Recap: A Parade and a Charade - Season 8 Episode 8

Lucas watches on as Elizabeth rides down main street and stops Nathan to talk about what happened at the adoption ceremony. She is concerned about Allie. Nathan admits he was uncomfortable by the position Allie put them in.

He had no idea she had not invited any other guests. To be honest Elizabeth wasn’t even on the guest list at first. Elizabeth is hurt by the admission. She wants to talk further but Nathan must go. An escaped prisoner was reported nearby. As he rides out Lucas tries to get a word in, but Nathan blows him off.

At the saloon, Elizabeth speaks with Lucas in his office. She tells him about being the only one invited to Allie’s adoption ceremony. Just then he gets a call. Lucas takes it in French, and the conversation grows heated. Lucas asks Elizabeth to literally pardon his French. He is frustrated with the dealer he is working with to buy artwork as an anniversary gift for his parents. He asks Elizabeth to meet him for lunch. She smiles and leaves, saying, “À tout à l’heure,” or in other words, see you later.

At the row house, Elizabeth tells Rosemary about her encounter with Nathan. She feels like there is still something he is not telling her. Rosemary tells Elizabeth she just needs to ask him directly. Meanwhile, Rosemary admits her job search is not going well. She wants to find work that makes her as excited as she was back when she first started at the dress shop. The answer has not come to her yet.

At the mercantile, Florence tucks a blanket around Ned in a rocking chair. She also introduces him to his replacement courier to deliver the mail - Robert!

Carson lays out plans for the infirmary with Faith and Molly. He leaves to take a break and Faith expresses concern to Molly that Carson is trying to make the infirmary into a large hospital like Union City’s. Molly wonders if he wouldn’t consider the fellowship again. Faith feels the only way Carson would take this great opportunity is if she went to Baltimore with him.

At the café, a frustrated Bill delivers the wrong breakfast order to Lee. He takes a seat and seeing clearly there is something up with Bill, he offers to let Bill vent.

At the dress shop Christopher comes to see Rachel at the dress shop. He is ready to take in the sights of Hope Valley together, but Rosemary quickly comes between them. She is happy to arrange another time to take Rachel and Christopher sight-seeing with Lee. An embarrassed Rachel locks herself away in the dress shop.

At the Canfield cabin, Minnie brings Joseph some lemonade as he finishes knocking off a task on his honey-do list. Elizabeth stops by on her horse. Minnie admires the horse, learning it belonged to Jack, who died in an accident at Fort Clay. Minnie is sorry for her loss. However, she has good news. Angela is ready to try reading again. Just then Angela comes out and greets Elizabeth with a hug.

In town, Hickam tells Jesse he does not know how Clara puts up with him as he leaves a mess everywhere. He was happy to host him at his place for a little while, but it is time he and Clara patch things up. Jesse gets upset and insults Hickam, saying he thought he was a nice guy.

Back at the dress shop, Christopher has returned. He is not afraid of Rosemary or Lee. Rachel admits she knows Christopher stole the pocket watch and did not say anything. They playfully toss pillows at one another as she says she is not afraid of him. He claims to be gentle as a lamb. They share a brief and sweet kiss, and he tells her to wait for him tonight.

At Bill’s office Henry swings by to talk about Christopher. He needs to know when Christopher arrived in town as it seems to be connected to trouble, in particular the stolen car. The discussion becomes heated and Nathan enters to calm things down. Nathan admits they do not yet have a suspect for the missing car even though Bill argues it arrived at the same time as Christopher. Henry leaves upset. Nathan warns Bill about making accusations of guilt by association.

At the schoolhouse Angela explains learning to read is helping her to not feel so alone. Minnie watches on as Elizabeth starts the lesson. Clearly confident in Elizabeth’s skills, she leaves and catches up with Joseph at the old gas station. He is happy to hear Angela’s lesson is going well, but the gas station has been sold. Minnie tells him to take it as a sign he should be a pastor.

Lee and Jesse unload lumber for Carson. Molly greets Lee and explains the lumber is for Carson’s expansion of the infirmary. A distraught Jesse unpacks the wood while longingly watching Clara at the café.

As Nathan and Allie arrive at the mercantile, he tries to talk about the awkward adoption ceremony but is interrupted by Florence.

She has an urgent note for him. The prisoner he just put away has escaped. He must leave immediately. A disappointed Allie watches him go.

Elizabeth and Angela meet up with Joseph and Minnie just in time to head to the café for a meal. Lucas enjoys seeing Elizabeth beam over Angela and her success. The elation is put on pause when Elizabeth sees a sad Allie sitting outside of the infirmary. Elizabeth turns to tell Lucas how it breaks her heart to see Allie so sad. She feared this would happen if she tried to be friends with Nathan. Lucas is perfectly happy for Elizabeth to be friends with Nathan, although he does not know if friendship is enough for Nathan. Elizabeth turns back to give her attention to Allie, but she is gone.

Suddenly, Christopher runs to the infirmary shouting for help. Henry has passed out at his desk and Christopher does not know what is wrong. Faith and Carson quickly get to Henry to help and explain to Christopher about Henry’s high blood pressure.

In a rage Christopher storms over to Lucas, furious that he put Henry to work knowing his condition. If anything happens to his father, he will hold Lucas responsible.

Later that night Elizabeth goes to see Lucas and tells him Henry is going to be fine. Lucas had no idea about the severity of Henry’s condition. Lucas politely excuses himself from their dinner plans. Elizabeth offers to stay with Lucas a while and talk. He takes a seat next to her bringing them very close. She takes his hand. He leans in for what seems like a kiss, but instead he gently whispers that perhaps she should go as he wants to be patient for her. Clearly the restraint is tough for Lucas, but he lets her depart with a kiss on her hand. She leaves, thanking him for being so understanding. Outside his door, Elizabeth needs a moment too cool down herself as she felt the heat of the moment as well.

At the infirmary Henry tells Carson about his recent spell and admits the first one he had was related to a letter he sent Christopher. The letter was returned unopened. Christopher has never called him anything but “Henry,” but today he was encouraged to see how much Christopher cares about him.

Rachel finds Christopher outside the café. He did not come to see her and Rachel wonders why until she follows his gaze. He is staring at the infirmary. She asks if he is afraid of getting close to Henry, since the closer you get to someone, the more you fear losing them. Maybe that’s also why he’s trying to push her away. Christopher asks what he should do. Rachel says take a chance on people. She tells him to come see her at Dottie’s tomorrow. He says nothing will keep him away and gives her a kiss.

Meanwhile at Lee and Rosemary’s house, Elizabeth learns they’ll get a break from parenting as Susannah wants Rachel to return to Bellingham for a little while to celebrate her birthday. Elizabeth assures them if she can learn how to knit, they can learn how to parent.

Rachel waits at the dress shop for Christopher. He has not shown up yet and she is worried. Rosemary enters with good news; Dottie is not selling the dress shop. Clara and Rachel’s response is lackluster. Clara is still preoccupied with Jesse and Rachel is worried once she goes home her mother may not let her return. Rosemary tells her to leave that worry to her, but maybe try not to displease her mother with her choice of dress.

At the infirmary, Carson feels foolish for ordering the lumber for the infirmary expansion. Faith takes it as a sign he has changed his mind about expanding. In fact he’s changed his mind about a lot of things. She admits she talked to Molly about how joining him in Baltimore could prompt him to take the fellowship. The events of the past few days have really shown her something. Carson is elated. He cannot imagine all they’ll be able to do together in Baltimore. However, they are not on the same page. Faith has realized how much she is needed in Hope Valley and this is where she is staying. Disappointed, Carson leaves to take care of returning the lumber.

At the oil derrick Jesse apologies to Hickam for the other day. He realizes Hickam was just being a good friend by telling him what he needed to hear. Lucas arrives and suggests Christopher, who is steadily digging a trench, take some time off to be with Henry. Christopher tells him to leave unless he wants to get in the mud with him. Lucas excuses himself and runs into Nathan. Nathan tells him he is not giving up his fight for Elizabeth. Lucas says he can do whatever he wants but he better have Elizabeth and Allie’s best interests at heart.

At the Café, Bill reminds Clara he will be out of town for the next few days. Minnie approaches Bill exclaiming how delicious the food is at the cafe. Minnie loves to cook as well. Bill tells Clara to take note of that. Clara invites Minnie to join her anytime as she’d love the company. Jesse enters and asks if Clara would like to talk. She agrees.

Allie arrives at the school with another invitation. She knows what she did was wrong and apologizes. Elizabeth wonders if Allie is aware that she is seeing Lucas. She confirms she knows, because Nathan told her. Allie leaves as Elizabeth opens the invitation. She quickly notices it’s for dinner with Nathan. Elizabeth stops Allie and explains she cannot come over for dinner and is happy to talk about why. Allie, very upset, grabs the invitation, rips it up, and leaves.

As Lee comes to pick up Rachel, Rosemary lets him know that Rachel is concerned her mother will keep her in Bellingham. As Rachel heads to the car for the train station, Lee pulls out his pocket watch. He found it under the car seat. Rachel is surprised and touched to realize Christopher returned it. Later, Christopher arrives at the dress shop too late to catch Rachel. He is dirty from work and disappointed to have missed her.

After learning Ned feels like he has been replaced by Robert, Florence explains it was not her intention. No one could ever replace him in this town. She just wanted to offer him help. Ned tenderly accepts her apology.

Molly visits Bill at his office to wish him a good trip. She encourages him to try on his Mountie jacket for old time’s sake. Everyone knows turning in the uniform is a big deal to Bill and therefore a big deal to his friends. She leaves him with the words, “It is the man that makes the uniform, not the other way around.”

As the town waits to see off Bill outside the jail, Elizabeth approaches Nathan to talk about Allie. Lucas watches as Elizabeth tells Nathan she feared this would happen if things did not work out between them.
Their conversation stops as Bill leaves his office in his Mountie uniform, posing for a picture on his horse.

After he rides off Elizabeth and Nathan pick up where they left off. She tries to tell Nathan that he is her rock and if he lets her down her whole world crumbles. Nathan understands that. It is why he tried not to show his feelings for Elizabeth and why he turned down inspector general. He wanted to leave this place, but Allie feels safe here. Elizabeth demands Nathan tell her what he has been hiding. Nathan admits he was supposed the lead the training mission at Fort Clay, not Jack. But because he was suspended, Jack took his place. A stunned Elizabeth walks away with tears in her eyes.