Chapter 14

Hope Valley, Alberta Canada

Saturday, January 3, 1925

They both laid their heads back on the pillows out of breath but satisfied. "That is always a pleasant way to start the day, especially today" Lucas told MaKayla as she snuggled closer to her husband.

"Making love with you is my most favorite past time." MaKayla said seductively.

"We most certainly agree on that." Lucas said as he held her tight.

"Can you believe that two years ago today right here in this bed, we brought those beautiful babies in the next room into the world together." MaKayla said with a sigh. "They are growing up so fast Lucas." She said wistfully.

"I know." He said sympathetically. "But soon you will have another baby to dote on." He told her as he felt the baby kick making his or her presence known. "I think the little one inside is letting you know that he or she will be here soon enough." He said as they both laughed.

Lucas gazed over at the window. "Where was that sun two years ago? Not a snowflake in sight." He said with a hearty laugh. "It looks beautiful out so no one should have a problem attending the party this afternoon." Lucas said as they snuggled together.

"Mommy, Daddy. Come get us. Pleaseeee." Came the shouts from across the hallway.

"The Prince and Princess are awake." MaKayla said with a soft laugh. "Time for the festivities to begin." She told him as she turned over to get out of bed putting on her robe as she stood up.

Lucas got up too and walked over to her side of the bed and took MaKayla in his arms. "Have I told you how much I love you. And how grateful I am for those two babies in the other room and the one you're carrying now. You have made me the happiest man in the world. I don't want you to ever forget that." He said as he kissed her passionately.

"Mommy, Daddy. Come now." The twins said louder.

"Apparently we are not moving fast enough for them." MaKayla laughed as she looked into her husband's eyes, cupping his face in her hands. "Always my love, always." She said as she turned to leave their bedroom to get the twins up. Lucas put on his robe and joined her.

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The twin's birthday party was in full swing and all the guests seemed to be having a good time, especially the twins. If there was one thing those two liked it was being the center of attention. Lucas found this interesting as he was rather shy himself especially as a young boy, although when he told people that they always sounded surprised. MaKayla was no shrinking violet and it appeared their first born were not either, Lucas thought.

Lucas looked around the room when his gaze fell on Andrew. He needed to speak to him. They would be leaving tomorrow as he needed to be in Capital City on Monday. So, if he was going to speak to Andrew about why he had Superintendent Collins name and Daniel's written on a piece of paper it was now.

Lucas walked over to Andrew. "Could I speak to you in my library for a minute… alone?" Lucas asked his brother-in-law.

Andrew smiled at Lucas, "Sure." It had been over two weeks since Lucas was at the airport and he hadn't brought up anything about seeing the names on the paper. Andrew had convinced himself that Lucas hadn't seen the paper. But now it appeared that Lucas was just biding his time, probably hoping that Andrew would bring it up first. Lucas's patience was legendary, Andrew chided himself, he should have known better.

"Andrew, let's have a seat. I need to discuss something with you." Lucas said as both men sat down.

Andrew looked Lucas directly in the eyes. "You don't have to say anything. I know what this is about. You saw Collins and Sterling's name written on a piece of paper on my desk and you want to know what I'm up to. Right?" Andrew asked sheepishly while looking at Lucas trying to gauge his reaction.

Lucas gave his friend a wry smile. "Is the reason you have their names written down have anything to do with Matthew Aucoin?" He asked knowingly.

Andrew stood up and started walking around. "Lucas, I know you told me to let sleeping dogs lie but I just can't. I just know there is more to Matthew's death and I feel we owe it to our friend to find out the truth. Don't you think Matthew would want us to do that? Not to mention his killer is probably still out there. Whoever it is got away with murder; doesn't that bother you?" Andrew asked him imploringly.

Lucas sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "What did you find out?" Lucas asked wearily.

Andrew sat back down and put his elbows on his knees as he looked at Lucas intently. "Well, not too much yet. I asked Daniel Sterling at your swearing-in ceremony if Matthew worked on any other cases after he officially left the CSIS."

"I saw you talking to Daniel that day and just knew you were probably asking him about Matthew. So, what did Daniel say?" Lucas asked curiously.

Andrew gave him a cocky smile. "That Matthew contacted him in July 1914 with some information that he obtained from someone he knew in New Orleans. At the time that Matthew contacted him, Daniel was headed over to England as the war was just getting started and there was a lot going on over there. He didn't have time to get into whatever it was that Matthew had found out, so he had him contact Superintendent Collins. Daniel never heard from him again and with everything else going on he didn't give it much thought." Andrew told him as he looked for some indication as to how Lucas was feeling about what he just said. Lucas was damn good at hiding his emotions, Andrew thought.

"Daniel was in England in the summer of 1914, as was I. It was clear England would join the war, which they did in August. Intelligence information was very highly sought after and our services were in high demand. Daniel was knee deep in a lot of things and I'm sure he had no time for whatever intelligence information Matthew had, unless it was war related, which it seems it was not. So, you are trying to contact Sam Collins to find out what information Matthew wanted to share?" Lucas asked.

"Yes. But Collins has retired and is currently in England per Daniel. He is due back in Canada this week. I assume Daniel is not trying to stall or anything and Collins really is in England." Andrew said.

"First and foremost, there is no man I trust more than Daniel Sterling. If Daniel said Collins is in England, Collins is in England. If Daniel doesn't get back to you by the end of next week, let me know and I will contact him." Lucas told him

"Thanks Lucas, I appreciate it." Andrew said with a relieved smile.

"Andrew I need for you to understand something. I have spent the past ten years trying to put my time as a CSIS agent behind me. Not because I'm ashamed of it but because there are a lot of things I would much rather forget ever happened. Matthew's death was a big part of that. Unfortunately, one can't work in that type of field and come out of it totally unscathed. I thought I had put my demons from that time in my life behind me especially where Matthew and his death were concerned. But the truth is…" he paused gathering his thoughts.

"As long as there is a cloud over that night, I guess I have to be honest with myself that I will never truly be able to do that. Promise me we do this together. No secrets." Lucas said as he extended his hand out to Andrew.

"Promise." Andrew said as the two men shook hands. Lucas closed his eyes for a moment praying he did not regret this trek into the past. There had been so many gut punches the last few years that he hoped with this last mystery solved he would find the inner peace he so desperately craved.

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Capital City, Alberta Canada

Monday, January 12, 1925

MaKayla and the twins sat on the floor of what she hoped would be the twin's new bedroom. "Ok, with the new baby coming, you two have to move out of the nursery and into a new bedroom. So, Matthew your bed will go on this wall and Ciara yours will go over here. Now can you tell Mommy what you want painted on the wall by each of your beds?" MaKayla asked realizing she was being a bit ambitious asking two, two-year-olds their opinions on wall design but it was a starting point.

Ciara jumped up and ran over to her side of the room. "Princess fairy." She stated very clearly. MaKayla was very impressed.

"That sounds very nice Ciara. Do you want a prince in your picture too?" MaKayla asked.

"Daddy!" Ciara said happily.

"You want a prince that looks like Daddy?" MaKayla asked as Ciara clapped her hands and nodded her agreement. MaKayla smiled at her daughter, she had very good taste.

MaKayla now turned her attention to her son. "Ok, young man, what do you want?" MaKayla asked as Matthew got up and went to his side of the room.

"Robin, plane, baseball." Matthew stated with a smile.

MaKayla looked at her son and started giggling softly. "Your father's clone, I see."

Just then the twins turned and went running to the door. "Daddy," they both said at once. MaKayla looked around to see that Lucas had returned home.

"What is going on in here?" Lucas asked as he too sat on the floor with MaKayla.

"The kids and I were deciding what murals they wanted painted in their new room. Your daughter wants a prince like her Daddy and your son, well let's just say he is his father's son." MaKayla said with a side eye to her husband.

Lucas burst into laughter. "I see." He said good naturally. He affectionally rubbed her stomach. "Perhaps this one will follow in your footsteps. What are you thinking today, boy or girl?" He asked amused.

"Today, I'm going with girl. A mini-me, I think." She said with a silly grin. "Actually, just a happy, healthy baby is good enough for me." She smiled at him as she placed her head on his shoulder. The twins sat down and mimicked their parents as Ciara put her head on Matthew's shoulder. MaKayla looked over at her children. "I love you, Lucas Bouchard. You and our children are all I ever need or want."

"Same, my love." He told her as he held her tighter.

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Capital City, Alberta Canada

Monday, January 19, 1924

Edwin and Henry were waiting in Lucas's office for their standing Monday morning meeting. The meeting was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Henry and Edwin had started taking bets as to how late Lucas would be. He was slightly better at being on time but was still inevitably late.

"Good morning, gentlemen." Lucas said as he walked into the room. "Who won the bet this morning? It is only 8:35 a.m." Lucas said with a chuckle. Edwin checked his watch then went into his pocket and handed Henry a dollar.

"Nice doing business with you." Henry said with a chuckle.

"I hope you both realize that I will not be going on any business trips until after MaKayla has the baby. Absolutely no exceptions. So, gentlemen, what would you like to discuss today?"

"I believe you will be happy to know that Balfour has exhausted all his appeals to obtain a lighter sentence. His sentencing is officially today and he will be receiving 25 years to life for your attempted murder. The same sentence Johnny Barker received. He wasted a lot of money and it got him no further ahead." Henry told him.

"I'm sorry it came to this but he brought it on himself." Lucas said sadly. "That man has taken up too much of my life. What else do we have?"

"Your proposal to have an official office in Hope Valley is still in committee in the legislature. I think that will be a hard sell, Lucas. I know you want to divide your time 50/50 but I'm not sure that it will be approved. But it hasn't been outright rejected as of yet." Henry told him hopefully.

"Your proposal to add a survival training course as a requirement for all graduating secondary school students is getting a fair look. I suggest on this one that a meeting with the committee to explain what you and Andrew went through might be helpful. Hearing what you experienced might encourage more to vote yes on this bill." Henry told him.

"We need to review all the budgets for each department and then we can set up meetings with each of the directors to go over them. I have left them on your desk for your initial review." Henry told him.

"How about Chairman Reynolds? Is he causing more trouble or is he trying to work with us, instead of against us?" Lucas asked with curiosity.

"So far, he is playing nice. Let's just hope that continues." Henry said with weak smile.

"Ok, Edwin. How about you? What publicity shenanigans must I engage in this week." Lucas asked with a grin.

You are scheduled to speak to the University of Alberta at Capital City on Thursday but they have asked if we could arrange to have you speak on more than one day as the response has been tremendous and the hall cannot hold all who want to attend." Edwin said with a broad smile. "We are hoping to add a Friday speech as well."

"Hmm, that is very interesting. I really didn't think that university students would be all that interested in what this governor had to say." Lucas said genuinely surprised by the invitation from the school to speak for their lecture series, People Who Have Made a Difference.

"You also have an interview scheduled with Canadian Magazine of Politics, Science, Art and Literature on Wednesday. They have asked if Mrs. Bouchard could also be interviewed." Edwin asked hopefully.

"I will check with MaKayla and get back to you. Is that it for now?" Lucas asked as both men nodded. "I'll start to look at these budgets and get back to you Henry." Lucas told them as both men got up to leave his office.

Lucas sat back down and took a sip of his tea, which was now cold. He needed to go make himself a new cup but the phone rang before he made it out of his office.

"Governor Bouchard here." Lucas answered.

"Lucas, it's Andrew. I finally have some news. Are you sitting down?" Andrew asked with excitement.

"I am now. So, what have you found out? I assume Daniel got back to you." Lucas said with some trepidation.

"Yes, he did. He spoke to Sam Collins. Basically, Collins told Daniel that Matthew had information on gun runners that were operating out of the northern territories. Back then the northern territories were a mecca for gangs, gun runners and any other unsavory character you could think of. He didn't recall exactly what the information was that Matthew had. Now here is the part I wanted you to sit down for." Andrew told him slightly nervous about telling Lucas who else was involved with all this.

"Ok, I'm sitting. Just tell me. What it is? You have me curious now." Lucas said slightly agitated.

"Collins remembered Matthew. But instead of dealing with Matthew directly himself he put him in touch with a Mountie that was stationed in the northern territories more directly connected to the action. The Mountie's name was Jack Thornton." Andrew told him as he waited for Lucas to respond.

"Jack Thornton, as in Elizabeth's dead husband?" Lucas asked not really believing what Andrew had just old him.

"How many Mounties' named Jack Thornton can there be that were once stationed in the northern territories? It has to be him. Collins remembers that Aucoin did indeed contact Thornton but again so much was going on at the time and it was over 10 years ago he doesn't remember all the particulars." Andrew told him.

Lucas was flabbergasted by this news. "But Jack Thornton is dead too. How does this help us? Although the fact that both men, young men are dead was very concerning." Lucas said as a thousand thoughts ran through his head.

"Lucas, Collins is in Capital City and Daniel said that Collins has agreed to see us. Are you up to paying him a visit?" Andrew asked. He knew for Lucas this was now no longer just about his best friend but also about the man with whom his first great love was once married too. Things took on a different tone for Lucas due to his previous relationship with Elizabeth.

Lucas paused for a long moment before answering. "Yes. I must admit I did not see this scenario coming. But now that we have opened Pandora's box we can't stop until we have all the answers." Lucas told him.

"I can be in Capital City by Thursday. Do you want to contact Collins yourself to set up the meeting? I can give you his telephone number. Andrew told him.

"Yes. I will have my secretary set up a meeting for Friday, if possible, as she knows my schedule." Lucas told him.

"Will do. Lucas, I'll be bringing Jenny with me." Andrew told him. "Lucas, I am sorry. I had no idea that this would bring Elizabeth's dead husband into this mystery."

"It's fine Andrew. There is nothing we can do to change whatever happened. It's time to let the chips fall where they may. We will see you on Thursday. I will let MaKayla know. We will have the guest room ready for the two of you." Lucas said, as he hung up the phone.

He was truly shocked that Matthew may have had dealings with Jack Thornton. Lucas was not sure exactly why but this news threw him for a loop. He just hoped that Matthew had nothing to do with Jack Thornton's death. Matthew had died in October 1914 and Jack six months later. Coincidence or something more nefarious?