"Lucas is in danger. Something happened, we need to go now." Elizabeth heard Bill yell as he galloped on his horse to the place she stood with Nathan. She felt frozen from shock not being able to accept what she just heard.
"What happened? Where did you get the news?" Nathan ran to his horse. How could this happen? His mind was racing trying to think of everything over the past few months.
"No time to discuss. We need to go now. Meeting in Lee's office in ten minutes to go over everything that we know. Elizabeth." Bill turned his horse quickly and headed back into town.
"Coming." Elizabeth ran to her horse grabbing the reins as she climbed up. How could this happen? Lucas was supposed to be safe. Safe was the only thing she could think of as her body felt numb. Safe. Lucas was supposed to be safe.
Hope Valley. The town was just starting to wake up from a long winter. The weather was warming with the grass a mix of green and brown. The birds happily chirped each morning as the sun rose high in the sky.
Change and the renewal of a new season were in the air after months of rest and recovery.
"Jack, come eat your breakfast," Elizabeth called up the stairs to her son. After hearing him open his door she walked back towards the kitchen. Tomorrow was the first day of the spring session of school after a six-week break during winter. She was enjoying the relaxing Sunday before the busyness of the week back to school.
"Mamma, can I have pancakes?" Jack asked as the five-year-old leapfrogged off the bottom stair into the living room.
"Sure, honey. Should we do blueberry or strawberry? You choose today." Elizabeth asked as she started to mix the ingredients in the bowl. Knowing pancakes were his favorite breakfast.
"Blueberry, please." Jack smiled widely as he continued to leapfrog to the kitchen.
"Great choice. Let's wash our hands before we sit down to eat." Elizabeth moved the stepstool to the sink so Jack could reach the faucet. She washed her hands quickly and then handed the bar of soap to the little boy.
"I will get the juice." Jack opened the icebox, grabbed the pitcher of orange juice, and carried it to the kitchen table.
"Thank you. Can you please say the alphabet for me as I finish making the pancakes?" Elizabeth flipped the pancakes over and watched as Jack sat in his chair.
"A.. B.. C… D.. E.. F.. H.." Jack started to say his letters loudly.
"Good job. Let's go over them again. You missed the letter G." This time Elizabeth started off the alphabet as Jack repeated along.
"X…Y…Z. All done!" Jack shouted with a sigh.
"All done." Elizabeth laughed seeing her little boy's expression. Time to eat." Elizabeth put the pancakes on a plate and carried them to the table.
"Yum!" Jack smiled as Elizabeth cut up a pancake pouring maple syrup on top.
"Are you looking forward to seeing Laura tomorrow? All your friends will be there." Elizabeth asked as she took a sip of her juice.
"I want to build a big tower of blocks and knock it down!" Jack giggled.
"How high can you build it? Could it be as high as your chair?" Elizabeth asked.
"Momma, it will go up to the top." Jack pointed to the ceiling with his left finger.
"That's very high. Who do you want to build blocks with tomorrow?" Elizabeth asked as she wiped syrup off the table.
"My friends all love blocks." Jack smiled. "Momma?"
"Yes, honey?" Elizabeth asked.
"Can Buddy play blocks today?" Jack asked excitedly.
"Not today. I'm sorry honey. Buddy is in Capital City. But I promise when he comes home you can play blocks together." Elizabeth said quietly.
"Ok," Jack whispered.
"What did you say to him?" Rosie asked as she hung her clothes up on the backyard clothing line later that afternoon.
"Honestly I didn't know what to say to him. He is a little boy who hasn't seen Lucas in months. He doesn't understand what is going on. Not sure if I even understand my feelings yet." Elizabeth said honestly knowing the confusion and hurt of the past few months.
"That is understandable. Eventually, you will need to figure things out. Whatever it is, you can't live your life in limbo." Rosemary replied, giving her friend a hard truth from her own experience.
"Wise words my friend. You are right." Elizabeth took a shirt from her basket hanging it on her line.
"Elizabeth?" Nathan called out from the alley between the two houses. He quickly walked to the backyard where the two women stood.
"Nathan." Elizabeth smiled as she saw the town Mountie walk towards them.
"Hey." Nathan stepped back accidently throwing his balance off which made him fall into a side table against one of the houses. How embarrassing he thought to himself as he felt his face turn three shades of red.
"Are you ok?" Elizabeth asked with concern as she stepped closer.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a klutz." Nathan laughed as he brushed off his shirt. "I came today to see if I should know anything about the spring semester for school. I will be leaving tomorrow night for Mountie business and won't be at the parent meeting this week."
"Thank you for checking. The parent meeting will just go over the main syllabus for the spring semester. We will also talk about some of the school events scheduled for the next few months. I will be teaching the class about the planets and would like to do a night star gazing with all the families with a cookout. And the spring class recital. I will give all the information to Allie to bring home. Just let me know if you have any questions." Elizabeth tried to quickly think over everything that would be discussed at the parent meeting.
"Great. Everything sounds good. If there is anything Allie or myself can do, please let us know." Nathan smiled widely even though he could feel himself getting nervous.
"I appreciate that. Thank you. Good luck with your assignment and be safe." Elizabeth smiled at Nathan who was smiling back at her.
"Good luck with the first day of the new semester. Afternoon, ladies." Nathan turned and headed towards his house.
"What?" Elizabeth asked as she saw Rosemary's expression.
"That was interesting." Rosemary shook her head.
Nathan walked home feeling a swirl of emotions. He couldn't believe how foolish he probably seemed to Rosemary and especially Elizabeth. One thing that would always be true is his nervousness around situations where he didn't know where he stood.
He had liked Elizabeth since he first met her almost five years ago. The feelings were not returned after a few years of coming close. They then settled into a good friendship. But there was always a small part of him that occasionally would wonder what if something had turned out differently. The road not traveled and how would his life be different today?
"Allie," he called as he opened the front door of their row house. Scout came galloping towards him, almost knocking him to the ground. After a rough start, he and the dog had made a truce. Now they were the best of friends even if he wasn't always the most helpful in being a working dog.
Walking into the kitchen he could see the mess that Scout had made. It was obvious Allie had been gone for hours this afternoon. Frustration and disappointment bubbled up within him. He had asked her to take the dog for a long walk and do her weekly chores. Nothing had been done. Instead, he was now cleaning up the mess and then he would need to track her down.
There were remnants of the pie tin on the floor where the apple pie had been just hours earlier. Scattered across the kitchen table were breadcrumbs of the muffins. Everything had just been purchased yesterday from the café. Wasted money and food that he didn't have the luxury to waste. It was a special treat for the weekend that only once a month he would get to splurge on.
After everything was cleaned up he took Scout outside quickly. Grateful that the dog didn't have an accident in the house. After ten minutes outside he headed inside to start calling trying to find out where his daughter had gone.
"Dad?" Allie said surprised as she opened the door thirty minutes later.
"Young lady, you need to come sit down at the kitchen table right now. We need to talk." Nathan sighed with frustration as she walked into the kitchen.
"What is wrong?" Allie asked as she sat down on the chair across from Nathan.
"I asked you to do your chores today before I left for my rounds at noon. When I came home at five pm nothing was done. It was obvious Scout hadn't walked for the day. Everything I bought yesterday for dessert tonight and breakfast tomorrow for the first day of the spring semester is gone. Lastly, and most importantly, you never asked to go somewhere, and you didn't leave me a note." Nathan watched Allie avoid looking at him.
"I didn't think I would be gone that long," Allie whispered.
"Speak up. I want you to look at me when we talk. If you think you are old enough to run off without telling me where you are then you are also old enough for stronger consequences for that behavior." Nathan got up walking to his desk grabbing some paper and a pencil.
"I went to the creek today," Allie admitted.
"Who did you go with?" Nathan asked as he sat back down.
"Opal, Robert, and Cooper. We left at two." Allie sighed.
"Thank you for telling me the truth. Can I trust you to behave with the Canfields while I am gone until Friday? Or should I reschedule my appointments? I will not tolerate you doing this to the Canfields." Nathan said sternly.
"I will be fine. You can go." Allie looked away.
"Alright. You will be getting a punishment for this behavior. First, you will be working to pay off the money I spent yesterday. Right now, you will take Scout for his walk while I make supper. I will take the next few days to think about what other changes will be made." Nathan handed Allie Scout's leash.
"Fine." Allie sighed and rolled her eyes.
Nathan took a deep breath before speaking. "Allie, you are all I have. If something happened to you well, I can't even think of it. If you respect and love someone you show them respect. I am very disappointed in your behavior today. You didn't even apologize. Be back in thirty minutes." Nathan got up from the table and walked upstairs to his bedroom to change his clothes. A few minutes later he heard the front door shut.
Faith arrived at the clinic a few minutes before 10 am. She had just gone to her first appointment which was a home visit on the outskirts of Hope Valley. She met with a patient who she had been treating for the past few months. Sadly, in the past few weeks, Dora Watson had started to take a turn for the worse. Today they started to discuss the next steps for her care.
"Good morning, Molly. How are you today?" Faith smiled as she walked into the clinic. She quickly hung up her jacket and put on her doctor's coat. Her left hand shook suddenly. Closing her eyes Faith took five long breaths trying to calm her nerves.
"Tired but doing well. You don't look very good right now." Molly got up from her desk and walked towards Faith.
"Thank you. I just don't know what will happen with Dora. She is a widow with a five-year-old little girl. I can't think of anything worse than her now being sick." Faith wiped away a tear thinking of the loss of her mother.
"Don't fight your emotions. Your compassion is something that makes you a great doctor. Patients want to know you care. We are a community and will find a way to help both Dora and Lily." Molly leaned in hugging Faith.