Sully was kneeling by Charlotte now, attempting to wake her up. He called over to CD, and the Indian produced something from his pouch. Waving it under Charlotte's nose, she came to.
The sun was bright and she squinted, trying to remember what had happened. Sully came into focus, along with a strange man's face. But she forgot all about him and focused on her long lost friend.
"Oh my G/d, Sully!"
She looked like she was about to faint again, so Sully grabbed hold of her hand. She began sobbing like a baby, much to the alarm of Colleen. "I thought you were dead, Sully, I thought you were dead!" She threw her arms around him.
Sully held her tight. CD stood up. "You will meet me later," he told Sully, and walked over to Colleen. Without a word, he took the arrow from his quiver and handed it to her, smiling. He turned and disappeared into the woods.
Charlotte stood up shakily, gripping Sully as if she thought he might disappear again if she let go. "Oh Sully! We have to get you back to Colorado Springs - show the town that you're back - show every-"
Sully pulled back, letting go of her hand. "No," he said firmly.
Charlotte turned around and went back for him. "What do you mean, no? Sully, it's your home!"
"No it ain't," he said stubbornly. "It's *your* home, and the kids' home, but it ain't mine."
"But-"
He sighed frustratedly, running his hands through his longish hair. "I don't 'spect you ta understand Charlotte, but I can't go back there. I can't face Loren, and Jake, an' all of 'em. I've made a new life for myself with the Cheyenne."
"With the Cheyenne?" she repeated.
He nodded, not explaining any further for the moment.
"So, what're you tellin' me?" she asked him. "After a year, a whole year, we 'run into' each other again, and you won't come back to Colorado Springs?"
"An awful lot has happened Charlotte..." he began lamely.
She exploded at him. "An awful lot has happened? You're absolutely right Byron Sully, and it ain't my fault and it ain't your fault, but you're still letting it eat you away inside. Your wife and child are in Colorado Springs - don't that matter? Heaven knows I don't!" She grabbed her daughter's arm and marched to the wagon. "C'mon Colleen, let's go." she muttered.
Sully watched her worriedly. It hadn't turned out the way he'd expected. Didn't she understand why he couldn't go back to CS? Why not? In the 8 months he had spent with the Cheyenne, they'd become a major part of his life. He knew he couldn't leave them now and once again become a full-fledged citizen of CS. His life had changed, *he* had changed too much for that. But on the other hand, there were certain people he felt he owed, in a way. Charlotte for one, the Cooper children, even Loren Bray. He had broken his promise to Matthew once, he couldn't do it again. He had always been a man of his word, he wasn't going to stop now.
Go back? Oh, how hard would it be? To see those angry, hurtful eyes of Loren, to bear the mocking of the entire town - could he bear it?
He sighed, then began walking back to the reservation. Bear it or not, he had to. He had to figure out a way to live in both worlds.
Nighttime. The street was empty. Out of the shadows, Sully stepped. Looking around, he made his way to the graveyard.
It seemed to glow in the moonlight. He didn't have a problem determining the two graves that "belonged" to him. Dropping to his knees, he gazed at the engraved crosses, tiny and larger. Abagail Sully, he read -- and looked away. Forcing himself, he looked at his baby girl's . Hannah Sully - born May 4, 1863, died May 5, 1863. He shuddered slightly, then lay his hand on top of Abagail's grave.
"I'm here," he whispered. "I...I come back." He looked up at the sky and said, "It's been a hard year for me....but I guess ya know that, Abagail." He looked back at ground resolutely. "But I ain't gonna leave ya again without saying g'bye. I promise ya that. And I aim to start keeping my promises, something I ain't been doin' too good at lately. But I will," he said firmly. He kissed his fingers and touched the crosses. "I love you both," he said, and quickly and quietly stood up and walked away.
Charlotte woke up the next morning, her first thoughts of Sully. Scowling to herself, she rolled out of bed, trying hard not to wake her husband.
What had happened yesterday? She wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that Sully was back. But he wasn't, not really. He had refused to return to town with her. She knew he was afraid of Loren's reaction. But still...
And then there was the matter of all those unanswered questions floating around in her head. Where had he been in the past year? What had he done? He certainly didn't look anymore like the Sully she'd once known. Gone was the short hair, the clean-shaven face...in its place was a semi long-haired man with a stubble of a beard, dressed in buckskins and moccasins and accompanied by an Indian - Cheyenne, she assumed, after hearing his story. Charlotte was not prejudiced against Indians, as many of the townspeople knew and some disliked her for, but she was certainly puzzled as to how this came to be.
Well, she wouldn't tell Ethan about it, nor the townspeople, that was for sure. Should she tell Olive? No, she didn't think Olive would be too happy either. No one, except she and Colleen would know, and she would instruct her only daughter not to tell anyone. She sighed and went to light a fire in the stove.
"Why do you want to go?" CD asked, curious. "You know you have a home here, do you not?"
Sully nodded. "I know that, Cloud Dancing, but I think it's time I started to remake a life for myself."
CD nodded. "It is time for you to rejoin your people."
Sully said, "No - no, that's not it," he shook his head. "I don't want to go back, either to the way I used to be, or Colorado Springs. I don't think I *could* go back. But Cloud Dancing," he grabbed a hold of his brother's arm, "I made a lot of promises - to myself, to other people, and it don't feel right not keeping them. I gotta be a man o' my word once again. You --" he spread his arm out, indicating the woods, "the Cheyenne have taught me so much. You *are* my family. I don' wanna lose that."
CD nodded. "So, what will you do?"
Sully shook his head. "I don't know. Fix up my old lean-to for me an' Wolf, live off the land, find myself, I guess..." he drifted off.
CD nodded once again. "It is time," he said resolutely.
And so, Sully moved out of the Cheyenne encampment, but not out of the lives of his Cheyenne family. Despite the fact that he rebuilt his lean-to and fixed up his old campsite, he spent much of his time with CD and Chief Black Kettle.
August came, and with it hot and humid weather. Charlotte and the Cooper family resumed their normal activities, but Charlotte had a hard time forgetting about the man that she knew was living so close to CS, yet refused to come back. Colleen, under strict orders not to tell anyone of Sully's return, nearly forgot about him, although she remembered the man who had given her the arrow.
On one of those endless days of summer, Charlotte brought the children with her to town as she went in for some items from the Mercantile. She left the children outside while she went into shop.
"Afternoon, Loren," she told the storekeeper as she milled around, looking at the merchandise. Loren looked up at her from his conversation with Jake.
"Mrs. Cooper," Loren scowled. "What're you doin' here?"
Charlotte looked at him confused. "Since when do you call me *Mrs. Cooper*, Loren? And what do you mean? I'm here to shop."
"That's my question," Loren answered. "How are you goin' to pay for it?"
Charlotte hesitated for a moment.
"I see," said Loren. "Well, I'm sorry, *Mrs. Cooper*, but your credit ain't good here no more." Jake nodded contemptuously.
"What do you mean?" Charlotte gasped.
"I mean you're overdue three weeks, and your account's been run up to kingdom come."
"But Loren, you don't understand, it ain't my doin' - it's,"
"I'm sorry," he interrupted her. "I got a business to run, *Mrs. Cooper*, and I can't if people keep running up sky-high bills."
She gritted her teeth as she prepared to fight this one out....
Matthew, Colleen, and Brian hung outside, watching the people go in and out of the saloon.
Brian stuck his thumbs in his pants and declared, "I'm bored."
Matthew nodded. "So'm I, little brother. "What say you we just take a walk around here?"
Brian shrugged. "Guess so." He began following Matthew down the street away from the Mercantile.
"Wait!" Colleen shouted. "Ma said to stay right here!"
"We'll be back before she comes out," Matthew told her. "C'mon Colleen."
Colleen wasn't about to disobey any of her Ma's orders for a long time. "Uh-uh, I'm not goin' anywhere."
Matthew shrugged. "Suit yourself. C'mon Brian." They walked away...
Horace looked out the window of his telegraph office. The sky was clouding up, seemed like there'd be a thunderstorm before the day was out. He cringed a little bit. He didn't like thunderstorms too much.
Grace walked into the office, carrying a basket. "Afternoon, Horace," she said brightly.
"Afternoon, Grace," he greeted her. "Come for the mail for Miss Olive?"
he smiled. "That I have!"
He nodded towards the window as he began putting several small packages on the counter. "Looks like rain."
She agreed. "I'd better get back before it starts," she told him.
"Hold on a sec," he said to her. "There's one more package around here, I know there is..."
Sully ate some lunch, but it didn't taste like much to him. He threw the pot down in disgust. Today was the day, there was no more putting it off. He was going to grin and bear it and walk into town and never mind the looks or snide remarks, he was going to walk back into town and go over to the Cooper homestead and tell Charlotte he was sorry and somehow make it up to her and the kids. He knew he could very easily walk around the town and make it there without seeing anyone, but that wasn't the point, right? He wasn't going to hide from anyone anymore. If he was going to be part of the Cooper children's lives, everyone would know it.
He called over to Wolf and began walking south to town...
"Have you found it yet?" Grace asked impatiently. The first drops of rain were just beginning to fall.
Horace poked his head up from underneath the dusty counter. "Yeah, I got it...Atchoo!" He sneezed all over Grace.
"Horace!" she yelled. She took a handkerchief from her purse and wiped her hands.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. He gave her a half-smile. "Here's the package." He handed it to her.
"Thanks." She turned around and left the building.
Fat raindrops were falling now. "Oh, Horace," she growled.
The first clap of thunder sounded. "Terrific," she grumbled. Should she try to make it back to the ranch before it got any worse?
Matthew and Brian sauntered over the bridge that separated the main street of town from the Meadow. A few raindrops were beginning to fall from the sky, and Brian stuck out his pink tongue to catch some in his mouth. He looked down at the creek running at a low level below the bridge. "Sure wish we could go fishin'."
Matthew nodded. "Yup, but we'd better be gettin' back to Ma soon."
"She ain't so far away," Brian told his older brother. "Why, I bet she could see us from here if she came lookin' for us." He sat down on the bridge, his feet dangling off it. "Sure like to go fishin'. Or swimmin'."
It was beginning to thunder now, as Sully made his way through the woods. His breath came in heavy gasps. It wasn't the terrain that was taking the toll on him, it was his anxiety about seeing Loren and everyone again. The more he thought about it, the more his breath became ragged. "C'mon Wolf," he told his friend as they continued.
A sudden streak of lightning hit a tree and caused it to fall in front of him, fiery in flames. He jumped back and stepped gingerly around it. Nothing was going to keep him from what he had planned to do.
He saw a clearing coming up ahead of him. The meadow. The church, its gray, weathered shingles loomed in the distance. Behind it, he knew what he'd find: the bridge, the street leading into ....town.
All of a sudden the clearing was upon him. His steps slowed, but he forced himself to keep walking. His mouth dried, and terror overtook him. Why? Why was he so scared? He tried to tell himself, it wasn't such a big deal...
It was definitely a full-fledged thunderstorm by now. Grace grumbled again as she mounted her horse. Better to try to make it back to the ranch. She headed towards the meadow.
Matthew and Brian were blocking the bridge.
"Boys!" she scolded them. "What're you doin' out here? You're goin' to catch your death of cold! Not to mention it's gettin' worse out here!"
Matthew stepped off the bridge sheepishly. "Sorry, Miss Grace," he said. "We were just enjoyin' the rain. Cools things off, ya know?"
She looked at him quizzically. "I guess so, Matthew." She looked towards the south. And then she saw it. Water, huge amounts of water coming gushing down the dry creek. "Matthew!!!!" she screamed.
"Flash flood!" he yelled back at her. "Quick, warn ev'ryone in town!!!"
She turned her horse around and began shouting as she galloped up the street. "FLASH FLOOD!!! FLASH FLOOD!!! Everyone close up!! Flash flood!!"
Horace heard her cries as he sent a telegram over the wires. What?! Flash flood! He had to close the office. Oh, he hated to do it, he'd never closed up in the middle of a day.
"FLASH FLOOD!!!" he heard her scream again. He jumped up and grabbed his jacket and hat.
Charlotte walked out of the Mercantile and into the pouring rain, absolutely furious with Loren. He'd refused to give in to her --refused to let her buy anything. It was ridiculous--she needed those supplies!! She was jarred out of her thoughts by someone's shouts.
"FLASH FLOOD!!!" She heard Grace yell, as she turned the corner and kept riding.
She looked around frantically for her children. Turning south she saw Colleen sitting on the bench outside of Jake's barber shop. She hurried over to her.
"C'lleen! Where are the boys?!"
Colleen stood up, a frightened look on her face. "They went for a walk Ma, I haven't seen them."
A piercing scream shook through the air.
It came from the Meadow. A little boy's scream, filled with all the terror, all the fear of a grown man. White as a ghost, Charlotte ran around the corner and was treated to a horrific sight.
Water rushed through the tiny creek bed and overflowed its banks onto the meadow and street. From the distance she stood at, she had plain view of the events as they occurred.
Brian.
Brian was screaming.
The water had pushed him up against the rails of the bridge. But the force was too much. The bridge would be washed away in only a few seconds.
Matthew had been standing on the street, in the same spot from which he had had his conversation with Grace. It had only been a few seconds, and now the rushing waters had converged upon the town.
He was standing knee deep in water, and looked about to plunge in among the furious water to go after his brother.
"MATTHEW!!!!! DON'T!!!!!!!" Charlotte screamed from the top of her lungs. She was too far away to physically stop him.
Horace was closer. He ran over to Matthew and tried to pull him away. Matthew fought hard. "NO!!!" he screamed. "That's my brother!! That's my little brother!!!!"
It took all of his effort, but Horace managed to drag him away. "It ain't gonna help, Matthew," he told the elder Cooper in a low voice as he pulled. "It ain't gonna help if you drown too..."
Sully heard the cracking of tree branches as he rounded the corner of the church and came upon the disastrous sight before him. There was water seemingly everywhere. E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. And in the middle of that ocean, a lone boy screaming, sputtering liquid from his mouth.
Brian.
Brian was screaming.
He didn't stop. He didn't notice the scene around him. Not Matthew in Horace's arms, not Charlotte screaming at the top of her lungs, Colleen a few feet away. Not Jake and Loren in the background with their mouths wide open. Not Hank with his arms crossed on the porch of the Saloon. Nothing.
He didn't stop. In slow motion, his legs churned and kicked up even more as they encountered the water barrier.
He didn't stop. He didn't look. He didn't notice the scene about to happen. Had he stopped, had he looked, he would have seen a huge wave coming down, about to engulf everything in its path. A bridge, a tree, a little boy.
He didn't stop. He saw only one thing.
Brian.
Brian was screaming.
In less than a second, it couldn't have even been a second, he forced himself onto the bridge. The water pressure was unbearable, and his knees buckled as he fell.
He grabbed onto Brian, the little boy, and the water washed over them. The bridge snapped like a toothpick, and man and boy was pushed down the creek bed.
Charlotte gave a sick cry. "BRIAN!!!!!!" She ran down the street where Horace and Matthew stood, motionless, not able to believe what had just happened.