He was horrified, even though he was trying to remain calm and in control but, right at this moment, he was ready to tear strips off this man sitting before him. "You just can't allow yourself to make a judgement call like this in the heat of the moment and allow it to bear fruit." He needed time to grasp the matter fully but there wasn't time available. What was worse was that his captain seemed to be unable to provide an explanation for his irrational actions and that was unacceptable. He had to put all of that to one side as there were so many things to consider but first and foremost, there was the family and the daunting task of having to break the terrible news to them. Whether he had all the facts at his disposal, it didn't matter to him, he decided to address his subordinate, "Captain, I can't begin to tell you what an appalling situation that you have caused for yourself and it is going to reflect on all of us. Even if you have the authority to dismiss people from the force, I would expect to be consulted with the findings well in advance and a resulting decision of that nature would be the last resort. It is quite obvious to me that you never considered counselling at any stage for your men and I find that to be heartless and inconsiderate at the least."

He was only just getting started but there was a careful decision to be made as his lips were starting to quiver. A very important point had to be made and his captain needed to understand it, "Captain, from what you have told me, it is plain to see that you are not responsible for that young man's death. Your actions put him in that town at the wrong time for him, however, I understand that if he wasn't there that young girl would have perished in the fire. Young Adrian Metcalfe died a hero and he is going to be treated like one. I want every skerrick of information referring to his and Tully's dismissal destroyed and they must be reinstated to the force without delay. You are to call an assembly and offer your apology to the full complement and insist that this matter of the dismissal be considered to have never taken place. You are then to locate the family and I will accompany you on one of the most unbearable tasks that any one of us may have to perform." One further instruction he decided to keep to himself was that he intended to speak very soon to Captain Foster in Hope Valley and make it very plain that he had issues certain directions to Captain Bedford. There would be no reinstatement as the entire ghastly proceedings would be expunged and assumed never occurred in the first place.

"Dad, that young man was a Mountie and he saved that little girl," Janie had rushed to find her father and she saw him talking to Captain Edwards. "It could easily have been Simon out there," as she sobbed in her father's arms. Both he and the captain had thought of that as they were talking and providing details for an eventual report which would be required in due course. "I've come across many harrowing instances in my years as a physician and no matter how professional you plan to be, one like this always makes you sit up and take notice. It is always someone like me, and even Janie for that matter, who has to take charge of some horrendous situation and ultimately have to try and provide some meaning for what had happened. I don't know what that young man was doing in that town but he was a very brave man and the little girl would not be with us now if not for him. Captain, you must ensure that he is never forgotten and every Mountie in the entire country should remember his bravery when it was required."

At least now Sonya was pleased and very much relieved now that she didn't have to wade through endless numbers of newspapers that all looked the same anymore, now she was looking for a title which included the word 'valley' and it had to be only a small publication so she knew that she was very close to finding what she wanted. The proprietor was able to help rule out any of the ones that he knew to be large and then if she found one that might have had possibilities, he was able to go straight to it and she could cross it off the list if it wasn't what she was looking for. They found 'The Valley Times' and then 'The Valley Weekly' and also 'The Valley Observer' and some others. They went and found issues of each one but they were slightly different even though they were small. They persevered and soon they noticed that there was another entry called 'The Valley Voice' and now Sonya's heart started to beat a little harder and she was suddenly very interested in this one. "Please tell me that you've got one of these that you can show me?" she said in her pleading voice. Peter and Marjorie could see the excitement in her eyes as the proprietor quickly raced off hoping that there was one still on display, he knew exactly where it should be located in his shop if it was there.

Marjorie clung tightly to Peter with excitement and now they could hardly wait for the boss man to return. "My goodness, what if he doesn't have one," she cried as they waited for what seemed forever. Their hearts sank as he hadn't returned by now which seemed to mean that he couldn't find a copy or maybe he didn't have one available at the time. Peter was surprisingly patient and very grateful for the efforts of these wonderful people here who hardly even knew him but Marjorie was on a short fuse and ready to turn the place inside out. "I'm sorry but I have to tell you that I'm not a good waiting person, when I want it, I want it now." She couldn't stand still and her pacing around was only serving to make Peter see the humour in it all, after all, it was his wife that they were looking for, nobody else's.

It wasn't long before a beaming and happy and relieved proprietor returned to the group with the long awaited copy of 'The Valley Voice' and the tears came to Sonya's eyes when she saw what she had taken notice of eighteen months ago. "Look right here," she screamed as she busily pointed her finger at it. In the top corner there was a picture of a water tower with the words, 'Welcome to Hope Valley' and she knew that she had seen that before. "I knew there was something that I had seen before and the paper that Christine had, showed a picture of a little dog. I distinctly remember her saying that the dog probably had enough voice for the whole town just like the title of the paper." She showed it enthusiastically to Peter, "Peter, I am sure that this little town is where she went and it is Hope Valley. I remember how she was so excited when she read about the little dog so it has to be there, Peter, I would stake my life on it."

It was one thing to know now that she had gone to a place called Hope Valley, but they had no idea where Hope Valley was. Peter had gone weeks in his search for his wife without any hint of success, even though he had met some wonderful family and friends on the way but now, after all this time, he finally had a real lead to her whereabouts and this was a realisation that was starting to set in for him. Was it possible that his exhaustive search all around the country after leaving his ship was finally coming to an end. He still had his list in his pocket with names on it but now it looked as if it was no longer needed. Suddenly he had to sit down and catch his breath as there were real tears in his eyes as he tried to look at the others who all came and put their arms around him. He couldn't seem to find any of the words to say the most heartfelt thank you but it didn't matter to them.

Sonya was poised again to take charge and she asked some of the staff if they knew where Hope Valley was located but unfortunately nobody was able to shed any light. Most of the lesser known papers would be ordered and arrive from a distribution point in a major city and it never mattered to any of them where the places were. Sonya was not phased in the least, "We have to go along to our post office and check all the maps that they have on file. If a letter or a package goes out then they have to know where to send it. If anyone is going to be able to help us it will be them." She thanked the proprietor most prolifically for his diligence and his patience and they hurried off to the town's post office. Peter thought that he was going to find it very hard to have to say goodbye to these people after the love and dedication that they had shown for him.

It had been too late in the day, after exiting the compound on impulse, to plan to travel any distance on horseback as lack of daylight would become an issue. A horse could unfortunately step in a pothole in darkness and break a leg and become incapacitated. Virgil didn't know where to travel anyway so he would have to find directions and get some provisions and camp out somewhere out of town out of the way and then travel in daylight tomorrow. He was tired and disillusioned and not fit company for anyone but, by now, he didn't care. He was annoyed with himself for not speaking out in favour of his two friends and now it was too late. He made enquiries at a store on the outskirts of town for directions to Rainsford and then, with a few provisions he found a good place to camp for the evening. He calculated that he would need about half a day to get to Rainsford at a steady pace while looking after his horse along the way.

He sat around his little campfire and began to revisit the last few days in his mind and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that he could have intervened even aggressively if need be. He knew in advance of the plan to dismiss Tully and Metcalfe and initially, his thoughts were still with Fred Burns. He thought about the photographs and how they finally incriminated that other man called Stephan. Anyone could have easily missed that revelation and, come to think of it, he had looked at those pictures himself and not observed the difference. "Maybe I should have been dismissed as well and sent on my way," he thought angrily. "When I was needed, I went missing in action and my friends are paying for it now, one of them with his life." Virgil was glad that there was no mirror around because he didn't think that he would like what he would see.

Elizabeth lay in bed after finally returning home after what she considered to be one of the worst days of her life. She would always turn to her best friend next door when the trials of life came visiting just like today. She cried in Rosemary's arms as soon as the door opened and her friend was there for her to listen to the incredible events of the day. There had been many days like this over the years, the loss of Jack, the accident with Nathan and, even though they weren't around when it happened, they shared in the terrible loss of all those fathers and husbands from the terrible mining disaster. Every time that Rosemary saw Emily, she would imagine what it must have been like for Simon sitting in the street with Sarah in his arms. There were countless good days with birthday parties to prepare, children growing up, engagements and weddings, all part of the wonderful community of their little town but, as they would always count their blessings all the time, they would never take life for granted because a day just like today would bring them very quickly back to earth.

They had learned over the years to lean on each other and tonight was going to be no exception as the look on Elizabeth's face told it all right from the outset. She was totally drained as she sat down with Rosemary and Lee who had seen none of the day's events. Rosemary's heart sank as she heard of the demise of the young Mountie who none of them knew and how his friend had arrived at the doorstep of the jailhouse virtually inconsolable. "I can't get the look of Bill's face out of my mind because, it's a long story, he holds himself to blame for all of this." sobbed Elizabeth. "We tried to tell him that it was not his fault but I fear that he is going to have a hard time of it for a long time."

Lee asked about the captain. "Lee, he was just as a man of authority should be, he spoke angrily to his opposite number at Cape Fullarton but he never lost control at any stage as he chose his words carefully. His first thought was for his men and you could see him grieve for the man who was lost and how he cared for Earl Grey who was here as well and the young man's partner. I thank our lucky stars that he was here for us." It was past midnight before Elizabeth retired for the night and she poured her heart out for Jack and she hoped that he was listening. "Jack, it's just like before and I don't even know who that young man was. I will never get over losing you no matter how many years will go by. I wish so much that you were here with us to see your little boy grow up to become a man just like you. I think that it was you who sent Captain Foster to us just when we needed somebody just like you. Jack, I will always love you." There were times, even with all her friends and the community but right now , she felt very lonely. She cried herself to sleep.

It had seemed like a bombshell to actually get the information that they had all been seeking. Now, as far as Sonya was concerned, there wasn't a moment to lose. She had loved Christine and had been disappointed to lose a good friend and colleague at such short notice and not even knowing where she had gone. Susan had been right to send Peter to find Sonya and it had worked out very well although it was only a stroke of luck that she was located. They now needed the use of the car as the post office in the town was a considerable distance away and too far for walking distance. Peter had found an interesting little article in the paper; it mentioned a young mother named Sally giving birth to twins out on a farm when she wasn't expecting more than one. It caught them all by surprise, not the least of all as the father named Andrew was dumbfounded with the arrival of baby girls who looked exactly alike. "I love that place already and I can't wait to see that water tower in the flesh."

Sonya and Marjorie smiled at each other as they had themselves, seen unexpected twins arrive to the astonishment of everyone including the medical teams, they looked closely again at the little article and saw the mention of Dr. Faith Carter, "Peter, you just never know, Christine may have been there assisting that lady doctor. I wonder if she knows that her husband is reading about her even as we speak." Peter came close to breaking down as he tried to draw breath. He shut his eyes and he could visualise her as the nurse holding one of the tiny little babies as she introduced her to the father. "Come on!" instructed an impatient Sonya, "we're wasting time, we should have been at the post office by now."

He couldn't stop looking at that little newspaper, "Hey, take a look at this," he laughed as he pointed to the drawing of a little boy on a wanted poster, "he can't be more than four years old and they virtually listed him as public enemy number one." Sonya was less than impressed as she read, "It seems that we have to watch out for the dangerous Little Jack apparently, all I can say is that I hope for the editor's sake that the mother has a sense of humour." Peter sat in the back of the car absolutely glued to the paper. His heart was pumping so loudly and he felt lightheaded, "this is like having a magic mirror to see the people in that little town, I'm sure that Christine must know that little boy and see him quite regularly." He held his breath as he saw a picture of a white stand-alone building with a lady standing out the front with some children. He thought that it looked like a church but it must be the local school and that pretty lady might be the schoolteacher.

It cut to the bone being chewed out twice in one day but Captain Bedford had noted that their words were not vindictive in any way, however, the tone from them expressed their disappointment in his flawed judgement in no uncertain manner and that a man in his position should have known better. He had been instructed to return to his office and resume command, something that he felt that he didn't deserve but the instruction had been such that he would learn a very hard lesson from this and become the commanding officer that he was expected to be. He had no ego to protect when it came to his men under his command so he sought out Constable McCain to help him order a general assembly immediately. He asked some men in close proximity and one said that he thought that Virgil had ridden through the gate quite some time ago and he hadn't returned.

There was no time to worry about the absence and the whereabouts of Virgil McCain so Sergeant Gilchrist hastily arranged a general assembly of the entire personnel stationed at the cape. It was no secret that the air had been quite thick of late and, as each day went by, there was quite a resentment about how Tully and Metcalfe had been dealt with. Maybe this assembly was going to provide the men with some reasonable explanation of the decision that didn't sit well with them. "Captain, the men are assembled and are now awaiting for you to address them." The sergeant left him to his own devices and went to join his men. There was a murmur in the crowd with the coming expectation of why all this had to happen the way it did. It most certainly didn't appear to be a very receptive gathering.

The captain arrived and stood on the podium and eyed all the men under his command, all the ones who had looked to him for guidance and direction from when he was appointed some years ago. He stood silently and felt like bare bones and completely stripped of any credibility and now he started to search his soul to try and find the words as an eternity seemed to go by. "Gentlemen, thank you for your prompt attendance, I'll try my best not to keep you for any longer than need be. I have been directed by Superintendent Stanbridge to do this but I know that it is the right thing to do." He paused trying hard to gather his composure, "There is no easy way to say all this, early this morning Adrian Metcalfe died after rushing into a burning house and saving the life of a little girl. This happened some distance away at a little town called Rainsford. As I understand it, both he and Gene Tully were on the way to Hope Valley to see Judge Avery who was here before, for some time as many of you know, when he was reinvestigating the case with Fred Burns." There was a collective murmur from the gathering and the distrust for their captain was evident.

He could tell that the men were waiting for answers to what they already knew and they were getting impatient. They had gasped at hearing of Adrian's death. "Gentlemen, Tully and Metcalfe would not have been there except for my gross mismanagement of the situation and the blame and full responsibility rests with me and this is something that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life. I let the heat of the moment interfere with my making a correct and just judgement and it has cost the life of a young man and ruined the life of another. I went and reported the situation and my costly error of judgement to Superintendent Stanbridge and I was ready to turn in my badge." His voice was breaking but it was more that he was so angry with himself for making such a blunder and causing the ensuing consequences.

"I accept that an officer in my position in the force should never make such a costly miscalculation so I say again how am fully at fault and I must accept full responsibility. I wish that I could go back and change things but I can't. We decided that everything to do with the dismissal is to be expunged and never spoken of again. I failed the very reason why I joined in the first place; I failed my family, Tully and Metcalfe and all of you. The superintendent and I are now going to see Adrian Metcalfe's parents and do the heartbreaking task that no officer should ever have to do. I will remain here in this position as an example of someone who will ensure that none of you will ever have to do anything like this in the future. I can't imagine how I'm going to be able to face Adrian's parents." There was a deafening silence among the men for a while but then the puzzled look on their faces changed. They could see that he, without hesitation, claimed full account and had not tried to offload any blame to anyone else. It was plain to see, their captain had a full weight to carry like never before and it appeared that he would be spending the rest of his life learning from it. No matter what he might do over the next thirty years of his career, this action is what he was going to be remembered for. One man slowly stepped forward and offered his salute, shortly there were another five who joined him and then there was the rest. Captain Bedford unashamedly wiped tears from his eyes as he returned their salute and departed.

The world had come a long way since Peter was whisked away to sea duty four years ago. From where he lived in the country, there were no cars but now you had to be very careful, if, and when you might step onto the road as a car might appear out of nowhere. This was something new to townships and big cities just like Masterton and the change was not lost on Peter. Sonya had hustled Peter into Marjorie's car and they motored on their way to the post office which was not so far away. He watched with admiration as she changed gears as she sped up and slowed down with the brakes and how she kept a sharp lookout to avoid other cars and people walking across the road. He smiled to himself about how he could command a massive ship from one side of the ocean to the other but he knew nothing about driving a car.

It was now well into mid afternoon and Sonya could see that, even though they were relatively busy at the post office, they weren't run off their feet so she was confident that they could spare Stacey for a little while. Sonya knew all the staff as she was a regular patron at the post office and Stacey was a good friend. "Good afternoon Ernie, am I allowed to borrow Stacey for a little while so that we can help out this nice young man here." She introduced the man in uniform as Captain Peter Glover just as a very inquisitive Stacey appeared and suddenly pushed Ernie out of the way. She could see that there was a story right here to be told, so she insisted to Ernie that she was available to help out. Some of the waiting customers said how it didn't matter to them if they had to wait but they were also very interested in this sea captain.

Ernie winked at Peter, "I'm very sorry captain, as you can see, we are just far too….,ouch!" Stacey had stepped on his toe without any mercy as he was wearing sandals. Peter could tell that this would not have been the first time that he had come to grief at the hands of this lady, most probably his wife. Stacey grinned the more he winced in pain, "Captain, I'm sure that Ernie will let me help you with whatever you need. How can we help you sir?" Ernie's toe hurt like the devil, "Captain, can you put her to work and show her how to use a mop and bucket just like your sailors." Stacey was less than impressed, "I'm sure that the captain knows that I have probably had more experience with a mop and bucket than you and all of his sailors put together." Sonya had been enjoying all the pleasantries between this, ever so much loving husband and wife team as always, but now time was getting away from them. "Stacey, you need to pay attention."

There was now an urgency in Sonya's voice that needed attention, "To cut a long story short, we are sure that we have found where his wife went to, after she worked here about eighteen months ago. She was a nurse here with me and I remember her being very excited one day with a newspaper in her hand and then she was gone in a day or so." She showed Stacey the newspaper that they had found, "We have taken two days but we found it and it shows that it looks like she went to a place called Hope Valley and now we need to find where it is, Stacey, can you help us?" There was emotion in her voice and the other customers who were still waiting could detect the urgency and they were certainly not in any hurry to go anywhere.

Stacey recognised the paper in an instant and then she could instantly visualise Christine from all those months ago. She suddenly had tears in her eyes as she remembered how the question of her husband came up and how she sadly, had no knowledge of his whereabouts after he had been ordered back to sea duty without delay. She came from around the counter and hugged this young man inside her shop, "So you're Christine's husband and now you're getting close to being able to find her. I can tell you something else." Seeing that paper had triggered something that Christine had said, "I remember how there was a picture of the little dog on the front and how its name was Rusty and she knew who he belonged to. Peter, she went to search for her grandmother who she had lost contact with over the years. Yes, I can remember now, she called her Nanna Reynolds. Let us find the maps and see if we can find where Hope Valley is." Stacey tried to attend to other customers as she was figuring out how to approach Peter's dilemma, they were a relatively small family business but she wasn't going to let that stand in her way.

If there were letters and mail for places obscure or unknown, they had a set procedure where they had to send everything to the Post Office at the nearest major city which, for them was Masterton. Stacey recalled how many of their maps of outlying districts and providences had been destroyed when roof repairs had allowed rain to penetrate some of the cupboards before they could hurriedly transfer the contents to safer and more secure areas. They had no alternative from then on but to send unfamiliar items straight to Masterton until they could reorder newer maps. Quite a few of the ones that they still had at their office were most probably well out of date, however, these would have to do for the present.

Stacey relentlessly went through ledgers that they had stored away, looking for any reference to a place called Hope Valley and unfortunately, she had to tell everyone that she had come up blank. She had been hoping to find an entry somewhere that would show a particular reference point on a map but, alas there was nothing to show for an hour of arduous toil. She hadn't been looking forward to the other option but now there didn't seem to be any alternative than to pour over every map that they could find, "We have a map room that we can use after closing hours where we can lay out many maps and we can all start searching through them. I have to tell you that this is not my favourite job but I will still keep the smile on my face."

"I don't think that we will be finding Hope Valley to be a suburb in a big city because those photographs in the newspaper look like they are from a country town." Sonya was very impressed with how Stacey was thinking all the time, "our country is so large so we have our work cut out for us, Hope Valley could be anywhere in the outlying areas, north, south, east or west so let's get to it and find Peter's wife for him." They worked tirelessly for hours without any good fortune but they were undeterred, however, they did find one place in the north-west province called 'Coal Valley'. "I'm sure that it was far too much to hope for that this might have been Hope Valley." said a frustrated Stacey.

In the end, with eyes starting to see double, they had to reluctantly accept that they would have to go to the large post office or even the police station at Masterton where everything would be up to date. Hope Valley was out there somewhere and Stacey disappointed how she was unable to help them. "Peter, I can't believe how calm you are, we haven't found anything and I'm positively ready to throw something." The others had noticed Peter's level of restraint ever since he had met Sonya and they had marvelled at how he took everything in his stride regardless of the situation. "I can't tell you how thankful that I am to have such wonderful people around to help me. When I received my discharge on the morning when our ship arrived in harbour, a young waitress gave me some good advice to point me on my way. Since then, even though I didn't get any news about Christine, everyone who I've met along the way has done more for me than I'll ever know." Those ladies could see that there was more to this man than what they knew so far. "The voyages that we had over the four years of sea duty could be hair-raising at times and we all needed cool heads and all our faculties in the face of it. There were two occasions in particular, where in heavy seas, we had engine failure and we were dead in the water in total darkness and at the complete mercy of mother nature, we could have capsized and gone down and never be heard of again, we just had to ride it out until it all calmed down so that we could figure out what had happened. We had good men all working as a team and I'll never forget them."

Sonya and Marjorie had heard this incredible tale before but it still brought tears to their eyes even hearing it again. They could see how calm he appeared to be but they noticed just every now and again a little look that his eyes could not conceal. They thought that it would be advisable to get this man reunited with his wife without delay. Stacey was devastated that she wasn't able to find the little town of Hope Valley for Peter and now, she had moved heaven and earth for this man with what they had at the office but now she finally had to accept that Masterton was the only option available. Before she let them go she made a phone call to the post office in Masterton as she had done many times before.

"I'm sorry, I know that you are probably ready to close up for the day but can I please speak to Lydia before she goes home, I promise, I won't keep her long, I need a favour." She hoped that Lydia was still there as she knew that they were notorious for getting out early for the day if it was at all possible. A lady with an impatient tone in her voice came on the other end. "I was just about out the door Stacey, if it was anyone else I would have kept on going, now what's so earth shattering that you need to stop me from going home while it's not raining." These two good friends and colleagues had liaised with each other on many occasions in the past on all kinds of postal matters, sometimes lost or missing items that they would trace for each other. "Lydia, I'd like to send some people to see you tomorrow, early in the morning I hope, and you might be able to help find where a man's wife might be living. He has quite a story and we tried to do our best for him but now we need to send him to you. I am so sorry that we couldn't help him." Lydia could grasp the tension and anxiety in Stacey's voice so, without any further frivolity, she said that she would look forward to seeing these people tomorrow hopefully, and she would help if she could. She thought, "It's just like Stacey to leave me in the lurch." She was curious and now frustrated that she had to wait until tomorrow to find out what was going on.

"I don't ever want to have to do anything like that ever again, I don't want any of my men or anyone else to have to experience anything like that." He felt sick to the stomach and he thought he was going to throw up as he sat in the car with the superintendent. Mr and Mrs Metcalfe lived on a property with some land about four miles out of the town and both men had been very quiet and subdued on the journey heading out there to pass on the dreadful news to unsuspecting parents. Captain Bedford had been almost hyperventilating well before their arrival and now seeing the stately home on the horizon didn't make it any easier. The feeling of guilt was going to travel with him from now on and for the rest of his life. The worst day of his life was about to get a whole lot worse.

The car pulled up outside by the front gate and from there it was about forty yards along the path to the steps to the front door. The captain felt that he would have preferred the last mile to the hangman's noose. He thought about all the families over the years who had heard the knock on the door and had been handed a telegram which might have read 'missing in action' or 'killed in the line of duty'. The delivery man would just hand it to someone, maybe after taking his hat off but then he would be on his way. Captain Bedford noticed the superintendent take a long deep determined breath and then they started along the path. They soon got close enough to see a curtain move and then the squeaky front screen door open with a dog barking but with a wagging tail.

A very pleasant looking lady emerged trying valiantly to restrain the excited dog, "Don't worry gentlemen, he won't bite you but if he gets a chance he will jump all over you with his muddy paws." She had to pull firmly on his leash to restrain his exuberance, "Boston, settle down and be a good boy." It didn't take long for her to realise that two high ranking police officers appearing on her doorstep was not going to be a social call. The dog all of a sudden seemed to be very perceptive to the lady's changing mood and he looked rather mournful as he stayed close to her as if offering support. She peered at the captain who was struggling to look her in the eye and from there she almost knew what was to come. "Would you like to come inside gentlemen," she asked as she motioned them to the doorway, "I'll get my husband, he's out in the backyard somewhere and he would be unaware of your presence here."