Granting a Family - Chapter 22: Lost and Found

It was getting dark and Allie hadn’t seen Nathan all day. He always tried to be home for dinner, and she couldn’t find a note anywhere telling her to expect him to be home late. He wasn’t at the jail after her shift at the switchboard, and Newton was still gone from the livery when she had checked. She tried not to worry, because this had happened a few times in the past when he had gotten stuck somewhere or something had taken more time than he had anticipated. Allie finally decided to go ask someone who might know where her Dad was.

Kathryn spent the afternoon in bed with one of her bad headaches that made her nauseous and sensitive to light. She drank some herbal tea that always seemed to help, and darkened her room so she could sleep it off. Luckily after several hours the pain was mostly gone, but she was left feeling weak and exhausted. After dinner, Thomas had helped Anne upstairs to settle in bed for the night. A light knock at the door surprised Kathryn while she was cleaning up the kitchen. She opened the door to find a visibly upset Allie with tear streaks on her face and red eyes from crying.

“Is Constable Bradshaw home?” Allie whimpered.

“Allie, come in. Yes, Thomas is here. Whatever is the matter?” Kathryn put her arm around Allie and led her into the living room to sit down.

“My Dad hasn’t come home yet, and there wasn’t a note or anything. He usually comes home eventually, but it is rare for him to be out after dark. I just wanted to see if anyone knew where he went.”

“Stay right here, and I’ll go up and get Thomas,” Kathryn instructed. She went up the stairs and knocked on Thomas and Anne’s bedroom door.

Thomas came to the door immediately, but got concerned when he saw the upset look on Kathryn’s face. “Katie, what’s wrong?”

“Allie’s here and Nathan hasn’t come home yet. She came to see if he told you where he went.” She tried to keep her voice quiet so Allie couldn’t hear the conversation, and to mask some of the emotions she was feeling at the news.

“I didn’t see Nathan at all today,” Thomas said thoughtfully. “Let me get back into my uniform, and I’ll go see what I can find out. You stay here and comfort Allie.” He went back into his bedroom to change and Kathryn went back downstairs.

“Thomas isn’t sure where Nathan is, but he’s going to head out and try to figure out where he may have gone. Can I get you some cookies and milk?” Kathryn went to the kitchen and put some of her freshly baked cookies on a plate and poured a glass of milk that she took to Allie. “This always makes me feel better when I’m worried or scared.”

“Thanks Miss Bradshaw. These are pretty good.” Allie managed half a smile, but when she heard Thomas come down the stairs she shot up out of the chair.

“Don’t worry too much, Allie. Your Dad doesn’t often put himself in dangerous situations. I’m just going to look for some clues at the office and check with anyone who may have seen him.” Thomas pulled on his boots and hat, and Kathryn followed him out onto the front porch where she softly closed the door momentarily.

“I may have been the last person to see Nathan,” she admitted. “When I was walking home from the school with my headache, he stopped and talked to me for a minute. He followed me home thinking I didn’t see him, but when I went inside I saw him riding his horse very quickly out of town headed in that direction.” She pointed past the row houses to the road out of town to the north. 

“Thanks sis,” Thomas said, giving her a quick squeeze before heading toward town.

Kathryn went inside and got her chess set out to challenge Allie to a few games. After losing several times to her student, she went to check on Anne, who was snoring softly. She went into her room and grabbed her current library book she was going to recommend to her students. 

“I thought you might enjoy this book I was going to recommend tomorrow.” Kathryn gave book recommendations each day in her summer class, to try and help her students stay motivated to read through the summer. Today her pick was The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Angela Canfield had been extremely excited about a person and book that had inspired her for years. She handed the next day’s pick to Allie.

“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!” Allie exclaimed. “Would you mind reading it out loud to me? My Dad reads to me every night, and this is one we have read before, but it has been quite a while. He always does the voices when he reads to me, and sometimes we giggle so much it’s hard to make it very far.”

Learning that little tidbit about Nathan Grant put a smile on Kathryn’s face. “I can’t promise to do the voices that well, but I’ll give it my best.” Allie had finished her cookies and milk, washed her plate and cup, then settled in on the chair to listen to her teacher read.

Thomas stopped in the livery to verify that Newton was still gone before heading over to the Mountie office. He looked through some papers on the desk, and discovered something that might explain Nathan’s quick departure this afternoon. With the clue in hand, he went to the person he knew would have more information. 

Clara was clearing the last of the tables when he walked in the café. “Hey, Clara,” Thomas greeted. “Do you know where Bill is by chance?”

“Hi Constable Bradshaw,” Clara answered. “Bill has been helping me clean up tonight, but he just went to dump some trash outside. He should be right back in.”

“Thank you, I’ll actually go find him. Have a good night.” Thomas walked out the back door and almost ran right into Bill who was about to go back inside.

“Thomas, what are you doing here so late? You know we are closed, right?” Bill looked annoyed that he would have to clean up more dishes.

“I’m not here to eat,” Thomas explained. “Nathan hasn’t made it back home tonight and Allie came over to my house worried about him. I went to the office to see if there might be any information that would lead me to where he headed off to in a hurry this afternoon and I found this. The name didn’t sound familiar to me, but I figured maybe you would know something about this inmate.” Thomas handed him the paper he had found on the desk in the jail.

“Dylan Parks has requested a transfer to Granville Penitentiary just north of Hope Valley from Benson Hills where he has been the past six months after transferring from Union City’s Penitentiary several months after he was given at least ten years for his crimes.” Bill kept reading all the legal documentation, but Thomas was still confused.

“Who is Dylan Parks?” he asked. “Why would he care what prisoner is in which Penitentiary?”

“Dylan is Allie’s father, and Nathan’s former brother-in-law,” Bill revealed. “Closer proximity to Hope Valley gives him better access to hurt people close to Nathan, who got him thrown in prison to protect Allie.” 

“So do we think he rode to Granville Penitentiary to try and stop the transfer from happening? It isn’t like Nathan to not let anyone know where he was going. Maybe we should call up there and see if he was there and when he left?”

“Good idea. I’ll go grab Florence to put a call through for us. In fact, I think she may still be at the Mercantile organizing the shipment that just came in a few hours ago. Let’s walk over and see.” Bill apologized to Clara for not being able to help her finish cleaning up, then the two men walked over to the Mercantile.

Ned and Florence were almost finished organizing the shipment when they arrived. “What can we help you with gentlemen?” Ned asked.

“We need Florence to patch a call through to Granville Penitentiary for us to see if Nathan was there earlier,” Bill explained.

“He hasn’t come home yet?” Florence asked, concerned. “I’ll ring that up for you right away.” She moved to the switchboard as the men moved to the telephone.

Thomas took the ear piece and listened for it to connect. When Granville was on the line he began, “Yes, this is Constable Thomas Bradshaw from Hope Valley. I’m wondering if our Inspector Nathan Grant was there this afternoon and if you could tell me what time he left.” Bill watched Thomas closely as he listened to the person on the other end. He couldn’t quite figure out his facial expressions and sounds of acknowledgement. “Well, thank you very much for that information. That should help us locate Inspector Grant. Have a good night.”

“Well, what did they say?” Bill impatiently asked. 

“So the good news is that Nathan was at Granville this afternoon. The bad news is that he told them he was heading back to Hope Valley when he left there a few hours ago. He should have been back before dark. I know he has the skills to take care of himself out there, but I’m not sure Allie would forgive me if I don’t at least see if I can find him.”

“I’ll come with you, but I need to go talk to Elizabeth before we head out, because I promised to come over this evening to visit with her about the book tour.”

“That’s perfect, because I’ll need to go update my family and Allie before we leave. Let’s go get the horses ready and we can stop by the houses on our way out of town.”

On their way to the livery they ran into Hickam who could tell something was wrong. “Where are you guys headed in such a hurry this late?” he inquired.

“Nathan hasn’t made it back from Granville Penitentiary where he was this afternoon, so we are just riding out to see if he ran into some trouble getting home because Allie was worried.” Bill spoke fast and seemed annoyed to have to explain the situation to yet another person.

“Do you need any help?” asked Hickam. “Nathan really went above and beyond to help me with the pipeline deal and I owe him.”

“I think we’re good,” Thomas answered. “It’s not safe to have too many people out in the dark. We’re just going to ride out a little ways and if we don’t find Nathan we’ll head home. He’s trained and can take care of himself, so we’ll go out again at first light if we don’t find him before it is too dark.” Hickam nodded and headed back to his office. 

After getting Hero and Midnight saddled up, the two lawmen mounted up and headed to the row houses. Bill stopped at Elizabeth’s and Thomas went several houses down to where his family lived. 

Elizabeth smiled when she heard Bill’s familiar knock at her door. She needed his listening ear and advice tonight. She opened the door, but was puzzled by the look on his face. “Come in, Bill. I just put Jack to bed, so your timing is perfect.”

“I hate to cancel on you tonight, Elizabeth. But Thomas and I are riding out to look for Nathan.” Bill was a little shocked at her strong reaction when he mentioned Nathan, but wanted to ease her mind so he continued, “I’m sure he’s fine, it’s mostly to help Allie feel better. Nathan can take care of himself.” 

“I’m sure you are right,” Elizabeth agreed. “Does Allie need someone to stay with until he gets back?”

“She is with Miss Bradshaw right now, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Again, Bill noticed a little cringe from Elizabeth at the mention of Kathryn spending time with Allie. He had heard the rumors of Elizabeth and Lucas being over, but was hoping to get a little more information out of her tonight. It wouldn’t surprise him if she still had feelings for Nathan, but he had been suspecting something going on between Nathan and Kathryn ever since she got to town. He shook his head and thought there had been enough love triangles to last a lifetime in Hope Valley recently.

Elizabeth walked out onto the porch with Bill as he went to mount Hero so he could head out of town with Thomas. “All of you be safe.” Elizabeth waved as he rode off and took some deep breaths to calm down. When she went inside, she noticed the back door slightly ajar but figured the wind must have blown in slightly open. She just went and closed the door and sat down, worried about Nathan and wondering about Allie with the new school teacher.

Thomas went inside his house while Bill had been talking to Elizabeth to give an update to everyone. Kathryn was reading to herself and motioned for him to be quiet as he noticed Allie sleeping soundly in the living room and figured Anne was asleep upstairs.

He whispered to Kathryn, “I’m riding out with Bill to see if we can find Nathan, but we are only going a little ways before it is very dark then we’ll be back. If we don’t find him we’ll go riding out that way tomorrow morning at first light. Thanks for watching out for Anne and Allie.”

“Be safe Thomas. You don’t think Nathan is in danger do you?” She tried to not look worried, but inside her stomach was in knots thinking about anything happening to her Mountie.

“I’m sure everything is fine. He’s one of the smartest and most experienced Mounties I know. He must have been a little distracted to not tell anyone where he was going, but you are lucky your brother is also a Mountie with decent investigative and tracking skills.” He gave her a quick hug and headed out to mount Midnight just as Bill was coming on his horse.

Mike Hickam sat in his office thinking about his interaction with Bill and Thomas. He had wanted to help search for Nathan, but no one usually took him seriously. He wished they could all see all of the hard work he had put in to get to where he was in life finally. Being in the town for years, he had observed all the comings and goings and knew basically everyone that had been in town for any time at all. He put a lot of time and effort into becoming proficient and educated in whatever profession he was pursuing at the time. He had basically been running the oil company for the past year, and he had helped not only revive the business but with Fiona’s help, made the pipeline happen. Nathan was one of the only people who ever listened to him, and took him seriously when he found the evidence that led to proving the land documents had been forged and allowing them to be able to start building the pipeline. While thinking he looked out the window and saw a very upset Elizabeth heading into Lee and Rosemary’s office across the street. He stepped outside to see what was going on.

Elizabeth ran into the Coulter’s office in hysterics. Rosemary tried to calm her down so she could understand what Elizabeth was saying, and finally she was able to get a coherent message out. “Jack, he just wasn’t there and the door was ajar but I didn’t even go check on him for a while and now I have no idea where he is…” 

Hickam had walked over and heard what Elizabeth said. He immediately felt sick to his stomach knowing little Jack was in danger and seeing her so upset. “I’ll go find some more men to go search, and then I will get my horse and ride to catch Bill and Thomas to come back to help with the search. I’m sure they would agree that a young child is more important to search for than a Mountie who can take care of himself.”

“Thanks, Mike,” said Lee. “You’re a good man.”

Rosemary was trying to comfort Elizabeth as they headed back toward the row houses to help organize a search party near the home. “He couldn’t have gone too far,” Rosemary assured her.

Through her sobs Elizabeth explained, “He just learned to open doors. But he hasn’t ever climbed out of bed and gone out the back. I’m a horrible mother to lose my son.”

“Elizabeth, this could have happened to anyone. You are a good mother. Toddlers love to run off. We’ll find him.”

“But it’s getting dark, and he’ll be so scared. If only Nathan were here, I know he would find him.” More tears flowed down her face, and Elizabeth could barely put one foot in front of the other, because she felt so sick and worried.

Bill and Thomas had barely gotten a quarter mile out of town when they saw red serge riding toward them in front of a slowly-moving stagecoach. It was hard to see in the dusk lighting, but as he got closer they determined that it was in fact Inspector Nathan Grant. He stopped Newton and the stage slowed down and stopped as well.

“What are you two doing out this way?” Nathan asked.

“We’re searching for you,” Thomas explained. “We finally figured out you had gone to Granville Penitentiary, but knew you should have been back right now and your daughter was worried sick.”

Nathan looked down. “I feel bad I didn’t tell anyone where I was going, and that I worried Allie. I had a lot on my mind today, so I forgot to leave a note or something. On my way home, I ran into this stagecoach that broke down. I was able to help them fix it enough to get them into town, but they will need to have the Blacksmith make a repair before they can continue on.”

They motioned to the driver to keep going and they headed back into town. As they approached the row houses, they stopped in front of the Bradshaw’s house to ease Allie’s mind. However, when they arrived they saw people frantically searching and calling Jack’s name. Kathryn had been searching near their house when she saw Nathan arrive back with her brother and Bill. Her emotions took charge and she hurried over and without thinking wrapped her arms around Nathan. As quickly as she had done it, she pulled away as she became aware that most of the town was out here searching for Jack and no one knew about their relationship. 

Nathan was shocked and pleased when Kate hugged him after finding out he was safe. He didn’t think anyone was paying attention, especially since it was really starting to be dark. But his mind suddenly shifted into Mountie mode and he was concerned. “Everyone is searching for little Jack? He’s missing? What happened?”

“I guess he just learned to open doors and he climbed out of bed and escaped out the back door. He hasn’t been gone long, so he shouldn’t have gone far.” Kathryn could see the hurt and worry in Nathan’s beautiful blue eyes.

“I’m going to get the stagecoach to the Blacksmith Shop, and Newton needs a rest so I’ll send Bill and Thomas out on their fresh horses to search and I’ll join them on foot. Oh, but where’s Allie?”

“She fell asleep while I was reading to her,” said Kathryn. 

Nathan felt grateful for all the people who watched out for his daughter when he was away. He was feeling especially protective of her with Dylan Parks trying to worm his way back into their lives. Sweet Kate had read to Allie, one of their favorite things to do each night. Looking at her, wishing she had stayed in his arms longer than a split second, he noticed her rubbing her head again.

“Kate, is your head bothering you still?” Nathan gently grabbed her arm and led her to the porch steps to sit down. “You should be in bed.”

“It was getting better,” Kathryn began. “But being out here searching for Jack, yelling his name, made it start getting worse again. I’m fine though, really.” She looked into his eyes and smiled. It felt good to have someone worry about her, and actually care about her well-being. He had slid his hand from her arm down to her hand which he sat holding for a brief moment then let go when they heard shouts coming down the street.

Hickam had sent all the men he could find to the row houses to search, and finally headed to the livery. He was actually a decent rider, and his horse Hunter was strong and fast. As he entered the livery, he heard sounds coming from Sergeant’s stall. He hurried over and relief washed over him when he saw little Jack petting his father’s horse and babbling on about something.

“Jack!” Mike exclaimed. “Everyone is out looking for you buddy.”

“I come to see Sarge. Where’s ‘ewton?” Hickam picked up Jack and started walking as fast as he could back to the row houses. 

Elizabeth saw the outline of a man holding her son, and a sob escaped her as she ran toward them and threw herself into their arms. Right before she reached them she realized it was Mike Hickam who held her son and brought him home to her. She would have hugged anyone who had saved little Jack, in that moment. She was surprised by how strong and steady Mike’s embrace was, and how safe and secure she felt in his arms as they both held Jack. She was suddenly very aware of all the people surrounding them, and how long she had been in his arms. She saw shock, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on, in his eyes. 

Turning around to see who was staring at them, the first person Elizabeth saw was Nathan...and he was standing with Kathryn. Elizabeth tried to forget the embrace she had seen the two of them briefly share as Nathan had come back into town, then wondered what he had thought of her embrace with Hickam. She turned her attention back to Jack as she held him close and softly scolded him, “Jack, you scared Mommy so much! You can’t just leave and run away.”

Mike spoke up and told everyone how he had found Jack in the livery petting Sergeant. People congratulated Hickam for finding Jack and many patted him on the back. Everyone was so relieved little Jack was found and unharmed. The crowd dispersed and most of them headed back home. 

Elizabeth approached Nathan and little Jack put his arms up for Nathan to take him. Kathryn excused herself to go home to bed, as Nathan hugged Jack tightly. “Little man, we need to have a talk about being good for your mother and not giving everyone a scare. 

“I see ‘ewton!” he babbled, pointing to Nathan’s horse in front of the Bradshaw’s house. 

“Ok buddy, we’ll go pet Newton for a minute, but then you have to go home and go to bed.” Nathan turned to Elizabeth and said, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to help. But Mike is the hero now. Let me take Jack to see Newton, and you can go properly thank Hickam...although that hug may have been all the thanks he needed.” Nathan chuckled and Elizabeth rolled her eyes, unamused. 

“Mike,” she hollered from a distance as she walked toward him. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I was just at the right place at the right time. I’m just glad everyone is safe.” Mike looked embarrassed from all the attention.

“Before you go, I wanted to apologize to you for the way Lucas treated you over the phone during the time we were on my book tour. I heard those conversations, and he had no right to treat you that way.” Elizabeth smiled warmly at Mike and he looked away when their eyes met briefly.

“Lucas was under a lot of pressure, but I appreciate you standing up for me. Most people don’t really know me that well, and I should probably try to stick up for myself more often. I think I gained some respect from Lucas by figuring out the pipeline problem before he got back into town. I hope you know that what he did to you was wrong as well. Leaving you alone on that book tour and making you travel in that storm all by yourself wasn’t a gentlemanly thing to do.” As he spoke, Mike’s confidence seemed to grow. In order to not risk saying anything to ruin the moment, he said goodbye and headed home feeling larger than life.

Nathan took little Jack to pet Newton for a few minutes, and when he saw Hickam heading home he took the little man to Elizabeth and said goodnight. He headed back to the Bradshaw’s house and Thomas opened the door when he knocked. Allie had just woken up and ran over to give Nathan a big hug.

“I’m so sorry I was worried, Dad. I’m not sure why I felt like something was wrong.” Nathan knew she wasn’t just referring to him being late. He knew tomorrow he would have to tell her about Dylan coming back a year ago, and explain how he was trying to disrupt their lives again. But for tonight, he would take Allie home to bed and let her sleep so she could go to her summer class in the morning.

“Nathan, why don’t I take Newton to the livery so you can get Allie home and you both can get some rest? Bill took the stagecoach to the Blacksmith Shop and got them all settled at the rooms above the Saloon.”

“Thanks, Thomas. I owe you one.” Nathan and Allie went to their house, quickly washed up and changed, then practically fell into bed. As he was about to fall asleep, he thought about tonight. Kate had embraced him when she knew he was safe, and he didn’t even care who saw. He only wished it had lasted much longer. He was also grateful nothing happened to little Jack. His final thought was about Dylan Parks and how tomorrow he needed to fight with everything he had to keep him as far away as possible from Allie and all of the other people he cared about.