"I miss our blackboard," Nathan said, smiling and looking up toward the front of the church. He and Elizabeth were sitting in the first pew while she leaned her head on his shoulder. Allie had just left with Opal and her mother for the afternoon, and although the meadow was blanketed with snow and it was cold outside, the church was kept warm by its newly-installed wood stoves.

Elizabeth felt so lucky to have her new schoolroom, all freshly painted and silent, and hers. Tom Trevoy had been very good about giving her privacy during school hours, but the guests in the rooms above the saloon were always coming and going and it was distracting for the children. Not to mention the street outside - Elizabeth had never been completely comfortable letting the children play at recess with Henry Gowen's car speeding by. Now they had a field to run in when it was spring and a place to throw snowballs in the winter. All perfectly safe.

Nathan and Elizabeth had found the church after school to be a lovely refuge. Everyone knew where to find them, but they could still be alone for a short time every day. When Allie went off to play with friends, which happened almost every day, Nathan and Elizabeth would usually be found doing just what they were doing now. Just quietly sitting with each other.

Elizabeth smiled. "I miss our blackboard, too," she said softly into Nathan's shoulder. "You've ruined me, you know? There are times during the day when I'm sitting at my desk and the children are working on their essays or taking tests, and I think about us behind that blackboard." She looked up at him, "It didn't seem so scandalous in a saloon, but now that we're in a church..."

Nathan tilted her chin up with his finger. "So it would be wrong for me to kiss you in a church?"

Smiling and holding out her left hand, Elizabeth said, "I believe you'll be kissing me in this church soon enough..."

Nathan couldn't wait any longer. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, at first softly, and then as she responded, more urgently. After a long moment, he moved his lips to her cheek and whispered, "I would marry you today, you know that, don't you?"

Elizabeth was a little breathless and she took a moment to compose herself. "Yes, and I feel the same. But we have plans." She pulled away and looked at him. "You were the one who said that you wanted our marriage to start in our new home, if I'm not mistaken."

Nathan laughed and pulled her toward him. "Yes, I did say that." He shook his head slightly, "What was I thinking?"

Elizabeth kissed him again quickly and stood. "You were thinking that we have our whole lives ahead of us, and that waiting for three months was nothing compared to that." She walked toward her desk to tidy things up and get her books so they could begin their walk back to town.

"I was thinking about the barn..." Nathan said.

Elizabeth spun around and raised her eyebrows. "While you were kissing me just now?" she asked, laughing.

Nathan grinned. "No, definitely not then. Earlier today, while I was supposed to be working on my monthly report for Headquarters."

Elizabeth smiled and moved around her desk. "You seem to be very distracted these days, Constable," she said.

Standing, Nathan said, "And you are the reason, Elizabeth." He walked around behind her and threaded his arms through hers, holding her against his chest. She closed her eyes and leaned back into him, again feeling his strength and warmth. At times like this, she felt she could stay this way forever, just listening to his strong and steady heartbeat against her ear.

Her voice was quiet, dreamlike. "I must admit I have the same problem. I keep thinking of our life out there on the meadow. Every day I walk past it, imagining our house, especially with Christmas coming. Waking up on Christmas morning, sipping hot chocolate and watching Allie open her presents..."

Nathan breathed softly and found his own eyes closing into the vision Elizabeth was describing. "Can you make mine coffee? I have a feeling Allie will be up very early on Christmas morning."

"Coffee it is," Elizabeth said, smiling. "The fire will be going in the stove, and I'll start breakfast. Fresh biscuits, eggs, some of Abigail's raspberry jam..."

"Sounds delicious," Nathan said, opening his eyes and leaning down to kiss her softly on the neck. "You know, we're going to have to remember how to cook again once you move away from Abigail's," Nathan said. "We've been completely spoiled."

Elizabeth turned and looked up into his eyes, smiling. "You seem to be forgetting that I didn't know how to cook before she started the Café. You sure you still want to marry me?"

Nathan's eyes were translucent blue as he said, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life." He framed her face with his hands and moved his lips from her forehead, to her eyes, then her cheeks, and finally her lips.

Elizabeth sighed softly, her eyes closed and her knees going a little weak. When she opened them, she looked back toward the front doors and smiled. "Do you see where we are?" she said, looking up at him.

They were standing right at the front of the middle aisle. Just where they would be when they got married.

Nathan smiled. "I do," he said softly, as he bent to kiss her again.

Bill had hoped the snow would let up a little for his ride to Union City and it hadn't disappointed him. He'd had his choice to either take the stage out, or to ride Pilot, and he'd opted for the latter. Once he got to Union City he didn't know how much moving around he'd need to do, and Bill would rather have his own horse than deal with borrowing one from the Mounties.

He'd wired the Dominion Lands Office explaining what he needed and had received a reply that there were four prospective buyers looking for land to start sawmills within a hundred-mile radius of Coal Valley. One of them in particular looked very promising; Leland Coulter, a Union City entrepreneur who was exploring a number of different options and was leaning toward Albert Falls. Coulter hadn't yet considered the lands around Coal Valley, but Bill intended to change his mind.

Bill liked the prospect of Coulter because he wasn't connected to a large company, and from everything the Mountie office had been able to find out about him, Coulter seemed to be an independent thinker. Bill knew that it would take imagination to visualize a new sawmill in a place like Coal Valley, and he had a feeling Coulter had imagination to spare.

Leland Coulter had a small office in Union City and Bill had the address in his pocket. He'd also learned from Mountie Headquarters that the best dinner could be found at a place called Sally's. He'd mentioned it in passing to Nathan, who had grinned. "That's where Jack and I had dinner, right before I got the posting to Coal Valley."

Elizabeth and Abigail had raised their eyebrows and both said at the same time, "Destiny..."

To which both Bill and Nathan had chuckled and said, "Coincidence."

Bill laughed to himself. Funny how a set of people can get under your skin. He'd been a loner for a while now, and his position as Inspector had made that easy. He was always going from one place to another and though at times he'd managed to stay in a town for a couple of weeks, it had never really lasted beyond the end of the investigation.

But Coal Valley – actually he'd found himself thinking of it as Hope Valley now – had managed to get into his blood somehow. He was starting to wonder if he might find someplace more permanent to stay than the room above the saloon. There was a small house available just outside of town, but it was owned by Henry Gowen, and somehow Bill couldn't imagine paying monthly rent to that snake in the grass.

So, for the time being, the saloon would have to do.

Finally, the road beneath Pilot's hooves showed that it had been plowed, and Bill knew he was coming into the outskirts of Union City. He found himself dreading the smoke and the noise he knew he'd find there, and he was already missing the chocolate coffee and scones at Abigail's.

And he was missing Abigail Stanton. Which was the last thing he needed.

December 20th, 1910

Miss Elizabeth Thatcher

General Delivery

Coal Valley

Alberta

My dearest Elizabeth,

I so loved your letter. The paper you wrote it on is still warm from my hands as I begin to write this one to you - and I will admit that there may be a few splotches here from the tears that I can't seem to hold back.

Jack is gone to the Northern Territories.

I knew I shouldn't have let him go out for a beer with some of the men, but as a wife of only a little over a month, I didn't want to play the harpy. So I smiled sweetly and told him to have a good time. I should have known better.

They spent the evening telling war stories of the heroism and bravery on display in the worst of the fighting up there, and Jack caught the bug. He woke up the next morning and went straight to Headquarters, and as fate would have it, there was a regiment leaving the day after.

We had such a fight. I may have theatrically thrown some things.

He told me what I already knew – that he has never once lied to me about where he was headed with his career. And he hasn't. I've always known he would go. Although I'd like to believe he has his eyes only on me, it's not true. He has his eyes on the world, and on saving it.

What's hard to swallow is that he makes it clear that this mission of his is so much more important than the time he might spend with me. As I watched him pull himself up on Sergeant, I had a terrible premonition that I will share only with you. I imagined him leaving me, time and time again, until one day he just didn't come home.

I sit here in my empty bed and I wonder why this surprises me. The unvarnished truth is that this is the reason I left him the first time. He says I broke our engagement, but I really felt I was running for dear life. Somehow the perils of New York City seemed tame when compared to Jack's passion for leaving me.

And this is the hardest thing to say, but the truest:

I always knew that, although Jack wanted a wife, he didn't want a marriage.

It hurts to say that, but as I write it, it all becomes clearer. I will always love him more than he will love me, or any woman. What he loves is fighting the good fight. It feeds his soul. And who am I to take away the thing that feeds his soul?

I should have stayed in New York City, but I lost a big part in a Broadway play, and my ego needed a boost. So I came to Coal Valley. And now I am a wife, alone, in Cape Fullerton. And my ego lies on the floor.

Elizabeth, I will admit I'm afraid this time. As you can imagine, I've never been the blushing ingenue – unless I'm playing one on the stage – and I have always landed on my feet no matter what scrapes I've gotten myself into... Not certain what I'm trying to say here... Oh, I would cross all of this out if I had the energy to start this letter over...

I can't explain how I'm feeling and that's something new to me. Rosemary LeVeaux, without words! But I suppose I'm no longer Rosemary LeVeaux. I'm now Mrs. Jack Thornton, and I guarantee you, I'm feeling every ounce of the weight of it.

How is it that I used to be able to go anywhere, live in any town or city in the world, and within a week I would have friends, employment, a place to live, and happiness. But now, I sit here in this Mountie-owned flat in Cape Fullerton, without a friend, and with no real purpose.

I miss my husband. And he doesn't even feel like my husband because we've been married such a short time and now he's gone. I look at the newspapers every day, hungry for news of the Northern Territories, and just a month ago I would have gone straight to the Theatre section and used the news to line the trash bin.

This is a terrible letter, isn't it? Have I dragged you down into the depths of despair with me? I wonder if I'll mail it, or perhaps I'll ball it up and write another telling you about the weather and then casually drop the news that Jack has gone on to save the entire Canadian North and tell you how proud I am of him.

No, I believe I will always tell you the truth, Elizabeth. You are a woman who is much stronger than she looks, with all your delicate beauty and your sweet disposition. There is steel beneath that Hamilton demeanor, and I try to think what you would do if it were you married to Jack Thornton and watching as he rode away to save the world. And I think you would miss him, but you would not allow yourself to be the reason he doesn't find what he feels makes him a man.

And if you could do it, I can.

I don't feel it's too soon in our friendship to say that I love you very much. I'm grateful that if the stars had to take Jack away from me, at least God gave me you.

Although I'm not commenting on all your news of the town or your brilliantly eloquent fashion of describing love and marriage, I want you to know that I enjoyed every word and have read your letter over at least ten times in its entirety. I know I'm not being a very good friend by taking center stage and talking only of myself. I simply don't seem to be able to do anything else at the moment.

My best to your beloved Nathan and his dear Allie, and to Abigail.

Your most faithful friend,

Rosemary

The Great North Western Telegraph Company of Canada

To: Mrs. Rosemary Thornton, c/o East Cape Fullerton Mounted Police

PACK YOUR BAGS. YOU'RE SPENDING CHRISTMAS WITH US. NATHAN AND I WILL BE THERE SATURDAY BY STAGE TO PICK YOU UP.

SEND RETURN CONFIRMING.

NO IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE ANSWER.

ELIZABETH

The Great North Western Telegraph Company of Canada

To: Miss Elizabeth Thatcher, c/o Yost's Mercantile, Coal Valley

WON'T EVEN PLAY HARD TO GET. BAGS ALREADY PACKED. THANK YOU DEAR FRIENDS.

ROSEMARY