When Allie woke up the following morning, she was more like herself. She helped Elizabeth get breakfast ready for all of them. Laura arrived shortly after to watch Jack and Elizabeth and Allie left for school. It was a long day for both of them. At certain points during the day, Allie would catch Elizabeth's eyes, or vice versa, and the two of them would share a knowing smile. Nathan should be home from Benson HIlls today and both of them were anxious to see them.

At the end of the day, neither of them had seen Nathan so Allie asked Elizabeth if she could go and play with Opal and Emily after school. Elizabeth said yes and that she would meet her at her house for dinner. Elizabeth would head home to check on Jack and then she needed to go to town. Elizabeth approached her row house and she saw a bunch of wildflowers on the steps. She looked down at the flowers and smiled, remembering the date she recently had with the flowers filling her house. Elizabeth didn't need to look for a note or even lift the flowers from where they sat. She turned around and headed to town.

Elizabeth walked as quickly as she could without running. When she turned the corner towards town, she saw Newton outside of the Mountie office. She smiled and kept walking towards the office. The door was open so she walked right in.

"I seem to have a secret admirer. There were flowers waiting for me on my porch when I got home from school today."

Nathan looked up from his desk and stood, walking towards her. He put his hands on his belt and smiled, "A secret admirer, huh? Well you must be very lucky to have a man bring you flowers for no reason at all. He must really care about you."

"Well that's a good thing because I care about him too," Elizabeth felt a tear roll down her cheek. She was so grateful that he was home. Nathan brushed the tear from her face and smiled as he bent down to kiss her. "I'm so happy you are home Nathan."

"I'm happy to be home too. How was Allie?"

"She was good, worried about you too. She is playing with Opal and Emily but she was going to come to my house for dinner. Why don't you both come? I was just about to head to the mercantile."

"That sounds great. I need to stop by Bill's office but I can meet you at the mercantile after and walk you home."

The two of them walked out of the Mountie office and the girls were walking through town. "Uncle Nathan!"

Allie ran over and hugged Nathan, "Hi Allie, it's good to see you."

"I'm glad you're back! Do you want me to make dinner for us tonight?"

"Mrs. Thornton asked both of us to come over tonight. You can go play with Opal and Emily and come to Mrs. Thornton's later. I will meet you there."

Emily looked at Elizabeth, "Mrs. Thornton, my mom told me to tell you we have some apples from the trees in our yard for you. I can bring them to school tomorrow."

"That would be wonderful Emily, thank you. Have fun girls!"

The three girls ran off to go play for the afternoon. Elizabeth looked at Nathan and shrugged, "Just a perk of being a teacher."

"You do a lot those kids. It's nice when the parents do something for you." The two of them started walking as Nathan took her hand and stopped. Elizabeth looked up at him. "Well I'm a parent, maybe I should do something nice for you."

"And what would that be, constable?"

"I'm sure I can think of something," Nathan said as they continued walking.

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Edward walked into the saloon looking around for Lucas Bouchard. Charles had sent him a letter earlier that week detailing the plan for his time in Hope Valley. In the letter, Charles wrote about Lucas Bouchard and his past dealings with Amos Dixon. The saloon was a large business in town. If Edward could get Lucas on his side, then perhaps that would help to bring the other business owners on board.

Lucas was sitting at a table in the corner alone with paperwork around him. He had a cup of tea on the table with him. 'What kind of man drinks tea in a saloon?' Edward thought to himself but he wouldn't ask that if he wanted to stay on Lucas' good side.

"Mr. Bouchard, I'm Edward Morton," he said holding his hand out to Lucas. Lucas looked at his hand but didn't put down his pen.

"What can I do for you Mr. Morton?"

Edward sat down across the table from Lucas. "I have a business proposition for you. I am currently working with Charles Kensington of Kensington Holdings in Hamilton. Maybe you have heard of him?"

"No, I haven't had the pleasure."

"We are trying to make a long-term investment here in Hope Valley to help build the future of the town. We would like to help you expand your saloon and add additional hotel rooms for the visitors we anticipate will be coming to town in the future. I would like to make you an offer for half the ownership of the saloon and we will provide all the funds for the expansion." Edward handed Lucas a multi-page contract. The contract was larger than Lucas would expect for this type of arrangement.

"I would need some time to read this over and consider it."

"Of course. I will leave this with you and perhaps we can talk in a few days. Good day Mr. Bouchard." Edward Morton left the saloon and went back to his office. Lucas started to look over the pages. The saloon had cost more than he had planned and the thought of a larger hotel was appealing. Maybe this would be something to look into. But first he needed to finish the paperwork he was working on so his suppliers could get paid and the saloon wouldn't have to close before he would accept.

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Nathan walked into Bill's office after walking to the mercantile with Elizabeth. He wanted to tell Bill everything he had learned in Benson Hills with John Weldon. Nathan knocked on the door and there was no answer. He tried to open the door but it was locked. Bill had been doing his rounds while Nathan was out of town so it was possible that Bill was out with the people that lived out of the town center. Nathan decided he would need to talk to him tomorrow. One day shouldn't make a difference. Plus he had plans for dinner and he wasn't about to miss that.

Nathan walked back over to the mercantile and he saw Elizabeth standing over by the shelves. Before going over to her, he walked over to the switchboard where Fiona was sitting reading a book. Fiona looked up as he walked into the doorway. "Hello Nathan."

"Hi Fiona, I was wondering if our friend has made any more phone calls to Hamilton since the last time we talked."

"No more calls, but he did pick up some letters from Ned yesterday. One of them had a Hamilton postmark. I will let you know if there are any other calls made though."

"Thank you Fiona."

Nathan walked back into the main room of the mercantile and Elizabeth smiled as she saw him. "Hi there, finished with Bill already?"

An

"He wasn't there, I think he must be on rounds. I will talk to him tomorrow. Did you find something for dinner?"

"I did. How do pork chops with apples sound?"

"Perfect."

The two of them walked to the counter and Nathan asked Ned to put all the groceries on his account. Nathan asked if they could stop at the Mountie office so he could change out of his serge before going to her house. Nathan went in the back room to change and Elizabeth set her basket on the desk. She looked at the pictures on Nathan's desk while she waited. There was a photo of Nathan and a woman she assumed was his mother. It looked like it was from the day Nathan graduated from the Mountie academy. There was also a recent photo of Nathan and Allie on the desk.

Elizabeth looked behind the desk and there were wanted posters, Mountie bulletins, and a drawing that Allie had done in the center of all of it. This showed Elizabeth what took a priority in Nathan's life and she was not at all surprised. She knew he was different than Jack and Nathan would always put her and the children first.

Elizabeth looked over when she heard a noise in the other room. The door was cracked and she could see Nathan standing there. He had changed his pants and the suspenders were hanging at his side. He had removed his shirt and he was looking through his bag for a new one. Elizabeth's breath caught at the sight of Nathan. He was so strong and she could see every muscle on his chest. Elizabeth was attracted to him, that much was clear. She moved quickly to the other side of the desk and sat in the chair, taking a deep breath.

Nathan came out of the room, in a blue checked shirt with brown pants and suspenders. He looked at Elizabeth and was concerned at the look on her face. "Elizabeth, is everything ok?"

"Great!" she said a little too quick. "Do you want to go?"

Nathan looked at her but all seemed fine. He took the basket from the desk and held out his arm for her. She put her arm through his and they walked out of the office towards her house.

As they got closer, Allie was walking towards Elizabeth's row house. All of them walked inside to make dinner together. Laura said good night to all of them and started her walk home. Jack was excited that Allie and Nathan were joining them for dinner. Nathan remembered the gifts that he had brought from Benson Hills for everyone. He excused himself, saying that the needed to run home for something that he would be back home soon.

Jack was playing in front of the settee while Allie went to help Elizabeth in the kitchen with dinner. Allie was chopping the apples and Elizabeth started to prepare the pork chops in the pan. Nathan was back a couple of minutes later with a bag in his hand.

"What do you have there Nathan," Elizabeth said, curious about what he needed to run home for.

Nathan pulled out a truck from the top of the bag. Jack was playing with his toys but looked up when Nathan walked over and bent down. "A truck! Tank you!" Jack said in his cute way. Nathan put his head on top of Jacks and stood up straight to walk over to Elizabeth and Allie. Elizabeth wiped her hands on her apron as Nathan turned to Allie.

Nathan handed her a book called 'A Little Princess'. Allie looked at the book and opened the cover to the first page. Nathan said, "the woman who owned the bookstore said that this was her daughter's favorite book. I thought it would be something you would like."

"Thank you! Mrs. Thornton, I finished chopping the apples. Do you mind if I go read on the settee by Jack?"

"Not at all. Thank you for helping me today Allie."

Allie hopped over to the settee and curled up with her book. Elizabeth smiled at how excited the young girl was with her book, hoping that she would always love to read that much. She then looked up at Nathan standing next to her. She turned and said, "It's wonderful that you thought to bring the children gifts even when you were out of town on an important mission."

"It wasn't only the children who I thought of. Nathan pulled the last book from the bag he had brought, setting the bag on the chair. He handed it to Elizabeth and watched as she took it from him. Her eyes went wide and she looked back at him, "How did you know?"

"What do you mean? I have read books by Jane Austen before but not this one. I was hoping we could read it together."

"Nathan, this is a book that I have been wanting to read for awhile. I just haven't had a chance to order it. You are so thoughtful." Elizabeth walked over and put the book on her desk. "I don't want to get any food on it before we have a chance to read it," she said with a laugh.

"Do you need any help with dinner?"

"I'd like that," Elizabeth said. The two of them worked together to finish dinner. Once it was done, the four of them sat at the table like it had been something they had done forever.