Chapter 12- A Marriage of Convenience

Under Faith and Minnie's care and support, Charlotte felt enough like herself to leave the house on Wednesday. She had decided the best way to take her mind off the uncertain future she now faced, was to go to the place she felt happiest. Her schoolhouse.

Much of the town had set about getting ready for Elizabeth and Lucas' wedding that was to be this Saturday. The date was chosen by the couple because it was a year after they professed their love to each other.

A year after Elizabeth broke a certain Mountie's heart, Charlotte thought to herself.

Streamers and banners were being hung across the main street. Flowers, shipped all the way from Hamilton, had started arriving to decorate the church and saloon. The band Lucas had requested, all the way from Paris, France, was just pulling into town when Charlotte walked down the street. And the wedding party had invaded Dottie's Dress Shop for Clara to do all the final fittings and adjustments to the gowns and suits.

She was happy for Elizabeth. But Charlotte would be lying if a pang of regret did not hit her square in the chest at the sights and sounds around her. She would never experience this herself. Not now. Not after everything that had happened. Charlotte thought, subconsciously moving her hands lower to cup her stomach.

The classroom was all but ready with the painting Allie, Nathan, and Charlotte completed the week before, but there were still some last-minute adjustments and planning Charlotte wanted to finish before all the students showed up on Monday. With Elizabeth and Lucas leaving right after the wedding for their honeymoon, Charlotte would be the sole Hope Valley teacher for the first few weeks of classes. The prospect excited Charlotte as she would be able to throw herself into lesson planning while she tried to figure out what her and her child's future would look like.

Should they stay and tell the residents of Hope Valley her story? Would they take pity on a single mother and the circumstances she had run away from?

Or should she leave? Go somewhere even further away. Tell the people there that her husband died in a tragic accident and that he was the child's father?

As much as the second option seemed the easiest, Charlotte knew she could not live the rest of her life in a lie. Plus, the thought of leaving Hope Valley did not look as simple as it had a few days ago when she first found out about Beck's letter. As Charlotte had mentioned in her note to Nathan, it was seeing him raise Allie, that spurred her to accept that she too could raise a child as a single parent. But Nathan had not done it alone. This whole town had a hand in raising the children of Hope Valley, and that was a community Charlotte felt the need to bring her baby into.

Just then a faint knock came from the door to her classroom. Charlotte looked up from the papers she was shuffling through on her desk. It was Nathan. His red serge, like a beacon, calling to her through the glass panes of the entry. Her heartbeat quickened as she made her way down the aisle to let him in.

"Hi," was the only word Charlotte could muster as she opened the door, looking up into Nathan's cobalt blue eyes as he stood before her, nervously twirling the brim of his hat between his fingers.

"Can we talk? I understand if you're not comfortable with me being here, so if there is somewhere else-"

"No. This is fine." Charlotte cut him off, turning and creating space between them as she led Nathan further into the classroom. Trying to steady her breath and her nerves.

"Charlotte." Nathan was the one to finally break the silence between them. "First off, I wanted to apologize for the other night. I should not have come up behind and surprised you like that. I shouldn't have touched you the way I did, making you feel trapped. I knew better and I'm sorry."

"There is no need to apologize Nathan. You were just trying to help me. You had no reason to know that would have caused me to break down like I did. I'm sorry that you had to witness it." Charlotte replied, her eyes lowering in shame.

"I'm not." Nathan shook his head before moving a couple steps closer to Charlotte. "I'm not sorry that I saw. I am not sorry that I was there. Charlotte from the first time we met I wanted to know more about you." He paused before continuing. "Your attack. As much as we both wish it would have never happened. That you would not have been hurt. I wanted to know about it too. When you care about someone. You care about every part of them. The bad and the good. Anything less is just living part of a life. And living part of a life isn't living, Charlotte. It's existing."

Charlotte could feel her cheeks warming under Nathan's intense gaze and words.

"When things get tough Charlotte, don't push me away. Let me in. I want to help you. Not because I'm a Mountie, but because I'm your friend." Nathan took a large breath before continuing, "I care about you. More than you may ever know."

Charlotte could hear every beat of her heart as it pumped blood through the rest of her body. This was too much. Nathan was too much. She needed to stop him, before he made a fool of himself and said something he would later regret. "Nathan, I-"

"Charlotte, will you marry me?"

Charlotte stopped; the air being knocked so forcefully out of her lungs she thought she could faint at any moment.

"Now before you say anything, please let me finish this or I will never have the courage to later. I can protect and provide for you and the baby. I will help raise the child and love them as if they were my own. And I can't think of anything I would rather do."

Charlotte stood before Nathan. Unable to think. Unable to speak. Shaken to the very core with Nathan's confession.

"All I ask is that you consider it. You don't have to love me, Charlotte. You just have to let me love you." With that Nathan turned and walked back down the aisle from which he came moments earlier. Pausing at the entrance to place his hat back on his head, before tipping it in Charlotte's direction and continuing down the boardwalk towards his office.

You don't have to love me, Charlotte. You just have to let me love you.