Chapter 318 – Frank and Rune Come to Talk

Just as the Delaneys and Thorntons were finishing lunch, Frank and Rune showed up. The twins started to get fussy as Jack answered the door.

"If this is a bad time, we can come back." Frank said.

"No come in." Jack said. "There is no good time right now with the twins eating every couple of hours."

Jack lead Frank and Rune into the front room.

"We can take the babies to the bedroom." Elizabeth said. "They need to be fed."

"How about we guys go to the library." Jack said.

"Okay." Elizabeth said.

"I am heating the bottles." Aunt Elizabeth said, coming in.

"Nice to see you again, Mrs Delaney." Frank said.

"What did I say about calling me Elizabeth." She said.

"Yes, of course." Frank said. "I forgot."

Aunt Elizabeth looked over at the young Mountie.

"You must be Rune." Aunt Elizabeth said.

"Yes, ma'am." Rune said.

"Relax." Aunt Elizabeth said. "Just because I am married to the Deputy Commissioner, doesn't mean you have to be nervous."

Just then Wynn and Dee walked in with warm bottles. Rune snapped to a salute.

Wynn nodded to Rune and handed the bottles to his wife.

"Relax son." Wynn said. "I am here to spend time with my niece and her family. Just remember that not everyone knows about my relationship to them and we don't talk about it."

"Yes, Sir." Rune said.

"Frank." Dee said. "If you can find some time, I would like to talk to you."

"I will find some time." Frank said. "But right now Rune and I need to speak to Jack, Wynn and you about some official business."

Jack, Wynn and Dee all looked at each other.

"Go." Aunt Elizabeth said. "We can take care of the babies and deal with the clean up from lunch."

"Jack, Sir." Kate said.

"Yes, Kate." Jack said, looking at Kate and the girls.

"Was there something that we wanted us to do?" Kate asked.

"You can take the girls up to play." Jack said. "But two things first. One if there is dirty laundry please see that it is brought down, we are going to try and do up some this afternoon and two I have some people to introduce to you."

Kate nodded.

"Frank, Rune." Jack said. "This is our nanny, Kate."

"Nice to meet you." Frank said. "I am the local pastor and I hope to see you at services and if there is anything I can do, please let me know. I am also married to Abigail, who is the mayor and owns the cafe."

"Nice to meet you." Kate said.

"Nice to meet you as well, ma'am." Rune said, with a shy smile.

Kate blushed as she shook Rune's hand and everyone noticed.

"Girls." Jack said, holding out his hand.

The girls came over to him and both kind of hid behind his legs as they looked at Rune. Jack knelt down to talk to the girls.

"Girls." Jack said. "No need to be afraid. I want you to meet two good friends. This is Frank. He is Aunt Abigail's husband."

Frank knelt down and looked at the girls.

"Nice to meet you." Frank said. "I hear you are calling my wife Aunt Abby. I was hoping that you would call me Uncle Frank."

Little Beth looked at Jack who nodded. She then looked at Frank. He smiled at her. She took a second and then stepped forward toward him.

"Hi." Little Beth said.

Frank opened his arms and Little Beth went to him.

"I am so happy about your and Aunt Abby's baby girl." Little Beth said, as she hugged him.

Frank hugged her back and smiled as he heard what the little girl said. Once Little Beth had hugged Frank, Sarah shyly waved at Frank, but stayed by Jack. Frank understood, so he waved back.

"Beth, Sarah." Jack said. "This other person is another Mountie that I work with. His name is Rune."

"Hi." Little Beth said. "My other Daddy was a Mountie as well. Now my new Daddy is a Mountie."

"I know that." Rune said.

He knelt down so he was closer to the girls level.

"I hope to get to know you better." Rune said. "But right now, I need to talk to your Daddy. So how about you go play. Maybe if it is okay with your Daddy, I can show you my horse some time. He is huge."

"Cool." Little Beth said. "I love horses. My old Daddy was going to get me a horse, but he died."

"Well." Rune said. "Maybe I can help your new Daddy find a pony for you, but I promise I will take you for a ride some time on my huge horse Magni."

"Okay." Little Beth said.

"Let's go girls." Kate said. "The adults need to talk."

"Thank you Kate." Jack said.

Jack hugged Sarah and gave Little Beth a kiss on her head before standing back up to look at Frank and Rune.

"Gentlemen." Jack said. "Let's go to the library."

"Sorry to interrupt." Frank said. "But it is important."

"I told you to come to me if there was anything you needed." Jack said.

The men went to the library while Elizabeth and her aunt looked at each other.

"I hope that everything is okay." Elizabeth said.

"I am sure that it is." Aunt Elizabeth said. "If there is something to worry about, I am sure the guys will tell us. With Frank here, I am sure that it might be because someone needs help and not really Mountie business. So let's keep a positive outlook until we know otherwise. On a different note, did you see how they both blushed when Kate shook Rune's hand?"

"Yes." Elizabeth said. "I think that is something that we are going to have to keep an eye on. As much as I want Rune to find someone, I don't know if I should be encouraging a relationship until I get to know Kate a bit better."

"True." Aunt Elizabeth said. "Kate is only nineteen, but she has a good head on her shoulders. She helped raise her younger siblings until her father remarried a few years ago and then she took some classes and decided to be a nanny because she loves kids and it was a way to get out of the city."

"Thank you for the information." Elizabeth said. "From what Jack has said, Rune didn't have the easiest time growing up either. It sounds like his father and older siblings were extremely hard on him because they thought he was dumb and not worthy of their family."

"Poor boy." Aunt Elizabeth said. "No wonder he was afraid of Wynn and making a mistake."

"He actually has been great with the kids." Elizabeth said. "They seem to love him and even the miners don't dare cross him. From my understanding, he broke up one fight in the saloon and the men never wanted to cross him again. From what Jack said, it wasn't that Rune crossed a line, but when he yells, it is scary with his size."

"I can imagine." Aunt Elizabeth said. "Kind of reminds me of Jeremiah."

"Me too." Elizabeth said. "I think that Jacobs would be good for Rune if Wynn decided to not keep him in Hope Valley."

"I might have to mention that." Aunt Elizabeth said. "But as far as I know, there will be no changes for the time being. Jack needs the help and Rune needs to learn from someone that Wynn considers one of the best."

Elizabeth just looked at her aunt with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that." Aunt Elizabeth said. "Wynn has always held Jack in high regard mostly because of his father. Wynn might not admit it to a lot of people, but he has always been proud of Jack and what he has accomplished. He was so happy when Jack joined the Mounties, but he never wanted to interfere with Jack's career because he knew that Jack wouldn't accept anything he didn't truly earn. His father Thomas was the same way."

Elizabeth nodded knowing what her aunt was saying was true.

… … … …

The five men went to the library and Jack closed the doors. He stood there for a moment and took a deep breath before turning to face Frank and Rune. As he blew out the breath, he turned around.

"Okay what is going on." Jack asked.

Frank and Rune looked at each other and then Rune looked down, twisting his foot into the floor. He couldn't look at the other three Mounties in the room. He reached up and tugged at his collar. Jack could tell that he was uncomfortable.

"Frank." Jack said.

"I will tell you what I know." Frank said. "But you are going to have to get Rune to tell you the rest."

"Okay." Jack said. "So you tell me what you know."

"Cody told me a bit, but said I needed to talk to Rune." Frank said. "Even the little that Cody told me, I was sure that you needed to be aware. This is beyond what I feel comfortable handling and Rune admitted he was unsure how to act."

"I understand." Jack said, sitting on one of the crates.

Jack nodded to Frank.

"Cody started to tell me about something that he overheard something some of the older boys were talking about." Frank said. "When I pressed him for more, he shut down. I tried to talk to him, but at the same time Cody didn't want to be the one that ratted out the older boys. I think he was/is afraid they will find out that he was the one that talked. From my understanding, some of the older boys who are new this fall pick on many of the boys in Cody's age group. They especially pick on the boys that don't have fathers."

"Then why have they targeted Cody?" Wynn asked.

"Cody's name is still registered as Hastings." Frank said. "It is going to take some time to get the official paperwork. He prefers to go by Hogan because that is going to be his name. When Mr Roux was still there, Cody tried to say his name was Hogan, but Mr Roux corrected him saying that it was Hastings and he needed to stop lying. That was when the boys started teasing him about being an orphan and no one cared about him."

"I am sorry." Wynn said. "Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help."

"I will." Frank said. "I have tried talking to Cody, but he is struggling. Some of the new boys are huge bullies. I know that Deb is trying, but I honestly don't think she can really handle them. She is great with the younger kids, but from what Cody says, the bigger boys push her around no matter how much she tries."

"I thought Cody wasn't there with the oldest group." Jack said. "I thought that the way that they were splitting things, Cody was not there with the older boys until there were two teachers."

"But Robert is in the older group." Frank said. "Cody is his best friend. They spend every moment that they can together, including after school every day since they are apart during the days."

"Got it." Jack said. "So tell me more about what Cody said before he shut down."

"He said the boys are talking about how to get rid of the new teacher because they don't want to go back to school full time." Frank said.

"Well that is not going to happen." Wynn said standing up.

"Wynn." Jack said, using his Mountie voice.

"Jackson." Wynn said, using his own Mountie voice.

"I am not going to allow Cody to be bullied." Wynn said.

"And you blazing in there is only going to make things worse." Jack said. "Trust me, I have been on both sides of that kind of bullying. I am not proud of it, but I only bullied back to get this other kid to leave me alone."

Wynn looked at Jack. Dee stood up and grabbed his dad's arm.

"Let's hear the rest of it." Dee said. "Then we can talk about what we are ALL going to do to help Cody. I don't want him to be bullied anymore then you do. But there are bigger issues. It sounds like these older boys are going to try and do something to Mom and whoever she has coming."

"Good luck with them trying to bully your mother." Wynn said.

"I know that Mom can handle herself." Dee said. "I am more worried that what they are planning is going to have much larger effects."

Wynn closed his eyes and counted to ten before sitting back down and nodding to Jack he was willing to listen. Jack sat back down as well.

"Dee is right." Jack said. "Whatever is going on is bigger than just Cody being bullied."

Wynn nodded, he realized that Jack and Dee were right.

"Rune." Jack said. "I know that you don't want to talk and you feel like you are in trouble. Wynn and Dee are just here to help. Don't focus on them, look at me and tell me what is going on."

"I really am sorry I couldn't handle this myself." Rune said, his voice meek and soft.

"Never feel bad about asking for help when you feel in over your head." Jack said. "I have even had to learn to ask for help. It isn't easy because we are supposed to be the help, but there are times we need other people as well. Talking to Frank was a good step, but now you need to tell me what is going on. This is my station and I know most of those boys. So what is going on."

"I have been trying to spend time with some of the new families." Rune said. "Getting to know them and finding ways to help them since we basically have people in two settlements while we wait for more housing. There is the settlement over in a clearing toward the mine."

"The old church site." Jack said. "Continue."

"The other one is north of town." Rune said. "I have a feeling that the two settlements are divided more along the lines of beliefs and it is causing tension."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Most of the families in the settlement, over by the mine." Rune said. "They are Irish and Scandinavian. Those at the other one are a lot of Polish and German families. It sounds like the two settlements don't mix. I have broken up a few fights between a few of them."

"Okay." Jack said. "Tell me more about what Cody was talking about."

"The biggest troublemakers are just beyond school age or have refused to go because they will be sixteen before the end of the year." Rune said. "They are smoking and chewing tobacco, causing trouble. They are teaching the boys just a little younger than them that they don't have to listen and can do what they want. Basically being a bad influence to the other boys. I have tried talking to the younger boys, but they want to be cool like the older boys who don't go to school."

"I get that." Jack said. "The wanting to belong and feel part of a group. These boys are going to get in trouble and if we don't do something, we are going to have bigger problems on our hands."

"I think we might already be there." Frank said. "I know Abigail debated talking to you, but she has gotten a number of complaints from people of these boys smoking behind buildings and leaving messes."