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Chapter 13: What’s in a Name? By the beginning of June, Ethan Cooper had been sentenced to twenty years in prison for several charges including those charges filed by Michaela and Sully on behalf of the children. Michaela and the children were keeping a secret from Sully, but this secret was one that would hopefully be out in the open before too long. Matthew’s wound had healed wonderfully, and he was getting movement back in his arm everyday. He had healed enough to start fishing again, and Brian was glad that he had his brother back so they could play stick ball or catch. Cloud Dancing and Snow Bird’s baby girl was thriving and healthy. She had her father’s eyes, and Cloud Dancing said her spirit was lively and strong. Michaela went out to the reservation once a week to check on the new family, and everything seemed to be going well so far. Michaela walked up to the window at the telegraph office and smiled at Horace. “Good morning, Horace.” “Mornin’, Dr. Mike,” he said with a friendly smile. The town knew about Hank and Myra’s engagement, but with Holly around, Horace didn’t really seem to mind it. He loved spending time with her, and it made life a little more pleasant for everyone. “Any packages for me today?” “Yep. There’s one here for ya from Denver,” Horace said. “Looks important.” Michaela’s eyes shone brightly and she grinned at him. “Thank you, Horace.” She hurried off with he package in her hands. She wanted to go run to Sully and show it to him now, but she knew that she should wait for the children. Michaela walked into the clinic to find Loren standing around. “Loren?” “Dr. Mike, I’ve got a problem.” “What kind of problem?” “Well, I’ve got a real sore throat.” “Hmm, well, let me take a look.” Loren hopped up onto the exam table. Michaela felt around at Loren’s neck. “Alright open up.” Loren looked around like a nervous child before he finally opened his mouth. Michaela sighed heavily. “Oh yes, these tonsils are going to have to come out. They’re very inflamed.” “You have to cut on me?” “It’s a very simple procedure, I can assure you. I had a tonsillectomy as a child, and I survived.” “I don’t know ‘bout this,” Loren said quietly. “Loren, you’re in safe hands, I promise,” Michaela replied. “We can do this now or tomorrow. It’s your decision.” Loren swallowed hard and felt the discomfort. “Well, what if I die?” “You won’t die,” Michaela said with a smile. “Have people died from this before?” “Well, under rare circumstances,” Michaela replied, trying to keep the worry in Loren down to a minimum. He looked frightened. “Loren, the good thing is that once they’re gone, any sore throats you may have in the future won’t be near as bad as the one you’re experiencing now. Plus, it’s a good excuse to eat lots of cold desserts like pudding and ice cream.” Loren looked thoughtful for a moment. “How long will it take?” “Not long.” “Will I be awake?” “No,” Michaela replied. Loren pondered it for a few minutes and he nodded. “Alright, but you gotta promise to take good care of me.” “I promise,” Michaela said, holding her hand up as if she as taking an oath. Loren sighed and nodded his head again. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.” *~* Michaela sent Loren home to rest after his tonsillectomy, and after he left, the clinic was silent. She sat down at her desk to rest. Being six months pregnant with twins was causing her to tire easily, and she had to sit after too much standing. The children were off fishing with Josef and Elizabeth since school had let out early. Josef had to practically drag Elizabeth along, telling her that if she wanted to live in Colorado Springs, she’d have to get a few muddy dresses from fishing. Michaela laughed at the thought of her prim and proper mother casting a fishing line. She laughed even harder when the image of her mother falling into the river while trying to pull in a large fish. Sully was off checking his traps, and he would be back at noon for a picnic. Michaela was glad that the family was meeting together at lunch, because she had big news to share. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Sully’s face when he heard the news. If he thought the twins were a big surprise, what would he think of the surprise he had no idea was coming? Michaela was surprised when Sully came through the door of the clinic. “Sully! You’re back early,” she said with a smile. “Sure am,” he replied. “Not much luck with the traps.” “I see.” “Whaddya say we got get the kids? They’re probably still out fishin’ with your ma and pa.” “That sounds good. Then we can go on the picnic.” “You think your ma and pa will wanna come?” “No!” Michaela said quickly. She hadn’t meant for it to sound so harsh. She wanted the picnic to be just the two of them and the children. It had to be that way. “I’m sure they’ll be tired.” Sully narrowed his eyes at his wife for a moment, but decided not to ask when she walked over to give him a kiss. “How are ya feelin’?” “Good. The babies are resting. I think they’re getting cramped in there.” “Three more months to go,” Sully said with a smile. Michaela nodded and hugged him. Sully rubbed her belly and they walked out of the clinic hand in hand. As they walked, Sully noticed a big smile on Michaela’s face. “What are ya thinkin’ ‘bout?” “Hmm?” she asked, thinking about how she couldn’t wait to reveal the surprise to Sully. “Your mind must be somewhere else,” he laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh. “I was just thinking about he babies.” She rubbed her belly and felt one of them give her a strong kick. “What do you think they are?” he asked. “Boys or girls?” “I don’t know,” she replied with a shrug. “It’s possible that one is a boy and the other’s a girl.” “It’d be nice to have one of each at the same time.” Michaela grinned. “We need to think of names. I know we want our first daughter to be named Katherine Elizabeth Charlotte Sully. What about our son?” “Well,” he said thoughtfully, “I don’t know. I know I don’t want him named Byron, because I hate my name.” He laughed and Michaela squeezed his hand. “I think it’s a handsome name,” she pointed out. Sully made a face. She laughed and shook her head. “What about Daniel?” “I had a friend named Daniel,” Sully said thoughtfully. “Daniel Josef Sully. That sounds nice,” Michaela said softly. “But what if we have two girls?” Sully asked. “Oh dear,” Michaela laughed. “I suppose we should figure these out before the babies get here.” “Well, I’ve heard that sometimes ya just know what to name them by lookin’ at them for the first time.” Michaela smiled. “Well, we’ll figure it out as we go along, or we’ll wait until the birth. Either way, I’m sure our children will have beautiful names.” Sully nodded and gave Michaela’s hand a squeeze. They stopped by to pick up a picnic basket full of food from Grace’s before they started off toward the creek. They couldn’t wait to get the children and start the family picnic, and Michaela was more excited than anyone. She was carrying the package from Horace in her medical bag, and she knew that the picnic was the perfect time to tell Sully what was going on, even though he had no idea she and the children were up to something. “Sully?” “Hmm?” “How do you think Brian’s going to react once the twins arrive? He’ll no longer be the youngest member of the family.” “Well, I think it’ll be a tough situation at first, but I’m sure he’ll get used to it. He’s excited about the baby arriving. He told me he’s making a dream catcher for the baby. I was sneaky and told him a story about dream catchers, and he decided that he’s going to make two to keep the baby extra safe.” “Oh, Mr. Sully, you are sneaky,” Michaela laughed. Sully kissed her cheek and they continued on, talking about the twins, trying to figure out names, and all the while, Michaela was eagerly awaiting giving Sully the surprise he had no idea he was in store for. *~* “Oh! Grandma! You got a big one!” Brian shouted as Elizabeth held onto her fishing pole with a beginner’s skill. “Hold onto it tight!” Colleen exclaimed. Josef ran up behind his wife and held onto the pole with her. “I can do it myself, Josef!” she exclaimed, not wanting him to do this for her. She wanted to prove that she could survive in Colorado Springs. She wanted to prove that she could adapt and do things she never thought she’d ever have to do. Josef let go of the fishing pole, and as Elizabeth tried to reel her large catch in, the fish pulled her into the water! Colleen screamed as her grandmother fell in, but Elizabeth screamed louder. She fell in face first, and the fish ended up flopping around in her lap. Elizabeth let out a screech and Matthew jumped in to help her out. Josef had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the sight of his wife. “Josef Quinn, if you say one thing, I’m going to push you into this creek!” Elizabeth exclaimed with fire in her eyes. That was the same fire that Josef saw in his youngest daughter. “My dear, you look beautiful when you’re sopping wet with a fish in your lap.” The children tried their hardest not to laugh. “Mother? What happened?” Michaela asked quickly as she and Sully walked up to the scene in progress. “Grandma caught a big fish, but it pulled her into the creek.” “My dear, we had better get you back into town and changed into something dry.” “Very well,” Elizabeth replied in a huff. Michaela grinned. “I’m glad to see you’re adjusting to the simple life,” Michaela said with a wink. Elizabeth shook her head and walked off with Josef. As soon as they were gone, the whole family started laughing. “You shoulda seen the fish floppin’ around in her lap,” Matthew said with a chuckle. “It’s not polite to laugh about things like that,” Michaela said, but couldn’t help but laugh too. “You kids want to have the picnic now?” “Yeah!” Brian exclaimed. “I’m hungry.” “You’re always hungry,” Colleen pointed out. “Am not!” “Are too.” “Children,” Michaela warned. The children quieted and Matthew spread a blanket out over the grass by the creek. Michaela and Sully began to pass around plates and food. Everyone began to eat, and Michaela couldn’t help but exchange looks with the children. She would smile and they would wonder if she was having some kind of weird mood swing. Sully got up when nature called, and he walked off to find a private bush. Michaela leaned in to talk to the children. “What’s goin’ on?” Matthew asked. “The papers came in today!” Michaela exclaimed happily. “So it’s official?” “It’s official,” Michaela replied with a smile. Sully returned a minute later to find the children chattering excitedly. “What’s goin’ on?” Sully asked. Michaela took his hand. “Sit down. We have something to tell you.” By the looks on their faces, it was something good. “Alright.” He looked around as Michaela pulled a package out of her medical bag. She opened it and pulled out a couple of sheets of paper. “What’s that?” “Look for yourself.” She handed him the pieces of paper and he looked at them and the children smiled at each other knowingly. He mumbled something written by a judge in Denver. “The name Cooper will be stricken from the names of the following children, and they will forever on be known as Matthew Sully, Colleen Sully, and Brian Sully.” Sully looked up at the children and they smiled with delight. “Surprise,” Brian said with a grin. “I wasn’t expectin’ this,” he said with a smile. Michaela squeezed his knee reassuringly. “We’ve been planning this since everything happened with Ethan.” “It was our idea,” Matthew said quietly. “And with all of this planning . . . look at the second page.” Sully switched to the second page and read through it. “The name Quinn will be . . . Michaela Quinn-Sully.” Sully looked up at Michaela with wide eyes. “You changed your name?” “Well, I hyphenated it. I’ll be known professionally as Dr. Quinn and socially as Mrs. Sully.” Sully smiled proudly and leaned over to give his wife a kiss. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered. “I realized that a name shouldn’t matter. I know I said that before we married, but that goes two ways. It doesn’t matter whether the name is changed or not. What matters is that we love each other, and I think that I should wear the name of the man I love.” “And we wanted to be a family by name too,” Colleen said with a smile. “We ain’t forgettin’ our real ma, but we want to start a new life with our new family.” “You don’t know how much this means to me,” Sully said with a smile. The family continued their picnic, talked about individual reasons for wanting to change their names, and enjoyed being a family in name and in spirit. *~* That evening, Michaela and Sully were lying in each other’s arms after an enthusiastic lovemaking session. “You’re so beautiful, Mrs. Sully,” Sully whispered with a smile. “You’re not so bad yourself, Mr. Sully,” Michaela reciprocated. “I still can’t believe you changed your name. I never expected you to.” “Was it a nice surprise?” “Nice? It was better than nice. I just want ya to know that you didn’t have to do that.” “I wanted to,” Michaela replied. “I love you, and I want the world to know that my husband is Byron Sully, and that I am proud to be his wife.” Sully kissed Michaela appreciatively. “You sure you didn’t convince the kids to change their names?” “No, Sully. They are the ones who came up with the idea. I thought it was wonderful, and once they decided to do it, I decided to as well.” Sully kissed her again. “I love you more than life, you know that?” “I know,” Michaela whispered. “And I love you more than that.” They began to kiss again, and after a moment, Michaela gasped and sat up. “Michaela?!” Michaela groaned in pain. “What is it?” “Oh no! This can’t be happening. Oh God,” she breathed hoarsely. “What?! What is it?!” Sully asked, sitting up and putting his hand on her belly. She looked at him with desperation in her eyes. “I think I felt a contraction.” |