Michaela rode as fast as she could. Finally she reached the spot where he was camping out. She looked around for him. When she didn't find him she remounted and went in search of him. She looked by the meadow and she found him laying down peacefully. She went up and touched his face gently with her hand. He woke up to her touch. When he saw her face he knew something was wrong.

"Michaela what is it?"

"Sully there was an accident...Katie was hurt...She is hurt really bad."

"Oh God, not Katie....is she going to live...?"

"Sully don't think like that...She'll be fine in a couple of days...you'll see."

They rode fast into town. They walked into the clinic and Katie lay still on the bed. She had a bad gash on her head which was bandaged. Michaela felt like screaming. She didn't think Katie was hurt as bad as she looked now. Andrew was checking Katie over for injuries.

"Michaela she had a bad gash that I sewed up and bandaged...but I believe her head as worse injuries then what we can see at the moment"

"Thank you Andrew"

"Your Welcome...I want to monitor her condition incase it gets worse"

Michaela and Sully grabbed a chair and sat down. Michaela could feel the guilt coming upon her. She was the one that insisted Katie come with her and not Sully. Then she brought her into town and she told her to stay put, but she wandered off and Michaela could still see what happened fresh in her mind. Katie being up on the clinic balcony then climbing on the rail and falling head first into the ground below. Michaela looked up at Sully and saw the hurt in his eyes.

"Sully It was my fault Katie got hurt...I told her to stay up in one of the recovery rooms and play. Then I went outside for just a second and I saw her up on the rail....Sully if she dies it will be all my fault"

"Michaela you didn't do anything wrong things like this just happen and we have to get through it the best we can"

"That's just it how can I touch her without being afraid that I will hurt her even more...I am a terrible mother"

"Michaela look at me...You held Katie here in your womb for nine months and you gave birth to her only four short years ago...you are a wonderful mother to Katie and the other children...We will get through this. I promise"

Sully was wrong within a few days Katie grew worse. She stopped breathing on several occasions. She still hadn't woke up. So the decision to take her to Denver where they could give her better care was made.

They arrived and got Katie settled into her room at a hospital close to the hotel Sully, Michaela, and Brian were staying at. Michaela walked around in a daze. Sully felt his heart breaking. Brian watched his Sister getting worse and worse each day. Colleen and Andrew sent their love and said they would get their as they could.

A few days later when they came to visit Katie one of her doctors came up to them with tears in his eyes.

"Dr. Quinn, Mr. Sully...we have run some tests and we think your daughter either has brain damage or she has a blockage in her brain of blood...We need your consent to operate and find out?"

"Yes you have our permission"

Four hours had gone by since Katie had gone into surgery. Michaela had been looking off into space the whole time. Sully was pacing back and forth. Brian was sitting on a chair fearing the worst would happen. Finally the doctor came out.

"We were able to find out she doesn't have brain damage, and we were able to successfully take out the blood clot."

Michaela jumped up and grabbed the doctor and hugged him,"Thank you Dr. Mazder...this means so much to me"

Katie continued to improve, but she still didn't wake up. Michaela and Sully visited her everyday. They kept encouraging her to wake up so that she could go home and they would take her to the meadow and have a picnic with her.

When they came to visit her one day a nurse came up to them.

"Dr. Quinn, Mr. Sully...I am so sorry your daughter passed away a few minutes ago. I am sorry you had to find out this way"

Michaela's whole body froze in horror. How could this be the doctor said she had a good chance of living. Michaela dropped to the floor and screamed out. Sully grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her and they both cried together

One week later was the funeral for Katie. Michaela looked terrible. She hardly ate, slept or talked. She cried all the time ever since the bad news of her darling Katie's death.

The reverend started out,"We are gathered today to honor the memory of Katherine Sully...She was a sweet young girl with a bright future....but her father in heaven wanted her with him...we all loved her and I am sure she is looking down on us and smiling to know how much she was loved by everyone...We send our prayers to the Sully family and God help them get through this..."

Michaela didn't here the rest she just watched the rest in a daze. She just shook hands with a bunch of people. Then she ran off to the clinic and locked the door and grabbed a knife and pulled back her sleeve and cut her wrist.

Sully banged on the door and when he got inside he found Michaela lying on the floor and a small puddle of blood on the floor near her. He gasped and ran to her.....

Sully picked her up and brought her up to one of the recovery rooms. He gently laid her on the bed. Someone ran and got Andrew and everyone from the funeral were looking around in shock. Andrew started looking at the wound and how much blood she had lost. He looked up at Sully with a disappointing look. He went to work sewing her wrist up.

Sully held her and prayed for her to be alright. Sully thought he was going to cry. A very vivid memory kept coming through his mind. He is leaning over Abagial's and Hannah's graves. He has enlisted and is going to war. He tells them goodbye and then leaves.

"Michaela listen you can't leave me...I need you ...you are everything in my life and I want to share the rest of my life with you"

Three hours past no change. Sully began pacing back and forth. He couldn't sit down and think about what happened in the last week or he would break down and cry and he wouldn't be able to stop it. He felt like all the old pain was coming back reopening the wounds that once hurt so much.

Andrew came in and checked on her condition. He looked at Sully and gave him a look that Sully knew. There was still no change. Sully looked around in agony. He couldn't stand it much longer.

Two more hours passed. Then their was a knock on the door. Sully thought he was dreaming at first but there it was again and then once more. Eventually it stopped. Then fifteen minutes passed and their was another knock. Sully got up and opened the door. There stood before him a ghost from the past. There in front of him stood Abagial. Sully looked at her in disbelief.

"Sully don't be afraid...I am only here through spirit...I want to tell you how sorry I am about your daughter...but she has gone to a better place...I have a message from the Creator...He will be sending you a blessing...You might think right now how could these be blessings...but this is how God wanted it...I have to go now but one more thing..."She handed him a sheet of paper.

"This is from Katie I think you will find it more comforting if you read this and I think you will understand everything I said" then Sully looked down at the paper and then back up and she was gone.

Sully opened the letter and found it written in Abagails handwriting. He started to read it and when he reached the end of the first sentence he had tears in his eyes.

It read: Dear Mama and Papa,

Please don't be sad. I will always be with you in your heart. I will always think of you. I will be watching over you. I want to tell you times ahead will be hard and I know you will get through it. I miss you and await the day that once again we will be reunited.

Your Daughter, Katie

Sully was crying unstoppable now. When he looked at the bed he found Michaela awake and looking around. He ran to her side.

"Michaela I am so happy your alright...you really scared me...I saw you there and then I saw the blood and I thought you were gone"

"Sully I don't deserve to live anymore...I killed Katie...I should be gone but not her...not my little girl Sully"

"When are you gonna stop blaming yourself...it was an accident...I understand the pain your feeling but read this" he handed her the letter.

She read the letter and looked up at Sully. She glanced at it a few times and then looked back up at Sully once more.

"Where did this come from?"

"Abagail came to me in spirit and gave it to me...she told me that God was going to send us a blessing"

In the next few weeks Michaela improved. She was eating again going to work. She still seemed very distant to Sully though. Sully felt like he was loosing her. Everyone in town worried over her. She acted the same around everyone but Sully. She wouldn't even look him in the eye.

Sully woke up in the middle of the night. He didn't find Michaela sleeping next to him. He got up and went looking for her. He searched the whole house and didn't find her. So he went outside to the barn. He found her cleaning out the barn stalls.

"Michaela you can't work so hard"

"The chores have to get done"

"You need to take it easy you have been working yourself to hard"

"Sully if I don't keep busy I start to think and when I think only one thing keeps coming up in my mind an that is Katie"

"Michaela we all loved her very much but we are still living and we need to find the best way possible to get through this and move on"

"I want to hold her in my arms again, I want to see her smile at me with her rosy cheeks...I had so many dreams for our daughter...and I....took them all away with one stupid mistake",she began to cry after saying what she had thinking so many weeks.

He gently walked closer and tried to hug her but she backed off. She looked up at him and she began to say what she had wanted to say for a long time.

"Sully I can see the pain your eyes every time I mention her name every time you think about her...I am responsible for the pain in your heart....I was the one who made you loose another child...that is the second time I was responsible...when I had a miscarriage that was my fault and I know that things between you and me will never be the same again...I think it would be best if I moved back to Boston.."

"Michaela we have to face our problems...no matter how far you go away they will always catch up with you...the day I said death do us part...I meant it...I love you more than life itself...it hurts to see you in so much pain...it wasn't your fault that either of our children died...God wanted them to be up in heaven where their lives will be filled with hope...they are with your father and your sister...they are looking down on you and they want you to be happy, but you will never find peace until you find out that it wasn't your fault"

"Sully I love you so much...but I will never really know if I could have stopped it"

Two days later Michaela walks into their bedroom and gets ready for bed. Then climbs in the bed and lays down. Sully comes in a few moments later. He takes off his coat and puts a few more logs on the fire. He goes up and embraces Michaela, but she pulls away.

"Michaela, please don't do this to yourself anymore...I want to hold you and touch you the way I did before"

Michaela gets up and looks into his blue eyes that look frustrated and sad for her.

"Sully things will never be the same anymore, I love you more than anything but I can't ever touch you the same way I used too...and you are not making this an easier...I need time away from you and my life...the truth is I don't know if I love you the way I used to anymore...I am not sure of anything anymore"

Michaela walks onto the train and waves goodbye to her family who care for her more then anything. She finds a seat and sits down. A man comes and sits by her. Michaela recognizes him right away.

"William, is that you?"

"Michaela it is good to see you"

"Do you live in Denver?"

"No my family came with me to Denver to see that I am alright on my trip to Boston to visit my mother and sisters"

"I am on my way to Boston as well"

"That's wonderful I was hoping someone would be on board that I knew"

"How come your family did not accompany you to Boston?"

"About a month and a half ago my daughter went into a coma after a bad fall from a balcony...She died a few weeks later"

"Oh Michaela I am so sorry, I didn't know it was that otherwise I wouldn't have asked"

After Michaela got herself back together they got into a long talk about what was happening in their lives the last couple of years. They talked from Denver all the way to Boston.

Two months later Sully pulls the wagon to a stop in front of the clinic. He kept hoping Michaela would walk out the door and come greet him, but everyday she didn't and every time he would hide how hurt he was inside. It had been two months without any word from her. He missed her so much and needed her badly.

Sully walked to the telegraph office and went up to the counter where Horace Bing was working on getting the mail sorted.

"Any mail for me Horace?"

"Yeah a here you go Sully"

Sully takes the mail from him and he looks through it and finds an envelope with Michaela's handwriting. He quickly opens it and reads it.

Dear Sully,

I have found the side of myself that I lost. I am in good spirits and hopefully I will be in Colorado in a few weeks. I have found an old friends of both of ours. He has helped me come to terms with Katie's death. I think you will remember Dr. William Burke. He has been one of the greatest people in my life the last couple of months. Also I have a surprise for you when I get to Colorado Springs. With all my love to all

After reading it he knew he might have lost her forever. Not once in the letter had she ever referred to Colorado to her home. What if she wanted him to move to Boston? What would happen if he refused to? He was afraid that he would have to or he might loose her forever. How come he couldn't have given Michaela back the side of herself that she had lost.

Michaela stepped off the train in Colorado Springs with William right behind her. She breathed in the fresh air. Then she spotted Sully in the crowd. She ran into his arms. He hugged her tightly. But when Sully sees William he becomes angry but does not show it.

"Michaela can I talk to you in private?"

"Yes, will be right back William"

They walked off toward the clinic. Sully closed the door. Then Michaela took a seat.

"Michaela whats going on?!?"

"Sully I know your angry but I needed to get away...I am much better now"

"I saw the way you looked at him and the way he looked at you"

"Sully he is a close friend, but you are right your relationship with me has changed...I don't know how to say this...but I find myself loving you more as a friend than a husband...and i know you don't want to hear this but I need to say this...I had a lot of time to think and I think You and I are just drifting apart....I want a divorce"