AN: Sorry about the first section Katie but I just in good conscious not deal with the Lucas part of the situation in this story. It wouldn't feel complete to me. I do think I captured Lucas' intended grey character personality with which he was introduced though. I am more confident that you will enjoy the second half of the chapter as it gets Nathan and Elizabeth closer to their happy ending!
After seeing his mother to her room, Lucas walked quietly through the Queen of Hearts. Though he hoped he appeared calm and collected to those he passed, inside he was feeling anything but - despite what he had just assured his mother. He had finally felt as if he had gotten the oil business back on track and now this had happened. Several of his employees were injured, Ed's injury being the worst. Carson had asked Lee to drive the man to the hospital in Union City where his head injury could be further evaluated. As for those who had come to assist getting the fire under control, the only significant injury seemed to Ned's sprained ankle. Last Lucas had seen, Florence was fussing over the mercantile owner in the infirmary. The fact that the secondary explosion had gone as well as it did was a lucky turn of events.
It would appear that on this day, Henry had the winning hand. His timing had been very fortuitous - or had it?
Lucas quickly banished the thought from his mind. He did not think that Henry would have resorted to sabotaging a company that he had started. Nor had there been any indication of sabotage before this. Drilling for oil was risky. Metal bits against rocks created sparks. Sparks could lead to fire. Those were just the facts. Up until this point, they had been lucky.
Apparently his luck had run out today, in more ways than one.
Reaching his office, Lucas slipped inside and locked the door behind him. Leaning his back against the door, he slid down to the ground, running his hands through his hair. Was Bill onto something? Had something he neglected to do on the work site resulted in today's explosion? Lucas knew he had not intentionally done something that would put his employees' lives in danger but then he had been learning this business quickly. After all, Henry had basically dumped the business on him after being offended by his good faith attempt to help. His intention had not been to run the oil business himself. He had simply wanted to try fixing the hole Henry had gotten them into and he hadn't been able to do that as a minor partner.
Maybe he should have just pulled out and cut his losses. He had been about to do just that, but then he had let Elizabeth guilt him into trying to save the oil business. She'd had a point. Losing the oil business would have put a lot of families in a hard spot, but that should not have been on his shoulders. He had been putting money from the Queen of Hearts into the business to keep it a float. He had not been the one whose business practices had led Gown Petroleum to being a losing business. That had been on Henry.
But in trying to impress Elizabeth, he had chosen to make it his crusade. He had been sure that if people viewed him as a champion for the people of this town that she loved that it would impress her. After all, Constable Grant had been right about his motives for helping spread the word about the chicken pox outbreak. If Elizabeth hadn't been there, he never would have volunteered.
Truth be told, if he hadn't seen the interest Constable Grant had in his niece's schoolteacher, Lucas probably would not have set about trying to charm her. Elizabeth was beautiful - of that there was no doubt. It was why he had flirted with her at their first meeting to try to get her to apply for the waitress job at the Queen of Hearts. Seeing her beautiful face every day would have made work a bit more pleasurable. Then the children had called her Mrs. Thornton and he had quickly backtracked - not wanting to cause more trouble like he had with his innocent card trick to impress the ladies. He had further stuck his foot in his mouth by asking after Elizabeth's husband before knowing she was a widow. A widow with a child. Though he generally liked older children, he also preferred that they were someone else's.
With all that, Lucas had figured Elizabeth would not be interested in the type of casual relationship he was looking for. He didn't want to be tied down. He had been floating from place to place his whole adult life and he had not intended that to change.
The moment he realized the Mountie had an interest in Elizabeth, his mentality had changed. Lucas had seen it as a challenge to get this beautiful widow to choose him over a Mountie.
In his mind, Lucas had thought it would prove that he was the better man.
Except that today, Elizabeth had shown him where her heart lay. Despite, his injury, she had chosen not to come back to town with him. Instead she had stayed at the site of the oil fire. Lucas knew there was only one reason for that - Nathan Grant.
A good gambler knew when to hold onto his cards, when to fold, and when it was time to cut his loses and run. * Lucas was beginning to think he had reached that last option when it came to Hope Valley - especially if Bill was going to try to pin something on him for today's accident.
Getting to his feet, Lucas headed for his desk. Sitting on the floor was accomplishing nothing. He needed to assess the situation and see if his stake in Hope Valley was salvageable. Even if it was, perhaps coming up with an escape plan wouldn't be a bad thing either.
Nathan found himself sitting with Bill and Elizabeth on either side of him as they settled on the log. As they had, Bill had asked him if he wanted to tell Elizabeth about the inquiry or if he wanted him to do it. Seeing it as a chance to gather his own thoughts for the confession he had to make to both of them, Nathan had acquiesced to Bill on the matter. The judge had filled Elizabeth in about the new set of charges that Superintendent Hargraves had presented against Nathan and the inquiry that would take place.
"That transfer was months ago. Why now?" Elizabeth asked.
"Believe me, I've been wondering that myself. This feels personal to me," Bill admitted.
'It might be," Nathan admitted, joining in on the conversation. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "However, if it is personal than this goes back about three years ago when I served at Fort Clay."
Beside him, Elizabeth gasped. "Were you there when Jack went there for the training mission?"
Nathan shook his head. He wasn't sure how she was going to take the news, but he knew she needed to hear it. If Hargraves was set on making his life miserable, than it would be better if it came from him rather than his superior's version.
"Allie and I left for Fort Simpson a few days before Jack arrived at the Fort. However, the instructor position that your late husband was filling, Elizabeth, was supposed to be mine," Nathan admitted, finding her eyes as he said the words. Though there were tears sparkling in her blue eyes and she was clearly surprised by the news, Nathan did not see any hints of accusation as she gazed back at him.
"I originally intended to reveal that information when I came here. I never meant to even have a lie of omission hanging over my head. Then Lee asked me about knowing Jack before I was settled, and I got off on a bad foot with Bill."
"I will admit that was more my fault than yours," Bill interjected.
"I appreciate that," Nathan said, casting a glance over to Bill before looking back to Elizabeth. "But the main reason I didn't say anything right away was because you seemed to have been able to move on from the loss of your husband. You seemed happy with your life here. The first time I saw you with your son, your eyes sparkled with joy. I questioned whether I had the right to disrupt that by bringing up the past. The longer I waited, the harder it got."
Elizabeth reached out for his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "I can understand that," Elizabeth asked. "And if I had actually been a good friend to you and asked more about your past, would you have left out Fort Clay?"
"If you had simply asked about my last posting, probably. Allie and I were at Fort Simpson for a while. However, if you had asked about before Fort Simpson, I would not have lied about being posted at Fort Clay . . . nor did I tell Ally she couldn't tell people we were there."
"We can't blame you for not bringing up something you knew would be painful for the people of this town. Especially when we didn't show enough interest in your past to ask," Bill acquiesced. "For the record, I would like to know what happened at Fort Clay now. Especially if it is influencing this trial."
Nathan nodded. He looked to Elizabeth. "Do you want all the details? I don't want to open any doors you are not prepared to go through."
Elizabeth squeezed his hand again. "I want to know the truth. No matter how painful it might be."
"All right then," Nathan said softly. He took another deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. "One of my missions I was sent out on while at Fort Clay involved tracking some Cattle Rustlers. Superintendent Hargraves, then a staff sergeant, was in command of the fort. He sent me out alone with orders to follow but not engage the cattle rustlers until back up reached me. However, I tracked the rustlers down toward the States. They were nearing the border. I knew if they crossed over, chances are, they would not be caught. Knowing full well that I would need to explain my actions and face any consequences that came with it, I chose not to wait for back up and apprehend the cattle rustlers on my own."
"That is a tough call to make," Bill commented. "And a risky one."
"I felt the cost of letting them escape was riskier," Nathan replied. "I was successful in taking them into custody. Back up arrived, and I returned to Fort Clay. Hargraves was furious that I had disobeyed orders. He suspended me on the spot and brought me up on charges of insubornation without even listening to or reading my report."
"Biggest mistake a leader can make," Bill commented.
"I don't get it?" Elizabeth commented. "The mission was successful. Isn't that what should be important?"
"Perhaps, but to Hargraves, all he could focus on was that I had disobeyed his orders. I think he felt in undermined his authority. When the disciplinary board cleared me of the charges and expunged the suspension from my record, I think he felt that even more keenly. As he still had control of assignments at the fort, he removed me from leading an upcoming training mission. I knew it was retaliation for recent events but I also didn't want to cause more of a commotion. I had Allie to think about. I didn't want to get some remote posting that would be rougher on her than moving around for my career already had been. I accepted the removal from the assignment, but put in a request for a transfer from Fort Clay. Everyone currently at the fort that Hargraves attempted to assign to the training mission refused, out of respect for me. It only served to infuriate Hargraves more, so he found someone not assigned to the fort who had no idea about what had taken place, to take the assignment."
"Jack," Elizabeth said softly, reaching up to wipe away the silent tears that were leaking from her eyes. "I always wondered why the spot opened up so quickly. Jack wasn't given much time to prepare. We had just gotten married, and here he was rushing off to do the Mounties' bidding again. I hated the force for even asking him to take the assignment," she admitted.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth," Nathan told her. "If I had just-"
"What?" Elizabeth said, cutting off the apology. "You can't possibly think that Jack's death was your fault."
"If I had just followed orders it would have been me leading that mission," Nathan told her. "Jack would have been with you and nowhere near that landslide when it occurred."
"Nathan, you made a call, which ended up in the apprehension of criminals, with the information you had at the time. You had no idea or control over the decisions Andrew made after that mission. You are not responsible for his choices, only your own," Bill told him.
"Bill's right. It wasn't your choice to have Jack replace you. Superintendent Hargraves did. I can't even bring myself to blame him for my husband's death. Jack could have refused that assignment, just like the others had, but he didn't. He was proud to accept that assignment," Elizabeth added. "And no one had any control of the weather. That was out of everyone's hands."
All three remained silent for a few moments, as they contemplated their own thoughts and feelings.
"Is that why you came here, Nathan? Because you felt guilty for Jack's death?" Elizabeth finally asked.
"In a way, yes. However, knowing that he left behind a widow, I also wanted to honor his memory by coming here and looking out for you. I put in the request for Hope Valley the day after I heard about the training accident at Fort Clay. Later, when I heard about little Jack being born, I felt a greater call to be here. To look out for a fallen brother's widow and son, just like I would have hoped people would have done for Allie if something ever happened to me."
"I am touched by your gesture," Elizabeth told him. "But your guilt is misplaced. Jack would have thought so too. You made your choices . . . just like he made his. We might not know why things happened the way they did but so much of life is out of our control. While I would give anything to have Jack still with me, one of the biggest blessings in my life since his death has been you and Allie coming into my life. I'm sorry I wasted so much time trying to run from just how important the two of you have become."
As he tried to fight back his own tears, Nathan felt lighter than he had in the last couple of years. Knowing that Bill and Elizabeth did not blame his actions for leading to Jack's death, was a huge weight off of his shoulders. Unable to control the tears any longer, Nathan placed his elbows on his knees and hid his face in his hands. As the tears came, two hands on his back reminded him that he was not alone.
*So, if any of you listened to country music in the eighties this sentiment might sound familiar. It is inspired by Kenny Rogers song "The Gambler" and the lines -"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run."
