The Untold Story Chapter Three - Part One
- By Sandi99
October 11th, 1868
- Thomas Edison invents an electrical vote recorder, making this his first invention to ever be patented.
Excerpt from ‘My Town’ by Dorothy Jennings
Chapter Four
Neither Sully nor I could have predicted the complications we’d encounter with the morbid task we’d undertaken.
When Sully asked for my help, his intense blue eyes staring directly into mine, it never once crossed my mind to refuse.
Michaela was my best friend. She’d stood beside me when my husband, Marcus, died and I’d been accused of murder. The autopsy she performed secured my freedom and gave me back my life.
Since then she had always been there for me. She stopped the hemorrhaging when I first entered the change of life and my body hadn’t adjusted; she encouraged me to pursue my interest in writing;
but, most of all, Michaela listened to my problems and concerns, my joys and triumphs.
Not since my younger days, when I’d confided in my sister, Maude, and my friend, Charlotte Cooper, had I formed such a close bond with another female.
Unlike Maude and Charlotte though, Michaela understood me completely. We were so much alike – strong, independent, stubborn women who refused to take a back seat to any man.
Not many women shared our determination. Michaela and I were unorthodox but our natures wouldn’t allow us to behave in any other way.
I was probably the only person in Colorado Springs who truly understood Michaela’s devotion to Sully.
Most of the ladies in town found Sully appealing but I knew Michaela’s attraction toward him extended far beyond his striking appearance.
Sully supported her, believed in her and, most importantly, he allowed Michaela to be her own person, to be independent.
He respected her. In a world dominated by men, that counted for a lot. The strength of Sully’s love for Michaela surrounded him, like some kind of aura that folks could have seen if they’d just taken the time to really look.
His determination to clear her name was part of the loyalty that accompanied this all-consuming love.
That night, as Sully spoke to Robert E. and Grace, I was questioning Loren. Later on, when we compared notes, we were both shocked by their confessions.
Neither one of us realized that we were about to stir up a hornet’s nest of hatred, anger and deceit that would eventually encompass the entire town.
The look of disapproval on Cloud Dancing’s face, as Michaela and Sully rode into the village, was unmistakable.
Michaela climbed down from Flash’s back and faced the medicine man, raising her chin into the air defiantly. Cloud Dancing shook his head, sighing, and directed his comments toward Sully.
“I see you have found her. Did anyone follow you?”
“Nope. Came close though. The posse almost spotted us.”
Once again, Cloud Dancing shook his head and moved away, pointedly brushing past Michaela as he left.
“What is wrong with him?” Michaela demanded, staring after the Cheyenne. Her voice was sharp.
“Don’t ya see?” Sully asked. “If anyone knows you’re here and finds out that the Indians are hiding you, they will surely pay for it. They are puttin’ themselves in danger to help ya, Michaela.”
Michaela’s annoyance instantly faded and she looked up at him, sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, Sully. I should have thought about that before I ran off. I was just so anxious to see my children. I figured that no one would question where I’d been.”
“They would have known, without havin’ to ask, if you’d been caught leavin’ here,” Sully reminded her, “and you almost were.”
He turned and started to walk through the village toward Michaela’s teepee. She fell into step beside him.
“I’ll apologize to Cloud Dancing,” she promised, softly. “What do you plan to do next? Did you find out anything in town?”
“Not much. Didn’t have time. I talked to the kids though. Told ‘em what had happened.”
“How did they take it?”
Sully stopped in front of the teepee and turned to look at her. “They understand. All they want is for you to be safe, Michaela. That’s all any of us want. Ya gotta promise me ….”
She touched his arm. “I will. I do. You don’t need to worry.”
He nodded and held open the tent flap. She slipped past him and ducked through the opening. Standing in the centre of the teepee, she waited as Sully flopped down onto the buffalo robe.
He stretched out, leaning back on his elbows and gazing up at her. He studied her for a long time and Michaela could feel the warmth rising into her cheeks.
“What?” she finally demanded. “What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”
His eyes narrowed as he answered. “You’re holdin’ somethin’ back from me. You ain’t tellin’ me the whole story.”
“What makes you think that?” Michaela asked nervously, feigning innocence. The corner of his mouth twitched as he suppressed a grin.
“Cause I know you. Ya look guilty. So … what is it?”
Michaela hesitated and Sully grew impatient with her. “Look Michaela, I ain’t gonna be able to help ya if you don’t tell me everything. You gotta quit hidin’ things. Don’t you trust me by now?”
Michaela dropped to her knees beside him and sighed, deeply. “It’s not that. I’m just afraid that you’ll be angry with me for what I did. I didn’t want to tell you.”
Sully’s whole body grew tense and Michaela knew what he was thinking. He’d misinterpreted her words.
“No,” she assured him quickly. “it’s not that. It has nothing to do with the murder. Honestly!” Sully visibly relaxed and she continued.
“It’s something I did a few months back, after Jebediah tried to hang Robert E. I told you that my mother hired a lawyer to expose Jebediah, after I discovered that he’d deceived me over the ownership of the clinic?”
Sully nodded. “Well, the lawyer did more than that. He found out that Jebediah had deceived a lot of people. It seems that he was putting his name on other land deeds that were originally owned by the bank and transferring the land to himself.
The clinic was only one of these properties. Mother’s lawyer sent me all the legal evidence against him and I wrote a letter to the shareholders at his bank in Denver. I outlined everything Jebediah Bancroft did: his actions against Robert E. and Grace while he was in Colorado Springs; the ‘men’s club’ he organized; everything. I also included all the legal documents from the lawyer. The last thing I did, before I mailed the envelope away, was go around town and have some of our citizens sign my letter. I went to all the property owners. I was able to talk most of them into signing.
Jebediah deceived all of us. No one wanted to be associated with him anymore. I knew the shareholders would pay attention, if the complaints came from landowners.
Since a lot of the shareholders are Boston businessmen, investing their money in Denver, Mother knew some of them. She was only too happy to pass my letter along to these men and they were shocked when they heard of Jebediah’s activities.”
“So, what happened?” Sully asked, quietly.
“Jebediah was fired as bank president. He lost his job”
Sully’s frown emphasized the annoyance in his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? You never asked me to sign that letter. Why did ya go behind my back?”
“I shouldn’t have,” Michaela admitted, “but I knew you wouldn’t approve. You warned me that Jebediah Bancroft was dangerous. You asked me to stay out of his way, remember? I knew you’d be cautious about the letter and try to talk me out of sending it. You’d be worried about the possible repercussions. So, I decided not to tell you.”
Sully uttered a soft oath. “And I was right, wasn’t I?” He grabbed her by both arms, his forceful grip betraying his frustration with her.
“Tell me the truth, Michaela. Is that the reason he had you beaten up a while ago? Is that why his men came after you? Revenge?”
“I don’t know,” Michaela admitted. “Perhaps. He said he wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t cause any more trouble, that I wouldn’t interfere with the railroad coming to town. But he wanted to frighten me, Sully, and I could see the hatred in his eyes.”
She hesitated, then added, “There’s something else I never told you. I saw Jebediah in town, a few days ago. He was at Grace’s when I went over there for lunch. He approached me and said he wanted to discuss a ‘business deal’. I told him that I’d rather deal with the devil than have anything to do with him. He said I’d be sorry, and I rushed back to the clinic and locked the door. I never saw him again until he turned up in the barn – dead.”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “I suppose you think I caused all this myself, that I got Jebediah Bancroft angry… Sully sighed heavily before releasing his hold on her arms. He kissed her forehead, gently. “I would never think that,” he reassured her. “You were doin’ what you thought was right, Michaela. That’s what you and me do – we stand up for what’s right.”
“So, you understand?” He shook his head over her stubbornness but there was a tenderness to his tone when he answered.
“I guess so, but I wish you’d told me. I wish you’d shown me that letter. If ya had, I would have known that Bancroft would try somethin’ and I could have been waitin’ for him.”
“Sorry.” Michaela reached out to stroke his face with her fingertips. “I love you so much, Sully. The thought of doing something and losing you….”
He silenced her by sitting up and pulling her into his embrace, cradling her against him.
“You won’t lose me. Don’t ya know that? I love you too. Just promise me that you’ll tell me everything from now on. We can’t keep secrets from each other.”
“I promise,” she whispered, pulling back to brush her lips over his mouth. “I promise.”
He smiled at her before drawing her toward him again. His arms encircled her, pressing her against him and taking her breath away. She could feel the leanness of his body, the muscles in his shoulders and arms. When he returned her kiss, it was deep and passionate. Her skin tingled as a shiver of desire and longing ran through her. Then, feeling the return of that old familiar fear, Michaela pulled away from him.
The Cooper children were on Grace and Robert E’s front porch when the posse returned to town. It was the end of April. Darkness still descended early, seeping in over the mountains and blanketing the valley below.
The posse had turned back as the shadows began to surround them, giving up their quest until the morning. Hank was irritable. They’d ridden for most of the day without any glimpse of Michaela.
“Where in Hell could that woman go?” he exploded, as they reached the edge of town. No one answered him. He reined in his horse in front of Matthew, Colleen and Brian and sat, glaring at each one of them.
“If ya got any idea of where your Ma is, you’d better fess up now!” he threatened. “I’m runnin’ out of patience.”
Robert E. rounded the corner of the house, sized up the situation and moved over to place his body between Hank and the children.
“Leave ‘em alone, Hank. They don’t know nothin’. They’ve been here the whole time. Back off!” The blacksmith straightened his small frame to its full height and squared his shoulders.
Hank smirked at him. “Big talk from a little man, Robert E. Sides, ya can’t tell me that Sully ain’t bin round to see ‘em. He knows where she is. I’d lay money on it. I bet he told ‘em and now they know too.” He craned his neck, looking past the blacksmith.
“What about it, Matthew? You gonna tell me or do I hafta git ugly bout it?” Jake rode up beside the saloonkeeper.
“Calm down, Hank. The kids won’t be no help to ya. Knowin’ Sully, he’d would never tell anyone where Dr. Mike is.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “Besides, I’ve bin thinkin’ that we should let the sheriff from Denver handle things, when he gits here. Make more sense ta me.”
Hank looked incredulous. “You quittin’? What’s wrong Jake? You gettin’ soft on me?”
Jake bristled. “Course not. It’s just that we bin lookin’ for her all day and we ain’t found nothin’. If Sully is hidin’ her, we ain’t got a hope in Hell. He knows those woods better than any Injun ever could.”
“I think,” Hank said slowly, studying the barber’s face, “you don’t wanna find her. I think ya want ta see her git away. Seems ta me that you sang a different tune a few months ago, when you were huntin’ down Sully and tryin’ to git the reward money they was offerin’. Remember, Jake? When Sully helped ta blow up the railroad and got himself shot? Ya couldn’t wait ta find him and collect, as I recall.”
“Yeah well, I didn’t, did I?” Jake pointed out, defensively. “I ended up diggin’ a bullet outta his back and savin’ his life. Sides, that was Sully. This is Dr. Mike. It’s different.”
“I don’t see no difference,” Hank growled. “They’re both a couple of Injun lovers. And troublemakers too.”
“You’re just all riled up cause Dr. Mike’s bin tellin’ everyone in town that you shouldn’t have those whores in your saloon,” Jake said, “And ya think she talked Myra inta tearing up her contract with ya. You ain’t thinkin’ straight, Hank.”
“It’s you who ain’t thinkin’ straight, Jake,” Hank roared. “I think you’re yella!” He tugged on the reins of his horse and dug his heels into the animal’s flanks.
Jake watched him gallop away, then he turned back toward the Cooper children. “Don’t worry,” he told them. “I’m gonna call a town meetin’ tomorrow and tell everyone ta cool down and wait for the sheriff. He’ll know how to handle things, the right way.”
“Thank you, Mr. Slicker,” Colleen said, her voice filled with relief.
Jake tipped his hat to her and turned his horse around, heading in the direction of the livery.
“C'mon kids.” Robert E. made a sweeping motion with his arm. “Git on inside now. Grace made some cookies and she’ll be wantin’ you to sample them.”
Just as they were stepping over the threshold of the door, Sully slipped out of the shadows. “Robert E?” The blacksmith spun around to face him.
“Sully!” Brian and Colleen cried out in unison, before Matthew clamped a hand over Brian’s mouth.
“Be quiet. You want someone to see him?” Matthew chastised. Robert E. gestured toward his friend. “Best git inside, Sully.”
At first, the children refused to leave him alone. As soon as Sully settled down in a chair at the kitchen table, Brian crawled up on his knee and started firing questions at him. With Colleen and Matthew adding their own questions, the atmosphere was chaotic.
Then the children filled Sully in on Jake Slicker’s proposed town meeting. Sully listened intently before nodding his head in satisfaction.
“Good. That’ll make things easier.”
He glanced at Robert E. and Grace. The couple were sitting across from him, side by side. “I need ta ask ya some things, if ya don’t mind?” he said, almost apologetically. Robert E. sounded somewhat hesitant.
“Sure. I guess.” The children were all ears and Sully gazed down at Brian’s upturned face before directing his plea toward Matthew.
“Don’t ya think it’s time that Brian was in bed, Matthew?” he suggested. “Maybe you and Colleen could go tuck him in?” Brian protested and Colleen opened her mouth to object before she caught the look in Sully’s eyes.
“Good idea,” Matthew agreed, nodding at Sully in silent understanding.
Colleen took Brian’s hand and tugged at it, forcing the little boy off Sully’s lap. She pushed him in the direction of the bedroom as Brian voiced his annoyance with every step he took. Matthew trailed behind them.
When Sully was satisfied that they were out of earshot, he redirected his attention to Robert E and Grace.
“I’m tryin’ to find out what Jebediah Bancroft was doin’ in Colorado Springs,” he told the couple, “and if anyone would have a reason for wantin’ him dead. Do either one of you know anythin’?”
The husband and wife exchanged cautious glances. After a minute, Grace reluctantly nodded her consent and Robert E. drew a deep breath.
“Ya gotta promise me that you won’t tell this to another livin’ soul,” the blacksmith began. “Ya know I won’t,” Sully said quickly. “You can trust me, Robert E.”
The man sighed and rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead, his eyes weary. “A few days ago, Jebediah came to Grace’s café. He told Grace somethin’ that … well, I don’t know how in Hell he knew about it, Sully, but …” He stopped for a second to collect his thoughts.
“A few years back, Grace worked as a cook for a family in New Orleans. They weren’t very good ta her, treated her like a slave even though she was a free woman by then. So she up and left.”
Grace took over the story. “I saw an ad in the paper – a woman lookin’ for a cook. Turned out the woman was Miss Olive and she was lookin’ for someone ta cook for her crew of cowboys while they were on the trail herdin’ cattle. I signed on and that’s how I ended up here. Came ta town with Miss Olive and just sorta settled in.”
Sully nodded. He knew this part of the story. “The thing is,” Grace continued, “I never knew nothin’ was wrong til Jebediah Bancroft showed up in town a few days ago. He told me that he’d been in touch with the family I worked for in New Orleans.
There was a bunch of money that went missin’, just about the same time that I left there. Jebediah Bancroft said they thought I took it and they’ve been lookin’ for me ever since. He said they figured I stole from ‘em. I told him that I didn’t do nothin’ like that but he said it looks real bad, seein’ as how I left just when the money disappeared.”
She paused and her lips curled in disgust. “He told me that no one would believe a ‘darkie’ and he’d make sure they found me, if I didn’t do what he wanted me ta do.”
“What did he want?” Sully asked, dread churning in his gut.
“Land,” Robert E. answered. “He wanted the land that the café is on and the land where my blacksmith shop is too. He wanted us ta sell ta him but he wasn’t willin’ ta give us half of what it’s worth. We told him we’d never sell ta the likes of him but he said, if we didn’t, that Grace would be arrested and hung. He’d make sure of it.”
“Why? What would he want with your land?” Sully’s confused gaze traveled from Robert E. to Grace. Robert E. shrugged.
“All he said was that, before he was done, he’d own this town. Said he would get even with everyone. Don’t know what he meant by that. Don’t much care now.” Grace’s hand lay on the tabletop and her husband grabbed hold of it, squeezing it gently.
“I don’t know if he was tellin’ the truth or not, Sully, but we were afraid to take the chance. If someone was lookin’ for Grace, she wouldn’t have a prayer. We were just thinkin’ of sellin’ to him when they found his body out at your homestead. Can’t say as I’m sorry.
The problem is Sully, if anyone finds out bout this, they’ll think we done it. They’ll think we murdered him.”
Sully leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. So far, today, he’d heard two confessions. “Blackmail. Knowing Bancroft, I shouldn’t be surprised. But it makes me wonder …”
“What?” Grace prodded, when Sully paused. He looked at her grimly. “I wonder how many others have been threatened? How many lives has Jebediah Bancroft tried to destroy?”
Brian had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow and now Colleen and Matthew were arranging their blankets on the floor of the bedroom.
Colleen looked over at Matthew and called out softly as she worked. “Do ya think Ma will be okay? Sully will find out what really happened, won’t he?”
Matthew sounded impatient as he answered her. “How should I know?”
Colleen stopped in the middle of spreading out a blanket to study him. “What’s wrong with you? You don’t need to bite my head off!”
Matthew glanced toward the closed bedroom door, listened to the murmur of voices outside, then moved over to squat down beside his sister. “Look Colleen, I didn’t tell Sully the whole truth earlier.”
“What do ya mean?” Colleen asked, suspiciously.
“I let him think that I didn’t know anything about Jebediah Bancroft bein’ back in town but I did, Colleen. I knew he was here.”
“Matthew! Why would you do that? Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”
“Keep your voice down!” Matthew cautioned, nodding toward Brian’s bed.
“Answer my question,” Colleen demanded in a whisper. “Why did you lie to Sully?”
Matthew ran a hand through his hair in distraction. “When I saw Jebediah Bancroft, I waited til I had a chance to talk to him alone. He was comin’ out of Hank’s the next evening and I pulled him into the alleyway. I told him that, if he ever did anythin’ ta Dr. Mike again, I’d kill him.”
He paused as Colleen drew in her breath, sharply. “I meant it, Colleen. I wanted ta kill him. The next day, I saw him talkin’ to Dr. Mike at Grace’s and he was scaring her. She ran off to the clinic and ….”
“Matthew …?”
“How could I tell Sully that?”
Matthew’s eyes were moist and the expression in their depths reminded Colleen of a rabbit caught in a snare. “How could I tell anyone? I threatened his life, Colleen – and now he’s dead.”
Sully had decided to go back to Colorado Springs under the cover of darkness and Michaela had watched him ride away. That had been over two hours ago.
Now, as she sat in front of the small campfire burning outside her teepee, she longed to have him beside her. She felt frightened and lonely. Without Sully, without her kids, Michaela felt as if her world was empty. She ached inside.
Self-pity threatened to overwhelm her and she fought against it. Drawing a steadying breath against the tears welling up in her eyes, she caught sight of Cloud Dancing.
The medicine man was sauntering toward a group of braves. They were gathered in the centre of the village, around the main firepit.
Michaela sprang to her feet, cutting the medicine man off before he could reach them. “Cloud Dancing,” she called out. “I wanted to say…”
In the light of the campfires, she could see Cloud Dancing look at her sternly as she halted in front of him. Her words died in her throat. It had been her intention to apologize to him and ask him to forgive her for putting the village in danger, but there was something about his manner that instantly alerted her.
“Why have you left your teepee?” he demanded, harshly. “Sully told me I must watch you. He said you might try to run again.”
“What?! He told you to …. How dare he!” Michaela was so enraged that she could hardly speak.
“I should be free to come and go as I please. I’m not a child!”
Cloud Dancing stared her down. “Then do not act like one. Only a child would creep around behind our backs and act without thinking.”
Michaela folded her arms across her chest and planted her feet firmly. “You have no right to talk to me like that! And you have no right to keep me here! I’ll do as I please and no one, including you or Sully, will tell me where I can and cannot go!”
Cloud Dancing never raised his voice but anger punctuated each word. “You are a stubborn woman,” he accused.
“And you,” she exploded, “are a stubborn … and pig-headed …. man!”
With that, she spun on her heel and marched back to her teepee. She threw herself down in front of the fire again, fuming. She’d swallowed her pride and gone over to speak with him, fully intending to apologize and what thanks did she get? He attacked her without listening to anything she was trying to say. Men!
She sensed a presence and looked up. Snowbird had approached silently and now she squatted down beside Michaela.
“My husband has angered you?” the woman asked, trying to conceal an amused grin.
“It’s not funny!” Michaela protested. “Who does he think he is?!”
Snowbird shrugged. “He is a man.”
“Well, if that’s what men are all about, I don’t think I want anything more to do with them!” Michaela snapped.
“Not even Sully?” Snowbird was gauging her reaction as Michaela nibbled at her bait.
“I don’t know,” she said, sullenly. She was still offended by Sully’s lack of trust in her but her anger was dissipating. She could hardly blame him, in view of the earlier events of the day.
“I don’t know how I feel. Sometimes I think that being with Sully is a mistake.”
“He loves you very much,” Snowbird reminded her. “I see it in his eyes.”
Michaela sighed. “Is love enough? What if he tries to control me? I like to think for myself. I could never tolerate having a man push me around. If he tried to tell me what to do ….”
Snowbird laughed right out loud and Michaela looked at her, sharply. “I cannot see how any man could do that!” Snowbird said. “You know Sully well. Do you believe he would … as you say … push you around?”
“No,” Michaela admitted, softly.
“So what is it that bothers you, my friend?” Snowbird touched Michaela’s arm. “You wanted to talk to me earlier. Now I will listen. Tell me.”
Sully rode toward the reservation, avoiding the well-worn paths and keeping close to the treeline.
His heart was heavy. Robert E. and Grace had been threatened once again by Jebediah Bancroft. Michaela had been beaten. All of it had been happening right underneath his nose and Sully knew nothing about it. It made him feel powerless. He didn’t like it one bit.
As he was leaving town, on his way to retrieve his horse from the woods behind Robert E’s house, he’d noticed the lamplight spilling through the windows of the general store. He wondered now if Dorothy was speaking with Loren and what she would find out. Judging by the way things were going, he had an uneasy premonition that there would be more surprises in store for them.