The rains started just about exactly halfway between Cape Fullerton and Hope Valley. It began as a sprinkle, then the drops got bigger, and within minutes, Rosemary was completely enveloped in the tarpaulin with her head nearly on Lee's lap, trying to hold the edges together and keep both of them dry.

Lee was hoping that he would begin to see clear sky as he drove the wagon through the torrents of icy rain, but when lightning flashed and the horses spooked, he had his hands full just keeping them all from rolling over into a ditch. He heard a sickening crack and he was afraid they had lost a wheel, or possibly an axle.

It was hard to tell in the encroaching darkness, but Lee could feel that the wagon was on an angle and his worst fear was that it would tumble sideways with them in it. Her belongings could be replaced. Rosemary couldn't.

"We need to get down," he yelled over the wind and the rain. Rosemary nodded, and Lee crawled out of the tarp and wrapped it more tightly around her. Within moments, he was soaked to the skin, but the important thing was to keep Rosemary dry.

His mind was racing, trying to think what was in the wagon that they could use for a shelter, but his priority was to get Rosemary away from the horses, who were stamping in their frustration and rocking the wagon dangerously.

"Rosie, take my hand," he said, reaching out for her as she stepped down and nearly fell into his arms. He held her tightly and walked her from the road to the cover of the trees. "Stay here," he said loudly, "Don't move." He put her next to the strong trunk of a large tree, and she stood sheltered under the wide boughs. If there was anything Lee knew, it was the strength and safety of trees.

He ran back to the wagon and unhitched the horses quickly, leading them around past Rosemary, far enough away for her safety and tethered to low branches. Then he went back to the wagon and retrieved their bags and as many blankets as he could from beneath the tarpaulin, holding them tightly under his coat to try to keep them dry. He couldn't be sure, but the axle looked to be intact, and the wheel had wedged deeply between two rocks, but it also seemed miraculously to be in one piece.

Tomorrow. He would deal with it tomorrow. For now he needed to build some kind of shelter. A lean-to, up against those rocks. Plenty of deadfall on the ground, and if that didn't work, he'd start pulling furniture out of the wagon...

And then he saw it. He couldn't believe his eyes.

A mailbox.

Elizabeth and Clara were sitting in the Club Car finishing the last of their dinner and watching the sun as it set over the mountains in the distance. They had passed through Sudbury and were expected in Winnipeg at about midnight. Clara hadn't forgotten her nearly disastrous walk in Winnipeg a month ago, and though she would love to stretch her legs, she wouldn't be leaving the safety of her cozy cabin on the train. Elizabeth and Nathan had no intention of leaving the train either, and they hoped that by midnight, they would be fast asleep in each other's arms.

Right now Nathan was at the end of the car, speaking to the porter. Not Jonathan this time, but a short, squat man named Patrick McGee, originally from Derry, Ireland; and though he'd been in Canada for nearly thirty years, he hadn't lost the lilt in his voice or his lyrical way with a story. Nathan couldn't get enough of talking to him.

Smiling, Elizabeth watched her husband as he laughed at yet another of Patrick's tales. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but she could hear Nathan's full-throated laugh as he threw his head back and leaned against the door between the cars. Shaking her head, Elizabeth laughed too and turned back to Clara.

"Really, for a man who doesn't say much, my husband could make friends anywhere," she said, with obvious admiration filling her voice.

Clara smiled and nodded. "He's just wonderful, Elizabeth. You're very lucky."

Looking back at Nathan, her eyes soft, Elizabeth said, "And it's a good thing I know it."

Clara sighed. "Peter was like that. The same way. Every stranger was just a friend he hadn't met." She turned back to the setting sun, and Elizabeth watched as the younger woman's eyes grew sad. "I wonder if I'll always be alone." Clara's eyes filled, and Elizabeth took her hand across the table.

"Do you want to be alone?" Elizabeth asked softly.

"I thought I did for a while. I couldn't even think of another man than Peter. But now..." She looked at Elizabeth. "I don't really think I'm meant to be alone."

"Then you'll find someone, Clara. When the time is right."

Clara looked out the window. "I can't imagine courting someone in the same town as Peter's mother..." Her voice trailed off, full of all the mysteries that sentence contained. The truth was, Clara was terrified to meet Abigail Stanton. Peter had talked often of his mother, and Nathan and Elizabeth had told her many things, and all of them made it sound as if Abigail was a truly good person. But deep down, Clara was still afraid that Abigail would never forgive her for keeping their marriage a secret.

Taking a deep breath, Clara reached for her teacup and took a sip. It will be what it will be, she thought. One step at a time. For now, she felt so fortunate to be with Elizabeth and Nathan, though she knew it hadn't been luck. Peter had guided her to them. It had to have been him. Otherwise, she just couldn't make sense of it.

Rosemary huddled against the tree, clutching the blanket tightly around her head. The canopy of branches over her was so closely woven that very little rain was coming from above, and she'd managed to find the driest side of the tree so that it would shelter her from the wind.

But she was starting to get scared. She knew Lee hadn't been gone very long, but she was surprised to find that she felt lost and alone without him. She wanted to see his face and hear his voice; to feel his arms around her. Rosemary could already sense that his strength was becoming essential to her.

"I found it!" She heard his voice before she could see him, but just the sound of him coming closer allowed her to take a deep breath and calm down. "It's not far. The door was locked, but I found a window that wasn't latched and climbed in. No one's there and it doesn't look like anyone has been for quite a while."

Lee put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tightly to him. Rosemary reached out of the blanket and circled his waist with both arms, feeling the cold wetness of his shirt and jacket. "Lee! You're soaked!" she said, and he turned to her and laughed.

"Rosie, in case you hadn't noticed, it's raining..."

"Well, we need to get you inside," she said, walking faster and dipping her head down against the wind.

"We need to get you inside," Lee said, shouting over the storm. "I'm not the one expecting a baby."

Rosemary stopped suddenly and turned to him, feeling the driving rain like tiny icicles hitting her face. "But you'll be there," she said, looking intently into his eyes. "I want you there."

Lee laughed and shook his head, causing cold drops to fly off onto her cheeks. "Rosie, can we talk about this later?"

"I want you there!" Rosemary said again more forcefully.

Lee took her face in his hands and kissed her with the rain dripping from his cheeks to hers. "I'm not going anywhere, Rosie. I'll be there. I promise."

Rosemary reached the sopping blanket around his shoulders and held her hands at his neck. "I'm going to hold you to that, Lee Coulter. I feel safe with you," she said, her lips close to his ear. Lee was cold to the bone, but when he felt her warm breath on his neck he closed his eyes, pulling her closer.

"I'll always keep you safe..." he said, holding her tightly. From above, a branch let loose of a stream of water and it dripped down the back of his neck, making him shiver.

Rosemary felt it and pulled back to look at him. She smiled and said, "Okay, we can talk about this later."

Lee laughed again. "Good idea," he said. He'd left a lantern burning in the window of the cabin and it glowed cheerfully through the rain. They made their way there and once Lee had closed the door behind them, it was immediately quiet. Certainly not silent, as the wind whistled around the windows and under the door, but at least the noise wasn't deafening anymore.

Shaking himself, Lee looked over at the fireplace and smiled. "Nice of them to leave us some wood," he said, raising an eyebrow. Within minutes, he had a fire blazing and Rosemary was standing in front of it, taking stock of their new surroundings.

She thought it was the coziest-looking hunting cabin she'd ever seen, not that she'd seen many recently. In the early years of their relationship, Jack and Rosemary had loved camping, but her life in the theatre left little time for that as she became more sought after. She wondered how many in Hope Valley would be surprised to know that she could not only recite Shakespeare and play the piano, but she could also shoot and fish along with the best of them.

The cabin was one room and certainly not large. The fireplace sat right in the middle, with a wide hearth around it made of river rocks. Rosemary sat down on the hearth and felt herself beginning to warm. Lee had already started the coffee pot on the massive wood stove and he was searching the cupboards.

"Aha!" he said triumphantly. "Cocoa! And sugar, and some very stale graham crackers," he said, grimacing before taking an exploratory bite. He raised his eyebrows. "Not bad." Walking over to one of the bags he'd retrieved from the wagon, he produced two apples and some beef jerky he'd purchased in Cape Fullerton just in case. Finding a linen towel, he laid it down on the hearth in front of Rosemary and proceeded to spread out what little they had to eat.

"A feast!" Rosemary said, smiling brightly.

Lee stopped what he was doing and looked at her with wonder in his eyes. "You're an extraordinary woman, Rosie," he said softly.

Rosemary tilted her head and raised one eyebrow. "Yes. I am."

Lee grinned. "And modest," he said, nodding.

Matching his grin, Rosemary said, "Not so much that." She took hold of the lapels on his coat and pulled him toward her gently, pressing her lips on his. Now that they'd finally kissed, Rosemary found that she couldn't seem to stop. His lips and face were warm, but when she reached up to his neck she could feel the cold there, wet from his soaked collar.

Standing quickly, she frowned. "We need to get you out of these clothes," she said matter-of-factly, while unbuttoning his wool coat.

Lee raised both eyebrows and laughed. "Oh, if I had a nickel for every time a beautiful woman has said that to me..."

Rosemary stopped and her frown deepened. "Really?" she said, nonplussed.

Lee smiled. "No. In fact, you're the first." He moved closer and took her in his arms. "And if I have anything to say about it, you'll be the last..." He was still soaking wet, and Rosemary could feel the water wicking slowly from the wool of his coat into the fabric of her jacket, but she didn't care. Then Lee's lips were full on hers and she could feel the warmth of his face from tending the fire. Along with the crackling of the wood as it dried in the flames, she heard his breathing change, and felt him pressing toward her. She tightened her grip around his neck, parting her lips slightly and losing her sense of time and place, focused only on how good this man made her feel and how right she felt in his arms.

Rosemary hadn't meant to, but she couldn't help comparing this to what she'd known with Jack. Lee held nothing back, and now she realized that Jack always had. He had loved her, certainly, but his mind was always half with her and half out on the trail. She'd known it at the time, and it had been worth it, but now, in Lee's arms, she found out what she'd been missing.

Lee's mind was nowhere else. His thoughts were only on her, and the combination of tenderness and desire she felt from him made this a completely new experience. A new world to explore. And Rosemary liked nothing more than the exploration of new worlds.

As their kiss deepened, Rosemary felt herself wanting again, wanting everything Lee had to give her, and everything in her mind and heart told her that it would be so much more than anything she'd known before.

But they were alone in a cabin, in a storm. There was nothing and no one to stop them...

As if he'd read her mind, Lee groaned softly and moved his lips from hers. "No..." he whispered into her hair, his voice rough. "It's too important..." He pulled away and looked at her and she could see the brown in his eyes was even darker than usual, his lashes still wet from his dripping hair, his breath coming quickly. "You're too important to me.. for this..."

"I know," she said softly, closing her eyes against the cold wetness of his hair. Rosemary breathed deeply and composed herself with a final sigh. "I will turn around while you change into dry clothes. Then we'll eat this lovely dinner, and we'll sleep on opposite sides of the fireplace." She smiled and pulled back to look at him. "You'll have to crawl through fire to get to me," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Lee smiled back at her and exhaled, his eyes sparkling. "Don't underestimate me..."

Nodding, Rosemary said, "Oh, believe me, I never will. But tonight..." she said, kissing him quickly, "...tonight we will be good."

"Yes," he said softly. "Yes, we will." With determination, Lee put Rosemary at arm's length. Then he leaned toward her again and whispered in her ear.

"But I really like kissing you. And I'm likely to do it again."

Rosemary smiled. "I'm counting on it..." And then, with a sigh, she watched as Lee moved toward their bags to find some dry clothes.

"I'm going to tell you something and I don't want you to be upset," Elizabeth said, snuggling next to Nathan on the floor of their little room in the moonlight. They were coming up on Winnipeg and they knew they would have to close the curtains soon, but for now they were enjoying the blue tinge to everything in their room, and especially how it looked on their bare skin, still warm from making love.

Nathan took a deep breath and looked at her. "That's one of those statements that has no good answer, so you might as well just come out with it."

Elizabeth smiled against the skin on his chest. "Do you know what today is?" she said cryptically.

Nathan sighed. "Oh, it's a test. Well, it can't be our anniversary yet, and you've told me we won't be celebrating each month the way some couples do. And it's not your birthday..."

"Shall I just tell you?" Elizabeth asked, bending her neck and gazing up at him.

"Please," Nathan said.

"It's February 14th. St. Valentine's Day," she said with a smile.

Nathan immediately flinched and exhaled. "Oh," he said, his mind racing.

Elizabeth laughed and sat up. "No. Don't do that." She leaned down and kissed him gently. "I don't care." She put her hand on his cheek and gazed at him in the moonlight. "I just wanted to tell you that it's not necessary for us to have a day to say we love each other and give paper lace cards and candies and have elegant dinners." She sat cross-legged on the mattress and Nathan watched as the moon made the now familiar halo of her curls. "Every day is Valentine's Day, Nathan. Every day with you."

Nathan smiled back at her and raised an eyebrow. "Clyde would have done something," he said, a little glumly.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, Clyde would have done too much. To compensate for the feelings I've never had for him. To try to create romance where it doesn't exist."

Nathan sat up and crossed his legs, mirroring her. "And this..." he said, looking around at their room, "...is romantic?" They had come in from dinner and expected to read for a time, but the various items of clothing that stretched from the door to the mattresses seemed to indicate that very little reading had occurred. In fact, the cabin was actually quite a mess, as small spaces tend to be when people live in them and have other things on their minds than tidying up.

Elizabeth smiled and nodded. "This is a very romantic space," she said, reaching out to touch his cheek.

Nathan covered her hand with his, holding it at his face and then kissing her palm tenderly. "I tell you what. I'll give you two gifts on Valentine's Day next year. Will that put me back in your good graces?"

Smiling, Elizabeth said, "You've never left my good graces..."

"But for now," Nathan said, reaching around behind him to find the jacket he'd worn to dinner. "For now…" he said, finally finding it and reaching into the pocket, "This will have to do."

Nathan produced a tiny cloth bag, made of green linen with a drawstring around the top. He took Elizabeth's hand and opened it flat before placing the bag squarely in her palm.

"You did remember!" she said, looking up at him in some wonder.

Nathan laughed softly and looked into her eyes. "You know I can't lie to you." He looked down at her hand and shook his head. "This was supposed to be a welcome home present for you when you moved into the row house with us. You just get to open it a little early."

"Oh, Nathan," Elizabeth said, her eyes soft in the moonlight. Then she frowned slightly. "So you got this in Hamilton? When did you do that?"

Nathan smiled and said, "Open it and I'll tell you the story."

Elizabeth nodded and pulled the drawstring to open the bag. She turned it over and out fell an exquisite silver chain with a teardrop pendant. Inside the teardrop was a beautiful openwork pattern of woven lines, all in finely polished silver. Sighing in delight, Elizabeth held it up in the light of the moon.

Nathan gazed at it with her. "It's Celtic. Irish. Patrick says it represents eternity."

Elizabeth looked past the pendant to Nathan's face. "Patrick? The porter?" Then she smiled. "Of course. He's Irish…"

Nathan pointed to the fine silverwork. "He makes these. Has for many years. He rides the train back and forth and when he's not being a porter, he works with silver in his cabin, making love knots."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "Love knots. That's what this is?"

Holding the necklace up close to her face, Nathan said, "You see how this is made? It's one continuous strand of silver that has no start or finish. Patrick says it symbolizes how life, love, and eternity are interconnected." Nathan looked into Elizabeth's eyes and said softly, "Eternity." Then he leaned over and kissed her gently. "Us. Forever."

The tears came so quickly that Elizabeth hardly felt them. But she knew they came because her heart expanded to the point that it simply had to overflow. Nathan reached up and brushed the moisture away from her cheek with his thumb. "You like it?" he said shyly, his own eyes glistening.

Elizabeth threw her arms around him and breathed deeply as her tears fell and spread across the smooth skin of his shoulders and neck. She allowed her lips to rest in the space just below his ear as she tried to compose herself enough to speak. Finally, muffled against his skin, she whispered, "I can't think of anything I'd love more."

Nathan laughed softly. "So I saved our first St. Valentine's Day?" He exhaled in relief. "Phew. That was a close one…"

Elizabeth didn't allow him to finish his sentence. Her lips were still trembling when they found his, and she reached behind her to carefully put the necklace on the table before finding her place on the mattress and pulling him down with her.