Chapter 3

Elizabeth was sitting at the table in the Library reading, when she heard the door open. Turning around she saw two of her students, Cooper and Angela Canfield, coming in.

"Well, this is a nice surprise." she told them, "What brings you two in here today?"

Elizabeth watched as Cooper walked his sister to the table and helped her sit down. He also leaned her walking stick up against the chair and helped her feel where it was. Angela had lost her sight when she was very young and even though he was younger, Cooper was always right there beside her, helping however he could.

"Mrs. Thornton, I was hoping to talk to you and Cooper said he saw you come in here, so we followed." Angela began as Cooper headed back out the door.

"Of course, Angela, what can I do for you?"

Taking a deep breath, she began, "I wanted to apologize for not telling you about Allie and the train. She made me promise not to tell anyone, especially you and Mountie Nathan, and I agreed. It didn't seem like such a bad thing, her wanting to meet her birth father. When I heard Mountie Nathan say he needed to talk to her, something in his voice made me realize keeping that secret was the wrong thing to do. Allie could have been hurt, or something bad could have happened to her and it would have been my fault. I spoke with her today and explained what happened. She said she understood and forgave me, but I really wanted to apologize to you and Mountie Nathan as well. I really am sorry."

"Angela, you are such a good friend to not only Allie, but to everyone. You are kind and thoughtful and caring, and I know you were just trying to do the right thing, and Mountie Nathan knows that as well. You did the right thing, telling us, and we were able to get to Allie and bring her home."

Remembering that train ride home, Elizabeth's heart broke once again at everything that had happened. The look of pain and anguish on Nathan's face, not knowing what to say or what to do, and watching Allie's tears as she relived the moment over and over. Being told her birth father didn't want to see her, was too much to bear. It had taken all her strength to not pull Allie into her arms and comfort her, but she knew Nathan was the right one to take the role. After a while, Allie fell asleep leaning against her Dad's shoulder and Nathan had leaned his head down to rest on her head and closed his eyes. Silently Elizabeth had placed her arm on top of his, which was resting across Allie's shoulders, and together the three of them rode the train back to Hope Valley. Once they were off the train, Nathan had offered them dinner, but Allie said she wasn't hungry and just wanted to go home. Once they arrived at their row house, Allie finally let go of her Dad and gave Elizabeth a hug, with a 'Thank you' whispered in her ear. "You're welcome" was the response she got. Father and daughter walked into their home arm in arm. Thankfully, at that time, Lee had been driving by and offered to take Elizabeth the rest of the way home.

"Mrs. Thornton?" she heard Angela say, bringing her out of her memories.

"Oh my goodness, I am sorry Angela, I got lost in my thoughts there for a bit." Elizabeth explained coming back out of her thoughts.

"Happens to me all the time," Angela assured her as she reached for her walking stick and stood up. "Cooper is outside waiting for me, and I know he is anxious to meet up with Toby and the others, so I better go."

"Yes, of course Angela, and thank you for coming to see me today. You are a very special young lady, and I am so glad to know you." Elizabeth told her as she opened the door. Cooper stood up from the bench and helped his sister down the steps.

The clock chimed four times, startling Rosemary. She had been so focused on writing her story, she lost track of time. Knowing that Allie was waiting for her with Goldie, she put the story in the drawer of her desk and locked it. Then, grabbing her jacket from the chair, headed outside.

The street was fairly empty as she headed towards the saloon, hoping to find Lee there ready to go home. As she got closer she was surprised that both doors were closed, usually at least one was left open, on the warmer days at least. It was also odd that there was no sound coming from the building. She looked around trying to decide what to do when the door opened and an arm reached, grabbed her and dragged her inside, shutting the door behind him.

"What in the world?" she asked, looking around at the empty dining room. She turned around and froze. An angry looking man in a dark coat and hat was standing there with his gun pointed right at her chest. He walked towards her and gestured to the nearest table. Slowly, Rosemary walked that way, trying to figure out what was going on. Where was Lee? Was he okay? How did this happen?. All these questions were going through her head and she didn't hear the man speak.

"I said what's your name?" he growled again once he'd gotten her attention again.

"Mrs. Coulter, who are you?"

"Don't concern yourself with that, just sit there and be quiet. I am expecting the Governor to join us shortly."

"Doesn't he usually have meetings in his office?" she asked.

"Probably," the man answered, "But I prefer these tables and chairs better."

Suddenly the door opened and Elizabeth came bursting in, "Rosemary, have seen..." she stopped when she saw Rosemary sitting at a table with a man pointing a gun at her. "What's going on?" she asked.

"My my, what have we here?" a voice from behind asked her. She tried to turn around, but the man had grabbed her arm and held a gun to her back, forcing her to walk towards the table her friend was sitting at.

Suddenly a hand flashed across her face along with the sting that followed a slap. The force pushing her backwards into the chair. "It's not nice to ignore people, teacher."

Seeing the questions in her eyes, he continued, "That's right, I know who you are. Elizabeth Thornton. Formerly a Thatcher of Hamilton, who then moved to a small town to be a teacher and got engaged to the Governor."

Without acknowledging what he said, Elizabeth asked, "What do you want with us?" she asked, looking over at Rosemary.

"Ya know, you're much prettier in person than what the photos in the paper show. "He tilted his head, thinking how much fun it would be to use her against Bouchard as well. He'd seen the picture of them at the resort site a few months ago, so maybe they were still close, or better yet, once again engaged. "I need the Governor to understand how important it is, for his sake at least, to work with me on my next few projects, and, well, it always helps to have some bargaining chips in my back pocket." he answered with a wink.

"Well, Governor Bouchard isn't here right now, and I have no idea where he is, so let us go. We have," she stopped when she saw Rosemary's eyes pleading with her not to say they had families, so she finished with "… homes and dinner to get too."

"Tell you what, how bout you come upstairs with me real nice like, and your friend here won't get hurt." The look in his eyes told Elizabeth all she needed to know about what his intentions were.

Not seeing anyone else around she asked "If we go upstairs what's to stop Rosemary from leaving and getting help" she asked, trying to stall for time.

"Well, you see, I've got a friend over there that's more than willing to keep an eye on her." he said, nodding with his head towards the bar where a man, with excited eyes walked out of the shadows.

"Lawrence, we've got some feisty ones here, better bring Arthur in, just in case." the man with the gun suggested.

"Will do, Mr. Shaw." Lawrence answered and headed to the back door. After a quick conversation with someone, the door closed and took a seat at the bar. A few moments later, another man walked in and sat down next to him.

Rosemary's heart dropped to her stomach. "Shaw? As in the Casimir Shaw?"

"At your service," he answered, taking his hat off and giving her a sweeping bow. "Now pretty Teacher, what do you say to me and you going upstairs for a little chat.?"

Grabbing her arm, he headed towards the stairs, dragging a struggling Elizabeth behind him.

"Let me go," she shouted, twisting and turning trying to get out of his grasp.

"ELIZABETH!" she heard Rosemary shout, followed by a chair tipping over and a cry of pain.

By now, Shaw had Elizabeth at the top of the stairs and was shoving her into the nearest room. Once the door was shut, he started laughing and said, "You sure put up a fight. I like that, I like that a lot. Spirit in a girl always makes things fun."

Pulling his revolver from his coat, he pointed to the bed and motioned to her to go. Elizabeth slowly made her way over and sat down. By then, Shaw had brought the chair closer and sat down in front of her. "So, pretty Teacher, now that we are alone, tell me where Bouchard is, and we can get to the fun stuff."

Instead of answering his question, Elizabeth looked at him. She was hoping to see a trace of goodness in him, something redeemable, something she could use to get herself and Rosemary out of the situation unharmed. All she saw was the cold determination in his eyes, and the desire for fun behind the eyes, and those eyes scared her more than anything she'd seen before. More than Nate Tolliver and his gang, more than Amos Dixon, even more than when she'd looked into the eyes of Charles Supurlock as he stared down his rifle at her. The next thing she knew, he struck her across the face with the back of his hand, his ring slicing across her cheek. She was dazed for a moment, then put her hand to her cheek, feeling something wet. She looked and saw blood on her hand.

"One thing about me, Teacher, is I don't like repeating myself. I prefer it when people tell me what I want to know as soon as I ask." Anger gleaming in his eyes.

"I don't know where Lucas is, I haven't seen him for a few days." she told him.

"And I believe you are lying to me because I've been told you're, what do they call it these days, rekindled with him?."

"Well you are mistaken, we are not, and I have no idea where he is, why would I" she asked, anger coming through her voice.

Shaw raised his hand to strike again, he said, "Don't take that tone with me." but brought his hand down. No sense messing up that pretty face now, he thought as he leaned back in the chair and looked at her. He reached a hand out to touch her leg, but she slapped it away.

"Don't touch me," she told him, angry determination overtaking the fear in her eyes.

This one sure is feisty, Shaw thought to himself with a smile. Standing up, he walked to the window saying "Come on now, we're gonna be here for a while, so don't make things harder than they need to be. Just tell me what I want to know." Hearing a sound behind him, he turned to see Elizabeth rushing to the door, take a step towards her, he grabbed her jacket and pulled her back towards the bed, where they fell on top of each other. Quickly, Elizabeth tried to get up, but he was still grasping the sleeve of her jacket. Doing everything she could to free herself from the monster, she finally heard seam rip and was able to get away. Turning the door knob, she felt his hands grab her waist and pull her back once more. This time he flung her towards the bed, but with more force than was needed, which caused her to hit the side of the bed and crumple to the floor. Grinning to himself when went to pick her up and found she'd been knocked unconscious. "Just a like a woman," he mumbled to himself, putting her on the bed before taking off his belt and using it to secure her writs to the bed post. By the time he'd gotten his jacket and shirt off and had started to undo his pants, a large crash sounded from downstairs, followed by gunfire and shouts of "Mounted Police, hand's up."

"Figures" he groaned. "I finally get to have some fun, and they ruin it." Putting his shirt back on, he headed towards the door. Looking over his shoulder he could see the woman was out cold which gave him the idea. Taking the jacket he'd ripped off her, he left the room and walked slowly to the stairs, this was going to be even more fun than being with the pretty Teacher, he thought. Reaching his destination, he took out his pistol and fired a shot in the air, shouting "I've got a pretty little hostage up here so better do what I say."