‘When Calls the Heart’ Reveals News About Jack — How Will It Affect Elizabeth & Nathan?

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the When Calls the Heart Season 12 premiere “The Mountie Way.”]

When Calls the Heart ended last season on a shocking cliffhanger: Superintendent Hargraves (David James Lewis) interrupted Elizabeth (Erin Krakow) and Nathan (Kevin McGarry) to reveal he had news about her late husband, Jack. And while at first what it ends up being doesn’t seem to be anything major, it soon becomes clear that it could mean trouble for the new couple down the line.

The When Calls the Heart Season 12 premiere doesn’t waste any time in revealing just what Hargraves has to say. Though he tries to dismiss Nathan, Elizabeth insists he stay. “I’m here because recently, a road crew began excavating at the site of the rock slide where Jack…,” Hargraves explains. “They found something I think you’ll want to have.” He gives her Jack’s commissioner’s medal, the highest Mountie honor. “No exaggeration to say Jack Thornton has become quite a legend,” Hargraves says, calling him, “not one so easily replaced,” while looking at Nathan.

“You were meant to be leading that training mission, weren’t you?” he recalls and tells him, “Take care of her,” as he leaves. Elizabeth tells Nathan not to pay him any attention, and he brushes it off.

Elizabeth then shows Little Jack his father’s medal. “This was given to your daddy for exceptional valor in performance of his duty,” she says. “Daddy was very brave.” She lets him choose where to keep the medal, and he puts it on a frame with Jack’s photo, “like he’s right here with us.” Little Jack then raves to Nathan about the medal and his father getting it for being a hero. “Some say he was the bravest Mountie of all,” Nathan agrees.

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Later, however, Elizabeth remarks that during that exchange, “you didn’t seem quite like yourself to me.” Nathan insists he’s always himself. “I’m really proud of you for not letting Hargraves get to you,” she adds. “You asked me to let the guilt go. That’s what I’m, trying to do,” he says, but, “When Jack grows up, he’s going to have questions about how his father died. He’s going to want to know the truth. I’m going to have to answer for it.”

He keeps hearing about how great Jack was, too, when a new cadet, Oliver Garrett (Jacob Shoemay), he’s to train, recognizes Elizabeth’s last name. “They talked about him all the time during basic training, how brave he was and smart, how he single-handedly tracked down an entire band of smugglers in the northwest. They say he was the finest example of the Mountie Way.” Nathan agrees, ”He was the best of the best.”

Little Jack then wears the medal to school, to show how brave he is, and he gives it to Lily to wear to calm her nerves. After he gets it back, he wants to wear it to his riding lessons with Nathan, and it’s there that Little Jack asks if the Mountie knew his dad. “No, I didn’t,” Nathan says, “but I wish I had.” Little Jack tells him he’s a hero, too; all Mounties are.

It’s a conversation with Rosemary (Pascale Hutton) that seems to get through to Nathan, after she remarks about the long shadow that Jack casts. “I’m not trying to replace Jack, not for Elizabeth, not for Little Jack,” he insists. “It’s just one day that little boy’s going to grow up and he’s going to wonder why his father died, and I think the closer we get now, the angrier he’s going to be when he gets older.” Rosemary doesn’t think he’s giving himself enough credit because “I can see how happy you make her, how happy you make them both. no one knows what the future holds, so we might as well enjoy the time we have.”

Ricardo Hubbs / Hallmark Media

When Nathan stops by Elizabeth’s and notes where the medal is (on the picture frame), Elizabeth stresses, “It’s important to me that he stay real to Little Jack and to me.” But Nathan assures her he wouldn’t have it any other way and reveals he made a display case for the medal. Elizabeth immediately puts it inside. He also shares that Rosemary offered wise advice.

“If Little Jack ever wants to know more, we’ll find a way to tell him together,” Elizabeth assures him. “And until then, he gets to have you in his life, which I suspect he wouldn’t give up for the world. And neither would I.”

What did you think of the reveal about the news about Jack? And while it seems like Elizabeth and Nathan have gotten past this hurdle, do you think it will affect their relationship down the road? Let us know in the comments section below.

When Calls the Heart, Sundays, 9/8c, Hallmark Channel