Chapter 5

Hope Valley, Alberta Canda

Saturday, October 4, 1924

The extra Mounties arrived in Hope Valley at daylight. They split up into four separate groups, with Nathan, Lee, Bill and Mike leading the groups as they knew the area the best. The weather was not with them as it had started raining around 10 a.m. As the day progressed the rain came down harder. When dusk came, they had to give up looking as visibility was practically nonexistence. They reluctantly made their way back to Hope Valley.

As the men arrived back in town, they went to the saloon to get some food and drinks. When Nathan, Lee, Bill and Mike entered the saloon they instantly saw MaKayla had arrived and was sitting with Jenny, Faith, Henry and Edwin at a table with hopeful faces. Nathan took off his hat and lowered his head. He started walking towards the table as Faith got up to greet her husband. As they embraced, Faith whispered, "You obviously didn't find them."

"No, we didn't find them or the wreckage." He told her as he held her tight. He slowly released her and he walked Faith over to the table where their friends were waiting on news.

"I'm sorry, nothing today, but I promise we will be back at it first thing tomorrow morning." Nathan said.

Jenny Donovan burst into tears as MaKayla comforted her. Nathan stared at MaKayla, marveling at how calm she was. "Thank you, Nathan. I'm sure you will find them tomorrow. We have a former CSIS agent and a RAF pilot. They are both ingenious men, I'm sure they have found ways to survive out there." MaKayla told him with a soft smile.

Nathan thought her optimism was admirable but them surviving the elements was only possible if they had survived the crash and were not too badly injured. Had Lucas's luck finally run out? He hoped not but he was not as optimistic as MaKayla.

"Unfortunately, since we have no news." Edwin told everyone. "I'm going to have to confirm to the press the nature of the situation involving the governor. Which means of course, the press will be coming to town." Everyone sighed at hearing that news. Edwin got up from the table and went into Lucas's office to use the telephone to contact his sources at the newspapers.

MaKayla decided to take Jenny back to her house for the night. Henry said he would accompany them and spend the night there as well. Once they arrived back at the house, MaKayla settled Jenny into one of the guest bedrooms. She then joined Henry downstairs, who had made them a pot of tea.

"MaKayla, you seem remarkable calm about all this." Henry told her as they sat at the kitchen table.

MaKayla smiled at one of Lucas's dearest friends. "Lucas loves an adventure; he has been in many tight spots over the years and always finds a way out of them. I know his luck will run out someday, but not this time, but someday. My heart is telling me that he and Andrew are alive looking up at the same stars that we are." She told him with an ache in her heart.

"How many times can Lucas possibly cheat death? I swear that man is giving me more gray hairs." Henry said with deep emotion. He didn't have many true friends but Lucas was one he cherished dearly and the thought of his young friend possibly being dead brought an unbelievable pain to his heart.

MaKayla could read his anguish. She reached over and touched his hand. "Henry, I will let you know if my heart tells me he is gone. For now, believe that he will be home soon. Afterall, he has a new child coming that he needs to meet." She said in a soft voice. "Good night, Henry." She said as she left the kitchen.

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Lucas and Andrew had found shelter under an outcropping of rocks. One of the formations was in the form of a large arch. It allowed them to get out of the rain and a place where they could start a fire.

"Andrew, with my bad leg, I fear I am slowing you down. Maybe tomorrow you should set off alone and leave me here. You will make better time." Lucas said seriously.

Andrew stared at his friend and shook his head. "You've been married to MaKayla for almost 3 years, have you ever seen her really really mad?" He asked.

Lucas thought back to when he had missed his physiotherapy sessions with Jane while MaKayla was out of town. That was a side of MaKayla he did not care to see again but none the less the memory made him smile. That woman was a force to be reckoned with, his beautiful MaKayla. He looked over at Andrew. "I believe I may have from time-to-time seen MaKayla angry." He said with a laugh.

"Then you know, I'm not showing back up in town without you by my side. Besides you're not slowing me down. I don't feel so great myself. No good pilot ever goes anywhere without his wingman. You better get used to having people help you. You're not alone anymore Lucas. You have family." He told him with sincerity. Lucas smiled back in response to his words.

Lucas then gazed up at the stars, remembering the song MaKayla had sung to him once. The traveler in the dark thanks you for your tiny spark. How could he know where to go if you did not twinkle so. He smiled at the stars above. "I'll follow the stars and be home soon, my love." He whispered into the night sky.

MaKayla moved to the window in their bedroom and opened the music box that Lucas had given her on the day after their wedding for her birthday, as the song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star played. She whispered to the stars above. "Follow the stars home my love. I'll be waiting."

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Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Sunday, October 5,1924

MaKayla and Jenny along with Henry attended Sunday services hoping that communing with other residents would calm their worried souls. Lucas and Andrew had been missing for three days now. The Mounties were still out looking for them but so far had not found any sign of them or the plane.

"How are the two of you holding up?" Asked Joseph concerned for the women as he came over to them after services were done.

"We have faith that they will be back with us very soon. And I'm quite sure they will have a great adventure to share with all of us." MaKayla said as light heartedly as she could. She needed to keep Jenny's spirits up as the young women was losing hope.

"Please if you need anything, don't hesitate to reach out. Minnie and I are always available. We will keep both of them and you two in our prayers. I believe as well that they will be back home very soon." Joseph told them.

"Thank you, Joseph, we will." MaKayla told him.

Jenny turned to MaKayla. "I'm going to go home for a little while. I will meet you at the saloon later. If you hear anything please call me." Jenny told her as she turned to leave. After they married, Andrew and Jenny had purchased Lucas's old house and they were enjoying fixing it up together making it their own. MaKayla watched as the young woman who held her brothers heart walked away. MaKayla hoped that she had not given up on seeing her husband alive again.

Elizabeth and Jack came up to MaKayla next. "Hi Auntie MaKayla. Where are Matthew and Ciara?" Jack asked happily.

"Hello Jack. They had to stay in Capital City with Mrs. Cleveland. But I spoke to them this morning and they miss you very much. I'm sure you will see them soon." She told him with a bright smile.

"Ok, I miss them too. On Friday, Papa told me about the new baby. I hope it's another boy for me and Matthew to play with." Jack said innocently.

"Well, Jack, I hope you get your wish." She told him happily.

"Jack, why don't you go play with the other children for a little bit while I talk to Auntie MaKayla." Elizabeth told her son as Jack went off happily to play with the others.

"I haven't told Jack yet about what happened with Lucas. I really don't want to worry him, if I don't have to. How are you doing?" Elizabeth asked sympathetically.

"I have faith Lucas will be home very soon." She told her.

"And congratulations on the new baby. I was surprised to hear you were expecting again so soon after the twins." Elizabeth said with a laugh.

"Elizabeth, did you and Lucas ever discuss how many children you wanted when you were engaged?" MaKayla asked in a teasing tone.

"No, I don't believe we did." Elizabeth said. "Why?"

"Well, originally Lucas told me he wanted twelve children. I agreed to six." She said with a hearty laugh. "I'm not getting any younger, and neither is Lucas. I'm not quite sure if we will hit even the six, I agreed to. Unless of course we have another set of twins." She said laughing. "Which I'm not sure how Lucas would handle that."

"Oh my, I had no idea. Being five years older than Lucas, he never would have gotten that many children from me." Elizabeth quipped good naturally. Carson then came up to the two women.

"MaKayla, good morning. Elizabeth, Jack and I are going to have lunch at the café a little later, would you like to join us?" Carson asked compassionately.

"Thank you, Carson, I appreciate the kind offer but I'm meeting Faith at the saloon. We are having lunch together and she offered to sit with me while we wait for news." MaKayla bid them goodbye and headed over to the saloon.

As she was approaching the saloon, she heard her name being called out. "Mrs. Bouchard. Mrs. Bouchard." MaKayla turned to the voice. It was Alex Cottington, Andrew's employee.

"Alex, I am so glad you are back. Something terrible has happen." MaKayla started to tell him.

"I know. I heard about it in Jamison but due to the bad weather yesterday, I couldn't fly back until this morning. I will go up and start scouting for them from the air but I have some interesting information. I went to go tell the Constable but no one was at the jail." Alex told her.

"Does this information have anything to do with Lucas and Andrew?" MaKayla asked him anxiously.

"Yes. When I got back from Jamison and put the plane away in the hangar, I saw that there was gasoline on the ground next to the other plane. When I looked further, I saw that the plane was out of gas. I checked the fuel line and it had been cut, intentionally severed or at least partially. I don't think that Andrew and Lucas's plane crash was an accident. Andrew is a damn good pilot and Lucas is pretty good for a beginner. Someone wanted that plane to crash." He told her with conviction. "I'm sure of it."

MaKayla closed her eyes for just a moment to regain her composure. "Thank you, Alex. For now, please let this stay between us. I will tell the Constable when he returns. They are out searching on horseback right now." She told him. Alex nodded and hurried back to the airport so he could begin searching from the sky for his missing friends.

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Lucas looked at his wrist watch, it was 3 p.m. and they had been walking for six hours. "Andrew, I need to stop and take a break." He told his friend as he struggled to catch his breath. "Do you think we are even remotely near Hope Valley, Benson Hills or any town for that matter?" Lucas asked wearily.

Andrew took a good look at his friend; he feared that Lucas was in worse shape than he originally thought. But he also knew there was no way that Lucas would let on to him how bad he was actually feeling.

"Sure Lucas, we can sit for a while. We've been walking for two days now, admittedly with the rain yesterday we moved a bit slower but I think we are almost there." Andrew told him but in reality, he had absolutely no idea where they were.

They took a seat on some rocks. "What I wouldn't give for a steak and an ice-cold beer from the saloon right now." Lucas said with a laugh. "And I'm not a beer drinker."

"Sounds good to me. And finish it off with a nice piece of apple pie after I devour that steak." Andrew told him.

"Blueberry pie." Lucas said. "That's my favorite." Lucas lost himself in thought. Suddenly he thought he heard something. "Andrew, do you hear that?" Lucas asked.

"Hear what?" Andrew asked. Lucas very slowly got up from the rock he was sitting on and turned around. There was a large grizzly bear about 50 yards behind them slowly making its way towards them.

"Andrew, hand me the flare gun, now." Lucas said urgently but quietly.

"What's the problem?" Andrew said as he started to move.

"Don't move!" Lucas said adamantly but softly without moving a muscle. "There is a grizzly bear approaching us and neither one of us is in any condition to try and out run it, not that we could have even on our best day. I would very much like not to be mauled by a bear today to add to this wonderful adventure we are on. I'm an excellent shot and that flare gun is about our only hope." Lucas said emphatically.

Andrew slowly took the gun out of his waist band and handed it to Lucas. When the bear was about 25 yards away. Lucas fired at the ground in front of the bear, causing the leaves, and twigs to start to smoke and burn. The bear took off in the other direction. Lucas lowered the gun and breathed a sigh of relief. Once they were sure the bear had moved away, they both walked over and put out the fire before they burned down the whole forest.

"We still have a few more hours of daylight left, we should keep going. You Ok to keep moving?" Andrew asked concerned.

"Yes, no problem." Lucas said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

"Thanks for taking care of that bear. I don't believe I have ever seen one up close before and I'd like to not repeat that experience. I have to tell you I was little terrified there for a minute." Andrew said with a weak chuckle.

Lucas smiled. "Lucas Bouchard at your service." He said with a wink. Andrew just laughed at his friends' antics.

As they were walking, they thought they heard a plane up above. The tree cover was still pretty full so they couldn't be sure. "Maybe that is Alex out looking for us." Andrew said hopefully. "Perhaps that means we are getting closer to civilization."

"Well without the flare gun, we have no way to get his attention. Let's keep walking maybe we will come across a spot with some open sky above us. We could spell out 'SOS' with twigs, and get a fire started that could be seen." Lucas said. "Unfortunately, though, we probably only have about another hour of daylight left."

They never heard the plane again which was a letdown to both of them. "It looks like we are spending another night in the woods." Andrew said looking around. "This seems as good a spot as any to stop. Let's start collecting fire wood." Andrew said in a dejected tone.

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MaKayla looked out of the saloon window as darkness fell. She watched as Nathan and the others rode back into town. She did not see Lucas or Andrew among them. She lowered her head at the thought of her husband and brother spending another night in the elements. She turned and walked back to Jenny and Henry.

"Looks like Nathan is back but no sign of our husbands being with them." She said looking at Jenny.

Jenny tried to be strong but the tears began to fall once again from the young woman's eyes on to her already tear stained cheeks. "MaKayla do you really think they are still alive? They've been out there for three full days. It's been cold and wet. And what if they are injured? How are they going to survive these conditions?" Jenny asked through her tears.

"Oh sweetie, first of all these are two of the most resourceful men I know. Andrew survived the war, with Germans trying to shoot him out of the sky. He came out of that without a scratch. Do you honestly think that Andrew would let something like this be what takes him out? No way." She said as she smiled at her sister-in-law.

"MaKayla, you are so positive. How do you do it?" She asked wistfully. "I just want my new husband back."

"And you will have him. What is your heart telling you Jenny? Mine is telling me they are alive and trying to get back to us. They need us to believe in them." She said with bravado. Her heart still told her that Lucas was alive and she was hanging on to that.

"I'm going to go back to my house. Please call me with any news." Jenny said as she pulled nervously on her long black hair.

A few minutes later Nathan and Bill walked into the saloon and headed right over to MaKayla and Henry. "MaKayla, I'm sorry we didn't find them or the plane." Nathan said with weariness.

"Alex Cottington is back and he was searching from the skies too but I haven't seen him since this afternoon so I assume he didn't find anything either. But he did have some interesting information to share. It seems that this plane crash was not an accident. It appears that the fuel line was cut. If you go out and talk to Alex, he can show you." MaKayla told them.

"Now who would cut the fuel line?" Nathan wondered aloud.

"It has to have been Balfour." Henry said angrily.

"Henry don't go off half-cocked that's a pretty big leap to make. We know that Balfour and Lucas aren't friends but the man just got out of prison. Would he really risk going back so soon?" Bill asked.

"To win this election, damn right he would." Henry said firmly. "I never should have convinced Lucas to run for re-election. Hasn't he suffered enough for this province?" Henry said shaking his head.

"First things first, let's focus on finding them alive. Then we can worry about Balfour and what may or may not have happened." Nathan said to all of them as fear crept down his spine. They needed to find them soon, time was running out.