Chapter 33

Capital City, Alberta Canada

Monday, December 26, 1921

The entourage boarded the train bound for Hope Valley. Lucas had taken care of accommodations on the train for all their guests. Everyone was sharing a cabin with the exception of MaKayla, the bride was getting her own cabin. Gustave had returned to Hope Valley days ago, saying he had much to do to get ready for the wedding.

As the train rolled along the Canadian countryside, Lucas was sitting alone in the dining car waiting for MaKayla. As he stared out the window, he was thinking back to yesterday and the wonderful Christmas Day they all had together. They had sung Christmas carols. The Donovan children all have beautiful voices and it was like being at a concert Lucas thought. They played a hilarious game of charades which Lucas and MaKayla won. Lucas smiled as he thought of all the wonderful Christmas's to come especially as everyone started adding children to the mix.

He was brought out of his reverie by a kiss on the cheek. He turned and smiled. "All settled in?" He asked.

MaKayla nodded back at him. "What were you thinking about, you had a smile on your face?" She asked.

"I was just thinking about yesterday and what fun it was. And how much I was looking forward to future Christmas's especially as we all add children to our families." He smiled gently.

"I see. Do you have me with child already?" She asked with a giggle.

He blushed a little. "No, but perhaps that is something we should talk about. Not that it is something that we necessarily have a great deal of control over, but, well… are we interested in starting a family right away or trying to wait?" He asked with a questioning smile.

"What is your heart's desire governor?" She asked as she tighten her grip on his arm.

"I might not be the best one to answer that. I had thought Elizabeth and I would try for a child right after we were married. She's older than I am and it just seemed like the next logical step. But you, my lovely MaKayla, are not Elizabeth and you have a career that is very demanding and you might need more time." He said thoughtfully.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "Thank you. I knew that you would leave the timing of this particular endeavor to me. Which makes me love you all the more." She said as she kissed him. "Of course, given that my soon to be husband is looking for a dozen children and as I'm on the cusp of my 31st birthday, that does not give me much time to accomplish this very energetic feat." She said as she gave him a seductive smile.

"My parents married in September 1887. Andrew was born in August 1888, Sarah in September 1889 and me christening the new year in 1891. As you can see, my parents had us children in rapid succession. My mother said she never regretted having children so soon after their wedding. So, if you are in agreement, I would like to leave, at least the timing of when we have our first child, to God and nature. I think I might like a little more time between children though. But in case you are having doubts, I very much want to have your child. Our child." She told him with deep emotion.

"That makes two of us." As he leaned in for a deeper kiss.

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Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Monday, December 26, 1921

Minne and Faith were in the back sitting room of The Café discussing Lucas and MaKayla. "MaKayla will be here tomorrow. Should we have our little gathering on Wednesday or Thursday?" Minnie asked.

"I think on Thursday evening would be good. Who should we invite?" Faith asked.

"Let's see, we have you and me, MaKayla, her sister, Sarah, her grandmother. Lucas's mother, Florence, Molly, and Mei. I also think we should include Jenny Windham, MaKayla spoke to her class and I think they get along really well. Now the big question. Do we invite Elizabeth and Rosemary?" Minnie said with trepidation.

"From everything that MaKayla has told me, she and Elizabeth are friendly." She said, unsure if that was enough to include her. "But would that be uncomfortable for Elizabeth to come to a celebration for the woman who is marrying her ex-fiancée? Would MaKayla be uncomfortable with Lucas's ex-fiancée in attendance?" Faith asked morosely.

"Lucas and MaKayla are building a house here which means they plan to be part of the Hope Valley community. They all need to be able to co-exist with each other which so far, they have been able to do. Besides, Lucas and Elizabeth are co-parenting Jack together. We will invite both of them and let them decide if they want to attend." Minnie said resolutely. Faith nodded in agreement. Both women hoped it wouldn't be awkward for either MaKayla or Elizabeth. Time would tell.

Across the street at The Queen of Hearts, Lee and Joseph were discussing with Mike Hickam about having a stag party for Lucas at the saloon. They had also decided on Thursday night.

"Lucas didn't get one before his almost marriage to Elizabeth as everything unfolded with Balfour and the water. Even though I'm not Lucas's best man this time around, I want to make sure he gets a good send off before his marriage." He told both men.

"And what do you consider a good send off?" Joseph asked.

"Well, that's why the two of you are here. What ideas do you have?" Lee asked.

"Lucas told me he hasn't played poker since he left to run for governor. I think he would enjoy just having a few drinks with friends and playing some serious poker." Mike told them.

"Doesn't that sound kind of routine and drab?" Lee said.

"After the year Lucas has had, I bet he would love routine and drab." Joseph said. "I think being around his friends and feeling supported by this community would be the best gift we could ever give him." Joseph said. Lee looked at Joseph and knew he was right.

Lee chuckled. "Poker it is."

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Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Wednesday, December 28, 1921

The group from Capital City had arrived on Tuesday and were all settled in. Everyone was staying at the Queen except for Andrew who was staying at Lucas's house with him. Seamus would be staying with Henry at his house.

MaKayla's grandparents, Marcus and Maeve Whitney, were arriving today and MaKayla and her father were going to go to the train station to meet them. Lucas had plans with Jack for the afternoon. They were going into Benson Hills to get Jack his suit for the wedding.

Lucas and Jack had a nice afternoon in Benson Hills and had arrived back in Hope Valley at dinner time. Lucas and Jack walked up the stairs to his rowhouse with Lucas carrying Jack's tuxedo for the wedding.

"You're back." Elizabeth said as she opened the door. "Come on in. I wasn't sure if you would be home by dinner time or not. I have some chicken stew ready. Lucas would you like to have dinner with us?" Elizabeth asked warmly.

Lucas wasn't sure what to do. "Please Papa, stay for dinner. I want to give you your Christmas present after dinner." Jack pleaded. Refusing Jack was hard for him.

"Ok, I'd like that. Thank You." Lucas told them while handing Elizabeth Jack's wedding attire.

"Any problems, getting Jack a suit? He is growing so fast; he grew out of the one we got him last…" Elizabeth stopped herself as she was going to mention the suit Jack was suppose to wear to their wedding.

Lucas took off his coat and took his old familiar seat at Elizabeth's table. "Actually, this time he will be wearing a tuxedo." Lucas said as Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.

Lucas blushed, "Well, my tailor had one in Jack's size and it just needed some minor adjustments. And he kind of wanted to match what I was wearing." He shrugged his shoulders, "I couldn't resist." He said as Elizabeth laughed.

"Oh, Jack wanted to match you? Are you sure it wasn't the other way around?" She asked with raised eyebrows and a wry grin.

As they were eating dinner, Elizabeth noticed his new wrist watch as her eyes then moved to where his pocket watch chain had been, the one that she had given him a few years ago. But it was no longer there. "Lucas, that is a very handsome wrist watch you have. Is it new?" She asked him trying to sound nonchalant.

"Hmm, yes. It was a Christmas gift from MaKayla. I'm still getting use to looking at my wrist for the time as opposed to pulling out my pocket watch. I'm sure it will become a habit before too long." He said with a hint of pensiveness in his voice.

"Times are changing, we must change with them." He said with a chuckle. He could tell she was thinking back to when she had given him the pocket watch. But as he touched the watch on his wrist, he had no regrets. He smiled as he thought of the inscription on the watch Meant to be L & M.

Jack brought them both out of their reverie. "Mama, can I give Papa his Christmas gift now?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Don't you want dessert first? I made apple pie." She said with a smile.

"No, present first then pie." Jack said happily. Jack went over to their Christmas tree and took Lucas's gift out from under the tree and walked back to the table to hand it to Lucas.

Lucas carefully unwrapped his gift, he opened the box to reveal a framed picture. "Do you like it; do you like it?" Jack asked excitedly. "I drew it myself. Mama had Mr. Hickam make the picture frame. It's you and me fishing." He said jumping up and down.

For six years old, Jack was indeed a very good artist. He could really see that both figures resembled himself and Jack. It was a beautiful gift. "I love it, Jack. I'm going to put it up in my office in Capital City so I can look at it every day." Lucas told the young boy as Jack gave him a tight hug.

"It's getting late, I need to be leaving. MaKayla's grandparents were arriving today and I'd like to say hello before they retire for the evening. Thank you for dinner. And Jack I love my present." He told them as Jack gave him one more hug. Elizabeth closed the door and once again regret washed over her.

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Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Thursday, December 29, 1921

The next morning the Donovan's and Bouchard's had a leisurely but lively breakfast at the Queen to start off their day. Lucas was enjoying speaking with MaKayla's grandparents who owned a horse farm in New York State just a few hours south of Montreal. Lucas had never entertained the idea of investing in race horses but MaKayla's grandfather had him intrigued.

The women were going to Benson Hills to do some shopping. Martin, Seamus, Marcus and Liam were going to check out the hot springs with Bill Avery. And Lucas had a piece of land that he wanted to show to Andrew.

Lucas and Andrew said their goodbyes to the group and made their way over to the stables to saddle up the horses. "So, Lucas, what is this land that you want to show me?" Andrew asked intrigued.

"I'll tell you all about it when we get there." He told him with mischievous grin.

Just then Elizabeth entered the stable. She had been out riding Sergeant. "Lucas, good morning. Are you going for a ride?" She asked as she looked at him and then over at the man with him.

"Yes, we are. Elizabeth, this is Andrew Donovan, MaKayla's brother and my old classmate at Cambridge." Lucas told her.

"Nice to meet you, Andrew. I can see the family resemblance, with your honey brown hair and intense hazel green eyes." She told him with a smile.

"Andrew, this is Elizabeth Thornton, she is the school teacher here in Hope Valley." He told him. Elizabeth looked over at Lucas noticing that he had not introduced her as his former fiancée. She guessed to his future brother-in-law that was to be expected.

"Have a nice ride, it's a beautiful day." Elizabeth told them and went to put Sergeant in his stall.

The men mounted their horses and left the stable. They rode for about half an hour to a strip of land just outside of Hope Valley when Lucas stopped. "This is a nice piece of land Lucas, but why would you want to take me out here?" Andrew asked confused.

"I know that your father would like it if you resigned from the military and were closer to family. I own this land and I think that it would make a great air strip. Andrew, you could open your own air service. You could fly cargo, people. Give flying lessons. You could even do some barnstorming if you really wanted to. You would still be flying but you would be working for yourself and spreading the reach of the valley communities. I think this would be a great opportunity for you. What do you think?" Lucas asked excitedly.

"Always the entrepreneur, Lucas." He said with laughter. "The idea does have merit; I'll give you that. But Hope Valley is a little more remote than I'm use too." He told him.

"It's more remote right now. The plan is to expand the area but not make it into a big city. You could be in on the beginning of making that happen. As my administration works to get more jobs and industry to the valleys. All I ask is that you think about it." Lucas told him.

"Did my sister and father put you up to this?" He asked suspiciously.

"No, I haven't mentioned it to either of them. I do think it would be a good venture for you. But if I'm being honest, I'd like to have you closer as well. I haven't had a good friend my age around in a very long time. With everything that has gone on in the past year, I've found myself missing the camaraderie that Matthew and I once shared. We were more like brothers. And well, with me marrying your sister…never mind its silly and probably a bit sad." Lucas lowered his gaze a bit embarrassed by his honesty.

"Lucas, I don't think it's silly. I gave MaKayla a little bit of a hard time about marrying you but honestly, I would like to have that same camaraderie with you as well. I promise you; I am going to give this idea of yours a lot of thought. But let's keep it between us for now. I don't want MaKayla or my father to get their hopes up." He told him.

"There's no hurry. I just thought that I would show you the land and put the idea in your head." Lucas said complacently.

"So, Lucas tell me about Elizabeth Thornton. I thought I saw something between the two of you back at the stable?" Andrew asked quizzically. "What am I missing?"

Lucas sighed, "You know that I was engaged before," Andrew nodded. "My former fiancée was Elizabeth." He said succinctly.

"I see. She is a beautiful woman." Andrew said. Lucas wondered what was going through Andrew's head. At least for now Andrew would not be around long to get to know Elizabeth better. He had seen that look in Andrew's eyes before and was not sure how he felt about it.

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Later that evening, Elizabeth and Rosemary knocked on the back door of the café. Minnie opened the door. "Good evening, ladies, I'm so glad that you could join us." She said pleasantly.

"We appreciate you inviting us." Elizabeth said.

"This is nothing big, we just wanted to make MaKayla feel welcome in Hope Valley and of course give her a good send off before her big day." Faith said as she took their coats from them and had them sit down with the other ladies.

About five minutes later, MaKayla, her sister Sarah, her grandmother, and Helen Bouchard came in.

"Welcome." Faith said. Introductions were made all around. Elizabeth felt like Helen was boring a hole in her forehead or maybe it was just her guilt talking, she couldn't quite decide. She was starting to doubt if it was a good idea to come tonight.

They started the evening off with playing wedding theme charades. It was MaKayla, Helen, Jenny, Rosemary, and Faith on one team and Sarah, Elizabeth, Maeve, Mei and Minnie on the other. Each team was doing fairly well when it came down to the last one. The item was, 'cutting the cake,' which MaKayla got for the win for her team. The ladies all enjoyed the game and thought it befitting that the bride's team won.

Elizabeth got up to get some more punch after the game was over and was followed to the counter by Helen. "Elizabeth, how are you doing my dear?" Helen asked but Elizabeth detected no warmth in her tone.

"I'm fine, Helen and yourself?" Elizabeth said.

"I was wondering have you given up on writing another novel, as you did with my son?" Helen asked dripping with innuendo.

Elizabeth gave her a sad soft smile. "Helen, I realize that you are angry with me but this…" Elizabeth paused as Helen put up her hand.

"Elizabeth, we are both the mother of son's, our only children. I hope that someday a woman doesn't rip Jack's heart out of his chest as you did to my son. Only then will you truly know the pain that I have felt as his mother. Lucas begged me to say nothing to you about your break up. Although I do want to honor his request, I also feel the need to express myself to you. Please allow me to continue?" She asked. Elizabeth nodded, believing she owed Helen at least the courtesy of listening to what she was sure was to be a tirade.

"You know that I am not the most outwardly loving of woman. Because of that you know that my son has suffered. He knows that I love him but for a young boy, my lack of outward affection… it left a large scar. And you my dear, ripped that scar wide open. I only know what Lucas has told me and for the record it was not much. I don't know why you did what you did nor is it really my concern. Lucas has found within himself the grace to forgive you and I will do the same. Thankfully, MaKayla came into his life. I can see for myself that he is happy and very much in love again. The happiness of one's child is all that is needed to fix a mother's heart. I do hope that you find what you are looking for, Elizabeth." Helen said with sincerity.

"Thank you, Helen." Elizabeth said not knowing how to explain her actions to Lucas's mother because she knew deep down there was no good explanation.

"And Elizabeth, one more thing. If you do decide to write a second novel, I would be pleased to be your editor again." Helen smiled and went back to sit down. In Helen Bouchard's world that was indeed forgiveness. Elizabeth smiled and walked back to the group as well.

The last game the woman played was to write down marriage tips for the bride-to-be. Each person wrote their advice on a piece of paper so MaKayla would have them to reference back to if needed. Once Minnie had collected all the sheets of paper, she handed them to MaKayla to read out loud to the group.

"First tip, 'separate blankets.'" MaKayla said as her sister started laughing.

"Sorry but it's true." Sarah said. "I have discovered in my 1st year of marriage that Liam takes all the covers, my advice is to get your own blanket. Honestly, MaKayla it will keep you from freezing." She laughed.

"Another tip, 'Only a present should be a secret.'" This tip came from Minnie.

"I have seen secrets take all the happiness out of a marriage." Minnie told MaKayla.

MaKayla then read her grandmother's. "Talk about the future as a couple." MaKayla smiled at her grandmother.

"My darling girl, if you only talk about life in terms of 'I', then the 'we' can be forgotten. You need to support each other's dreams as a couple. Never forget that." Maeve told her.

The last tip MaKayla read, made her smile, "Just love him with your whole heart and never let go." MaKayla looked over at Elizabeth, knowing that tip came from her. No explanation was needed. The women smiled warmly at each other having come to their own understanding.

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Mike had called Lucas at home and told him that he was needed at the saloon immediately. Andrew and Lucas drove over to the saloon and came in the back door. As they entered the main area of the saloon, they were greeted with shouts of "surprise."

Lucas was not quite sure what was going on. Lee spoke up. "Welcome to your 'stag' party. We actually gave this a lot of thought and decided to go the simple route. Poker and drinks. Hope that meets with your approval, Governor." Lee said happily.

Lucas smiled broadly, "Sounds fantastic to me." As he looked around the room and saw his friends gathered in his honor, he was touched. He had missed this. Lucas relished sitting down at a card table once again. He had missed playing poker with his friends. Actually, he missed playing poker in general. He lost the first hand but came back with a vengeance in subsequent hands. He was back and they all knew it. Nathan, Liam and MaKayla's grandfather, Marcus, were involved in their own competitive game of darts. With Marcus schooling both of the other men.

The party had been a resounding success. As the evening was drawing to a close, the saloon door opened and in walked Carson Shepherd. Lucas immediately got up and welcomed him as did the other Hope Valley residents, all except Nathan who hung back a bit. Lucas explained to the group that Carson was possibly interested in the chief of staff position at the new hospital and was also going to be the photographer at the wedding.

Nathan stared at Carson. What did all this mean for his relationship with Faith? Things had been going so well. He would have to wait and see how Faith reacted once she saw that Carson was back in town and could possibly be staying. Nathan was very unhappy with this sudden turn of events.

Lucas went up to Lee. "Mike tells me this party was your idea. Thank you. I really enjoyed myself." Lucas told him earnestly.

Lee patted him on the shoulder. "Your very welcome my friend. Lucas, I hope that you truly understand how very sorry I am about everything that happen." Lee told him with sincerity.

"Lee, it's all in the past. We've all made mistakes and we've done our best to fix those mistakes. I'm embarking on a whole new adventure in another day. One that I can't wait for. I have let the hurts of the past go. I'm only looking forward and all the good things that lay ahead for all of us." Lucas told him genuinely. "You need to do the same." He smiled at him, a smile that reached his eyes. Lee sighed with relief, he had his friend back and for that he was truly grateful.

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Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Saturday, December 31, 1921

Lucas turned over and opened his eyes as the sun was streaming through his bedroom window. This quickly brought a beaming smile to his face. He was getting married today.