“Hey Sully!”, yelled Brian, “Where ya been, hunting with Cloud Dancing?” He threw his arms around Sully and Sully patted his back and looked over at the others briefly. “Yeah, Brian...........how are ya doin’?”
“Good, come on and eat lunch with us..”, Brian said as he pulled Sully’s hand.
“I don’t know Brian”, he looked at Michaela, who was busy unpacking the picnic basket. Brian managed to pull Sully close to the blanket and Matthew and Colleen greeted Sully.
He didn’t step any further, “Hello Dr. Mike”, he said softly, and all of them watched Dr. Mike to see her reaction. She simply looked up, “Hello Sully”, in her calm way and continued unpacking food and passing it around.
Sully bent down to Brian, “Ya know I got some things I gotta do Brian, so I’ll see ya later okay?”
“Hey, come by the homestead for supper, Colleen’s making something special!”
“Well, everything Colleen makes is special, and I’ll see okay. Have a good afternoon”, he tossled Brian’s hair and stood, “Bye everybody”, and walked away. Before he left the meadow he was steaming mad, obviously Michaela was still not speaking to him and not even wanting to! He knew he would not go to the homestead for supper.
That evening, Brian said to Matthew, “I told Sully to come, why isn’t he here?”
“You told him, you should have invited him little brother, I thought he said he was going hunting?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Hey Ma, aren’t ya missing Sully, he hasn’t been here in over two weeks!”, Brian said as he walked near Michaela.
Michaela was stirring a pot on the stove, “No Brian, I am not missing Sully, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t welcome here any time you want to see him.”
Matthew and Colleen exchanged looks and then they all sat down and ate supper. While Matthew and Colleen were cleaning up, they whispered back and forth, “What is going on? Dr Mike was awfully cold to Sully today and now she says she doesn’t miss him! That Indian woman really bothered her...”, Matthew said to Colleen.
“Matthew, Sully kissed her! Dr. Mike was really upset by that and the fact that she was part Indian in the same way as Sully, well that made it worse!”
“Well we gotta think of something to fix it, I can’t stand her like this. Let’s find Sully tomorrow and see what we can do.”
Sully walked into the store and Dorothy immediately came over to him, “Mornin’ Sully, how are you doing?”
“Hello Dorothy, I’m all right”, he could see the look on her face that she was inquiring as to more than his health, “of course haven’t spoken to Michaela in over two weeks now”, he half smiled and shook his head.
“I know, I know”, Dorothy said sympathetically, “she can be so stubborn! Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes, there is. I came here to buy her something, but I don’t know what. Thought I’d go over to the clinic, she wouldn’t throw me out if I came bearing a gift would she?”
Dorothy chuckled, “Don’t know, but let’s see what you can get.........”, Dorothy started walking around the store, “Did you have anything in mind?”
“Don’t know, what does a man give a woman when he’s trying to set things right?”
“I have no idea! Marcus certainly never gave me anything!”, Dorothy smiled, “there’s candy, but Michaela’s not much of a candy eater. How about some nice perfume!”, she walked to the counter and picked up a few beautiful bottles, “Some of these are just beautiful, and perfume is a good gift, very personal and very intimate”.
Sully’s mouth curled at the corner, “Sounds good, which one is best?”
“This pink bottle is so pretty”, she unscrewed the fancy cap, “uhm...smells good too!” She held it for Sully to sniff, he nodded his acceptance. “Let me put a pretty ribbon on it”. They walked to the counter near the door and Sully put money on the counter and Dorothy tied a pretty lace ribbon on the bottle, “There, now go over there Sully. She can’t stay mad forever.”
“I hope not. Thanks Dorothy”, he cradled the bottle of perfume and left. He thought of what he would say as he neared the clinic. He pulled the string for the bell and took a deep breath, when Michaela opened the door, she looked surprised to see him.
“Hello, may I come in?”, he asked nervously.
She nodded and stepped back. “Michaela, I know you’re mad with me, but I can’t stand not being with you for much longer”, he looked at her, he looked away. That wasn’t what he wanted to say, at least not yet. “I brought you a gift”, he held out the bottle.
She looked at it and then looked up at him, “Thank you”, she said softly, “it’s very nice”. She held it carefully against her chest.
“Would you like to go to Grace’s for a coffee?”, he asked.
“No Sully I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?”, he pleaded, his arms out to her.
She turned and put the bottle on the desk, “Because I think we can’t spend time together any more.”
He grabbed her arm, “Why........Why are you saying that?”
“I can’t get the picture of you kissing her out of my mind!”, she yanked her arm out of his hand.
He sighed, “I’m sorry, please forget about it. She kissed me and it meant nothin’ to me!”
“Sully you told me it was my fault, because I never kiss you, because I’m afraid to be alone with you!”
“That ain’t what I said! I didn’t say this was your fault, but I didn’t go looking for her, or anyone else, because you won’t be alone with me!”, he grabbed her with both hands and pulled her closer to him, “I’m attracted to you, I wanna kiss you and hold you in my arms, but you never seem to have time for me..... you’re always pushing me away. I’m tired of you always thinking it’s so wrong to kiss me, hold me. You think it’s inappropriate, but it isn’t! Part of courting is hugging and kissing! I’m tired of being third on your list, the clinic and the kids always come before me, and sometimes I should come first, shouldn’t I?”
She looked up into his eyes, “Sully, I’m sorry......”
He interrupted, “Oh, you’re sorry? What good does that do? Tell me, Michaela, how do you feel about me? Have I done anything that makes you afraid of me?”, he leaned to her ear, “Don’t you want to kiss me?”
“Sully really, you make it sound so simple! You can’t just kiss and hug all the time, and if that’s what you want maybe Katherine should have stayed!”
Again he interrupted her and even shook her by the arms a little, “You’re being ridiculous! I’m not asking you to kiss me all the time, you’re imagining things in your head, things that are wrong!”, he sighed and looked to the ground, then he looked up into her eyes again, “Do you love me? I wanna know Michaela!”
“Sully......stop yelling.....this is about Katherine, remember? She fell in love with you and you can’t deny that you had feelings for her!”, she stared at him.
“This isn’t about her, she is nothing! Maybe you’re just using her as an excuse to get rid of me....you haven’t said you love me....” He was even more angry now, he clenched his jaw and looked into her eyes, then he dropped his hands from her arms and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?”, she asked.
He turned, “It doesn’t matter where I’m going”, he felt angry and knew he shouldn’t stay, he didn’t want to continue this conversation with her. He walked out and slammed the door behind him.
Days turned into weeks and Michaela didn’t see Sully anywhere. When things were quiet at the clinic she thought of him and wondered where he was. She admitted to herself that she missed him, she also feared she had lost him. She knew it was possible that he left and would not return. The children always asked about him and she told them the truth, she had no idea where he was. Finally she thought she’d go to the reservation, maybe Cloud Dancing knew something.
“I have not seen Sully in many weeks now”, Cloud Dancing said, acknowledging Michaela’s concern, “It is odd that he would not be in town at all. If he were away hunting, he would not be gone this long.”
“Do you think something’s happened to him?”, Michaela asked.
Cloud Dancing looked into her eyes, “Go now, I will pray to the spirits. If he has been hurt, they will tell me. I will see you in a few days.” Michaela thanked him and left, although she didn’t feel any better.
Back in town she met Horace coming out of his office, “Hey Dr Mike, you got some mail”, and he went back in and retrieved it. He came walking to her and gave her several envelopes. “Hope it’s all good news”, he said sadly, he knew she was worried about Sully.
“Probably isn’t any news, but thanks Horace”.
A letter from a colleague in Boston discussin new medicines and inquiring about Michaela’s use of them in the Colorado Territory. She laughed, she’d use them if she could get them! She also received an invitation to a medical conference in Denver. She was interested because physicians from Chicago and St. Louis would be attending and she thought she would be able to acquire new medicines and information about them as well. She discussed the trip with the children.
“It will only be 3 days, the convention is actually 4 days, but I think 3 days is enough to be away. Grace, Robert E, and Dorothy will help look after you. What do you think?”, she looked at three faces staring at her.
Matthew spoke first, “Yeah, go! We’ll be all right”.
“It’ll be good for you to get away”, said Colleen.
“I thought you wanted to stay here in case Sully came back?”, said Brian innocently.
“Brian, we don’t know where Sully is and since we quarreled, well.....I’m not sure if he will be back.....”, she saw the little boy frown, “I’m sure he’ll come back to see you!”
Michaela made plans to go to Denver. She filled Dorothy in on all the details at Grace’s. “It will be wonderful to see colleagues, and learn about a lot of new medicines that are coming out. I’ll know how to get them here, hopefully faster than I can now.”
“Michaela, are you sure you aren’t just running away...away from here and being without Sully?”, Dorothy asked.
“Dorothy, it’s been almost 2 months since I’ve seen Sully. I’m resigned to the fact that”, she sighed deeply, “that...he isn’t coming back, and if he does come back, it won’t be for me. I told you how angry he was. Trust is very important to Sully and I showed him that I doubted him, I accused him..........”, she looked away and bit her lip trying to stop the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
“Oh Michaela”, Dorothy reached her hand to her friend, “I’m so sorry, I’m sure he’ll be back. Why men love to go off and brood, and I’m sure that’s all he’s doin’”, she patted her friends hands, “tell me more about Denver...”, she had to get Michaela’s mind off Sully, but Dorothy was worried. She knew there was a strong chance that Sully was gone for good, she also knew there wasn’t much she could do to help her friend.
Two more weeks passed and Michaela occupied her time planning for her trip to Denver, she had wired ahead to confirm her attending the conference and had received several telegrams from colleagues who would also attend. Sully still was not around and Michaela tried not to think about him. Although at night, after the children went to sleep, she would stand on the porch and look up at the stars and the moon, wondering if he were doing the same thing.
On the morning she was to leave for Denver, the children were with her and she repeated over and over again for them to be careful, and finally Matthew said, “We’ll be fine! You better get on the stage or it’ll leave without you!”
“Okay, good bye, please be careful”, she looked up at the store and waved to Dorothy, who waved back. The ride to Denver was uneventful, leaving Michaela too much time to think. She thought about how she missed the way Sully would run the back of his fingers across her cheek, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She was eager to get to Denver to be busy!
The hotel was wonderful, it felt good to be waited on. She saw colleagues almost immediately and enjoyed having lunch with them. There was a lovely reception in the evening for the attendees that arrived that day, and Michaela enjoyed it very much.
The next morning, she awoke early and decided to take a brief walk around the city. She also wanted to check the different shops, a treat as there were none like them in Colorado Springs. In one shop there were perfumes and soaps of all types. She selected some soap and thought of Sully and the trip they made to retrieve water samples. He told her not to use “her fancy soap”, she smiled as she purchased some. She walked up the street and headed back to the hotel. “Michaela!”, she spun around positive she heard someone yell her name! She looked up the street and across, she didn’t see anyone waving to her or anyone that looked familiar. She put her hand to her chest and decided she was imagining things. She went into the hotel.
Sully rode in the back of the company wagon, he was sure that was Michaela he saw. He wondered why she would be in Denver, and, in a way, wanted her to be looking for him. His work in the mine was going very well. He felt guilty that he hadn’t let anyone in Colorado Springs know where he was, but he was earning a lot of money on this job. He couldn’t get Michaela out of his mind all day, this angered him because he had managed to think of her only a few times a day lately and now he thought of her constantly again. He missed her more than he would admit, but he was angry when he thought of her being upset over Katherine. He knew that if there was no trust in a relationship it was doomed to fail, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about her. After he left the mine, he decided he would look for her in town.
Michaela stopped as she reached the door to the conference room, was it Sully’s voice she had heard outside? She laughed, shook her head and thought she was hearing things, surely she wasn’t the only Michaela in this big city.
Sully took the ride back to town in the company wagon, which he usuually did not do, but today he wanted to be in Denver to look for her. He walked down the main street and then decided to check the hotel. As he walked into the lobby he saw the sign for the medical convention, and now he kenw it was Michaela he saw. He went to the door where the conference was being held and opened it a crack. There were so many people inside, he closed the door. “Excuse me”, he asked a passing waiter, “Do you know what time the meeting in here will be over?”
“Should already be over”, the waiter replied, “they should be coming out any time”. Sully nodded his thanks and went to the other side of the lobby. People did start leaving the room, but he did not see Michaela. He went back to the door, which was now open, he peered in and he saw her, heading out a different door in the back of the room. He went down the hall and saw that there were several dining rooms in the back and decided she must be joining other attendees for dinner. He went back to the lobby and sat on a velvet chair and thought about his next step. Would she be glad to see him? What if they started the same coversation about Katherine again? After several minutes, he made up his mind and left the hotel.
Michaela enjoyed dinner with the other doctors. It was getting late and she excused herself to retire to her room. She went in the room and sat on the bed, how could she feel so tired from sitting at a meeting all day? She removed her boots and lay down for a moment, until a knock on the door got her up. “Who is it?”, she asked as her hand was on the doorknob.
“Delivery”, was all that came from the other side.
She opened the door to see a bouquet of flowers, splendid in a variety of colors! She gasped, and gasped even louder when the bouquet lowered and it was Sully holding it!
“Sully!”, she didn’t know what to do, “What are you doing here?”
He smiled at her and almost couldn’t speak due to the lump in his throat, “I saw you here in Denver.........I had to see you”, he presented the flowers, “these are for you”.
“Oh, they’re beautiful”, she inhaled their sweet fragrance, “come in...”, she moved aside and motioned for him to come in. She walked to a table where there was a vase, “Let me get some water”, she smiled and went into another room. Once away from him, she put the vase down and her hand went to her mouth, why was he here? What should she do? He looked wonderful and she realized she missed him more than she wanted to admit. She poured water from a pitcher into the vase and went back to the other room. Sully was holding the flowers and slipped them in the vase, she smiled and turned and placed them on a table. Sully couldn’t control the stinging feeling that rushed through him. She was even more beautiful than he remembered and he was so happy to see her. As she placed the vase down, Sully touched her arm and she turned and he swept her into his arms.
“Oh Sully, I’ve missed you”, she said her eyes filled with tears.
He couldn’t speak, he just kissed her so passionately, he felt weak. She held him tightly and sighed with happiness at his arms around her, his lips on hers.
Finally, he pulled back slightly, “Michaela, I feel better right now than I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve missed you too. It has been so hard to be away from you”, he kissed her again and again. She put her hands on his face and looked into his eyes, she was surprised that they were wet with tears. She took him by the hand and led him to the sofa and they sat.
“Sully, I’ve thought so many things! I was worried that something had happened to you, that you were injured....or worse. I didn’t want to believe that you left because .......because...I was foolish!”, she looked into his eyes again, “I was foolish not to trust you. I’ve thought about it over and over again, and I was wrong. I know how you feel about me...”
He interrupted with a kiss and, “Michaela, if you couldn’t be with me, then I couldn’t be around you, it hurt too much. I’ve been trying to forget you”, he chuckled and looked down and took her hands in his, “but I couldn’t......I can’t”.
“Forget me?”, she kissed him, “I’m glad you didn’t”. They kissed again and again, each kiss more passionate than the last.
Sully ran his hands down her back and held her as close as he could, then he stopped, “I’ve missed you, can I do something?”, he asked.