Chapter 31 – End of the Ball

"Thank you, Bill." Carol said. "I love dancing and can't wait until we have room in the new house to twirl around to the Victrola."

"That might have to wait until after the little ones arrive." Nathan said, with a smile at Carol.

"I guess." Carol said. "We have a lifetime of being able to dance together."

Gabe rolled his eyes as he listened to Nathan and Carol. As much as he loved the two of them, he liked to tease them when they got sweet like they were.

"Enough you two." Gabe said, teasingly.

Both Carol and Nathan made a face at Gabe, they knew he was teasing and didn't mind.

"I will be sweet with my wife anytime I want." Nathan teased.

"I am sure you are sweet with Lillian." Carol said.

"Not as much as I want." Gabe complained. "We seem to always have an audience."

"Maybe we will need to come at some point and let you have a real date night." Nathan said.

"I would love that." Gabe said. "But I think you are going to have your hands full for a while."

Nathan just shrugged.

"We can make it work." Nathan said. "But it will definitely be after the babies are born."

"I am going to hold you to that." Gabe said.

"Have I ever not held up my end of something?" Nathan asked.

"I will even come and help." Bill said.

Everyone turned and looked at Bill.

"What?" Bill said. "Just because I don't always show it, doesn't mean I don't love being around kids. I love JT and Allie and I will love those little ones you are carrying. I just have a reputation to uphold with the other kids. They can't think I am getting all soft, because they will then push me around."

"Sure whatever." Gabe said.

Bill scowled at Gabe.

Carol, sweetheart." Nathan said. "I think now is a good time to go share a dance."

"I agree." Carol said, smiling.

Nathan stood and helped Carol up. He then led her to the dance floor and they finished the song that was playing and danced to the next before returning to the table where Bill was with a few other older Mounties. Gabe had left the table and as Nathan looked around the room, he saw Gabe over with Jack and a few other Mounties talking near the bar.

As Nathan sat down after helping Carol to sit, the men who had joined Bill offered their congratulations to Nathan on his work and awards. He thanked them, then tugged at his collar as he was getting uncomfortable with the praise. Bill and Carol could see that Nathan was getting uncomfortable.

"I am going to go get a drink." Nathan said.

"Please bring me a ginger ale." Carol asked.

"Of course." Nathan said.

Nathan stood, gave Carol a quick kiss and then headed toward the bar. As he approached, both Gabe and Jack called him over.

"Hey, brother." Gabe said. "You remember these guys from last night. It is some of the men that Jack and I served with in the Northern Territories."

"Nice to see you again." Nathan said.

"Congratulations on the awards." One of the men said.

"Thank you." Nathan said. "But I really didn't do anything special. Thornton here did all the hard work. He was the one that gave everything up to make the force a better place."

"Thank you." Jack said. "But you have also sacrificed for the force."

Nathan just shrugged his shoulders. Nathan went to get his beer, then stood and visited with the men for a bit before excusing himself, getting Carol's ginger ale and then heading back to the table.

… … … …

Shortly after Jack excused himself from the group, Gabe and Jack excused themselves and went to sit where Nathan and Bill were sitting. Bill looked at Jack and Gabe.

"Good to see you both." Bill said. "I hope you are both enjoying the evening."

"It is okay." Gabe said. "I miss Lillian and wish she was here to dance."

"We will have to find a time to all go to Brookfield." Jack said. "Then we can all spend some time together and we can all share a dance with our girls."

"That sounds like fun." Gabe said. "But in order for that to happen, we would need to find a girl for Bill here."

"I don't think so." Bill said. "I don't need a woman. Besides, I have struck out in love. I think it is past my time."

"I don't think so." Jack said. "What about …."

"Don't even say Abigail." Bill said, with a stern tone. "She made it clear we would never be more than friends."

"Sorry." Jack said, holding up his hands.

Bill looked around and then looked at Jack.

"Where is Elizabeth?" Bill asked.

"She went up to tuck JT in." Jack said. "She was not happy and I gave her a choice to either suck it up and deal with it or go be JT because the night wasn't about her."

"So she chose to go up to JT?" Bill asked.

"I guess." Jack said. "I told her she needs to find a way to connect with him since he is not happy and says all she does is yell at him. He has called her mean more than once and I am worried that she doesn't see what she is doing to him."

"I am sorry." Nathan said.

"I don't know what to do." Jack said. "I still don't think she sees what she is doing. I have tried to talk to her, but every time I do, she gets defensive and tries to justify her actions because of what happened. As much as I love her and she is the only woman I have ever truly loved, I can't continue living like this."

"Let us know if there is anything that we can do to help." Gabe said. "You saved my life when we were in the thick of things up north, so I owe you."

"Just say the word." Nathan said. "As much as I have set a boundary, I will do what I can to help."

"I don't know if you will make things better or worse." Jack said. "From what I have gathered, she is extremely jealous of you and what you have. For some reason she is not happy that you moved on and married Carol, especially with how quickly it happened. She said something about how it took you so long to express your feelings for her and then moved on so quickly with another woman."

"I stopped loving her the day she walked into the jail." Nathan said. "And she said she was just looking for Jack in me and saw me as nothing more than another red serge."

"I am sorry." Jack said. "The Elizabeth I knew would never have said something like that."

"I don't blame you." Nathan said. "It was never your fault. You were doing your job and trying to make the world better for all of us. I am sorry for all that you had to go through and all that you had to miss."

"Sounds like she is stuck in her fear and anger." Carol said. "Until she finds a way through that, there is nothing that any of you can say to change anything."

"Collins suggested a counselor." Jack said. "I was going to call Frank up in Cape Fullerton and see if he could come down and spend some time talking to her. He was there with her when she first learned that I was gone. I figured that if anyone could get through to her, he could."

"I think that might be a good idea." Bill said. "I would suggest Pastor Joseph, but she never really seemed to connect with him."

"She suggested Pastor Joseph just because he was in Hope Valley." Jack said. "But I really don't know the man. I do know Frank and I know that he has been through enough that he could understand the danger and why I made the choices I did."

"Then I think you need to talk to him." Gabe said. "From the little that I remember of him from the one time I was in Hope Valley when he was there, he is a great guy and more than willing to help those who are in need."

"Thank you everyone." Jack said. "I will call him tomorrow. I just want the woman I fell in love with back. I just don't know how to get there."

"We will pray for you." Gabe said.

"Yes." Carol said. "We will all pray for you."

"Thank you." Jack said. "I am going to head out. I want to see if JT actually went to bed. I am the one that usually puts him to bed, so will see how it went with Elizabeth trying."

"Have a good night." Bill said. "I will be up soon."

"Here is the key." Jack said.

"Thank you." Bill said.

"Where is everyone going to services in the morning?" Nathan asked.

"I am leaving on the early train." Gabe said.

"I hadn't decided." Bill said. "I was just going to go with Jack if that was okay. Then I planned to meet Nathan and Carol at O'Connor's."

"Carol." Nathan said. "Did you want to go to the Catholic service? I was planning on taking in services at the Episcopal church not that far from the hotel."

"Honestly." Carol said. "I think staying here at the hotel and resting will be the best thing for me. It has been a busy weekend. I would like to go to O'Connor's and then to see Allie, but resting the rest of the time is probably best."

"If that is what you feel." Nathan said. "Then that is what we will do."

"I will talk to Elizabeth." Jack said. "But I think we will join Nathan and then head to O'Connor's. Either way, I will be going with Nathan. I think the Episcopal services sound good. I also think that Elizabeth should go, but I am not sure if she would."

"Have a good night." Jack said.

"I will call you in the morning." Bill said, looking at Nathan.

"Services are at nine thirty." Nathan said. "O'Connor's opens for Sunday brunch at ten. So we can go after services. Finn and Bridget will be holding a table for us no matter what time."

"We will let you know in the morning." Jack said.

"Sounds good."

Jack and Bill stood up and headed up to the room. It wasn't long afterwards and Gabe, Nathan and Carol decided to leave as well. Nathan went and picked up his award and certificate. He said goodnight to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners that were sitting at the table. They all wished him well and said they would be seeing him again. Nathan thanked them and then headed out.

Nathan and Carol walked Gabe to his room and promised to stay in touch. Gabe wished them a Merry Christmas and that he would be praying for them. Nathan reminded Gabe to pass on their Christmas wishes to those at the orphanage. Once Gabe had closed the door, Nathan and Carol headed up to their room. There was a part of Nathan that wished he could do more for Jack, but also realized that he wasn't the best person to try and help, especially with what Elizabeth had said. As they walked, Carol could see something was bothering Nathan, so she stopped him. She took his hand and stood in front of her husband.

"Gabe will be fine." Carol said. "As soon as we can, we will go see him in Brookfield. I can't wait to meet Lillian and her sister. I know that it can't be easy for you. You feel like you owe him."

"That is part of it." Nathan said. "I don't get to spend a lot of time with Gabe and I miss him. If it wasn't for Lillian having the orphanage, I would ask for him to be transferred to Hope Valley or even Benson Hills. He would never leave Lillian if given the choice and she would never leave the orphanage she started with her sister."

"I understand that." Carol said. "But Brookfield is only just over an hour up in the mountains. You should be glad that he is that close. I wish there was something else that I could say to make you feel better. I like Gabe as well and wish we could spend more time with him, but it is what it is. At least they have a phone and you can call him. So what else is bothering you?"

"What Jack said about Elizabeth." Nathan said. "I knew that she was hurting and letting fear rule her life. I feel like I should have done more to help her."

"Dear husband." Carol said. "You did what you could. She rejected you and you still tried to help her. She is the one that has to realize what she did and make the changes. Nothing you or I say is going to make things better, if anything, they will make things worse. She is still blaming you and by extension me for what happened to her. She needs to take responsibility for her own actions and what she did. Jack did what he had to do to protect her and as long as she refused to see that, there is nothing that anyone can do to help other than pray."

"I know that you are right." Nathan said. "But still."

"No buts." Carol said. "Now let's go to our room. You said something about pulling the pins from my hair."

Nathan smiled at his wife and led her to their room.

… … … …