A/N: This story has been pretty heavy so far, so I thought I owed you all a little bit of lightness and a touch of comic relief. I'm so glad you're here on this journey with me!

Chapter 6

Four months later…

"Governor," said Constable McDaniel, when he found Lucas behind the bar at the Queen of Hearts one morning.

"Constable, please, call me Lucas now."

"Oh, of course. I was wondering if you've seen Mayor Coulter today."

"Lee drove to Union City on business. Is there something going on?"

"I just received a call that all trains coming this direction will be delayed, maybe up to three days. There was a train collision—no one was injured, but it tore up the tracks and it will take some time to get things moving again. Everything is bottled up at Edmonton. That means any goods or travelers won't be getting to Hope Valley via train anytime soon."

The small group of morning patrons had heard every word of the new constable's announcement, and began murmuring to themselves about the accident, and how it would inconvenience some of the men's plans. Gustave had just come to discuss the evening menu with Lucas when he overheard, and he let out a spate of French expletives.

"What's up with him?" asked Mike in alarm, carrying a tray of newly washed shot glasses from the kitchen.

"Apparently he was awaiting a delivery of fresh Nova Scotian salmon. It was supposed to come into the Hope Valley depot this morning. He's uh, not very happy about that it won't."

Gustave rolled his eyes at Lucas's understatement, then began gesturing wildly and yelling some more.

"All right, all right! I'll do it!" replied Lucas in French. "Now settle down, it's not good for business."

With a few more creative French expressions, Gustave returned to the kitchen in a huff. Lucas looked heavenward and sighed.

"Looks like I'm driving to Edmonton to pick up that fish so it won't go bad sitting in a depot for three days," he told Mike.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," said Constable McDaniel. "It would be a shame if that fish went to waste. I do so love Nova Scotian salmon."

Lucas grinned wryly. "In appreciation for your timely information, Constable, bring your family in for a salmon dinner on me when I get back."

McDaniel nodded in appreciation. "Don't mind if I do. I do so love Nova Scotian salmon," he repeated. "Good day, Gov—I mean, Lucas." Tipping his Stetson, he went on about his business.

And so it was that Lucas found himself climbing into his car in preparation for the three-hour drive to Edmonton. He was about to fire up the engine when someone suddenly opened the passenger side door and sat beside him.

It was Elizabeth.

"Oh good! I'm so glad I caught you before you left!" she exclaimed breathlessly.

"Well, hello Elizabeth," he said mildly. He'd barely spoken to her in months, yet suddenly she was close enough that he could smell the scent of lilacs. It was a little disorienting, and he could no more help the way his heart lifted with pleasure than he could stop the world from turning.

"Oh, sorry. Good morning." And then her words came out in a breathless rush: "You see, I was just in the saloon looking for you, but Mike said you were about to leave for Edmonton. Lee's gone on business with his car, and I would have borrowed Henry's, but he told me it was in the shop, and so it was fortuitous that you need to go to Edmonton too because of the train accident. Florence had overheard about it on the call to Constable McDaniel, and she was telling everyone in the Mercantile the unfortunate news…"

"Excuse me, Miss," he said, as she paused to take a breath, "are you sure your name isn't Rosemary?"

Elizabeth chuckled, taking his meaning. "I'm rambling, aren't I? It's been a hectic morning. Anyway, my sister Julie was supposed to come in from Hamilton today, but she called me from the train station in Edmonton to say she was stuck because of that mess with the trains. Anyway, she's all alone in a strange city, and I don't want her stranded there for three days or more…"

She was so animated and flushed and beautiful that he felt a bit breathless himself. He forced a coolness he didn't entirely feel.

"So, I take it you'd like a ride to Edmonton?"

She calmed herself, chuckling at her uncharacteristic histrionics. "Yes, please."

"It's a long drive, Elizabeth. You don't have to go; you could be home with Jack. I'd be happy to meet Julie and bring her back with me."

"Do you really want to spend a three-hour drive home with Julie?" she asked dryly.

Lucas grinned. "Your sister is quite charming. We seemed to get on fine when she last visited." In truth, it was the three hours alone with Elizabeth on the drive to Edmonton that had him most concerned.

As they pulled away from the Queen of Hearts, he offered one more reason for her to change her mind: "Please keep in mind that I'll be transporting a crate of fish," he cautioned, "which means one of you ladies would have to share the back seat with an entire school of salmon."

She smiled, glancing behind her into the spacious vehicle. "I'll do it if Julie is too squeamish. The real trouble will be finding a place for her luggage. It might have to wait at the station until the trains can go through."

He sighed in defeat. Any more protests and she might begin questioning his motives for wanting to leave her behind. "All right then. Do you need to stop by your house on the way out of town? We likely won't get back until very late tonight."

She patted her handbag. "No, I think I'm ready. Rosemary is seeing to Jack for me."

He nodded. "I guess we're off then."

"Thank you, Lucas. Once again, you've come to my rescue, and now Julie's too." And the way she said it, as if it wasn't just an expression, had him glancing suddenly at her; but she was facing forward and he couldn't discern what she might really be thinking.

They drove for several minutes in silence, Lucas working on settling his mind and focusing on the mission ahead.

"Fish eh?" she said suddenly. "Gustave having a special at the saloon?"

"He got a good deal on Nova Scotian salmon, but with that much fish, we'll be serving it morning, noon and night for weeks."

"Salmon almondine, salmon canapes, baked salmon, salmon mousse…" she suggested in amusement.

"Smoked salmon, salmon loaf, crusted salmon, salmon soup, salmon croquets'…" he added before running out of ideas, and they both laughed at their own cleverness.

It felt so much like old times that he was taken off guard by how easily they'd fallen back into it. They'd always been able to talk, to laugh, to tease…until they hadn't.

"You know," she ventured, as if she too were reluctant to let go of their familiar banter, "when you first bought the saloon, there was a rumor you were smuggling something illegal in crates of fish."

Lucas chuckled, remembering. "I was smuggling actually, though nothing illegal. You might recall there were a number of train and stage coach robberies around that time. I needed to safely transport my money from my bank in New Orleans, and I figured, what better place to hide it than beneath a pile of fish?"

"Really? Why didn't you just explain what was going on? Everyone was so suspicious of you."

"I know. And how strange would that have looked—a metal lockbox with all the money I had in the world, hidden like that? I knew it would have made me look even worse in the busybodies' watchful eyes. Bill probably would have thrown me in jail until I could get an official accounting from the New Orleans Bank and Trust."

"You were an endless source of mystery and gossip back then."

He shrugged. "I suppose some things never change. But I promise, there will be nothing but salmon in that crate, unless Gustave has taken up rumrunning."

"He wouldn't dare," she said. "I'm certain you pay him enough that he would never even consider it."

"Certainly more than he deserves, given the constant guff I take off him. But I'll tell you a secret about dear Cousin Gustave—he sends half of his pay every month home to his mother in Quebec. A bigger mama's boy you'll never see."

Elizabeth smiled. "That's very sweet."

"Ha. That's why he acts like a spoiled child half the time."

There was another silence between them, although this time it wasn't awkward at all. On the contrary, Lucas felt happier than he had in some time, and he knew instinctively that she was feeling the same sense of nostalgia. A feeling of lightness filled the cab, and he realized he hadn't felt that in a very long time. He'd missed her on so many levels, but he'd especially missed her friendship; no one understood him like she did.

And just as she used to read his mind, she said softly: "I've missed you, Lucas."

He took his eyes from the road to turn his head and look at her, only to find that she was looking at him. "I've missed you too."

"How did we get here?" she asked, and he wondered if that was a rhetorical question, for of course, they both remembered what had transpired at the train station. He was forced to watch the road again as another car approached, so he let the question hang in the air between them.

She sighed. "It's been so long since we really talked. Honestly, I've been…afraid."

"Afraid? Of me?" he asked, frowning.

"You've been so distant."

"Self-preservation, Elizabeth." He glanced briefly at her and quickly looked away.

He let his words sink in, certain that she would understand his meaning.

"I had hoped we would be friends, like you promised," she said at last, a catch in her voice.

"And we are. I'm here if you should ever need me, you know that. But it's difficult for me, Elizabeth, when my feelings for you have not changed. I don't say that for you to feel guilty or to gain sympathy. It is simply the truth."

"I wish things could have been different."

"Do you?" he asked, trying to keep his tone level, because he felt himself becoming angry. "You're prepared to tell me that you wish we had married? That you hadn't moved on to Nathan?"

"I wish I hadn't hurt you."

"As do I. But we can't go back, and the only way I've been able to get on with my life and retain my sanity is by keeping you at a safe distance."

"I understand," she said. She took a handkerchief from her handbag to wipe her cheeks, and then he saw that it was one of his.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

They drove on another hour, with Elizabeth staring out the passenger side window. He thought she might have still been upset, but then he realized she was sleeping, her head resting against the window, her breasts rising and falling with her deep, regular breathing. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the road.

Nature called, and he pulled off the main road down an old mining trail that led into the woods. He parked the car and got out, stretching his legs before going to find a private spot among the trees.

When he returned to the car a few minutes later, Elizabeth was awake and looking around anxiously at his absence.

"There you are," she said in relief when he opened the door.

"I uh, had to…" he trailed off and they both blushed. "Go ahead if you need to; it's safe and quiet in the woods just off the trail. I'll keep a lookout from here."

"Thanks." And she went into the woods to see to her own needs. While she was gone, Lucas retrieved the food Gustave had packed for him—two sandwiches, a couple of apples, jam tarts, and a jar of lemonade.

He set the simple repast on the hood of the car, and leaned against the door, breathing in the fresh, green scent of early spring. In the distance, he could hear the pleasant sound of a rushing mountain stream. Elizabeth picked her way back to the trail, dodging clumps of new grass, ferns, and a heavy blanket of pine needles.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her. "I have enough for two; it was supposed to be my lunch and dinner, but we can get something in Edmonton later, if you and Julie would like to."

She looked inside the basket Gustave had packed. "Thank you, Lucas. I am a bit hungry."

As they unwrapped the waxed paper bundles containing crusty country bread and thick slices of ham and cheddar, both of them silently remembered a similar picnic along a road on the way to Union City. It was like it had been a lifetime ago, and yet Lucas remembered it vividly. He'd been so full of hope and longing for this lovely, fascinating woman, and he'd already been fairly certain he was falling in love with her. He still felt that way every time he looked at her.

Elizabeth sat on an old stump and ate her sandwich, enjoying the day as much as he was.

Gone was their earlier tension, and he marveled at how things were a constant push and pull between them. One moment they were laughing, the next, real honesty and past hurts emerged to interfere with any forward progress. It was frustrating, but also, the way he felt in her presence was very addictive. Whether he was angry or hurt, amused or perplexed, no one else made him feel as alive as when he was with her. But if he was going to stay in the town that he'd grown to love and not be in a constant state of torture whenever they met, he would have to find some sort of middle ground between love and estrangement.

"My compliments to Gustave," said Elizabeth. "He can make a ham sandwich taste like fine dining."

"And yet I never dare tell him his talents are wasted on the frontier."

She smiled. "Wise man."

He unscrewed the cap and brought her the jar of lemonade. "Sorry I don't have separate glasses. I wasn't expecting company."

"I've never been opposed to roughing it," she said, and drank directly from the jar. He raised an eyebrow at that questionable statement, but didn't comment.

"All right," she conceded, handing the jar back. "Maybe when I first moved to Hope Valley, I was definitely in way over my head." She shivered. "Those were difficult days. I uh, was very ill-prepared for frontier life."

"You seem to have found a healthy balance."

"I think Hope Valley has grown up with me. It's a very different place than when I first arrived. There are more businesses, more modern amenities. I'm not teaching out of the saloon anymore, thank goodness."

Lucas grinned, imagining what a sight that must have been. "I heard about that. I imagine it was difficult to teach the dangers of hard liquor and gambling in that venue."

"Not to mention the constant interruptions. But things got so much better when-when Jack built the church."

She had rarely spoken of her husband when she and Lucas were together—just in the most abstract of terms. He had understood and had never pressed her. It had been enough to know that Jack had been a good man, had loved her, as Lucas did. When she'd taken off her wedding ring, he had thought she was ready to move on. Now, he suddenly wondered if she really had been ready. He'd never questioned that because he'd been so overjoyed that she'd wanted him, loved him, wanted a life with him.

He cleared his throat as she had grown quiet, thinking about Jack no doubt. "Uh, there's more food here, if you'd like…"

It was beginning to cloud up, and they smelled the scent of rain in the air. Neither of them mentioned how rain had once ruined another of their picnics, a lifetime ago. They packed up and soon were on the road again.

They'd only been driving a few minutes when a loud crack of thunder echoed around them, releasing a deluge of spring rain. Lucas worked the manual wiper blade, but it was no match for the downpour and he soon gave up. He drove slowly, both hands tight on the steering wheel, leaning forward in the seat and squinting through the obscured windshield. The packed dirt road was rapidly becoming treacherous, and when he swerved suddenly to avoid a tree branch knocked into the road by the storm, the car slid onto the side of the road, the tires promptly catching in the mud. They were stuck.

Cursing under his breath, Lucas tried revving the engine, but soon realized it was just making matters worse, burying them deeper. He looked over at Elizabeth, her forehead wrinkling with concern.

"I'm going to have to go out and see if I can dislodge us, or push us out. Could you please slide over and take the wheel? I'll tell you when to step on the gas."

"Of course," she said.

He hesitated, looking out into blinding rain. He was going to be soaked and muddy after this, and he hadn't thought to bring a change of clothes. With a sigh, he took off his suit coat, laying it on the back seat, and on second thought, removed his waistcoat and tie. He rolled up his shirtsleeves, and looked over at Elizabeth, who was trying to hold back a smile.

He grinned wryly.

"Everything is always an adventure with you," she said, having to yell over the deafening sound of the rain pounding on the roof of the car.

"As far as adventures go, it's always better if you're not wearing your best suit."

She laughed, and a clap of thunder mocked them.

He took a deep breath and stepped out into the storm.

"Be careful," she said, "and yell really loud so I can hear you."

"I'll bang on the car too," he said. "Once for stop, twice for go."

"Got it," she said, lips pursed in amusement, her eyes sparkling.

It wasn't an appropriate moment to think of how much he loved seeing her this way, so he merely nodded and shut the door. The car shifted slightly as she moved over into the driver's seat.

Lucas could barely see through the sheets of rain as he stepped gingerly into the muck, trying not to lament the cost of the Italian leather shoes he wore. He picked his way carefully around to the front of the car to assess the severity of the situation, then, holding onto the car with one hand lest he slip and fall, he went to the back. The front and back passenger side wheels were firmly entrenched.

Already soaked to the skin and shivering a little, he slicked back his hair and opened the passenger door.

"Looks like we're just stuck on this side," he told her, "so as I push, make sure you turn back toward the road please."

He felt her eyes studying his dripping hair and wet face, drifting down to where he knew his white shirt was sticking to his body. Despite the chill of the rain, he suddenly felt warm all over. Her eyes widened and they quickly darted up again to meet his.

"All right," she said, then demurely faced forward.

His heart was pounding as he went to the back of the vehicle, tried to find purchase with his feet on the muddy ground, then put all his strength into pushing on the car.

"Go!" he yelled, and banged on the car.

He braced himself, knowing what was coming, but still, he wasn't fully prepared for the mud to spatter everywhere when she pressed on the gas pedal. Tasting mud, he pushed with all his might, and for a brief moment the car seemed to move, but the tires spun anew and he pounded once on the side to get her to stop. He wiped the gunk from his eyes in disgust, then braced himself for another try. He knocked twice and she stepped on the gas again, but the mud here was deep, and as he feared, only further embedded the wheels. He nearly fell as he banged the signal to stop, and he stood a moment trying to catch his breath.

"Dammit," he swore, then said a few more choice words before he went back to the passenger door.

She gasped when she saw him, and he knew he must look a sight. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter, and he merely stood there until she could regain control.

"You look like some sort of—of swamp creature," she managed, then burst out laughing in spite of herself. "I'm sorry. I take it we're well and truly fixed here?"

"It appears so." He reached out with his muddy hand. "Can you give me a hand inside," he asked, straight-faced, though his eyes were teasing. She shrunk away, laughing, and he grinned.

But her laughter faded as he began unbuttoning his shirt. Bare chested, he dropped the sopping garment on the floor in the backseat, then stepped back out into the shower and allowed the pouring rain to rinse the mud from his hair and face.

"Whooo!" he cried out involuntarily as nature's cold shower sluiced over him.

"We're likely going to be here awhile until the rain stops or someone comes along to pull us out," he told her as he climbed back in on the passenger side, wishing heartily that he had a towel.

Elizabeth handed him an extra cloth napkin from their picnic and he took it gratefully, rubbing it over his face and hair. When they both reached for his suit coat in the back seat, their upper bodies brushed against each other, and they both sprang back as if burned.

"Sorry," she said hoarsely, giving him his coat.

He took it, and made the mistake of meeting her eyes.

Once upon a time they'd nearly kissed in his car in the rain, and it wasn't lost on him that what was happening between them now might be fate setting things right this time, giving them a second chance. Her hand rested unconsciously on his arm, and the heat of it was so incredibly welcome that he very nearly pulled her closer to absorb all that he could.

He sat again on his side of the bench seat and awkwardly slipped his long arms back into his dry coat, buttoning it up as far as it could go with numb fingers, then pulling together the lapels for some semblance of propriety. His breath was fast and ragged, and he sat back, trying to find some control. For Elizabeth's part, she was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, while the car still idled, the wiper blade limp as the rain continued to pummel the windshield.

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Lucas and Elizabeth sat in the car, the engine off, waiting for the rain to stop. There was still lingering tension, and Lucas began to feel antsy and was tempted to run back out into the rain; anything just to get relief from it. Desperate, he attempted to make conversation.

"You spoke of your husband earlier," he ventured. "You rarely spoke of him when we were together—only in general terms."

She was startled by this out-of-the-blue topic, but she seemed just as eager to ease the strain between them.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Lucas."

He raised an eyebrow. "That ship has pretty much sailed, don't you think?" But he said it in a gentle, teasing way that took away much of the sting. "If I'm not prying too much, I'd really like to know more about your relationship with him. I suppose I didn't dare ask before, believing that if I knew more about him I would never be able to live up to that paragon whom Hope Valley had revered so much. You touched upon it briefly in your book, and I've heard others tell of his heroic deeds, but I think it would help me to get past some things if I understood your state of mind when you and I first met."

"You really think that would help you?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes…if you're up to discussing it."

She considered this a moment, and he saw the mixture of emotions in her expression before she sighed and relented.

"It's actually interesting that you should ask me about him now, Lucas. Just before you went back to Capital City after the Jeanette situation was resolved, Jack's old commanding officer, Superintendent Hargrave, came to Hope Valley. He brought something with him that was Jack's."

Lucas was intrigued. It had been years since Jack's death; he could only imagine how this must have brought things back for Elizabeth.

"What was it?" he asked.

"Well, after Jack died, the footlocker he'd been using in the Northwest Territories was cleaned out, and his things sent back to me. It went on to be used by other Mounties, as is usually the case, I'm told. But the current holder of the locker happened to discover that this one had had a false bottom, and beneath it was a journal written by Jack Thornton."

"Oh, Elizabeth," he said, his heart swelling for her. He could only imagine what a priceless keepsake that would be, a gift from her husband, an heirloom for their son. Lucas appreciated the value of the written word almost as much as Elizabeth, and he was extremely curious to learn of it.

"It was our love story, Lucas, his and mine, and it's more than a journal; it's more like a-a memoir. He went into detail about all the thoughts and feelings he'd had from the moment we'd met. There were things in there that I wished he would have told me, namely his fears about being in battle, about being away from me. But of course he wouldn't have wanted to worry me or frighten me anymore than I already was. And of course, being Jack, it was illustrated—beautiful renderings of scenes from our courtship, of the things we'd done, of the church the night he proposed. He wrote of his dreams for us, for our children yet to be. He drew a picture of the house he wanted to build, and even…oh Lucas—even a picture of how we might look when we grew old."

She took a handkerchief—his handkerchief—from her pocket and wiped her eyes, and he took her hand, unable to resist finding some way to comfort and encourage her.

"What a blessing that it found you after all this time," he said sincerely.

"Oh, my goodness—I can't even describe the happiness that it has brought back into my life, bittersweet though it is now. I have read and re-read it so many times; it's like I've been given the chance to go back in time, to relive it all through his eyes, and I don't want to stop reading it for fear of feeling like I've lost him all over again."

She sniffed and blotted her cheeks again, but before he could offer more words of comfort, she found the strength to continue.

"More than insight, Jack's book has brought with it the closure I never got before. He'd written in it almost to the day he was killed, and it has been a comfort knowing that he loved me and thought of me until the very end."

"Surely you'd had no doubt of that," he said kindly.

"No, but it was so wonderful that I got to experience it through his own words."

"I'm truly happy you got that opportunity, Elizabeth."

"Yes, thank you. As am I. And there's something else, Lucas, something I haven't shared with anyone else."

"What?" he asked, holding his breath.

And then her smile beamed through her tears. "I'm wanting to take his memoir and turn it into the basis for my next book. Before Nathan passed, your mother wrote to me, expressing her sadness that you and I didn't work out, and she hinted that the publishers would be interested in reading something new from me. I admit, over the last year I haven't felt very inspired, but then this came. It's like Jack was still watching over me, still finding a way to comfort and take care of me and our son."

"That's a beautiful way to think of it. And I think it's an incredible idea. I'm honored that you told me this."

"You've always been so supportive of my writing, just like Jack was."

"It has been my pleasure to help you, in all that you do."

"Thank you, Lucas."

And in that moment, in the closeness of the cab of his car, the rain beating down overhead, Lucas allowed a little bit of hope to slip into his heart.

A/N: I already have the next chapter nearly complete, so there shouldn't be much of a wait. Despite the lightness of this chapter nothing will be easy for them, and they are still finding their way along whatever path awaits them. I hope you come back to see what happens next. Thanks for reading.