When Calls the Heart: Jack and Elizabeth's Reunion

His Return

Hope Valley was as bright and happy as ever with the children playing playing the field after school, with people coming and leaving Abigail's Cafe, Mr. Yost sending off yet another satisfied customer from the Mercantile, and Rosemary Coulter talking with her husband inside his office about plans for the future. Elizabeth Thatcher let her mind wander over memories that she'd had with her fiance, Constable Jack Thornton. From the first day they met to when he had saved her and her sister from the Tolliver gang, to helping her on the homestead, to him telling her he loved her for the first time, to when he proposed, and then her heart got heavy when she remembered when he kissed her goodbye before he got back up on his horse and rode for the Northern Territory. 

She said a silent prayer, pleading with God, to protect him from anything that might immediately endanger his life. She closed her eyes for a moment to try and feel any hope that would course through her body only to find just a small amount. The longer Jack was gone, the harder it was for her to have hope and to know that he would come back to her. She missed him so much. She opened her eyes again to see Abigail coming toward her. "Good afternoon, Abigail." Elizabeth forced a smile.

"Elizabeth. Why don't you come into the cafe and have a cup of tea with me. It's starting to slow down, and by the looks of things, you could really use some company."

Elizabeth nodded, not fighting the tears any longer. The fact that Abigail showed that she wanted to be the someone to keep her company, all the more helped her tears to come easily down her cheeks. Abigail linked her arm through Elizabeth's and off they went. Before they reached the steps, a sound of a trumpet rang through the air. It was coming from the direction that Jack had originally left. Abigail, Elizabeth, and everyone in town turned their heads toward the trumpet sound and saw a squad of mounties headed for Hope Valley. There must have been about a dozen of them. "Abigail?" Elizabeth said in question, not knowing if they were bringing him home in his coffin or on horseback.

"Elizabeth, don't immediately go to the wrong conclusion," Abigail said in comfort. She placed her hands on Elizabeth's arms. "Let's wait and see what happens."

Elizabeth nodded and watched as the mounties arrived in a single file line into town, only to stop right at the entrance, and split up to go on opposite sides of the road. Six men on one side, six on the other. Elizabeth ran over to one of the men that was closest to her. "Please, just tell me if he's alive. I can't bear not knowing if I might end up seeing his coffin come down the road."

"I am not at liberty to say, Miss. I was told to give you instructions to stand right in the center." He pointed where she needed to be and with a heavier heart than ever, she stood in that very spot, and waited. "Attention!" Elizabeth watched all the mounties straighten up. At the end of the line, she spotted Super Intendant Collins. "Please, gentlemen. Tell me he's alive. Tell me, he's okay." No answer. She was going to go crazy if she didn't get an answer. Just before she was about to scream, Collins raised the trumpet again and played the same note over and over again in a random pattern. What she didn't know that it was Morse Code for "Now".

She waited all of three seconds before she could hear the beating sound of horse hooves on the ground. "Please, God. Let it be him." She whispered to herself. The sound grew louder and louder until the rider came into view. A rider in a mountie uniform. A rider whom she knew even from a great distance. It was Jack! She knew it was him. She watched him gallop closer to Hope Valley until she found she couldn't keep her legs from helping her stand anymore. She collapsed to the ground, her eyes still on her fiance. She feared that she was dreaming and nearly begged for it to end so that she wouldn't have to wake up and face the truth that Jack was not home yet.

But he was home. And she was not dreaming! More tears came and flowed down her cheeks. She couldn't see clearly in front of her for her vision was blurred, but what she did see was a figure in red dismounting his horse as the whole town shouted with joy, clapped, and whistled. She blinked, trying to see better, and as more tears fell, her vision came back. There he was, his handsome, beautiful, amazing smile met her as he extended his hand to her. She took it, he helped her to her feet, cupped her face, and pulled her in for the kiss that she had been dreaming of for the past three months. His arms went around her waist, squeezing so hard that it took the very breath from her. Her legs were no help either for they went wobbly on her again and she started to fall, but she didn't fall. He caught her, and then without breaking the kiss, he lifted her up into his arms, cradling her like he did in the mine when she injured her knee.

When Jack saw Elizabeth, he felt as though his heart would burst with overwhelming love. He was home. Finally. He had returned to the woman that he loved so desperately, so deeply, so truly, so passionately. She was his whole life. The key to his heart. The everlasting love of his life. As he kissed her so thoroughly, he felt as if he could kiss her for time and all eternity, and that, alone, would only make up for lost time. The moment when he had taken her in his arms, he heard the rest of the town go wild. They yelled, screamed, whistled, shouted with joy, clapped, cried, and yelled some more. When he finally broke the kiss, he whispered, "Marry me?"

Elizabeth burst out laughing, hugged him, and whispered back, "I believe I already answered that question." She presented her ring to him. "I said, yes."

Jack smiled and pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you so much," he said. "I thought I'd die if I couldn't get here fast enough."

Elizabeth pressed her hand to his cheek. "I love you too. You came home to me. That's all I care about right now. You're home." Renewed tears flooded her eyes and Jack took her in his arms, pressing his hand to the back of her head and the other around her waist. He buried his face into her shoulder, smelling her, smelling home about her. He was, indeed, home.