My Home From Home - Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Calgary, Alberta 1920
Thomas huffed as he took the last of Henry's cases and hoisted it up onto the back of his horse drawn carriage; his body finally allowed to relax as he felt the weight finally relieved of him. He glanced towards the kerb up to see the pretty dark haired doctor hastily averting his gaze, running a hand through his gorgeous wavy hair; he looked so shy, so scared, but there was a look of hope and life in those sapphire blue eyes that made Thomas' heart feel a warm and fuzzy sensation deep within him. A sensation that he knew better than to let bubble to the surface. His eyes were so beautiful, so clear, so pure; like that of an angel from heaven sent to guide in an injured soldier to safety, to live yet another day on God's earth.
"Just to clarify, I might be handling your cases, but I'm still not a porter." Thomas teased, flashing Henry a half smile as the pretty young man let out a pained, grimacing exhale.
"Once more, I apologise profusely." Henry awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he shifted weight from one foot to another. "Though if I may be so bold, I should think there are far worse professions to be mistaken for in the world than being a railway station porter."
"Never said there was anything wrong with it." Shrugged Thomas with a cheeky smirk as he shut the tailgate of the carriage and suavely moved towards Henry whilst clapping the dust off his hands; his dangerously attractive dimples making Henry go weak in the knees. "I just think it's funny, is all." He winked, making Henry's body tense up. Thomas didn't quite know why he winked at the man, winking wasn't something he did but he felt it right in that moment, though he a part of him instantly regretted it; an indiscretion like such was terribly dangerous in that day and age. Thomas prayed to God that it went either unnoticed or merely interpreted as friendly whilst he stepped up onto the carriage and took the reins in his leather-glove clad hands.
"Funny?" Henry cocked an eyebrow at the handsome blond as he struggled to pull himself onto the carriage, nearly loosing footing on the wooden step between the unpaved ground and the inside of the carriage.
"You alright there, bud?" Thomas furrowed his brow as he noted the boy's visible inability to climb into the carriage.
"Oh yes, sorry I reckon I've been on the train too long. All but lost control of my legs, I have." Henry admitted thoughtlessly as he sat himself down on the bench beside Thomas. The truth of the matter was that Henry had never rode in the front of a carriage, only in the back; not to mention those were luxury coaches where passengers rode on the inside whilst the driver sat on the outside, not open carriages like this that only had a mere awning to cover the driver and one passenger.
"Ah, I see." Thomas nodded to himself as Henry let out an internalised sigh of relief that the man bought his story. The handsome young officer leant over towards him and offered him a hand so he could successfully gain his footing onto the wooden ledge before giving him a firm pull onto the carriage.
"Thank you." Henry cleared his throat as he got ready to sit down in the seat next to Thomas , only stopping as he realised Thomas was still holding his hand. "Erm.. Constable?" Henry glanced between Thomas' eyes and down to their inter-clasped hands.
"Oh um." Thomas immediately released his grip on Henry's hand, his lightly sun kissed skin flushing bright red as he settled back into his seat tensing his jaw anxiously. "Alright wel... Shall we head off then?"
"Yes, do lets." Henry shifted uncomfortably in the rather uncomfortable wooden seat, flashing an awkward half smile before once again breaking off eye contact to make it less painfully awkward.
Thomas pulled the reigns and clicked his tongue, prompting the beautiful brown horse to set off to begin their steady trot towards Fir Creek. Henry was usually good about not staring at people; his Mama said staring was terribly un-English, but there was something about this stranger that he couldn't help but stare at; he was perhaps the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen. Though clean cut with perfectly styled straight blond hair peeking out from under his wide brimmed hat, a part of him found there something rugged about his striking good looks.
But little did Henry know that he wasn't the only one sneaking glances; Thomas also snuck his fair share of stolen looks. Both men sat in utter silence as neither were particularly adept at small talk; Henry often likened pointless chit-chat to a method of torture whilst Thomas was simply and reserved from a young age. But the curiosity was simply eating at them both from the inside.
"Ah, you lot drive on the right here." Henry abruptly broke the painfully awkward silence, immediately kicking himself internally for choosing perhaps the most mundane topic to break the ice with as Thomas craned his neck to flash him a confused look that only confirmed how ridiculous his little outburst sounded. "I find it rather odd that different provinces drive on different sides of the road. When I landed in Nova Scotia, I felt like I was still at home. Then when I finally got to Québec I nearly had a heart attack when the taxi was driving on the wrong side of the blasted road."
"Oh, um... Yeah." Chuckled Thomas awkwardly. "Some provinces follow the British and drive on the left; like the Maritimes, British Columbia, ad the sort. And some follow the French and drive on the right; the Prairies, Ontario, and Québec obviously."
"Curious." Henry muttered to himself as he started out into the rolling prairie landscape around him. "Sounds like a bloody nightmare logistically but whatever works, I suppose."
"I guess it does..." Thomas shrugged with an awkward laugh which set off yet another awkward silence between them, leaving nothing but the sound of the horse trotting and the carriage wheels against the dirt road to keep them from utterly losing the plot. "Um... The telegram I'd received from the Health Ministry said that you were coming in on the train from Montréal, so I assumed that's where you were from..." Thomas glanced over towards Henry for a second; watching as the boy's adam's apple bobbed in his neck. "I take it you're not from Montréal."
"No erm... I'm from England, actually." Henry admitted softly, feeling his heart pounding within his chest; as per usual Henry mostly kept to himself for most of the train journey and lucky for him he found the people to generally be as reserved and nonintrusive as one would be back home. So this was the first time he'd have to regurgitate the rehearsed false backstory his father had created for him.
"England, eh? With that accent you know, I'd never have guessed." Thomas teased sarcastically, glancing to the side to see Henry blushing uncomfortably. "So what brings you out to here Alberta? You're a long way from home."
"Good question, that." Henry mumbled under his breath whilst shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
"Eh? Sorry I didn't catch that." Thomas cocked a curious brow as Henry visibly tensed up realising his mumble was a bit more audible than he'd originally intended.
"Err..." Henry blinkled at him wide eyed, a bit caught off guard; though it really wasn't anything when it came to him having to reproduce this little white lie about, well, his entire life, he found every little bump in the road to be like knives stabbing into him.
"Sorry, I shouldn't've pried like that. You don't have to answer that if you don't want." Thomas apologised, realising he truly didn't know this stranger at all let alone to expect him to divulge personal information to him.
"No, It's quite alright." Henry sat back, feeling a slight sense of calmness was over his clenched body as he glanced over towards the back of the handsome blond's head, covered on top by his brown mountie hat, a leather strap around the base. "I reckon I've come here for a bit of a change, really. I suppose one can get terribly bored living in one place for twenty seven years."
"You're twenty-seven?" Thomas asked, earning him a nod from the dark haired Englishman. "Me too." Thomas admitted with a tight lipped smile perking up the corners of his lips. "I'm sorry if I offended you earlier at the station... It's just... you exactly weren't what I was expecting when they told me a new doctor was coming to town."
"Oh? Well humour me, Constable." Henry perked up with a confident smirk, surprised as he felt a bit of his true self shining through with this unknown yet strikingly beautiful man; he glanced over towards the handsome officer in red and involuntarily bit his lower lip. Thomas cocked his neck to the side to look at Henry, doing a double take as his eyes settled on Henry's bit lower lip. "What were you expecting me to be like?"
"An older man with a family?" Offered Thomas seriously, earning him a chuckle from the dark haired boy next to him.
"Well, I'm sorry that I didn't quite meet your expectations." Teased Henry covertly as he ran his hand through his lustrous raven brown hair. "Have you got have a family?"
"Two boys, Danny and Alfie." Thomas smiled brightly at the very thought of his two little lads as Henry forced the most genuine smile he possibly could muster.
"Oh! How lovely! I'm sure you and your wife absolutely adore them." Henry's saccharine voice went up an active; he'd be lying if he said he wasn't already daydreaming about the handsome dapper Mountie, though he'd just found his dreams utterly ruined by what he assumed was a wife sized spanner thrown into the works.
"I'm not married." Thomas admitted softly.
"Oh, crikey. Terribly sorry, I simply assumed...I erm... Their mother?" Henry grimaced slightly, knowing deep inside that it was bang out of order for him to overstep as he had done just then.
"She passed away during the Spanish Flu pandemic." Thomas blinked his eyes down as his body tensed up ever so slightly.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for your loss..." Henry flashed him an empathetic glance. "The Spanish Flu was an utterly frightful matter. After the war it was by far the hardest challenges I've faced as a physician. Terribly tumultuous disease; old, young, weak, strong, I saw countless patients succumb to it. Some recovered temporarily only for them to take a sudden turn for the worst. Even the older doctors at the hospital said it was like nothing they'd seen before. You have my deepest condolences."
Thomas pursed his lips, nodding silently as he stared blankly out onto the gravel road ahead. Henry simply blinked his gaze back down to the wooden carriage floor underneath his leather soles as the silence took over once again. They'd exchange words every so often, usually small talk about the weather and how much each hated the weather where they were from. He rather took solace in the fact that Canadians seemed to be as utter rubbish at small talk as the English, though in this particular case it seemed to throw rather a spanner in the works of him hoping to better acquaint himself with the dashing young Mountie.
The gentle trotting of the horses on the gravel road lulled Henry's ever racing mind. Every so often he'd catch himself stealing more guilty glances at the handsome blond; the way his manly hands handled the reins, the way his jaw clenched, the way his brooding amber brown eyes pierced through the nothingness before him as his mind seemed to be miles away. Henry feared the man would catch him staring, but he couldn't help himself; he was perhaps the most beautiful man he'd ever seen.
The Alberta afternoon turned into early even and thankfully so, the sun moved further into the horizon as the fleeting seconds turned to minutes, and minutes into hours. The rolling flat prairies and soon enough carriage pulled into a small town. It was quite different from any small villages he'd seen in England; there high street was one straight road that had all the shops and amenities lined across it; the patterns of the town seemed more organised than that he'd seen in England; more straight, grid like streets whilst back home, Aldringham high street was a long winding snaking mess.
"And, we're here." Henry rapidly blinked himself out of his little trance as he heard Thomas' voice beckon him back to reality. He glanced to the side to see the handsome Mountie flashing him a tight lipped smile before craning his neck to scan his surroundings opposite them. His eyes fixated upon the building in front of them which appeared more like a two, double storey semi-attached edifices with separate two separate entrances on opposing sides; one with the words 'Police Station' on the front, and the  there side with a large painted Red Cross on a whitewashed oak board that read 'Infirmary'. "It's not much, but this is it. Welcome to Fir Creek."
"It's quite quaint, isn't it." Henry noted softly, trying to keep any prejudgment from being too evident in his voice. This looked like an old house of sorts that'd been converted into some sort of hospital and police station.
"Yeah." Thomas smiled, scratching his neck awkwardly. "It's actually an farmer's old house that'd been converted into a police station and hospital."
"Is it? I'd never have guessed." Henry cocked an eyebrow as he stood up and manoeuvred his way down and off the carriage. The house, or hospital-stroke-police station rather, looked quite charming in a rustic, old sort of way with it's wraparound veranda and it's simplistic painted wooden facade. "So this is the cottage hospital. How many beds are there? And what of other staff, nurses and the sort?" Henry asked curiously as he walked around to the back of the carriage to help the handsome blond lugging his cases off the back.
"I wouldn't quite call it a cottage hospital, moreso... a clinic." Huffed Thomas as he heaved one of cases off the back of the carriage. "And there aren't any nurses."
"Are you having a laugh?" Henry furrowed his brows at the handsome blond.
"Unfortunately, not. There hasn't been much need for it. The clinic is mostly for routine check-ups, emergency care, and outpatient stuff." Thomas shot him a knowing look. "Anything too complicated like surgeries and stuff are done in Calgary."
"Calgary?! Like where we'd just come from, Calgary?! That's hours away?! Now you're taking the mick, surely." Henry gasped in disbelief, his bright blue eyes widened and practically oozing with shock.
"No, I assure you, I'm being completely serious." Thomas chuckled, knowing exactly what Henry was getting at; nonetheless he'd grown up in Fir Creek so he knew all too well that it was small and quiet. There wasn't much crime in their safe little hamlet and the clinic had everything one needed for routine procedures while more serious matters were sent to hospital in Calgary. "I'll show you round, there's more inside."
"I should jolly well hope so." Henry muttered under his breath with furrowed his brows as he stared at the building up and down judgementally.
Henry shook off the bewilderment as he followed Thomas up the steps leading to the front entrance of the hospital; though Henry wasn't quite sure why the taller man still had Henry's cases in his hands. He watched in pure perplexity as Thomas set the cases down and fished a ring of skeleton keys out of his red jacket pocket to open the door
"This is the waiting area and the examination room is just in there." Thomas creaked the old oak door open and beckoned for henry to follow as he led the young Doctor through the house for a room-by-room tour. The more Henry saw of it the less he found concerning; there were rustic wooden benches in the waiting area and a simple table where he'd assume the secretary would sit. It was quite different from the Harley Street GP practices he'd gone to as a kid, or even the small cottage hospital in Aldringham that his parents as Duke and Duchess were trustees in; but he figured he'd make do.
"Well, how do you like your new home?" Asked Thomas as he lead him down the hallway towards the examination room with a hospitable smile, earning him a Henry cocked an eyebrow at him.
"I'm... Meant to sleep... Here...?" Henry muttered as politely as he could, his latently horrified sapphire gaze darted between the wooden benches in the waiting area and the terribly uncomfortable looking examination table in the draughty looking room. "Surely you can't expect one to sleep here!"
"You did say you served in the war, can't be much worse than a military cot." Thomas shrugged with a cheeky half-smile  as the pretty dark haired boy glared up through the dark hair that'd fallen into his sea blue eyes; walking up to him and leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest as they both stood in the doorway. He didn't know why he was engaging in teasing banter with the raven haired lad, Thomas never was one to flirt or tease; but something about those familiar blue eyes seemed to make him feel comfortable with Henry.
"One makes do with the circumstances whilst in service of King and Country." Henry cleared his throat uncomfortably. His eyes locked with the handsome officer's amber eyes, he barely even realised just how close he was, there was something about him that Henry couldn't quite pinpoint; he didn't feel odd that this stranger was speaking to him familiar like, if anything he felt comfortable even so oddly close to him.
Time all but seemed to stand still as they stood in that doorway, Henry's spine pressed against the door as the taller uniformed officer stood dangerously close to him. Henry blinked his gaze downward to the wood flooring as he cleared his throat uncomfortable; glancing up to see an indelible glazed-over look out off of his deep honey coloured eyes, a look Henry knew all too well.
"DADDY!" Henry flinched as he heard a toddlers's voice coming from the distance, followed by the indelible sound of a child bounding down the creaky wooden floor. He recoiled slightly as he watched a little blond boy appearing to be no older than three or four stumbling up to hug Thomas' leg. "Daddy you're home!"
"Home?" Henry cocked an eyebrow as he stared dumbfounded into the oddly amused looking Constable's soft gaze. "Did he just say... Home?"