"Good afternoon gentlemen, I'm Terry Metcalfe and I see that you've already met my wife Jill." He was hesitant but he hadn't forgotten his manners, "I'm almost afraid to ask what has brought you both out to our home today, but please, come inside and sit down with us." She sat quietly with her husband as she steeled herself for probable bad news. Superintendent Stanbridge had attended memorials over the years and had spoken from the heart many times so he knew from experience how to speak to families no matter how hard it would be. "Mr and Mrs Metcalfe, I have the sad duty to have to inform you that your son Adrian died this morning in the line of duty." Terry felt like he had been hit with a bat from these calm words and he soon had his head in his hands but Jill seemed to take it in her stride as in disbelief and she hardly batted an eyelid. "I'll make us some tea and cake." They let her go without any comment knowing that she was probably taking the terrible news in her own way. Boston sat up and they watched him obediently follow her into the kitchen. "Everywhere that Jill goes, that dog is right by her side, they have the most uncanny understanding with each other the like that I haven't seen anywhere else." Terry couldn't think of anything else to say so there was a heavy silence as they sat there.
Jill reappeared shortly with a tray of tea and cake and then she sat quietly with her husband. Superintendent Stanbridge took over as the devastated Captain Bedford could barely find the strength to sit up straight on the chair, "Mr and Mrs Metcalfe, we had a phone call early this afternoon telling us that there had been a house fire and your son saved the life of a little girl. It was an act of selflessness and one of enormous bravery when he rushed headlong into the burning house without a thought for himself and found that little child and rescued her. He gave his life without a second thought for his own safety, he has died a hero Mrs Metcalfe." He sat back, having delivered the sad story and now he hoped that he would be able to find suitable answers to the questions that would no doubt be forthcoming. He told them about the burial and how his distraught partner had been taken to a town called Hope Valley with the assistance of a Mountie from Union City and that the frightened little girl was going to be alright.
The lady of the house looked at both men and stared thoughtfully, "I have been blessed with marrying a wonderful man in the service and we have three sons who are all in the service, either police or on army duties. I am proud of all my family and I thank God every day that they should do good worthwhile work and be safe. Not a day goes by when I think of them from their childhood and to now as they are adults and I always know that a day like today could arrive with news like this. I treasure every day knowing that it could be the last and if that is what is decreed then so be it." She excused herself momentarily and then immediately returned with a scrapbook and started to work through it with the two visitors. "This is not the first time that Adrian has come face to face with disaster. He was only thirteen when he took on a horse who had been startled and the cart had four little children in it. He was dragged fifty yards before he was able to bring the horse to a stop, here is a picture of him with three broken ribs and a bandage on his head for good measure. Heaven only knows what might have happened to those little children if not for Adrian and his bravery."
Both men were extremely thankful and relieved that she hadn't pressed them for reasons why Tully and Adrian were out there so far away from the cape. They had excused themselves and were now sitting back in the car. Captain Bedford looked anything but an officer in the force. He was so close to crying and he tried to take his red serge off but the superintendent wouldn't let him, "I don't deserve to wear this uniform sir, I have disgraced it and you should have given me the same courtesy that I did for Tully and Adrian." He paused not caring whether to compose himself or not and was nearly sick, "I sat there and I couldn't look that lady in the eye, she's ten times the Mountie that I am. I hope and pray that she never finds out what I did, her family doesn't deserve that." The superintendent's kind words did little to ease his distress from the ordeal that nobody should ever have to face. "No matter how bad it seems, the sun will be up again in the morning. Captain, you will learn from this and it will be a lesson for us all never to forget."
The early morning at Hope Valley saw Elizabeth and Christine arm in arm heading down the street heading straight for the jailhouse. Elizabeth had been at Fort Clay when Earl Grey was looking after Hope Valley so she had not been aware of how he had put two and two together to protect Amy from her waste of space father but it was Christine who had developed a friendship with him at the time. She had fondly remembered the public scandal of dancing in the street to the amazement of Amy. She hadn't danced since her wedding day and she remembered how it brought back the fondest memories of how much she missed her husband. She was devastated last night when she heard from Faith about how distressed Earl was from his visit to Rainsford. She couldn't wait to see him first thing in the morning. For Elizabeth, the loss of the young Mountie brought it all back again but she very concerned about Captain Foster and how they now had something in common. She wanted him to know that she was going to be there to support him as he started to try and deal with the devastation. She knew that he would worry over the distraught man sleeping in the cell and how he would even take on the pain and responsibility of the parents with the loss of a son.
He had barely been able to see much in front of him as he moved out from his campsite sometime just before first light. It was cool and breezy but he knew that it would soon warm up as the sun started to show itself and rise in the sky. He walked with his horse until it was safe enough to be able to avoid any potholes along the track. He was well away from the main thoroughfare so he had anticipated a dirt road so he didn't expect much traffic on his journey. It was a dusty lonely straight road, one that his friends had traversed only two days ago and, if he looked closely enough, he might have noticed hoofprints that might have been Tully's or even Adrian's horse. He stopped at a pond after about half an hour's travel where his horse could get a well-earned drink and a spell for a while. He wondered sadly if Adrian would have sat underneath the shade tree right here and fretted about what had happened to him and Tully and what the future was going to hold for them.
From time to time, he could see in his mind the captain's shattered face again as he told him of the ghastly news about Adrian. He had his own feelings to deal with and Captain Bedford would have to deal with his own. Virgil thought that if his captain was half the man that he thought he was, then he should worry about how he was going to face the parents of young Adrian. His anger against Judge Avery started to wane as a comment in the heat of the moment was different than taking a vendetta out against two people who had made an oversight that anyone could have done. The captain was on his now own as far as he was concerned. He wondered whether he had noticed that Constable Virgil McCain was nowhere to be found but he decided that he didn't care about that. He blamed himself for his own inaction and that was going to be with him for the rest of his life. He hoped that he could look Tully in the eye when he would arrive at Hope Valley. The long straight road seemed to go on endlessly but eventually the one and only sign appeared which indicated that Rainsford was about five miles away.
"Who are you?" he stirred a little and he started to wipe the sleep from his eyes and then he wondered where he was. He barely remembered the level of distressed state that he was in when he had arrived yesterday afternoon. The first thing he noticed was the concerned young lady sitting next to him and he thought that he had seen an angel. It didn't take him long to recall the previous day and now the revelation of how his life was destroyed suddenly reappeared to him in full. "I'm sorry miss, I can't remember you from yesterday and I can't help but wonder what you are doing here with me here this morning." Amy looked at him with concern and put her arm around him. She could see that something bad had happened to him and it had knocked him around badly and she was intent on finding out from him all the damage. "I've never seen anyone in so much distress before and I wanted to help, surely there can't be anything that should cause you so much anguish, I want you to tell me what happened."
Amy couldn't believe how despondent this man was, "I got my friend fired from his chosen career and then I got him killed yesterday and it was my mistake that saw an innocent man stay in prison for six years. I don't deserve any pity and I got what I deserved." She looked around in disbelief, she could see Earl still asleep and the captain had fallen asleep at his desk and was still there from overnight. "I don't believe any of it but first things first, my name is Amy and what's yours." She sat next to him and waited for him to reply. The only thing that he could see inside his head was the remains of his good friend but now there was this young lady who he didn't even know looking at him with so much concern for him. "My name is Gene but everyone calls me Tully."
She was happy that the other two men were still asleep so that she could talk with Tully, "I can't believe that you are responsible for all this, how is it that it is your fault that a man was wrongly sent to prison?" He looked as if nothing mattered to him anymore but she had cared enough to ask him about it so he responded as best as he could. He told her about the investigation and how it seemed that Fred Burns was guilty but then Judge Avery re-examined the photos as part of the evidence and found an anomaly which cleared him. Amy could hear it in his voice that he felt as if he had done wrong by Fred Burns but she was not convinced and she said so. "How long did it take Mr Avery to come across whatever that anomaly was, I'll bet that he only found it by accident." She looked frustrated, "I'd love to have a look at those photos myself. I would bet that anyone could miss out on seeing what was in the pictures and, even if you did miss it yourselves, you shouldn't have been punished for it."
It caused Amy a great deal of anguish to see a young man seemingly resigned to being nothing but a failure and so far she hadn't seen any evidence to support this position. She put her arm around him again and hugged him, she couldn't understand how all that finally led him to Hope Valley. He described how they were dismissed from the service and how he planned to come here to beg Judge Avery to reinstate his partner to the service. On the way they had camped at Rainsford and that was where Adrian had met his death in the house fire. The tears and disbelief welled up in his eyes once again, "I tell you; it was a miracle how he carried that little girl out of that burning house, that last words he said were for me to tell Fred Burns that he was sorry. He had nothing to be sorry for." Amy was getting angrier by the minute but she tempered herself for Gene's sake. "You mean to tell me that they cast you out because of an oversight that anyone could have made. You were trying to atone for this and trying to help Adrian so it was not your fault that he rushed into that fire and just remember, he saved a little girl's life in the process."
By now, both Captain Foster and Earl Grey were awake but they had purposely stayed quiet and still while they listened to Amy as she was talking to Tully. They thought that if they didn't know where they were, it sounded very much like Amy was making a strong argument for the defence and woe betide any prosecution attorney that might be coming up against her. "Let me tell you about me," she said scornfully, "I'm supposed to be in jail." Now it was his turn to stare at her in disbelief, "Yes, it's true, I pulled a gun on Mountie Nathan who is away at the moment and I sat right here on this bed knowing that I was going to prison for a very long time. I owe him and our captain here my life for them seeing something in me so they gave me another chance when they didn't have to." She no longer had tears for what she had done but there was now a fierce determination in her eyes that showed that she was going to spend her life in dedication to all the folks who had believed in her.
I look after the horses and the stables gladly and I will never let them down. I was kidnapped and Mountie Simon and Earl here rescued me and saved my life from two men who most certainly would have done away with me. I gave the gun back to Nathan after we could have escaped from the cell when I kept the two men locked up." She described the traumatic experience that she had sitting in the courtroom waiting for the inevitable and knowing that she would be going to prison for a very long time. By now there were tears in her eyes, "The captain here, as cool and calm as you like, threatened the judge and in the finish I was placed in Nathan's custody and here I am."
She told him about how Florence and Ned had taken her in and how all the children and the schoolteacher had worked hard to teach her how to read and write. "My father couldn't care less about me or any women for that matter. I don't even know my surname or even when my birthday is. I'm going to make good for all these people and one day I'm going to front my father and make him understand that I'm not worthless like he told me for so many years. I'm sorry Gene but they should have looked after you a lot better than this." He could see the kindness and the fierce determination in her eyes that made her self-driven. Tully sat with her thinking that this was the first kind words that had come his way for quite a while.
This had been a long couple of weeks but now it was looking like coming to a welcome conclusion. It had been an eventful time and they had come ever so close but at least the train was going in the right direction after all this time. They had scribbled a note with whatever resources they had at their disposal and they were planning to ask the station master at Grampton to ensure that it would find its way to Mrs Susan Madison. There would be sufficient time as there was always at the very minimum a ten minute stopover. It would say that they were very optimistic that Peter had found Sonya Radcliffe but they still didn't know if it revealed to him where Christine was. They had done as much as they could and even though they were unsuccessful, they knew that Susan would be able to direct Peter to Hope Valley.
The link up with the stagecoach and the little town of Banfield came and went uneventfully and now there were a few towns to pass through until they reached Grampton and then it would be home finally. There were fiancés to appease and wedding plans to be made so the train couldn't get them there soon enough. They tried hard to remember the towns that they had passed through before on the way to Masterton, only because they had nothing else to do on the trip. They didn't want to give the impression that they were railway enthusiasts but it did help to pass the time. They settled on the towns of Evandale, Barham, Gladstone and Charlton coming before they would make it into Grampton and then well on the way home.
Evandale wasn't much to speak of as a large town but Nathan was amazed to see the amount of people waiting for the train on the small platform. There was a large group of older people dressed in gaily coloured apparel, a more happier looking bunch you couldn't ever hope to meet. They took up most of the other carriage and it took ages to get them all on and settled with all their luggage stowed away safely. Once the train got going again Nathan could hear the unruly bunch of people having so much fun together but, all the same, he was relieved to be in the other carriage which remained nice and quiet. It sounded very much like they weren't going to worry about how long their train ride was going to be. Nathan looked bemused, "What a rowdy bunch, I bet they are a bunch of schoolteachers on a retreat and they haven't got any children around to keep them in line."
There was no hope of getting any sleep from now on. Strangely enough, they eventually arrived at Barham which seemed to be a bigger town but there was hardly anyone here waiting on the platform this time to catch the train. They were happy that they still had plenty of room to move from place to place in this old, outdated carriage with draughts and windows that wouldn't open and close properly, at least it wasn't going to be forever. Simon listened to the nonstop laughter and frivolity in the other carriage and he thought about how Janie would have loved to be in there with all of them. He enjoyed how she was so happy when she had someone to talk to, anywhere and anytime.
It was so quiet out here on the frontier except for the warm breeze that had picked up on the plains. This district was mostly flatlands and you could see forever so after the five mile sign came up, the buildings of the little town of Rainsford could be seen in the distance. Virgil had barely seen a tree on the plains in the last fifty miles and hardly even a bird or a rabbit. He wouldn't have noticed anything anyway because all he could see in his mind was the desolate figure of his captain when he broke the news from the phone call. He was also angry about not seeing his friends as they had been quickly hunted out of the compound before anyone could know about it. He wandered slowly into the street and the first thing he noticed was the smell of the ash blowing around in the breeze where a house used to be the day before. He sat astride his horse and simply stared at the ruin and envisaged his friend inside the inferno and emerging with the little girl. It seemed impossible to even imagine that this actually happened the day before.
It was like a ghost town with no sign of life anywhere so he just sat there in the middle of the street almost in denial that his friend had met his death right there. "Anthony, there's a man out there just sitting on his horse looking at Rita's place. Goodness me, I think it's a Mountie just like Constable Earl from yesterday." A closer look confirmed the red serge uniform of the Mountie so Mrs Wallace slowly headed out the door in Virgil's direction. He could see that she looked very shaken and withdrawn from the awful events of the day before. He was close to tears as she slowly approached him, she could see that he had some sort of connection with the two men and the Mountie from the day before.
Virgil climbed slowly off his horse and she went to his arms, "Sir, whoever you are, we have had the most awful time here, I can't bear that we lost that young man in the fire yesterday, he was so sad and I didn't even know who he was," she started to cry in Virgil's arms and he knew then that he did the right thing to come here as soon as he could. He could see how a disaster like this would have completely destroyed the people of this little town, "Ma'am, I'm Constable Virgil McCain from Cape Fullarton and I came here as soon as I found out about our man and how he died." He looked at this lady and they both had tears in their eyes. "His name was Constable Adrian Metcalfe from Cape Fullarton and he was a good friend to all of us."
She struggled to hold back her tears, "Thank you constable, my name is Mrs Wallace and it was my husband who raised the alarm to Union City and it was Constable Earl Grey who was here first." That one sentence had been a huge struggle for her to even say that much. Virgil was still looking at the home that had been razed to the ground and visualising how Adrian had run in there without a thought for himself. He now had himself, a question that he couldn't find an answer to, "Mrs Wallace, I don't know whether I could have done what Adrian did." He felt sick to the stomach knowing that Adrian perished right here within twenty feet of where he was standing. She had her arms around him, "Virgil, that young man would probably have said the same thing if he was asked, we will never know."
She took his arm and they started to walk towards the big shade tree. His heart sank as she showed him the fresh grave which stood alone at the edge of the street. He had tears in his eyes ever since he had arrived in the town but now he was heartbroken, both for the townsfolk and Adrian's parents. He knelt down beside the loose rubble and could contain himself no longer, "I'm so, so sorry Adrian, I should have spoken up right from the beginning and maybe none of this had to happen." He knelt on the ground on all fours with a handful of the dirt from the grave thinking of the senseless loss of a young man which was all for nothing. "Mrs Wallace, I didn't lift a finger to help my friends when they needed me."
Some of the townsfolk appeared nervously from other buildings, seemingly still shaken from yesterday's events but they could see this Mountie who was so distressed kneeling with Mrs Wallace. "Virgil, I want you to meet someone here," She helped the Mountie to his feet and motioned for him to come over to one very shaken and subdued mother still clutching her traumatised little girl in her arms, "Virgil, this is Rita and this is her little daughter Millie." He was still trying to wipe the tears from his eyes when he could see the shattered mother who had lost everything that they had owned but she still had her most precious possession of all in her arms. "We sat in a chair together all night and Millie hasn't uttered a word. I went within a whisker of losing her if not for that young man lying there." Rita had no tears left to cry and mother and daughter clung to each other in shock. Mrs Wallace hugged them both trying unsuccessfully to show them that everything would be alright, "You see Virgil, Adrian's death has not been in vain."
They sat on the step outside the jailhouse for what seemed to be an eternity. "You must be going out of your mind," said a sympathetic Elizabeth, "surely you must be wondering where he is." Christine recalled the letter that Susan had sent recently, "By now he must be in Masterton which is on the other side of the country about a million miles from here, I even know who he is looking for so I have to keep some hope in my pocket. It wasn't that long ago that I wondered whether I would ever see or hear from him again. He could have been lost at sea and gone forever. I fell in love with Peter and he would be the only man for me, no one else. Elizabeth, I have you and our captain here to thank that I am going to have him back." She had a hug for her concerned friend and then she tugged at her, "Come on, we've waited long enough," they climbed the remaining steps and carefully opened the jailhouse door and slowly went inside.
It was strange how everybody inside seemed more tired and worn out rather than traumatised now that yesterday afternoon and evening was behind them. Elizabeth headed straight for the captain and hugged him tightly and Christine found her way to Earl who was still watching the cell where Amy was talking to Tully. Their tiredness did not completely disguise the distress from before. Captain Foster hardly noticed how Elizabeth had hugged him so affectionately and he didn't pull away, "Mrs Thornton, our Amy here has showed herself to be a most amazing woman and she has never let us down after Judge Tierney gave her back to us. She has been more help to us all than she will ever know. I think that she has been instrumental in saving Gene Tully's life and maybe his career if we are patient enough for him. She was able to get him to talk about what happened and it was an awful story to have to recite to someone. She was there to hold his hand when he needed it most." He took her hand, "you and everybody here at Hope Valley have done such a good deed for her and I believe that she will surprise us down the track." Earl perked up a little when he noticed that it was Christine who had come and put her arm around him. She was going to wait patiently for any answers about the poor man sitting with Amy, he must have had an awful experience.
Captain Foster was thankful that he could leave Tully in the hands of such a caring young person like Amy as he was very worried about Elizabeth. He knew that the loss of anyone, let alone a young Mountie like Adrian, would bring every heartbreaking memory of Jack's death flooding back to her. It was going to be unavoidable for her anyway as more information came to light and he knew that he would have to be there for her. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to put your heart and soul into a lifelong relationship with the risk that it could all be taken away from you in a heartbeat. The loss of one of his men was bad enough but to lose your partner was something that would be the most unbearable thought to even have to contemplate. He thought with a cold shudder how people are well aware of how tragedy could intervene but they put that aside and still enter into a lifetime of loving their soulmate. He had been thinking about yesterday, "Mrs Thornton, I was really harsh yesterday with Captain Bedford and I'm sorry that you had to be there to hear all that, I hope that I didn't overstep the mark." She remembered that he was rather aggressive but controlled and she admired that quality in him. "Captain, you can't take on everybody's problems and shortcomings, what he did was terrible and I'm sure that he is going to have to come to terms with this for the rest of his life now that he knows the outcome of his decision." She had not taken her arm away from him during the entire time that she was there. Their next thought was now interrupted as they heard a cart pull up out the front.
They knew that they were all living in such a vast country and that was borne out when they considered how you could travel in one direction for over a week on the train and you would still be in the same country. Hope Valley had to be somewhere in this country whether it be near or far so, asking for Lydia seemed to be the best option according to Stacey back at the post office. "So that we can be there early in the morning before they get really busy, I suggest that we leave now to get back home to my place in Masterton, my parents will be thrilled to have you for the evening Peter." Nurse Marjorie had no intention at all of letting Peter go and then having him to figure out his next move on his own. "Guess what," added Sonya, "I'm coming with you, I can find my own way back afterwards after I find out where Hope Valley is." Marjorie knew exactly how she felt, "Sonya, I will gladly drive you back home after this, once we know that Peter is safely on his way to find Christine.
Peter sat in the back on his own still clutching the little newspaper in his hand. It was as if it was his closest link to Christine after all this time. He was very quiet as they covered the miles back into the city of Masterton, "I can't thank you people enough for what you have done for me and Christine. I will never forget these few days after that time you called me on the phone Marjorie. I had been quite despondent as after all our enquiries, nobody knew of a Sonya Radcliffe and I was getting ready to catch the train out of town and go back home to Ashford and my parents and try to figure out how I was going to start again." They were glad that he was making some sort of conversation but they could tell that he had things on his mind that were obviously causing him some concern. Marjorie looked at Sonya and thought, "he has put himself in our hands after coming all this way and we're not going to let him down." Peter recalled Stacey's heartfelt goodbye from Blacktown and how she insisted that everything would be okay after Lydia started investigating her updated maps and she would be able to find where Hope Valley was. He couldn't get over how so many people had put themselves out willingly and without asking anything in return. He had to stop and remember from time to time that he had regularly done the very same thing for many others and at no stage had he expected anything in return but he was still very thankful for his newfound friends all the same. He looked forward to meeting Marjorie's parents again.
Marjorie's parents were overjoyed to see the young handsome sea captain again and they hustled him inside and the mum fussed over him just as if he was her own son. "You will stay the night with us and have tea soon and breakfast in the morning before you visit the post office with these two and talk to Lydia." They had barely remembered Sonya as they would have only met her on the odd occasion quite some time ago. As per usual, Peter was rather embarrassed at appearing to put people out at short notice but the mother would not hear of it. "Last time we met you captain, you spoke of searching for your wife and how you were here looking for Sonya here who might be able to shed some light on your quest. We are so pleased that it looks like you may have found where she is living and now you may be reacquainted with her sooner than you might have thought." Sonya had been observing Peter quite closely and she could tell that the closer he was getting to the finish line, the more worried and hesitant he seemed to be. She thought that she might know the answer but with no alternative, she decided that she just had to keep quiet and let things take their course.
"God speed captain, I will be praying for you." said the mother as she hugged Peter after breakfast next morning, "you two ladies, take good care of this man today." She knew that it had only been a chance meeting back in the dining room at the hotel a few nights ago that led him, with Marjorie's help to Sonya. She spoke to him in a firm but kind tone, "I believe in providence captain and I believe that your grandfather's last words to you should be taken very seriously. He probably read Christine better than you and he knew that she is waiting for you no matter how long it is going to take." She could see the tears welling up in his eyes and he desperately hoped that she and his grandfather were to be proven right. He was on an emotional rollercoaster as he climbed into the backseat of the family car. He wasn't sure what awaited him as they departed. After the car left the mother was horrified, "Oh, bother, I forgot to say about the phone call from the hotel and the two men whoever they were."
It was mesmerising to the passengers as the train wound its way through the forests and the plains and the small villages along the journey. The endless miles of trees and scrub seemed to cause people to remain in a trance for periods of time only to be disturbed by the locomotive's whistle or a bridge or even a station where there would be new people. Both men had plenty of time to reflect over their times and to find time to count their blessings. There was the time when Nathan tried to hand in his badge to Superintendent Mills after having been responsible for upsetting Elizabeth, he had found it hard to accept that his welfare mattered to so many people, something that he had never had to face. Simon recalled the anguish of the time after six long weeks when it seemed as if they were going to have to call off the search for Nathan and admit defeat. He had never felt so desolate in his life except for the time when he was in the street saying goodbye to Sarah.
(To all the readers of my story, I thank you. I don't get any traffic stats any more for the last two months so I would be most appreciative if you could slip a little review in so that I can see that it is available and out there. Then I can continue on.) thanks.