Nathan and Allie stayed at their spot, fishing and talking so they lost track of time. The sun was already setting when they made it back to town. Nathan saw that Bill's office was dark as they walked by so he told Allie he would talk to him the next day. Allie was so excited about the adoption idea that she was a little sad to not get it started right away but she would try to be patient. The two of them headed home to cook their fish for dinner.

While his office was dark, Bill was still sitting there in his office. He had gotten a call earlier that afternoon while Nathan was out fishing with Allie. Mountie Headquarters had called to warn about a group of robbers that had been going through neighboring towns. Right now, the criminals were far enough from Hope Valley to not be an immediate concern. Bill wondered if there was any relation to this news and his calls about Lucas Bouchard. He didn't want to make any assumptions. He would talk to Nathan tomorrow and they would be on alert for both.

Bill knew that the festival was coming up at the end of the week. The town was busy getting ready for the event. Elizabeth and the children had done so much work to get everything ready that Bill did not want to cancel. He also did not want to alarm anyone. Bill wondered if it would be possible to have another Mountie in town when the festival took place. Maybe Nathan had a friend he could ask to come to town, out of the Mountie serge, so the town wouldn't be suspicious but they would have backup if needed.

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Elizabeth told her class that most of the week would be spent planning for the festival and preparing all the booths. Lee had closed the saw mill for a couple of days at the beginning of the week and donated the lumber to build the booths. The children helped the men from the saw mill with building of the booths and painting them once they were built. The booths were sent up in the center of town and they would stay there until the festival on Saturday.

In the middle of the week once the booths were built and the men went back to the mill, the students went back into the classroom to get the games ready and to make sure they had a plan for how everything would run. People from town would stop by the schoolhouse to help so they could have everything ready in time.

The children had so many great ideas for the booths: ring toss, wheel of chance, fishing game, tic-tac-toe, lemonade stand, 3 legged race, and bake sale. Allie and Opal planned to go to the Grant house after school that day to bake some cookies and brownies for the sale and other parents were donating as well.

The children had apologized to Allie about asking the question about her mother. Allie had talked to Nathan about it before going to school that day. At recess, she told the children that her mom had died when she was young but didn't tell them what had happened. She only said that once her parents died, she had lived with her Uncle Nathan. The other children said how happy they were to have Allie in Hope Valley. Elizabeth saw the conversation from the steps of the school and she was glad to see the children working things out.

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Nathan was sitting as his desk in the Mountie office that afternoon doing paperwork when Bill walking into the office. Nathan had left the door open since it was a nice day so he wasn't surprised when Bill didn't knock and just sat down in front of his desk.

"Hey Bill, I'm glad you came by, there was something I wanted to run by you."

"There is something I need to tell you too."

"Really? What's going on? You look worried."

"I hope I don't need to be. You got a call from Mountie Headquarters yesterday when you were out fishing with Allie. I had Florence transfer it to me since she said it was Superintendent Collins and he knows me."

"He hasn't called since I've been stationed here. It must have been important."

"It was. There are robbers that have been seen in a few of the surrounding towns. He said they seem to be heading in the opposite direction of Hope Valley but he wanted to make us aware in case."

"Do you think this is connected to Lucas?"

"That was my concern. But Superintendent Collins didn't say anything about a connection to San Francisco or anyone in Hope Valley. It could have no relation to Lucas and our calls that we have been making. The timing is strange though. I wanted to make you aware as soon as possible, especially with the festival coming up on Saturday."

Nathan had been concerned about the festival the more he heard about the plans. It seemed like the whole town would be there. He thought he knew most of the people in town by now but it would be easy for strangers to sneak in if Bill and him weren't careful.

Bill looked at Nathan and asked, "Do you know any Mounties nearby that could come for the festival in regular clothes? To have another set of eyes on the town?"

"I do, a friend of mine is the Mountie in Brookfield. I will call him today and see if he can come for the weekend. He has been wanting to visit since Allie and I moved here."

"Excellent. I'll let you make the call. Let me know if you hear anything else from headquarters. Hopefully we can get through this festival without incident." Bill stood and started to walk towards the door, during as he got in the doorway, "You wanted to ask me something too, right?"

"I did, but it can wait until after the festival. We have a lot going on right now."

Bill nodded and left to go back to his office. Nathan wanted to make his adoption of Allie official more than anything but right now keeping her and the rest of the town safe would need to be his focus. He would talk to Bill once this all was over and get the paperwork together.

––––––––

Elizabeth stayed after school in the middle of the week. She had asked Rosemary that morning if she could take Jack to her house if it got close to dinner time. Elizabeth was trying to get things set up so the children could make signs for the festival in the morning. She wanted to move some of the desks and set up stations with paint and large sheets of paper. Elizabeth had written out the words for each sign so that she could make sure it was all spelled correctly.

As Elizabeth was moving one of the desks, she saw Allie's book on the floor. She had started to read the Secret Garden that Elizabeth had leant to her. Elizabeth put the book in her basket and thought she would stop by Nathan and Allie's house on the way home to drop it off. Allie had told her that she liked to read with her uncle before bed. Elizabeth thought it was very sweet that Nathan would read to her and the two of them would spend that time together.

She approached their house and she could hear the sound of girls giggling coming from their house. Elizabeth smiled as she walked up the stairs to the front door. She knocked but the giggling didn't stop. The door opened and Elizabeth gasped.

There stood Nathan in an apron with flour all over the front of him and on one of his cheeks. Elizabeth could see Allie and Opal behind him at the kitchen table with all the baking supplies in front of them. Nathan looked like he had gotten in the middle of whatever the girls were trying to make. "Hi," Nathan said, looking down trying to brush the flour from the front of his apron.

"Hi, Allie left her book at school. I wanted to bring it to her in case she wanted to read it tonight. She told me you were reading it with her?"

"Yes. Thank you for bringing it. We have read books together since she was little. Even if I didn't see her during the day if I was working, we would always have that time together."

"That's wonderful for both of you."

"Sorry about all the flour, the girls are making cookies for the bake sale booth. I don't think I have been much help," Nathan said laughing.

Elizabeth laughed too and without thinking she reached up and wiped a little bit of the flour off his cheek. Nathan stopped laughing and looked into her eyes. Elizabeth stopped and held her hand on his cheek, feeling the stubble from the day. Both of them felt the sparks and the connection at Elizabeth's touch.

"Uncle Nathan?" Allie called from her spot in the kitchen.

Elizabeth quickly pulled her hand back. She took the book from her basket and handed it to Nathan, smiling and trying to keep her emotions in check. "I should be going. I need to pick up Jack from Lee and Rosemary's."

"Thank you again for bringing this," Nathan said smiling back at her. He could feel his emotions getting stronger but he was still determined not to let them show.

Elizabeth nodded. She turned and walked down the steps. Nathan watched her walk down the path until he couldn't see her anymore. Then he shut the door and went back in the kitchen to help with the baking.