Chapter 2
What Nathan didn't know was that Lucas had been up on the balcony of the saloon watching the young man since had arrived. When he had turned to walk with Nathan to the schoolhouse, Lucas had gone to the top of the back stairs to watch the young man. He wanted to know who it was and what he was doing in town. As Lucas stood there watching from the shadow of the building, he saw the children get released. He then got upset when the Constable and the young man headed up the steps and into the schoolhouse after speaking with Allie for a second. He wondered if he could find an excuse to head to the schoolhouse, then he remembered, he didn't need an excuse to see his fiance.
Lucas turned and headed back into the saloon. He stopped by his office to check his appearance and then he headed to the schoolhouse. He was going to surprise Elizabeth and check out things and make sure that his engagement was safe. He had a lot riding on the wedding to one Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton.
When they got to the schoolhouse, Nathan and Wyatt stood off to the side. They didn't have to wait long and the children came barreling down the steps. Allie spotted her father and headed right toward him. She pulled up short when she saw he was standing with another man she had never seen.
"It is okay, Allie-girl." Nathan said. "He is a friend visiting."
Allie gave her father a hug.
"Dad, can I go to Emily's?" Allie asked.
"If you go home and let Scout first." Nathan said. "He refused to come into the office today so he is in the kitchen."
"I will do that." Allie said. "I might take him to Emily's with me. We were talking about going for a walk and looking for wildflowers and things for her mother."
"Be careful." Nathan said. "If you have supper at Emily's please remember your manners. I might grab something from the cafe. I have plenty of paperwork to do."
"Okay." Allie said. "Fishing tomorrow?"
"If you want." Nathan said.
"Please." Allie said.
Nathan nodded and then Allie ran off to join Emily.
"What a lovely daughter." Wyatt said.
"Thank you." Nathan said. "Adopting her was the best thing I ever did. I took her in after my sister died and then later adopted her."
"Wow." Wyatt said.
"Let's head in." Nathan said.
The two men walked up the steps side by side. Elizabeth turned when she heard the boots on the floorboard. She was surprised to see someone with Nathan.
Afternoon." Elizabeth said.
"Afternoon, Elizabeth." Nathan said. "There is someone here that wants to speak to you."
Elizabeth moved around her desk and looked at the young man standing next to Nathan. It took her moment to recognize the young man.
"Wyatt?" Elizabeth said.
"Yes, Miss Thatcher." Wyatt said. "Or should I say, Mrs Thornton."
"You are not a student." Elizabeth said. "You are free to call me Elizabeth. It is so great to see you."
Elizabeth stepped forward and Wyatt gave her a hug, and that was just the moment that Lucas walked in.
"What is the meaning of this?" Lucas huffed.
Elizabeth released Wyatt and then turned with a sour look toward Lucas. She glared at him for a moment.
"I will hug anyone that I want." Elizabeth said, sternly. "Especially former students who come to visit me."
"Technically." Wyatt said. "I wasn't a student, but my brothers were."
"You borrow some of my university books." Elizabeth said, swatting his arm as Wyatt smirked at her. "That makes you a student."
"Yes, ma'am." Wyatt said, still smirking.
Lucas walked towards Elizabeth, but she moved back around her desk and Lucas huffed.
"Was there something that you needed, Lucas?" Elizabeth asked.
"I was just coming to see my fiance." Lucas said, smirking at Nathan.
"Well." Elizabeth said. "As you can see, I am busy. Now please leave. What I have told you about ambushing me in my classroom."
Nathan and Wyatt exchanged a look.
"Mrs Thornton." Wyatt said. "I was wondering if you would join me for supper tonight. There is something I would like to discuss with you. Nathan, if you could join us as well since it would involve you as well."
"She is having supper with me." Lucas huffed.
"Wyatt, Nathan." Elizabeth said. "I would love to join you. I might have to bring Little Jack. I don't know if I have a sitter for the evening."
"That would be fine." Wyatt said. "I met him early when he was showing the Constable a rock he found."
"Allie is at Emily's." Nathan said. "I am sure she would love to babysit."
"I will go ask her." Elizabeth said. "Let's say maybe about six at the cafe."
"Sounds good." Wyatt said. "That will give me time to look around and see things."
"Thank you gentlemen." Elizabeth said. "Now if you ALL will excuse me, I have things I need to finish before I head home."
As Elizabeth spoke, she glared right at Lucas.
"Lucas." Elizabeth said, in her stern teacher voice. "I will do what I want and I have told you before, that you don't control me. So please leave my classroom right now as I am angry and don't want to see you."
"What if I don't want to leave." Lucas said.
"Then you can spend the evening in a jail cell." Nathan said.
Lucas glared at Nathan, but Nathan just reached for his handcuffs. Lucas huffed twice, before heading back down the aisle. Nathan and Wyatt waited a moment to make sure that Lucas left.
"Sorry." Elizabeth said. "I don't know what has gotten into him. He has become possessive and jealous of me talking to anyone."
"Then I would suggest that you reconsider your relationship." Wyatt said. "Mountie Jack would never have wanted something like that for you. What was it that he used to say? That is right – you have to be your own person no matter what is going on. He told me that many times in the short time that I was here."
Nathan just looked at Elizabeth. There was so much that he wanted to say, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"Yes." Elizabeth said. "He said that a few times. I will see you later."
Elizabeth turned away and Nathan saw her wipe a tear away, so he looked at Wyatt and motioned toward the door. The two men walked out of the schoolhouse without saying anything else. When they had gotten a bit of a distance from the schoolhouse, Wyatt stopped Nathan.
"Did I say something wrong?" Wyatt asked.
"No." Nathan said. "Elizabeth is still struggling at times with Jack being gone. Grief is a weird thing and can hit you when you least expect it."
"Oh." Wyatt said. "The only person that I have lost is my father and he wasn't the best when he was around, so it was better when he was gone."
"I understand that." Nathan said. "I am going to head back to the office and work on that paperwork. Feel free to leave the car where it is and have a look around town. I am sure that a lot has changed since you were last here."
"I think I might." Wyatt said.
At just before six, Nathan and Elizabeth met at the door to the cafe together. When they entered, Wyatt was already there, so they headed to the table to join him. It was only a moment and Minnie was there to offer them a drink and let them know what was on the menu. Once they had ordered, Nathan turned to Wyatt.
"You wanted to meet." Nathan said. "So you can have the table so to speak."
"Thank you." Wyatt said. "So when I was here. I created a vent fan for the mine. Miss Thatcher helped me to get a patent on it. It took awhile, but I was able to get the fans mass produced and they are now standard in all the mines in the United States. So because it was you and Mountie Jack that believed in me way back when. I wanted to do something for you."
"I don't need anything from you." Elizabeth said. "I am fine, but thank you."
"I figured you would say that." Wyatt said. "So when Nathan told me that Mountie Jack had passed away, I changed my plan a little. I originally was going to make sure that you had a schoolhouse and things like that, but as I was in your classroom, I saw that you had things that you needed and that you had named the school after Mountie Jack, so I want to be able to establish a scholarship in Mountie Jack's name for a student from Hope Valley who wants to go on to school in math or science. I also want to be able to have a park here in Hope Valley where the children can play, specifically baseball. I know that Mountie Jack loved baseball."
"That is amazing." Nathan said.
"Yes, amazing." Elizabeth said. "And very generous of you. Are you sure?"
"I am very sure." Wyatt said. "Between the fan and my other inventions, I have established scholarships at other schools where my brothers have attended, but I feel it is only appropriate that there is one here where it all started."
"So what do you need from us?" Nathan asked.
"I want you both to manage the funds." Wyatt said. "I was going to ask Mountie Jack and Miss Thatcher, since the way that I set it up, it needs two. Nathan if you ever get transferred, you can name someone else to take over the fund for you or even stand in your place. I have the paperwork, we will just need to fill out the names and places, especially for the baseball field and park."
"Well." Elizabeth said. "I think that the baseball field should go behind the cafe here where we had a field at one time."
"I like that idea." Wyatt said.
"How will the scholarship work?" Elizabeth asked.
"You and Nathan will need to pick a student that you feel needs the scholarship and has shown an interest in going to school for something in the math or science fields." Wyatt said.
"So anything in maths?" Nathan asked.
"Yes." Wyatt said.
"What if we don't have a student every year?" Elizabeth asked.
"Then the money will sit there and continue to grow." Wyatt said. "It is fine. I understand that this is a smaller school than the ones where I have established back East. The point is to give children from here a chance to further their education in math and science. You never know who will be the next Edison."
As they got their food, they continued to talk about the scholarship and the baseball field. By the time that they were finished eating, they had everything planned out. It was about that time that Bill came in and Nathan waved him over. Wyatt shared with Bill what he wanted and Bill agreed it would be easy. So Wyatt pulled out the paperwork and they all worked on it there. Wyatt was so happy that he could provide for the students of Hope Valley.
As Nathan read through the paperwork, he realized that Wyatt was providing baseball gloves, bats and balls for the children as well, so that the children would have them to play with even if their parents wouldn't be able to afford it. Nathan smiled as he knew that would make a difference for several families and the boys wouldn't have to share their gloves, even if they were more than willing.
Before he left for the evening, Wyatt enjoyed some of Minnie's chocolate cake.
"This is amazing." Wyatt said.
"Yes it is." Nathan said. "It is one of my favorites."
"Thank you so much for everything." Elizabeth said. "I can't believe how much you are giving back to a place that you lived for only a short amount of time."
"But you and Mountie Jack made such a huge difference in my life." Wyatt said. "I feel bad that I didn't stay in touch after I left. I am also sorry about what happened to Mountie Jack. He had such a big heart and did so much for this town, that I don't think anyone knew about."
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.
"Did you know that he bought baseball gloves for a few of the boys?" Wyatt asked. "Or that he chopped wood for pretty much every widow around. He also would make sure a food basket was left on a porch if he knew someone was struggling. He paid on accounts in the mercantile. He might not have had much himself, but he was always giving what he had away."
It took six months but the baseball field was finally built and the kids couldn't have been more excited. When they learned that there were bats, balls and gloves for everyone to use, they were even more excited. They wanted to have an official game, so Elizabeth and Nathan divided up the kids like she and Jack had done and played a game. Bill was once again the umpire.
The biggest thing to happen since Wyatt had visited Hope Valley was that Lucas and Elizabeth had broken up and she had started courting Nathan. She was just waiting for him to ask for her hand in marriage. Nathan had a plan and the older children were even going to help him.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon for the baseball game and Nathan was excited even more than just for the game. If everything went to plan, he would be engaged by the end of the night. He had the ring in the pocket of his pants and he was hoping that it would be on Elizabeth's finger by the end of the evening. Nathan was excited that Wyatt had arrived with his wife and young son in time for the baseball game.
The game went well and the children had fun. Elizabeth's team ended up winning, but to Nathan it was fine. When they gathered to shake hands at the end of the game, Nathan stopped Elizabeth with everyone watching.
"Good job." Nathan said.
"Good job." Elizabeth said.
"It was close and I think that the children had fun." Nathan said.
"I am glad you thought so." Elizabeth said. "You are a much better loser then Jack was when we the children played a game with each of us coaching."
Nathan shrugged, but didn't let go of Elizabeth's hand.
"Was there something else?" Elizabeth asked, when Nathan held on to her hand.
Nathan smiled at her and then dropped to one knee.
"Yes." Nathan said. "Elizabeth Thornton, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Nathan had pulled the ring from his pocket with his free hand while he had been speaking and held it up to Elizabeth. She was shaking, but nodded her head as the tears started. Nathan slipped the ring on her finger, then stood and gathered Elizabeth into his arms, giving her a quick kiss. The people gathered had begun clapping for them before they were mobbed by the children all hugging them.
The post game picnic had quickly turned into a celebration of Nathan and Elizabeth as well as the winning team. As they were sitting enjoying the picnic, Nathan turned to Elizabeth.
"You might have won the game." Nathan said. "But I think I am the real winner today. So how soon do you want to get married?"
"Maybe I can talk to Rosemary and we can plan something in a couple of months." Elizabeth said. "Besides, I want to see if my parents can come out here."
"A couple of months is doable." Nathan smiled.
Nathan was right, the night ended with him engaged. He was happy to walk Elizabeth home as his fiance. He carried Jack home as he had fallen asleep as they had stayed at the picnic late, enjoying the wonderful weather. After Nathan put Jack to bed, he came downstairs and Elizabeth went to him. He kissed her like he had wanted to earlier, but couldn't as he was aware of the audience they had.
Finally, Elizabeth pulled back, breathless. She leaned her forehead on Nathan's chest and could hear his pounding heart.
"Keep kissing me like that." Elizabeth said, softly. "And I don't know if I can wait a couple more months."
"That was the idea." Nathan said, coyly.
"I will call Father in the morning and see how long it would take them to get here." Elizabeth said.
"Good." Nathan said.
Nathan kissed her one more time and then he reluctantly stepped back and moved toward the door.
"I better go." Nathan said.
He couldn't look at Elizabeth as his body had reacted to the kiss from Elizabeth and he knew that he needed to leave for both their sakes. Elizabeth watched as Nathan walked out of the door and shut it. She immediately sat down on the settee and fanned herself.
"God, I hope Father can get her soon." Elizabeth said to herself.
One month later on another beautiful day, Nathan and Elizabeth were married in front of friends and family in an outside ceremony near the church.