cooking pot."
She put Albert in the middle of the room and began.
"There was a poor boy who had no food to eat, but he had a cooking pot. And he had an idea. He filled the pot with water from the stream and then he built a fire under it. He found a large rock and put it in the pot and used a stick to stir the water as it boiled."
While Elizabeth spoke, the children giggled as Albert mimed everything she was saying.
"The boy sat in the middle of the town square, stirring the water in the pot with the rock, and Rachel..." Elizabeth said, pointing to her, "...walked by, and said, 'what are you doing with that pot?'"
Rachel got up, smiling, and stood by Albert. Elizabeth continued, "The boy said, 'I'm making stone soup.'" The children laughed.
"Stone soup?" Elizabeth said, with dramatic surprise in her voice, "That doesn't sound very good." She pointed to Rachel and said, "What do you have, Rachel?"
"I have carrots!" Rachel said, understanding.
Elizabeth laughed and nodded. "So Rachel went home and got her carrots and put them in the boiling water."
All of the children were nodding now, and it didn't take long for them to get to the point where all Elizabeth had to do was point to them and they would get up and say, "Stone soup? That doesn't sound very good!" and then they would run off and come back to mime putting barley, or turnips, or onions, or potatoes into the pot.
Of course, when they were all finished, the soup was delicious and they all shared it.
As they sat in a circle on the floor afterwards, Elizabeth said, "What do you think this story means, children?"
Many hands went up, and Elizabeth pointed to Miles. "That we're better together?"
"Yes! Exactly, Miles. We're better together." Then she called on Hattie.
"That we each have special things, and they might be good on their own, but when we put them together, we make a really good soup." The children laughed and Elizabeth nodded.
"And what is the soup?" Elizabeth asked. "Rachel?"
Rachel paused for a moment, and Elizabeth waited. "It's this church, Miss Thatcher. And the new houses for the miners. And the Library."
Elizabeth nodded, feeling the familiar tightness in her chest at the resiliency and deep wells of love she saw daily in these children.
"Yes, Rachel. That's what the soup is. It's all of us coming together to make something that we couldn't make all on our own. It's our feeling of fellowship. The idea that perhaps someone is good at painting, and another is good at nailing boards together, and another one can make curtains..."
Elizabeth was surprised to see Allie's hand go up. She was always a listener, but she hadn't felt comfortable raising her hand yet.
Raising her eyebrows and smiling, Elizabeth said, "Allie?"
"That story makes me hungry," Allie said.
The rest of the students laughed, saying "Me, too!" and "I want some stone soup!"
Elizabeth laughed too, and looked at the clock on the wall. Five minutes early wouldn't hurt.
"Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Class dismissed!"
Saturday dawned crisp and cold, with the brilliant blue sky that can come after a heavy snow. The blanket of white sparkled across Coal Valley's streets, and it was so thick that even the wagons were quiet until Mike Hickam was able to pull the plow across the main road.
Elizabeth sat bundled up with Allie out behind Abigail's, watching as Nathan brought the axe down squarely in the middle of the piece of wood on the block.
She and Allie had made a snowman about Allie's size, and Elizabeth had just donated one of her scarves and a wool beret to the cause. Abigail had brought out a carrot and some raisins for eyes and a mouth, and Elizabeth and Allie were sitting on the back stoop admiring their handiwork while Nathan filled the Café's stores of wood for the stoves. Allie was introducing her dolls to the snowman, and again, Elizabeth marveled at the creativity and humor that danced around in the little girl's head.
Elizabeth looked up and watched Nathan for a moment and then said, "This isn't the first time I've watched you do this, you know?"
Nathan secured the axe in the block and leaned on it, catching his breath. It curled out in clouds around his face and his cheeks had a tinge of red that made Elizabeth smile. Nathan tilted his head, looking at her.
"Is that right?" he said, smiling his crooked smile. "And when was that?'
"Do you remember when I first arrived and you chopped the wood for the teacherage? I was watching you from the upstairs window." Elizabeth knew her cheeks were already red, so she didn't have to worry about the blush that overtook them.
Nathan laughed and nodded, saying under his breath, "Didn't know you were going to make such a large fire with that wood..."
Elizabeth reached down and got a handful of snow. She narrowed her eyes as Nathan put out his arms, laughing, to make a bigger target for her. Instead of throwing it, she walked calmly over to him and acted like she was going to kiss him, and then put the whole handful down the back of his jacket.
Laughing, Nathan bent over and billowed his jacket out. "Not fair! I thought I was going to get a kiss!"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You still might..."
Nathan took hold of the lapels of her coat and pulled her toward him. Their noses and lips were cold, but only for a moment, as the warmth of their kiss rapidly began to thaw them. Elizabeth put her arms around Nathan's neck and they held each other as tightly as their heavy coats would allow, eyes closed and unaware that their breath was mingling together in white puffs in the air around them.
"Mmmm," Nathan said, "You should come out and watch me chop wood more often..."
A man's voice came from the edge of the fencing and both Elizabeth and Nathan turned as the man drawled, "Don't know what it is about a man chopping wood that women find so fascinating..."
Not many strangers came into Coal Valley, and certainly not many like this one, with his bowler hat, smooth voice and easy smile.
Nathan turned first to make sure Allie was okay, and he could see that she was still playing happily on the stoop. Then Nathan moved Elizabeth gently around behind him, while putting his other hand on the axe handle. It was all instinctive, to immediately find a defensive position in the face of a stranger.
"Can I help you?" Nathan said cautiously.
"Mrs. Stanton said I could find you out here. And I believe I'm here to help you, Constable." The man now raised an eyebrow to go with the jaunty smile. Finally, he put out his hand. "Bill Avery, Forensics Investigator. I assume you're Constable Nathan Grant?"
Nathan released a held breath and smiled back. "Inspector Avery. So glad you got here safely. When that snow started falling yesterday, I was a little worried you might be delayed." He moved forward to shake Bill's hand, still holding Elizabeth's tightly in his other one.
Nodding, Bill said "It was touch and go there for a while, but I moved out ahead of it. And call me Bill, because I expect to call you Nathan." He shook Nathan's hand firmly, and then looked at Elizabeth with a warm smile.
Elizabeth put out her hand and said, "Elizabeth Thatcher. I'm the schoolteacher in Coal Valley."
Bill shook her hand and said, "I'm very glad to meet you, Elizabeth. And I wouldn't need to be an investigator to surmise that you two are..." He looked back and forth between them with an amused smile.
"Courting," they both said in perfect unison.
Bill laughed softly. "The Mountie and the Schoolteacher," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds like a good story." He inhaled deeply. "I don't suppose we could take this inside? I'm half frozen."
Both Nathan and Elizabeth reacted immediately. "Of course," Nathan said, while Elizabeth began recommending Abigail's hot chocolate. She went to Allie and picked her up along with her doll and they all headed into the warmth of Abigail's sitting room.
At the door, Nathan stopped and said, "Thank you, Bill. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you coming."
Bill smiled. "We'll see how you feel once I've been here for a while. I've been told I can be quite a piece of work."
Nathan laughed. "Yeah, I heard that about you too."
"They might not be mistaken," Bill said, smiling. "Oh, and you were right in your letter. That ump was blind when he called Cobb safe at home."
Nathan laughed and put out his arm for Bill to enter the Café. "I don't know, Bill, I think Mitchell's foot might have slipped off the base a little…"
After a cup of strong coffee laced with hot chocolate and one of Abigail's scones, Bill thought he might live. He'd been colder than he could remember for the last twenty miles, and from the small part of Coal Valley he'd seen so far, Nathan hadn't oversold it. Not only was the food and drink delicious, but the woman serving it was gracious, beautiful and kind. The investigator in Bill took him to Abigail's eyes, and though he saw a trace of sadness there, he also saw excitement and hope about her new business. But most of all, Bill saw a deep friendship among these four people: Nathan, Elizabeth, Abigail and Allie.
It got Bill to thinking, as he listened to them talk and sipped his coffee, that families come in all shapes and sizes. These good people had all found their way to this little town in Alberta in various ways, but they were family now. And for the first time in a long time, Bill found himself feeling a tinge of longing. As he watched Nathan with Allie, he was remembering Martin, and wishing... something.
Enough of that, Bill thought. There's work to be done.
Bill met Cat Montgomery with her three children as they came to pick up Allie to play for the day, and then, as people came into the café to grab lunch or a cup of coffee, he began to get a feel for the town. Nathan's letter had captured it well, including the grief that was so evident that it was almost another resident of Coal Valley. There was joy, and hope, and humor, certainly, but there was something unresolved here. And as he sat and took it all in, Bill Avery decided he wanted to help to resolve it. Apart from his feelings about putting Henry Gowen in his place, Bill began to care just a little about Coal Valley.
Elizabeth was helping Abigail with the Saturday lunch rush while Bill and Nathan talked.
"So what's the plan?" Nathan asked, making short work of a sandwich, a bowl of soup and a piece of apple pie that would have Bill heading somewhere for a quick nap.
"I need to get into that mine," Bill said. "And I don't imagine Mr. Gowen is going to be too open to that idea." Bill had his reasons for keeping it to himself that he already knew Henry Gowen. He'd learned over the years that sharing too much was an indulgence that could often do more harm than good.
Nathan nodded, taking another bite of pie. "The shaft in question is locked up tight, according to the men who go into the mine every day. Padlocks, chains... a heavy wooden door. There must be something in there that Gowen wants very much to keep hidden."
Bill raised an eyebrow and smiled. "So, I don't suppose asking nicely will do the trick." He looked at Nathan, who snorted and shook his head.
"Not likely."
"Well, Constable," Bill said, finishing off his coffee. "You fancy a little midnight fact-finding?"
Nathan smiled and nodded enthusiastically. He happened to like the cloak-and-dagger work of being a Mountie.
"Security?" Bill asked.
"Gowen has two Pinkertons that are pretty much joined at his hips. We sent his last one off in a wagon a month or so ago for arson, kidnaping a child and threatened assault... on Elizabeth," Nathan said, his voice lowering ominously at the last part of the sentence.
Not much has changed with Gowen, obviously, Bill thought. He watched as Elizabeth poured coffee and laughed with the customers in the café, then he looked back at Nathan.
"How's your temper, Nathan?" he asked softly.
Nathan took a deep breath and looked back at him. "I've got one, especially when it has to do with the people I love, but I know how to keep it under control when I have to."
"Good man," Bill said, convinced. The last thing he needed was a Mountie with a vendetta against Gowen. Actually, he thought, smiling to himself, two Mounties with vendettas.
"How far does your authority carry in a case like this, Bill? We just walk into the mine at midnight and break and enter?"
Bill reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "It's not breaking and entering when you have a warrant," he said smiling.
Nathan laughed softly and shook his head, finishing off the very last of his pie. "Oh, Henry Gowen is not going to be happy to see you."
You have no idea, Bill thought.