She turned back. When she read the announcement in the newspaper and answered it, she imagined that her trip to the West would be a romantic adventure, but having seen the endless prairies through the train window she suddenly became aware of how different her life would be than the one she was used to. She imagined herself alone in this vast wilderness without any friends or any support.


In one flashing moment, all her courage went away and,calling herself a coward, she returned to the train depot and reluctantly bought a ticket back to Boston.


She felt disappointed coming back home after her decision to be a doctor on the frontier, but nobody blamed her for this.


Her sisters were smiling, and the oldest, Rebecca, exclaimed, noticing her, "Michaela! How wonderful that you're back!!! We have good…great news! Your fiancè , David…he's alive, and he's here, in Boston!!!!"


Charlotte Cooper was dead, "Who will take care of my poor children?", were her last words. As she said this, she looked pleadingly at Sully, who was standing near her bed with little Brian.


The boy wanted Sully to ask Cloud Dancing, Cheyenne medicine man, to help Charlotte, who was bitten by the rattlesnake, but it was too late.


Even Cloud Dancing, with his healing skills, couldn't help her. "Please…" Charlotte whispered, as she left this world….. "She trusted you to take them Sully." Rev.Johnson told him, "It sounded like that to me…"


Sully looked at him, perplexed, Charlotte knew what all the townsfolk thought about his life. It would be very strange for her to entrust him to raise her children, but Charlotte's last words sounded the same to him as they did to the Reverend. She DID indeed want him to take them.


Crying, Brian cuddled up to him while Colleen and Matthew looked at him with expectation.


"Yes," he said finally, "If you kids ain't against it."


The elder children nodded, and Brian raised his head and smiled through the tears…


."This is impossible!!!!!" Loren Bray was furious when he had heard this. "Charlotte was out of her mind! Maybe she didn't recognize him!! She musta' thought it was Ethan, she didn't call Sully by name, did she?"


"Charlotte was in her right mind until her last minute." The Reverend said,"and she knew what she wanted. Sully will be a good father to them."


Good father!?!! They'll be walking around with all those Injun buckskins and feathers!" Loren smirked.


"We'd better send them to an orphanage." Jake Slicker agreed, "At least they'd have a good upbringing there…"


"I'll never let you send them to an orphanage." They all heard Sully's voice from the door.


"Nobody asked you...." Loren was upset, "It's clear as noonday, it would be better for them."


"He's right," Jake agreed."You don't know what an orphanage is, but I do." Sully said, sadness in hisvoice.


"But Charlotte's last will, what about what she wanted?" Maude Bray began timidly.


"Nobody's interested in your opinion Maude." Loren interrupted her. "Those children have their godmother, my sister Olive! She will raise them the right way!"


Sully gave him a look. His blue eyes darkened from his anger ."We'll see." He said sharply and he turned and left the Bray's store.


Ethan Cooper stole all the family money when he ran away, and Charlotte had nothing left to pay all the debts, so soon after her death her boardinghouse was repossessed by a Denver bank.


Certainly Loren felt sorry for the Cooper kids, but he couldn't help but ask gloatingly, as Sully visited his store next time, "Where you gonna live now, in a Injun teepee?"


Sully didn't answer.


"Look at yourself," Loren continued, "you have no job and no place to live, and you still tell me over and over again that you'll raise up these kids?"


"That's right, I am!" Sully finally answered. "I'll find a job as soon as the negotiations are finished. And we do have a place to live, my old homestead."


Loren stopped short, gazing at his ex-son-in-law in wonderment. The storekeeper still blamed him for Abagail's death, but at the same time he understood how just visiting this homestead would hurt Sully.


But Loren didn't let himself show this, and said aloud, "Well, as you like, anyway, it won't be for long, as soon as Olive arrives, she'll take the kids from you! Me and her will decide who is the best family for them. Their godmother, or you, who's spending a lot of time with those savages, and sometimes ya behave just like them!"


Sully just looked at him with disgust and put his goods on the counter.


"Here is your three dollars. Anyway, this is none of your business."


Loren angrily threw the change down on the counter, "You listen to me, I'll do my best to take those kids from the likes of you!!!"


Sully turned to him, blue eyes glaring, "I'm sure you'll do the same thing,"


he said through the clenched teeth, "You'll do the same that you did with your daughter…"


He rushed away, slamming the door behind him.


"We need to move next week." Sully told the kids after lunch.


"We gonna go live with the Cheyenne, Sully?" Brian asked hopefully


"No, we'll live in my old homestead, I just need to fix something there."


"I'll help you." Matthew offered


"Why do we have to move?" Colleen asked.


"Your mother had a debt to the bank for the boardinghouse," Sully tried to explain, "and now they want to sell it and take their money back. I'm not good in banking," he added, "I just know that we can't live here anymore. I'm sorry."


"We understand" Colleen sighed, and Matthew nodded , confirming his sister's words.


But Brian looked at them unhappily, he still hoped that Sully would change his mind and they would all live in a buffalo-skin teepee, like the Cheyenne.


Sully's old homestead was in better condition than he thought it would be, it just needed some cleaning and small repairs.


Certainly, Sully was aware that coming here would be very painful for him, but he couldn't imagine how much. The chair, turned upside-down, the slivers of a broken pitcher, the clothes, scattered on the floor - all reminded him about the day of Abagail's death, as if it had happened just yesterday.


"Phew! So dusty!" Brian said with disappointment.


"So, we need to tidy up is all." Colleen told him, "Go get a rag."


"I don't want to live here!" Brian said stubbornly, "I'd rather go live with the Cheyenne, they don't do cleaning!"


"Don't be difficult!" Colleen yelled, "Sully, tell him!"


She stopped, as Matthew touched her elbow, nodding at Sully, who still stood at the door, unable to enter the room. Noticing the tears in his eyes, Colleen offered hastily, "Sully.....please take Brian for a walk. I don't want him to bother us while we tidy up."


Sully nodded after a long pause, fighting back tears. "Sure…let's go, Brian, take your fishing pole." Sully said softly.


"Sully?" Brian suddenly asked, "Why didn't ya want to go in there?" Is it because you're missing your family?"


Sully lowered his eyes, looking at his fishing float "Yes," he finally answered.


"I know you feel sad," Brian continued, "Me too, but Miss Abby and baby Hannah are in Heaven, and now my Ma too. The Reverend told us that they are happy there."


"I know, Brian," Sully said, "but I still miss them…very much, - his voice faded, and he turned away.


Brian put his fishing pole aside and sat closer to Sully: "I'm sorry…But now you have us, and we have you…as our family."


Sully managed a smile and hugged the boy, "You're right Brian, you are absolutely right."


The homestead looked quite different when they came back. Colleen and Matthew not only cleaned up the room, but rearranged all the furniture.


"We've changed something here." Colleen said, "How do you like it?"


"That's great." Sully said, feeling that lump in his throat again, "I like it…Thank you…"


Colleen exchanged glances with her brother. She was very proud of her idea.


The homestead looked different now, and Sully was able to come there, hopefully with less pain. "Thank you," Sully told them again, "I appreciate this…"


Colleen put the plates on the table, "Supper is ready! We have no meat today, but I baked a pie!"


"I'll bring you a turkey tomorrow." Sully said, "You're very good at cooking, Colleen, just like your Ma."


The kids were very quiet during supper, and Sully asked them if everything was all right. "Mr.Bray told me we gotta go to an orphanage." Brian said, "I don't wanna go there, please don't let them Sully, please."


"Nobody, you hear me, nobody will send you there! I promise…if you still want to stay with me."


Instead of answering, Colleen and Brian stood up and hugged him. Matthew, as the "man, who doesn't like all these sloppy endearments", remained sitting, but smiled broadly.


"I love you, Sully." Brian whispered in Sully's ear, and glancing at his sister, added, "We all do!"