Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights go to the actors, writers and creators of the show "When Calls The Heart".

Note: This is my first fanfic. Please be kind with comments. I'm not aiming for historical accuracy, just something I thought would be fun to try out.

CHAPTER 1

Elizabeth sighed looking out at the work site. It was a hot day and the workers were struggling. The mill had a deadline to meet and they were behind schedule. Her father would not be happy. Elizabeth had sought to prove herself and she knew what would happen if she failed and she dreaded the thought.

Over a year ago, Elizabeth had made her way to this sleepy town on the frontier. It had been rocked by a mining disaster that killed almost all the men in town. The mine had been badly damaged and the remaining men had uplifted their families and sought work elsewhere. Initially Elizabeth had read about the town in the Hamilton papers and her heart was set on coming when she heard the town's school teacher had also up and left.

Elizabeth had immediately written to the mayor of Hope Valley and offered her services and for the exchange of free food and board, off she went much to the disapproval of her mother, father and older sister, Viola. Her younger sister, Julie, was the only one who supported her and would have gone with her except she had yet to finish her own schooling.

Elizabeth arrived in Hope Valley to find the entire town consisted of women and children. Although Elizabeth's appearance and overall manner had initially put many of the town's women on guard, her friendly and hard working nature quickly led to her acceptance and respect within the community. In addition, Elizabeth was a great teacher. The children loved her and they loved going to school. In just a few months Elizabeth had established a prominent role in the community and had become great friends with the mayor, Abigail Stanton.

Elizabeth was a wonderful teacher but it was frontier life that Elizabeth needed help with. Elizabeth spent time with many of the schoolchildren's families, getting to know them but also learning to do everything else. Abigail had taught her to cook and light a stove, Florence had been a travel guide of sorts, Dottie was surprisingly good at shooting and had taught Elizabeth everything she knew, Cat and her eldest son Gabe had shown Elizabeth how to fish and trap animals. Every woman in town had a skill she was more than happy to show Elizabeth and her eagerness to learn had given her more accomplishments than she would have received in any drawing room in Hamilton. The only thing Elizabeth knew how to do was ride a horse from the lessons she had received from a young age. But even the way she rode wasn't appropriate here. It was like Elizabeth had moved to a new country rather than a small town.

Unfortunately, just as Elizabeth had really begun to settle in, a lot of the work in town had begun to dry up and the town was on the brink of collapse. Abigail, Elizabeth and the town council had tried to come up with ideas to bring income into the town but so far none of the strategies had worked and only brought more troubles. Concerned with her students and their family's futures, Elizabeth resorted to her last idea.

Elizabeth knew business and as the smartest and most adept of William Thatcher's daughters, Elizabeth had accompanied her father to work regularly, despite it not being appropriate for a young lady of her social standing. William, however, relished in the time he spent with his daughter. He found her to be head strong and intelligent and she learnt the ropes quicker than most of the men that he employed. Although he knew that Elizabeth would never be permitted to take over the business, he was glad that someone he trusted knew what was going on should anything ever happen to him. Between his daughter and his protégé, Leland Coulter, William knew the business would be in good hands.

So, on the day that Elizabeth wired William to ask him what he thought of her business proposal, even though he wanted his daughter to come back to Hamilton, William was overly excited in her interest in the business. Elizabeth had proposed that they look into opening a saw mill on the outskirts of the town she now lived in, Hope Valley. She had investigated the proposed site and advised that employees would not be a problem. She mailed through cost estimates for land accrual, site setup and other initial expenses along with potential clients that she had already approached. William was beyond impressed with his daughter's reports and the numbers did indeed look promising. After getting Lee to review all the information and check the site details Elizabeth had provided, William had agreed to Elizabeth's proposal.

The saw mill was set up in Hope Valley with Elizabeth overseeing the site while Lee managed some of the other business aspects from their office in Hamilton. William didn't care in the slightest that Elizabeth was a woman or that she had never overseen a project of this magnitude. He believed it was a sure thing and with Lee's assistance, the new mill would be fine. It was expected that Elizabeth would a hire a foreman to do all the "dirty work".

William had, however, given Elizabeth an ultimatum when he approved her proposal: if Elizabeth was successful, he would eventually send one of his men out to take over the mill and Elizabeth would come back to Hamilton but could pursue teaching until she was married; but if Elizabeth failed she had to leave and come home to Hamilton immediately. One way or another, William believed his beloved daughter would be home soon. He couldn't have been further from the truth.

Elizabeth had no choice. If she was to help the women and children in her town, the new mill was her only option. So she accepted her father's conditions. Six months later, Elizabeth had set up the mill with Lee's help and employed most of the women in the town. Twelve months later, the business was thriving and more single and widowed women had arrived in town once the word got out that Thatcher's Mill was hiring. Now as well as the bank, general store and saloon, the town had reopened a café and bakery, a dress shop and an infirmary. Everything was run by women. That was the one thing that William and Lee had failed to notice in Elizabeth's proposal. There were only women left in the town to run the mill.

Occasionally men passed through Hope Valley but they generally didn't last. They usually came for the wrong reasons and were driven away quite quickly – either by choice or by force. Having a Thatcher in the town also made Elizabeth a target. Young men had arrived, sought her out and tried to court her. They were all sent away disappointed, but it still had an affect on Elizabeth. She considered Hope Valley her home but with these types of men appearing, she was becoming very disillusioned with men in general. She didn't trust any of them.

It was this very reason that Elizabeth was on edge – not only because of her impending deadline. Looking out at the site now, she could see Amber and Tabby struggling to load a cart. Florence was there barking orders. Even Cat, who was normally so calm and patient, appeared stressed. They needed more women to keep up with the orders. As it was, Elizabeth spent every morning with the children, teaching until noon before handing out their homework and afternoon assignments. Then the children either went home or to the back of the café while Elizabeth worked at the mill from noon until late, doing the ledgers and other paperwork. She would then go to Abigail's and eat quickly before pouring over her students' exams and assignments for the rest of the evening. Saturdays and Sundays were spent catching up on work at the mill or lesson plans. Elizabeth worked hard all day, every day. And she loved it.

The harder labour for some of the women was taking its toll. Elizabeth had a quota to reach and she was pretty sure Lee could arrive any day, on request by her father. Elizabeth had written to Lee frequently over the last year for advice. They had practically grown up together and were as close as siblings could be, even though they weren't related. Elizabeth had felt bad omitting the fact that all the employees were female, but so far, she felt it didn't need to be mentioned. Elizabeth wouldn't mind handing the mill over to Lee, he was a great friend to her, but she felt as though this would indicate her own failure. She had never failed at anything in her life, she wasn't about to start now.

As Elizabeth watched the women struggling, she realised her ledgers and paperwork would have to wait again. She grabbed her hat and her gloves and stepped outside into the sun. Her father would be very surprised to see Elizabeth now. Her hair was pinned on top of her head. She didn't wear a corset at the mill, naturally, so her long-sleeved shirt was larger to hide her curves and she wore pants, like most of the other women. The dressmaker had begun designing custom pants for the women, so they were more practical and comfortable than the men's clothing they had all previously worn. At least now Elizabeth didn't stand out like a sore a thumb anymore. She blended in with all the women in town.

The heat was more overwhelming without the shade cover. Elizabeth walked over to Amber and Tabby.

"I can help with this. Do one of you want to go see how far off the next lot of cuts are?"

Elizabeth could have done that herself, but she knew that was the easier job. Amber and Tabby briefly argued over who would stay and help Elizabeth before Tabby reluctantly went off. Amber and Elizabeth worked in silence until Tabby returned with another young woman, Jenny. Jenny had only been working at the mill for a month, but she eagerly assisted the other three to load the rest of the wagon to take it to the railway car. The railway line was only one mile away, meaning it was close enough to be convenient but just far enough to make it a nuisance for transporting the freshly cut timber boards. They had four wagon loads to go onto the railway car that was supposed to depart tomorrow morning. This was only the third load.

Amber and Tabby jumped into the cart and led the horses away while the next cart was set and ready to be loaded. Florence found more women to help. The 5 o'clock bell sounded signalling the end of the work day when they had just started the last cart. The workers left the mill to head home, but as they saw Elizabeth and the other women still working, more women came to help. The last cart was loaded quickly and Elizabeth jumped on the back to head to the railway to unload it. Another three women followed her example, as well as the two women up front steering the horse. The last cart was unloaded at the railway and Elizabeth dropped the women back to town before driving the cart back to the mill, unharnessing the horses, brushing them out and feeding them.

The moon was high in the sky when Elizabeth went back to the office, grabbed her papers and pistol and walked the short road back to town. It was still a warm night and Elizabeth loved these nights watching the lightning bugs dance on the side of the road. She had never seen anything like that growing up in Hamilton. If her mother could see her now, and at that thought, a wide smile came across Elizabeth's face.

As Elizabeth walked, she thought back to her first few months, over a year ago in this small town. Elizabeth was so grateful for all that she had learnt and it had definitely come in handy the last month or so. The town had a trail of men passing through that appeared to get worse and worse each time. The first couple of men were harmless flirts that latched onto the pretty school teacher and a few of the other younger women in town, including the town's nurse and Elizabeth's friend, Faith. There was a Mountie that had come from Hamilton who was an old acquaintance of Elizabeth's who tried to drag her back to the city, much to her disgust.

The final straw was Billy Hamilton. He was smooth with the ladies and was quite attractive. He was staying at the saloon and had captured the attention of some of the younger women. Elizabeth had entered the saloon late on a Saturday after finalising some school work and joined Faith at a table. They ordered a couple of bowls of chilli and corn bread and had begun to chat about work and town gossip. Elizabeth heard a male voice at the bar and turned to see some of the local women talking to a blonde haired man. This man wasn't paying them all that much attention. Instead he was watching Elizabeth and Faith. Elizabeth turned back to her food and began to eat just as a shadow was cast over them.

"Miss Thatcher? Please allow me to introduce myself. The name is Billy Hamilton. It is such a pleasure, ma'am."

"Mr Hamilton. Nice to meet you." Elizabeth held out her hand to shake, which he boldly took in both of his hands and kissed it instead. Elizabeth pulled her hand back awkwardly. "This is Faith Carter, the town's nurse." Elizabeth waved her hand towards her friend, but he barely even glanced in Faith's direction. "And what are you doing in town, Sir?"

"I was told that you run the largest source of employment in town. Would you need any more workers at present?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but not right now. Maybe in another month though" Elizabeth smiled at him hoping that she appeared genuine.

"Oh well it doesn't hurt to ask. May I be so bold as to ask if you would be available to have dinner with me tomorrow evening?" Billy flashed a smile at Elizabeth as he spoke.

"Thankyou for the offer but I am very busy at the moment."

"Perhaps another time then. Ma'am" Billy nodded his head before returning to the bar.

Elizabeth watched him walk away. He was quite an attractive man but his boldness made her wary. It was such a shame that she had to shoot him.