Chapter 16: A Touching Tangent

Elizabeth knew she could 'talk a lot' about Nathan, too, and made a mental note to do just that with Allie, hoping it might help with some of the reparations she wanted to make between herself and the sweet, forgiving teen.

Word after word, thought after thought, filled Elizabeth's mind as she considered what to share with Allie about her father. The nouns and adjectives quickly piled up in her mind, each one painting a clearer picture of the man beneath the serge she so dearly loved. How unfortunate, she thought, that medals were only given to the most obvious heroes. Thinking of all the valor Nathan represented in his red serge or blue linen shirt, her mind drifted to how often Jack's attributes had been praised recently with the surfacing of his Commissioner's Medal

Even though Elizabeth's face wasn't fully within his view, Nathan could still see the soft glow that seemed to emanate from her. It was a glow that went beyond the steam, one that originated from within—a lightness that reminded him how incredibly blessed he was to have had such a shining example to talk to Allie about during their evening dinners. Until Allie figured him out, that is, though he should've known she would, rattling off Elizabeth's strengths as he had.

Yet, he recognized now how those very strengths had immeasurably benefitted both Allie's growth and his own transformation—from closed, alone, and fairly cynical, to open, supported, and surprisingly hopeful. And Elizabeth had been the catalyst for both of their shifts, offering warmth and wisdom in equal measure, in a way that no one else could, for either of them.

Nathan was ever humbled to be holding Elizabeth now. His gaze softened as his eyes traced the chestnut strands of her hair, now kissed by the warmth of the water, curled gently against her neck. He loved her ringlets, how they framed her soft, creamy skin, and the kind eyes that were always so open, so understanding. Her eyes—radiant with kindness—had a way of disarming even the most guarded parts of him.

Though naturally caught up in the present, Nathan acknowledged that in all his admiration and appreciation, it wasn't as if he was forgetting his troubled past with Elizabeth. Rather, he was seeing it for what it truly was—a time when she'd been ensnared by the thorns of fear and grief, first driven to free herself. Even when finally liberated, she emerged only to find herself in an unfamiliar, uncharted space. From there, she understandably needed more time to determine who she'd become after such a profound loss.

Truly captivated by the strength of the woman in his arms, Nathan leaned in, his chin hovering just above her shoulder, close enough to match the rhythm of her breath. For a few lingering moments, the stillness of the remote wilderness wrapped around them, giving their thoughts the room to fully take shape.

At once, they both spoke, their voices weaving into the reflective silence.

"Elizabeth, I–"

"Nathan, I–"

They laughed softly, exchanging knowing glances.

"After you," Nathan graciously offered.

Elizabeth hesitated, but instinctively knew he'd insist if she objected. "Alright, but I'll need a second to adjust." She smiled gently at him once she'd stepped out of his embrace and turned. "I've been missing your blue eyes for far too long." After settling back into the warmth of the water, beside Nathan, she slowly lifted one leg and then the other, stretching them across his lap. "Is that all right?" she asked, her heart ever fluttering with any given touch.

"It's perfect," Nathan answered easily, flashing his characteristic half-smile, as he indulgently rested one hand on her knee and another above her ankle.

Elizabeth sighed into the intimacy, momentarily overcome by the tenderness of their connection. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she focused on the words that were begging to be spoken, letting her heart guide what came next.

"I just want you to know, Nathan, I see all of who you are."

The intensity of her gaze instantly struck Nathan, as he wondered what drove Elizabeth's piercing blue eyes to plead with him the way they were doing just now.

Laying a loving hand softly on Nathan's shoulder and the other across his hand on her knee, Elizabeth poured her heart into the assurance she hoped to give Nathan. He'd been treated by so many in his life as if he were lesser than, but she needed him to know he was anything but.

"Nathan, if there were a medal for endless patience, it would be yours; for impeccable integrity—you'd be wearing one for every year I've known you."

Elizabeth squeezed his hand, letting the sincerity of her words sink deep into his heart as she continued. "If given the chance, I know every single person in Hope Valley would stand and applaud your selflessness—myself included."

Nathan interjected with an embarrassed, but appreciative smile.

"'Lizabeth, I don't need any medals."

"No, I know," she agreed, mentally adding humility to the list. "But let me tell you this. Even though Jack and I were only married for a matter of days, we were together for nearly four years. I knew well how his mind worked and who he was as a Mountie. So, when I say that your capacity was just as great and still could be, if that's what you really wanted, I need you to believe that's true."

Taking Nathan's hand gently between both of hers, she looked up at him, her gaze loving yet firm, as though trying to hold his heart with her words.

"Nathan," Elizabeth continued, her voice carrying a weight he couldn't ignore, "Bill would support me on this same undeniable truth—you could've risen to the highest rank in the RCMP, won a room full of medals, even." She paused, giving space for the significance of what she'd said to build an understanding between them.

"You just chose differently, that's all," she said, her voice warm but resolute, as if underscoring the depth of that choice. She could feel Nathan's hand, strong and steady in hers; and for a moment, she felt a quiet ache for all he'd given up in order to live the life of a father. "And there's nothing wrong with that choice," she insisted, her voice thick with emotion. "It's a noble one in its own right."

Her eyes began to mist over as she thought of Nathan's sacrifices—for Allie, and now for her and Little Jack as well. Blinking back tears, Elizabeth spoke with quiet conviction, her words carrying the love of someone who saw all of his heroic sides. "So, whether you need medals or not, you'd have one for patience."

Lifting her hand gently from his, she placed hers firmly on the far side of Nathan's chest. Her touch was warm and purposeful, as though imprinting a decorative medal—an unspoken celebration for who he was at his innermost core.

"Another for impeccable integrity," she added, removing her hand and following the same procedure, pressing her hand now toward his center, across his heart. "For unparalleled selflessness," she added, shifting the position of her hand to the right, the tears now gliding freely down her face.

"'Lizbeth," Nathan whispered, moved with emotion, as he raised his hand from her leg and brushed his thumb across her wet cheeks, catching the tears that were newly falling.

But, Elizabeth didn't stop. "This one?" she said in a trembling voice, referring to her hand resting lower on his chest, beginning a new row for his well-deserved awards. "A medal for your role as a protector, immeasurably steadfast both as a Mountie and as the caring man you are—to me and to Little Jack, especially."

Nathan, sensing Elizabeth's struggle to maintain composure, lifted her chin to meet her watery blue eyes. "You don't have to keep going, 'Lizabeth," he smiled with a lopsided grin. "We can schedule this awards' ceremony for another time," he suggested in a soft, playful tone.

"Thank you, Nathan. I know this is hard for me. But, it's been on my mind for some time now." With unbending resolve, she told him, "I need to finish."

Meeting his gaze, moved with emotion, Elizabeth held his eyes with clear admiration. She placed her warm hand beneath his heart. "In recognition of your honor," she said, pressing softly into his chest, as if attaching a tangible award. "If it were up to me," Elizabeth promised, "I'd give you the highest medal of honor, for the quiet strength you show in your day-to-day life, the way you live with moral courage as a man and with bravery as a Mountie. You choose what's right, even when it's inconvenient or hard."

To finish his second row of metaphorical medals, so lovingly placed, Elizabeth didn't follow the same procedure. Instead of lifting her hand as she'd done each time before, she glided her hand across his chest, moving easily over his smooth, wet skin until she settled just below his symbolic medal for selflessness.

"This last one…" she began, her voice softened with reverence. "For now," she quickly added, flashing a fleeting smile that hinted there'd be more to come. "This one is to recognize a rare trait I see in you, one that inspires more admiration in me than any medal the Mounties could ever offer."

Driven by the love swelling in her heart for this remarkable man, Elizabeth added a tender kiss in rewarding this final medal.

"Humility," she said, her tone rich with respect. "To be humble and extraordinary, Nathan—those two rarely mix. In fact, I've never seen it, except in you."

Nathan inhaled sharply. The weight behind Elizabeth's words left him utterly speechless. Though he'd remained quiet throughout her unexpected and heartfelt 'medals' ceremony,' it wasn't from a lack of feeling. In fact, he'd never felt more loved or validated, as though the deepest, most authentic parts of him had been seen and appreciated. And Elizabeth's intimate placement of her carefully selected awards made her message to him all the more touching.

Elizabeth lovingly kept her hand in place, holding the position of that last metaphorical medal. "I know Hargreaves gets to you, Nathan. And I know it hasn't been easy having Jack's medal resurface in the first week of our courtship," she continued, her thumb beginning to tenderly brush back and forth across his skin in small sweeping motions. "But whatever comes our way, I want you to feel those medals I see on your chest…because that's how I see you—capable of every Mountie honor, but centering your life around family instead. I couldn't be more happy about that," she added definitively.

Still at a loss for words, overwhelmed by the depth of the moment, Nathan covered her hand with his and pressed a gentle kiss to Elizabeth's lips, hoping to convey the inexpressible gratitude he felt for her devotion.

"I've only placed six medals for now," Elizabeth said, filling the silence. Then, with a playful smile, she revealed, "But I have at least a half dozen more I'll give at the next ceremony."

Fortunately, Elizabeth's teasing tone instantly lifted the mood, and Nathan's soft laugh escaped, releasing the emotional tension he hardly knew how to manage. With a deep sense of awe, Nathan gazed at this woman, his heart and soul, equally worthy of her own stack of awards. It was as if by intuition she somehow knew exactly what he needed—not only in her reassurance of his worth, but in rescuing him just now from a moment beyond his control.

Consumed by love, he'd felt driven to express his feelings around Elizabeth's heartfelt ceremony in the only way that felt complete—through a depth of affection that unfortunately rested outside their understood boundary. So, now, with a little levity, thanks to Elizabeth's impeccable instincts, he felt himself slowly regaining control.

"That's a lot of medals," he chuckled, the tension continuing to ease with each brushstroke of his affectionate thumb across the back of Elizabeth's hand. Still, this patient, honest, selfless, honorable, humble protector took a needed breath. After a deep inhale, he softly exhaled, both to calm the rising emotion filling his decorated chest as well as to ground himself, in light of how stirred he felt by Elizabeth's ongoing touch against his bare skin.

"These are well-deserved, Nathan," Elizabeth insisted, "and long overdue." Unable to resist, feeling herself limited by words alone, she lovingly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself onto his lap. Gliding her hand left to right and right to left across his chest, over each imprinted award, she whispered, "Medals for the mightiest of men, and the mightiest of Mounties."

Nathan searched Elizabeth's eyes, finding a depth of sincerity that lifted him like nothing else, even including the actual medal he'd received for rescuing the hostage at Rock Creek.

Elizabeth giggled all of the sudden, dropped into the realization of just how long they'd been diverted from her original question. "I could talk a lot about you, too, Nathan, as you can see." She caught his gaze and smiled as they both remembered back to what Allie had inadvertently revealed to Elizabeth years ago as she busied herself in her teacher's home while Nathan was away.

After releasing a highly affected sigh, and shaking her head lightly along with it, Elizabeth shifted to a more serious tone. "And I decided I'm going to do the same with Allie…Only this time, you'll be the topic of conversation. I want her to know all the reasons I love you," she said warmly, hugging Nathan tightly. "Because you know what? One of the reasons I love you most is because you don't give up on people either."

Elizabeth gently took Nathan's hand and placed it over her heart, indicating she was one of those very people. Resting her hand over his, with a sense of wonder and gratitude, she said, "Here we are."

Again, they slipped into a moment breathing deeply in unexpressed love. "Wow, 'Lizbeth," Nathan whispered, clearly emotional at her recognizing his devotion to her through all their ups and downs. He pressed not only the palm of his hand more firmly against her heart, but allowed his fingers to lightly take hold as well, anchoring his connection to the woman he'd helplessly loved for five long years. Nathan cleared his throat, trying to regain a degree of composure. But, in being so overcome by the love he felt, no additional words came.

Sensing the weight of the moment, Elizabeth lowered her arms and circled them tightly around Nathan's chest before resting her cheek within the array of metaphorical medals.

"I love you, Nathan," she murmured, "more than the stars in the sky."

"You know, I'll never get tired of hearing that," Nathan said, his voice catching at how wonderfully familiar her heartfelt addition was becoming.

"I love you," was all Nathan managed to utter. With years worth of love still longing to be expressed, he pulled her in snugly and pressed a kiss into her hair before softly settling his chin on her curls. "More than words," he added, once he felt more control in his voice.

Elizabeth felt his head lightly shake atop hers. "Words," he sighed. "They're never enough."

Intuitively understanding what Nathan was trying to say, she offered her loving support. "But for now, they can be." Elizabeth drew back slightly, meeting his frustrated gaze, "To make up for all the years we didn't share what was in our hearts."

Nathan smiled with deep appreciation, recognizing by her own word choice that she knew what he was feeling. "True," he agreed, though still not fully convinced. His heart was torn, feeling both gratitude and frustration for this precarious balance he was constantly battling, forced to use only his discerning lens of personal values to make sense of this confusing realm spanning from passion to propriety.

"I'm going to sit out for a minute, if that's alright," Nathan said decidedly, starting to rise. Then, in a softer tone, he admitted, "I'm not sure if it's you, my love, or the steam, but I'm getting a little lightheaded."

Nathan settled just a few feet away, his back leaning against one of the tall, smooth boulders surrounding the hot springs. He looked surprisingly at ease, his head resting against the rock and his eyes closed. His long legs were stretched out before him, one foot casually crossed over the other.

For Elizabeth, watching the steam literally rise from Nathan was quite the treat, but now dizzy herself, she figured she might as well join him.

The moment she rose from the water, Elizabeth noticed Nathan's eyes peek open, watching her every move, a small smile emerging from his lips. Once seated on the ground beside him, she shivered involuntarily.

"Cold?" Nathan asked, ever mindful of her comfort.

"Hard to tell," she laughed softly, based on the conflicting variables of temperature and proximity. "Do you have any blankets?" she teased, the sparkle in her eyes indicating that her mind had drifted back in time to a night he'd given her warmth in spite of herself.

"I do in our bags," Nathan told her. Without moving an inch, he added with his endearing half-smile, "But, my instincts tell me you're referring to a memory rather than an actual need for a blanket."

The tender smile on Elizabeth's face was all the answer he needed.

"Well, either way," Nathan said, "maybe this will help." He gently slipped his arm around the soft curve of his sweetheart, and she immediately nestled into his warmth, resting her knees lightly across his thigh.

"What were you going to say earlier…?" Elizabeth asked, "Remember—when we both started speaking at the same time?"

It had been a while now, since they'd been lost in thought about what they cherished most about each other, but with Nathan's keen mind and invested heart, he easily found the bookmarked page of his memories.

"Ah yes," he recalled. "I'd remembered a couple more things I noticed then about you and mentioned to Allie."

Though Elizabeth beamed, ever grateful to have fallen within Nathan's admiring gaze, she couldn't help but giggle, a mix of amusement and embarrassment bubbling up as the list continued to grow. "Allie wasn't kidding when she said you talked a lot about me!"

Nathan owned that truth with his characteristic head tilt and lopsided grin. "How could I not?" he asked, squeezing Elizabeth in even closer before kissing her cheek.

"I know you remember that moment at the pond…" Nathan began.

"Oh, you mean the one where you blindsided me and bore into my soul?" Elizabeth quipped, raising an eyebrow.

"That would be the one," Nathan said with a knowing chuckle, his eyes glinting. Then, his tone shifted, more serious now. "I loved seeing how reflective you were…and still are."

Elizabeth's ears piqued with added interest. How well this man knew her, she thought. She'd literally just explained that very word to Jack when he'd recently found her in a similar moment of contemplation.

"I remember talking about what it means to be reflective with Allie over dinner that night. I respected that even as a single parent you allowed yourself the time to get lost in thought, just as you'd been when I rode up that afternoon."

"You remember that, do you?" Elizabeth asked with a teasing smile, her eyes bright with surprise. This was a mere moment from five years ago, after all.

"I remember everything about you, 'Lizbeth," Nathan said softly, his voice insistent.

Her breath caught at the love thoroughly woven through his words. Responding with the same degree of warmth, Elizabeth professed, "Do you know that's true of me, too? You may have thought I wasn't paying attention," she said, referencing her time with Lucas but not speaking of it out loud. "But, I was."

Uninterested in any walk down that memory lane, Nathan resorted to humor instead of asking her to elaborate. "With your binoculars?"

A sly smile appeared on Elizabeth's face. "Sometimes," she confessed.

Nathan smiled in return, loving how easily they could shift in and out of their playful banter. "Well, joking aside," he continued, "the way you live your life isn't just something I've noticed, 'Lizabeth. It's changed me. Allie, too. After we talked about being reflective is when she started writing poems—haikus at first, shared just with me. She didn't start off with the confidence she shows now," he added, explaining the reasoning behind her small, selective audience at the time.

"But your example pushed me, too," Nathan admitted, laughing softly to himself before lifting Elizabeth's hand to his lips, pressing an appreciative kiss across her fingers, which were becoming colder by the second, exposed to the crisp chill of the fall afternoon. "After that, my journal and I started spending more time together. And that was good for me…good for you, too, now, getting to hear my thoughts from back then."

Sensing the passage of time and feeling affected by the cool temperature himself, Nathan smiled in summary, realizing his answer had become quite lengthy to Elizabeth's simple question. "Anyway, you can tell now that Allie spoke the truth—I did talk a lot about you."

Still, he shared just a few concluding thoughts that felt meaningful. "Anything I could tie to Colleen as well was an added bonus…how you both loved to write, the sparkle to your personalities that drew everyone in like a magnet…" Nathan gave Elizabeth a soft shoulder bump. "...including me," he readily admitted. Drawn to explain why these dinner conversations ever came about, Nathan shared his mindset at the time as a single father. "I guess I thought that pointing out these traits in you might help Allie to see the woman she could become."

Elizabeth's heart swelled, moved by Nathan's view of her as a role model for Allie. But then, almost as quickly, it contracted with regret. A wave of guilt swept over her as she thought of how poorly she'd handled her relationship with Allie while dating Lucas. Knowing now that she'd been at the center of conversations between Allie and Nathan, and even been associated with Colleen, Elizabeth realized how devastated Allie must've been to seemingly lose the love of her teacher, the only woman she'd ever truly connected with, the woman she'd trusted and admired. It was a loss Elizabeth couldn't possibly reverse. But she certainly planned to repair and strengthen their relationship moving forward.

Just as she opened her mouth to share her regret and resolve, Nathan shifted to rise. "Do you want to get back in for a final dip?" he asked. "It doesn't take long in this autumn air to cool off, does it?" He extended his hand, a quiet gesture of support, helping Elizabeth to her feet.

"I'd love to," she easily answered.

Elizabeth glanced at Nathan for a brief moment as they walked the few steps to the hot springs. Wet and exposed in their swimsuits, even revealing her naturally curly hair, she felt a new intimacy between them after all they'd shared in this remote setting. She smiled at the thought of Nathan's letter that initiated this extraordinary date.

A day of adventuring, indeed! Rock climbing? The chocolate egg? Their own personal hot springs? What could possibly be next? Or were they finishing the date here? All she'd given Nathan on her date was a forest picnic, a schoolhouse sack lunch, and an evening at home.

But, without a moment's hesitation, Elizabeth knew Nathan was just as happy with what she'd offered. Neither needed glamour, or even adventure. They simply needed each other.

Nathan held Elizabeth's hand securely as she lowered back into the hot springs, an action that immediately brought a smile to her face. "This is so nice, Nathan," she murmured, warming her hands across the surface of the water.

"That it is," Nathan agreed, speaking more to the whole experience than merely the temperature of their own natural bath. Still, the result of satisfaction was the same. He sighed with contentment as he submerged himself in the familiar warmth of the water and lounged in a new location beside Elizabeth. Clearly, she'd scoped out the best spot with Nathan's long legs in mind, a place where they could stretch out comfortably along an extended rocky shelf beneath the surface. Once again, the steam wrapped around them, as if cocooned from the outside world, allowing them to remain in their own intimate space.

"So, those conversations Allie and I had…" Nathan started, referencing Elizabeth's question they'd discussed at length. His smile grew sheepish, and for a brief moment, the tip of his tongue peeked out between his lips, resting there as if to signal he was about to share a memory that left him feeling exposed. "She caught me eventually, suspecting there might be something more beneath our guided discussions. A Mounties daughter," he said, shaking his head with quiet pride. "I was putting away groceries," he recalled. "Allie was repeating back something I'd just said about you, and then, without missing a beat, she went right into, 'She's pretty, too, isn't she?'" Nathan smiled at the memory.

"That Allie," Elizabeth said with a knowing chuckle. "She's always been a clever one. And what did you say, Constable?" she asked, gently pulling one of his hands into hers.

"Without even thinking, I spoke the truth," Nathan replied, an answer not surprising in the least to Elizabeth, considering his integrity. Reaching up he slipped his fingers around another of Elizabeth's curls, this time delicately drawing it downward to experience its unusual spring. "'The prettiest,' I said," he smiled, then leaned in to press an adoring kiss to her warm lips. "And that was even before I saw these curls," he added, clearly smitten by Elizabeth's natural look.

"Nathan! You're making me blush," Elizabeth told him, half embarrassed, half delighted.

"And?" he teased with a playful grin, knowing now his admiration was even more impossible to mask.

Still, sensing her unease, he gently guided Elizabeth into his embrace, sending ripples across the water. Beneath the surface, Nathan spread his legs slightly, creating a space for her to settle comfortably in front of him. As she leaned back against him, she thought she might've just reached heaven, feeling how her back, skin to skin, fit perfectly against his chest. Then, sending her soaring well beyond cloud nine, where she lingered in a blissful swoon, Nathan's arms swept around her from behind, enveloping her with a tenderness that felt both protective and intimate.

"Is that better?" Nathan asked, his breath brushing against her neck.

"It's divine," Elizabeth sighed, resting her full weight against him. How would they ever return home, she thought.

Though Nathan didn't hear the thoughts echoing in Elizabeth's heart, the word divine spread through his. How else could this love he felt for her be so expansive? This was more than just a sense of home, he thought. It was as if he'd found a part of himself he hadn't known was missing, a piece that connected him beyond time and space to something greater than he ever could've possibly reached on his own.


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Author's Notes:

A special shout out to Instagram's (IG's) hopevalleyguy, whose thoughts on his recent podcast formed the basis of Elizabeth's symbolic medals' ceremony. I've always appreciated his thoughtful approach to WCTH. Check out his podcast!

IG's Dittyhardeman is an exceptional artist. She posted a picture recently of Nathan that was very inspiring relating to Nathan as a Mountie and the man beneath the serge. It's remarkable. So go check out her page. She's so talented.

Read on to Chapter 17: Revealing Questions 2 for the final chapter of this multi-chapter release.